THe House and a Great Night

Thanks and much love to Kimberly Jo and John at Kickstand productions for putting together a great night for bigDrag and our friends at the House. Much love to everyone for coming out. We had a good night doorwise(?) and more importantly I got to see many of my friends outside of work as well as some friends that I haven’t seen in forever.

We played

Urlacher
Spill
The End of Everything
Sound
Dil
The Middle of Nowhere
HFC @ Full ON Gain
Understandable
BFI
Stupid Now
Imported Wine and Soul Food
Real Eyes

The headliner at the House was great. Joe and I stayed to a bitter end that wasn’t so bitter. The House show ended just in time for me to run through Annex, thank folks one last time for coming out and then headed down to the basement of Otto’s for Bog. Great night.

Great fucking night.

Best Alex line this morning...

I've got some problem with the trunk of the red car and it won't close all the way. It was raining pretty hard and I told Kim that I was worried the car would be all wet. She shook her heard, realizing again that marrying me led her to this sorry state.

Alex chimed in, "If you're not sure that the trunk will keep the rain out just put the red car in the garage."
Kim: "Alex, you're I genius."
Alex: "Really? I didn't know that."

Bag

I've got a whole bag of bullshit to do today. A variety of things have taken my attention this week, some of them tres important - my poor kid was sick (but he seems to be doing better), some less important but time consuming (?)

I am left with a ton of not so fun things that I have to do today, but if I get through all of it

WHOO HOO!

I get to play with bigDrag at the House tonight 8:45 or so.

Chris probably announced the gig on the e-Pissy, we've been sending out our e-Flyers to the mySpace folks so I haven't talked about the show that much here.

Maybe this is a sign of how fucked up my head is but I'm just looking forward to playing music with those guys in public and I haven't been as worried about the practical things associated with the gig. It's that attitude that has gotten me this far in this life.

Anyway, playing this show will do me more good than going to Havana or drinking a bunch of beer and whiskey.

Yeah, my priorities are all fucked up in this life.

If you are going, I'll see you there.

If you are reading, I'll see you here.

Ok, that was just creepy.

Do Not Fear This Link Friends

Our friend the PDawg loaned me the Shine a Light record by the Constantines. This song might be a good introduction to others because the first couple of tracks on the record PDawg gave me had this bass sound that (while not totally innovative) was uncommon. For a man who secretly longs to be a bass player (yes, me – I have Old Dog envy) an uncommon sounding bass can be distracting. The bass on the Nighttime/Anytime (It’s Alright) track below is more orthodox (? …see this is why I shouldn’t say shit about records) but the bass fits in more with everything else going on and this track as a whole makes the band sound pretty fucking great. Here’s the video, and remember all love to the PDawg…

NIGHTTIME/ANYTIME (IT'S AWRIGHT)


Shine a Light (for me) is worth buying or burning for the last track Sub Domestic and to hear the Constantines dude say…

If sanctuary still exists
It’s among the sacred things

You don’t have to believe in sanctuary, organized/politicized religion, or politics in general to know that deep down you want to believe at least this…

If sanctuary still exists
It’s among the sacred things

…unless you are one of those fools who believe that the truth never needs to hide.

More 2007 Baseball Comparisons

Middle Infield – ADANTAGE SOX! 5 Juan Uribe made the two most important plays at shortstop in Chicago baseball history. The minute I wrote that I realized how sad it was, but in many ways Chicago baseball history is a sad story. I think after all that’s gone on for Uribe, there is a good chance that he will recover some of the real swagger he had at the position and maybe even match some of the hitting numbers he put up when the SOX first got him from the Rocks. Any offense from Uribe would be a plus. Hell, I’m just happy the poor bastard is not in jail. But I think last year Uribe had the lowest OBP with the minimum at bats in baseball (or at least in the American League). That ain’t good.

15 Tadahito Iguchi will have to play better than last season to get the kind of contract he desires. I think the SOX understand coaching middle infielders and will be able to help TadI improve his range at 2nd (and not just his propensity to make some spectacular plays) but help him be a bit smarter at the plate…and most importantly get him straight on the bases. Both Sox middle infielders’ all around game inspires more confidence in me than the cubs middle infield cast of characters - 7 Mark DeRosa & 2 Ryan Theriot along with 3 Cesar Izturis & 5 Ronny Cedeno. De Rosa will hit but his range is questionable. Like I told Santi I saw the Sox and Rangers play a lot in the last two years. DeRosa will hit at the Shrine but he will let a lot more of those NL singles get by him. Maybe he’s the perfect player for the NL. Izturis, by far the best “normal” fielder the Cubs have in the infield (minus the superstar DLee at 1st) has been inconsistent at best at the plate for the majority of his career. Before the elbow (or shoulder) injury there were questions about CI ever being a great every day player. Since the surgery, and even now at the end of Spring there are just questions. Izturis has a lot on his mind with his bat, his future and covering for A-Ram at 3rd and DeRosa at 2nd. Cedeno is someone who is on the cubs fans radar. They love him for some reason that eludes me. I remember he threw the ball over Lee’s head last year (before Lee got hurt) and I guess that’s impressive because DLee can get to a lot of balls. Santi loves Theriot but again, I don’t know shit about Theriot. I know that the SOX middle infield is battle tested and ready to go. They also have pitchers in front of them who know how to pitch for defense when they are throwing strikes. I’m not sure the cubs have a single staring pitcher who understands their infield defense the way Garland and Buehrle do. The cubs seem to rely on their crappy grass. Again this seems to me to be one of the bigger advantages for the SOX or one of the bigger “knowns” in Chicago baseball – defense up the middle.

What You Got Cookin?

Sometimes it takes balls to cover the Velvet Underground. Will Elizabeth Cook find a way to sing and write like this

cooking

and be cool? We all know why Neko Case is cool. Thanks again DC for introducing me to her.

Elizabeth Cook will never write songs like Maybe Sparrow, but then neither will I. It’s a big world and who knows – there may be room for all of us.

No. 2 Pen

So I’m working in my highly efficient repair station and the owner of the company comes through. He’s looking around the room, looking on my supervisor’s desk, by the microscope, the internet address kiosk and he had a sad frown on his face.

Me: “What’s wrong J~? Can I help you with something?”
J~: “I can’t find a pen.”
Me: “Here you go.”

I gave him my backup pen (did I mention my repair station is organized as well as efficient?)…he took off with my pen and what looked like a mitt full of legal documents.

…hopefully no subpoenas in the bunch.

I kept working but in the back of my mind I thought ‘Wonder when the big boss is going to bring my pen back?’

I thought about it again an hour after the incident. No J~, and no friggin’ pen.

Near the end of the day I saw him writing out some FedEx labels by the old postal scale. I glanced to see if he was using my pen to make out the labels but HE HAD A DIFFERENT PEN!

Maybe he found his pen, maybe he swiped this one too. Who fucking knows? Anything is possible. But the fucking nerve of it all. He found his pen or found a better pen as my pen wasn’t good enough. Why not give old #2 back to edP?

It was interesting to note that now he had several (or at least two pens and possibly a pencil) in his pocket, none of them baring any resemblance to trusty old Pen #2.

While I am a bit obsessive-compulsive it was my backup pen and when it comes down to it, J~ owns the joint, he bought the pens. I guess he can take them whenever he damned well pleases.

Maybe I’ll just wait a few days. Play it cool, lay low…if I am stuck in a situation where I have to make conversation with the owner, I might wonder aloud how the weather is in PENnsylvania. If he asks me how the new lab is doing with repairs I might say “It de-PEN-ds on the quality of the replacement parts they purchased.”

Then after like dropping a thousand hints, if he still doesn’t say anything I’ll storm into his office and launch into an obscenity laced tirade culminating with an exhortation to him and all within earshot to remember we all work together, we all share the same space, we are pursing the same goals but we need to respect each other and our pens.

So anyway, I’ll be looking for work pretty soon.

I wonder if Bic has any o-PEN-ings.

Ubi Caritas

I started to sober up right before communion.

Let’s just say Saturday had its ups and downs.

DOWN: We followed up on some car trouble we’ve been having by taking the wagon to one of the Ford dealers in town. I knew it was bad because the mechanic who first looked at it didn’t even try to rip us off. He said, “You better take it to the dealer.” The dealer held true to form – he tried to screw and leave us for dead. When he gave me the litany of repairs and total charges I said “My wife will call you. I don’t know anything about cars.” Kim told the guy “For that amount of money we would like to get a 2nd opinion.” When we first brought the car in, I agreed with the dealer that we would pay $90 for the standard diagnostics they do when a check engine light is on. The guy then told Kim on the phone that to take the car we would first have to pay $132. That was a deal breaker. Kim said we are picking up the car and taking it somewhere else. Kim also gave me license to express her dissatisfaction with the guy at the dealer garage.

UP: I got to tell the dealer that we were taking the car because they made us feel like they had us by the short and curlies and that my wife was super fucking pissed. I told the dealer that I agreed to the $90 diagnostic. What the fuck was the other $42 bucks for? He said “I’ve got to pay these guys. They work hard on these cars and they are in on a Saturday. They tested the pressure here.” I said: “That should be included with the $90 diagnostic. They wrote down something here about testing pressure. If you’re telling me to feel for these guys because they get paid $45 bucks for writing down that they tested the pressure I DON’T! They seem to be doing pretty fucking good. I wish I could get $45 bucks for testing pressure. My doctor is probably going to get another $42 bucks for checking my pressure. This bullshit is gonna end up costing me $84 bucks!” The guy said “Sir, you don’t need to use that abusive language.” I said “I haven’t said anything bad about you or these guys. I said they were doing pretty well for themselves. If you’re telling me I can’t say ‘fuck,’ ‘shit, and ‘piss’ in your garage no wonder this shit costs so much. Your garage is too fucking hoity toity for me.” The Ford dealership staff that had been inconspicuously following our conversation (I guess it wasn’t too inconspicuous cause they were detected by me) they started to laugh. Anyway the dealership garage guy said he would drop all the charges to which I responded, “No. We will pay $90 because that’s what we agreed to. We stand by what we say. There may be something instructive in that.” Ok maybe I enjoy letting off steam a bit too much. But I never called the guy a crook, a fuckface or said anything bad about him personally. I made him feel uncomfortable but hell, I got my $90 worth and quiet frankly left everyone laughing.

