From The Sports Desk

[Sancho]

Man! It’s time to dust off the bike and true up the wheels. (I’m a fair-weather rider)

Cyclo-cross is a tough sport, eh? Think we should break the news to those guys in Marin County, bombing down the mountain side on old Schwinns, that they didn’t actually invent mountain biking?

[bounty]

well worth the ~ 3 min diversion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNzPsAo1QCg

[Sancho]

That was worth it.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems like the big difference between cyclo-cross and mountain biking is cyclo-crossers run more. Those guys are adept at dismounting, hoisting the bike over their shoulder, and running.

[bounty]

am glad you liked it.

the reason theres so much running in cyclocross is its faster than the riding. so youd think youd see lots of it in mtn biking then too, but you hardly ever do. that might be owe-able to differences in the courses, or the cross riders not having the gearing they need or me not paying attention enough.

[Sancho]

Do you reckon those guys use egg-beaters? Those are the only pedals I can keep mud free on my mountain bike.

[bounty]

I went back to watch some YouTube videos but it was rare to be able to pause a shot clear enough to see what they are using. from the internet it seems to be that egg beaters are common choices, but from what little I could see, the pedals seem to have a bit more substance to them and have a slightly different shape; lots of them are probably "candies."

milan san remo is on now and i'll be peeking back at it in a bit...

[bounty]

i missed the race today (Dwars door Vlaanderen) but the really tough news out of it was a major crash occurred and one of the casualties was one of the best cyclists in the world, wout van aert---broken collarbone, broken ribs and is going to be out for quite awhile.

[Sancho]

Ouch!
That'll leave a mark.

[bounty]

the ending is a little anti-climatic, but otherwise, I absolutely love this!

https://www.instagram.com/p/C5BCxWGs7Gw/

(make sure to watch with the sound on)

[Sancho]

Haha!
Oh man, I needed that.

[Sancho]

Baseball is back. Woo-Hoo…

So buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks
I don’t care if I never get back

[bounty]

so lets root, root, root for the home team...

I keep seeing links to stories of the stadium in Oakland being empty because the fans are hacked off at the team.

at the moment, im enjoying the tour of flanders---112 km and ~15 climbs left to go...

took some great screen shots:

(Mathieu van der poel is a beast)

every so often they had coverage via drone; it was really well done.

[Sancho]

Gotta be a beast to ride in those conditions (and on those cobbles).

You know, come to think of it, I don’t think anybody has ever eaten Cracker Jacks at a Mariners game. At T-Mobile park it’s all about the Garlic Fries.

[tailor STATELY]

The Oakland A's were a favorite of mine, especially in the 70's, behind the Yankees and Giants of course. When they move I'll have no love for the Vegas Ɐ's :(

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[bounty]

that particular hill had sections in it that were ~20% grade, had been muddied from earlier in the week, and had been made wet by rain that day. they didn't show all the riders going up it, but amongst the leaders, most ended up having to walk.

van der poel powered up the climb with ~44km to go and continued to put time on all the splinter groups he left behind pretty much all the way to the finish.

small stage race starting today that'll have at least three of the perspective biggies in it---vingegaard, roglic and evenepoel.

its interesting how the pilots were a bust but the mariners survived.

who can forget vida blue, rollie fingers, catfish hunter and the like! and those colorful uniforms too.

[bounty]

on the off chance Sancho that you haven't already seen this elsewhere---really bad crash today in the tour of the basque country, with very severe consequences:


Among the injured, Visma-Lease a Bike’s Vingegaard suffered a broken collarbone and several fractured ribs and will remain in the hospital. Evenepoel (Soudal-Quickstep) also suffered a broken right collarbone and right scapula, according to each of the riders’ teams.

UAE Team Emirates’ Jay Vine also sustained fractures to three of his vertebrae, while Roglič (Bora-hansgrohe), already grappling with injuries from a prior crash, was forced to abandon the race but fortunately sustained less severe injuries and was attended to by medical staff on-site...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/remco-evenepoel-and-jonas-vingegaard-suffer-broken-collarbones-at-itzulia-basque-country/ar-BB1l5fmW?ocid=msedgntp&pc=U531&cvid=c895167c22c34071b7e9e61c517b46d4&ei=38

https://twitter.com/i/status/1775901392411976011

[Sancho]

Yeech! Brutal.
Collarbones and ribs snapping like twigs in Basque Country.
Meanwhile in L.A. a young pitching/batting phenom looses 4.5 mil in a some sort of fishy gambling/translator type thing.

[bounty]

mikel landa, another top rider---also out with a broken collarbone.

tomorrow is paris-roubaix.

is that also the same guy who just hit his first hr and the dodgers wouldn't let the fan keep the ball?

[Sancho]

Domo arigato.

[bounty]

what, from the old styx song mr roboto? laughs...

[Sancho]

I could stand to learn a little more Japanese. I’ve going there recently. I only know a handful of words, but I use all of them with every local I meet:

Hai - uh-huh
Eeie - uh-uh
Konichiwa - howdy
Sayonara - adios
Kudasai - please
Arigato - thanks
Domo arigato - sank you betty mush
Arigato guzaimasu - Is that what I ordered? (It’s actually for when somebody gives you something)
Moshi-moshi - for answering the phone if you want the person on the other end of line to fire off a bunch of words at you that you don’t understand

[bounty]

every so often something will show up on my feed/menus that point out cultural differences between japan and the usa. its interesting.

meanwhile, Mathieu van der poel just won paris-Roubaix in mind boggling fashion. he just rode away from everyone else with about 60km to go, won by almost 3 minutes, and with an average speed of 29.6 mph for close to 5 1/2 hours of racing.

I can say it again, he's an absolute beast.

[Sancho]

Agreed. I caught a little of the Paris - Roubaix this morning.

[bounty]

attached a couple of fun screen shots from the viewing, and one bonus photo...

[bounty]

a bad throw, but none the less beautiful

https://twitter.com/i/status/1777784096778768575

[tailor STATELY]

Bitter sweet...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Wakefield

Almost forgot a doggerel poem I wrote some time ago (20+ years???) where Tim Wakefield was one of the center pieces:



The Curse, revisited... 2003

The Rocket against Pedro... Game 7... ALCS!
The New York Yankees at home against Boston's Bosox...
Another classic... what else would you guess ?

