Youth Baseball Spectacular

"Yeah, right.
Does that make any sense to you?
No, it doesn’t make no sense to me.
And the guy that spoke--I don’t know who he is.
Yeah."
--Untitled, They Might Be Giants

It was indeed a holiday yesterday (hope yours was lovely), but bad writing about baseball never takes a vacation, so we're fortunate this morning to have as much good stuff from the youth baseball summaries as we've ever had. Enjoy...
- "the cubs got some good hitting from Kevin Hurlbutt Nick Yoka, Ian Donnelly and Anthony Greco.Jonathan Marsh played well as did James Chhristensen Dominic Orlandini and Conner Ring also did a good job Sean Finkelberg and Jeremy Jacob also played well"
So there's one period in the whole thing (but no space afterward), and one comma, which is definitely insufficient. The first sentence (other than the lower-case 'the' and the lack of a comma between Kevin and Nick) isn't horrible, but the second is unbelievable. Run-on doesn't begin to describe it. Nice to get those kids' names in there, but it would also be nice to make some sense along the way.
- "The Frogs give the Greased Lightning a big 'Ribet' and wish them the best of luck in the rest of the playoffs!!"
I can't stand these sentiments of post-game goodwill in the articles--that's what the 2-4-6-8 cheers are for, so leave your sucking up on the field. I will admit, however, that it is kinda funny that a "Ribet" is how this squad shows their appreciation. They really get into that Frog nickname.
- "The Mariners never really got started and the game was called early to go to Open House."
In the aftermath of a 10-3 loss, the coach can't even name a kid who did something well? You're better than that, Coach, quit making excuses. "Yeah, we lost, but it's only 'cause everybody had to go to open house. We definitely woulda won otherwise."
- "Great Game! (Coach Canyon)"
I'm in awe.
- "In a thrilling regular season ending finale the Astros edged the Padres 6 to 5."
Maybe it's just me, but doesn't the word "finale" usually mean the season is ending? I watched the "24" season finale last Monday, and, strangely enough, there are no more new episodes this season.
- "Gabrielle Badie was rock solid at first base by making great catches - good Job! Late in the game Becca Stoker smacked the ball into the outfield for a hit and a crucial RBI (wow)! One of our team leaders, Emily Villapondo, also had an important hit that resulted in a single and a RBI (way to go Emily)! Faye Oaks is one of our most dependable players on the team and she proved it again with excellent catching and a monster double (well done)! Lastly, Robin Jamison played extremely well; 6 stike outs, plenty of plays to first, two singles, and an RBI (great job Robin)!"
Sorry for the length of this one, but we needed to get the full spectrum of parenthetical comments from this coach. Again, if you've got something to tell Robin about her RBI, just go ahead and mention it to her at Round Table after the game between slices. Emily would love to be complimented on her single, perhaps in the dugout immediately following that half-inning. Kindly keep these away from me.
- "Will Mudie participated in all three outs one inning when he played pitche... he through out two runners at first and he caught a pop fly."
Two gems in this one, starting with the use of the ellipsis after an incomplete word. Were we supposed to finish the word "pitcher" for you, Coach? It's like a friend of mine who abbreviates "El Pollo Loco" by saying "El Pollo Loc"--you're really saving a lot of syllables there, huh? Now, even if you don't want to complete your words, the ellipsis is reserved for "when you are including only part of a quotation or when you deliberately want to leave a sentence unfinished." So which one was it? Second thing is using "through" instead of "threw." Yes, they're homonyms, but that doesn't mean they're interchangeable. I know you're only a little league coach, but "throwing" is an important enough part of the game to merit some understanding of its usage, in all tenses. Throw, threw, has thrown. I'll send out a little handbook if you like.

There's not a day that goes by that doesn't give me something to brag about when it comes to the Padres, so I'll have to mention last night's 2-1 win, courtesy of a bottom-of-the-ninth game-winning double by Miguel Ojeda, scoring Geoff Blum all the way from first. I stayed up and listened to it on mlb.com, hoping it would end in regulation because a) I was exhausted and b) I wanted to watch another episode of "24" before I went to sleep. Everybody went home happy--Padres win (three-game lead, now 17-4!!! at home, 21 wins in May--most in franchise history for any month), I watched one and now only have four episodes left of Season Two, and I got enough sleep to make it through a workout and to work this morning. Okay, so maybe not everybody went home happy--the Brewers lost that heartbreaker, and the D-Backs and Dodgers fell even further behind in the NL West. Can't wait for games this weekend (definitely going down to watch us beat the Cubs Saturday and Sunday)...
(By the way, I use the ellipsis at the end of my paragraphs to continue my thoughts, to pause before resuming what is essentially a stream-of-consciousness essay here.)

Good things that happened this weekend (besides the Padres' five-game winning streak):
- sleep
- beach volleyball in Hermosa all day Sunday (though a splotch of sunburn in the middle of my back has spoiled it somewhat in the aftermath)
- Collective Soul at House of Blues Sunday night (made even sweeter by the presence of John and Mike B)
- barbecue at Jason's yesterday (getting to hang out with former roommates Jason and Ryan, among others)
- My Real Madrid squad won the Champions League behind a stellar final-game performance from England midfielder Steven Gerrard (another star who was unavailable for England's real-life 2-1 defeat of the U.S. on Saturday)
- Saturday baseball, obviously
- news that friends Ryan and Vanessa are engaged, which trumps all of the above (yes, even the Padre stuff)

It being my birthday and all, I should probably have something introspective and wise to offer this morning, but I'm feeling kind of lazy. It's a dark week, so my motivation to do anything other than eat and watch "24" is pretty low, and I'm sure I'll be inspired at some point today or tomorrow--you know, lessons I've learned in 28 years, 28 things I'm thankful for or something like that. Yeah, I think the latter sounds good--I'll try to work that one out soon...Peace. (See, after the ellipses--plural of ellipsis--a period here indicates finality. I'm done.)

Saturday Baseball

"System on blast, cops just pass
Just seen a big ol' a$$, it's Saturday
Sticky, icky, icky, icky"
--Saturday, Ludacris

Just thought I'd attempt to capture for posterity what I hope will be a pretty typical Saturday of watching baseball, eating and getting paid (I got an increase of about eight dollars an hour from last year--not too shabby). Here we go...

8:45 AM - Arriving and sitting down with my blueberry muffin and blueberry bagel. Checking my terrible fantasy baseball team (I've resorted to picking up Padres to replace my injured guys--Thome went down, pick up Phil Nevin; Javy Lopez breaks his hand, say hello, Ramon Hernandez.

8:49 AM - Just read a story about Rick Helling (former Texas Ranger) getting a bat impaled in his arm at a Triple-A game last night. That might have hurt a bit.

8:55 AM - George is preparing his pre-game notes and doesn't know any of the starting pitchers' first names. It's a funny quirk about our most knowledgeable baseball guy, but I lend him a hand. "Stauffer for the Padres?" "Tim." "Penn for the Orioles?" "Hayden." "Willis for the Marlins?" "Come on, man."

9:07 AM - Two new loggers in the house, don't really know what they're doing. Michael should be here. Reno better be good.

9:32 AM - The start of our morning meeting, where we're updated about all of today's games. Looking for big things from Derrek Lee (facing BK Kim) and the White Sox (facing Chan Ho-mer Park). The afternoon games include My Padres (I'm representing with the orange t-shirt today), looking to improve their 1.5-game lead in the NL West.

10:20 AM - Um yeah, here's the first from Derrek Lee. Homer number 15 gives the Cubs a 1-0 lead. Without him, seriously, they have zero offense. They're bad anyways, but without him? Ouch.

11:25 AM - Wow, another D-Lee homer. Two in two straight games, giving him 16 and 45 RBIs on the season.

11:32 AM - BK is done after giving up another bomb, this time to Aramis Ramirez. Poor guy never recovered from the 2001 World Series. A better recovery than Mitch Williams (and Donnie Moore, God rest his soul), but still rough.

11:41 AM - Just got back from fetching my free lunch, which today consists of two grilled chicken sandwiches, a little salad and a nectarine. Free food doesn't suck.

12:05 PM - The USA-England game just started on ESPN. Trying to keep an eye on it while monitoring these games.

12:09 PM - The US is already losing, one-nil. There is an extremely wide gap between us and the best in Europe. This is basically England's second-string (no Beckham, Ferdinand, Scholes, etc.) and they'll still destroy us.