DOWN: Alex and I went to WalMart (sorry Chris) to see Spider-Man, but he was at lunch.

UP: When Spidey came back we watched him from afar. Alex didn’t want to have the WalMart lady take his picture with Spider-Man. He just wanted to look at the superhero. He was happy so I was happy. At one point I broke into my best (worst?) J. Jonah Jameson and said to Alex “I don’t blame you kid. I wouldn’t want my picture with that wall-crawling weasel!” Alex said, “Dad, you’re embarrassing me in front of Spider-Man.”

DOWN: Couldn’t see 300 with Bill Garver.

DOWN: Went to a going away/birthday party for some friends of ours. Alex’s friend Ben and his family are moving to Wisconsin and we are sad to see them go.

UP: We are happy for them because it is a great opportunity and it was a swell party. Alex plays so well with these kids and they all seem to get along swimmingly…even when they are not swimming.

DOWN: I drank too much during the day today (after coming back from WalMart and then at this party) and forgot to eat breakfast or lunch because I had to deal with car bullshit this morning and it dragged on to the early afternoon. Then I didn’t have time to sit down before the party so I drank (sort of a lot) while I did some shit around the house, took a shower and got ready to leave…then drank at the birthday party. I had the presence of mind to ask Kim to do the driving.

UP: We decided to go to 4:30 Mass after the birthday party and the place was packed. Then we remembered this was going to be a special mass celebrated by our old pastor Fr. Steve Knox. It was wonderful to see him and hear those words of God’s charity, forgiveness and love from him. I’ve written about Fr. Steve before and I will say more about his most recent homily in another post. For now it was the perfect way to clam down and wrap up the ups and downs I had experienced up to this point in the day. Sorry.

UP: Alex, Kim and I were in the front row hence we were the first to receive Holy Communion. There is a definite correlation between time of arrival at Mass and proximity to the altar – the later you are the closer you get. Anyway we went back to our seats and Alex was looking through the seasonal hymnal with great purpose. He handed it to me opened up to #4 Ubi Caritas. Ubi Caritas was our Communion Hymn. It was the one the choir was currently singing. I said a bit too loudly: “What, you speak Latin now?” Alex: “No daddy.” Me: “How did you know this was our song?” Alex: “The singing lady said we were singing #4.”

Damn straight. I love the fact that the boy tries to solve problems even though he can’t read a dead language or English, which is closing in on being a dead language as well. At the very least, if the boy never learns to read he will still be a success as a functionally illiterate American citizen. Hell the way things have been going the boy’s on the fast track to be president. Sorry. He’ll learn to read. I am actually more proud of him that he can figure shit out without being able to read all that many words.

Just a little more on my SOXcubs comparisons. I realized when I talked about starting pitching as a whole I forgot to mention the WHiteSOx “big spring signing” 33 Javier Vazquez (yes you can sign someone you already have, I bet the Bears wish they could say that about Lance Briggs). You can’t talk about the SOX v. cubs pitching without thinking about the guys both teams overpaid for this offseason/Spring. I said that Lily might be worth his money (in relative baseball terms) and I am standing by that. Well, initially I laughed but now I think I know what 10 mildo means in today’s MLB pitching market. I think the SOX and the cubs will each have a surprise in their starting pitching - or they will surprise us as fans this year. SOX fans are down and rightfully so, on Vazquez. Last year he was the best 41/2 – 5 inning pitcher I ever saw. It was like he had no-hit stuff and then Whamm-0! He’d get pounded for 5 runs in the 5th or the 6th (or 5 in the 5th and 5 more in the 6th if Ozzie thought his bullpen was tired or not capable of bailing out JV) and he’d be gone. The explanation for this seems to be (or that seemed to be) Vazquez came from the National League no one could figure him out the first time through the rotation then once the other team figured him out he was infinitely more beatable. One of two things will happen this year, teams will have a better book on Vazquez and torch him pretty badly right out of the gate and the SOX will have big problems, or Vazquez will figure out what happens with his arm angle or release points, manipulate those things and will be able to go 6 or 7 strong, and with the improvements in the SOX bullpen Vazquez will win between 15-18 this year. Remember I said SOX fans and my expectations for Vazquez should be low but I am betting that he will be a surprise. Surprise for the cubs pitching, look for 52 Wade Miller to be recovered from his surgery (from a year and a half ago I think). Nobody has any expectations for this guy. Lou slipped up this morning (or yesterday, I forget) and basically said that Miller would be the 5th starter. He is going to pitch against some pretty shitty competition in the National League Central and I think he will benefit from some strong run support. You combine crappy pitching (from other NL Central teams) with that cub lineup and it could be an easy ride for Miller this year. Those who followed the greatest Chicago baseball season in living memory know that Jon Garland benefited from being the 4th or 5th starter against Indian, Tiger and Royal staffs that sucked eggs in 2005. The cubs may make me look stupid, but if you were to ask me Miller or Vazquez who has a better chance to, uh…do better…I’d say Miller and ADVANTAGE cubs.

It may seem like I am spending a lot of time with pitching comparisons, catching, and you will see me talk about defense up the middle and defense in general before I get to lineups or homers or managers or anything – that’s because for either team to make the playoffs – NO MATTER HOW BAD THEIR DIVISION IS – they are going to need pitching and defense. You do not make the playoffs if you cannot catch the ball. I guess the cubs disproved that in 2003 and really the last time they made it in 1998 because their last two “successful” seasons have been predicated on waiting for the 3 run home run and having the other teams in the race collapse. But to MeatHead, and now Devin (they’ve both predicted that the cubs are going to the playoffs, or at least both are convinced that the cubs are far more likely to go than my beloved SOX) – your team may seem like it has the easiest path to the playoffs but if they do not catch the ball they will not wind up as the tallest midgets in the NL Central. Mark my words, the cubs have defensive problems up the Ying Yang and more importantly, up the middle of the field. I think Z may finally show that he can sort of field his position this year – YES EVEN STUD PITCHERS HAVE TO FIELD AND THROW THE BALL TO THE CORRECT BASE – but I will have a lot to say about what the cubs have at short, 2nd and centerfield in the next few posts. I am not saying that the cubs will not make the playoffs, but if they do, guys are going to have to outplay their track records in the field. And folks, there is a reason why people who know some shit about baseball (a lot more than I do) look at a guy’s track record. They tend to do what they’ve done in the past once they get to a certain stage in their career. Much more on this crap later.

Proverbs 19:21…that’s one hell of a typo Mr. Inglesias.

Imperium Proconsulare Maius

…or why I am glad there ain’t an Augustus among us.

There is much to admire in a man like Augusts Caesar. I’m not going to try and impress you by giving you Papa Pax Romana’s full name. First of all I’m not that smart, and secondly I don’t know it.

Waitaminute.

There are many ways to compare us favorable and otherwise with the Romans. But I think they were very different creatures than you, me and most Americans we know. Sure, some of America’s founders quoted and admired the Cincinattuses, Publiuses (or is it Publi?), Ciceros, and Tacituses and these are surely giants in human history who I have pluralized with no good reason.

I’ve spoken at length about what the Romans thought virtue to be (and by Romans I mean pre-Christian, good and true pagan Romans) and how they would find much of what we (modern Western liberal democrats) admire to be without merit if not downright vicious. You may, from time to time, catch a whiff of my strange admiration for the classics – Greek and Roman – and even their departed notion of virtue. But when it comes down to Romans vs. Americans I think the Romans by far were the biggest dupes or more ready to be pleased, fattened and left more or less alone as handsome slaves so long as their living god kept them safe.

Americans, petty and vulgar though we are, are not so easily pleased. Let’s compare monumental (not in Nietzsche’s appropriation of the word) Roman history with something recent and probably soon forgotten in American history.

With Octavian’s defeat of Antony (some time after the Battle of Actium in 31 BC) Octavian was on his way to becoming Augustus, the man who would come to determine the fate of the Roman world and shape it for 200 years and beyond. He was given credit for finally bringing peace and stability to the Roman world and “restoring the Republic.” Everybody knew that Octavian didn’t restore shit – he installed himself. I’m sure many of the Romans knew what he did, or was doing. They’d rather keep the Republic in name only and hand it over to one guy so they could get on with their lives. They’d had a belly full of conflict (international and internal) and wanted to be done with it. If it meant being surrounded by one man who’d feed and protect them and that one man would pretend to “step back” accepting titles like princips and the somewhat sillier (although august for its time…sorry) “pontifex maximus.

Again there is much I admire about Augustus, especially his mind – or at least the way history has transmitted his mind to mine.

But there is a part of me that wonders if citizens of the American republic would go so quietly and accept the kind of “restoration” offered by an Octavian. Take today’s public accounting in the most numerous branch of our Congress. Sure the D’s were scrambling for votes. Sure both Ds and R’s who voted for the measure which includes a date for bringing troops home had their own agendas tied up in the pursuit and passage of the doomed measure.

Oh, and sure the measure is doomed. One of my friends at work said “So the House passed the bill. So what. It doesn’t matter. The president will veto it.”

To my ears that sounded like an un-American response.

When I told my wife that in Bush’s statement today he said something to the effect that the House ‘abdicated its responsibility by voting for a spending bill that has no hope of passage’…to which my sweet darling responded, “What an asshole.”

Now that’s American.

See we may not have the answer to anything but we are happy to say to those in power, “You suck” and mean it in an honest, if vulgar way.

Ok what the House did is not results oriented. It is more symbolic. It does not ‘bring our troops home’ or ‘take our government back’ but I have a greater sense that politicians and people alike are willing to stand up on Iraq and say in a responsible, American, limited way that the war may belong to one man but the government never will. The people who were meant to represent We the People most directly (or just directly) raised its collective hand and said whoa, whoa, whoa – you mr. president are going to be the one who will have to veto this spending bill. Say what you want, but here is our push back. It may be wimpy but it is not inconsequential.

