We interrupt your normal non-posting on SoC to announce a baseball signing at once important to two of SoC’s staff, and unfathomable to every single person who’s ever watched, followed, or heard of baseball:

via The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Jeff Weaver, one of several free-agent pitchers the Pirates have pursued this offseason, agreed to terms with the Seattle Mariners on a one-year contract worth $8,325,000. That is the same salary he made last season with the Los Angeles Angels and St. Louis Cardinals.

He also can make up to $1 million in performance bonuses based on innings and starts.

The final three teams in the bidding for Weaver were the Pirates, Mariners and Cardinals, for whom Weaver was instrumental in winning the World Series last October.

Weaver, 30, was 8-14 with a 5.76 ERA last season.

I hate baseball.

You may have noticed our collective giving-up a couple months ago. I’d be lying if I said the Steelers didn’t have anything to do with my lack of ambition, and I can only assume that bad showings by the Yankees, Red Sox, and all teams Seattle did the same for the rest of the crew. Still, something in me snapped the other day, and I decided to pick the banner up and run with it again, all be it likely for a very, very short distance. To wit, I’d like to take a look at three of my brave prognostications from SoC, and see how I did on the whole soothsayer thing:

1. If you’d be so kind as to give me half credit for this one, I’d appreciate it- I predicted that the impending arrival of Evgeni Malkin would result in an unbeatable shootout squad for the Penguins. The Penguins’ 2-5 record in shootouts would say I was wrong, but a closer look at the prediction said they’d be unbeatable from 2007-2011. Counting last night’s loss, the Penguins are 0-1 in shootouts in 2007, so I’m kinda still on the clock. Plus, Jordan Staal, Malkin and Sid the Kid have indeed blossomed into the best young centers in the league. So what do you say? Half credit? Quarter credit?

2. I thought it was a safe bet that Steve McNair would get hurt and the Ravens would go 8-8 under the “leadership” of Kyle “Orton” Boller. Um, whoops?

3. Finally, there was the week I decided to predict again that McNair would get hurt and Baltimore would go 8-8. So I was twice as wrong as I thought. Oh, well.