Game 141: Sometimes you're the windshield...

...sometimes you're the bug...

In Texas, Tim Wakefield got hit early and often, and the Boston Red Sox are well on the way to their 58th loss of the year, trailing 15-4 in the bottom of the 8th.

Finally listened to this week's Bill Moyers' Journal, which has a heart rending story about the New Jersey National Guard, and the destruction of lives and families that have resulted from our ongoing apocalypse in Iraq. And anyone who wants to respond, "they volunteered," please go fuck yourself. We live in a country where soldiers' families are going to food pantries to keep from starving to death. If that doesn't make your blood boil, then I don't even know what species you are.

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Hots On For Nowhere

I had a really amazing last two days at work. Demeaning, Dispiriting, Depressing, and even some words that don't begin with "D". I've been in a state of mild concussion since then. I've been moving around, functioning, but not really engaged in anything much.

School starts Monday, so we've been doing final checklists, and all that jazz, to make sure we are well and truly ready. I guess we are.

We'll see.

I really believed Governor Palin was going to pull out by now-I didn't think she could survive the scrutiny. It has been somewhat amusing watching right wing commentators try to twist themselves into a pretzel to justify her selection. But it certainly appears she is in for the duration.

Hot as she indisputably is, I can't vote for her. I have explained the reasons why, and I could launch into a seven paragraph diatribe about the different reasons, but frankly, I'm just too tired.

I'll just add this: http://tinyurl.com/6doumf

Palin LIED about the Bridge To Nowhere. LIED. Made a statement that was factually incorrect. Congress gave her the money for the Bridge, and she spent it. That makes her "thanks, but no thanks" statement a LIE.

And the fact that this won't lead the nightly news teaches us how very, very fucked we are.

"Killing industrial quantities of defenseless human beings, whether by old-fashioned apparatus or by newfangled contraptions from universities, in the expectation of gaining military or diplomatic advantage thereby, may not be such a hot idea after all.

Does it work?

Its enthusiasts, its fans, if I may call them that, assume that leaders of political entities we find inconvenient or worse are capable of pity for their own people. If they see or at least hear about fricasseed women and children and old people who looked and talked like themselves, maybe even relatives, they will be incapacitated by weepiness. So goes the theory, as I understand it.

Anyone who believes that might as well go all the way and make Santa Claus and the tooth fairy icons of our foreign policy."

-Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Game 140: Deep In The Heart Of Beckett

In Texas, the Red Sox throttled the Rangers, 8-1, in Josh Beckett's return to the mound after a brief absence.

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A day without game...

As the NFL season opens and the Republican convention closes, the Boston Red Sox did not play tonight. The Twins were steamrolled by Jesse Litsch and the Blue Jays, putting the Red Sox 5 1/2 games in front in the wild card. Strangely, we are also 3 games behind in the division race, too.

Game 139-Its good to have the Orioles to kick around

Trailing 4-0, the Boston Red Sox came all the way back to beat Baltimore 5-4 with two in the seventh, two in the eighth, and then scoring the winning run on an error by the pitcher in the ninth. Aint pretty, but we'll take it.

Don't use a girl's name for a last name (Gm 138)

Our Man DP muscled up and smacked around the lowly O's, spearheading a 14-2 beating tonight with a 3 for 5 performance, including a home run. Jon Lester cruised through 5 easy frames for his 13th win. The unfortunately named Radhames Liz takes the loss.

Woot.

OK, everyone, breathe out.

http://blogs.weei.com/robbradford/2008/08/29/the-story-of-josh-becketts-elbow/

According to Boston's WEEI, Beckett got a clean bill of health from Dr. Andrews.

Phew.

Atari Bigby Update

I have been lax in my Atari Bigbying.

Green Bay S Atari Bigby, the OFPWAFNOTB, did not play in Green Bay's preseason finale on August 28, 2008 because of some sort of ankle injury. Sources indicate he will be fine for their season opener.

Genetic Link To Infidelity?

My local news, fresh off of their breathtaking coverage of Labor Day Weekend, is now chirping about an apparent genetic link to infidelity.

Yeah. It's called having a Y chromosome.

Game 137: Slogan Needed

Boston's Paul Byrd showed off his masters degree in Loss Avoidance, allowing 3 homers to the Orioles, all solo shots, while Dustin Pedroia's two run single keyed a four run sixth inning for Boston's 7-4 win.
Boston remains 3 games up on Minnesota in the wild card race.

And the chatter keeps going on...

The Red Sox send Paul Byrd to the hill tonight to face the Orioles.

Speaking of bumps, (sorry!)

According to numerous sources, Bristol Palin, the 17 year old daughter of the presumptive Vice Presidential nominee of the Republican Party, is pregnant.

My first reaction is pity and grief. Pregnancy is hard, teen pregnancy doubly so, and it cannot be made easier by living in the public eye. I hope she is able to go through this privately, with as much dignity as she can, and go on to have a wonderful life.

My second reaction is, I wonder how many times the Party of Personal Morality is going to have to have its leaders brought low by personal failings before they will learn to tone down the hateful, divisive rhetoric? People make mistakes. They don’t need you kicking them as they fall down.

