“I haven't got the slightest idea how to change people, but still I keep a long list of prospective candidates just in case I should ever figure it out.” - David Sedaris
I have often laughed at the expense of Padres Shortstop Khalil Greene for looking like everyone’s favorite stoner from Ridgemont High, and have always expected him at any moment during an interview to hit himself in the head with his own shoe and say “That was my skull! I am so wasted!“
Will I still be able to make fun and laugh at his expense if he is on the team that I root for? Or will I take the higher ground and appreciate him for the ballplayer that he is, regardless of his Fast Times persona? I suppose that will depend on whether he plays at his 2007 caliber or relives a below average 2008 season.
Who am I kidding? No it won’t – I will still make fun! That’s just how I am!
At least he will feel at home with fellow classic high school movie character, Ferris Bueller’s best friend Cameron (aka outfielder Ryan Ludwick).
So, even though the deal isn’t complete yet this morning, let me be the first to offer a sincere, “Aloha” to Mr. Khalil Spicoli. Welcome to Redbird Nation, dude.
1) Your team not making the Playoffs, but getting much closer than you expected. Or…
2) Your team making the Playoffs with the best record in the entire league, and getting swept in three quick games in the first round?
Sorry Cubs fans, I shouldn’t take such delight in your 100 years of failure. But I do. And I hate myself for it.
(Not really.)
(¯`’•.¸(¯`’•.¸(¯`’•.¸ MM ¸.•’´¯)¸.•’´¯)¸.•’´¯)
What Kind of Energy?
I’m only going to make one comment about the VP Debate last week. I found it very difficult not to blog about the whole fiasco, but I resisted. It’s not like I could bring anything up that everyone else hadn’t already pounced on. Or could I?
The one thing that bugged me all night that nobody else seemed to notice – or if they did, they didn’t mention it – was a simple mispronunciation. But one that has made headlines in the past. If Governor Palin really wants to separate herself and the McCain ticket from the President, then she really needs to quit pronouncing NUCLEAR the same way Bush does.
For crying out loud! How hard is NUCLEAR to say? It’s not NUCULAR! And she just kept repeating it over and over and over. It really got under my skin!
So, even if Biden only opens his mouth occasionally to switch feet, at least he can pronounce words correctly. So, based solely on that criteria, “Can I call you” Joe wins the debate – you betcha!
(¯`’•.¸(¯`’•.¸(¯`’•.¸ MM ¸.•’´¯)¸.•’´¯)¸.•’´¯)
Monday Music
The way you eat that oatmeal pie makes me just want to DIE!
It’s finally over! We now know with a good degree of certainty who will be the next President of the United States! And it’s all based on the very democratic method of… (drum roll please)… Minor League Baseball Stadium Giveaways!
Choose your bobblehead as you enter the stadium…
Choose the next leader of the free world!
My earliest memories of baseball are centered around large family road trips to St. Louis to watch the Cardinals play.
My Grandpa had an obvious youthful love for the game. He shared our excitement when Ozzie back-flipped to his position at shortstop, or when Willie McGee came to bat. My Grandma on the other hand had an obvious youthful love for ballpark food. I remember us spending an inordinate amount of time running back and forth between our seats and the concession stands in a futile attempt to try every item they had to offer; “You like peanuts? Let’s get some peanuts. We’re going to get peanuts. You like pretzels? Let’s get a pretzel. How about ice cream? Crackerjacks? Hot dogs?…”
I suppose I inherited both passions.
Somewhere along the way I fell out of love with baseball though. Maybe it was the strike. Maybe it was before that. I’m not sure, and I’m not sure that it even matters now. But several years passed between the exuberant excitement of catching a game with my Grandparents and my reintroduction to the sport, which came in 1998. One of the first dates I went on with the lady that now calls me her husband (among other things) was a Cardinals Home Opener. That’s right. I wasn’t a baseball fan, but she was! So much for gender roles, huh? And I’m not talking about a casual fan either. No, she was die-hard! I will admit however that I didn’t find the player’s “tight white pants” nearly as intriguing as she did. (Darn you Jim Edmonds!)