But The Rocket was chased, and by the 4th he was gone
Hindered by home runs, one by Millar and two by Trot Nixon
Clemens head down, through the tunnel... a walk too long

Though Jason Giambi was demoted, rightly so, to 7th in order at bat
With two mighty launches of the ball in the 5th and 7th inning
the comeback was alive ! In their seats Bosox fans just sat

Score 5 to 2, bottom of the 8th... Boston leading the Yanks
Jeter doubles to start the rally, then Williams and Matsui get hits
Jorge Posada doubles to clean up, score now 5 to 5, and Torre gives thanks

While the Bronx Bombers chip away, their bullpen, in the past, a disgrace
send a parade of pitchers their way to the mound... biding time
... setting up for Mariano Rivera... their prolific reliever ace

The Bosox boys are now baffled, their swings most untoward
Mariano goes three long masterful innings of relief blanking Boston
His series heroics to soon win him the coveted ALCS MVP award

It's now the 11th, Wakefield's pitching mastery of the Yanks has been most hot
but New York's Aaron Boone swings at Wakefield's first offering...
Jim Bouton might have said: A knuckle-ball's fickle... a walk-off home run is not !!!

There's no joy tonight in Beantown... yes, that's a given
"The ghosts will show up eventually" Jeter confided to Boone
Again... the Mighty Bambino, curse invoked, has arisen

10/16/2003

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[bounty]

tailor, you are a regular ernest Lawrence Thayer!

poor tim wakefield!

[tailor STATELY]

The poet Thayer's poem ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_at_the_Bat ) is of course my inspiration as I watched the game on the telly ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ-Z_X3QBYY )and wrote... funny, I'd have to pay to see a game on the telly nowadays. The most egregious "steal" is my line "There's no joy tonight in Beantown... yes, that's a given" as opposed to "but there is no joy in Mudville—mighty Casey has struck out." Ironic in my poem that arguably one of the greatest home run hitters in history was the subject of the "curse".

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[bounty]

have you read any of the sequels to "casey" tailor?

here---see if something here might work for you:

https://sportsurge.club/

I was able to make "hqlive" work.

[tailor STATELY]

Maybe; I think so... I'll have to research.

I'll have to check it out... if my bandwidth will allow.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Sancho]

I found this from The Atlantic. It’s concerning the physiological limitations of the human body and the demands for ever more speed in major league baseball:

Arms Are Flying Off Their Hinges
Baseball is stuck in a velocity trap.
By Devin Gordon


The ulnar collateral ligament, or UCL, is a triangular set of bundles in the human elbow that looks like three crisscrossing strips of bacon—a marvel of physiology that functions as the crucial hinge between the humerus, in the upper arm, and the ulna, in the forearm. But as Jeff Passan memorably describes it in his 2016 book, The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports, the UCL is also “a finicky little bastard, ill-equipped to stand up long-term to the single fastest movement the body can generate: the throwing motion.” A pitcher’s arm whips through the air “30 times faster than an eyeblink,” he writes, and all of that power and torque gathers in the elbow, leaving the UCL “screaming for mercy.”

Sandy Koufax, the great pitcher for the Dodgers, famously quit baseball at a time when he seemed to be at the peak of career (1966). He said:


I've got a lot of years to live after baseball and I would like to live them with the complete use of my body. I don't regret one minute of the last twelve years, but I think I would regret one year that was too many.

Smart man.

Speaking of the Dodgers, did anyone catch their game yesterday with the Padres? I gotta say the highlight of the game was fan moment. Padres third baseman Manny Machado hits a solo homer in the 4th, which is caught by a Dodgers fan in the stands. It’s considered poor taste to keep a home-run ball hit by the opposing team for a Dodgers fan. But, you know, hmm, the guy really wanted that ball, so he pulls a decoy ball out of his jacket pocket and tosses it back out on to the field while concealing the real ball in his glove. Bah-hahahah! Tricked the fans, not the replay camera:

https://www.mlb.com/news/dodgers-fan-throws-back-decoy-home-run-ball?partnerID=web_article-share

[Sancho]

Also, bounty, bah-hahahaha,
I gotta get one of those bed covers!

[hellsapoppin]

Speaking of the Dodgers, Sandy Koufax retired because of arthritis in his arm. Same condition that ended my amateur pitching career. Am now in my 70s and may have to use a wheelchair in another year or so because arthritis is destroying my aching back.

And speaking of Dodgers again, the last of the Boys of Summer has just passed on: Carl Erskine. He was always considered one of baseball really nice guys.

[Sancho]

Dem bums! I got on an elevator the other day with guy who was wearing a Brooklyn Dodgers ball cap. Another guy takes a look at the ‘B’ on his cap and says, “Go Red Sox.” 1st guy looks at me with a perfect WTF expression. I tried my best to wordlessly express the idea of — kids these days, eh?

Man! That stinks, Poppin. My mom had a horrible time with rheumatoid arthritis, but so far all of us kids have avoided that fate. About this time last year I broke my wrist — cracked the radius head while inelegantly leaping (falling) from the back of my pickup with a heavy load. Anyway the x-rays showed bone loss due to osteoarthritis, but I haven’t really felt anything yet. The doctor said — ya know you got some arthritis in your hands. I said — shut yo mouf, doc!

[bounty]

poppin, if you are not already doing so, by way of helping preserve your mobility, lemme encourage you towards swimming/water exercise and some cycling.

on the topic of cycling, I just finished watching fleche-wallone---snow, sleet, pouring rain and the monster climb 4x up the mur de huy. I took a snapshot near the end. check out the gradient in the bottom right corner.

on the topic of the dodger---I grew up watching M*A*S*H and then watching the re-runs over and over again too. many memory episodes and scenes from episodes. one of my favorites is one where they follow the unit over the course of a year, with a partial denouement for the "shot heard round the world."

major Winchester, based on klingers confidence for the dodgers, is on the hook for thousands of dollars worth of bets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sI8NOPaS5I0

[hellsapoppin]

poppin, if you are not already doing so, by way of helping preserve your mobility, lemme encourage you towards swimming/water exercise and some cycling


I do just a little bit of yoga every day, especially the breathing exercises but not much else. It's just too painful to do anything else darn it.

[bounty]

moving in water and on a bicycle are both easier than walking and because of that, there's a good chance one or both of them will be pain free for you, or at least, pain reduced.

[Sancho]

Oh yeah, I'm a big believer in swimming for health and flexibility. Evidently so is Kramer:


Exercises every muscle in the body. It's great for the back. 4 hours in this chop and I'm a full inch taller!

I can't say that I recommend swimming in the East River though.

https://youtu.be/0hK3pBcY3k0?si=Xed8DD_0WJJvMNf-

Is there anything not covered by Seinfeld?

[bounty]

I think all the characters had a sort of essentialness to them, but id vote for Kramer as the most valuable player in the show.

[Sancho]

No way, man. Newman was the MVP.

