One of my favorite films of all time is Good Will Hunting. It was on TV the other day and the message I always take away from it is living your life without regret. Overall, I am pretty satisfied with my life over the past 37.5 years and there isn't really much I would do differently. That being said, there are a few things I would love a chance to go back and do. They aren't earth shattering moments or moments that would have changed the course of fate but rather opportunities that came my way but for some reason or another were not acted upon. Here they are:
Beach Boys Concert: When I was in high school The Beach Boys came to Maine for a show at Loring Air Force Base in the town of Limestone. I am 95% sure it was on July 4, 1988 but I haven't been able to find the exact date anywhere online. Limestone is 202 miles from my hometown and I did not have a car or driver's license in my high school years so the odds of me making it to this show seemed pretty minimal. Then out of the blue, my next door neighbor Doug, who was originally from that part of the state, said he was going to the show and offered me a chance to go. At the time I didn't know Doug very well so the thought of driving 200 miles to the middle of nowhere for a concert with some random dude wasn't very appealing. So I turned down his offer and missed what I assume is the Beach Boys first and only concert in the Pine Tree State.
Man Without A Face Extra: In 1992 they filmed the Mel Gibson movie The Man Without A Face in Maine. They filmed scenes all over the state all summer long. The climax of the movie is the graduation scene and to film it they needed tons of extras to be the crowd for the scene. It was a slam dunk, if you show up at this location, on this date, at this time, you will be an extra in the film. My buddy Aaron and I were all set to go but he ended up having to work unexpectedly that day and as a result I blew it off. It would have been pretty cool to say, "Oh yeah, I was in that film" whenever it was on TV for the rest of my life.
Dukesfest: Actor Ben Jones, better known as Cooter, started an annual Dukes of Hazzard fan gathering called Dukesfest in Sperryville, Virginia in 1999. It quickly grew tremendously in popularity, so much that he actually started having two festivals, one in Virginia and another in Tennessee. My buddy Drew and I were all set to go to the 2003 Dukesfest in Sperryville, Virginia which is a mere 50 miles from my house. But the morning of the fest I blew it off for a hot date with a gal named Angie. Low and behold, my date with Angie ended up being postponed so I missed the festival for nothing. Unfortunately, that ended up being the last Dukesfest in Sperryville. It simply grew too big for this tiny mountain town and moved 400 miles south to Tennessee the following year.
Last Game At Rosenblatt Stadium: If you know anything about college baseball you know what happens each June at Rosenblatt Stadium - the College World Series (CWS). Rosenblatt has been the home of the CWS since 1950. Like nearly all old things in the US, Rosenblatt is being replaced by a new stadium with tons of luxury boxes and fancy amenities. This means that the 2010 CWS was the last to be played there. The stadium is also the home of the Omaha Royals minor league baseball team, meaning their last game of the 2010 season would actually be the last baseball game ever played at Rosenblatt. I tried desperately to convince someone, anyone of my friends to make an early September road trip to go to the last game. In the end no one wanted to go so I missed my chance but not for lack of effort.
Mood: Nostalgic
Movie Quote of the Day:
"Well, I got her number. How do you like them apples?" - Good Will Hunting
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Television Advertising Overload
If you think that there is more and more advertising than ever today on television you are probably right. Advertising is coming at you more often than ever on television and in new and sometimes unethical ways. Here are some of the trends I have noticed:
Extra Commercials: I first noticed this change a few months ago when two of the shows I watch regularly changed the length of their segments. Both Fast Money and Mad Money are 60 minute shows on CNBC. Each used to go to commercial only once between the 45 minute mark and the end of the show at the bottom of the hour. Then a few months back they both starting splitting that last 12-13 minute segment into two segments 5-6 minutes long. This allowed them to sneak in an extra 2-3 minutes of advertising.
At first I thought this was simply a sign that they were able to sell some extra advertising space but I have since come to the conclusion that this move is more likely motivated by greed. They are just trying to cram more and more commercials into their time slot. It's one thing if a show is successful and is able to sell more advertising space. It's quite another to dramatically change the flow and content of the show for the sake of the all mighty dollar.
Coming Back From A Commercial To Go To A Commercial: Both Fast Money and Mad Money occasionally employ the most evil of all advertising tactics. They come back from a commercial to go to a commercial. This happened most recently yesterday on Fast Money at about 5:51pm ET. They came back from 3 minutes of commercials, talked for about 15 seconds, and then went to 3 more minutes of commercials.
Between the extra advertising segment and the coming back from commercial to go to a commercial, my opinion of both Fast Money and Mad Money has gone way down. In fact, I regularly switch the channel to ESPN to watch PTI when that first commercial break happens at 45 past the hour. There is so little actual content and commentary from that point to the bottom of the hour that I am not really missing anything. They want their viewers to sit there through those extra ads but I refuse to do so.
Product Placement: Product placement is nothing new in the world of television. An occasional can of Coke here or an Apple logo there is no big deal in my opinion. Unfortunately product placement has gotten totally out of hand. The best example of this recently was the How I Met Your Mother (which isn't even about how Ted met his wife anymore) episode on 10/11/2010. They should have just retitled the show "How I Met Microsoft" that night. The number of product placements Microsoft had in this 22 minute show was incredulous. I am not going to quantify them as it's already been done. Check it out! The bottom line is that it was extremely egregious.
Cutting Out Content: This is the newest and most disturbing trend I have seen. Some networks are now editing classic shows and reducing their running length so they can cram in more ads. One of my favorite shows growing up was The Wonder Years. There was no mistaking when it came on the air as the Joe Cocker cover of The Beatles "With A Little Help From My Friends" was always played at the top of the show. The Wonder Years is now on The Hub on weekday evenings, but it's theme song is often left on the cutting room floor. In addition, The Hub seems to edit out some of the content of the actual show as well. Quite often the show will suddenly go to commercial in the middle of a scene and when it comes back from commercial it is in the middle of a new, unrelated scene.
Mood: Enraged.
Song of the Day:
"What would you do if I sang out of tune, would you stand up and walk out on me."
-With A Little Help From My Friends
Joe Cocker
Extra Commercials: I first noticed this change a few months ago when two of the shows I watch regularly changed the length of their segments. Both Fast Money and Mad Money are 60 minute shows on CNBC. Each used to go to commercial only once between the 45 minute mark and the end of the show at the bottom of the hour. Then a few months back they both starting splitting that last 12-13 minute segment into two segments 5-6 minutes long. This allowed them to sneak in an extra 2-3 minutes of advertising.
At first I thought this was simply a sign that they were able to sell some extra advertising space but I have since come to the conclusion that this move is more likely motivated by greed. They are just trying to cram more and more commercials into their time slot. It's one thing if a show is successful and is able to sell more advertising space. It's quite another to dramatically change the flow and content of the show for the sake of the all mighty dollar.
Coming Back From A Commercial To Go To A Commercial: Both Fast Money and Mad Money occasionally employ the most evil of all advertising tactics. They come back from a commercial to go to a commercial. This happened most recently yesterday on Fast Money at about 5:51pm ET. They came back from 3 minutes of commercials, talked for about 15 seconds, and then went to 3 more minutes of commercials.
Between the extra advertising segment and the coming back from commercial to go to a commercial, my opinion of both Fast Money and Mad Money has gone way down. In fact, I regularly switch the channel to ESPN to watch PTI when that first commercial break happens at 45 past the hour. There is so little actual content and commentary from that point to the bottom of the hour that I am not really missing anything. They want their viewers to sit there through those extra ads but I refuse to do so.
