Gacked from tyreseus


If you could be another person for a day, who would it be and why?

This varies. Maybe I'd want to be Carlos Zambrano, who just signed a pretty fat contract extension. I'd love to be an awesome pitcher, playing for the Cubs. If you win, you're a hero. If you don't, no sweat the Cubs never win anyway.

But, that's not enough for me and my ego.

If I could be anyone, right now, I'd want to be A-Rod. I'd want to go out and have a game where I played flawless defense, hit a monster homerun or two, and then bang a bunch of strippers. Just like A-Rod.

Except that, instead of trying to be all nice and likeable like A-Rod seems to do, I would grab the microphone and be honest. Which is to say... basically I'd tell all the Yankee fans that give me crap that, yes, I am much much better at baseball than Derek Jeter and that if they don't like me they can go suck it.

Ironically, or not ironically, I think the Yankee fans would like him more if he did that.

Got orthotics in. Returned to the diamond.

Went 3-for-5 plus a sac fly in our upset victory over our company's other team in the league. Started as DH, then was switched to 1B when our regular tweaked a hammy.

Bit of background - in olden days, my company had five groups and each had a team in our 16 team softball league. After many mergers, sell offs and such, and a dimunition of the league there remains the SEG and ETC groups in a seven team league. Not that those old names apply to our current org chart anyway. Regardless, in year 15 of the league, this is the first time SEG has beaten ETC. There was much rejoicing.

Also, because I didn't injure myself. I apparently cannot hit anymore. No line drives, no power, nothing. Just crap grounders. Very sad.

Other news: we got a new member of the team at work, and Army Captain. It is amusing when he calls other offices and IDs himself as a CAPT without mentioning service. A Navy Captain is an 06 and due much deference. An Army Captain is an 03, and... not so much. But we'll milk it for that first week when it still works...

Also, Did Restaurant Week. District Chophouse & Brewerey for the win. Now I know what I'm getting Dad for his B-day next month...

As may be noted by those following the Sports Pages, San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds has recently broken Major League Baseball's career record for Home Runs. This is accompanied with a great deal of consternation as Mr. Bonds in all likelihood accomplished this feat due to rather heavy usage of performance enhancing drugs.

Namely, steroids and some variation of Human Growth Hormone. Coupled with the rampant doping scandals in the Tour De France, it lays bare something we don't always like to think about when following sports:

It is not always purity and light, and uplifting stories. Ridiculously competetive people - and the people most likely to excel at the highest level are generally going to be such - will often engage in morally dubious behavior to pursue victory and accolades. Sometimes, villains win.

Barry Bonds is a cheater. He is also a Giant Douche. He is a remarkably disagreeable person, quite possibly a narcissist with a huge chip on his shoulder, a lousy husband, and not a nice teammate.

He is also among the greatest baseball players who ever lived. During his athletic prime, Bonds was clearly the best all around baseball player of his generation. Judged on the drug free portion of his career alone (1986-1998) Bonds was rated as the 16th greatest player in History. On the drugs... by most measures, between 2000-2004, Barry Lamarr Bonds was the most dominant player ever to play the game. More dominant relative to his league than even Babe Ruth's greatest seasons. (1920-1)

Bonds is not the first or only player to cheat. I'll bet at least 50 of his homeruns came off of pitchers who juiced. (Like #755, Clay Hensely)

Caught up in all of the rush to discuss how tainted Bonds' record is (and it is tainted) we tend to neglect that the game has not been pure for a long time. Babe Ruth spent the prime of his career in a segregated leage. His drug of choice, booze, was illegal during his era though one would be hard pressed to see how that might have enhanced his performance.

Almost every single star player of the 1950s - 1970s played with amphetamines, which certainly helped players out on day games following night games. Mickey Mantle regularly used amphetamines to play through his hangovers. In 1970, all-star pitcher Dock Ellis took the mound high on LSD and amphetamines and threw an ho-hitter. Hall of Famers Willie Mays and Willie Stargell were documented not only using amphetamines but distributing them to teammates. And they took the amphetamines because they believed they would enhance performance.

Steroids weren't common in baseball until the late 1980s - but not because morality suddenly broke down. It used to be, players were not encouraged to lift weights, as bulk was deemed counterproductive relative to lean, fast twitch physiques. As that perception changed, the drug use picked up.

And somewhere along the line, baseball's greatest player, granted a sullen, ornery dick of a man, made a faustian bargain and leapt for immortality. Such is the nature of the beast.