I remember a good article in Outside Magazine about the benefits of an impact workout. The writer looked at running vs cycling for the lower body, and boxing vs swimming for the upper body. The prevailing consensus of the day was to avoid impact workouts because that sort of thing would lead to the breaking down of your bones. (We all know someone who quit running because his “knees gave out”) The gist of the article was the contrarian view that the body needs impact to signal strong bone growth. He mentioned connective tissue, but the article was mainly about bones. The illustration introducing the piece was an artist’s rendition of two femur bones, one long and slender and the other massive and heavy. The bones were labeled: Swimmer’s Leg, Runner’s Leg. The runner’s leg looked like it belonged to a gorilla, and the swimmer’s leg looked like it might snap in a stiff breeze. Anyway the article made a lot of sense to me. And I still like to run, just not every day anymore.

In another part of the article he analyzed the mineral cost to the body a distance athlete pays. By distance athlete, he means someone under exertion for more than two hours, marathon runners, stage cyclists, backpackers, stuff like that. He essentially took an athlete’s jersey after the event and rung out the sweat. Then he analyzed what minerals had been leached out. What he found was that distance athletes are loosing a lot of calcium, and probably should be taking a supplement.

At any rate, I took the article to heart and have never shied away from “impact” sports. Even cycling for me involves impact. I impact the road on occasion and sometimes cars, or trees from time to time while mountain biking, but that’s really another subject.

I wish I could find the article. It’s from about 20 years ago. As I recall it was a two-parter.

[bounty]

nooooo, in baseball terms, id put newman as the best relief pitcher or pinch hitter.

I don't think ive ever mentioned it here before Sancho, and hopefully this doesnt come off as pretentious, i have a phd in the stuff youre talking about and taught it at the college level. I also studied eating disorders and coached track & field and cross-country.

going into grad school I was already carrying with me a love of literature. by the time I came out I was so enamored with it, especially for its potential vocationally, that I actually applied to a grad program in English. visited the campus, met with the dept head, had a good conversation and applied---but possibly amongst other reasons, they couldn't get over my not having an undergrad in English and alas I didn't get accepted.

on the topic of "impact"----my goodness any chance you read/saw/heard about the crash today in the tour of the alps? borderline horrific while it was happening and then nerve wracking immediately afterwards because the guy wasn't moving much after slamming head first into a light post. i'll do some looking to see if I can find it.

found it---all the more "exciting" for the foreign language commentary:

https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling/update-superficial-wounds-and-a-mild-concussion-for-chris-harper-after-frightening-tour-of-the-alps-crash (scroll down towards the bottom)

[Sancho]

Naw, man,not pretentious, you did the work. But hey, you gotta research degree!? Holy moly. Now it seems like I'm the guy at a dinner party, patiently explaining to my table mate how the brain works **slap my belly and stab the air with a drumstick** “well, don’t’cha know, the brain is made up of these things called neurons and synapses, and the different parts of the brain specialize in different stuff, like language, or math, or where you left your car keys, and, well, don’t’cha know, that's how the brain works.” This goes on for quite some time and only later do I find out my table mate is a neurosurgeon. Ah well.

I think most of us here are drawn to literature in some way or another. I am and I don’t know why. It’s just something I’ve always enjoyed. I can't remember a time in my adult life when I wasn't reading a book. I much prefer reading to watching TV or a movie. Given the choice I’d’ve probably studied it in school, but college was vocational for me (Mechanical Engineering). And honestly at that time in my life I probably wouldn’t have survived the English Department. I could sit in the library during the wee hours working a Thermodynamics problem, but I doubt I’d’ve been very good at peeling the onion where great literature is concerned. A Thermo problem has an answer. This or that. Right or wrong. But great lit is nuanced. It can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. It’s sometimes in conflict with itself. That would’ve bothered me when I was 20.

Concerning the video — Yeech! Having a hard head will carry you far in this world. When I was a kid there was a college professor in my town who killed himself doing a header from his bike into the back of a panel van. He was in the drops and hammering away, probably looking at his front wheel. Never saw it coming. Also no helmet. Nobody wore a helmet back then, unless it was one of those leather strippy things that were high on style and low on function. I think he was in Life Sciences, U of So Car.

[bounty]

i appreciate that thank you.

you might get a small kick out of this---although much beyond the elementary levels its a stretch for me---among other things, I also taught biomechanics.

when I was in high school my mother worked for a medical clinic and she'd regularly bring home a journal for me called "physician and sports medicine." that lead me into joining the American college of sports medicine for a brief time and getting their journal "medicine and science in sports and exercise." they were mostly filled with physiology and biomechanics articles, the latter of which were always predicated on an understanding of higher math that I didn't have and never pursued.

you might get an extra kick out of this---I met a biomechanics bigwig once who was instrumental in the development of the technology used to create Gollum in lord of the rings. pretty neat stuff.

there is an inscription outside one of the libraries at penn state "the true university of these days is a collection of books." and then of course the attachment...

I actually did that once. was starting off in a time trial mode, drifted a smidgen off to the right and rode smack into a parked car, flew over the handlebars into the back windshield. I hadn't built up a full head of steam yet so I wasn't going fast enough to get badly hurt, but I dented the guys bumper, bent my forks and of course the ego damage!

thankfully the fellow in the video wasn't badly hurt.

liege-Bastogne-liege this weekend...first meeting of the season (I think) between van der
poel and pogacar.

off in different direction, more germane to the thread--my dentist is a baseball fan and his kids play. every so often i'll drop off some baseball books in his mailbox. one of the recent drop-offs was the shortstop by zane grey. we all know him as a western author and pay little attention to that he wrote baseball stories too.

[hellsapoppin]

moving in water and on a bicycle are both easier than walking and because of that, there's a good chance one or both of them will be pain free for you, or at least, pain reduced.


Very kind of you to say that.

Went to the chiropractor and he asked whether I do any of the exercises he recommended. Alas, I told him, every time I try to do any the pain comes back and gets worse. So, I pretty much just sit and do a few arm & leg movements but not much else.



As for swimming in the East River, I gotta say that I always wished I had been a rower ~ would have loved to row in it, the Hudson, the Charles, the Housatonic, and the Schuylkill. Such a great sport!

[Sancho]

Haha! I’m gonna need one of those book bags. I actually met John Waters once, sounds like something he’d say.

Hey, have you read The Boys In The Boat, by Daniel James Brown? Pretty good. I’ve got a rowing machine in my basement, but I gotta say the biomechanics of the rowing motion makes my back hurt. (I don’t need higher math to figure that out) Out on the water I much prefer a kayak or a canoe. Added bonus — you get to look forward.

I’m going to put the Zane Grey book on my list. I like it when a writer breaks genre. Michael Lewis got away from financial books when he wrote Money Ball and The Blind Side. John Grisham wrote a darn good baseball book, Calico Joe. Michael Shaara’s For Love of the Game is a fine read.

[hellsapoppin]

Hey, have you read The Boys In The Boat, by Daniel James Brown?


Outstanding book and there's also a great documentary that covers the same matter.

I've decided to read Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell. Will read as much as I can and follow along on audio book.

