Saturday, October 20, 2007

Werewolves and Lollipops

http://www.subpop.com/releases/patton_oswalt/full_lengths/werewolves_and_lollipops

Just bought this with one of my birthday gift cards. Screamingly, jawdroppingly, amazingly funny, intelligent, high quality comedy from probably the sharpest mind out there. Brilliant.

Sports Guy

Another "Johnny, Are You Worried Yet?" this week-more brilliant stuff.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/simmons/index

Friday, October 19, 2007

End The Damn War

October 19, 2007
Steve Padilla, who is in charge of military obituaries at the Los Angeles Times, had a great piece on NPR’s Day to Day on Wednesday.
First of all, there is a military obituaries SECTION? What the hell?
Second of all, it is an obscenity against God and nature to bury our youth like this. Mothers burying sons and daughters is just wrong. Period.
End the war.
Interesting piece on Studio 360 about the Boston accent in various films. Being a native, people often comment to me that I don’t have the accent. And I don’t. I can put it on if I need to, but I usually don’t. I’ve always felt it sounded a bit ignorant.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Things Left Unsaid

Sentences I never thought I would type:

"This season may depend on Bobby Kielty."

Kielty just flew out to right off of a struggling CC Sabathia to end the top of the 5th with the BASES LOADED. I think we're going to regret this one at bat at some point tonight.

Colbert/Craig 08

October 18, 2007

All together now…

“Yesterday it was my birthday/
I hung one more year on the line/
I should be depressed/
My life’s a mess/
But I’m havin’ a good time.

I’ve been lovin’ and lovin’ and lovin’
I’m exhausted from lovin’ so well
I should go to bed but a voice in my head says,
‘Oh, what the hell.’ ”

Time for my yearly ritual blog posting. Longtime readers of the blog will note that I do this every October 18. Or try to, That is, if there were any longtime readers of this blog. Which there aren’t.

Apparently Joe Torre has been offered a 1 year deal to continue managing the Yankees, and he has turned it down. I can’t say that I blame him. I fully understand if he wants to take a year off, or run a farm system, or do TV.

Hard to imagine anyone else doing any better than he has done-all the division titles and 4 crowns. But, on the other hand, Yankee seasons are a disappointment unless they end in a championship. And it’s equally hard to imagine another manager, other than maybe Francona, getting more resources than Torre has. Is it fair to fire a guy based on the outcomes of a few short series? No, but that appears to be what is happening.

Great point by Robert Reich on yesterday’s Marketplace. Corporations don’t do things to be nice-they do things to make money, or at the very least, to save money. So every time a company tells you that they are being environmentally friendly, remember that they are doing so because they believe it will be a plus on their balance sheet-making a profit or avoiding a regulatory penalty. That is why it is necessary for government to continue to regulate business.

Game Five tonight. I’m on the fence again about whether or not to tune it in. I didn’t in game four, and we lost, and I did in game 3, and we lost, etc, etc, etc. It certainly isn’t impossible for us to win, but it sure is a tough row to hoe. The discussion I’ve read online seems to put tonight’s game in the bag-Beckett wins easily, and then Schilling turns into Schilling 2004 and wins, and then Dice K finds himself and wins game 7. It’s not impossible, but I don’t think it’s bloody likely.

I’m listening to Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History podcast, though, and he can be fairly compelling to listen to. I might just see that through, then pick up the game at home.

Apparently Larry Craig gave an interview to Matt Lauer, and he’s screaming entrapment, saying that he went into the men’s room to use the men’s room. Of course. And the rubbing of the officer’s foot, and the running your hand under the stall…that’s all just natural behavior, right? What a fool. Does he think anyone really believes that?

Steven Colbert for President? That should be fun to watch.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

36 and Still Watching The Same Old Crap

Watching "Independence Day" again, for no really good reason. I love this cornball stuff.

All the movies that proper adults hate, I usually like.

Recriminations and Retribution

Well, we now have a day off, then Josh Beckett pitches on full rest to save the season in Game Five Thursday night.

If you need to beat Jake Westbrook and Paul Byrd to save your season, and you can't, then you're not a World Series team. It's not impossible for us to win three straight and move on- anyone who lived through 2004 can tell you that. But it's darned hard. 

If the Indians do lose this, though, it's an agonizing choke for them.

Game One was a win-we got to Sabathia, then stomped around the bullpen, and Beckett was masterful. Game Two was a tossup-we got into extra innings tied, and after that, it's kind of a tossup. That kind of loss hurts, but not so bad. Games Three and Four we got throttled by inferior pitchers-and there really isn't any excuse for that kind of thing. Neither one was really a blowout, but the Indians pitched well enough to win, so you have to tip your hat to them,

We shall see....

I wrote another nasty note to my representative about his failure to override the SCHIP veto. Billions of dollars for Halliburton, but not one cent for sick kids. Nice policy, guys.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Son of a B

Tim comes out, Delcarmen comes in, 3 run homer to right. 

6-0 Indians, still batting in the fifth.

How many days until spring training?

Knuckle This

After fighting their way to a 0-0 tie through four, Casey Blake of Cleveland just yanked a ball out of Jacobs Field for a 1-0 lead. Then a hit, and then a hit batsman, and then a fielder's choice, and now its first and third with one out.

And it's Asdoobiedoobiedo Cabrera, and he pops up, but Youkilis DROPS it.

Damn it all.

Infield single, all hands safe, 2-0 Tribe.

Sigh.

We're screwed.

Kucinich/Varitek 08

October 16, 2007

It’s my birthday tomorrow. Woo fucking hoo.

