- 12:54 AM
- 12/22/24
I'd totally forgotten about Italy's weird-ass stick thing. WTF, Italy? Blame Post Modernism, Ufez. Onto the lion. That's a lion? Looks like the love child of a hyena and gorilla. Weird ass indeed.
posted by Dick Paris at 11:01 AM on December 11, 2004
Here ya go, usfbull. Bill Buckner Statistics (I'm on a Mac too. ;-)
posted by Dick Paris at 05:13 AM on October 29, 2004
leave it to fox to not show the damn flyover. Dark and gloomy night. Low flying, fast moving objects. Donut stadium. Nothing to show.
posted by Dick Paris at 09:51 PM on October 26, 2004
Pedro now in groove. His early innings, of late, (isn't dat veerd) are going to be the death of me.
posted by Dick Paris at 09:48 PM on October 26, 2004
What's up with these low strikes from Suppan? The ball taking some sort of dive that only the umpire can see? I just want to add, once again... FOX. COVERAGE. SUCKS. /dead horse
posted by Dick Paris at 08:24 PM on October 26, 2004
Eight errors in two games? I don't feel good about the Sox playing without a DH in Saint Louis. (Although I really, really hate the DH and will grumble about it on my deathbed.)
posted by Dick Paris at 11:24 PM on October 24, 2004
Er, maybe that was less of a rant about game 6 than other pressing issues. Go Sox!
posted by Dick Paris at 11:19 PM on October 24, 2004
For all the times I have complained about McCarver and know others have too, I am amazed that FOX (was he on CBS before FOX?) has not found a replacement for him yet. His stock is so low in my book that he is a throw-away line in my rant about the broadcast and presentation of game 6 of the ACLS. Tivo's not causing the delay. For game one I was listening to broadcast radio and broadcast TV -- all analog, so old fashioned -- and the radio was just far enough ahead for me to know when to turn my head to see the shots! on the tele.
posted by Dick Paris at 11:13 PM on October 24, 2004
Weather looks like it's going to be windy again on Sunday. Look for another soppy game.
posted by Dick Paris at 07:36 AM on October 24, 2004
Will there be video? Oh, and YEAH SOX! It's nice to read this thread after watching the game. interesting to see the flow and the bizzarre pulling fo Lowe. Lovin' it SpoFi. See you in the Series!
posted by Dick Paris at 12:28 AM on October 21, 2004
I got it Dzot. Need to be more in touch with DC news for that one to land, I'm afraid. And can't one be thrown out of Yankee Stadium for using the phrase "cracker jack" in "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"? or some such nonsense. I read it on the internet. Really. ;-) I'm going to have a lot to say about this -- somewhere, somehow. I bought today's WaPo to digest the entire matter (although I have been loosely following the tale for... how long has this been a tale now?) My first reaction: I once again am flabbergasted by the numbers being bandied about for stadia and their deals. I designed a ballpark as part of my final year's work in grad school and did a lot of peripheral research about baseball. It's been a while since I put that knowledge to use but my gut reaction is to be troubled by the creation of stadia and the events within as a single commodity. Stadia (especially as urban place settings) had at one time grown organically within the fabric of the city. Now, they are designed and, with the event they house, packaged as a desitnation which only feeds a beast that still pretends to be a "democratic" institution. Don't get me wrong: I love baseball and ballparks. That architects have at least captured the "style" of the ballpark's organic origins is good but they are still a commodity no different in substance (aside from degree -- they are substantially more a commodity now) than the donut ballparks planned in the late 60's. I don't know exactly where I want to go with this but I need to stop now. Best name suggestions I've heard so far: the Washington Grays. Fitting given it really is a team playing in a "home away from home".
posted by Dick Paris at 07:16 AM on September 30, 2004
When are the Feds coing to step in and put this cartel and its all-powerful boss-man out of its misery.