12:22 PM - I've been putting off the bad Yankees update, but this is too rough to avoid mentioning. Trot Nixon's three-run shot followed Edgar Renteria's grand slam (both in the 5th inning, both off the new owner of a 20-plus ERA, Paul Quantrill), and it's 12-0, Red Sox.

12:40 PM - I've been here for four hours and we finally aired something I've done--a beautiful compilation of the two D-Lee jacks. Really hard to come up with a highlight when stuff like that happens, you know. It's a rough job, this baseball watching.

12:46 PM - Landon Donovan just missed a goal by inches. We're definitely not scoring in this game.

12:49 PM - My new fantasy catcher, Ramon Hernandez, is warming up in Frisco, along with our rookie starter Tim Stauffer. Go Pads.

12:50 PM - Yeah, England just scored again. Number two for Kieran Richardson. Dude can't even get off the bench at Manchester United, so they loan him out, and now he's starting and scoring two goals against the U.S. A club team in England has bench players who dominate our national team. Way to go, boys.

12:54 PM - Another Red Sox home run. 14-0. Thanks, Jay Payton. Nice that it's a 162-game season, and this game means the same thing in the standings that a 1-0, 25-inning win would mean. Wake up tomorrow and start it over.

12:58 PM - Rehearsal of the late pre-game show, including two of my highlights (the easy Cubs D-Lee stuff and the boring Braves-Phillies).

12:59 PM - Ronan Tynan on hand to sing "God Bless America" at Yankee Stadium for the fifteen millionth time. I wonder what else that guy does.

1:08 PM - We had to change the Phillies highlight and I just made my call about what it should include (a Jason Michaels diving catch and three-run homer). He said it should be something else, then changed his mind after a few minutes and agreed with me. I should be doing his job sometime soon.

1:21 PM - Red Sox have the bases loaded again. Not a good day for Yankee pitching.

1:27 PM - First game is off the air, after a semi-chaotic post-game show. What's great about live television is that all the action is happening off camera (and thankfully, out of this room, for the most part), so we get to listen to the director, associate director and executive producer go crazy while the talent remains calm on air. Crisis averted.

1:29 PM - Padres down, 1-0. Come on now.

1:36 PM - I've never heard of Julie Donaldson before, but I think I like her. She's the host of Softball 360, which is on Comcast following that Cubs game, and she can stay. She's in the same class as Erin Andrews and Colleen Dominguez as far as on-air personalities go. Oh yeah, and Carolyn Hughes, too. Much hotter in person than on TV.

1:43 PM - There's this girl who works downstairs, and we hear her voice every week on the McCurdy (the system that allows us to communicate directly with everyone down there, and people down in the control room with the studio, and so on). I think her job entails keeping track of what's going on in all the games (kinda like I do), but she's obviosly clueless, and we hear her cluelessness all the time. "Um, how did the Cubs score their last run?" "RBI single by who?" "Wait, do the Red Sox have 13 or 14 runs?" Once or twice was funny, but now, after the same thing over and over for three seasons, I'm very much over it. She's possibly the most annoying thing about this baseball job.

1:45 PM -I'm in shock. The USA just scored. Clint Dempsey, probably my second-favorite non-Galaxy player in MLS (behind former UCLA defender Jimmy Conrad), knocked home a rebound to cut it to 2-1. Only a few minutes left though, so I think we're still toast.

1:59 PM - Nice stab by Phil Nevin on a line drive to first. They showed a stat where he went from the most errors in the majors in 2003 to the fewest in 2004, and we're hoping the prowess continues.

2:01 PM - Has anyone seen the commercials for this Dancing Superstars reality show? Is that a real show, or one of those Geico commercials? Evander Holyfield is going to learn how to waltz, and there are people out there who will actually be watching this? I'm in disbelief that this made it out of a pitch meeting, much less all the way to a network. I don't even want to know who else is involved--Evander's enough to make this too sad to even consider watching.

2:05 PM - My catcher Ramon just went yard, baby. Ties it up at 1. Beautiful. By the way, the US game went final and we did lose, 2-1. Not the worst result, but it would have been nice to get at least a draw against the England JV.

2:34 PM - Been zoning out for about the last half hour--nothing happening in either of my games (Padres still down 2-1; Twins still beating the Jays, 4-1), and there's now softball on ESPN. It must suck to be a straight softball player. Everyone already assumes you're gay, you have to hang out with girls who pretty much want to convert you all the time, and your role models are all probably gay too--not that there's anything wrong with that.

2:46 PM - Our other late game (Rangers-White Sox) has been in a rain delay for almost two hours now. If they don't call it soon, we might have to wait around an do an entire extra game, which would cause us to be here a couple hours after our normal departure time. There is some strong rooting for somebody to call that stupid game--just play a doubleheader tomorrow, fellas. Won't hurt anybody. One of the big execs is pushing for us to drop the game, which would mean we won't carry it even if they do end up playing. I like the way he's thinking.

2:51 PM - Khalil doubles down the line, so we've now got second and third with nobody out here in the top of the 7th. Here we go, boys. In the meantime, I've been reading Chad Ford's proposal to end the NBA lockout possibility. I think my favorite part of Sports Guy's columns are the subtle jab at Chad Ford and how he's ruined the NBA Draft with all his international guys, especially with his obesssion with Darko. Just think about that draft. Every one with an ounce of sanity couldn't believe that Joe Dumars passed on Carmelo and D-Wade to draft Darko, but Chad Ford said he was the future of the game. Nice one, buddy. How much of a dynasty would Detroit have with either one of those guys, or even Chris Bosh?

2:53 PM - Ramon scores on an RBI groundout. Tie game.

3:11 PM - I'm reading Sports Guy's archive. Check out this gem, from 2002:
"Wouldn't it be much more fun watching Kobe carry a team built around his offense, like Vince in Toronto, or T-Mac in Orlando? As his 56-point explosion Monday night against Memphis proved, this would be "MJ in 1988" all over again...But the fact remains that, at this point in his career, the Kobe Experience would be 10 times more interesting if he were forced to carry a .500 team. I watched some of the 56-point game -- coincidentally, the first game of Shaq's three-game suspension -- and Kobe was showing more flair and explosiveness than anyone since the young MJ. He was totally unstoppable, looking like a guy who finally had the chance to let loose."
Gosh, I wish it really had worked out like this.

3:17 PM - My new first baseman, Phil Nevin, just hit a three-run jack to give us a 5-2 lead. I love this team, and I love this game.

3:40 PM - A little bit of scrambling of late, writing up a couple analysis packages for the Padre game: bad Giants bullpen and good Tim Stauffer. If we can hang on for three more outs (we're on the verge of Trevor Time), this would mean a two-game lead heading into Arizona's game tonight. DR just got caught stealing, but Trevor's on his way in.

3:48 PM - Trevor just hit a guy, so there's two on and only one out in the ninth--Feliz is up with a chance to tie it.

3:49 PM - Big pop-out. Out to go. Trevor's third on the all-time saves list, by the way, thanks to the lovely graphics people working our game today. He needs 17 more to catch John Franco (424) and 71 more to get Lee Smith (478).

3:50 PM - Dangit. Single to center, run scores. 5-3. Let's get this done now, Trev. Winning run at the plate, Bochy comes out to chat with our mighty closer. There are three other games going on, but they have all ceased to exist in my world. It's Trevor vs. Michael Tucker, everything on the line.

3:53 PM - Pitch in the dirt, so now it's a full count. I can't handle this.

3:53:40 PM - Boom!! Changeup got him swinging. Game. Set. Match.

So now I get to watch a few minutes of highlight packages roll, throw away my notes and get on out of here. Hope you've enjoyed our experience today. And oh yeah, I just made $155, after taxes. I love this place.