Product Placement: Product placement is nothing new in the world of television. An occasional can of Coke here or an Apple logo there is no big deal in my opinion. Unfortunately product placement has gotten totally out of hand. The best example of this recently was the How I Met Your Mother (which isn't even about how Ted met his wife anymore) episode on 10/11/2010. They should have just retitled the show "How I Met Microsoft" that night. The number of product placements Microsoft had in this 22 minute show was incredulous. I am not going to quantify them as it's already been done. Check it out! The bottom line is that it was extremely egregious.
Cutting Out Content: This is the newest and most disturbing trend I have seen. Some networks are now editing classic shows and reducing their running length so they can cram in more ads. One of my favorite shows growing up was The Wonder Years. There was no mistaking when it came on the air as the Joe Cocker cover of The Beatles "With A Little Help From My Friends" was always played at the top of the show. The Wonder Years is now on The Hub on weekday evenings, but it's theme song is often left on the cutting room floor. In addition, The Hub seems to edit out some of the content of the actual show as well. Quite often the show will suddenly go to commercial in the middle of a scene and when it comes back from commercial it is in the middle of a new, unrelated scene.
Mood: Enraged.
Song of the Day:
"What would you do if I sang out of tune, would you stand up and walk out on me."
-With A Little Help From My Friends
Joe Cocker
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Aluminum Nickels
There are only a few states in the Union where aluminum cans, and plastic & glass bottles are returnable for cold, hard cash. My home state of Maine is one of them along with California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Vermont. (This is also currently true in the state of Delaware but it won't be as of February 1, 2011 as their bottle bill has recently been repealed.)
Knowing that every bottle or can you see on the side of the road is just waiting to be picked up, washed out, and returned for a bright, shiny nickel can make taking a walk in Maine a very profitable enterprise. You certainly aren't going to get rich picking up bottles but you can make some decent beer money by picking up empty beer cans. You can pick up litter, get exercise, and make some money all at the same time. That is my kind of multi-tasking!
There is one other extremely important factor when trying to find aluminum nickels in the state of Maine: poison ivy. Maine is just chock full of poison ivy. This means there is a fairly limited window to safely retrieve aluminum nickels from the sides of the road during the year. You have about a month in the spring after the snow melts before the ivy sprouts, and a couple months in the fall once it dies down again. I suppose you can look for them all winter long if you can brave the snow, wind and cold. Brrrrr.
As luck would have it, I happen to be in Maine this very week, the poison ivy has died down for the year, and the weather has been fairly decent (i.e. it hasn't snowed.) As a result I have been cleaning up on my daily walks this week and have been coming home with 3, 4, or 5 bottles and/or cans each and every day. The only limiting factor has been running out of pocket space to store them as I walk. I just can't seem to walk by an aluminum nickel without picking it up.
I actually think they should expand the bottle bill nationwide as it would create jobs - permanent jobs - reduce trash, and encourage recycling. Obama hasn't been able to jump start the economy enough to spur job creation so maybe he should give a national bottle bill some thought.
Mood: Frugal.
Movie Quote of the Day:
"Hey every dad is entitled to one hideous shirt, and one horrible sweater. It's part of the dad code."
-Cheaper By The Dozen 2
Knowing that every bottle or can you see on the side of the road is just waiting to be picked up, washed out, and returned for a bright, shiny nickel can make taking a walk in Maine a very profitable enterprise. You certainly aren't going to get rich picking up bottles but you can make some decent beer money by picking up empty beer cans. You can pick up litter, get exercise, and make some money all at the same time. That is my kind of multi-tasking!
There is one other extremely important factor when trying to find aluminum nickels in the state of Maine: poison ivy. Maine is just chock full of poison ivy. This means there is a fairly limited window to safely retrieve aluminum nickels from the sides of the road during the year. You have about a month in the spring after the snow melts before the ivy sprouts, and a couple months in the fall once it dies down again. I suppose you can look for them all winter long if you can brave the snow, wind and cold. Brrrrr.
As luck would have it, I happen to be in Maine this very week, the poison ivy has died down for the year, and the weather has been fairly decent (i.e. it hasn't snowed.) As a result I have been cleaning up on my daily walks this week and have been coming home with 3, 4, or 5 bottles and/or cans each and every day. The only limiting factor has been running out of pocket space to store them as I walk. I just can't seem to walk by an aluminum nickel without picking it up.
I actually think they should expand the bottle bill nationwide as it would create jobs - permanent jobs - reduce trash, and encourage recycling. Obama hasn't been able to jump start the economy enough to spur job creation so maybe he should give a national bottle bill some thought.
Mood: Frugal.
Movie Quote of the Day:
"Hey every dad is entitled to one hideous shirt, and one horrible sweater. It's part of the dad code."
-Cheaper By The Dozen 2
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
My Crazy Neighbor
Everyone you know has a crazy neighbor or is a crazy neighbor. As the saying goes, if you don't know who your crazy neighbor is, YOU are the crazy neighbor. I have been blessed with my own crazy neighbor in 2010.
Like all neighbors upon first glance Marty seemed like a pretty normal dude. He has a dog and a wife/girlfriend - I haven't figured out exactly which one quite yet. They have a car and a SUV in the yard. It was all pretty normal stuff until one day in August I noticed that his SUV, which I believe is an Isuzu Trooper, had been painted. It had always been white and suddenly it was jet black. I mean the whole thing was jet black, even the rims and hubs had been painted.
Upon further inspection I noticed that his SUV was painted by hand with what looks to be black house paint. Once I noticed this, I decided that Marty was definitely worth keeping an eye on for entertainment purposes. Within a few more days, he repainted the hubs, rims, and undercarriage on his SUV to a metallic blue color. Interesting. Very Interesting.
One day last week I noticed him standing in the cab of his SUV with the doors wide open spray painting the heck out of the exterior roof of the vehicle. I guess he couldn't reach it with his paint brush. A couple days after that I noticed a new Detroit Lions logo on the hood of his SUV in metallic blue paint to match the hubs, rims and undercarriage. Oh boy, this is getting good!
Within a couple more days he had painted some random words on the sides of his SUV in that metallic blue paint. Things like "NFC Football", "Detroit Lions" and a couple other things. I don't remember what they all were because he has already painted over them. He was out there over Labor Day weekend with his black house paint and a paint roller painting over all of that stuff.
I am to the point now that I can't wait to see what the next thing he does to his SUV's paint job. It is kind of like watching Ice Road Truckers. It's the same thing over and over, but I keep watching it anyway. Don't let me down Marty. I know you got something wacky left in you somewhere.
Mood: Mystified
Movie Quote of the Day:
"Drinking and driving don't mix. That's why I ride a bike."
-Pretty In Pink
Like all neighbors upon first glance Marty seemed like a pretty normal dude. He has a dog and a wife/girlfriend - I haven't figured out exactly which one quite yet. They have a car and a SUV in the yard. It was all pretty normal stuff until one day in August I noticed that his SUV, which I believe is an Isuzu Trooper, had been painted. It had always been white and suddenly it was jet black. I mean the whole thing was jet black, even the rims and hubs had been painted.
Upon further inspection I noticed that his SUV was painted by hand with what looks to be black house paint. Once I noticed this, I decided that Marty was definitely worth keeping an eye on for entertainment purposes. Within a few more days, he repainted the hubs, rims, and undercarriage on his SUV to a metallic blue color. Interesting. Very Interesting.