We the American people and our people defend our republic much like those New York subway riders defended Spider-Man against Dr. Octopus in Spider-Man 2. You may remember that Spidey was limp on the floor of the subway after using every ounce of his strength in trying to stop the train. Doc Ock gets on the train and the train passengers stand around Spider-Man’s helpless body. One guy says “Ya want to get to him, ya gotta go thru us first.”

Then Doc Ock says “Very well” and parts the, now helpless crowd, with his mighty arms.

They weren’t able to save Spider-Man but they stood up at some point and did what they could.

By the way, Spider-Man was ultimately able to save himself. That is what men and things that are well-constituted do.

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Starting Pitching 5-man Rotation SOX vs. baby blue bears
Advantage Cubs: I made fun of the Lily and Marquis signings but they got close to what their market values are like it or lump it Kenny. I think, along with no less of a luminary than Marc Silverman, that Lily will surprise and I will go further and say Marquis will figure some things out along the way and pitch well. Nobody can go through what he did last year and not learn anything. I am not saying efforts by either of these guys translate into 18 win seasons and E.R.A.s below 4~ BUT they will acquit themselves well. This is more feeling than fact. I hope Prior falls on his fucking face because he and Kerry Wood represent all that sucked about the cubs organization and leadership through the krusty years. Kerry Wood does not belong in this part of the conversation because he will not be in this starting rotator…uh I mean rotation. But come on – if we are comparing the starting pitchers and say that one team has Mark Prior penciled in as competing for the 5th starter position vs the Sox with (hopefully) 67 John Danks, but also 40 Charlie Haeger the Horrible, and 34 Gavin Floyd (who I think gave up a grand slam today)…the advantage has to go to the former rather than the latter.

PLUS, even though I said the Sox had three potential Aces – ALL THREE HAVE BIG QUESTION MARKS in my book. I put Contreras as my #1 of #1s (although I liked Grant’s list too) – but if Contreras can get off to another quick start he can provide some stability and hopefully take some of the pressure off the other Sox. Grant’s right about 56 Mark Buehrle and the number of innings the man has thrown in the past three or four years. Also with Buehrle’s style of pitching – location is everything and he has not found it yet. Garland has proved everything he needs to prove to the baseball world as far as I am concerned, but his velocity is down this spring and there was even a downward trend in the middle of spring training when everything is supposed to be heading up.

Still I think Z will be the ace he is and show signs of being capable of fielding his position (although until he learns to field his position like #56 & #20 of the WhiteSOX he will never be the baseball player he thinks he is, or can be). I think the baby blue bears will get a lift from their free agent starters and to follow on MeatHead’s mantra, the cubs will not face the lineups the Sox will (esp Cleveland and even the fucking Twins) – medication may be necessary for my beloved SOX starters.

Go get ‘em boys, godspeed or at least some more speed on your fastball.

I shouldn’t say speed lest Barry Bonds thinks this is one of those medical blogs he is trolling through at 4:30am before he pulls down some midget porn from his favorites.

Sorry Bill Veeck.

Depends on What You Are Chasing

Took Alex to swimming lessons tonight and it was great to end the busy day watching the boy swimming with his pals.

Work - we changed policies a few times (it was a bit spasmodic or at least some of this was unexpected) based on a new resource (or a set of resources) our company has access to…sorry about being cryptic. We are not doing anything big or snaky. When you do business in more than one state and potentially tied to a labyrinth of state and federal regulations you want to be subject to the most sensible codes and sometimes talking too much about these things leads you to say things you wish you didn’t. I’ve talked about the family I work for and for some odd reason (it certainly isn’t financial reward) I am ferociously loyal to them.

Anyway it was exciting in an ‘oh boy we are really gonna try this and it is happening faster than we thought’ kind of way. We’ll see where it all leads, but it was more exciting seeing my son interact with his playmates at swim lessons. Most kids love the pool but my kid seems to treasure every second in the water, his body just seems freer when he’s trying to float or just splashing around.

I spent my time wisely at swim lessons tonight. I paid attention to my kid. I answered a few e-mails on my phone then put the damned thing away. Getting caught up in responding to potential gigs at this point in my life would be closing my eyes to a gift that was right in front of me. The gigs are important but they and the e-mails will be there at 11pm when I sit down at my computer after Lost (I usually can't get to my favorite guilty pleasure until Thursdays).

The parents sat on these metal bleachers looking down on the pool. Hearing and seeing your kid interact with peers from a different vantage point – one where you do not matter – is an amazing thing. When you as “Dad” are taken out of the equation and it is just kids playing around and in the water, you see what your child is becoming.

You do not become completely detached. Your child’s voice stands out, it grabs your attention no matter how far away you think you are. But tonight I used that perspective to look at the boy (and I tried to be as unselfish as possible…for me) and see that the Lord has given me the perfect child. Again Alex is not the perfect child. But he is the perfect child for Kim and I. There is not a mean bone in his body. When I can have spite and envy running through me (even for those close to me) Alex helps me remember the two most important things in life:

1.) Life has meaning; 2.) Life is fun.

But now is the time for more spite and less hippie crap…

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Starting Pitching – The #1 Starter

Cubs = 38 Carlos Zambrano

Sox = 52 Jose Contreras, 20 Jon Garland, and 56 Mark Buehrle…

Advantage SOX (just barely). This may be a sign of me being spiteful and a cheater – but I also think I am an honest cheater here. To my mind Contreras is 1, Garland is 1A and Buehrle is 1AA. For the past two years the Sox have had three and sometimes four guys that have looked like a #1 and that’s what led them to frustrate so many of their foes, especially in the 1st half of 2005. For the Cubs they only have one #1. If Z’s head is screwed on straight he can be one hell of a #1. Z competes and when he is tuned in, channels all his talents, his entire being - from his leg kick through the core of his body, up his back, building in the full extension of his right arm and exploding with the final violent snap of his wrist. There is no doubt that when he is right, there is poetry in Carlos Zambrano.

But shit, life is poker not poetry and 3 aces are better than one.

Sure one little Sox ace is having trouble with his location (Buehrle), one little Sox ace has a knot in his arm and potentially something going on with his back (Garland), and let’s be honest Jose Contreras could be 52 years old as well as being number 52!

I will admit the Sox three aces are frayed and faded but 3 beats 1 blah blah blah...

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Just listened to Danny Gatton’s Harlem Nocturne. There is something so human and at the same time otherworldly about that man’s music. You spend half the time wondering ‘is this guy really one of us?’. I have no insights as to why troubled souls, from time to time make such incredible music. Are they in full control of their talents (?!?) or has something grabbed hold of them, shook them before us, the stupefied onlookers shouting: “HERE! HERE YOU FOOLS! LOOK AT WHAT COMES FROM ONE OF YOU AND WHAT YOU CAN AND OUGHT TO MEASURE YOURSELVES AGAINST!”

Then the person who acted as the conduit is flung to the ground in a lifeless heap.

And we all stare.

For years to come we stare and wonder what on earth happened.

Polar Bear

If I have to choose between listening to Al Gore’s Congressional testimony or a world where polar bears are drowning due to melting glaciers, I’ll take the latter. It’s not like I’m a polar bear or anything.

On to more serious matters…

Instead of the highly fallible baseball predictions usually made here at the end of Spring Training, I am going to compare the Sox and Cubs position by position (sort of) over the next few posts (or when I feel like it). I will work in this in terms of Advantage Cubs, Advantage Sox or push. Here we go:


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Catcher
Cubs = 8 Michael Barrett, 24 Henry Blanco (a.k.a. Hank White)
Sox = 12 A.J. Pierzynski, 44 Toby Hall

Advantage SOX. Contrary to what some douches will tell you there is no three year rule on AJ. in Chicago. I think he understands that the bat of Toby Hall will help when facing lefties. He has said as much on MacJurkoHarry. When you look at the numbers from spring and over the past three years between the two catchers, when facing lefties Hall bats almost .300 and AJ bats closer to .200, so if they use the two correctly – NOT JUST FOR THEIR BATS BUT CONSIDERING OTHER DEFENSIVE OPTIONS AS WELL (which when the Sox are winning they are making good plays with their defense) then there will a vast improvement in overall production from the Sox at this position. I think even if the Sox remained unchanged and the cubs improved over last year I’d feel there was every reason to believe that the Sox would still have more production behind the plate than their northside counterparts.

Barrett did an incredible job as a catcher hitting for average last year. For a time he led both sides of town in average but he is terrible – TERRIBLE at handling the cub pitching staff and that staff INCLUDING THE MAN, Z needs to be handled. I wish him well with his home run donation enterprise but the cubs actually had some better games after Barrett became the spokesman for Planters and had some down time and nuttin’ to do. Hank White can’t hit for shit but the cubs improved when Blanco was behind the dish. Maybe Michael B. will improve under the tutelage of a LouP but I hear that Pinella has a low tolerance for guys he perceives as bush league and Barrett’s got more track record on the unprofessional, wiener-not-winner side of the ledger. Forget my stupid beef with Barrett for focusing on the unwritten rules ‘don’t show me up’ bullshit…I don’t think that White’s skill behind the plate can make up for his utter futility at the plate while Barrett will probably not get it together enough (this year) to be a dominant player at his position…at least not this year.

Rome Sweet Rome

Bummed out cuz next Sunday is the last Rome. I get into my stories on the HBO. Well, they got the John Adams thing on tap. My only concern is they may want to sex that show up the way they did with the second season of Rome. Ewwwww

Also bummed because I think the Sox and Cubs have some of the same problems. There is a great potential that the baseball season could suck because both sides of town are deficient in the same areas. It won’t stop me from making my laughable baseball picks in the next few days.

The Outfield (not the band)?

Cliff Floyd seems to be able to catch the balls he gets to. How many balls will he get to on those old Cliff Floyd legs?

Podz? Is he really back? Great interview with Podz over the weekend with Koppock and Levine.