My Boy Jake

"And it feels like the first time
Like it never did before
Feels like the first time
Like we’ve opened up the door"
--Feels Like the First Time, Foreigner

I heart Jake Peavy. What a performance last night. Two-hitter, first career complete game and first career shutout (and dare I say, the first of many). I bought the MLB Gameday audio last week ($14.95 for the season, every game, home and away radio), which means I've been able to listen to all the games at work and at home, following our back-and-forth battle with the D-Backs for first place this week (back up half a game after last night's shellacking). There's something different about radio, something purer I think, because I fondly recall listening to Chick and Stu (I had to listen to the B-Shaw-inspired comeback in '00 against Portland due to a church trip), Nick Nixon and Brian Engblom--now Darrell Evans (waiting until after midnight to hear a Gary Shuchuck game-winner in '93 against Vancouver)--and Smacksaw ("Chargers knocking on the door, they give the ball to Butts and he kicks the door in! Touchdown, San Diego!"). It's a nice element to recapture.
Asia sure does seem like a normal place. They've even got a fight club of their own, except instead of Ed Norton and Brad Pitt, it's little junior high dudes pummeling each other. Saw parts of the real movie yesterday in an edit bay (on FX, another channel we get stuff from, non-stop), and I a) recalled fondly the music to which I woke up almost every Saturday morning for about a year and b) forgot about the tremendous narration from Norton when he's realizing the true identity of Tyler Durden (even though this movie has been around for a while, nice how I'm refraining from ruining it for anyone, huh?). "Please return your seatbacks to their full upright and locked position...We've just lost cabin pressure." Very funny stuff. I'm trying to think of a way Side could fall asleep to the sound of these Japanese teenagers duelling, but that might be too expensive. Just stick with the DVD, I suppose.
By the way, Kurt Warner in studio today. Good dude. Robert Horry on remote. Very funny (and I got to cut an open that included the shot against Sacramento, the viewing of which will never, ever stop making me happy). As I ran around today (and I'm only now winding down what has been a very long day), I tried to recall other moments that brought on the same sense of elation in my life. It's a shame that none of them have really been self-induced (if I had made the UCLA basketball team and knocked down a three-pointer in the NCAA tournament against Princeton, thereby changing history as we know it, I would probably have to rank that in the top five; as it stands, however, it's all dependent on others), but I'm okay with that. I have no doubt that I'll be unable to produce a comprehensive list, but a few recent ones do come to mind:
- Brees hitting Gates for the tying TD in the closing seconds of regulation after Eric Barton's idiotic roughing the passer penalty
- D-Fish last year against San Antonio
- Kobe's 3 in Game One against Detroit
It's definitely better in person, so ranking very high on this list has to be the U.S. scoring goals one, two and three in the World Cup against Portugal. As a matter of fact, that might just be the greatest sporting event I've ever had the pleasure of viewing in person. Hard to think of anything cooler, even if it was soccer. Is there anything that does what sports can do? Music is great--I've thoroughly enjoyed myself at many a concert--but I don't think it comes close. What else even merits consideration (that doesn't include a bent spoon and a syringe, Todd Marinovich)?
Heroin aside, I'm very much looking forward to this dark week: Collective Soul Sunday night, beach all day Sunday and Monday (and hopefully even more days than that), taking care of some necessary automotive business at the DMV and Hexagon Auto, seeing people that my normal days don't allow (that whole two hours I have of free time every day really isn't cutting it), watching Season Two (and more than likely, Season Three) of "24," working very little and definitely getting down to San Diego for a Padre game or two. I can now finish up my final reports for the week (had to wait for someone to turn something in), so I am off to experience the night (read: graham crackers, 24 and passing out at 10--I'm exhausted)...we'll see how the dark week treats my blogging habits, and in the meantime, God bless...

A quick postscript: Yesterday's blog was deemed by Side to be hilarious, which a) was quite nice to hear, and b) caught me a little off guard. I was rather rushed in its writing and actually felt a little disapointed by it upon completion, but I guess it goes to show how little I should scrutinize the finished product. It's supposed to be rough, off the cuff, and sometimes my readership will enjoy it, sometimes it'll cease to be entertaining, but it's pretty much just me, day to day. I can't--and won't--be changing that anytime soon, so thanks (all three of you) for reading every once in a while, and thanks for enjoying things from time to time.

Not Difficult

"It's so easy, easy
When everybody's tryin' to please me, baby
It's so easy, easy
When everybody's tryin' to please me"
--It's So Easy, Guns N' Roses

I really think I could be a basketball coach, and I don't mean at the girls' junior varsity level (which could honestly be the worst profession on the planet--I would rather be a garbageman or dress up as the rat at Chuck E. Cheese than coach girls' JV anything. Seriously). Did it really take an entire game plus a day off for Stan Van Gundy to figure out what Dwyane Wade needed to do? He struggled mightily in game one of the Eastern Conference Finals, going 7-for-25 from the floor against the nine-foot-long arms of Tayshaun Prince, but the biggest problem was that he kept settling for jumpers instead of playing his normal game, which involves taking it strong to the hoop like every time down. So Stan the Man (and Dwyane) made the adjustment, and the Flash exploded for 40, including a number of highlight film plays. Not that tough, right? The Heat game plan really only has two facets, and I'm sure that I could master both. If I'm mic'ed up on the sideline, here's what you're hearing:
"Okay, let's give the ball to Shaq in the post. Nice. Let's just hope they don't foul him every time. Now give the ball to Dwyane and get out of the way. Good job, fellas. Wow, nice shot Dwyane. Every once in a while, one of you other guys is going to get the ball from Shaq or Dwyane, so be ready. Udonis, dunk it. Atta boy. Damon, hit the three. Yes. Eddie, pass it back to Dwyane. Zo, keep being your obnoxious self--I can't stand you and your act, so I'm sure the Pistons are getting quite annoyed by now. Maybe Rasheed'll punch you or something, get kicked out of the game. Okay now Dwyane, take it to the hole again. Good."
I'm telling you, I could do this in my sleep--literally--and I'd be making a couple million to do it. By the way, in the interests of grammatical correctness, the above expression can only truly be used literally if you refer to something like having your eyes closed or breathing. Just so you know...
I am now the proud owner of "24" Season Two and Season Three on DVD, thanks to our good friends at the Fox Studio Store, who made said DVD sets a ridiculous $28 apiece (as opposed to the $50 sticker price on Amazon.com). I didn't really need the discount to convince me to make the purchase, but it certainly helped. I'm actually quite proud of the fact that I haven't even watched one yet (granted, it's been two days), but I know that once I start, as was the case with Season One, I won't be able to stop. So until the dark week I must wait...
I gave "The Shield" about a ten-minute chance the other night, and there's no doubt it deserves more than that. When it went to commercial, I flashed back to the Suns-Spurs game (poor Suns), and it was too good of a game for me to leave. I went back at the third quarter break, but by then I definitely didn't know what was going on, so I gave up. It might behoove me to get the season DVD's for this show too, so I can take it all in at once. I'm really not sure how much room I've got for TV shows, but we'll see if we can make it work.
Cash's discourse on the Ying Yang Twins was quite epic, and inspired me to read some of the lyrics that are espoused by these obvious geniuses. I know I don't have my finger on the pulse of the hip-hop world at the moment (I'm afraid my relevance in that world ended with "The Chronic" and "Doggystyle," circa the early 90's), but are you kidding me with these guys? They get paid to write and perform that crap? If females actually knew what these guys were saying, would they still buy CD's and dance to it at the club? They make 2 Live Crew sound like Michael W. Smith, my goodness. I will not be in the market for a Ying Yang CD anytime soon.
Read a story this morning about a woman who's suing the Colorado Rockies because she lost part of her leg in an escalator accident a couple years ago. What? I mean, I've seen Mallrats, I know the escalator can be dangerous if it isn't properly feared and respected, but losing part of a leg? Can any part of your leg even fit in that little crack at the beginning and/or end of the ride? Even if you got a shoelace stuck or whatever, it's not like the machine can just suck you in. Now, after actually reading the story, she evidently didn't get caught in anything, but fell down when the thing stopped and started again. The resulting injuries caused her to endure, and I quote, "11 surgeries, nearly 10 weeks in the hospital and the amputation of her left leg four inches below the knee." I'm thinking this woman wasn't in great shape heading into her accident, but maybe I'm just being callous. Hard for me to fathom such an injury taking place on an escalator, but again, not a year goes by--not a year--that I don't read about some escalator accident involving some bastard kid that could've been easily avoided had some parent--I don't care
which one--but some parent conditioned him to fear and respect that escalator.
Kevin Smith rules.