One day last week I noticed him standing in the cab of his SUV with the doors wide open spray painting the heck out of the exterior roof of the vehicle. I guess he couldn't reach it with his paint brush. A couple days after that I noticed a new Detroit Lions logo on the hood of his SUV in metallic blue paint to match the hubs, rims and undercarriage. Oh boy, this is getting good!
Within a couple more days he had painted some random words on the sides of his SUV in that metallic blue paint. Things like "NFC Football", "Detroit Lions" and a couple other things. I don't remember what they all were because he has already painted over them. He was out there over Labor Day weekend with his black house paint and a paint roller painting over all of that stuff.
I am to the point now that I can't wait to see what the next thing he does to his SUV's paint job. It is kind of like watching Ice Road Truckers. It's the same thing over and over, but I keep watching it anyway. Don't let me down Marty. I know you got something wacky left in you somewhere.
Mood: Mystified
Movie Quote of the Day:
"Drinking and driving don't mix. That's why I ride a bike."
-Pretty In Pink
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Radio Ga-Ga
I listen to music a lot as background noise at home and at the office. I have periods of time when I will use my iPod almost exclusively, other times when I only listen to the radio, and sometimes I even get out my cassettes and throw them on and listen to them for weeks on end. Whenever I get into a music rut I switch it up and switch from one music medium to another.
Lately I have been on a radio kick. I generally have 3 stations I listen to. A pop station, a modern country station, and a classic rock station. A few years ago it was all the rage to have "no repeat workdays" so you could listen to a station all day long and never hear the same song twice. Those days are long gone so repeat songs are a pretty common occurrence on the air waves these days. I would expect that on the pop station and the modern country station as they are both concentrating on playing the songs in their music genre that are popular right now, but it is even true on the classic rock station.
That really threw me for a loop. It seems to me that the point of a classic rock station is that they can literally choose from thousands of songs over the past 40-some years to play. As a result they should have a pretty eclectic play list. But this in fact is not true at all on BIG 100.3, the classic rock station in the DC metro area. They play the same songs over and over and over.
The song that really opened my eyes to this is "Me & Bobby McGee" by Janis Joplin. This is, in my opinion, one of the worst songs of all time and BIG 100.3 seems to play it every friggin' day of the week. At first I simply turned the station every time this song came on, but eventually I started keeping track of how often it was played.
Over time, I actually built up a nice list of songs they have in heavy rotation and then took it a step further and kept track for 2 weeks of how many times I heard these songs. This is a completely unscientific survey on my part. I didn't listen to the radio 24 hours a day. I didn't look at the recently played list on their website. If the radio was on and I heard a song on my list I wrote it down. The big winner was...actually it was a tie.
I heard two different songs a total of 8 times in the two weeks I kept track: "More Than A Feeling" by Boston [which is playing right now as I edit this post] and "Blinded By The Light" by Manfred Mann's Earth Band. Officially, I am giving the Radio Ga-Ga Title to Blinded By The Light because I actually heard that song twice on the very last day of my music survey. I can only imagine how many other times they played these two songs while I was playing Pac-Man, asleep, watching TV, or out of the house. I would imagine the real play counts for both these songs truly are about once per day.
There was also a tie for 3rd place among six songs that I heard 6 times each over the survey period: "Crazy on You" by Heart, "Radar Love" by Golden Earring, "Owner Of A Lonely Heart" by Yes, "Magic Man" by Heart, "What's Your Name" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, and "Second Hand News" by Fleetwood Mac.
The song that started it all "Me & Bobby MeGee" finished in a tie for 9th place as I heard it only 5 times over the two week period. There were five other songs that finished tied with it in 9th place: "Roundabout" by Yes, "We're An American Band" by Grand Funk Railroad, "Do It Again" by Steely Dan, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult, and "Reelin' In The Years" by Steely Dan.
The moral of the story is if you truly want music variety you apparently have to use the shuffle play on your iPod. You won't get it on today's modern radio station, no matter what genre of music they play.
Mood: Surprised.
Song of the Day:
"Some silicon sister with a manager mister told me I got what it takes"
-Blinded By The Light
Manfred Mann's Earth Band
Movie Quote of the Day:
"This is the cleanest and nicest police car I've ever been in in my life. This thing's nice than my apartment."
-Beverly Hills Cop
Lately I have been on a radio kick. I generally have 3 stations I listen to. A pop station, a modern country station, and a classic rock station. A few years ago it was all the rage to have "no repeat workdays" so you could listen to a station all day long and never hear the same song twice. Those days are long gone so repeat songs are a pretty common occurrence on the air waves these days. I would expect that on the pop station and the modern country station as they are both concentrating on playing the songs in their music genre that are popular right now, but it is even true on the classic rock station.
That really threw me for a loop. It seems to me that the point of a classic rock station is that they can literally choose from thousands of songs over the past 40-some years to play. As a result they should have a pretty eclectic play list. But this in fact is not true at all on BIG 100.3, the classic rock station in the DC metro area. They play the same songs over and over and over.
The song that really opened my eyes to this is "Me & Bobby McGee" by Janis Joplin. This is, in my opinion, one of the worst songs of all time and BIG 100.3 seems to play it every friggin' day of the week. At first I simply turned the station every time this song came on, but eventually I started keeping track of how often it was played.
Over time, I actually built up a nice list of songs they have in heavy rotation and then took it a step further and kept track for 2 weeks of how many times I heard these songs. This is a completely unscientific survey on my part. I didn't listen to the radio 24 hours a day. I didn't look at the recently played list on their website. If the radio was on and I heard a song on my list I wrote it down. The big winner was...actually it was a tie.
I heard two different songs a total of 8 times in the two weeks I kept track: "More Than A Feeling" by Boston [which is playing right now as I edit this post] and "Blinded By The Light" by Manfred Mann's Earth Band. Officially, I am giving the Radio Ga-Ga Title to Blinded By The Light because I actually heard that song twice on the very last day of my music survey. I can only imagine how many other times they played these two songs while I was playing Pac-Man, asleep, watching TV, or out of the house. I would imagine the real play counts for both these songs truly are about once per day.
There was also a tie for 3rd place among six songs that I heard 6 times each over the survey period: "Crazy on You" by Heart, "Radar Love" by Golden Earring, "Owner Of A Lonely Heart" by Yes, "Magic Man" by Heart, "What's Your Name" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, and "Second Hand News" by Fleetwood Mac.
The song that started it all "Me & Bobby MeGee" finished in a tie for 9th place as I heard it only 5 times over the two week period. There were five other songs that finished tied with it in 9th place: "Roundabout" by Yes, "We're An American Band" by Grand Funk Railroad, "Do It Again" by Steely Dan, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult, and "Reelin' In The Years" by Steely Dan.
The moral of the story is if you truly want music variety you apparently have to use the shuffle play on your iPod. You won't get it on today's modern radio station, no matter what genre of music they play.
Mood: Surprised.
Song of the Day:
"Some silicon sister with a manager mister told me I got what it takes"
-Blinded By The Light
Manfred Mann's Earth Band
Movie Quote of the Day:
"This is the cleanest and nicest police car I've ever been in in my life. This thing's nice than my apartment."
-Beverly Hills Cop
Sunday, August 1, 2010
What I Did On My Summer Vacation
I spent the past 17 days on vacation in New England. Here are some of the highlights from my Summer Vacation 2010:
Played Croquet: July 15, July 16, July 31
Ate Lobster: July 17 – both lunch and dinner!