Just an aside, if Lou really wants to create a “Cubbie swagger” the first thing he should do is DROP THE FUCKING CUBBIE PART – nothing bugs me more than the word “Cubbie”…how can anything with an “ie” ending have a swagger?...but if Lou wants to create a winning culture on his team, he should make his players listen to that interview from Podz. Podz gave no bullshit answers, especially when he was asked about the 2006, 90 win season. He came right out and said the White Sox 2006 season was a disappointment. Cub fans will remember that 2004 (maybe the most disappointing Cub season I ever watched) there was Dusty and other players (some still on the team) reminding reporters that the team won more games in 2004 even though they did not make the playoffs. I laughed (not cuz I hate the Cubs but I did hate THOSE Cubs, the Prior/Wood Cubs that were going to win the World Series in 2004)…but I laughed because I knew those were the words of losers.

The Baseball Zeus interview with Podz had a dark side to it. Podz understands what the realities are for a player of his age and abilities. The 9 year minor leaguer didn’t just say ‘I’ll do anything to help the team’ – he sketched out what had to happen with his rehab so he would have a chance to do things that are vital to winning baseball. Listeners got an insight as to what made the Sox go in 2005 and how it may never be back again. But the real winning attitude comes across when the player can list all the things they are willing to do and all the things that have to happen for the Sox to be real contenders again. You know, it might help if PaulieK listened to the Podz interview as well.

A strange aside, any baseball player (except K Farnsworthless) could learn a thing or two about throwing cheap shots from Podz who looks like Peter Pan but messed up fucking Barrett’s face last year in Sox park after the AJ cheap shot. That to me was the freakiest/ most disturbing part of the fight. AJ didn’t fall down but we all remember Barrett’s face in the post game interviews – black eye, fat lip…Podz was the first guy in there pounding on Barrett…

You make the call, but I think poor Podz has a lot of pent up hostility. All those years in the minors and playing for the Brewers could do that to anyone.

But that has nothing to do with a winning attitude. That’s just a weird fight story. Those are never good.

And I have nothing against Barrett. I think what he is doing with the 10 grand per home run thing is fantastic. Again, the Baseball Zeus had a great line when he approached Barrett about his generosity.

Bruce L: “It is great that you are donating $10,000 for each home run you hit to help find a cure for the disease that struck Derrick Lee’s daughter. But Michael, with your luck you’ll probably hit 40 this year.”

Great baseball moment for a guy who had a really tough year two years (some of it, the Padres and Astros shit he brought on himself)…but after all that and after Bruce L made the joke, Barrett just laughed. It was a good laugh. I really wish him well and hope he hits 40 for all the right reasons. It’s hard for major league ball players to do some good publicly without everyone being suspicious. Let’s all hope this works wonders.

Other big question marks:

5th Starter on both sides of town? Wade Miller? Wade Wilson for the boys in Blue?

The Southpaw (Southpaw or orthodox?) Denks looks like he will get the spot for the team I love. I don’t know how Denks will do

The Denks Moe, the Denks…

But I want to cheer for John Denks. Sure part of the reason is I love saying his name but there’s more – trust me.

It is getting late and I am so frigging tired. I had a bunch more comparisons when I started writing but my head has gone elsewhere. Spent way too much time revising my Religion and the Constitution lectures….deliberately not mentioned much about the class I am teaching because I now know for certain that many of my students have found this blog…YOU HEAR ME KIDS – YOU SHOULD BE STUDYING NOT READING THE DUMB BLOG

I’m not paranoid because the paranoid worry more about these things than I do.

Listening to a clip from the forthcoming Traneumentary and how John Coltrane used to pop butter rum Lifesavers.

I never expected that Trane would smell like candy.

Vegas Has Completely Lost Its Mind

“Look at all the tits…there must be…57 tits up there.”

Sorry Steve Martin.

Somebody needs to e-mail the witness protection program and double check this with our friend Bo, but I heard that as recently as last week the Vegas odds on the Cubs winning the World Series - WINNING THE WORLD SERIES - is 7 to 1.

7 to fucking 1!!!!

Basically, what that says to me is the Cubs are chalk to win it all.

The Bears (last time I checked) were 7 to 1 odds to go to the Super Bowl again (terrible value on that bet to be sure…I think Chris got in last year when they were still 20 to 1 to win it all…great job MrB, if I am remembering correctly)

But can any sports book owner say the Cubs are as likely to win it all as the Bears are to win the NFC?

I’m sorry, I don’t hate the Cubs (barring any stupid behavior from them like last year during the first Sox games)…if they behave like they belong in the big leagues I sort of wish them well. Actually I wish their fans well…or I’d be happier for their fans than their fucking franchise if they had a good run.

Sorry, I got lost there. No matter what you or me or anybody thinks about Cubs, no rational thinking person can say they deserve single digit odds to win the fucking World Series. I honestly believe the Cubs are one year (or one midseason trade) away from having one of the greatest lineups in Chicago baseball history. When they get A-Rod (and become the Yankees Midwest, get ready for it Cub fans) I don’t know how any rational thinking person couldn’t consider them a cute-little-Blue poor man’s Murder’s Row…

But even when they have that lineup…the Cubs should not be 7 to 1 odds to win the World frigging series.

Hot Hot Hot

I could not make it out to Kim’s parents' house. The engine temp kept going up and up and up. I managed to keep my cool and usually I don’t do that when little shit goes wrong. There’s not much more to say about this until I get the car looked at. Besides a story like this is much funnier if flames start coming from under the hood and I end up abandoning the car and running away from it through a corn field.

That didn’t happen so end of story.

Here is why Russert is a good news man (I think everyone who has read this blog on Sundays knows I have a bias towards the Buffalo Kid…not his nickname)

Russert interviewed Sen. Chucky from NY. He asked the Schu a series of questions in order to see if the firing of US Atts broke the unwritten rule – it is naughty naughty for a president to fire one of these US attorneys for political reasons or to take such action that interrupts an ongoing investigation.

In the current set of firings I have come to understand that at least one of these firings raises serious questions. The US Att (Lam?) from SoCal was in the middle of investigating the Duke (not John Wayne, or Jon Wayne). If she was targeted for this reason, it becomes a big problem for Gonzalez, Harriet and anyone in the White House that supported this action.

Now we have all heard over and over that presidents clean house and shitcan all the Atts at the beginning of their term. There are those famous 93 US Atts that Klinton fired when he took office.

Russert remembered the editorial from the NY Times arguing that Klinton had tainted Justice and the US Attorney system by firing one particular US Att who was in the process of pursuing charges against Mr. Ways and Means himself, Dan Rostenkowski (oooh, Rostenkowski was in my spell check, his legacy is certain)

Schu blew it because he defended the Klinton actions by saying presidents clean house when they win elections. This is not a good defense because if the one golden rule of firing US Attorneys is you cannot try to affect change in an ongoing, highly politicized investigation it shouldn’t matter when the firings occur otherwise we are saying the tradition or right of a president to fire people is more important than ensuring that justice is served.

Now I remembered this firing in 1993 or whatever and I remembered defending the Klinton firings and this firing in particular to my conservative friends who were waiving the New York Times in my face (that was some embarrassing shit by the way). My defense was, “Do you think with the list of scandalous behavior and some serious criminality that goes along with our Rep that he will walk because one U.S. Attorney was fired? And do you think that Klinton really gives a shit about saving Rostenkowski? The best thing that can happen for the Dems is to get him the fuck as far away from Washington as possible. The longer the stink and stain from Rostenkowski’s actions lingers the more likely it will be that the Dem’s will lose the House for a short time in 1994. That would be a disaster for Klinton.”

Now I was wrong about a lot of things in my defense (I actually found it in one of my day books from the early 90’s…I am researching my own arguments, truly pathetic).

1. Klinton gave a shit about Congressional Democrats – WRONG!!!

2. It was in Klinton’s interest to have the Dems retain the Congress – REALLY FUCKING WRONG…Congressional Republicans were Klinton’s best friends (at least until they wanted to impeach him)…but even this helps the Klinton legacy among my friends like bigSoda, Chris B and others who defend and long for the Klinton days. By the way, this president makes Klinton look like less of a snake and more like a Rhodes (spelling?) Scholar who was actually smarter than Kris Kristopherson (not in my spell check). Anybody who praises the freedom from regulation and growth and innovation of business of the Klinton/Gore years and they do not mention what the Blue Dog Republicans did – either they do not remember an important part of the story or they deliberately want to forget it. Any connection between growth and the lack of Federal regulation HAS TO BE CONNECTED TO THE CHANGE OF CONGRESS IN 1994! The drive for deregulation, and managing debt while lowering taxes (the latter especially was co-opted by Klinton) was a big part of the substance of what the new Republicans claimed to bring when they won. I’m sure many of my more liberal friends will only care to remember was the cultural conservatism of those who were part of the Contract with America…but that is misleading and you cannot understand the Klinton years without understanding what he learned from the 1994 midterms.

Sorry for the diversion – I was wrong about other things regarding my defense of Klinton against my conservative friends at the time…but that doesn’t matter much now or ever.

Here’s the importance thing – the difference between Klinton firing the attorney investigating Rostenkowski and what may have happened with U.S. Attorney Lam is important and it is this:

Rostenkowski’s fate was sealed and there was nothing in this firing that would save Dollar Dan or help the Democrats.

Duke is as good as convicted and you might want to say ‘Well the same thing holds here ed’….

To which I ask, what if in the course of investigating Duke Cunningham other names came up? What if Randy named names? Not our Randy because he would just call everyone else a dirty shitbag. I have no proof of what Duke said and I am not claiming to have any knowledge of this investigation. My knowledge of practical/insider Capitol Hill stuff could not fill a thimble that already had some melted marshmallow drippings in it. But if Lam is fired to prevent her from following up on leads provided by Cunningham’s testimony I think we can all see how very different that is from the Rostenkowski. There were limits to any further involvement on the Hill – and nothing like the potential connection between bribes, possibly the army and other members that could go down if the Duke’s testimony points at others, especially other Republican members or those closer to the White House.

If my speculation about the Cunningham investigation is even close to being correct then there is something here.

Russert knows this possibility but he let Schu make his defective defense of the Senate Dems investigation of the firings and moved on. It is not his (Russert’s) job to teach or make this sort of wild speculation. It is his job to ask good questions, get responses and let the audience draw its own conclusions. I wish he would’ve asked a question that led in the direction I suggested, but that would not be responsible.