Goodnight Now

"So sorry it's over
So sorry it's over
There's so much more that I wanted and
There's so much more that I needed and
Time keeps moving on and on and on
Soon we'll all be gone"
--Man Overboard, Blink 182

A thrilling end to a spectacular season of 24, and I had to do an incredible amount of work to avoid watching the show all day--it was seriously on from about 9 a.m. until 6 (at different times) in various edit bays throughout the building. There's no way I wanted to ruin any of it, having now been invested in the show for a few solid months, and wanting to enjoy the two-hour season finale to its fullest. Needless to say, it was well worth it. (Quick note: I shouldn't have used that phrase, because I hate it when people say "needless to say" and then say it anyway. If it goes without saying, then please refrain from saying it. Thanks). So yeah, great episode, tying almost everything together (nuclear weapon shot down, bad guy dead, Chinese wanting Jack dead, so they "kill" him), but setting the stage for another great season almost right away. Jack pretty much has to disappear, because the Chinese (and even the U.S. government) need to believe he's dead, so it'll be interesting to see how he's able to re-emerge at CTU (or anywhere, for that matter). I now have a few months to catch up on seasons two and three (which are evidently available at a very marked-down price here at the studio store, so I might be making a purchase this afternoon). Bottom line: I'm glad that I broke down and added a show to my list of necessary television viewing for the week (previously just one--West Wing--on said list), and it's starting to look like "The Shield" might be next. We'll see.
So today's a dark day, which often means less to do and definitely fewer stressed-out people around here, and I've got one thing to do the whole day, so it should be nice. I essentially have from 10-6 to get one 30-second thing done, so I'm not too worried about my prospects. Getting out of here early means a chance to get back home and have a birthday dinner with Michael and Mom (her real b-day is Thursday, but this'll work) at Mama D's--never a bad choice. Today is a preview of next week, for the duration of which we are dark again. There's a lot I've been putting off, so it'll be nice to get some things done--DMV, car repairs, seeing friends, Padre games, etc.
It always ends up that I have to wait until Tuesday to recap the weekend, basically because Monday is the longest of long days (made even moreso on the back end by the "24"/youth baseball editing combo--I might be able to get an editing gem in here before we're done--if you're lucky). Friday night began with a trip to my buddy's place in Venice, where we watched the Mavs-Suns game and Steve Nash's third straight "This is why I am the MVP" game. He was ridiculous. Walked from there over to a place called Baja Cantina, which seems to be a pretty happening establishment over there on Washington Boulevard. Our show was on at the bar, which was a pretty weird thing--watching the show open I cut, airing in front of hundreds of oblivious people. One hilarious thing, though, was a comedy bit that this guy Jonah did where he played Reggie Miller (he's black and skinny, so it worked), and he was also there in attendance at the Cantina as it aired. One of our other guys made sure to point out to a couple girls that this guy right here is the guy up on the screen, and after a moment of disbelief, they got all excited. It's amazing to see the power one has when one is on television. I don't get it. Left a little bit early in order to secure some sleep for the first session of Saturday baseball.
Work was fun Saturday, getting back with the crew and kicking back to watch a few games, nothing too exciting. I had the Cubs-White Sox and Rangers-Astros contests, the second of which was pretty much just a home run derby. The 'stros gave up eight homers to the Rangers, including four in the second inning alone. Some games are hard to write, because there aren't enough highlights to make a good package. This game was tough because we had to eliminate like six homers from the list to make it manageable. They ordered pizza for us for lunch and then had a nice big barbecue at the end of the day to celebrate the kickoff (though that's technically a football term, so I'm not sure what the correct one would be) of the season. Back home in time to watch another Galaxy victory before heading over to Stu's house to hang out with Big Stu (and Gary Swaner and Daniel Niemann and about 25 Pepperdine people I didn't know and didn't meet) before he headed back to D.C. for the rest of the summer. Good man, Stu.
Sunday was so lazy, I love it. Grocery shopping in the morning and then nothing of substance until church at 6 (saw about a hundred La Canada people there, kinda cool and weird at the same time) and our game at 9. Our third game of the season was our third 20-point victory of the season (give or take a point or two), and I really don't see us being challenged except by the same squad that beat us in last season's semifinals. I've been encouraged by my individual improvement over the past few weeks, taking the ball to the hoop and actually finishing, and also making a few free throws. It's hard to be consistent when you're only playing one night a week (and now we're off for three weeks, so it'll be even less), so I liked to do the Brentwood thing on Sunday afternoons to keep fresh. However, this recent run has coincided with a break from the Brentwood thing, so maybe rest is better than getting all worn out in the afternoon and trying to recover by the nighttime. I suppose it's just part of getting older. Oh, by the way, 24 is on again on the closed circuit! I don't have to say goodbye to Jack just yet. I love this place!
Time for a couple youth baseball nuggets, real quick:
- "The only things hotter than the blazing Saturday sun were the Yankees' and White Sox' bats.": I'm sorry, I didn't realize Jim Murray or Bill Plaschke started writing these summaries. I don't mean to mock the attempts at creativity, because the vast majority of these coaches err at the opposite end of this spectrum, but this one's a bit cheesy, I'm sorry.
- "The Giants continue to improve. This game saw lots of 'outs.'": I would guess that unless the game went deep into extra innings, it probably saw the same number of "outs" as any other game in that league, but maybe I'm being shortsighted here. I mean, the Giants are improving, so maybe they're getting so good that they managed to get a few extra outs past those little league umpires, who knows.
I'm not as jaded by the summaries this week, because I wasn't even thinking about them as I worked, throughout the two hours of 24. It'll be a shame to have to do them unaccompanied next week, but I'll manage.
Time to get some work-related writing done (as the rebroadcast of 24 continues...)

Already...

"And this is why my eyes are closed
It’s just as well for all I’ve seen
And so it goes, and so it goes
And you’re the only one who knows"
--And So It Goes, Billy Joel

Gotta go to a meeting, but I already thought of two additions to the song list from yesterday:
- The Last Resort, Eagles: An incredible rendition done on the Hell Freezes over album, and another great story (purportedly based on the former president of Pepperdine killing some girl with his car, not unlike a certain St. Louis Rams defensive end)...
- And So It Goes, Billy Joel: I spent an entire summer learning how to play this song on the piano (no doubt annoying a brother or two in the highly repetitive process), and it's remained one of my favorites for a long, long time. Coming to grips with inevitable occurrences is never easy, but certainly necessary...
Padres in Seattle tonight, MLB on Fox begins tomorrow, rec league game number three on Sunday--happy weekend to all...

Lucky Number Seven

"But look around
Hear go the sound of the wreckin' ball
Boom and Pound
When I shut 'em down
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
What I use in the battle for the mind"
--Shut 'Em Down, Public Enemy