I don't know that I like it. I certainly don't like the idea of players with perfectly fine vision getting laser surgery to get better than great eyesight. But it happens. Am I saying we should just give up - considering there will always be cheaters and the best drug producers will always be ahead of the testers.

I really don't know. But, to me, Barry Bonds isn't what's wrong with Sports Today or Society Today. He's just the most famous symptom.

As of yet, I have no particular plans to migrate off of LJ. There are some limitations to the number of feeds/websites I'm interested in tracking. At this point, I'd prefer to stay here because - hey - I've got configuration all set up. Don't want to have to move just yet.

On the off case everybody's going to move, I've created an Insane Journal account, just in case that's where folks are moving. If you're leaving LJ, please give me a link to where I should follow.

Otherwise, I'll just chill here and wait for a tipping point.

So, I've created an InsaneJournal.

One more thing to monitor.

Not writing. Just saw an Angel/Spike/Darla header, and misread it.

But I've decided this is important. Someone needs to rec me some AtS/BtVS crossovers with Daria. Or write some. That would be awesome.

1. Expect my new computer to be shipped in, any day now. My current PC has served me very well over the last 6 years, when it went from Super-Awesome to Mostly Adequate, before eventually becoming Old Weak and Feeble. Am very excited to have a machine that does not seize up when playing anything newer than three years old.



2. This week marks the 20th Anniversary of the release of GNR's Appetite for Destruction - which was just about my favorite album during my teenage years. I think enough of it holds up. This makes me old.



3. Courtesy of Perez Hilton, I see Eliza Dusku is dating Dodgers pitcher Brad Penny. Which, is swell for her because he's an awesome pitcher who makes a lot of money.
   
   That said... if you're going to date an Alyssa Milano cast-off, I'd have recommended Barry Zito who is way cooler, much better looking, and has the most obscenely ridiculous pitching contract (7 years $126 million in San Francisco) in baseball history. Even if he's one of those archetypal weirdo left-handers.

ESPN'ss continual decline into idiocy, and ABC/Disney's sickening corporate synergy has created some amusing results.

Thank the Four Letter, and their inane series "Who's Now"

For buffyversemeta:

Summary: Investigating the question of whether The Initiative was a logical answer to the Demon world, and whether the Buffyverse still needs such an organization even now? The response will consider the role of civic institutions in a world with a shadow supernatural element. This involves Analysis of the Initiative in specific, and roles of The State in general.

Notes: The term "The Slayer" can be used to describe both the slayer herself, and an organization developed upon pursuit of core mission areas.

Thanks: To my betas, thelastgoodname and yhlee.



Vampires amidst the Community:
The Role of the State in Dealing with Supernatural Threats to the Civilian Population

( Lengthy essay to follow... )

The floor is open for comments.

Still working on my buffyversemeta essay, which is taking some shape now.

Games vs. AMSEC

Injury Report: Dave, OUT (Plantar Fasciitis)

Will be off to watch part of the All-Star Game tonight with my pal D, who has recently moved back to the area from Kansas.

Games vs. EDO

Injury Report: Dave,

Have signed up to contribute an Essay for buffyversemeta - planned date July 11 - and am looking to tackle the following topic:

After an eventful return trip - featuring airport Shenanigans at LaGuardia, have eventually made it back home. May consider posting on it at a later time.

Trip highlight - got to hang with Chris Bosh while hanging out for in the Toronto Airport. That man was rocking some serious ice on his person.

Good news - music of Def Leppard no longer stuck in my head.

Bad news - music still stuck in my head

Less Bad new - song in particular is "I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better" by the Byrds. This is an awesome song. Also, check out how not gross and fat the young David Crosby once looked. Some dudes just don't age gracefully. (Not that his lifestyle did him favors)

Rob Thomas is a Whore!

You know, if I were writing a TV show, I would have loved to find a way to work that sort of thing into it myself.

That said, having watched the finale - perhaps it's kind of going back to the well in the last episode, but I think I'd have liked the season more if it had been an arc this year. It felt tight, and pretty nicely paced. Not necessarily the sort of finale you'd write if you knew your show was ending, but I liked that episode.

Oh, also Portland & Seattle finished 1-2 in the lottery, so that's where Oden and Durant are going. Not that y'all care.

(Note - any comments will be screened for spoilers in fairness to my flist)

As mentioned earlier, this entry has been percolating in my head for a long while. Following upon my previous My Angel the Football Fan post of September ‘06, and what with the NBA playoffs going, I figured it was time to finally present...

( My Charles Gunn, Sports Fan )

Subject to possible future adds/cuts/edits.