[bounty]

grey wrote a handful of baseball stories Sancho. ive not read any yet, but ive got a few. he was a player himself.

I also have the boys in the boat but haven't read that yet either.

poppin, I read gone with the wind ~last year and thoroughly enjoyed it. a compelling story written in an accessible style. there are a few dormant threads on the book and I picked one to belatedly join in on. for the life of me now though I cant find the thread.

tadej pogacar laid waste to the field today at liege-Bastogne-liege. incredibly impressive.

found it:

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?36663-Gone-With-the-Wind&highlight=gone+with+the+wind

[Sancho]

Speaking of cycling, I did a strange thing the other day — I bought a unicycle. What hoot. I built one years ago out of spare parts and managed to teach myself a few tricks, but I haven’t been on a unicycle in many-many years. The past few days I’ve been the source of some high comedy in the ‘hood. Also my quads are screaming.

[bounty]

that's interesting to hear. I imagine the lack of speed means no road rash, but I wonder how the bumps and bruises and wounded ego categories go?

[Sancho]

Bah, while it’s not quite like riding a bike, I did find my balance fairly quickly. The muscle memory was still there, sort of. The comedy came from the neighborhood dogs who evidently were indignant about the strange man/machine contraption wobbling down the road. That reminds me, I gotta work on my backwards riding technique.

[Sancho]

Now that I’m back up to speed unicycling, I’m thinking of growing a handlebar mustacheo, donning a bowler and buying a high-wheel bike, a Penny-Farthing. I haven’t seen my orthopedist in a while. Going “superman” on one of those things will definitely leave a mark.

[bounty]

when I was in undergrad we had a guy on campus who used to unicycle around. we had a small, but pretty steep hill in the middle of campus. I don't think he was able to ride up it, but I have a vague memory of his being able to ride down it.

a video inspired by your narrative (I love family guy):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7Kad9O9Ps8

and this is fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixO5j8mfrwM

on the topic cycling---my goodness is tadej pogacar laying waste to the field in the giro d'italia.

ive also been able to enjoy the tour of Hungary going on at the same time. I don't like the irish commentator but I thought you might enjoy this particular clip---the videography is varied and fantastic.

https://tiz-cycling.io/video/tour-of-hungary-2024-stage-2-last-10-km/?tape=3

if you watch it, fast forward to ~8:30 remaining and watch until the end of the sprint.

[bounty]

the ending of today's giro:

https://tiz-cycling.io/video/giro-ditalia-2024-stage-09-last-15-km/?tape=2

if you want it to be briefer, the relevant starting point is ~11:30 until the end.

(I don't like the irish commentator here either, and its sean Kelly for goodness sake!)

will he stay away or get caught?

[Sancho]

Hahaha.

I expressly said — no rakes!

I bet'cha try to stand in the peddles on that thing and it'll result in an immediate face plant. Talk about a forward CG.

Great rider though, Sean Kelly. Condolences to anybody who tries to call a bike race in the shadow of Phil Liggett.

[bounty]

I doubt i'll be able to get an nbc stream for the tour de france, and if that ends up being the case, I am going to miss phil liggett. every year its like catching up with an old friend and im always saddened by the tours ending because it'll be another year before he's back.

[Sancho]

I’m looking forward to the tour this year. I kinda feel like I know what's going on in the cycling world since we’ve got this thread going.

Concerning sports and algorithms, ever since I bought that unicycle on Amazon, I’ve been getting suggestions from them — You may like…knee pads, elbow pads, and juggling balls. They oughta toss in Bandaids and Neosporin.

[bounty]

that's funny...

I haven't watched all day every day but the giro has been great to watch. I love cycling and watching bike racing for all sorts of reasons, one of them are the combination views of the riders and the terrain and how nifty they can be. I took a couple screen shots yesterday and one today (this one looks almost like it could be from the lord of the rings.

9984
9985
9986

im hard pressed to see vingegaard being back in top form for the tour, maybe, otherwise, pogacar is in a league by himself and it'll be fun to watch that.

and some random explosive dominance from van der poel too.

[Sancho]

Good pics. It almost looks like the peloton is on top of the train in the second one. Have you ever been on the sub-reddit “confusing perspective.”?

[bounty]

the giro has had that pink train following along in at least a few different stages. im guessing it must be filled with some celebs and dignitary types.

one of the other aspects about the sport I really like is its a procession of sorts.

no, but ive seen those types of photos and collections before. am enjoying site right now...photography is a pretty neat art in that regard.

today's a humongous day in the giro---massive amounts of climbing, and a mountain top finish after two back to back category 1 climbs.

[bounty]

pogacar had another "laid waste to the field" performance. its pretty impressive to watch.

and the dramatic tension here is not bad either:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1792028183220428818

and this made me laugh out loud:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1792206214782496880

[Sancho]

Okay those two were funny. Man! I had my money on the breakaway kid in the red shirt, but as with most breakaways, he didn’t last. I think one of the reasons I like baseball so much is because of all that other stuff going on at the park other than the baseball game. A football game by contrast is all about the game.

I like this description of a college football game between two rival teams from two adjacent southern states. I particularly like how the writer lets us know the game’s being played on a humid night (haze around the banks of lights):


You never forget an LSU–Ole Miss game: the tiers upon tiers of seats filled with people, the haze around the banks of lights in the sky, the thunder of marching bands on the field, cheerleaders tumbling like acrobats, Confederate flags waving wildly in the crowd, Mike the Tiger in his cage riding stiff-legged around the track, the coeds with mums pinned on their sweaters, their breath sweet with bourbon and Coca-Cola—then, suddenly, one hundred thousand people rising to their feet in one deafening roar as LSU’s team pours onto the field in their gold and purple and white uniforms that shine with light and seem tighter on their bodies than their very muscles.

A Morning For Flamingos, by James Lee Burke

[tailor STATELY]

Passing the word... from bounty:

"i have been badly sick for ~10 days now. unfortunately the end is not yet in site.

came in tell you I miss and look forward to being back when I can. please pass that message along to Sancho too?"

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Sancho]

That’s a bummer, man. Ya know, they’ve got this stuff now (penicillin I think it’s called) that’ll clear that condition right up.

All joking aside, about the only upside to an illness I can think of is that it gives me an appreciation for how good it is to feel normal. I’m just getting over a case of the flu myself and I feel grrrreat! Last week I was sitting there in my Lazyboy, body aching, head throbbing, eyeballs hurting, and thinking — I should be doing something… and then that something turned out to be — taking another nap. Anyway I knew I was getting better, but I remember thinking how awful it must be for people dealing with chronic conditions. A friend of mine was diagnosed with ALS last year. He’s gone from climbing mountains to needing a walker. He can no longer sit up from a reclining position without assistance. And he’s never going to get better.