It was just coincidence that my reintroduction happened to be the same year as the historic Home-Run record chase between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. And if that race didn’t excite you, someone should’ve checked you for a pulse! I was hooked almost instantly. We followed it religiously, watched the games on TV, and went to Busch several times. Later that year, but before the season was over, we were married. I guess I fell in love with my wife, and back in love with baseball almost simultaneously. I’m sure there’s some sort of bizarre correlation but I’m not sure what it would be.
One thing that my wife always did back then was to assemble a Cardinals team set of baseball cards each year and arrange them in a series of binders that she kept in her closet. Naturally, I started helping her. One thing led to another and suddenly I’m the one addicted to the hobby.
My name is Scott, and I’m a card collector!
“Hi Scott”
Years later, after Grandpa passed away and Grandma moved into an assisted living facility, while cleaning out their house my Dad found a stack of old cards in his dresser drawer. None of us knew he had any cards at all until that moment. So he gathered them all up and gave them to me. They’re pretty random and probably not worth much, just some of the players that he liked. But to me they’re priceless. I now have several things that belonged to my grandparents; dishes, steins, hats. But it just makes sense that the ones that mean the most to me are a handful of old baseball cards and a stadium full of memories.
It’s been a while since I’ve posted a “double M” but I’m feeling very miscellaneous today. Maybe scattered is a better word. Or unable to focus. Regardless, here goes;
Baseball Blues
My team seems to be waning. After dropping two of three to the Phillies this weekend the Cards are six games behind the improbable Cubs and one behind the team I thought was going to run away with it, the Brewers. I know Yogi, it ain’t over ‘till it’s over. But I’m starting to get that gut feeling when I watch them play now. It’s almost painful, even when they have a small lead. Heck, especially when they have a small lead!
But this is baseball! The sport where the expected almost never happens. The Cubs could have a historic collapse like the Mets did last year. Or the Cards could barely scrape through the regular season and dominate the playoffs circa 2006. But (and I’m sorry to all the other, more optimistic fans out there) I’m not holding my breath.
A Kitchen in Disarray
The kitchen remodel moves forward this week. We emptied out all of the cabinets last night and I just got off the phone with my wife who said that they are completely gone now. The “they” in that sentence refers both to the cabinets and to the guys who ripped them out. She’s not sure where either is now, but they’re not in our kitchen. I should probably feel some sort of loss or apprehension about this endeavor, but I don’t. Maybe it’s just because the wife seems to be feeling enough of it all for the both of us.
You may have to put up with a few pictures on here in the coming days since this project is completely disrupting our lives right now. Maybe I should apologize in advance.
Entertainment News! (groan)
New photos of fifteen year old superstar Miley Cyrus showing off her underwear are circulating on the internet! …Again. The buzz from the last time was starting to grow silent, so she had to do something to get our attention! Is anyone surprised? Not hardly. Does anyone care? Unfortunately so many people care so much that the sites hosting the shots can’t keep up with the bandwidth. She’s fifteen for crying out loud. Our society is going to hell! And don’t start with the whole “train-wreck” theory that you want to see them just so you can look away in disgust. It doesn’t fly with me.
Did you know there’s a war going on? Gas prices have dropped to under $4 gallon and we think we’re getting some sort of sick bargain? Crazies are kidnapping their own kids and killing each other at alarming rates? But somehow the top “news” stories are about Miss Cyrus, Brett Favre and the Brangelina twins! Did I mention that our society is going to hell? Yeah, I thought so.
I don’t normally write reviews on trading card products. It’s no secret that I am a collector, but I don’t buy as many boxes as other collectors, therefore I don’t feel as qualified to rate and review them. But I have recently bought two hobby boxes of Upper Deck’s 2008 “A Piece of History” cards, and I have to give them credit. This is what collecting should be like.
First of all, they’re affordable. This is a big deal to me because I think the card companies are doing their best to price most kids out of the hobby. It’s refreshing to see one of them step up to the plate with a product in which you get several impressive inserts, short-prints, jersey & autograph cards for not a lot of money. So a tip of my hat to Upper Deck.