posted by Dick Paris at 03:28 PM on August 19, 2004
Since when is anyone compelled to stand during "God Bless America"? Aside: I was at a concert recently of student musicians who tacked the "Star Spangled Banner" onto their program. They did not open the concert with it, in customary American-gathering fashion but instead played a highly stylized version at the end of their scheduled program -- so stylized in fact that it took a number of measures before any recognized the tune and it was impossible to sing along if any one was so compelled. The first hint of the melody sounded like it was to be a thematic insertion into a larger American medley. When we finally realized that they were butchering, er, playing, the entire tune, people slowly started standing -- but this was a concert of symphonic music. It was so out of place, so bizarre that I must say I felt snared in some kind of jongistic trap. By the end of the song, everyone in the hall was standing except for a very stubborn me and my wife (who is not well versed in these Americanisms having being raised over seas). Aside to the aside: I say butchering because I was in the marching band in high school and l;earned to play the "Star Spangled Banner" correctly and am, as a result, always annoyed when I hear it played or sung with "artisitic license". How is it that no Yankee players have not yet mutliated their ears after hearing this mediocre song sung in the most abusive way possible (referring to the Kate Smith version mentioned in the article -- maybe they are not always treated to the same version)? If I were there every game, I'd skitter away at the first note of that tune.
posted by Dick Paris at 04:31 PM on July 22, 2004
Damn Yankees. /nothing new
posted by Dick Paris at 08:45 AM on July 02, 2004
91 Health officials are looking for some 50,000 volunteers to donate blood for use during the games. Future doping scandal?
posted by Dick Paris at 05:47 AM on May 07, 2004
81 International Paralympic Committee officials are pressing the organisers to meet deadlines for improving the city's poor accessibility. Poor accessibility for ghosts?
posted by Dick Paris at 05:44 AM on May 07, 2004
Is big deal. I'm no Bonds fan (and was a detractor when he played for the Pirates: Reds fan checking in here) but you can't apply steroids to a batting average. (Or can you? Bat speed steroids? Eye sight steroids?) When anyone, regardless of the era, live balls or workout regimen approaches a record such as this it is a remarkable achievement: that someone can be in the game for twenty years in remarkable enough. Will I call him the greatest home run hitter of all time? No. But give the guy credit for the numbers. It's one of the beautiful parts of the game.
posted by Dick Paris at 05:29 PM on April 19, 2004
Interesting article. Thanks Werty. The cause for concern, according to my comprehension of the article, is that baseball, for all its beauty, is in trouble: it is not attracting the better athletes. It is loosing the larger marketing war against other sports. That this phenomenon might be particularly strong in the African-American community is more worrisome to some than others. That, historically, there may have been a systematic rejection of black ball players to pitch is also mentioned, although given today's state of pitching I think we can rule this out as a contemporary reason. Although maybe not: racism tends to attract other behavior which one might classify as "stupid". (Note: I am not an African-American. If I were to align myself with any group as such it would be American-French-Canadian at which point, culturally speaking, I would likely have little to say about baseball. But I do love the game. Football and basketball are just fillers for me.) I personally think that fighting this war is a loosing battle. Major League Baseball needs to work within its own "space" and stage the battle within itself. It will never compete with football and basketball. Indeed, it should not. That competition is akin to museums competing with movie theaters as just another entertainment venue. That's not what going to a museum is about and baseball should not be about the same feeling one has when going to a football game. /veer off topic
posted by Dick Paris at 05:42 AM on March 19, 2004
My wife loved Il Pirata! One of the more interesting personalities in cycling...