I’m deliberately not listening to Game Four. I’m not sure exactly why. Steeling myself against disappointment, I suppose.

Great article on Dennis Kucinich in this month’s Esquire. His wife is SMOKIN’ hot. If I didn’t have such a man crush on John Edwards, I would definitely have one on Kucinich. I can’t disagree with anything the man says. And his wife is hot. He doesn’t have a flaming chance, though. Much as I’d love either Edwards or Kucinich to win the nomination and take it to the right wing fascisti, they won’t. It’s going to be Hillary. I just hope she can overcome the fact that there is a solid 30-40% of this country that will never vote for her.

This Yankee postseason should be fascinating. Whether or not they let Torre go is one question, and whether or not ARod opts out is another. They also have to decide whether or not to resign Posada and Rivera, both of whom have been mainstays and both of whom are getting older. Although Posada put up great numbers this season, he’s 36, if memory serves, and he can’t last much longer, logic would dictate.

Boston faced a very similar problem with the question of whether or not to resign Varitek a year or two ago. They did, obviously, and, while it is nice to see him back there and it’s easy, as a Boston partisan, to root for him, we now have our own 30+ year old catcher who will not get any younger.

You hear constantly from announcer bots that Varitek calls a great game, and all the pitchers love working with him, and blah blah blah blah blah. Any study on the issue seems to hint that there is no such thing as a catcher affecting ERA. Is this another one of those things, like clutch hitting, that everyone knows is there but no one can show?

I’m sure he does call a great game, and I’m sure the pitchers love working with him. And, so far, I’m also sure that the Kevin Cashs and Molinas of the world couldn’t hit any better than he is hitting right now. I just have this uncomfortable feeling that, in the years to come, I’m going to regret us having paid him that much money. It remains to be seen if the Yankees will make the same decision, and if they do, how it will affect them.

Monday, October 15, 2007

Cleveland/Boston Game Three Semi Live Blog

October 15, 2007

Boston (1-1) at Cleveland (1-1), Game Three
American League Championship Series

Boy, the Cleveland announcers are really excitable. Westbrook struck out Pedroia to open the game, and they made it sound like he had discovered the cure for cancer. Then, after a walk, he got a double play and they had kittens over it.

Bases loaded on a walk, a single, an error in the second for Boston, nobody out, Varitek up. A nice, quality extra base hit would do nicely here.

Fly out to left, not deep enough. 1 out.

Crisp up. GIDP. DAMMIT.

We may regret this inning later. Bases loaded, nobody out, you gotta score. You just have to.

Sounds like the umpire (Brian Gorman) has a nice, big zone, because Dice K is getting called strikes.

Sounds like Kenny Lofton just smacked a two run homer.

DAMMIT DAMMIT.

2-0 Tribe.

I think we can hit Westbrook, but we better get started.

These Indians might be just too damn good to beat.

I fell asleep, but apparently it was old friend Trot Nixon who got the hit to beat us Saturday night. Typical Nixon. I always liked him-a real Pete Reiser/Hal McRae/Butch Hobson type. 110%, all the time.

I have to admit, the Cleveland announcer just got pretty excited on a stop by Lugo, to end the inning, too. After 2, 2-0 Cleveland.

DAMMIT.

Now it’s two on, two out for Cleveland. 3-2 to Victor Martinez. Sounds like another Dice K start-lots of pitches, lots of baserunners.

Sigh.

SWING AND A MISS ON A SLIDER! Way to go, Dice Man. Nicely done, sir.

I just wish this guy would trust his stuff. I wonder if it’s a Japanese thing-maybe the strike zone is bigger there, or maybe the code of honor is to never give into the hitter. I have to keep remembering this guy is only 27.

Top 4th , JD Drew up, runner on 2nd, 2 out. Time to bring home the bacon, big guy. You haven’t earned a red cent this year, time to pony up.

Groundout, 3-1. Jerk.

Double Sigh.

Bottom 5, 2 on, 1 out. Dice Man in trouble again. Asdrubal Cabrera, the only Asdrubal in major league history, up.

Base hit, run scores, 3-0 Cleveland.

TRIPLE DAMMIT.

Hafner up.

Fielder’s choice RBI groundout, 4-0 Tribe.

Well, beats a three run homer.

Cheap-ass base hit from Martinez, and Matsuzaka is done.

And so is the game.

Fucking Indians.

Ah....now I get it

So that's how you add titles.

Sigh.
"CONGRATS TO DUSTY
Dusty Baker was hired as manager of the Cincinnati Reds, agreeing to a three-year deal and hoping to bring the Reds to respectability. 2007 was its seventh straight losing season. Baker, 58, worked in television this past season after the Chicago Cubs fired him after the 2006 season."

From Bill Chuck, the indomitable Billy Ball ( www.billy-ball.com )

Yeah, that'll do it.

Somewhere, Homer Bailey's agent is sobbing uncontrollably.
The Phil Nugent Experience: Living the Dream

Wow. This says it about as well as I've ever seen it said.
Looking over this weekend's quarterbacks....Kerry Collins? Kurt Warner? Vinny Testaverde? Trent Dilfer? Is it 1999 again?

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Things we now know about the Cleveland-Boston series, now tied 1-1 after the extra inning loss last night-

1) These boys came to play.
2) Sabathia and Carmona are tough, but mortal, mothers.
3) The Bad Man is no joke.
4) Somebody abducted John Wasdin, dressed him up as Eric Gagne, and put him on the mound last night.