Had A Campfire: July 16, July 24, July 29
Went Bowling: July 28
Ate Ice Cream: July 17, July 19, July 25, July 28
Made A Sand Castle: July 20
Ate at McDonald’s July 20 – lunch in Bucksport, ME and dinner in Brewer, ME
Mowed The Lawn: July 21
Layed In The Hammock: July 21, July 22, July 27, July 28, July 29
Played Wiffleball: July 18, July 21, July 28
Went Shopping: July 19, July 28
Ate Smores: July 16, July 24
Drank Alcohol: July 15, July 16, July 22, July 23, July 24, July 25
Went Swimming: July 30; July 31
Towns Visited: Yarmouth, ME; Freeport, ME; Hampden, ME; Hermon, ME; Bangor, ME; Manset, ME; Industry, ME; Wilton, ME; Orono, ME; Upton, MA.
Mood: Recharged!
Song of the Day:
"So we'll live out in our old van, travel all across this land"
-Free
Zac Brown Band
Failed Advertising Slogan Of The Day:
"Bud Light Lime: Still tastes like ass, but we added lime!"
Played Croquet: July 15, July 16, July 31
Ate Lobster: July 17 – both lunch and dinner!
Had A Campfire: July 16, July 24, July 29
Went Bowling: July 28
Ate Ice Cream: July 17, July 19, July 25, July 28
Made A Sand Castle: July 20
Ate at McDonald’s July 20 – lunch in Bucksport, ME and dinner in Brewer, ME
Mowed The Lawn: July 21
Layed In The Hammock: July 21, July 22, July 27, July 28, July 29
Played Wiffleball: July 18, July 21, July 28
Went Shopping: July 19, July 28
Ate Smores: July 16, July 24
Drank Alcohol: July 15, July 16, July 22, July 23, July 24, July 25
Went Swimming: July 30; July 31
Towns Visited: Yarmouth, ME; Freeport, ME; Hampden, ME; Hermon, ME; Bangor, ME; Manset, ME; Industry, ME; Wilton, ME; Orono, ME; Upton, MA.
Mood: Recharged!
Song of the Day:
"So we'll live out in our old van, travel all across this land"
-Free
Zac Brown Band
Failed Advertising Slogan Of The Day:
"Bud Light Lime: Still tastes like ass, but we added lime!"
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Best Names In College Baseball 2010
Tonight was the last college baseball game played at Omaha's iconic Rosenblatt Stadium. The College World Series, CWS for short, has called it home since 1950. As is the trend in baseball, a new downtown stadium is being constructed in Omaha which will signal the end of Rosenblatt. Like most iconic sports stadiums of the past it will not live on, it will be torn down in the name of progress. The unjust ending for Rosenblatt is that is will be turned into, acccckkkkkkkkk, a parking lot for the zoo next door. Personally, I think this is a major injustice. There is something about college baseball and those red, yellow, and blue seats that just go together like a hot dog and a coke.
The last game was a gem. A classic pitchers duel that went into extra innings. In the end, the South Carolina Gamecocks won their first ever NCAA baseball title with a 2-1 win in 12 innings over UCLA with a walk off hit. It was a fitting ending to the College World Series' time at Rosenblatt.
I am sure that the new stadium, TD Ameritrade Park, will serve the CWS well in the coming years. I have my fingers crossed that it will have those sweet red, yellow, and blue seats but I am not holding my breath.
Here is my list of the best names in college baseball for 2010. I didn't watch as much baseball this year as in the past. There just wasn't as much coverage with the friggin' World Cup going on. Don't worry, I haven't watched even 1 second of World Cup soccer action and never well. I am much too strong to be drawn to the Dark Side of the force.
The same rules apply as my original list in 2009.
* Only one player from any team can make the list
* You can only make the list once
The Best Names In College Baseball 2010:
Starting Pitcher: Boogie Anagnostou, Rice
Relief Pitcher: Jason Fuqua, Arkansas
Catcher: Yasmini Grandall, U of Miami
1st Base: Blake Dean, LSU
2nd Base: Cody Regis, UCLA
3rd Base: Nick Vickerson, Mississippi State
Shortstop: Caleb Bushyhead, Oklahoma
Left Field: Rand Ravnaas, Georgetown
Center Field: Matt Den Dekker, Florida
Right Field: Yoandy Barroso, FIU
Designated Hitter: Russell Moldenhauer, Texas
Coach: Jim Schlossnagle, TCU
Mood: Nostalgic
Song of the Day:
"I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down."
- Bittersweet Symphony
The Verve
It's Ironic: That my bank sends me a paper confirmation each time I set up an electronic funds transfer.
The last game was a gem. A classic pitchers duel that went into extra innings. In the end, the South Carolina Gamecocks won their first ever NCAA baseball title with a 2-1 win in 12 innings over UCLA with a walk off hit. It was a fitting ending to the College World Series' time at Rosenblatt.
I am sure that the new stadium, TD Ameritrade Park, will serve the CWS well in the coming years. I have my fingers crossed that it will have those sweet red, yellow, and blue seats but I am not holding my breath.
Here is my list of the best names in college baseball for 2010. I didn't watch as much baseball this year as in the past. There just wasn't as much coverage with the friggin' World Cup going on. Don't worry, I haven't watched even 1 second of World Cup soccer action and never well. I am much too strong to be drawn to the Dark Side of the force.
The same rules apply as my original list in 2009.
* Only one player from any team can make the list
* You can only make the list once
The Best Names In College Baseball 2010:
Starting Pitcher: Boogie Anagnostou, Rice
Relief Pitcher: Jason Fuqua, Arkansas
Catcher: Yasmini Grandall, U of Miami
1st Base: Blake Dean, LSU
2nd Base: Cody Regis, UCLA
3rd Base: Nick Vickerson, Mississippi State
Shortstop: Caleb Bushyhead, Oklahoma
Left Field: Rand Ravnaas, Georgetown
Center Field: Matt Den Dekker, Florida
Right Field: Yoandy Barroso, FIU
Designated Hitter: Russell Moldenhauer, Texas
Coach: Jim Schlossnagle, TCU
Mood: Nostalgic
Song of the Day:
"I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down."
- Bittersweet Symphony
The Verve
It's Ironic: That my bank sends me a paper confirmation each time I set up an electronic funds transfer.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
E Tu Vuvuzela?
I am a big believer in Karma. I think if you do something good for someone you will be paid back at some time down the road. Of course this also means that the converse is true. If you act like a douchebag, it will come back to bite you in the ass. Karma got some revenge on me last night. Here's the back story.
On August 23, 2008 I went to a Potomac Nationals game with my buddy Drew. We were celebrating his birthday and had, let's just say, "a few" beers. On my way back from one of many trips to the bathroom I passed by the concession stand and right on the counter were those plastic horns you often see and hear at sporting events. I now know they are called "vuvuzelas" thanks to the 2010 World Cup, but I didn't know that in 2008. Anyway, my wallet gets a little loose after "a few" beers so I whipped out a Hamilton, plunked it on the counter, scored 2 vuvuzelas, and proudly strolled back to my seat with them.
What I didn't know then is that it takes a little bit of talent to get the vuvuzelas to make that excruciatingly annoying noise they are so famous for. You don't just blow air into the damn things. There is a definite technique involved. My buddy Drew knew what he was doing and had his vuvuzela humming in no time flat. Me, not so much. I would blow and nothing would happen or blow and a weak, feeble sound would limp out the vuvuzela. Drew gave me some lessons, luckily for free or perhaps for beer. I distinctly remember him saying "you have to parse your lips," not that I knew what to do with that information.