Totally unrelated to anything else – I heard a great interview with Badger star, Alando Tucker this morning. Anybody who knows anything about local basketball talent knows that Tucker went to LockportHS and anybody who knows pointless edP trivia knows that I am from that blight on civilization. I don’t really care about being from the same high school as this guy – but he played in a lot of the same parks I played growing up. He talked about street ball in Lockport and especially Joliet and I grinned the biggest fucking grin as he talked about this thing that was such a big part of my life growing up. They asked him about calling fouls in pickup games.

Tucker’s response: “Fouls? *laughter…You don’t call fouls. You get up and try to take it at the same guy again. If you score you win, if he knocks you down again, he wins. It’s as simple as that.”

Maybe that’s part of why I am such a prick.

More Jealousy and Narcissism

They are not the same thing, obviously…AND THE DIFFERENCE IS IMPORTANT.

(apparently it is so important it must be stated in all caps)

Found a picture of the Faintest Ideas on some other band’s dopey mySpace page. The bass player has the exact same cabinet as the Old Dog and the drummer uses a Yamaha kit – or at least has the Yamaha kick drum…I couldn’t see the rest of his shit but the kick drum looked just like Chris’ (maybe a little smaller).

I am sooo friggin’ jealous of this band and I am way too old for that to be an issue in my life. I am also way too old to be writing “soooo”…

Oh, there were only three ooo’s in my first sooo, so I am oook.

I am not ok.

Oh well, what goes up must calm down.

Jaguar Stick

I dropped off Alex at his morning daycare today – he ran straight to his cubby, and brought me what appeared to be a paper towel tube covered with leopard-print gift wrapping.

I said, “Uh dude…?”
Alex: “I made this treasure, it’s a jaguar stick. You’ve got to go home and hide it.”
Me: “Can’t I throw it in the weeds or something. I’m sure it will blend in.”
Alex: “Dad, I’m serious.”
Me: “Yeah well right now Tarzan is going ‘Where’s my Speedo?’”
Alex: “Dad!”
Me: “Ok, got to go to work son. I’ll hide it in the car.”

The boy shot me the thumbs up as I was leaving so I assume everything was cool.

I may have a more in-depth blog about my job coming soon…feel free to tune that out. Nobody seems to care too much about my job. I have noticed something sad in my life. My work is where I do the most & best communicating. Or maybe a better way of putting that is I do the most stress-free communicating in my life. I have a few people that I have to work closely with and we all seem to have a good working relationship…

…everybody who knows me knows I work for Old Dog and Mary K…we have good working relationships and I love seeing them at work everyday…

But I don’t work with those guys directly as much as I work with others. I’ll just use initials here, my direct supervisor PK, and this other dude who works with custom aids and other more techy stuff EM are the best. We communicate about policy, problems and general shit daily. We talk about and sometimes solve shit before it becomes a problem. We are three very different people but we work so well together. We are on the same page.

Anybody who has ever been in a band with me knows how difficult, not to say impossible it is to get and stay on the same page with me. I am very difficult to work with and get testy about the littlest shit.

My darling wife will say the same thing if you gave her sodium pentothal. Hell she might tell you if you buy her a cup of coffee. It sounds hackneyed but I love her more everyday – and sometimes I love her more the harder shit gets…but we do not always work well together in solving family problems or even dealing with day-to-day household management stuff. Sometimes Kim and I have to work separately on things to make sure they get done without too much unnecessary BS.

Maybe it is my personal love for partners in my life that makes me so difficult to work with...or I am more passionate about my marriage and my band.

There certainly isn’t a lot of pressure on me at work – personal or otherwise. Our company has even overcome some little hurtles recently with decent results. There is a simple satisfaction that comes along with the job…and the nice/uncomplicated relationships I’ve cultivated with a few key folks there.

Not sure what to say – I guess I’d rather have fire for my family and music even when it causes me some pain or frustration than be completely tangled up and head-over-heals about a fucking job. There is a part of me that longs to keep everything simple, especially because life was so volatile when I was younger. I will never be someone who can cultivate domestic felicity or make my home life serene…but I love my family so much.

The same way with the band – bigDrag – or if the floatingBasement ever were to start up again…there will always be messy, not-on-the-same-page things…there will be dust ups or little shit that leaves me walking away saying ‘Why do I deal with other people who do such different things than I do?!?!’

My solo stuff is a little different because – to be honest with the internet – I am pretty confident in what I do. I’ve got another show coming up very soon in Lockport of all places. More on that as details become available because everybody would love to come and see me play in historic Lockport. OK, I am not that delusional.

Anyway with the solo crap, it would be really easily to insulate myself within the confines of what I can do and what I can pull off…

But I am not that guy. My story is basically a love story. When I am at my best, I am a collaborator.

Some days my “best” brings out a little of the worst in me.

I am lucky I have a wife and friends that can handle that junk.

This is Kim’s birthday weekend so I will be dialing out for a few days, having fun with my sweetie in the OF. Her folks invited my folks over for birthday celebration stuff. I’m actually excited about that.

I couldn’t wait to give Kim her present even though technically her birthday isn’t until Monday.

She gives me the present of her sweet love every day of our lives together.

His First Day Off In Forever

My favorite lyrics from the Chillout Tent? - -

“Their mouths were fizzy (busy?)
With the cherry soda
They had the privacy of bed sheets
And all the other kids were mostly in comas”

…ok, probably not the exact lyrics. Remembering lyrics is NOT an exact science.

Ok maybe it is but I don’t give a fuck.

Today really was my first fucking day off in forever. Kim and I had a meeting with Alex’s teacher, the OT, the speech lady and case manager this morning but that went well. He’s a great kid and he’s on track for first grade. The OT help is really all we are going to have to pursue. It helped that Kim got a script from the doc for the motor delay but other than that everyone was accommodating and answered my swimming pool full of questions.

After the meeting I drove past the River Heights Golf Course and rolled down my window. The words “Aw hell yeah” came out of my mouth. I pulled in, the clubhouse was closed but I talked to the maintenance guy. He said even though I’m not a resident I could play. He told me to just walk on if I am planning on getting another PD pass this summer. The grass was relatively dry and the course was in great shape, minus a few swampy traps.

I hopped in the tee box and with minimal warm up I shot a legitimate 6 on the first hole. Ok, it was a par 4 but double bogie is par to me. Later I put two balls in the river, but not on the same hole. I did not take the driver out of the bag. Believe me, that is a good thing. I benefited because the high grass, the fake heather has not come back to the lovely River Heights. I’ll take whatever help nature gives me.

Taking off on Wed has benefits for the whole week. Tuesday becomes your first Friday, the rest of the week is two days, one of those being the real Friday.

Broke my no Dan Patrick vow but only because I heard Rick Reilly on the show. Riles (I am not his friend but I just like saying Riles)….Riles is one of the funniest sports guys in the world. Sure, he can be mean and nasty but nobody can tell a Jon-Daly-peeing-in-a-Burger King cup story like Rick Reilly. And of course he is responsible for this:

http://www.nothingbutnets.net/

DP and RR were talking about Jim Nance having the perfect voice for delivering a eulogy. Then they listed other more entertaining sports personalities doing eulogies. Even though they both gave their version of a Dickie V speech, in honor of the NCAA Tournament, here’s my take.

Dick Vitale Speaking at the Funeral of edP

“He was totally awesome baby! Sure at the end he was a Diaper Dandy…Colostomy Bag Dandy…Droppin’ bricks in his pants…Building a new arena…He was a Cardiac Kid, too much horseradish on that sucker! Dipsy-doo, dead-a-roo!”

OK, just promise me you will all laugh at my real funeral.

My Fighting Weight

Even though I have lost almost 20lbs, Lent has been a big failure for me.

My utterly ridiculously pointless DeKalb road rage has diminished slightly.

Whooopie!

But there is something wrong with me. I am so touchy if someone says something the wrong way to me I just fume inside. Believe it or not, I am easily offended. That is decidedly unchristian. The devil lives for and lives in that sort of pride.

There is no reason why I should let other people get in my head the way they do.

See, even that – it shouldn’t be about worrying that people get in my head. It should be about seeing God in all people and cultivating relationships and engaging with strangers always bearing that in mind.

Until then my best remedy is the Our Father. If nothing else Jesus said came down to us, those words “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”…

It certainly doesn’t sound as philosophical as “…until philosophers become kings or kings be philosophers, such will be the condition of man…”

…it doesn’t have to be as philosophical or as cryptic as that. There is something instructive and healing in the aforementioned portion of the Lord’s Prayer.

At the beginning of Lent I made sure to read my bible every night and was in a very good place. Sadly the inspiration I felt from my intensified study did not last. Life is long and I can certainly get back to it…but until I do I will continue to struggle with being the prick I am and reacting to slights and bullshit the way I do.

Life is short, why should I let that shit eat my precious mind and time?

Did I just go from saying ‘Life is long’ to making another point by saying ‘Life is short’?!?!?!?!

Again more proof that I am not a serious person.

Two songs I am loving these days:

1.) The Faintest Ideas – You’re Beautiful…I offer no explanation for, or discussion of this. They are some wild band from Sweden or something. The song borders on being stupid but mercifully short. As far as I can tell it is about nothing, but dammit I love it so.

2.) Modest Mouse – Dashboard…When Good News for People Who Love Bad News came out I had a weird feeling that I was listening to the last great Modest Mouse album, and believe me I never think like that. I did not know what to expect when I found out that the Smiths guitar player joined the band. I still don’t know what to expect from the rest of the new album but I love listening to Dashboard and the funky ‘If Dave Navarro was a little cooler than he was’ guitar part.

Baseball news…I always thought Sammy Sosa was a phony balony but great/really weird interview with the Baseball Zeus. He went third person and, to my great joy even dropped three “Keep it continue”s.

More important baseball news, I think the Rowand trade rumors are just that. We will see if I am wrong.

Even more important baseball news – who will be the SOX 5th starter, and will that 5th starter make Coop keep a 5th of Jack in his desk drawer…

Who will it be:

34 Gavin Floyd ?

67 John Danks ?

Henry the Dog Janitor who turns out to be Hong Kong Phooey?