[Sancho]

Yeech! Helluva horse race at the finish of Stage 8 today!

[bounty]

one other important thing being sick brings (or should bring) to a person, is a heightened sense of empathy for others who are suffering---especially as you noted, in cases where healing isn't going to happen.

the tours been different for me this year---sean Kelly's announcing has single handedly ruined my watching it live. his commentator colleague, carlton Kirby contributes to the dissatisfaction. what ive ended up having to do then is wait until the stage is over, and find the 20-30 minute long nbc highlight videos with phil liggett.

some "horse race" treats for you:

#1: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yD_VjWqV_Bo?feature=share

#2: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eC9VE6_BI68

bonus: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/u9ZHIpveJnY?feature=share

on a more somber note--a Norwegian cyclist was killed yesterday crashing on a descent in the tour of Austria.

[Sancho]

Tragic.

Thanks for the clips. Yep I only watched the highlight reel. Phil’s starting to look a little old, at least since the last time I saw him. Seems like the older I get, the less time I have for sports. I always thought it’d be the other way around.

On a brighter note, the other day, while I was working on a small engine in the barn, my señora wandered in and announced she’d just bought a couple of good Mariners tickets. Woo-hoo. It was our first game of the season. Mariners v Bluejays. She got us seats right behind home plate, a little on the third base side. I think most of B.C. drove down to support the Jays. We were in the middle of a sea of Canucks. It was a gorgeous evening. Anyway I like how fans roll with the punches even for something as mundane as a rules change. Late in the game one of the relievers for the Mariners got his pitch off a tad late and a ball was called for a pitch-clock violation. Thereafter whenever the clock got to 10 seconds, Mariners fans shouted a count-down: TEN-NINE-EIGHT-SEVEN…There were no more pitch time violations.

[bounty]

he's in his 70s I think. I have noticed over the past few years he sometimes struggles just a little bit with commentary but to me he's still the "voice of cycling" and I love him. every year for the tour---he's like an old friend whose visits you look forward to, and who leaves all too soon.

that's a fun baseball story.

saw this in my "shorts" viewing last night and thought youd like it (the baseball ones are usually really good):

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/oVrjEAAk2Ds?feature=share

I have been looking for an excuse, however slight, to post this, now that the tour is upon us, maybe that suffices...

[Sancho]

Good vid. The Phillies are fast becoming my fav team, and that’s saying a lot for someone who grew up in the south, with the Braves, natural enemies of the Phils.

I bet Vin would kill in a big wheel bike race, but the funny thing about the pic is that it’s taking a jab at a franchise that should’ve been put to rest a few movies ago.

Switching to football, I found this in Hunter S. Thompson’s Songs of the Doomed. It’s a description of the Georgia Tech Backfield in a game against Vanderbilt:


It was a torturous thing, but beautiful in its way; here were men who would never again function or even understand how they were supposed to function as well as they did today. They were dolts and thugs for the most part, huge pieces of meat, trained to a fine edge—but somehow they mastered those complex plays and patterns, and in rare moments they were artists.

Well said.

[bounty]

oddly enough, another phillies one:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yefVQOcogkA

also oddly enough, I haven't seen any of the fast and furious movies.

that is a really nifty passage.

tour de france bonus clips from last weeks gravel stage:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DPsc3fg3BQo?feature=share

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eaMBocLihYY?feature=share

[Sancho]

Good clips.

Ya know, where bicycling is concerned, I think I’m getting to the point in my life where I need a beach cruiser, with big ole balloon tires, and a wicker basket.

One of my favorite bicycling scenes:

https://youtu.be/8_JPDEHU1ok?si=ahOVOgmjq5fWojIx

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

[bounty]

ah, the things guys will do to impress women! laughs...

i think any bike is dandy, and i could do a beach cruiser too, but a lot of times when im on a bike im like Jeffrey Goldblum from Jurassic park and independence day---"must go faster!"

i just saw this---hard to tell if its real or just a really good simulation, but if its real, my goodness!

and apparently inspired by paul newman:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7WCuNSNZCU

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Wxq2TIbwcw8?feature=share

[Sancho]

Hah!
That guy had to go Superman. He brought a fixed-gear track bike to a road race.

I thought the cool part about the Paul Newman clip was that he didn’t need to impress the girl. She was already in the mood and headed for the hayloft. But Sundance decides to take a few more laps on the bike because he’s having so much fun. It says a lot about how much fun it is to ride a bike, eh?

Watched some of the women’s cycling from Paris today.

[bounty]

I think that's a great point about the joy of bike riding.

I watched a replay of the mens Olympic TT yesterday. it was pretty good---one small tragedy made it kinda more exciting, a british rider got a flat and had to do a bike change, and he missed the bronze medal but only a couple seconds.

there are plenty of things I like watching women do (sports wise that is), cycling usually isn't one of them.

yays:

swimming, track and field (and other running), diving, gymnastics, tennis, softball, volleyball, weightlifting, golf and bunches of others.

maybes:

wrestling

nays:

basketball, cycling (possible exception for some track events), hockey, football, boxing and mma.

a belated tdf clip:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/a7YYrZ3mdsY (apparently they caught the guy and he got into some trouble)

a response to your beach cruiser thoughts:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/q1Ry8B0O8xU

baseball bonus!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qn64u_r8IbM

[Sancho]

Samurai is probably Shohei Ohtani’s grandpappy.

Yeee-haw! As for the mountain biker — Legend! What’d he get in trouble for? Being awesome? I gotta say, that clip pretty much sums up the difference between the personalities of Mountain bikers vs Road cyclists.

[bounty]

apparently mtn bike jumping over the tdf is a thing. all the years ive been watching NBC's coverage they never showed that.

I don't remember where I saw the initial article, but a little search brought me this vagary:

"Valentin Anouilh, a mountain biker from Cantal, gained fame by jumping over the Tour de France peloton in 2019. However, this also attracted the attention of French authorities for unspecified reasons. His repeated stunts, including in 2019 and again in 2023, may have caused issues with the Tour de France officials and French authorities. While the specific details of Anouilh's problems with French authorities are not available, it's clear his bold behavior and spectacular jumps have raised concerns and tensions with Tour de France and local officials."

and the awesome photo:

[Sancho]

Haha. The man has found his calling.
As for the authorities, pshaw, who hasn’t had a run in with the “authorities” from time to time?
I’m picturing Eddie Murphy here — “Is there a problem officers?”

[bounty]

I wonder if phil liggett would approve of such things?

meanwhile, somehow I stumbled upon this which I think is worth watching, perhaps inspired by bob knight:

https://youtu.be/Xez7kGgEg-U

and I sometimes love watching volleyball:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zM5cJj9Bz0A?feature=share

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SY57eZ7lQMg?feature=share

[Sancho]

Haha. Sports sometimes brings out the best in us. And sometimes it don’t.