Eventually, after lots and lot of practice and a whole bunch of loud, obnoxious and sometimes odd noises I got the hang of the vuvuzela. By the end of the game I had it down and could make a long, loud vuvuzela note that would make any 10 year old proud.
Apparently our impromptu vuvuzela music lesson and concert was not well received by the surrounding baseball fans. We were of course oblivious to this fact and kept those bad boys humming right along all game long and even during the post-game fireworks display. That is until some guy came over and threatened our lives if we kept playing them. Yes, this seriously happened. This is all too stupid to make up.
Flash forward to June 19, 2010. As you may have heard "revenge is a dish best served cold." I got my payback for the "Vuvuzela Incident" at the Bowie Baysox game last night. Big time! My buddy Jerome and I took his daughter to the game to celebrate Father's Day. We had sweet seats - 2nd row, 1st base side, right behind the Baysox dugout.
Unfortunately, these seats were smack, dab in the middle of little league central. We were surrounded by a sea of little dudes in bright blue "Cubs" attire. I will admit, they looked pretty sporty in their unis. They even had uniform numbers and their names on the back just like the big leaguers. But they were 7 and 8 year olds. They were more interested in consuming mass amounts of sugar and being super annoying than watching the game.
We lasted 6.5 innings in our original seats before relocating to the far opposite side of the ballpark. It really did seem like the little cub bastards were multiplying as the innings went on. The wildcard was their coach, luckily I have already forgotten his name. He was super-crazy-obnoxious and wouldn't shut up for more than 2 or 3 consecutive seconds all night long. And he was of course, sitting right behind me. I seriously wonder if he was on speed. No one should be able to run at that gear for 3 hours straight. I am pretty obnoxious at sporting events (ask Drew about the "You can't do that chant" at the Frozen Four) but this guy made me look like a deaf mute. He was wayyyyyyyyyy over the top.
The Baysox lost the game, Orioles style. They were winning 2-0 heading into the top of the 9th inning and promptly gave up 2 runs to the Harrisburg Senators to make things way too interesting. The Baysox had the winning run on 2nd base in both the 9th and 10th innings but couldn't push it across. The Senators smacked not one, but THREE solo home runs in the 12th inning to steal the game and silence the crowd. It was a fitting end to the game and the evening.
Mood: Humble
Movie Quote of the Day:
"Have you ever been karmically bitch-slapped by a six-armed goddess?"
-Bubble Boy
Red Sox Stat of the Day:
The Sox were 23-4 in 2009 when Big Papi hit a home run.
On August 23, 2008 I went to a Potomac Nationals game with my buddy Drew. We were celebrating his birthday and had, let's just say, "a few" beers. On my way back from one of many trips to the bathroom I passed by the concession stand and right on the counter were those plastic horns you often see and hear at sporting events. I now know they are called "vuvuzelas" thanks to the 2010 World Cup, but I didn't know that in 2008. Anyway, my wallet gets a little loose after "a few" beers so I whipped out a Hamilton, plunked it on the counter, scored 2 vuvuzelas, and proudly strolled back to my seat with them.
What I didn't know then is that it takes a little bit of talent to get the vuvuzelas to make that excruciatingly annoying noise they are so famous for. You don't just blow air into the damn things. There is a definite technique involved. My buddy Drew knew what he was doing and had his vuvuzela humming in no time flat. Me, not so much. I would blow and nothing would happen or blow and a weak, feeble sound would limp out the vuvuzela. Drew gave me some lessons, luckily for free or perhaps for beer. I distinctly remember him saying "you have to parse your lips," not that I knew what to do with that information.
Eventually, after lots and lot of practice and a whole bunch of loud, obnoxious and sometimes odd noises I got the hang of the vuvuzela. By the end of the game I had it down and could make a long, loud vuvuzela note that would make any 10 year old proud.
Apparently our impromptu vuvuzela music lesson and concert was not well received by the surrounding baseball fans. We were of course oblivious to this fact and kept those bad boys humming right along all game long and even during the post-game fireworks display. That is until some guy came over and threatened our lives if we kept playing them. Yes, this seriously happened. This is all too stupid to make up.
Flash forward to June 19, 2010. As you may have heard "revenge is a dish best served cold." I got my payback for the "Vuvuzela Incident" at the Bowie Baysox game last night. Big time! My buddy Jerome and I took his daughter to the game to celebrate Father's Day. We had sweet seats - 2nd row, 1st base side, right behind the Baysox dugout.
Unfortunately, these seats were smack, dab in the middle of little league central. We were surrounded by a sea of little dudes in bright blue "Cubs" attire. I will admit, they looked pretty sporty in their unis. They even had uniform numbers and their names on the back just like the big leaguers. But they were 7 and 8 year olds. They were more interested in consuming mass amounts of sugar and being super annoying than watching the game.
We lasted 6.5 innings in our original seats before relocating to the far opposite side of the ballpark. It really did seem like the little cub bastards were multiplying as the innings went on. The wildcard was their coach, luckily I have already forgotten his name. He was super-crazy-obnoxious and wouldn't shut up for more than 2 or 3 consecutive seconds all night long. And he was of course, sitting right behind me. I seriously wonder if he was on speed. No one should be able to run at that gear for 3 hours straight. I am pretty obnoxious at sporting events (ask Drew about the "You can't do that chant" at the Frozen Four) but this guy made me look like a deaf mute. He was wayyyyyyyyyy over the top.
The Baysox lost the game, Orioles style. They were winning 2-0 heading into the top of the 9th inning and promptly gave up 2 runs to the Harrisburg Senators to make things way too interesting. The Baysox had the winning run on 2nd base in both the 9th and 10th innings but couldn't push it across. The Senators smacked not one, but THREE solo home runs in the 12th inning to steal the game and silence the crowd. It was a fitting end to the game and the evening.
Mood: Humble
Movie Quote of the Day:
"Have you ever been karmically bitch-slapped by a six-armed goddess?"
-Bubble Boy
Red Sox Stat of the Day:
The Sox were 23-4 in 2009 when Big Papi hit a home run.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Kemo Therapy
I spent last Saturday doing some hiking on the Appalachian Trail (AT) in my continuing quest to hike the AT through the section of northern Virginia that I live in. This in itself isn't that memorable. I probably spend 10 to 15 days a year hiking the AT by myself - much to my sister's chagrin.
I had a beautiful day for hiking and knocked out about 6 AT miles, 12 miles round trip. I started out just north of Route 50 and headed south from Ashby's Gap on the AT. The trail climbed steadily higher as I walked south, steeply at first and then more gradual after the first mile. About two miles in I came to an opening in the trail. This was the edge of Sky Meadows State Park, which is exactly as the name implies, a series of high alpine meadows with trails that run through them.
Just before mile 4 I said goodbye to Sky Meadows State Park and the AT meandered back into the woods as it went further south. My destination was the Dick's Dome shelter, about 2 miles south of Sky Meadows. I was making good time and the breeze was keeping the bugs away - it was a good day!
It wasn't too long before I saw the brown sign up ahead pointing me to the Dick's Dome Shelter a little ways off the AT. I always try to check out each AT shelter I come across. I have learned that all AT shelters are not created equally. It's good to have a handle on which ones to count on and which ones to avoid on a multi day hike. Dick's Dome is about 0.2 miles off the actual AT, a fairly long distance after you have been traipsing through the woods for 10 or 15 miles.