We're not quite up to nine yet, but the Pads have been shuttin' 'em down in a big way of late, reeling off seven straight wins and 16 victories in their last 19 games. They're finding a different way to get it done every night, and I continue to be amazed at their resilience. My boy Khalil Greene (uniform #3) hit two three-run bombs yesterday, Adam Eaton gave us another tremendous start (he's 6-1) and Trevor closed it out for save number 13. We've got the week of Memorial Day off here at work, so I'm hopeful that one or two games will be attended that week, with the Cubbies in town (I don't know how the pitching matchups will shake out, but a Prior-Peavy duel would be sick). Padre talk complete.
In response to a list compiled by my friend Dan Washburn--no, not that one, the other American Dan Washburn living and writing in Shanghai--in regards to his top five (six) songs at the moment. It makes me think of a deleted scene from "High Fidelity," continuing a scene that was actually in the movie where main character Rob Gordon was interviewed for a magazine article, and was asked his top five songs, all-time. His initial response yielded six, and then he thought about it and gave five new ones. In the deleted scene, he's talking about it with his girl and gets all pissed at himself for forgetting a bunch of songs, so he rethinks it and comes up with a whole new list. It then cuts ahead to him walking out to a pay phone with an entirely new set, which ends up being six long (again), and he finishes that call with, "This is a little embarassing." So yeah, it's pretty tough to whittle all the music in the history of music down to just my five favorites, but I'm going to do my best.
5) Hope I Don't Fall in Love, Tom Waits - Covered by Hootie & the Blowfish (which is where I first heard this gem), it's a great story of a dude in a bar looking for love, and though it's not a typical situation for me, I can certainly identify with the on-and-off thought process that goes along with courting...
4) Off He Goes, Pearl Jam - From the unheralded "No Code" album, it's about a character who has been away for some time, then returns to enjoy a great time with his old friends, only to take off one more time. Again, there are parts of this aloofness and desire to run away that I can identify with...
3) I'm Movin' On, Rascal Flatts - More autobiographical than I could ever have imagined a song not written by me to be. In my transition from church employment to nothing and eventually to this amazing job, I've experienced almost every single word of this song...
2) I'm In the Moment, Sister Hazel - From their latest disc, it's a praise song or a friendship song, or anything in between, just attempting to put into words an epiphany or an awakening, things that occur to me from time to time...
1) tie between A Praise Chorus and Kill, Jimmy Eat World - Praise Chorus is actually similar to #5 on the list ("I want to fall in love tonight") and Kill is a tremendously emotional song, triumphantly proclaiming in verse three, "I can't help it baby, this is who I am," which is just part of a great declaration of self-worth and individuality. I have never been a bigger fan of these guys than I am right now.
Again, this list has been cobbled together rather quickly, and I might find myself on a pay phone sometime later today, attempting to scramble up this list. We'll see.
I need also to quickly defend my assertion about Nina Myers in Tuesday's blog, since assailed by my dear friend Side. First of all, I've never been an Elisha Cuthbert fan, so I'm leaving her out of the equation. Second, I don't know who Kate Warner is (maybe I'll find out when I get season two, hopefully soon), so she's out. No way Michelle Dessler is hot, but maybe that's just me. I'm not saying Nina (actress Sarah Clarke) is the most beautiful woman on the planet, but I am saying that she does it for me. It's a personal preference thing, that's all. I IMDB'ed her and evidently she was in "Happy Endings," a recent Tom Arnold film, as well as an Emmy Award-winning Jetta commercial, but nothing else memorable. Also, she's married to Xander Berkeley, the actor who portrays George Mason, which is kind of funny. Anyways, she reminds me a lot of a girl I used to date, and since she's on TV, I can picture her without the negatives, so that makes it nice, you know? I guess I can look forward to seeing Kate next season, so we'll see how she matches up when the time comes. And oh yeah, I can almost say I want the weekend to end quickly so that Monday night (and the two-hour season finale) to be on. Almost.
Last thought, brought up in bible study last night in our discussion about commitment. Johnny said that one of the things you need to have in common with someone who will (hopefully) be your spouse is mutual admiration. Basically, I'm going to want to be like my wife, as strange as that may sound. Out of all the things that were brought up last night, that's what stuck. And as I tried to think back to my recent relationships, I suppose I'm glad that none of them have lasted much longer than they did, because as much as I liked these girls, I don't think I ever really admired them or saw something in them that I wanted to emulate. That's sad. I can only think of one female in my relational history (and just a friend, at that) whom I've admired and seen personality traits I desired for myself. It's a different mindset for me as I approach another relationship...

Hoops, Jimmy, Padres, 24

"Hang loose, my friend don't walk away from me,
Because I really think you're cool
Is it worth turning back despite these open hands?
You're tearing me apart"
--Seventeen, Jimmy Eat World

No time to write yesterday and limited time today, but I must get a few things down about the weekend. Sunday night represented the close of said weekend and brought with it the second basketball game of this spring/summer rec league season. It resulted, of course, in another blowout victory, this time over a team called "I Got This." Needless to say, they didn't "got" anything. All of us (except for one unnamed individual who may or may not be one of my brothers) wore headbands as a show of solidarity, and we played one of our best games (at least offensively) in a long time. Missed a quasi-dunk attempt (but managed to tip it in) and had a sweet between the legs, no-look pass to Seas for a layup on the break. Oh yeah, and I made four of my five free throws, which is a complete aberration the way I've been shooting from the stripe recently. It's still so fun to just get out there and play with a bunch of friends; I really hope we can keep doing it for a while.
Saturday night was the Jimmy Eat World concert down in Long Beach, where they were joined by Mates of State (got there late, missed them) and Taking Back Sunday (got there on time, wasn't impressed). The set list:
-Futures--partial (basically just the lines about "nickels and dimes," which I felt was quite appropriate
-For Me This is Heaven
-Bleed American
-Lucky Denver Mints
-Kill (my favorite song on the new album, if you haven't already read it among the 35 other times I've mentioned this in the last several months)
-Work
-Blister (How Long Would It Take Me)
-The World You Love
-The Middle
-23
-Get It Faster (I'm captivated by this song: as near as I can tell, the idea is that he wants to break up with the girl, but she doesn't get it, so "cheating gets it faster"--kinda weird)
-Seventeen (off "Static Prevails," the oldest song they did)
-Futures--the full version, still including the dimes reference
-A Praise Chorus (my favorite all-time song, a perfect way to finish the main act)
And then a tremendous two-song encore:
-Pain
-Sweetness
All in all, a quick (<1 hour on stage) but stellar show. I've only see them open (for Blink 182/Green Day and for Tenacious D/Weezer), so to see them headline was a tremendous experience.
Getting to go to the concert meant I was home and not in San Diego, as a result of a few Padre game arrangements falling through at the last minute, but it was still cool. The Pads didn't need me, as it turns out, sweeping the Marlins (and adding another one last night). Buster Olney gets it:
"Padres Streaking
The Padres had just started playing better when Woody Williams and Tim Redding went down with arm injuries. But they keep winning, helped along by one of the rotation replacements – Tim Stauffer, who had another solid outing Monday in San Diego's comeback victory against the Braves. The Padres have moved into a tie for first place in the NL West."
As Mel Allen would say, "How 'bout that!"
So I had a basketball game (gone for two hours) and a concert (gone for about four hours), and pretty much every single waking minute outside of those two events was spent doing one thing: watching season one of 24 on DVD. One of my editors lent it to me on Friday, making sure to give me the warning that once I started, I wouldn't be able to stop, but I figured I could have some self-control. Not so. After getting back from a bar on Friday night (watched the Mavs-Suns game with a couple buddies--Amare Stoudamire WOW!), I popped in disc one and watched two episodes. Nothing big. Woke up Saturday, however, and it was on. No less than ten (10) episodes were viewed on Saturday (they're only about 42 minutes, so it wasn't a full 10 hours), before getting showered up and heading off to the concert. I did take about an hour break somewhere in there for lunch and a brief nap in the sun (gorgeous day--probably shouldn't have spent the duration inside), but the vast majority was spent with Jack Bauer (and the lovely Nina Myers, hot in a very subtle way--I honestly think that if I ever met the actress who portrayed Nina, I would ask her to marry me on the spot). Sunday was more of the same, after some morning errands and before the pre-game nap, I only had one left going into game time. With Jack and his family in such peril, it was a tad difficult to concentrate on the game, to be honest, but I was able to make do and get back home with enough energy to watch the 24th and final episode of season one before bedtime. Wow, was that some good television. I've been totally caught up in this season, completely oblivious to this world of 24 before a couple months ago, and now I can't get enough. The same editor has seasons two and three, but I have to wait until he's moved into his new house and the boxes are unpacked. It's probably better that way, for my health and ability to focus on work in the meantime, so hopefully I'll get them in time for our next dark week (week of Memorial Day), when there'll be plenty of viewing time.
Just found out that today's load is going to be even heavier than I thought, so I'm off to start it. Star Wars tonight at 9, if I'm still awake. Peace.