I watched the end of the road race in Paris today. Evenepoel was a good minute out in front of the chase group and increasing the lead. The commentators were saying — well, the only thing that can take the gold from the leader is a mechanical… And then he flatted. Pulled it out though. What a ride!

I’ll bet Phil would be pretty matter-of-fact about the mountain biker. I remember a few years ago when some moron tossed a bunch of carpet tacks on the road in front of the peloton, Phil took it stride. I also remember it brought out the sportsmanship of the cyclists. Once all the flats were fixed, they managed to reorder themselves as best they could to make it the way is was before the incident.

I like the women’s beach volleyball event. If I watch it though, the wife will roll her eyes and leave the room, commenting on the way out something like — Hmm-hmm.

[bounty]

I skimmed through to the last ~30k of the Olympic road race. evenepoel was amazing. it'll be interesting to see if he can improve his climbing enough to contend for grand tour wins---or if the organizers add more time trialing to accommodate his strengths.

I might have mentioned this years before. I have a friend who ran into phil liggett and paul sherwen in an airport and he asked to get photos with them. they were wonderfully obliging.

on the topic of kicking tail---watch femke bol (who is also a major "girl next door" cutie):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imsNmnaSszU

your beach vb experience made me think of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4xRFodcPB0

[Sancho]

Oh man. Bol killed it, a world class athlete masquerading as a regular person. I gotta say the women have been inspiring in these games. Watched Kirsten Faulkner win the road race yesterday, amazing. She picked her moment and destroyed the field.

[bounty]

I watched the last bunch of kilometers where it was the two chasers after the two in front and that's always fun to watch. and I agree with the "picked the moment" part for sure. she timed the attack really well---but my goodness the other three should be absolutely ashamed. as soon as Faulkner attacked, the other three just looked at each other, and worse, they continued to look at each other.

this was super exciting:

https://youtu.be/2sb32uxUO10

and in terms of "women inspiring", this is heart warming, almost maybe tear producing:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Mx_Z6iWZ5W8?feature=share

[Danik 2016]

Just watching women football finale
US against Brazil

[bounty]

how was it?

[Danik 2016]

US won but it was a narrow win. Both teams played very well.

[Sancho]

For me one of the best images from the games was on the podium of the women’s artistic gymnastics. Gold went to Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade. Silver went to Simone Biles, and the Bronze to Jordan Chiles, both from Team USA. There’s a joyous Andrade, arms in the air, while Biles and Chiles pay tribute. It’s fantastic:

https://www.newscenter1.tv/news/simone-biles-shares-spotlight-with-jordan-chiles-and-rebeca-andrade/article_d3f0b22a-540a-11ef-88bc-ff7fa22998d4.html

[Danik 2016]

Thanks for metioning it, Sancho, :) you can imagine how this scene got viral here. And it seems that Rebeca at a time wanted to give up because of her knee surgeries and it was Simone Biles that encouraged her to go on. She is not only the best, she is very generous too.
All applause for these hard working girls!

[Sancho]

I didn’t know that part of the story, and it makes it even better. The whole thing epitomizes good sportsmanship, which sometimes is lacking in a win-at-any-cost sporting event.

I’m sure you saw the picture of surfer Gabriel Medina levitating above the wave with his surfboard.

[bounty]

i haven't paid close attention to the news but there was some judging/scoring controversy in women's gymnastics that has made a mess of things.

Sancho, normally ive been trying to reserve Wednesdays for a mid-week visit to litnet, but im peeking in today in case you see this in time and might be interested. I just joined the Vuelta a espana fantasy site and made my first ever fantasy team.

if you are interested in joining in on the fun:

https://fantasybytissot.lavuelta.es/#/game/play

i had to make a tough choice between sepp kuss and adam yates, and wout van aert and Mathieu van der poel and had to do some switching in and out to make my budget.

im pretty happy with my team. i was hoping to pick mads Pederson but the site doesn't have him presently listed as being in the race. if he becomes available, that might throw a monkey wrench into my line-up.

i might have shared this site with you before. if you want to join, it could help you with your selections:

https://www.procyclingstats.com/index.php

https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/vuelta-a-espana/2024/startlist

[Danik 2016]

I didn’t know that part of the story, and it makes it even better. The whole thing epitomizes good sportsmanship, which sometimes is lacking in a win-at-any-cost sporting event.

I’m sure you saw the picture of surfer Gabriel Medina levitating above the wave with his surfboard.

You are right, Sancho, good sportsmanship is half of it. And US still remains at the top and deservedly, because the athletes are trained and become support since they are kids. In Brazil there usually is only government sponsorship for male football. The other athletes have to rely on private sponsorship and their own efforts. I remember one gymnast complaining that they didn´t even get a sandwich. And Brazilians that don´t compete in elite sports like sailing and horse riding are usually very poor.Even so, miracles are always expected at the Olympics(Brazil is very good at expecting miracles).
For Brazil these Olympics weren´t so brilliant. Even so, the most important medals were brought home by women, it was a women's Olympics. And yes, I saw the famous feat of Gabriel Medina. It seems they got frightened at him, because at the endgame they were very small and tame.

[hellsapoppin]

The Olympics were awesome beyond belief. Got terrible eyestrain from watching the TV so much. But it was worth it to see both basketball teams win gold and to see the girls gymnastics. Suni Lee is such a big hero to everyone here in St Paul and South St Paul where she grew up.

[Sancho]

I didn’t have a chance to watch a lot of it, but what I saw I enjoyed. I guess I prefer the races as opposed to the judged events. On the track, in the pool, on the bike, the first one across the line gets the gold. I understand those sports.

You know, Danik, I’m no expert but I don’t think the athletes get any government funding here, except secondarily through school sports programs. I’ve seen a few news stories about which colleges “won” the Olympics. Also there have been a few stories about how past legislation in the US Congress effected the games for US athletes, specifically Title IX of the Education Act. Title IX is anti-discrimination legislation for any schools receiving federal funding. Nowadays it’s become shorthand for women’s sports. Colleges can’t just take all the government bucks and roll them into the football team, they gotta put some of the money into the softball team too. Title IX was passed back in the 70s and evidently it’s having some effect. As in Brazil, the women here brought home more medals than the men did this time.

As for the sports that aren’t commonly supported by colleges, archery, badminton, breakdancing (Go Raygun!), and the like, I get the sense the athlete’s parents are draining their 401k accounts to support their child’s dreams. (A 401k is a tax-advantaged retirement account.)

[Sancho]

Thanks for the links, bounty. I’m afraid I’m too much of a casual fan to be any good at picking a fantasy road cycling team. My first pick - Dave Stoller.