*Note: According to AtS 3.18, Gunn was probably born in 1978.
*Note 2: We’ll work under the assumption that he doesn't die at the end of NFA, because I don’t want to have to backdate to 2003

Because all the cool kids (i.e. carlyinrome) are doing it, and because I've not really been posting much meta for awhile, I've decided to go the reader-submission meme-y route:

Name a character and I'll tell you three (or more) facts about them from my own personal pseudo-canon.
Notes:

1. Specifying Topics is Encouraged



2. I should be able to cover a wide variety of shows. Even if I don't watch it, I'll just make something up. See if you can tell...

Sometimes, sportswriters just throw down some jawdropping headlines:

Royals To Get A Taste Of Angels' Colon

They're giggling in the newsroom over that one, aren't they?

Notes: Had great time at tailgate/baseball game tonight. Nats broke 8-game losing streak, 6-1 over the Marlins. Shawn Hill was perfect through four, but left with elbow pain. I gotta do these up tailgate-style more often. Hella fun!

Was having a random conversation today about sports, the draft, and so on with soundingsea when I had a weird thought...

What if our favorite TV shows could make trades? Can you imagine how that might go?

You might trade actors around to fill major gaps in the cast, or stockpile talent. What if Veronica Mars could just sell off characters to get under the CW cost caps.

Like, would you trade the Vengeful Ghost of Don Lamb off to Grey's Anatomy in return for Addison Montgomery and Cash Considerations?

Or what if there was some arbitrary dispersal draft. Pretend the existing shows all got axed, and we could sit and draft any cast among existing primetime lineups to put our programs together.

How crazy would that be? Anybody want to throw out some hilarious ideas for general amusement. I may have to develop this more, later on...

Heading up to scenic Groton, Connecticut this weekend for the Hawaii (SSN 776) commissioning event.

Am reasonably pumped - the first ceremony I've been able to get out for (though I tried for TEXAS) - and likely to run into a friend or cousin or so while up there.

Now I just have figure out if I'm going to do anything while I'm there once it's over, or whether I'm just gonna turn around and head back. Oh, and book my hotel room. Any suggestions from the peanut gallery with things to do in Groton/Mystic/Eastern CT on a weekend while I'm there?

So, this Sunday, April 22, 2007 - my younger sister Meredith married her long-time sweetheart Adam. And we couldn't have been happier.

( Kvelling )

Have today off to run errands for my kid sister's upcoming wedding. (This Sunday) I'll just drop a few minor comments, given my general lack of content in this space.

The "cc" line on emails.

I recognize that no one likes to get spammed all the time with excessive emails. And it's no fun to have to print or read on blackberry an e-mail with a giant cc list. However, sometimes I cc people for a purpose.

For example, my customer/boss. I cc my boss on pretty much ever communication of significant import. Because I don't want things to slam to a grinding halt if I'm away from my desk. (For security reasons, my navy email is near-impossible to access anywhere other than my desk at work.)

For the past two months or so, we've been exceedingly busy to meet our reporting requirements to congress and this has involved me running all over the place with the Big Boss and managing massive amounts of requests for my direct boss.

And if I'm out of the office and the one guy we need to get stuff to my group only sends it to me, and doesn't cc my direct boss... aargh. Then nothing gets done and I'm extra buried again when I get back.

Oh, it's such a little thing. But we have this whole system set up to manage all of the crap we have to do, and it is no fun when it doesn't happen right.

Especially when it means I get fifteen work calls on my day off.

I thought alleynyc would find this particularly interesting...

Pearls Before Breakfast
Can one of the nation's great musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour? Let's find out.

By Gene Weingarten
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 8, 2007; Page W10

Joshua Bell is one of the world's greatest violinists. His instrument of choice is a multimillion-dollar Stradivarius. If he played for spare change, incognito, outside a D.C. Metro station, would anyone notice?

Click to read the article

You know, nostalgia never gets old. Thank the YouTube for such kitschy chestnuts...

Interesting webreadings today. Slate survey of Passover Haggadah selects Maxwell House Edition as best Haggadah. Meanwhile, Washington Post reviews the 30 Minute Seder.

Question 1: Who takes 30 minutes for a seder?
Question 2: How short would it be if we summarized that?

Soon will be off to watch Florida-Ohio State. As far as I can remember, the last game on a seder night were the 1990-1 National Semifinals, with the Kansas-North Carolina, and Duke-UNLV games. We'll see how this stacks up, and if I can stay up.

Happy Pesach, y'all.