Leading off this year's special is the winner of our 2008 prediction contest, esteemed UFO historian Richard Dolan. We start out by talking about how Richard's beloved NY Yankees seemed to be the top newsmakers in the off-season, with controvery surrounding their new ballpark, three player signings, and the A-Rod steroid revelations. Richard laments the Yankees asking New York City for money to help build their stadium, despite being a billion-dollar enterprise, and how there are some issues cropping up regarding the new stadium, such as wasteful spending on the construction and outrageous ticket prices. This leads to some discussion on how the present financial crisis may effect Major League Baseball.

We then move on to talk about the Yankee's three big signings in the off-season, CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, and Mark Teixeira. Richard speculates on how well the three acquisitions will fare this coming season. This leads to some general discussion on the Yankees' pitching rotation. We get Richard's opinion on whether Joba Chamberlain should be a starter or reliever. We also get Richard's take on the breakout season for the Tampa Bay Rays, who ended up besting the Yankees and Red Sox for the AL East title in 2008. Wrapping up our discussion of baseball news, we get Richard's take on the A-Rod steroid controversy from this past February and the steroid era, in general, including his issues with Bud Selig and Congress' role in all of this.

Moving into predictions, we get Richard's picks for who will win each of the six divisions & two wildcards, the AL & NL championships, and the World Series title. And, finishing things up, we get an update and preview from Richard on the impending release of his much anticipated book UFOs and the National Security State: Volume 2, due out in the late Summer.

Our next guest joining us to discuss all things baseball is documentary filmmaker, Ufological pundit and soon-to-be Canadian TV star Paul Kimball. We kick things off with Paul discussing why he thoroughly enjoyed the World Baseball Classic this past March. He speculates on how the WBC may change the structure of Major League Baseball going forward into the distant future. We get his take on the poor showing for the Canadian team in the WBC and this leads to him talking about some improvements that could be made to the WBC. He also relates the story of the 1972 "super series" between Canada and the USSR in hockey. This leads to us talking about the dueling interests of American baseball fans, who worry that the key players on their teams will end up getting injured in the WBC.

Looking at MLB news, Paul shares his take on the A-Rod steroid controversy and how to deal with framing the steroid era in baseball history. We then get Paul's predictions for the 2009 season. Wrapping things up, we find out what's coming up for Paul Kimball, including his impending "ghost investigation" series for Canadian TV and when the DVD for "Best Evidence" will be made available for folks to get their hands on that amazing film.

Up third in the baseball special is cryptozoologist extraordinaire Loren Coleman. We start things off by discussing Loren's recent blog post @ the Copycat Effect blog, The Masonic Origins of Baseball, where he discusses the connections between Masonry and America's pasttime. He first details the numerological connections between Masonry and baseball, including the importance of the number 3 and its various permutations as well as the unique structure of the baseball diamond and how it conforms to Masonic traditions. Loren then details the Masonic connections of the two men who are, individually, credited with having invented baseball: Abner Doubleday and Alexander Cartwright Jr.

Next we look at the impending 2009 baseball season, focusing on our mutual hometown team, the Boston Red Sox. We get Loren's take on the Red Sox' strong pitching acquisitions over the off-season. Loren contrasts the personality of the Yankees, collectively, with the Red Sox and observes how it seems like the Sox are a more cohesive unit, year after year. Following that, we get Loren's thoughts on the departure of Manny Ramirez from Boston this past Summer.

Examining some of the other AL East teams, we look at the three big off-season acquisitions by the Yankees and get Loren's thoughts on how they will fare this coming season. Next we talk about the breakout season of the Tampa Bay Rays last year and get Loren's thoughts on that surprising story from 2008. We also look at the perennial AL East disappointments: the Toronto Blue Jays. We also cover the topic of break-out teams and Loren shares his feeling that this year may not produce the surprising contender which past years have. Wrapping up the baseball talk, we find out what effect Loren thinks the financial crisis will have on baseball this year.

Wrapping up our baseball discussion, we get Loren's pick for the 2009 season, his division & wildcard winners, AL & NL champs, and the World Series champion projection. Closing it out, we find out what's coming up next for Loren Coleman, including speaking engagements and TV appearances.

Batting clean-up on the Baseball Special is crackpot historian Adam Gorightly. We start out by getting Adam's thoughts on the past year's season for his team, the San Francisco Giants, and how he sees them shaping up for 2009. We also get his take on the off-season rumblings that the Giants wanted to acquire Manny Ramirez. We also talk about the Giants' off-season signing of Edgar Renteria, who binnall thinks is grossly overpaid and generally awful, and this leads to Adam talking about how his feelings have changed about Giants' GM Brian Sabian.

Next we find out Adam's thoughts on the World Baseball Classic and how he thinks it is being used to steal baseball from America. Adam reminisces about the old Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Adam then smashes the fourth wall and ponders the insanity of having a baseball special featuring UFO and Bigfoot researchers giving their baseball predictions. This leads to us talking about life outside of esoterica and Adam reflects on how professional sports provide the majority of his entertainment and speculates on how outraged he'd be if aliens landed on the White House lawn during the World Series or NBA finals.

Wrapping up the baseball discussion, we get Adam's predictions for this year's impending season. He also reveals his new methodology of predictions: a hybrid style melding last year's "Costanza method" with a new twist involving choosing teams he hates the most. In typical Gorightly fashion, we then take things completely off course to discuss the impending NBA playoffs, potential conspiracies in the NBA, binnall's "creature theory" of NBA teams, and the sensitive nature of Glen "Big Baby" Davis. Closing out the segment, we get an update from Adam about the impending re-issue of his Charles Manson book and some of the promotional stuff he'll be doing when the book comes out this Summer.

Our final guest for the baseball special is UFO Mystic's own Greg Bishop, making his record breaking 6th appearance on BoA:Audio. We share a few laughs about the race for most appearances between Adam Gorightly and Greg and also the futility of spring training games and how they really mean nothing in the grand scheme of the season. We then move on to discuss Greg's beloved LA Dodgers and the addition of Manny last year and the troubles with signing the mercurial slugger during the off-season. We take a look at the prospects for the Dodgers in 2009, noting their potentially suspect pitching staff. Greg also gives his take on two fomer Dodgers, Brad Penny & Saito, who are now with the Red Sox. We also get Greg's thoughts on the retirement of former Dodger Jeff Kent.

Greg reflects on Joe Torre's first year as manager of the Dodgers, including the change in style of play and how much of the locker discord that was discussed in 2007 seems to have ended. We find out about Greg's experiences attending games at Dodger Stadium last year and he reveals the mindblowing array of games that he has tickets for this season. This segues, somehow, into a discussion on how "Yankees suck" chants can happen at any location, any time, in Boston. Then we talk about fights in the stands and what Greg hates most about attending baseball games: beach balls. We then discuss another stadium anomaly: the wave. We ponder whether the wave happens organically or if it is initiated by stadium workers. This turns back towards fights in the stands. We then talk a bit about the World Baseball Classic.

Wrapping up the baseball talk, we get Greg's predictions for the division & wildcard winners, AL / NL Champions, and World Series winner for 2009. He also reflects, a bit, on his attendance at two of the Dodgers playoff games last year. Finishing things up for the interview, we get some teasers for what Greg's working on right now, including potential book ideas. Greg also talks a bit about his recent appearance at the Dulce Underground Base Conference and reflects on how his stance on the alleged Dulce Base has begun to change. We also talk about shows we like on cable TV.

topics discussed:
3 hr 18 min
4.5.09
420
3rd Annual
BoA:Audio Baseball Special