[bounty]

our government doesn't directly fund our Olympic athletes but there are some fungible things that go on where its not quite right to wholly say they are not involved either.

title ix has been a very mixed bag and the interpretations of it very problematic. casual readers are familiar with the explosion of girls and women's sports subsequent to the law's passing. what often gets lost (and football shares some blame here) is that the implementation of the law has caused thousands of mens programs at the college level to disappear and tens of thousands of men opportunities to be lost (something which continues to this day). I can elaborate if anyones interested.

im pretty excited about the fantasy league and im happy with my team. so the watching was going to be fun already, paying attention to how my riders are doing during (or finding out afterwards) is going to add to the excitement.

ive got three "leaders" (kuss, skjelmose and riccitello), two "all-arounders" (van aert and juaristi) and three "climbers" (paret peintre, Ciccone and vergalitto).

initially I went with adam yates but I ran out of money so I had to "downgrade" to sepp kuss, which is okay because for home-country prides sake i wanted some americans (the other is riccitello who should be in the hunt for the "best young rider" jersey) on the team anyways.

they have a feature where you can designate each stage's winner from your team. today im going with wout van aert and since its a time trial, I can earn bonus credits by guessing the time. I just entered 13:29.

I look forward to stopping in a couple times a week to share the news...

mama mama---the Italians are coming!

[Sancho]

Dad: What is this?
Mom: It's sautéed zucchini.
Dad: It's I-ty food. I don't want no I-ty food.
Mom: It's not. I got it at the A&P. It's like... squash.
Dad: I know I-ty food when I hear it! It's all them "eenie" foods... zucchini... and linguine... and fettuccine. I want some American food, dammit! I want French Fries!
Mom: [to the cat] Oh, get off the table, Fellini!
Dad: Hey, that's my cat! His name's Jake, not Fellini! I won't have any "eenie" in this house!
Dad: [to the cat] Your name's Jake, you understand?

[bounty]

my favorite part with the father was how he spent the whole movie being a hard guy but then at the end when the little 500 is going on, he's sitting in his car at the dealership listening on the radio, getting really into it, and steering the wheel back and forth while making grimace faces and then he starts the car and tears off to the track to watch in person.

im in 9394th place in the Vuelta fantasy league! laughs...

unfortunately I don't know how many people are playing, so that might be not too bad. but it doesnt sound too good. I was looking at some of the leaders teams and they made some good choices I didn't make, but I went heavy on the climbers who don't tt well, so im hoping to improve as the race goes up.

[Danik 2016]

I welcome the explosion of women's sport, but the men shouldn't lose opportunities because of that.
By the way the few golds won by Brazil where all won by women.

[Danik 2016]

I didn’t have a chance to watch a lot of it, but what I saw I enjoyed. I guess I prefer the races as opposed to the judged events. On the track, in the pool, on the bike, the first one across the line gets the gold. I understand those sports.

You know, Danik, I’m no expert but I don’t think the athletes get any government funding here, except secondarily through school sports programs. I’ve seen a few news stories about which colleges “won” the Olympics. Also there have been a few stories about how past legislation in the US Congress effected the games for US athletes, specifically Title IX of the Education Act. Title IX is anti-discrimination legislation for any schools receiving federal funding. Nowadays it’s become shorthand for women’s sports. Colleges can’t just take all the government bucks and roll them into the football team, they gotta put some of the money into the softball team too. Title IX was passed back in the 70s and evidently it’s having some effect. As in Brazil, the women here brought home more medals than the men did this time.

As for the sports that aren’t commonly supported by colleges, archery, badminton, breakdancing (Go Raygun!), and the like, I get the sense the athlete’s parents are draining their 401k accounts to support their child’s dreams. (A 401k is a tax-advantaged retirement account.)

I didn't know that. I thought there was government funding because US is always doing so splendid.Here in Brazil, athletes that don't compete in elite sports like sailing or riding are as a rule very poor and their families too. In some colleges there is sport but no special preparation for the games.

[bounty]

i dont know that anyone ever written a book or article about it danik, but Sancho hinted at it if not outright hitting directly on it---unlike the rest of the world the usa has an extensive and pretty deep athletic programs at the college level. much of the American success at the international level is related to that.

if you want to know how it was that mens opportunities disappeared, id be happy to elaborate.

[bounty]

i moved up 210 places to 9184th in the overall Vuelta league and 11 spots to 328th in the smaller lidl-trek one.

if only the riders knew I had them on my team, maybe they would do better! stop slacking there sepp!

[Sancho]

Say, 9184 ain’t bad! No really. I mean there’s gotta be at least 9185 in the competition. Maybe 9186.

So, the highest paid guy at a big American university is usually the football coach. Second is the quarterback. Joking, joking. (Psst, I’m not really joking. Ya just gotta keep the QB thing on the down low.) Anyway that’s one reason I like baseball. MLB doesn’t use the higher education system as a minor league. They already have one. It’s called Minor League Baseball, or the farm system. Colleges have baseball teams, but a baseball player who really wants to make it to the show gets there through the farm system (or the Dominican Republic). Years ago I had an on-again/off-again job in central Louisiana. I used to love to ditch work and go to an Alexandria Aces game. They were an AA team in the Texas/Louisiana League. The bleachers at their park were a rickety wooden contraption that had been built in the previous century. Everybody was certain that sooner or later the bleachers would collapse and cause the death of a number of stray dogs and the spillage of much beer. Ah well, the Aces were disbanded before that ever happened.

As I recall, Dave Stohler’s Dad closed out the movie. He’d had a health scare earlier, which was why Evelyn was trying to get him to eat zucchini instead of French fries. Well after the Little 500 the movie snaps forward to the fall semester. Moocher has moved to Chicago with his pregnant girlfriend. Mike probably wound up getting a job as a cop with his brother. Cyril…who knows? He’s probably bagging groceries at the A&P. Dave is enrolled as a freshman at the college. We see him strike up a conversation with French girl who is looking for the Bursar’s office. He tells her how much he admires the French cyclists. Then we see him and her riding their bikes through campus when Dave’s dad comes riding by on his new bike. He’s evidently made some healthy lifestyle changes in addition to the zucchini. They wave to each other and Dave yells, “Papa, bon jour!” There’s a freeze frame on the dad’s here-we-go-again facial expression. Roll credits. Great movie.

[bounty]

i love in M*A*S*H how klinger is a stout defender of the toledo mudhens.

hah! i heard from the organizers who said they weren't allowed to tell an exact number but there are around 28,000 participants. so im sitting not too shabby in the top 1/3rd and feeling a whole lot better about myself! laughs...

despite my picking the stage winner and getting double bonus pts, I ended up coming in about 10,000th place today, lost some places overall and now im 9490th in the Vuelta leaguel and 327th in the lidl-trek league. tomorrow is a more serious mtn stage with a summit finish on a cat 1 climb. im hoping my sprinting delinquent team are ready to go!

a great ending to the movie and yes, a great movie.

by the way---bills/steelers over this past weekend---Russell Wilson looks weird in a steelers uniform.