Could be…

Here is a pointless prediction that you can take to the bank.

They need to laugh at banks too.

For the 1st time in 6 years, a 12 seed will not beat a 5 in the NCAA tournament.

Regarding A Gonzalez, Bush, and the US Attorneys…I don’t have anything useful to say.

What do I find interesting?

A president can expunge US Atts after being elected but they can’t do something approaching that when they win a 2nd term…

I know there is more to it than that, but that is what I keep thinking. Even tho there were some who seemed to be intrigued by Harriet’s initial proposal, most people working in the WhiteHouse and for Justice thought this is fucking nuts and there is no way anyone can get away with this.

More pointless perspective, specture and conjection later.

Three Out of Four

If you have over $10,000 of unsecured, credit card debt…or if you are a lover of calling pricks “Pricks!” in public, or you would love to see the little guy win EVERY FUCKING ONCE IN A WHILE, you have to be a fan of what the Senate did to execs from Citigroup (or Citigrup if you’re German), Bank o’America, and Chase. Well you could cheer if any of the first three reasons (from the list of four) are the real reason why the Congress did what they did last week.

You will remember, or I fucking remember, what happened with the credit card companies two years ago – the last time they came before Congress in a very public way. While there were questions leveled against them and their policies, one got a sense that Congress got a few chastisement points but this is the way things are in America, Congress did what it could to have some creditor answer some slow pitch questions and nobody really cared much one way or the other.

Then you may remember in the ensuing weeks the Congress helped with the bankruptcy of a major airline…

Wait, that’s not the right way of putting it. Congress helped bail out a reckless business that shows no signs of behaving responsibly now or in the future and it just looked to the govt as a last resort to give it a handout in order to make the bills for a few more years until they get in trouble again.

And not long after that we saw Congress review Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in a way that seems to insure douche bags like me that would declare bankruptcy (not that I’m about to do that, Kim and I are doing fine)…but the new guidelines seem to insure that creditors are going to get more of every penny they are asking for – and not just for medical bills and “responsible” bills - - what some members of Congress wanted about two years ago was basically a way to make it harder for folks to get back to $0 or something like a staring point. The actions of the Congress two years ago (or at least the Senate) seemed to point in a particular direction.

I’m told by my conservative friends that government can and should teach and guide people. Here’s what I learned two years ago:

1. If you are an airline it doesn’t matter how reckless you are, you can always claim that you are vital to the nation’s interest and get a corporate handout when you are about to crash (I probably shouldn’t’ve said crash).
2. If you are John D’oh and you want to wipe the slate clean and start over, it would be harder than ever because you have to pay for your prescriptions, pills and credit card bills.
3. If you are a creditor you have a chance to get more of your money back from your broken hearted debtors…unless they are an airline.


Oh, the post was supposed to be about what happened this week, not the moral lessons I learned from my govt awhile back. I should be a good American and forget the shit that happened in the last Congress…

THIS Congress, acted like it wanted to slap the taste out of the mouths of a few scumfucks that came before them last week. There are three possible reasons for us to cheer, even if we are cynical about government. Consider:

1. The new Congress legitimately wants to punish the loan sharks of America, expose their shell game and help educate the American people about the dangers of hidden fees, false grace periods, and just the horrors of dealing with these devils to begin with…
(just laugh along with me for now, cuz this ain’t the reason)

2. New members and the new party in control wanted to punish the credit card companies because they backed the wrong pony leading up to the ’06 midterms. The bank groups and scum-ass lenders would like to reward and see those who benefited them so much the last time they came before Congress to continue ruling and protecting their interests (pardon the pun). The old party lost and the new party said to the bank groups “There’s a new sheriff in town take that you nasty bastards!”
(getting closer, and some would wish this to be the case but it probably isn’t)

3. The banks backed many of the Donkeys who won just like Elephans who lost or won and the Donkeys for the sake of scoring political points, turned around and screwed the credit card companies, dragged them in front of the Senate and made them look like the evil fucks they are, made one guy feel he needed to apologize and made another credit card/bank/fucknut look like he was gonna fucking cry.
(I hope this is the reason, and I am fairly sure this is part of the reason but let’s move on to number four)

4. This is a business as usual move for the new party controlling Congress. It wants to make it look like it is doing something about an evil in America. Consumer credit card debt will be a trillion dollars someday. That will rival the Fed govt’s debt-generating ability – WE CAN’T HAVE THAT!!!! The credit card companies understand what the new douche’s on the Hill needed to do (or be perceived doing) and they played along.

If any ONE of the first three above are true we should want to hug and kiss Senator Carl Levin (and in no way is he Hot Karl…that’s not even funny) for the way he slapped those monkeys around.

And even if the sad fact is that it is Number Four and ultimately this will be politics as usual, at least members of the banking/credit card community looked like the fucking loan sharks they are, and one sniveled and said they were fucking sorry.

They fucking are.

By the way, even if it is number four the most Machiavellian (and probably the most realistic of all the options – I don’t want to give the Donkeys too much credit and I do NOT want to confuse the accepted notion of Machiavellian politics with political realism, because thoughtful readers of Machiavelli know that is not the case)…

…but even if it is #4 at least the Senate offered some education and a dramatic example of how dangerous the fine print is of high interest credit card grace periods. The dude who was part of leveling the complaint just needed an extra $3,200 on a card to get him over the hump and pay for his wedding. He ended up paying almost 7 grand and without legal intervention…

(because debtors, you do have rights believe it or not, the real coarsening of our culture…beyond what the cultural conservatives want you to think it is, the real coarsening of our culture wants us to be convinced that if you take the pipe with your debt you deserve it, it serves you right)….

But, without legal intervention and the high profile of his complaint the dude could’ve ended up paying almost $16,000 on an initial charge of $3,200.

Do we have wanton desires and are many of us led by the nose chasing things we don’t need?

Sure, I am one of those. You don’t want to know how many guitars I have and I only need one (if that).

But that doesn’t mean the poor bastard who basically used a few Congressmen to bully the credit card companies into forgiving his debt…

…see even if some of the Donkeys dragging the credit card companies in front of Congress are on the payroll…

…this poor bastard with all the debt got his money back. An average schmuck like me and you used the Congress to help get him out of a hole. It was part dog and pony show…wait, it was mostly dog and pony show…

…but this dude got one of the credit card companies to give him his money back.

I love this country.

Songs in the Key of Whatever

I was drunk, and it was my birthday.

God bless you Andre 3000, Craig Finn and Stevie Wonder.

I had a shitty ass fucking day at both jobs yesterday and it blew chunks.

Today was a 3000 degree turnaround. It was the music that led to the turnaround. The Stevie Wonder record is a classic and everyone knows why it is great. Sir Duke was the song I played as Alex and I rolled out of our driveway to go to his first WhiteSox game (Jon Garland throws a four-hitter the Sunday before Labor Day 2005). This shouldn’t take away anything from the record, in fact I hope it makes the case for the power of great music, I will always think of that day and that game when I hear the classics from Songs in the Key of Life.

Stevie Wonder was the warm up act at work. It sparked my ears while I got my shit together this morning and tried to fix a few of the minor messes that caused me so much aggravation.

Next was the Love Below and I will be the first to admit that I thought I’d be a bigger fan of the Speakerboxx side. That just goes to show what I know. The Andre 3000 stuff never fails to make me smile. In fact I think I have to be careful listening to it at work. I think my coworkers might catch me giggling at some point.

A-men…uh, sorry I mean A-lady.

Regular readers of the blog know that I don’t review music often although every once in awhile I will write something about a new record that keeps my attention. The Hold Steady has kept my attention ever since I watched the Late Nite with David Letterman performance on Lady Di’s blog. Yeah I came to the party late, so what.

It was well worth it.

I’m still proud to say that I never had a My Generation type of song. Fuck that nonsense (and by the way I love My Generation..esp that B-A-S-S-bass)

While I never had or adopted a stupid My Generation song of my own, that record is my high school and early college experience. I don’t say that to be dramatic or anything like that because I made it, I’m alive nothing got blown up or blown out too badly.

Part of me is jealous that Craig Finn has captured this so well and in an almost literary (for rock ‘n roll) sort of way.

The rest of me is grateful. This music reminds me not to look back in anger at wrongs done, mistakes made…

It reminds me to know where you were when the shit was going down.

To know how it affected you, to remember that sometimes the shit took those you loved away from you and they never got to be where you are now.

It reminds me that I am one lucky son of a bitch.

A few of the Lifter Puller Fiestas and Fiascos reviewers got it totally wrong in the way they said that by the end of songs like the Nice Nice, Finn was exhausted or tired of being along for the ride he had just reported.

I don’t think so. I don’t claim to have a complete picture of the way CF wanted to present these things (I’m going to sound like a stupid fucking relativist record reviewer, but I don’t care)…

I honestly believe you can’t write all this shit and by the end be simply exhausted or a dispassionate reporter. You tell stories, even those about Night Club Dwight because it means something that you and hopefully most of your friends made it through.

AND NOT TO THE OTHER SIDE or bullcrap like that.

You write about people and fucked up situations, even those that include the Good Doctor Toof or Fiddler on the Roof because it’s got to all mean something. There can be redemption in drink and drugs and not the bullshit glory of experience I’ve been hearing so damned much about.

Finn is unashamed of all the right things in my opinion and this will have less to do with drink and drugs.

He is unashamed to stick the Kerowacky lines all over his record and the real signature song for me (Stuck Between Stations). It’s almost made me want to read that shit again, but not really.

Finn is brave enough in interviews to say that when he was 16 he thought On the Road was clichéd…and brave enough to laugh at himself, and aware enough to know (even if there are harmonies on the new songs, and more polish than on the LFTR PLLR tracks) he will have to keep shit moving or run the risk of being ‘that guy.’

I think he knows he might not, or probably won’t succeed from a creative standpoint in getting out from under his own shadow or maybe even getting out of his own way. In some ways there seems to be some pullback on Boys and Girls in America to the last Lifter Puller record. I am sort of the wrong person to talk about all this as a newbie and someone not totally familiar with the Lifter Puller catalog. I don’t even have the knuckle tatts.