Fool, 'Cause it's Friday

"He's bout hard as Darth Vader
In his sweat shirt, khakis and Chuck Taylors
Just see him in the driveway
Gettin beat like a smoka, fool 'cuz it's Friday"
--Friday, Ice Cube

Hmm, oh yeah, Darth Vader. Gotta pick up my ticket this afternoon to make sure I can get into next Tuesday night's screening of that there Episode III flick. Nice. Now I've mentioned this before, but it's nice that Friday has finally earned distinction in my life, separating itself from Monday through Thursday and actually signifying the beginning of the weekend. In my former life, weekends were no different, Sundays actually representing the biggest workday of the week, and weekdays consisting of 10 a.m. wake-up times, trips to the gym and occasional trips to the office. And even though I do work on the weekend about eight months out of the year, Friday is still a wonderful feeling.
I'm trying to figure out why people do certain things, things I'll never understand. Like parking your car and covering two spots. In a lot like ours, which is totally full every day (even requiring valet parking in the aisles for dozens of cars), how could somebody walk away from their car after seeing its location, straddling the lines meant to provide a border between two vehicles? On a crowded street, against a curb with plenty of room for two cars between a pair of driveways, how on earth does someone park their Explorer (no offense to Explorer drivers) firmly in the middle, leaving no room for anybody else in front or behind? How are you that oblivious to the outside world? Who has so little regard for everyone else trying to do exactly what they're doing at that moment? Psychology and sociology are fascinating subjects (I kinda wish I'd tried to learn something about them at some point in school), because it's so hard to put yourself in someone else's shoes (figuratively) and figure out their corresponding actions. If I had cared to study a bit more, perhaps I'd have some more insight, but who knows. I doubt that any of us will ever understand what possesses someone to just go shoot another cat on the freeway, something that seems to have become commonplace here in the Southland.
So I was reading this baseball blog site yesterday and there was a survey on there about which American cities fit you best. I'm not usually one to click on these things (wandering around the internet is about as effective a time-waster as one can find), but this one intrigued me, so I filled out a few questions, and here are the results:
American Cities That Best Fit You:
80% Honolulu
75% Austin
75% Denver
70% Atlanta
65% San Diego
I can say with a great deal of confidence that I won't be living in Austin or Atlanta anytime soon (and Honolulu seems pretty remote too, even if it is a good fit), so I think my future destinations might have to be Denver (or somewhere in Colorado) or San Diego (which has pretty much always been choice number one. If SD had anywhere near the television work that LA has, I'd already be there. Maybe someday.
Okay, so you know how there's a thin line between love and hate? Well that line was in full effect last night at a little place called the Gas Lite, a smallish establishment on Wilshire in Santa Monica, the focus of which is a thing we like to call karaoke. I've been to a few karaoke places before, but all of them had heretofore been of the Korean variety (two in LA and one in Seoul), so this was a relatively new experience. The love part comes in when attractive girls with good voices do good songs ("Son of a Preacher Man" and "Fever" come to mind). The hate portion would be "Bad Medicine," done by six drunk guys, none of whom have ever even considered carrying a tune in their respective twenty-something year histories. I really hope that song hasn't been permanently damaged for me, but it's highly possible. Other ruined songs from last night include anything by Stone Temple Pilots, anything done in the Spanish language (quick side note: this dude sang Spanish songs five times while I was there, and, curious about the lack of words on the screen during his performances, we asked the waitress to give us the scoop. He evidently pays the host to perform, in attempts to promote his CD--he gives the DJ the instrumental tracks, and then puts on a little concert, one song at a time, five songs over the span of a few hours, interrupted by countless other singers. Sounds like a great gig to me there, Raul. I'm not in the advertising business, but I'm of the opinion that Raul needs a new marketing plan--like Sandler kept saying in that Seinfeld SNL sketch with the stand-up comic game show: "Who were the ad wizards that came up with this one?"
As I begin my work day, I'm attempting to come to grips with the fact that my blog has become a physics discussion board. If I were to predict the topic that would spark the most animated and prolific discussion, I would have placed terminal velocity (and the relative acceleration of objects) somewhere between favorite co-host on "The View" and best song on Pink's new album, but hey, whatever brings in the readers, right?
Still holding out hope for a Padres game or two this weekend--the possibility was re-awakened this morning--but Jimmy Eat World isn't a bad fallback...peace

The Good Life

"I'm looking in on the good life I might be doomed never to find
Without a trust or flaming fields am I too dumb to refine?"
--New Slang, The Shins

I think I mentioned this song last week (or sometime previous) as one that's atop my guitar-playing list at the moment, and it's on my mp3 player at the gym, so I'm hearing it all the time, and man, are they good. Zach Braff did a remarkable job with that soundtrack, really capturing the tone of the movie ("Garden State," if that wasn't already apparent) with all the music ("The Only Living Boy in New York" being the real awakening song at the end there), which I suppose is the whole idea of a soundtrack, right? I was trying to think of some great soundtracks over the years, where the music either totally defines the movie or even supercedes the film once the disc has been released. Here are a few great ones I came up with (excluding instrumental scores and musicals; those each deserve their own category, both of which I might get to before the blog is done, who knows):
- Pulp Fiction: I remember splitting the cost of this CD with C-Ev right after seeing the movie, and then he copied the soundtrack onto a tape for me. Good times. The movie lines in the soundtrack made it that much better: "Who's Zed?" "Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead."
- Blues Brothers: My favorite was the live Cab Calloway song (Hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-ho), but there was a bunch of good Belushi-Aykroyd stuff on here, the best of which was probably "Rawhide," which was also my favorite part of the movie.
- Top Gun: Anything with Kenny Loggins prominently featured can't be that bad, right? How great is the Top Gun theme, too? "Playin' With the Boys," "Danger Zone," wow.
- Swingers: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, big time. And some other great old school stuff from George Jones, Average White Band and plenty of others. Maybe my favorite soundtrack of all time.
- The Lion King, Tarzan (and pretty much any of those Disney animated movies, for that matter): "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" became the open theme for the 1995 NCAA basketball finals, so it rapidly became my favorite Disney song of all time, and Phil Collins did some amazing stuff on the Tarzan soundtrack--I'm not even afraid to say I liked the N'Sync track on there.
- Good Morning Vietnam: Merits special mention because it's the first soundtrack I ever owned--copied onto a tape by an elementary school buddy, Josh Chaplin. The music doesn't make it as much as the various bites from Adrian Cronauer (Robin Williams), on the radio, freestyling between songs. I still do like the music though, all good 60's pop and rock n' roll. "'Nowhere to Run To' by Martha and the Vandellas. Yes!"
- Office Space: Does it get any better than the Geto Boys? "Damn It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta" provides one of the great musical scenes in film history, without question. For a movie with a bunch of white guys in an office all the time, there's a lot of gangsta rap on this thing, Ice Cube and plenty more.
- Forrest Gump: Two discs of great classic rock, almost as important as the CGI stuff in Forrest's journey through history.
- Karate Kid: Survivor had a song on there and some other cheesy 80's stuff.
- The Wedding Singer: Great 80's music; so much, in fact, that they had to release it on two discs. And Sandler's "I Wanna Grow Old With You" is tremendous.
The final entry (not one of the best) would be the soundtrack I'm most ashamed to own: Waiting to Exhale, purchased via BMG (I wish I could say it was an accident) freshman year of college. It does have the Shoop Shoop song and a number of other R&B favorites. Sorry.
So I'm assuming a different role at work this week, part of a two-pronged experiment to a) give me some more experience managing people and b) give my former supervisor a stress break. He's a great guy, but he causes himself (and those around him) far too much stress and worry on a daily (and hourly) basis, so a change of scenery will hopefully do him some good. In the meantime, I take a break from actually cutting tapes this week and stick to managing the five guys I used to work with, coordinating the daily segment assignments and meeting with C-Rose and the senior staff a couple of times a day to make sure we're all on the same page. It's not a job I want--at all--but it can't hurt to have managerial experience on the road to being an executive producer someday. The thing I respect the most about the big boss on Fox NFL Sunday (his name is Scott Ackerson, and he's the best EP I've ever seen in action, no question) is his complete awareness of every single detail of the show--who's doing what and how it's all getting done. To have such thorough knowledge of everything, I think, requires some experience at every step along the way. So it can't be a one-lane track to the top, if that makes sense. Some lateral moves are necessary in order to generate complete understanding in the end. It's with that mindset that I attack this week, knowing it's not a job I want to spend much time doing, but also knowing that it's experience that will be quite beneficial in the long run.
The song's lyrics and blog title become appropriate now as I continue to realize how blessed I am, at work, at home (and in the larger sense of "home"--my family), at church, at basketball games, at the gym, with friends, at Padre games (looks like I'm going to be able to attend all three against the Marlins this weekend), and everywhere else for that matter. It's a reminder I require whenever I'm editing youth baseball stories, as was the case during and after "24" last night (no episode-ruining words to follow, don't worry). Now that I've gotten my raise (and I'm actually due another one when our evaluations come up next month), I'm inclined to let that portion of my work slip away into nothingness fairly soon. I do owe Plowhorse and his dad a debt of gratitude for giving me work when I had nothing, so I'm continuing to repay that debt as best I can, but I'm just not sure how much longer I can read things like this:
- "One of the key highlights was the smart thinking of Zoe Demos, who did not take the bait offered by Annie Monroe as she tried to get in a pickle."
This came in a 10-10 game, mind you, and one of the highlights was a girl not getting caught in a pickle? Wow, sorry I missed that one on SportsCenter.
- "The Padres chalked up another win. Hitting was lead by Thomas Phillips double, Austin Ruiz home run, Kevin House and Blake Cornell hitting 2 for 2."
Other than the part about the Padres winning (the real Pads got another one last night), I can't stand the misuse of the word "lead" when they mean "led." A leader can lead, but when it happened in the past, he led. Hitting was lead? So were the bats heavy or something? Also, the sentence fragment nature of this one really gets me: Thomas Phillips double, Austin Ruiz home run? Was there a verb or a possessive or something--anything--missing? Why must I do your work for you, Coach? Why?
- "The play of the season for the Firebats saved the tie and gave us the opportunity for the win!" (that's the whole summary, courtesy of the winning coach)
Were you going to tell us what that play of the season was or just keep us in suspense until next week? I guess I can make something up, perhaps something about avoiding a pickle or something--I hear that's a pretty big-time play--but you've gotta give me something to work with.
- "The post-game "Starfire dogs" courtesy of the Bromley family were a big hit!"
Yes, they wrote about the post-game meal. I don't know what to do with this.
- "There is one thing for sure I can say about the smurfs, They never give up until they have no choice and the blue calls the game. This is one characteristic I wish I could say about all the teams out there. They know in their hearts that the game is not over until the very last out."
There is one thing I can say about this coach, He/She is a master of the obvious (and the rules of grammar). I do like the use of smurfs and blue in the same sentence, though; that's pretty clever (though unfortunately unintended, I'm quite sure). I can't deal with all the personal stuff, things the coach needs to say to his/her team in the little postgame Capri Sun and orange-filled meeting, not in the newspaper.
- "The defense play of the game came when Marissa Dodge caught a ball hit into the upper stratosphere [NORAD scrambled jets when this ball was hit, thinking it was a UFO]. Also playing well on defense was Lucy Fillapone, who stopped a ball hit down third base line at 150 mph."
This was my absolute favorite from this week. Wow. The use of "defense" instead of "defensive" almost doesn't bother me because of these other two gems. I'm impressed, though, that a little girl just turned on a lobbed underhand pitch and cranked it about as fast as an Andy Roddick serve down the third-base line. I'm even more impressed that this Lucy chick went Scott Rolen on it and made the stop, lightning-quick reflexes when she's what, like thirty feet away from the batter or something? It doesn't say whether or not she got to her feet and threw the runner out, but I suppose stopping it was enough--after all, it was going 150 miles per hour. Now, let's see about this other one. I looked up some info about our atmosphere and evidently the stratosphere exists from about 10-30 miles above the ground. That would make the upper stratosphere between 20 and 30 miles straight up. So this girl on the other team took one of those lobbers and knocked it into the air, about as far straight up as it is from Lynngrove Drive to Bel Air Pres (~20 miles, thanks to our friends at Mapquest). Even if it were traveling as fast as the other line drive--and 150 mph is pretty darn fast--it would still take about eight minutes to reach its peak, at which point it would return to earth at what would probably be a much faster rate. Meanwhile, little Marissa is positioning herself, shades flipped down, calling off her left and right fielders, evidently dealing with the distractions of NORAD jets trying to catch the ball, and finally, maybe 12 full minutes after the girl popped it up (and has likely circled the bases a few times, gone to chat with her mom in the crowd, wolfed down some nachos, left for her piano recital and came back, proud of her rendition of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue"), Marissa makes the catch, undeterred by the ball burning up on re-entry and hitting her glove at mach three. It's moments like these when I realize why I edit youth softball stories.
Off to a day of supervision. Enjoy yours...

