7/10/2010 Odds & Ends - the Brett and Bret edition

Brett Atwood is Back in Black (and gold)
Photo courtesy of AnchorageBucs.com

Well, it's Saturday, and as happens on (nearly) every Saturday, I'm writing an Odds & Ends post. This week I actually have some interesting stuff to write about. You see, I started taking notes for the O&E throughout the week so I didn't forget all the interesting stuff, and go figure, now I don't have to scratch around for boring junk to fill a page with. How awesome is that?

- Great news: Brett Atwood is in Alaska. He was originally scratched from the Anchorage Bucs' opening day roster, and I had crossed him off the Players to Watch list. Well, he's finally made the trip up and been added to the team. Great to see, because he's a very exciting player and a second-year Buc. Accordingly, I've un-crossed him from the Players to Watch list, and while I was at it I fixed some table wonkiness that I hadn't noticed until that point.

- On the other side of the Bucs transaction coin, their roster has been updated, and just look at how many people are on the DL. We talked about Brian Bello last week; he's one of the DL-listed players so I guess that's a pretty good indication that he went home with an injury. Bummer! Maybe we'll see him next year.

-  Perfect Game has released their weekly summer ball team rankings and guess who's ranked #4 in the nation? The good old Goldpanners. I have been kind of skeptical about these rankings -- do they actually have people really watching ever team in the nation, and how do they determine their rankings? -- but I can't argue about this one. The Panners came in just behind two Cape teams (Brewster and Y-D) and the Santa Barbara Foresters of the California league. Right below them are Chillicothe (Prospect), Chatham (Cape) and Rochester (Northwoods). In other words, our #1 team is right up there with the upper crust of the Cape and the top teams in some other top-tier leagues. No shame in that if you're an ABL fan. On the other hand, the Miners dropped to #13 and the Oilers have mysteriously disappeared from the list (though they were in contention). Like I said, I don't put a huge amount of stock in these rankings but I would say that this is evidence that the ABL is still one of the top summer leagues in the country and this year we're right up there with the Cape boys and some of the other up-and-coming leagues.

- Today is the Miners' pancake breakfast.  I'm taking my "assistant"/four-year-old girl down there for some flapjacks. I've never been so it'll be interesting; taking my little digital just in case a photo op occurs! If you're reading this between the hours of 9:30 a.m. and noon, and you're hungry for some freakin' pancakes, head on down to the Palmer Moose lodge. And speaking of the Miners, there's a great article on Bret Schwartz in the Frontiersman, check it out.

- My very tentative game schedule has become even more tentative; I was supposed to see the Pilots at Miners this weekend, and that's not going to happen. My goal now is to see the Fire and Goldpanners while they're in the Anchorage area next week. If I can accomplish that I'll be pretty stoked. Specifics will be announced as soon as I can actually make a plan!

Alright, I'm going to go get my pancake on. You have a good weekend, be safe, have fun, and keep checking back with us for more good stuff. I'll probably have something for you tomorrow, but if not, keep your eyes out for the latest power rankings on Monday.