I was hoping Dick's Dome would be empty so I could really poke around and get a good feel for the place but no such luck. I could see a man setting up camp as I approached on the trail. He was wearing bright yellow Crocs as he puttered around, which I found quite comical. There is no way I would lug a pair of those ugly ass shoes this far into the woods, but that's just me.
Much to my surprise, he was very friendly and talkative, so I knew he wasn't from around here. It turns out he was from New Hampshire and his trail name was Kemo. Kemo was just a few days shy of finishing the entire AT, all 2,176 miles of it! Kemo is a section hiker and he has been hiking 75 to 200 miles of the AT for years and years. He said he began hiking it in 1967 and he will finish it this week at age 67.
I sat down and shared my carrot sticks with Kemo and we talked like old friends about Maine, New Hampshire, the crazy winter of 2010, and of our stories on the AT. I even convinced him to pose for a photo. I offered to email him a copy but he said he didn't have an email address, go figure. So Kemo, here's a salute to you and your conquering of the AT, I am right behind you! Well not right behind you, technically I am 2,093.8 miles behind you, but progress is progress!
Mood: Cleansed
Song Of The Day:
"Sleep with one eye open, gripping your pillow tight."
- Enter Sandman
Metallica
It's Ironic :
That I saw a Motorist Assistance Vehicle disabled on the side of the interstate today.
I had a beautiful day for hiking and knocked out about 6 AT miles, 12 miles round trip. I started out just north of Route 50 and headed south from Ashby's Gap on the AT. The trail climbed steadily higher as I walked south, steeply at first and then more gradual after the first mile. About two miles in I came to an opening in the trail. This was the edge of Sky Meadows State Park, which is exactly as the name implies, a series of high alpine meadows with trails that run through them.
Just before mile 4 I said goodbye to Sky Meadows State Park and the AT meandered back into the woods as it went further south. My destination was the Dick's Dome shelter, about 2 miles south of Sky Meadows. I was making good time and the breeze was keeping the bugs away - it was a good day!
It wasn't too long before I saw the brown sign up ahead pointing me to the Dick's Dome Shelter a little ways off the AT. I always try to check out each AT shelter I come across. I have learned that all AT shelters are not created equally. It's good to have a handle on which ones to count on and which ones to avoid on a multi day hike. Dick's Dome is about 0.2 miles off the actual AT, a fairly long distance after you have been traipsing through the woods for 10 or 15 miles.
I was hoping Dick's Dome would be empty so I could really poke around and get a good feel for the place but no such luck. I could see a man setting up camp as I approached on the trail. He was wearing bright yellow Crocs as he puttered around, which I found quite comical. There is no way I would lug a pair of those ugly ass shoes this far into the woods, but that's just me.
Much to my surprise, he was very friendly and talkative, so I knew he wasn't from around here. It turns out he was from New Hampshire and his trail name was Kemo. Kemo was just a few days shy of finishing the entire AT, all 2,176 miles of it! Kemo is a section hiker and he has been hiking 75 to 200 miles of the AT for years and years. He said he began hiking it in 1967 and he will finish it this week at age 67.
I sat down and shared my carrot sticks with Kemo and we talked like old friends about Maine, New Hampshire, the crazy winter of 2010, and of our stories on the AT. I even convinced him to pose for a photo. I offered to email him a copy but he said he didn't have an email address, go figure. So Kemo, here's a salute to you and your conquering of the AT, I am right behind you! Well not right behind you, technically I am 2,093.8 miles behind you, but progress is progress!
Mood: Cleansed
Song Of The Day:
"Sleep with one eye open, gripping your pillow tight."
- Enter Sandman
Metallica
It's Ironic :
That I saw a Motorist Assistance Vehicle disabled on the side of the interstate today.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Max Kebble's Big Day!
Today is Thursday, April 15, 2010 and there is lots of stuff of note happening today. Some would say the biggest event is the deadline to file your 2009 federal tax return. Technically, today is only the deadline to file your taxes if you still owe the IRS money. If they owe you money there is no penalty for late filing. In fact, you have 3 years to get your money back from the IRS if you overpay them. After 3 years you forfeit that money to the government but 3 years seems like plenty of time to file to me. As a result, I would say this is not the biggest event of the day.
Others would say that the anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball is the biggest event of the day for April 15th each year. I agree to those who say that Jackie Robinson is one of the most important figures in American history and probably did more for race relations than Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. combined. This year is the 63rd anniversary of Jackie becoming the first African American to play in professional baseball. As anniversarys go, the 63rd is not a particularly memorable one so I say this also is not the biggest event of the day.
"What could be bigger than Jackie Robinson and the IRS combined" you say? "Glad you asked!" is my reply. Today is also National High Five Day. Yes, it's true, the 3rd Thursday of April each year is National High Five Day. Now I realize that this holiday isn't celebrated as much as St. Patrick's Day or Talk Like A Pirate Day but it is about time that National High Five Day got some damn recognition!
The only way today could be better is if it were also Patriot's Day, but alas Patriot's Day with it's wonderful 11:00am Red Sox game is Monday, April 19th this year.
Mood: Up High!
Movie Quote of the Day:
"You want out of here so bad you probably memorize bus schedules."
-Footloose
Song of the Day:
"You can set my truck on fire, and roll it down a hill, but I still wouldn't trade it for a Coupe de Ville."
- Pickup Man
Joe Diffie
Others would say that the anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball is the biggest event of the day for April 15th each year. I agree to those who say that Jackie Robinson is one of the most important figures in American history and probably did more for race relations than Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. combined. This year is the 63rd anniversary of Jackie becoming the first African American to play in professional baseball. As anniversarys go, the 63rd is not a particularly memorable one so I say this also is not the biggest event of the day.
"What could be bigger than Jackie Robinson and the IRS combined" you say? "Glad you asked!" is my reply. Today is also National High Five Day. Yes, it's true, the 3rd Thursday of April each year is National High Five Day. Now I realize that this holiday isn't celebrated as much as St. Patrick's Day or Talk Like A Pirate Day but it is about time that National High Five Day got some damn recognition!
The only way today could be better is if it were also Patriot's Day, but alas Patriot's Day with it's wonderful 11:00am Red Sox game is Monday, April 19th this year.
Mood: Up High!
Movie Quote of the Day:
"You want out of here so bad you probably memorize bus schedules."
-Footloose
Song of the Day:
"You can set my truck on fire, and roll it down a hill, but I still wouldn't trade it for a Coupe de Ville."
- Pickup Man
Joe Diffie
Monday, March 22, 2010
The Punch
By now you have probably heard or seen the sucker punch that Baylor women's basketball player Brittney Griner dished out to Texas Tech player Jordan Barncastle in a game on March 3rd. Everyone in the world has said repeatedly that there is no room for what she did in the game of college basketball blah, blah, blah. The problem is that no one at any level of authority is backing that statement up.
Baylor University suspended Griner for 2 games for the incident. Well, really they suspended her for 1 game. The NCAA has a mandatory 1 game suspension for behavior like this and Baylor tacked on 1 additional game. Neither the The Big 12 Conference or the NCAA tacked on any additional penalty to the one self imposed by Baylor University. Are you friggin' kidding me?
The university is supposed to come up with a fair and just punishment that takes into consideration the seriousness of the violation committed - Griner broke Barncastle's nose with the punch. Frankly, I think that Brittney Griner should be banned from the sport of women's college basketball for the rest of the 2009-10 season, maybe even for life.