All Another Day

"It's ironic
I had the brew, she had the chronic
The Lakers beat the Supersonics"
--Good Day, Ice Cube

So that was the real version; what follows is the fake version, written by yours truly sometime around the end of my senior year of high school (fortunately, I'm past the rap stage of my writing career). I came across the written version of it over the weekend, while cleaning out my desk (other items in the same drawer included two Canavan essays entitled "Can Grant Hill Shut Down Jane Eyre?" and "Kinsella Breaks Finals Record With 31 in Fourth Quarter," respectively. Neither have any bearing on the story whatsoever, but merely reflected my desire to include the subject of said essays in a sports headline, rather than a stupid "Imagery in Jane Eyre" kind of title. Anyways, here's the copy of "Good Day," deLL-style...

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Just wakin' up in the mornin', gotta thank God
I don't know, but today seems kinda odd
No trash talk from the fools, no school
And goin' to B's casa to play pool
I got my H-P, but didn't pound it
Finally got a ball that was lost, but we found it
Grabbed my trunks for later as I take a pee
In the other room, we're blasting Warren G
We gotta go, 'cause we got to play Men-try
And if Chris throws a lob, I can bang it gent-ly
Had to run to those short rims
Passin' off my shoulders and dribblin' off my shins
And me and Chris are all grins
Got a call from Sim, and we'll be dunkin' on him
Walked up to strangers and I'm askin' y'all
Have you ever seen us play basketball?
Get us on one team and we're trouble
Last week, messed around and picked up triple-doubles
Freakin' Slobby every way like MJ
I can't believe, today was a good day

(cue the girls singin' that nice little back-up part for the chorus)

Creep to I-n-I in the Mustang (a note here: Suss' friends
all call it I-n-I and have no idea why, because he picked up on it when
B said it and just figured it was a normal nickname for the fine burger
establishment)
Still a little tired, but it ain't no thang
'Cause in a little while, we'll be watchin' "Blue Chips"
Listen to the Prince, comin' on a new tip (I'm pretty sure that's the
Fresh Prince, as opposed to the Artist Formerly Known as...)
No question, Mike and Chris are glad that they finished their testin'
As I'm in the back seat restin'
Went back to my house, we was watchin' college basketball
It's DePaul-Seton Hall
Wake him up, wake him up, wake him up, wake him
Watchin' wit a big group of people, but Tim can't take 'em
'Cause he's sleepin', sleepin' and creepin', sleepin' and creepin'
Sleepin' even half past four o'clock, just heard the door knock
It's Johnny May, and he wants to shoot the rock
Plus the Bruins I know just killed SC
Battle of L.A., today was a good day

Back to Mike B's house soon
Turned on a game been tryin' to see since the last June
It's ironic, Nicky hit a thirty-five footer
The Lakers beat the Supersonics
Flipped on the ESPN
In time for the end, of Duke and Maryland
And Joe's tip-in was clutch, so clutch
So clutch, that Parks couldn't do much
Ballgame's done around six
We didn't hesitate to head off and check the Mix (probably dancing in
the aisles and trying to make Langford laugh)
Went to pick up K.K. and we're drivin'
Stuck in the trunk, I'm survivin', she said "Yes," high-fivin'
I was glad everything was all right
Headed down to church for the Knott's all night
Today was like one of those rare dreams
Chris and I are makin' up our national all-hair teams
Yes, Devin Davis must be in the top five
Shupe's comin' over, and he's got Live (that would be NBA Live '95, greatest basketball game ever made on any system)
Even saw the lights of the Goodyear Blimp
And it read, "Teoh's a Shrimp"
Playin' live and we're throwin' up
Halfcourt treys, and with Reggie I'm blowin' up
Side and I didn't even go to period trey
I gotta say it was a good day
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Enjoyable stuff, right? I'm okay if it wasn't that enjoyable, but it's a lazy way to take up a huge amount of space on a day I can't really write too much. Gotta respond to an explosion of comments on yesterday's blog (for me, three is definitely an explosion):
- "Trevor Time sounds a little gay to me. Like I'm about to see a little man in short pants sing show tunes."
- "Trevor Time < "Game Over" [Gagne Time]"
I'm actually in agreement with the latter statement; my buddy Bernie and I rated the closer walks yesterday, and "Welcome to the Jungle" is a perfect song for Gagne, coupled with his personality and the flashing scoreboards with all the Gagne heads on them--it's hard to top. Even as a Padre fan, I can admit that there's not much that beats watching a Gagne save at home (as long as he's not doing it to San Diego). Trevor Time, not gay at all, ranks second--I'm telling you, the bells make it happen. Mo Rivera coming in to "Enter Sandman" ranks third, but only because I've never seen it in person. I'm sure that in any post-season game (except for 2001 World Series Game 7 and 2004 ALCS Game 4), watching Mo come to the mound with a Yankee lead in the ninth would have been pretty spectacular. Keith Foulke has "Mother" by Danzig, Smoltz had "Thunderstruck" last year in the ATL (just ripping off Trevor's AC/DC selection), my buddy from last year, Rocky Biddle, had "I Want to Rock" by Twisted Sister--unfortunately, it was the hitters that proceeded to Rock poor Rockpile and the Twins' Joe Nathan has "Rock Star" by Everclear. I know there are others, but that's enough to prove that Gagne and Trev (with Mo in third) stand head and shoulders above the rest of baseball.