Nor do I plan on getting them.

But I do know this, Craig Finn gets it and I am proud to be a fan of this shit. Win, lose or draw he will be there as the sun comes up.

Probably glad to be alive.

I know I am.

I should’ve ended there, but I’m not going to…I want to gush a bit more or say something else.

I only found out about Finn’s Catholicism later and I don’t want to talk about someone else’s faith and say I know they are a serious believer blah blah blah. That is not for me to say. I have no business even suggesting that he is a St. Paul that sings about ruffies.

Um, I think I just did.

Hell I discredit myself everyday. Just add that as Exhibit Z-Z.

But what is clear to me at the end of a few of these records is, you make it through all this shit, you survive for a reason. It means something.

God wants you to live for some fucking reason.

You may not know why, but there you are.

Joey

When I first heard of the initial charges against Scooter - - as possible indictments were dropped against Hot Karl and others, I couldn’t help thinking about the Bob Dylan song from Desire about the gangster Joey…

They got him on conspiracy,
They were never sure who with…

My friend the PDawg asked how the grand jury investigation, the official charges and subsequent verdict…how these things differ from Blewinski or if he should care about these things.

I can’t speak to the second part.

But I can tell you why I cared to follow the trial, the very public arguments, and now I still care about these interviews with the jurors (or at least the one guy who’s been putting his nose out there after it all came down yesterday)

This is a different sort of hypocrisy than the Chief Executive lying under oath…and I think the Klinton thing was significant (not that I supported the impeachment, but I did not vote for president Klinton when he ran the 2nd time in ’06. I thought there was no appreciable policy difference between he and Dole and I thought Dole actually neutralized the Newtophiles and the real culture warriors among the R’s…Klinton energized them)…

…and my big problem with Klinton was thinking what would it be like having a sitting president, potentially on the witness stand AND THIS WAS ALL PRE-IMPEACHMENT SHIT – THIS WAS PAULA JONES…

I thought in some ways, Klinton wasn’t worth the trouble…and believe me he and his wife inspired me in 1992 until I learned what those bad loans on Whitewater meant for little people who had $30 grand in Arkansas banks…who Mrs. Klinton and her friends stole from…

But you asked about Scooter.

These Bush admin jokers came in and said the Klinton years were full of security leaks, lost laptops of Los Alamos and they VOWED…

Fucking VOWED (I remember Smug Rummy’s fucking press conference on this shit)

VOWED TO END LEAKS AND SHORE UP OUR NATION’S INTELLIGENCE…

This was right after the election and pre-9/11.

AND TO OUT V PLAME IN THE NAME OF COVERING THEIR BAD INTELLIGENCE AND BAD SPEECH WITH ITS FAULTY 16-WORDS AND COVER THEIR POLITICAL ASSES…

This is beyond hypocrisy and if there is any hope that the Bush gang is remembered for this lying for the sake of a war that the nation doesn’t need….

…and I know PDawg might be inclined to say nobody is gonna remember Scooter five years from now…or the same people who remember that De Sec Gates was up to his eyeballs in Iran-Contra will remember about Scooter and it won’t matter…

True, but at least the nation knows, and some of these jurors believe this was a cover up and maybe from the highest levels (or at least Hot Karl)…

Even though Fitzgerald closed the case, and people are frustrated that no one is going further with this…this testimony is now a matter of public record.

Maybe we can’t afford to, or it is too late to really punish the skanky fucks that are really behind it all…

…but I am not looking for perfect justice from the American court system…or really in any of America’s institutions.

The Scooter case, and especially Russert and other media members defending themselves and what they do (even though they didn’t always look good in this defense)…

People stood up and went after the Veep’s top dog. And the Bush people are getting some of the scorn and infamy they deserve…

Does anybody come out looking good in this? No, but people only look good at the end of a sitcom.

This isn’t a sitcom, this is America.

It’s a tragicomedy baby.

Trust and Stuff Sort Of

Scooter found guilty, sort of.

…actually finding him guilty on almost all of the counts made sense from what I could follow.

It’s a shame, sort of.

I don’t feel the same burning whatever against Scooter that I have felt against many of those who have served at the pleasure of the President and Veep – and the President and the Veep themselves.

If I had my way they would’ve got Wolf-o-witless, Rummy, Hot Karl or Scooter would’ve ratted out his boss. That’d be sweet.

Listen to me. Am I this sort of bitter fuck?

My reasons for sort of liking Scooter are strange and I may go into them in a separate post.

It is NOT loyalty to his boss by the way. I am someone that is loyal to the guy and his step-daughter who sign my paychecks…and I would show loyalty to them in a variety of different contexts and (depending on the circumstances) at some risk to myself. But I don’t see that as loyalty when you are supposed to be serving the public interest, the public trust.

Don’t give me that ‘I love G Gordon Libby’ (Freudian slip) old school, America love-it-or-leave it horsepucky! We are supposed to be able to trust those cocksuckers…

I’m sorry, those treasonous cocksuckers.

Sorry Scooter, I don’t hate you or your boss, trust me.

My prayers are actually with the old Ball and Cheney. Good luck with the blood clot Mr. VicePresident.

We’ll see how the sentencing shakes out. Wouldn’t you like to be there when the guard introduces Scooter to his new cellmate.

“#96881124, this is your new cellmate Scooter.”

#96881124 says, “Lemme see is Scooter.”

,heh heh heh

----------- - - - - ------ ----- - - - - - ---- --------- --- -- - - - - -

Sex, marriage, love, friendships and family…these things all depend on trust.

Please do not try to break this down into a Straussian list of 5 attributes – what does it mean that love is the middle attribute – will I omit one attribute somewhere in this post etc…

The power and brilliance of Strauss’ Persecution and the Art of Writing does not and cannot be applied to the bloggosphere…at least to this corner of it.

One of the reasons I am in such a good place right now is I trust my partners in crime.

Esp my wife. There is something about coming through the times we have had together. The last five years and the wonderful addition to our family haven’t been without their jolts, their fits and starts – their fears and blow-outs.

Last night before I went back down to my basement dungeon to work on my last quiz and lecture before the spring break…Kim and I just relaxed in our living room – talked, laughed…I rubbed her shoulders and realized how lucky I am to be in this place. Kim and I are at a good place at all levels of our relationship (even though there is one area in our future planning where we are still very far apart – she wants to plan for the future I don’t…not really)…

…but even though there is a gap with our goals in one big area – the trust that we have built up will carry us through any bumpy roads to come.

…and our trust makes all the others mentioned above very sweet as well.

- - ------ ---- - -- - - - ---- -------- - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I didn’t think the Bears should’ve signed Thomas Jones to an extension…

BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN THEY SHOULD TRADE HIM!!!!

Fucking Joe Girardi…uh, I mean Eric Mangini – I’m confused even when I am sober.

I am not going to engage in much football trade talk. I will say this just to make more of a baseball point…a player with an expiring contract can be a valuable piece of the puzzle. It doesn’t take a Mangenious to see that a guy playing for his next big – or his last contract has more incentive to be all in than a guy who just got his biggest and best deal.

We’ll see what JD will do in right for the WhiteSOX. I think the guy has one great season left in him. I hope we see it this year and who knows – the Yankees or redsox, or some douchebag team will overpay for him. Same thing with #56 for my beloved SOX. If MB has more gas in the tank he will have to show it this year. There is no way the SOX can or should give Buhrls the Zito deal. I hope they can work out something but I am excited to watch one of my favorite all time SOX players pitching for the rest of his career this year.

JavierV getting 34.5 mil for the next three years? I don’t know if it is a good enough excuse to say – Javier’s people came to the SOX offered a deal that (in some ways) was worth less than what Vasq makes now…

I want to believe that acquisitions like Dye are what makes sports and free agency exciting and I want to believe that the last year of this wonderful signing might hold one last bit of magic. OK, nothing will probably match being WS MVP, and those two beautiful moments – the beginning of the ending of Clemmons’ outing. Jermaine’s great AB leading to that early homerun…and then ending it all with a single when everything was set up for him.

But he had a monster season last year. Unlike the SOX as a whole, Jermaine seemed to have played almost equally well before and after the All Star break. JD was a legit Season MVP candidate. I’m not arguing he was jobbed, but I’d say he was more of a legit candidate for that than Z was for Cy Young.

…see aka goo (little sister of mine) – there is no topic here. Feel free to go off our no topic whenever you like.

I’ve got one more hour of damn work here and it is 10 fucking 52PM Central time.

Fuck.

Work, Damn

Worked way too damned late tonight and bummed that I couldn't see the Supercush show.

I would've loved to see my old friend Alex.

I can almost hear his battle cry...

"Drink a beer!"

"Welcome to Moe's!"

I've got to get my hearing checked.

August Twenty-Four

I should save this post for the 24th of August but I will probably forget it by then.

After all it is nothing like the 5th of November.

I watched this dopey thing about Alaric and the sacking of Rome.

Not to be confused with Tony Hawk, the Old Dog and their sac-tap off the dozer.

So August 24, 410 AD was the date when Alaric sacked Rome, supposedly because he was passed over for promotion.

This reminds me, I am coming up for review at work in the next few weeks.

I better ready my Goths for battle (or at least add My Chemical Romance’s Helena to my iPod).

I watched the thing and wondered about the significance of August 24. The date was in my brain for some other reason.

My birthday?

No.

My cousin Mike’s birthday? He is a Leo but no.

My anniversary?

Don’t be stupid. I know all my anniversaries with KJ.

First kiss – April 3, 1991.

First Marriage – July 11, 1998

Marriage in the Catholic Church blessed by the wonderful Fr. Steve Knox – August 5, 2000.

So August 24th – WTF?!?!?

I gave up and wiki-ed it.

This is some fucked up shit. August 24th is also the date that British (and yes, even some Canadian forces) burned the White House, the Treasury and generally fucked up Washington DC (ostensibly as revenge for what we did to York/Toronto – but I think the Brits were still pissed about us being their Vietnam…apologies to George Carlin)

Now Washington then (and even today) is not the same as the Eternal City. Rome ruled the world and stood sackless (sorry again) for a lot longer than we have (and probably longer than we will). But I thought it weird that the famous sack of Rome was literally the SAME FRIGGIN DAY the WhiteHouse was burned in the War of 1812 (technically 1814)

Ok, there is my useless contribution to the bloggosphere for today.