The base cards are really pretty with kind of a silver faux marble border. I could see where some collectors might think the design gets tired after a while since all of the base cards have basically the same design, but I think it looks great. I’m also guessing that every card has limited numbered parallel cards with gold, red, and blue variations. In addition to ball players they also included several “Historical Moments” cards which are also quite nice. The only problem you might run into would be that if you decided to get one graded they would likely be knocked down a few points due to cutting errors. This design looks like it would be a little too easy to mess up the centering, etc. But it doesn’t look like it’s going to be too hard to put together a whole set for you set-builders out there. The base set is only 100 cards with another 100 of Rookies & Historical Moments. I’m not much of a set builder myself, but I will probably put one together since I’m not too many cards away from it after only two boxes. Read the rest of this entry »
After watching this week’s Austin City Limits, which was actually a repeat from 2005, I can’t get Ryan Adams out of my head. Not that I’m complaining, there are certainly worse things to get hung-up on. But it was an amazing performance and I really wish the whole episode could’ve been devoted to that recording. 2005 was a big year for Adams in which he released three albums, Jacksonville City Nights, 29, and the double album Cold Roses. I love all three.
Don’t Get Too Much of a Leadoff
The St. Louis Post Dispatch reported this morning that the Cardinals starting catcher, and one of my favorite current members of the team, Yadier Molina, is now tied for fifth place among major league catchers in picked-off base runners. What’s amazing about that statistic is that all of the other catchers in that category, guys like Pudge Rodriguez, Benito Santiago, and Yadi’s mentor Mike Matheny, played a minimum of 13 seasons to get there. Molina is just one week into his fourth season as a full-time starter! The dude’s got mad skills! Even his brothers, who are both also major league catchers, have stated that baby bro Yadi is the most naturally talented member of the family.
I searched literally for like two minutes for a video highlighting Yadi’s first-base pickoff throw behind the runner; but alas, came up empty handed. Oh well. I could’ve searched for a few more seconds, but it’s Monday, it’s early, and I’m tired. You will have to live without it for now.
The Loan – The Loan – The Loan is on Fire
Six and a half years ago the people of our church built-on a bigger and more easily accessible fellowship hall that we, quite frankly, could not afford. A large sum of money had to be borrowed in order to build it obviously, and yesterday during worship we celebrated the paying off of that loan with a note burning ceremony.
Around the time that we decided that the addition was needed, we also adopted a theme – a verse from Mark 10:27 – “With God all things are possible.” We wrote it on the wall of the sanctuary. We printed it in our bulletins & newsletters. We added it to our website. We etched it on the cornerstone of the new fellowship hall. But most of all, we burnt it on our hearts. We have witnessed the fulfillment of that promise time and time again. We know it to be true. Indeed, all things really are possible!
Click HERE to read a very nice article about the sports card store that I frequent; Fox Sports Cards on the square in Marion, IL. It really is the nicest hobby store that I’ve ever been in & the Trade Nights are a lot of fun, even if my lucky streak went dry a few months ago. (After winning an A-Rod autographed card & a Ken Griffey Jr. autographed card in consecutive giveaways I can’t complain too much about not being lucky though.)
It’s official – the St. Louis Cardinal’s perennial MV3 team of Pujols, Edmonds & Rolen has officially been split up.
Jim Edmonds was traded to San Diego in December for David Freese. And a deal was finalized yesterday that sent Scott Rolen to Toronto for fellow 3rd baseman Troy Glaus. It breaks my heart a little as a fan because they were the heart & soul of this team for quite a while. Now all that’s left is Albert; which, let’s face it, ain’t all that bad. There’s been tons of talk about these two trades – a zillion blog entries – some happy, some angry. But I am holding back, reserving opinions & rants for another time. It’s not like I could add much to either argument anyway. Let’s just say I’m grieving a little bit which will probably pass by the time the ‘08 season gets underway. Rebuilding years can be a lot of fun… as long as the Cubs don’t win.
Years later, after Grandpa passed away and Grandma moved into an assisted living facility, while cleaning out their house my Dad found a stack of old cards in his dresser drawer. None of us knew he had any cards at all until that moment. So he gathered them all up and gave them to me. They’re pretty random and probably not worth much, just some of the players that he liked. But to me they’re priceless. I now have several things that belonged to my grandparents; dishes, steins, hats. But it just makes sense that the ones that mean the most to me are a handful of old baseball cards and a stadium full of memories.
