If you’d like to read predictions about the 2011 baseball season from anonymous people with no credentials, then check out my guest post over at That Ain’t Kosher. Both of us predicted each division and wild card winner, our league and World Series Champions and our MVP/ Rookie of the Year selections.

Since she is a Mets fan and I’m a Yankees fan, we decided to make it interesting with a bet that will spell certain embarrassment for the loser

Spring Training is here! Major League Baseball players are reporting to camp and getting ready for the upcoming baseball season.

Meanwhile, sports writers follow the players down South in order to provide news to baseball fans across the country that are hungry to read about baseball after a long winter.

Yet we are still over a month away from any meaningful games so there really isn’t a lot to talk about.  There’s not much going on at Spring Training other than light jogging, pitchers fielding practice and soft tossing.  However, beat writers have to write about something while they are down in Florida and Arizona, so they find ways to turn just about anything into a 1,500-word press release.

I’ve found a number of articles—mostly on MLB.com— where the reporters are desperately reaching for any kind of story. Here are five of the best releases I’ve seen thus far that can barely be called newsworthy.

1. Some Fat Yankee Pitchers Aren’t Quite as Fat; Others are as Fat as Ever

The BIG news around Yankee camp this spring has been about the weight of their pitchers.

Ace hurler C.C. Sabathia claims to have lost 25 pounds because he stopped eating Cap’n Crunch.

“I stopped eating Cap’n Crunch every day,” Sabathia told news reporters Monday morning. “I used to eat that stuff by the box.”

Meanwhile, pudgy relief pitcher Joba Chamberlain has dropped some of that baby fat and put on some muscle during the off-season.

“Obviously, I added muscle,” Chamberlain said. “That just comes from being a man, too. I’m 25 now, not 21.”

Yankee skipper Joe Girardi then really spiced up the Chamberlain story with this quote…

“I think his hairstyle being different is the one thing I noticed first.” (more…)

Today I’ll be trying out a new potential series.  If this is received well, I’ll continue to do it in the future. 

In this series, I will take an annoying sports cliché and explain exactly why it’s dumb and overused by sports writers who think they know sports, but in actuality, are clueless.

Today’s annoying sports cliché is: “They Wanted it More.”

This phrase is typically thrown out by broadcasters and writers in a game where one team completely outplays another.  To the naked eye it appears that one team just wanted to win more than the other, that the losing team was woefully unprepared and did not give it 110% on every play.  Meanwhile, the winning team fought like they were on the beaches of Normandy, playing every moment like it was a life-or-death situation.  

This makes for an easy storyline the next day.  Rather than taking the time to breakdown the intricacies of the game, the writer will take the easy way out and write a 1,000 word piece knocking the team for having “no heart” and playing “gutless.” (more…)

The MLB League Championship Series begins tonight, and as a big baseball fan, that has me pretty excited—But these pictures of girls representing the remaining playoff teams might have me more excited.

While the Yankees, Rangers, Phillies and Giants will battle it out on the field for their respective pennants, here at Living with Balls, we’ll pick our winners based on which girl is hotter.  Check out the pictures after the jump and be sure to vote.

WARNING: These pictures are probably NOT SAFE FOR WORK (more…)

Enjoy some photos of the NFL’s top quarterbacks in some photos they wish they never took…

Big Ben swears these girls said it was ok for him to touch their fun bags. (more…)

I’m a pretty hardcore baseball fan.  I’ve played and watched baseball my entire life and I love everything about it.  I’m willing to bet there aren’t many people out there into our national pastime more than I am.

I’ve attended my fair share of baseball games over the years and every time I go, I always see some actions by other fans that get under my skin.  Some people just don’t know the right way to watch a baseball game.  When I go to games with Mrs. Sacks or my brother, I complain about these things constantly.  I guess I just can’t understand how people don’t enjoy the game as much as me.

Because of this, I’ve created some rules to inform you less-passionate baseball fans out there the proper way to attend a ball game.

Rule #1: Leaving the game early is not allowed (There are only a few exceptions to this rule) (more…)

It was announced today that rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals will need Tommy John surgery and will be out of baseball until 2012. This isn’t funny. It’s actually pretty unfortunate for any fan of major league baseball.

What is funny are the number of brilliant tweets, making fun of Rob Dibble for criticizing Stephen Strasburg’s toughness.

For those of you who don’t know, Rob Dibble—a former pitcher for the Reds in the 90’s—recently criticized Strasburg after he exited his last start with pain in his forearm. Here’s what he said:

“Okay, you throw a pitch, it bothers your arm, and you immediately call out the manager and the trainer? Suck it up, kid. This is your profession. You chose to be a baseball player. You can’t have the cavalry come in and save your butt every time you feel a little stiff shoulder, sore elbow…. Stop crying, go out there and pitch. Period. You need to know the difference between pain and injury. When I was 12, my arm hurt. When I was in my teens and I would throw and walk off the mound when I was a starter, my arm would throb. I couldn’t even hold a glass of water. And you know what? I loved it. I was so sick, I loved it, ’cause I felt okay, I’m throwing hard enough to make my arm shake when I’m just standing there.’ So I was a totally different animal than I think has been created here with Strasburg, where now you’re telling this kid as soon as you feel any arm pain, call us and we’ll come help you. Please.”

Now Dibble is forced to take his foot and plant it firmly in his mouth.  It’s times like this that I truly love Twitter.  So many great tweets have come out this morning.  Here are some of the best I’ve found. (more…)

Saturday, August 7, 2010, 6:58 pm EST, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Owen: This weekend is gonna be awesome Joey! A weekend in Philly, tickets to see Mets/ Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Hopefully, we’ll see a Mets W and then we’ll drink our face off and maybe even bang a broad on Broad Street. I’m fuckin’ pumped!

Joey: Fat chance of that happenin’ brah. I can’t believe you convinced me to book this trip back in April. What da fuck was I thinkin’ brah? A Mets/ Phillies series in August? I should have known by now the Mets would be well on their way to another dissapointin’ season and deez fuckin’ Phillies would be heatin’ up just in time to shit all ovah the Mets once again…oh and you ain’t gettin’ laid either.

Owen: Whatever man. Mets aren’t done yet. And if they lose—at least we had an excuse to get away for the weekend and have a good time.

Joey: Fuck dat shit. This ain’t a weekend getaway! I feel dirty just being in this shithole of a city. Ya got any hand sanitizer?

Owen: I don’t. Sorry. Let’s just get to our seats. The games about to start. (more…)