My third reaction is that this really encapsulates the abortion issue nicely. According to the reports, the pregnancy has progressed to the point where it is no longer an option, or soon will be at that point. Obviously, her mother is pro life-she has been abundantly clear about that over the years. Whether or not the daughter feels that way is really known only to her. But the point has always been-shouldn’t it be up to her?

My fourth reaction is, doesn’t this say all kinds of interesting things about abstinence only education and teen access to birth control? If this teen, raised by evangelicals in the public eye with, one would assume, fewer opportunities to sneak off with boys than normal teens, (ie with state troopers around) can get pregnant, can’t anyone? No sensible person wants teenagers having sex willy nilly. But, given this obvious biological fact-teenaged humans will want to have sex- that and our sex laced culture affecting even the daughter of an evangelical governor-shouldn’t they have access to birth control?

My fifth reaction is a darkly cynical one- in my obsessive reading about Palin, the notion that she is a stalking horse, put up as a sop to the right wing, who will quickly withdraw in favor of Romney or Olympia Snowe or someone like that, has been thrown about. This news seems to feed right into that. The same dark, atavistic part of my brain wonders when Palin knew about her daughter’s condition. Did she learn about it between Friday and today? If she knew before, what kind of monster does that make her, being willing to pur her daughter and first grandchild through this? Additionally, how stupid is she, being willing to accept the job knowing what she knew? Did she think, or does she think, she can just brazen her way through? Did she see, or does she see, how an unwed teenage mother in her family makes her moralistic worldview look hypocritical?

And my sixth reaction, again, is just pity. This can break bad, as the saying goes, in so many ways-and everything has to go perfectly for it to come out right. I just hope it goes well for her, and I’ll pray for her.

OK, enough. Again.

I got a voice mail last night from someone named Maurice, asking when I was going to come down to go fishing. I don’t know anyone named Maurice. I haven’t been fishing in 25 years. Obviously a wrong number, but I find this a little amusing at the same time.

Some people call me Maurice, because I speak with the pompatus of love.

Game 136 Even The Losers (Get Lucky Sometimes)

Final Day of August-Last Chance for a player to make the postseason roster.

Ted Williams’ birthday yesterday.

I really have to stop with l’affaire Palin. It’s not healthy. I think it undercuts the “Obama isn’t experienced” arguments, because you are talking about the backup plan for a 72 year old cancer survivor, and her experience, if experience counts for anything, is insufficient. I don’t think there is any experience that prepares you for being president.

Her ideas are what I object to, primarily. She has no new ideas, and she’s a creationist. That shows a basic, fundamental lack of understanding of the nature of reality that scares me deeply. You don’t teach creationism because it isn’t a scientific theory.

There is another new Metallica single out, “My Apocalypse”, to go along with “The Day That Never Comes”, which came out last week. The album “drops”, as the kids say, on the 12th, I believe. I have already paid for the download on the Mission: Metallica website, and yet, like an idiot, I bought the singles on ITunes anyway.

This is their first full album with their new bass player, whose name is Robert Rodriguez, I believe. He used to be in Ozzy’s touring band. I can picture him in my head, but I can’t pull his name for some reason. There was a time when my inability to name Metallica’s bass player would be proof positive I was having a cerebral infarction, since that would prove my memory was grossly impaired.

They are touring this winter, but I won’t be going. The two times I saw them (20 YEARS AGO!) (?) (??) were phenomenal, unbelievably energetic shows, but I just can’t picture going to a concert at my age. In fact, I planned to buy tickets to see comedian Brian Regan this weekend, but, predictably, I forgot. I have to remember to check tonight to see if there are any left.

Why do I still listen to this band? I guess it just still speaks to me. Heavy metal is a young man’s game, for sure-but I still feel the emotions, to some extent-the rootless anger-that I felt back then, and when I drive down the road with Metallica pouring out of my speakers, screaming along with the lyrics, it helps.

Does anybody know this song? It starts with the crackling that sounds like a needle being put down on a vinyl record, then starts a steady, bass and drums backbeat. It samples a line from BB King, I can recognize that-I just can’t make out the words. It’s “Been Down”…something. There is another singer, not quite rapping, not quite singing, who sings verses in between the King samples. I can’t hear it quite clearly enough to recognize all of the words in the song, either-I know that isn’t much help. Can anybody think of an R+B type song with a BB King sample in it? I’d love to buy it, I just don’t know anyone who knows the title. It plays on the Muzak system at work.

I don’t think there is any way Boston can catch Tampa Bay in the East this year, but it seems like they have a stranglehold on the Wild Card. The Angels are deep and dangerous, while the Twins and/or White Sox seem beatable. The Rays? It’s hard to say. They have played well, despite some injuries, all year, and that certainly counts for something. I would say, from here, that we could probably slip by the Twins or White Sox without playing our very best baseball, but if and when we have to play the Rays or the Angels, we pretty much need to be on our game. If we end up as the Wild Card, that probably means we get the Angels, since they are far and away the team with the best record in the AL. I think so, anyway-since I’m writing this without any Internet access.

Do you capitalize Internet? I think you used to. I don’t know if you’re supposed to any more.

According to my phone, which doesn’t usually lie to me, Boston lost to the Chicago White Sox at Fenway this afternoon, 4-2. Gavin Floyd beat Tim Wakefield for his fifteenth (!) win of the year. Of course, if we lose enough games, we won’t have to worry about playoff matchups because the Red Sox will be watching them on television.