- "Sam Rockwell is the guy you are referring to in 'Hitchhiker's'. He is an amazing actor, easily top 5 for me."
Respect to Sam Rockwell. He is indeed a good actor, and my apologies for forgetting his name. Won't happen again.

- "Yes, we are seeing Ep. III before the uber geeks in front of Mann's Chinese will. I love FOX."
I hope that seeing before the uber geeks doesn't make us uber-uber geeks. At least we won't be dressing up. I mean, of course I'll bring my light-saber, but I'm definitely leaving my Vader helmet at home...

- "May I request a 'Spoiler Disclaimer' next time before pertinent facts regarding television series are disclosed?"
I attempted to do so here: "If you didn't see the episode last night and don't want to know Jack's choices here, skip ahead or stop reading or something. Otherwise (all two of you), please proceed..." However, I understand the folly in ruining shows and movies; it's happened all too often to me, too. "Million Dollar Baby" was the most recent example, getting ruined by one of our broadcast associates in the morning meeting Monday after it came out. You need to allow some time for people to see the thing, you know? In the best interests of brothers who may be in finals and unable to view television shows for an extended period of time, I hereby vow to develop a more effective disclaimer when discussing relevant show content...

- "no, a 2 hour baseball game wouldn't make it ok. it would make it 2 hours less than the usual torturous affair. if michael jackson sleeps with a boy for 4 hours instead of the usual 8, does that somehow make it ok? no."
Because the natural progression is to go from watching baseball to sleeping with little boys, right? I see how the two are linked...

Bible study tonight, to be led by the very capable Cary Blanchard. All Ephesians, all the time. Game on afterward: hopefully Denver can beat San Antonio and send it to a Game 7, because I still really don't like the Spurs. Loved watching Ray-Ray and the Sonics last night--they'll provide a big test for whoever wins tonight's series. The other one in the West (I honestly couldn't care less about the Eastern Conference) will be tremendous, as long as Dallas pulls it out--Nash against his old team, the two best running teams in the league; I'll be looking forward to games like 135-125, in regulation. And so the work day begins...

Petco Pride

"And it's root, root, root for the Swapmeet
If they don't win, it's the same
For it's one, two, three more bad trades
At the old Swapmeet"
--Take Me Out to the Swapmeet, circa 1999

After the World Series in 1998, our Padres turned into the Swapmeet and got rid of (or didn't re-sign) pretty much everybody who helped us get there (sans T-Gwynn, because the entire city of San Diego would have mutinied if he left): Ken Caminiti, Greg Vaughn, Steve Finley and Kevin Brown being the most notable. It's nice that we're back on the upswing, though a 12-14 start to the season shows there's plenty of room for improvement. Anyways, it was with a good deal of optimism that I was able to head down to San Diego Saturday evening for the Padres-Diamondbacks contest at Beautiful Petco Park in Downtown. The park's location is superb, allowing us to park up by some restaurants, walk a few blocks to eat (fine dining at Downtown Mexican Cafe--my chicken fajitas were top-notch) and then walk a few blocks to the stadium. We had pretty good seats, down the rightfield line, and saw exactly what I expected: Eight strong innings from Brian Lawrence (two hits and no runs--Arizona fought the "Law" and the "Law" won), followed by Trevor Time (think Gagne's "Game Over" entrance with AC/DC's "Hell's Bells" instead. It's a tremendous thing to experience, knowing that as soon as the bottom of the eighth ends, the bells are gonna start ringing. Everybody in the whole ballpark stands and cheers, "Trevor Time" flashes on every available surface and big, bad T-Hoff saunters out to the mound to warm up. He took care of business with little to no resistance, and we emerged with a 2-0 victory in less than two hours (would that make a game bearable to Suss? Probably not...)
Other weekend highlights included our basketball banquet at Round Table Sunday afternoon, in which we celebrated our run to the semifinals (and our upcoming championship run--season starts this Sunday night) over some piping hot pizza (no scalding hot nachos to be found anywhere, unfortunately). This was followed by a TiVo'ed viewing of last Monday's "24," which set the stage for another amazing episode last night. So much good stuff happening right now, not the least of which is the return of President Palmer to the spotlight. I'm a rookie, so I'll need to catch up on previous seasons via DVD once this one is over, but I'm well aware of Palmer's (Dennis Haysbert) significance. The real question is will Elisha Cuthbert be coming back?
Craziest thing that happened last night was Jack making the doctors stop operating on this guy Paul (his girlfriend Audrey's estranged husband, a man who happened to save Jack's life) in order to save the key witness and the only lead to a nuclear weapon that's probably going to detonate in a matter of hours. If you didn't see the episode last night and don't want to know Jack's choices here, skip ahead or stop reading or something. Otherwise (all two of you), please proceed: He pulls a gun on the Doc and despite Audrey's pleas, the Doc starts saving this Chinese informant, Jack holding a gun to him all the while. Paul eventually dies as a result of this choice, and there's actually a moment of humanity for Jack as he realizes what he's done simply by doing what he believed was his job. On paper, he did the right thing: This was the only guy who could help them stop something that might kill millions of people and forever damage the United States. The other guy had personal value to Audrey (and saved Jack), but if you absolutely had to weigh the two lives at that moment, this guy Lee was more important. However, there has to be a human element to this, and that's what made it so tough on Jack in the immediate aftermath. I realize I'm going into a tremendous amount of detail about a TV show, but it got me thinking: My current job will never cause me to make a choice between two people's lives, but what happens when work makes you compromise your friends or family? It's different when the job you have actually serves the entire country, so choices you make affect a lot more than just the office or a small circle of co-workers, but there's still some application here. My old job (not the one at Ralphs; the one before that, if you were confused) had me choosing to impact younger lives and spend time in ministry, often forsaking family time, because it never felt wrong to be helping people. If somebody needed me, I was there, no matter the consequences (mostly unseen at the time) in my familial, peer and self-relationships. Those sacrifices added up over time and became too much to bear after a while, eventually requiring my complete extraction from that life and that work. Though I knew I had done a lot of good things over the three-plus years I spent at LCPC, I also realized that I had done a lot of damage to my sense of self, my peer relationships and, to a lesser extent (thank goodness) my family. I found myself identifying with Jack in the aftermath of last night's episode, not because I've ever held a gun to a doctor's head (okay, maybe just once), but because I saw the realization in his eyes (Keifer's a good actor) that it took me years to find. He knows that he totally messed things up with Audrey, that his personal life is probably in shambles because of the choices he's made (and pretty much has to have made) on the job. I'm not advocating a kinder, gentler Jack in future seasons--he's pretty much the bad-ass of bad-asses on TV right now--but I'm just glad that such an introspective moment invaded last night's show.
I remain kinda bummed that blogging time is so limited these days, Monday being the extreme example, but most of the week following suit to some extent. Mondays I'm in and immediately writing for "In Case You Missed It," which has been a smash hit so far, and the day doesn't end until at least 7 (7:45 last night). Today provided a small window, but most other mornings I have to start clipping off video for the various teases and promos I'm cutting throughout the day. It's nothing I can come close to complaining about, but again, work requires sacrifices, and it looks like the blog is taking the brunt of it at the moment.
Saw "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" Sunday night, and though I hadn't read the book (I might have to now), I was thoroughly entertained the entire time. The lead actor looks like Paul Scholes (Manchester United), so I liked him, and the girl from "Elf" was the female lead. Mos Def was very funny, the crazy guy from "The Green Mile" (I can never remember his name) was good, and Alan Rickman played a depressed robot pretty much as well as such a part can be played. Highly recommended. But not as highly recommended as Star Wars: Episode III, which Juice and I happen to be seeing before it's released. One of the Fox perks, I suppose...Peace