Honestly, news media is a bit of a joke.

Of course the Padres new deal could be worth $75 million a year... If you want to rile up a fan base into believing that $75 million a year is cash that should go towards increasing player payroll. You could say that considering the fact that some day in the future - ten or twenty years from now - the Moorad group will eventually sell the Padres and the value of the Regional Sports Network that they will have helped start could maybe be worth like billions of dollars and if you divide up those billions of dollars that you stand to earn (should you decide to sell your stake 10 or 15 years down the line) then you, by GOD, should be spending that money that will be yours in 10 years to buy the most expensive player you can afford to buy because 2012 is our year.

I'm on a tagent... P.S. Krasovic confirmed Bob Nightengale's numbers, I guess... If you want to confirm them as bullshit.

Anyways. So now there's YASS (Yet Another Secret Source) that is saying that the Padres deal isn't actually worth $30 million, and it probably won't be worth $75 million, but f_ck-it-all let's split the difference and call it $40 million and then kinda vaguely say all the things that everybody believes so that we can just get back to speculating that it's actually worth a zillion dollars, which is what my source says.

The source added that when other factors, including a "signing bonus" and 20-percent equity in the new Fox Sports San Diego, are considered, the club could receive as much as $40 million this season.

Ohhhhh... So now there's a signing bonus and the 20% equity (which as far as I can tell still isn't spendable unless you want to take a regular annual loan out against it). And now the number is $40 million.

Incidentally, I still don't get how you "receive" $40 million if any of it is equity. Is Moorad planning on selling his share in Fox Sports San Diego as soon as he gets it in annual chunks? Who is this mysterious buyer going to be? My guess is Dennis Morgigno. He's apparently been sitting on a gold mine. If non-existent Fox Sports San Diego is worth over $3 billion, then, Channel 4SD, even in broadcasting to only half of San Diego, should probably have been worth $1.5 billion!?!?!

Corky's Pest Control must kill a sh_t ton of bugs.

We took the clubhouse tour once again at Padres Fan Fest. In the hallway they have the picture of Orlando Hudson spanking Jason Bartlett framed and signed on the wall. It's a weird moment to commemorate to say the least. Like I get that it's sexy but it's also fundamentally bad baseball.

The weight room looks like it got a new paint job. Now there are inspirational quotes on top of the walls. If those don't do the trick they have a corner stocked with "supplements" and what looks like boxes of herbal teas.

In the massage room they have a big bird cage in the corner. Usually when I want to relax and get a deep tissue massage I want to hear running water or an Enya album, not a squawking bird.

In high school I used to call over to Dex's house and ask him what he was doing and he'd say he wasn't doing anything. In the background I'd hear laughing and whistles. I always suspected that he was having a party that I didn't get invited to. That may have been true but years later I found out that he had parrots that made most of the laughing and whistling noises.

I asked one of the employees who was trying to keep the line moving what the deal was with the bird cage and he said it was for canaries. Dex asked, "So this clubhouse is like a coal mine where they have canaries to test for toxic gases?" I've seen what baseball players eat, I bet there are plenty of toxic gases in there once they start to get really relaxed during a massage. So I can understand the safety concern.

Today marks 7 years since Dex and I started blogging about the Padres. It all started on a blog called Padres Fans Since '76 with a post about a second or third hand account of seeing Khalil Greene at Rock Bottom Brewery.

We were just boys back then with our whole lives ahead of us. We didn't know anything about puberty, underarm hair, blogging or the Padres for that matter, but we had three innate qualities that in time would be the keys to our success. We were virile, charming and handsome.

I don't think either of us had read a Padres blog before that fateful day in 2005 and it wasn't until after we started that we looked around to see that there were about three others. Of course there was Ducksnorts who had been blogging in one form or another since '97 and then another two who have since been buried and forgotten under the sands of time. Ducksnorts was like an ambulance driving through traffic, leading the way and we just pulled in right behind him like jerks. He gave the real Padres fans what they wanted with great story telling and in depth analysis and we were able to be our quirky selves.

Here's what Geoff from Ducksnorts said about us back then and I think it still holds up as a good description of what we do.

The other day I asked why there aren’t more blogs about the Padres. Well, now there are! Check ‘em out when you have a moment:

Padres Fans Since ’76 A little TMI in spots, but how can you not like their Keys to the Season. Good start here…

We were the brash and impetuous rookies with complete contempt for authority and raw talent. Now 7 years later we blog before you as crafty veterans, the wise sages of the internet. Your moral compass on all things Padres. Too far?

Anyway it may have been a coincidence that we started on Valentine's Day back then, but our blogging was born of a nonsensical love for the Padres on the eve of Spring Training. It's still what fuels us today. Just like it was back in 2005, it's a good time to start a blog.

Honestly I'm not aware of anyone that has been with us this entire time, but we thank all of you that are with us now or at some point supported us by reading in the past.

Go Padres!

Padres Fan Fest was alright, it's just that there were long lines for everything except the Groundskeeper tour. While Dex and Kev took their kids to the Bounce House behind the batter's eye, Jonny and I got in line to throw in the Padres bullpen.

In years past you could only throw in the visitor's bullpen, but this time you could toe the same rubber that Trevor Hoffman used for so many years. Plus you actually got to pitch to a mannequin batter and catcher which gave you something to aim for.

As we stood in line for about 40 minutes we watched as young softball players showed off their underhand fast pitch and Little Leaguers tried to bean the opposing mannequin batter. Each pitcher was given three balls to throw and for the most part it only took about a minute for them to pitch, gather their things and exit.

Then this older guy dressed in a Padres cap, jacket and mirrored sunglasses took the mound. He was probably in his mid-50's and no more than 5'2" . He removed his tiny backpack and was tossed the first of his three balls. He was a southpaw but held the baseball in his right hand under his chin while he brought his pitching hand to his mouth. He jerked suddenly as if to fake a throw to an imaginary third base men.

He came set again and spread his pitching hand's index and middle finger wide apart like you would to throw a split finger fastball. He then slowly brought the two fingers to his mouth and flicked his tongue between them like he incorrectly imagined a big leaguer would do. He finished the display by licking the tips of his fingers. I couldn't see his eyes through his mirrored glasses but it was like he was staring directly at me when he did it too.

I recoiled in horror and exclaimed to Jon, "Oh that's just disgusting." Jon remarked how he didn't want to throw the balls that he was using.

After about 2 minutes of standing there on the mound performing oral between his fingers he finally threw the ball and it bounced no more than 4 feet in front of him and rolled about half way to the mannequins.

The process began again. He checked for any runners on third base who might want to steal home and then he got to third base with his pitching hand. Each time locking eyes with me as he did it.

I couldn't watch without grimacing and commenting something along the lines of "I think I'm going to be sick."

He was by himself and treating his experience on the mound very seriously, but each set up and throw were the same, the fake to third, the licking between his fingers and the throw into the ground.

Finally he threw the third ball and left. It was then that Jon told me that I should have videoed the whole thing. I was kicking myself, that video would have been gold. It was my only regret from Fan Fest