For comparison, two other recent athletic suspensions have also caught my eye. Vermont suspended men's hockey player Justin Milo for the rest of the season on February 16, 2010. At the time he was the second leading scorer on the team with 21 points in 20 games played. He didn't commit an on ice incident, head coach Kevin Sneddon decided: "It was in the best interests of our program and (we) will move forward without him." The Catamounts dismissed one of their top players while fighting for their Hockey East and NCAA playoff lives.
The other recent suspension comes from my alma mater, the University of Maine. They recently suspended their starting men's hockey goaltender Scott Darling "indefinitely after violating team rules." Darling had a 15-6-3 record and the team's other two goalies were 1-9-0 at the time of the suspension. This was the third time that Darling has been suspended in his 2 years at Maine. It is suspected that the violation is related to alcohol but there is no official proof. Maine suspended Darling the weekend before the Hockey East playoffs began.
So one of the best players in women's college basketball punches an opponent in a game and gets a mere 2 game suspension while two equally crucial men's hockey players were both suspended indefinitely by their team for incidents that didn't even occur on the ice. Did Brittney Griner get special treatment because she is one of the up and coming stars in the world of women's college basketball? It sure looks that way.
Mood: Ashamed.
It's Ironic:
That St. Louis University is a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference since it is located 929 miles from the Atlantic Ocean.
Movie Quote of the Day:
"Why worry, each of us is wearing an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on our backs." - Ghostbusters
Baylor University suspended Griner for 2 games for the incident. Well, really they suspended her for 1 game. The NCAA has a mandatory 1 game suspension for behavior like this and Baylor tacked on 1 additional game. Neither the The Big 12 Conference or the NCAA tacked on any additional penalty to the one self imposed by Baylor University. Are you friggin' kidding me?
The university is supposed to come up with a fair and just punishment that takes into consideration the seriousness of the violation committed - Griner broke Barncastle's nose with the punch. Frankly, I think that Brittney Griner should be banned from the sport of women's college basketball for the rest of the 2009-10 season, maybe even for life.
For comparison, two other recent athletic suspensions have also caught my eye. Vermont suspended men's hockey player Justin Milo for the rest of the season on February 16, 2010. At the time he was the second leading scorer on the team with 21 points in 20 games played. He didn't commit an on ice incident, head coach Kevin Sneddon decided: "It was in the best interests of our program and (we) will move forward without him." The Catamounts dismissed one of their top players while fighting for their Hockey East and NCAA playoff lives.
The other recent suspension comes from my alma mater, the University of Maine. They recently suspended their starting men's hockey goaltender Scott Darling "indefinitely after violating team rules." Darling had a 15-6-3 record and the team's other two goalies were 1-9-0 at the time of the suspension. This was the third time that Darling has been suspended in his 2 years at Maine. It is suspected that the violation is related to alcohol but there is no official proof. Maine suspended Darling the weekend before the Hockey East playoffs began.
So one of the best players in women's college basketball punches an opponent in a game and gets a mere 2 game suspension while two equally crucial men's hockey players were both suspended indefinitely by their team for incidents that didn't even occur on the ice. Did Brittney Griner get special treatment because she is one of the up and coming stars in the world of women's college basketball? It sure looks that way.
Mood: Ashamed.
It's Ironic:
That St. Louis University is a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference since it is located 929 miles from the Atlantic Ocean.
Movie Quote of the Day:
"Why worry, each of us is wearing an unlicensed nuclear accelerator on our backs." - Ghostbusters
Monday, February 15, 2010
Snowmageddeon!!!
I had two competing theories about the Winter of 2010 back in December. They were polar opposites and I knew that only one of them would pan out.
A) Snow in early December is the sign of a mild winter to come.
B) Every 7th winter in Washington DC is horrible, with tons of snow.
As you probably know by now, Theory B is the big winner. The trend of every 7 winters being a ferocious one in greater Washington DC lives on.
My first year here, 1996 was horrendous. Although to me, having spent the previous 22 winters in Maine, it didn't seem that bad. By the time the winter of 2003 rolled around, with the famous President's Day Blizzard, my Yankee blood had thinned out enough so that I was totally miserable.
Flash forward another 7 years to the winter of 2010 and I am enduring the worst winter in the history of Washington DC. Ever. So far I've shoveled 63 inches of the white stuff off my car this winter season. That is a new all time record for snow in one winter and it is only mid-February. In fact, that is 5 more inches of snow than my hometown up in Maine has gotten this year. Joy.
Deja vu all over again:
It is not only DC that is in the grips of a record winter. Baltimore and Philadelphia are also sharing the love and have also set all time snowfall records this winter. Meanwhile the winter festival in Portland, Maine has been canceled due to a lack of snow and the snow is hard to find at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC.
A storm even rolled through the deep south last Friday and left snow in places like Florida, Alabama and Georgia. As a result of it, 49 of the 50 U.S. states had measurable snow on the ground on Saturday, February 13, 2010. The only state without any snow was Hawaii. Hawaii sounds pretty good to me right now.
Mood: Cold
Failed Advertising Slogan of the Day:
"The Virginia Lottery: screwing you out of your hard earned money."
Movie Quote of the Day:
"He set an American League record with 4 wild pitches in one inning." - Major League
A) Snow in early December is the sign of a mild winter to come.
B) Every 7th winter in Washington DC is horrible, with tons of snow.
As you probably know by now, Theory B is the big winner. The trend of every 7 winters being a ferocious one in greater Washington DC lives on.
My first year here, 1996 was horrendous. Although to me, having spent the previous 22 winters in Maine, it didn't seem that bad. By the time the winter of 2003 rolled around, with the famous President's Day Blizzard, my Yankee blood had thinned out enough so that I was totally miserable.
Flash forward another 7 years to the winter of 2010 and I am enduring the worst winter in the history of Washington DC. Ever. So far I've shoveled 63 inches of the white stuff off my car this winter season. That is a new all time record for snow in one winter and it is only mid-February. In fact, that is 5 more inches of snow than my hometown up in Maine has gotten this year. Joy.
Deja vu all over again:
It is not only DC that is in the grips of a record winter. Baltimore and Philadelphia are also sharing the love and have also set all time snowfall records this winter. Meanwhile the winter festival in Portland, Maine has been canceled due to a lack of snow and the snow is hard to find at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC.
A storm even rolled through the deep south last Friday and left snow in places like Florida, Alabama and Georgia. As a result of it, 49 of the 50 U.S. states had measurable snow on the ground on Saturday, February 13, 2010. The only state without any snow was Hawaii. Hawaii sounds pretty good to me right now.
Mood: Cold
Failed Advertising Slogan of the Day:
"The Virginia Lottery: screwing you out of your hard earned money."
Movie Quote of the Day:
"He set an American League record with 4 wild pitches in one inning." - Major League
Sunday, January 24, 2010
The Rest Of The Story
I wrote in late December at how mystified I was that Jason Bay went to the Mets for only 10% more than what the Sox offered him. It turns out what I had then for information was just the tip of the iceberg. I now 100% understand why Jason left the Sox for New York and I don't blame him one bit.
It came out this week that the Sox wanted Jason to sign a contract with all kinds of medical clauses and conditions in it even though he has been nothing but healthy in his MLB career. The Sox offered him 2 guaranteed years at $15 Million and then 2 more at $15 Million if he met certain health and productivity levels. The Mets offered him $16.5 Million per year for 4 years, guaranteed, plus an optional 5th year.