posted by Dick Paris at 12:18 PM on February 16, 2004
"As far as I'm concerned, the NFL is full of soup,'' said Mayor Oscar Goodman. "I would tell them to go shove it.'' What other city's mayor would speak like this except that of Vegas. I love it! So they can just change what they are charging for, right? To view the TV is free, but the beer and weeners cost $39.95. (Offer not valid in some locations. /announcer voice)
posted by Dick Paris at 05:51 AM on February 01, 2004
I had no idea that "The term 'Redskins' derives from an old, genocidal practice in this country of scalping Native Americans to earn a bounty. A bounty hunter could prove he had killed a native by turning in a scalp, which often were bloody and called 'redskins.'" In Washington, where we have already seen the "Bullets" give way to the "Wizards" (what about the Caps? ;-) one might think it would be easy to change the name of their NFL team, especially in an era where sports franchises sprout like merchandising mushrooms. Our penchant for nicknaming and logo-ing everything to death is interesting. How did the Redskins come by their nickname? What is sacred about it? Sure, "that team from Washington" may not sound or look good in print but certainly something more appropriate can be found. I'll start: The Washington Insiders
posted by Dick Paris at 05:43 AM on February 01, 2004
Did he say... strulliging?
posted by Dick Paris at 05:46 AM on December 22, 2003
You all are counting way to many chicken embryos on so many levels that this place looks like a genetics laboratory. Did that make any sense? I'm going back into my winter hole.
posted by Dick Paris at 04:32 PM on December 17, 2003
Hmm. On the one hand, the man does have a lifetime .304 average and has always been held in highest regard for his position. On the other hand, given the difficulty of playing said position -- undoubtedly the hardest on a person's body -- at 32 and with his best years seemingly behind him, maybe $7 mil over 4 years is, in a certain sense, a pay raise. Someone will come through with a higher dollar shorter deal but no one is going to come through with a longer deal with the same total. Really. How hard did he really try? I mean, come on, how much... /hook
posted by Dick Paris at 07:07 AM on December 08, 2003
Thanks K-State for screwing all this up. And I mean that. The last thing we need are clear-cut winners and losers in college ball. We have the NFL for that (sort-of -- someone always will be left saying "only if"). The landscape of college football will never allow for clear-cut champions. What would everyone have left to argue about at this time of year? How to raise their kids? Politics? Everyone knows that won't fly. (This coming from a northeasterner-midwesterner who has always wondered why people even bothered playing football in California. :-)
posted by Dick Paris at 06:59 AM on December 08, 2003
Salmacis: your question about light and dark colored jerseys sent me on a search for a player who suffers from color-blindness but I stopped in frustration when I learned that color-blindness is more of a social condition in football than a medical condition affecting one's eyesight. The only connection I did find between color-blindness and the NFL was from gay.com: Al Davis is color blind. Upon reflection, I don't know if that reference is about a medical condition or his fashion sense. Not that there's anything wrong with that. /seinfeld reference
posted by Dick Paris at 03:53 PM on November 24, 2003
But what of Lehigh-Lafayette? While I might look to Yale-Harvard or Cincinnati-Miami (of Ohio) -- having attended the first school of each pair -- I would give top rivalry honors to Ohio State-Michigan. (Note: I'm not a fan of either team.) I would give a nostalgic tip-o-the-cap to Army-Navy (a classic I remember watching in B&W). There is something compelling about the energy of all these rivalries, although I have to ask: what's up with Oklahoma-Texas? How was I raised under the impression that Oklahoma-Nebraska is the more important rivalry? Since when is Colorado-Nebraska a big deal?
posted by Dick Paris at 03:37 PM on November 24, 2003
Get your Nationals gear now
Ooh, I'm late but I wrote this earlier today on my site about the subject: There's trouble afoot in Capital City! The DC city council is upsetting the Major League Baseball Overlords. My solution: make "The Nationals" a barnstorming team. The team without a home, they will travel the country in a decked-out entourage of planes, trains, busses and trucks, finding a "home" stadium when they can (if we don't have enough empty major league ballparks now, we may yet) and playing the role of a true national team. (The mascot can be a guy with a sack tied to a bat.) This kind of radical departure requires a thumb-on-the-nose attitude on the part of the owners and whoops! There's the flaw. The owners are in bed with themselves on this one. Until someone puts Major League Baseball out of its monopolistic misery it is going to continue on a downward spiral toward the sterility of which Mr. Disney was so fond. One look at the suburbs though and we realize it's a success!