Match report: Milan 1 - Bologna 0

• Goals Scored: Flamini 8' (See photo above-- the ball is visible just over Flamini's shoulder)
• What happened: Milan scored early and held on to win. They are in first place-- eight points ahead of Inter and nine ahead of Napoli with three matches left.
• What it was like to watch this match: Milan are good; Bologna are not. Milan had a reason try hard; Bologna did not. Milan scored early; Bologna did not. Milan had many other chances to score; Bologna did not. Therefore, watching this match was nothing less than pure torture-- for eighty-two+ minutes Milan were one stupid/flukey/extraordinary play away from disaster.
• Number of wide open headers Bologna missed during the second half: 2 (Like I said-- pure torture)
• Bologna player sent off undeservedly with a straight red card late in the second half: Della Rocca
• Evidence that there is a conspiracy to give Milan the Scudetto this season: Della Rocca's sending off, which completely ended Bologna's attacking threat. A penalty awarded to Milan against Napoli on February 28th for a debatable handball.
• Evidence that there is a conspiracy to prevent Milan from winning the Scudetto this season: The three game suspension given to Ibrahimovic for talking disrespectfully to the linesman at the end of Milan's 3-0 victory over Sampdoria.
• Milan players who made their debut today: Giacomo Beretta
• Milan players whose wives/girlfriends have apparently had babies recently: Antonio Cassano, Robinho, Thiago Silva, Urby Emanuelson
• What this match teaches us: Milan will win the Scudetto this season.

Below: Before the match, a video of Pope John Paul II was shown at the San Siro.

Below: Flamini doesn't score many goals, and certainly none as important as this one.

Matt Tuiasosopo currently plays for the Tacoma Rainiers

Last Tuesday, July 21, 2009, my daughter and I went to watch the Tacoma Rainiers lose 11-7 to the Sacramento River Cats. The Rainiers are the Triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners. Here are some important facts you may need to know about Rainiers third baseman Matt Tuiasosopo (pictured above):

• Matt Tuiasosopo has good speed and is an excellent bunter. In his first at-bat, he bunted down the third base line and reached first base without a throw.
• Matt Tuiasosopo comes from a very athletic family. His father, Manu Tuiasosopo, played for the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers of the NFL. One of his brothers, Marques Tuiasosopo, played quarterback for the University of Washington Huskies and later briefly with the New York Jets and Oakland Raiders of the NFL. Another brother, Zach Tuiasosopo, also played for the UW Huskies.

Below, Marques Tuiasosopo

• According to one of the gentlemen sitting behind us (see photo below - I am not sure which gentleman it was, however), his granddaughter played fast pitch softball with Matt Tuiasosopo's sister, and the entire family, including the more famous brothers, would come to watch her games.

• Matt Tuiasosopo was called out for interference in the first inning when he slid too hard into second base trying to break up a double play. The slide was more of a roll than a slide and was similar to the kind of block an overmatched running back might make on a blitzing linebacker.
• Matt Tuiasosopo's at-bat theme song is the same as my wife's ringback on her cell phone.
• Matt Tuiasosopo had a double at some point during the game.
• At another point, one of the Rivers Cats batters hit a pop up down the left field line. Matt Tuiasosopo turned and ran after the ball, and it looked like he was going to make a nice over-the-shoulder catch, but then he missed it. The batter ended up with a double, I believe.

Above, Matt Tuiasosopo at third base

• Matt Tuiasosopo struck out twice during the game. (See video below - watch how Matt Tuiasosopo refuses to leave home plate for a long time after being called out.)

• Matt Tuiasosopo grounded into a double play to end the game. This was one of four double plays the River Cats turned that night.

I have a Franklin Gutierrez bobblehead doll

Last night my wife, daughter, and I went to see the Seattle Mariners lose 9-0 to the Cleveland Indians. It was also Franklin Gutierrez Bobblehead Night (see picture, above). Earlier this week, Manny Ramirez hit a pinch-hit grand slam for the Dodgers at Manny Ramirez Bobblehead Night, and we were hoping for something similar from Franklin Gutierrez. It didn't happen, though-- he went 0-for-2 with a walk (see picture, below).

Gutierrez also tried, but failed, to catch a home run hit by Travis Haffner in the 7th inning. (see picture, below).

Also at the game were such celebrities as Flo Rida and members of the Everton FC squad, including Tim Cahill (below, holding the baseball), who has the same birthday as I do.

I have a Mike Cameron bobblehead doll

I am not sure when or how or why this Mike Cameron bobblehead doll came into my house. All I know is that for many years I have dusted my Mike Cameron bobblehead doll and re-attached his head when it fell off and moved my Mike Cameron bobblehead doll to ever-more obscure locations in my house in the hopes that he would not be noticed by the enemies* of Mike Cameron or of Mike Cameron bobblehead dolls. (Most recently, I moved my Mike Cameron bobblehead doll from the window over the kitchen sink to a cabinet in the corner of the living room where he hid behind a lamp and a plant and some family photographs and a turtle ashtray that came from my grandparents' house).

* By "enemies," I mean my wife, who, despite her recent attempts to impress our eight year-old nephew from New Zealand by telling him that it was "her" Mike Cameron bobblehead doll, usually only refers to the Mike Cameron bobblehead doll in such sentences as, "What are you going to do with that Mike Cameron bobblehead doll?" or "When are you going to get rid of your Mike Cameron bobblehead doll?"

Here are some statistics that only a true owner of a Mike Cameron bobblehead doll would know:

• Mike Cameron has played for six major league teams - the White Sox, Reds, Mariners, Mets, Padres, and Brewers.
• Mike Cameron once hit four home runs in one game (on May 2, 2002 for the Seattle Mariners against the Chicago White Sox). This ties him with fourteen other major leaguers for the most home runs in one game.
• Mike Cameron is an excellent outfielder and has won the Gold Glove Award two times.
• While playing for the New York Mets, Mike Cameron had a terrible collision in the outfield with teammate Carlos Beltran.
• Mike Cameron was suspended by Major League Baseball for the first 25 games of the 2008 season for using a banned stimulant.
• Mike Cameron's book, It Takes A Team: Mike Cameron, is ranked number 1, 754,340 on Amazon's sales rankings.