Watch and Learn

I can’t watch Sen L. Graham anymore. I think he has the ability to raise the tone of politics in America in that he doesn’t engage in name calling like certain Veeps who may or may not remain nameless, he doesn’t screech like Senators and Reps on both sides of the aisle.

BUT WHAT HE SAYS ABOUT WINNING AND THE COST OF LOSING IN IRAQ IS TOTALLY FUCKING BULLSHIT AND NO ONE SHOULD LISTEN TO IT!

The rhetoric about the glimmer of hope, winning and the cost of losing is a cart full of carcasses.

I wish someone had the balls to say this:

Just because we are pulling our troops out of this hopeless and wasteful peacekeeping/nation building endeavor doesn’t mean we will let the terrorists have a safe haven there. If there are so many supporters of continuing the war in Iraq who know what regions of the country will offer support for new terrorist training bases – we’ve got a carrier group in the region, let the training centers build up only to bomb the shit out of them later. FROM THE FUCKING AIR!

Our satellites cannot find insurgent secret headquarters because they are in some douche bag’s apartment. But guess what, if the country degenerates into a civil war – which it is going to anyway, the real enemies who have migrated there – because of our fuck ups – will feel they don’t need to stay underground. If those people who think Iraq will look like pre-911 Afghanistan if we leave, guess what – the enemies of the West may turn out to be easier to find. Satellites could find those camps. Even fucking Klinton could find the training bases there and he was nearly blind from…

Speaking of Afghanistan, we may need to re-win that war at some point. Wouldn’t it be great to have the forces to send there?

Loving the new Chicago Baseball Tonight and listening to Bruce Levine on the weekends. I think I am finally free of my daily addiction to sports talk radio and I have Dan Patrick to thank for it. Don’t get me wrong, I was the first person to express my joy when he and KO reunited for the 1-2pm Central hour. But the 1st hour of the show, which is on during my lunch is morality/celebrity entertainment fuckery. Nobody cares about the moral judgments of Dan fucking Patrick on steroids, Tom Brady having a baby out of wedlock, T fucking O, and badgering Gene Upshaw about getting football players to have guaranteed contracts.

Motherfucker.

No guaranteed contracts is what makes the NFL competitive. If you are a fan of competition and not personality-driven entertainment you could give a crap about Joey Porter being let go by the Steelers. I giggled my ass off when they let his crappy-ass and stupid mouth go. Porter got his money day one. I don’t feel sorry for him (esp. after what he did to the Bears two years ago in the snow massacre). I don’t know how any Bears fans could’ve rooted for the Steelers in the Superbowl two years ago…after the way they kicked the Bears ass up and down the damned field. I wanted Betis’ last play in the NFL to be that fumble…thanks again Mrs. Nick Harper. Betis humiliated the Bears in the 4th Quarter of that snowy game.

Oh, why I love Bruce Levine on the radio – aside from his bruhahas…Levine never begins with the negative. There is no lowest common denominator to his style of baseball and sports reporting. He actually starts with the game. He talks a little about personalities, but he seems to know what personality means in sports. There is much more to it. Fuck you, your show and your morality sports reporting Dan Patrick. You are Leeeza Gibbons. I don’t care to mock the rich and sporty. I don’t care if the NFL is out of control and the NBA doesn’t deserve the thug league reputation it has gotten. I don’t care what McGuire said in front of Congress. Baseball is starting – get Peter Gammons or Tim Kerchin(sp?) to talk about actual baseball – rather than some story about the bidding war for DiceK…

One last thing – I am very impressed with our friend Santi’s memory. I pride myself on having the best memory of anyone I know.

I am also the most humble.

Seriously, when he reminded me that the Bulls got Pippen by trade and didn’t draft him directly – I can’t believe I forgot that shit.

That’s it, I am going to work and work and work until I am the most humble person who has ever lived.

I suck.

Our Friend Meat Head

Our friend and cub fan MeatHead just reminded me that the last three or four World Series’ have been torture for cub fans. Consider:

’03 – The Marlins who…well we all remember how they won no need to rub it in, then they went on to beat the Yankees in the same way the cubs would’ve beat them – they out-pitched the overpaid (in all the wrong places) Yankee squad. The cubs definitely had better pitching in 2003 than the yanks, they were on their way to proving that when the cub and the mighty Yanks met in the middle of that season. I was hanging out with cub fans who were hanging on every pitch during the Wood v. Rocket game. They acted like the cubs won the WS when they won that one.

,ok that was just confusing

’04 – The Red Sox. The only team more famous (and sorry cub fans – A TEAM MUCH MORE IMPORTANT IN THE WORLD OF BASEBALL AND CURSES) for not winning the World Series, and in fact famous for coming close and losing in such heart-wrenching fashion had finally won it. It was so inspiring that baseball players from around the league made pilgrimages to watch the RedSox dispose of the Redbirds in that four game anti-climax that was the ’04 series. Crede and his pals were there. So many great ballplayers have come from the Show Me State. Crede and a few other WhiteSOX have said that watching the red sox do what they did in ’04 inspired them. Then to see the story end so close to where they grew up…we all know how Crede played in 2005 -He put to rest all the doubters, Joe Crede showed that (for at least the next two years) that he could play 3rd base at the highest level, and more importantly he proved he was a champion. Oh, this was supposed to be about the Red Sox. It all comes back to the '05 RIGHT SOX for me doesn't it. So after ’04 the teams that were famous for World Series droughts were down to 2 and the teams famous for curses was down to one. Had to suck in some way for cub fans to know that the minute the Red Sox won they instantly became the baseball club with the most famous curse. The White SOX, nobody outside of SOX and cub fans had any idea how long it had been for them, and the only curse the SOX have is sharing Chicago with the Cubs. I mean that in the nicest possible way, if that is possible.

’05 – THE CHICAGO WHITE SOX, WORLD CHAMPIONS. I don’t have to say much about how this could hurt cub fans. All I know is a cub fan friend of mine, who is a gentle soul and as sweet as they come…it was reported that after the last out vs. the CrapStros – this guy whipped a shot glass through a mirror at the bar where some of us have been known to frequent.

’06 – The Cardz. I don’t understand the rivalry between the cubs and redbirds. Just to give cub fans perspective I don’t think most baseball fans across America care much or see much in that rivalry. They’ve been featured on Sunday night ESPN games a few times but even the hyperbole network didn’t waste half the breath or spin than they would on a RedSox Yankee game in friggin May. But cub fans I know hate the Cardinals with all the fire of the heating ducts at hell's equator. Huh? So out of respect for what cub fans say is a big rival, the Cards have to be on the list. If it makes you guys feel any better, my kid can't stand the Cards either. They beaned our SOX a bunch of times in the middle of last year, and remember my Alex is a Tiger fan as well as being the coolest little WhiteSOX fan.

So tell me cub fans, which of these World Series champs was the worst or most painful? If I were a cub fan there is no doubt it would be the Marlins. To go through all that and then see those douche bags win it all. I’d never stop saying fuck about that.

MeatHead and other cub fans, don’t worry. Your pain will end soon. Z guaranteed it.

Calculated and Classy

That is how I would describe Sen. Obama’s “defense” of John McCain. Sure there was a little CYA on the part of BO but you know what makes it worth?

The Senator’s voice. It is beautiful. I could listen to him all day no matter what he does or does not say.

I can’t stop thinking about these Islamist groups blowing up internet cafes and other such shit in the Gaza Strip. So much for my plans for opening up the Gaza Strip Mall.

I don’t think a Gaza Strip Club would fair much better either.

Working on a bunch of new stuff. I should concentrate on playing the shows that are ahead of me and getting more, and getting recording dates together with Larry for Kish.

Yeah, I am going to have to start recording while Chris is in Hawaii or I will go insane.

Anybody who’s known me for over 15 years knows how insane I went when we would shut down work on whatever Ambersons project we were doing while someone went on vacation. I went insane, drank every night…ok, drank more than usual every night, and generally fell into some bullshit, totally nihilistic behavior.

I know I am someone’s daddy now but the more things change…

If I am going to be a good dad to Alex I have to know my limits and know what I need. One of the reasons I will not crush my beautiful boy with impossible expectations is that I flatly refuse to live according to anyone’s expectations for me. I reject the notion that I need to know how to slow down and spend more time at home. I love spending time at home, but to be the kind of person I am I have to do the stupid crap I do.

Someday I hope to talk about life with a lot less I’s. But for right now this is where I am and I’d be a fool not to admit it.

I’d love to be like Christ, deflecting glory to his father – sure God is part of Christ’s being or vice versa…(so my version of the story goes)…

I’d love to be able to talk about life with affirmations and begin important thoughts and blessings by saying “Amen, amen I say to you…”

But there is a seemingly eternal divide between me and that.

For now I know what I am. I want my Yes to be Yes and my No to be No.

This will have to do until I get there.

Alex was digging on pasta and oranges tonight and we wrestled all evening.

Fun, fun, fun.

Z is throwing out the stupid predictions with reckless abandoned.

Sound like anybody you know?

Difference is nobody really cares about my predictions. Z has a million mics and cameras in his face everyday. I’ve got my Dell.

Pfffft

Much love to the Sultan for his positive SOX statements. It helps to hear these things from a guy who knows his baseball. Sultan, you and I are probably going to have to stick together. The cubs no matter what are going to be a huge story.

I wish Ozzie wouldn’t have said the shit he’s said about Brandon Mc and BA today. Maybe the BA rant will do some good.

Chet Koppock just reminded me that Jerry Krause, while wiping horseradish and honey mustard from one of his chins, scouted and fell in love with a young Ozzie G. Man, even though Krausie went sort of nuts with Eddy Curry’s mom’s hands near the end of his run as Bulls GM…the fat man really brought it for Chicago. Scottie and Horace in the same draft? Ozzie comes to Chicago because of him. Maybe he deserves a banner in the United Center. For executives they should just hang a tie up there.