Baseball Links Exchange

Visits: 0

This week’s selection is a multi-authored site called UmpBump.com: in-your-face baseball commentary. This is a fun, yet informative site that has a style all its own. Like the name of the blog hints at, they do get a little heated at times, but that just shows their passion for the game.

By the way, have you seen that bottled water commercial with Cubs manager Lou Pinella? Great stuff!

Now, here’s a snipet from their About us page (with some editing on my part):

Umpbump came about when two colleagues (and some of their friends) decided to post their baseball commentary on the web. Nothing more, nothing less; pure unadulterated baseball opinions from six (sometimes more) fans of the game.

Actually, had it not been for a coupla corporate big whigs and their, uhm, visionary decision-making, we probably wouldn’t exist. So let’s raise a glass to Buzzword Ben and Corporatesse Dave.

We try to make this here site look as professional as possible but don’t quote us (extensively); these are just our humble opinions.And now, the team (we think this list is based on seniority; we think):

Alejandro Leal –  the Online Producer for Creative Loafing Media, a company that publishes a chain of alt-weekly papers of the same name in Atlanta, Charlotte, Sarasota and Tampa; as well as the recently acquired (hey, not my money!) Chicago Reader and D.C. City Paper.Leal’s first contact with the sport came while attending a Mets – Cardinals game in 1993. His second contact was a few weeks later when he walked on the field in the Metrodome. He still has the rug burns to prove it (not to mention his loathing of the Twinkies).He currently is a die-hard White Sox fan; unfortunately for the team though, they hold a 2-5 record when he attends their games (3-0 in exhibition games).

Coley Ward – lives in Tucson, AZ, and covers nightlife for the Arizona Daily Star. He is a native of Wallingford, Penn., and a lifelong Phillies fan. Traditionally, Ward’s fantasy baseball teams finish towards the bottom of the standings. But this year his team finished the regular season in third place — that’s progress!

Sarah Green – She writes a column for the sports section of the Boston Metro, which she shamelessly insists on publicizing here on UmpBump.Sarah is a lifelong citizen of Red Sox Nation, and an active congregant of the Fenway Faithful. She rioted when the Red Sox won the ALCS in 2004 and may have suffered a mild aneurysm when they swept the World Series. She attended her first game at Fenway in 1982 as a wee babe. Now she’s just a babe.

Nick Kapur – He knows Japanese and loves baseball. This may be why he also loves Japanese baseball. Traditionally, his fantasy baseball teams finish at the top of the standings but get blown out in the playoffs. Stupid playoffs.Nick’s biggest baseball-related exploits came in his college years, when he was a radio broadcaster for the Stanford Cardinal baseball team that went to four consecutive College World Series.Nick grew up in LA, but now splits his time between Japan and Boston. Either way, he hates the Yankees.

Paul Moro – Paul is a Japanese immigrant who boarded a Northwest Airlines flight in 1986 and has never looked back. Except when he goes back to visit. He witnessed firsthand on videotape Game 7 of the 1986 World Series the day after it happened and has the image of Jesse Orosco embracing Gary Carter ever so gently forever imprinted into his psyche. He has been a Mets fan ever since.

Zvee Geffen – Our resident fantasy sports insider. In fact, he is so far inside, that he hardly ever comes out. Geffen, now a business school grad student, is a former production assistant for ESPN’s Cold Pizza. He had a fleeting brush with fame in 2004, when he starred in several CP segments. You may remember him from such segments as, “Intern Zvee goes to fantasy camp,” “Intern Zvee interviews Victoria’s Secret models,” or “Intern Zvee gets a make-over.”