It sounds as if there is still a lot more to this story which we may or may not ever find out. Anyway, I certainly understand now why Jason took the Mets offer over what the Sox offered him. He made the best decision for himself and his family and I wish him nothing but the best.
In fact, I now am questioning the business tactics used by the Red Sox in general. If this is how they treat their best player - Jason led the Sox in Home Runs, RBI and was 2nd in Runs Scored in 2009 - during contract negotiations that doesn't say much about the organization. When you combine this with how they have treated Mike Lowell - The MVP of the 2007 World Series - over the past few months I have a very bad taste in my mouth for the Sox right now. If they keep it up they are going to get a bad reputation and the best players may start passing the Sox up no matter how much money they offer them.
Mood: Disappointed.
Failed Advertising Slogan Of The Day:
"The day you give someone a Lexus is the day you lose your soul."
It came out this week that the Sox wanted Jason to sign a contract with all kinds of medical clauses and conditions in it even though he has been nothing but healthy in his MLB career. The Sox offered him 2 guaranteed years at $15 Million and then 2 more at $15 Million if he met certain health and productivity levels. The Mets offered him $16.5 Million per year for 4 years, guaranteed, plus an optional 5th year.
It sounds as if there is still a lot more to this story which we may or may not ever find out. Anyway, I certainly understand now why Jason took the Mets offer over what the Sox offered him. He made the best decision for himself and his family and I wish him nothing but the best.
In fact, I now am questioning the business tactics used by the Red Sox in general. If this is how they treat their best player - Jason led the Sox in Home Runs, RBI and was 2nd in Runs Scored in 2009 - during contract negotiations that doesn't say much about the organization. When you combine this with how they have treated Mike Lowell - The MVP of the 2007 World Series - over the past few months I have a very bad taste in my mouth for the Sox right now. If they keep it up they are going to get a bad reputation and the best players may start passing the Sox up no matter how much money they offer them.
Mood: Disappointed.
Failed Advertising Slogan Of The Day:
"The day you give someone a Lexus is the day you lose your soul."
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Feeling Lucky, Punk?
Only a little more than two full years until the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the USS Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean. You better start planning how to commemorate this event now if you haven't already.
What better way to remember this historical tragedy than by hopping on a boat on a cruise from say, England to New York? Yes, it's the Titanic Memorial Cruise by the British travel firm Miles Morgan Travel. You and a few thousand other random people can pile onto the luxury ocean liner MS Balmoral in Southhampton, England for 12 days of adventure on the high seas.
You may want to hurry if you are interested in taking part as 12 of the 21 cabin types have wait lists and another 5 have limited availability according to their website. Right now the lowest priced cabin is about $4,324 US Dollars. I say about because the price is actually in British Pounds on the website. Thank god for online currency converters.
I am glad that there are so many people willing to tempt fate and hit the high seas 100 years to the week that the Titanic sunk to the bottom of the North Atlantic. This just sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. There is no way in hell I would go on this trip, not even if you paid me. I don't even want to speak the word Titanic the whole month of April 2012. Have fun for me and make sure to bring your life jacket!
Mood: Horrified
Movie Quote of the Day:
"Boy, this is a mother dictionary." - Say Anything
What better way to remember this historical tragedy than by hopping on a boat on a cruise from say, England to New York? Yes, it's the Titanic Memorial Cruise by the British travel firm Miles Morgan Travel. You and a few thousand other random people can pile onto the luxury ocean liner MS Balmoral in Southhampton, England for 12 days of adventure on the high seas.
You may want to hurry if you are interested in taking part as 12 of the 21 cabin types have wait lists and another 5 have limited availability according to their website. Right now the lowest priced cabin is about $4,324 US Dollars. I say about because the price is actually in British Pounds on the website. Thank god for online currency converters.
I am glad that there are so many people willing to tempt fate and hit the high seas 100 years to the week that the Titanic sunk to the bottom of the North Atlantic. This just sounds like a recipe for disaster to me. There is no way in hell I would go on this trip, not even if you paid me. I don't even want to speak the word Titanic the whole month of April 2012. Have fun for me and make sure to bring your life jacket!
Mood: Horrified
Movie Quote of the Day:
"Boy, this is a mother dictionary." - Say Anything
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
So long, dumbass!
The big news in the world of baseball today is that Jason Bay is not returning to the Boston Red Sox but is signing with the New York Mets instead. This isn't exactly a shocker, the Mets have been portrayed as the front runner to land Bay the past few weeks. The shocker is the contract that Bay got from the Mets compared to what he turned down from the Red Sox.
The Red Sox offered Bay 4 years at $60 Million, a cool $15 Million per year. The Mets are giving Bay 4 years at $66 Million, which works out to $16.5 Million per year. Jason Bay will get an extra $1.5 Million per year to play for a team that hasn't made the playoffs since 2006 and lost 92 games in 2009. He could have stayed with the Red Sox for $1.5 Million less per year and been on a team that has been to the playoffs in 6 of the last 7 years and has won 2 World Series Titles in that time.
I don't get it. I can see if the Mets were offering him $5 or $6 Million more per season but to go from a championship caliber team to a cellar dweller for a mere 10% more in salary is ludicrous to me. Is Jason Bay that obsessed with money? If so, that is really sad.
On the plus side, I am ecstatic that he didn't end up with the Yankees. That is always my biggest fear as a Red Sox fan. In fact, so far, things seem to be going in the Sox favor for 2010. The Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay is gone to the National League - sweet! The Sox signed John Lackey without having to give away half our team or best prospects - sweet! The Mike Lowell to Texas trade fell through - double sweet!
Only 50 days until Red Sox pitchers and catchers report to Ft. Meyers on February 18, 2010.
Mood: Flabbergasted.
It's Ironic:
That local radio station Mix 107.3 airs commercials touting "Commercial free Mondays" on Mondays.
Song Of The Day:
"I'm noddin' my head like "Yeah!" Movin' my hips like "Yeah!""
-Party In The USA
Miley Cyrus
The Red Sox offered Bay 4 years at $60 Million, a cool $15 Million per year. The Mets are giving Bay 4 years at $66 Million, which works out to $16.5 Million per year. Jason Bay will get an extra $1.5 Million per year to play for a team that hasn't made the playoffs since 2006 and lost 92 games in 2009. He could have stayed with the Red Sox for $1.5 Million less per year and been on a team that has been to the playoffs in 6 of the last 7 years and has won 2 World Series Titles in that time.
I don't get it. I can see if the Mets were offering him $5 or $6 Million more per season but to go from a championship caliber team to a cellar dweller for a mere 10% more in salary is ludicrous to me. Is Jason Bay that obsessed with money? If so, that is really sad.
On the plus side, I am ecstatic that he didn't end up with the Yankees. That is always my biggest fear as a Red Sox fan. In fact, so far, things seem to be going in the Sox favor for 2010. The Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay is gone to the National League - sweet! The Sox signed John Lackey without having to give away half our team or best prospects - sweet! The Mike Lowell to Texas trade fell through - double sweet!
Only 50 days until Red Sox pitchers and catchers report to Ft. Meyers on February 18, 2010.
Mood: Flabbergasted.
It's Ironic:
That local radio station Mix 107.3 airs commercials touting "Commercial free Mondays" on Mondays.
Song Of The Day:
"I'm noddin' my head like "Yeah!" Movin' my hips like "Yeah!""
-Party In The USA
Miley Cyrus
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