[Sancho]

Well, hey, you’re in the top half. Above average is good. It’s always been a goal of mine. I’m not there yet.


And that’s the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.

The ballpark for the Tacoma Rainiers, who are the Triple-A team for the Mariners, is not too far from my house. They’ve got a loyal following around here, but I hardly ever go to their games because it’s not easy to get a ticket and it’s about the same price as a Mariners game. So, my thinking is, why go to a farm game when you can go see the show. There’s a High-A team for the Mariners up in Everett, The Aquasox. I’d like to see them play, but it’s a bit of a hump to get to Everett for me. Ah well.

[bounty]

odd that a triple a game would cost close to as much as a mlb game. theres a triple a team in buffalo (the bisons), and I just checked, tickets are between 17-21 dollars.

I just found myself wondering how the mariners have succeeded where the pilots failed.

I had my best showing in the fantasy league today, attributable to wout van aert finishing 2nd and one of my guys spending most of the race in a breakaway.

I banked against primoz roglic and went with sepp kuss, but so far roglic is doing really well.

I like to think top 25% is a good goal. if I can move up a couple thousand places id be happy with that.

[Sancho]

Hey! We might get a Series matchup between the Bronx Bombers and Dem Bums this year. (Got my money on the Bums, thank you very much, or should I say domo arigato)

[tailor STATELY]

Ohtani vs Judge... tough call... going with the Yanks :)

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Sancho]

Both division series are all tied up as of last night. Who knows? Still a strong possibility though. It feels like the Dodgers’ year to me. So, you’re on, Tailor. What are we putting up?

[tailor STATELY]

Hmmm... Living in the SF Bay Area in the past made me anti-Dodger... Ohtani is the only reason I'm following them this season. The NYY were my first love as a fan in the days of Mantle, Maris, etc. before my family located to the Bay Area (from NW Seattle) and I've followed them, and the Giants and the A's (until recently), and maybe the Phillies (since Harper). I haven't a plug nickel to wager and lean toward not betting anyway (yeah, I'm the life of the party, lol). Ideas ?

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Sancho]

Haha. Yankees and Dodgers. Two of the most beloved teams in all of baseball, also the two most hated.

Hmmm, how about this: the loser of the bet owes the rest of us an ode to the winner of the series, original work, posted on this thread. By “ode” I only mean it has to be a laudatory poem. Any form is okay — a couple of couplets, a sonnet, a limerick (my fav), a ballad, or maybe if Shohei figures prominently in the win, a haiku. This would be way more valuable than money, in my humble opinion.

Also the thought of writing an ode to the Yankees makes me wanna puke.

[tailor STATELY]

Lolololol ! ... I've already written one on the Yankees... it's somewhere in these here pages. I might feel the same about the Dodgers, so I'd limit it to an homage on Ohtani :) Ok... Yankees and Dodgers do your magic :)

Done.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[bounty]

if they both make it, i'll look forward to the reading.

also, will benny "the jet" rodriguez be making an appearance as a pinch runner for the dodgers??

[Sancho]

Yer killin' me, Smalls.

It's on! **hand shakes** Go Dodgers! (Now there's something I never thought I'd say)

[tailor STATELY]

Ok, ok... a down payment, a doggerel, with a nod to Volare which soon went off the rails and is in need of much revision:



Ohtani !

Oooooooh-taaa-neeeeeee,
Ooooh-Oh
Oooooooh-taaa-neeeeeee,
O-o-o-oh

He's a pitcher and hitter renown
Makes other team's pitchers appear like clowns
50-50 a zenith no one else has attained
Dragging bases behind like a train
O, his bombs o'er the fences are oft measured
By meters and kept by fans to sell on E-Bay

Oooooooh-taaa-neeeeeee,
Ooooh-Oh
Oooooooh-taaa-neeeeeee,
O-o-o-oh

Sancho bleeds Dodger blue when Ohtani appears
Catching box scores wherever he goes
And when Ohtani shines at the plate or the mound
Making stats that sail past the Moon
One can hear all the legends of old sigh out loud -
One can hear Angels belt out a croon...

Oooooooh-taaa-neeeeeee,
Ooooh-Oh
Oooooooh-taaa-neeeeeee,
O-o-o-oh

10/8/2024 r. 10/9/2024

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Sancho]

Nice!

I can see already I’m way outclassed in this contest. For the sake of the Litnet, it’d be best if the Dodgers win. All I’ve got so far is the concept of a poem. It’s told from a fan’s perspective. He’s an old-school fan, the kind of a guy who calls his boss and tells him he has cancer so he can go to the game. I’ve got the title:

The Bases Are Loaded And So Am I

[tailor STATELY]

Lol... good premise, looking forward to it :)

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Sancho]

Los Yanquis have moved on to the league pennant race, which means they’re one step closer to regalement by El Sancho. It’s do or die for Los Doyers tonight.

[tailor STATELY]

News flash... D-men defrock Padres !!!

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Sancho]

Man! LA’s pitching was intense.
Was hoping to see the Tigers move ahead, but at top o the 8th it ain’t looking good.

[Sancho]

Yankees! Touchdown! On their way to the Series.
Dodgers? Fumble! On their way to game 6, NLCS.

If wiki’s right, the Yankees have won the World Series 27 times. The Dodgers have won it 7. Neither team has ever won a Super Bowl.

So I just reread Hunter Thompson’s Fear And Loathing at the Super Bowl. It’s a Rolling Stone piece that is included in a collection of his writing: The Great Shark Hunt: Gonzo Papers, Volume 1, Strange Tales from a Strange Time. “Gonzo” journalism loosely means the writer plays a part in the story.

This article is about the 1974 Super Bowl between the Miami Dolphins and the Minnesota Vikings played in Houston. It starts just before dawn on the morning of the game with Hunter deciding to deliver a sermon from the balcony of his hotel room. He’s under the influence and he’s also a bit stressed because he owes the magazine an article and he hasn’t even written the lead yet. But then he realizes:


… because it suddenly occurred to me that I had already written the lead for this year’s Super Bowl game; I wrote it last year in Los Angeles, and a quick rip through my fat manila folder of clips labeled “Football ’73” turned it up as if by magic. I jerked it out of the file, and retyped it on a fresh page slugged: “Super Bowl/Houston ’74.” The only change necessary was the substitution of “Minnesota Vikings” for “Washington Redskins.”

It begins:


“The precision-jackhammer attack of the Miami Dolphins stomped the balls off the Minnesota Vikings today by stomping and hammering with one precise jack-thrust after another up the middle, mixed with pinpoint-precision passes into the flat and numerous hammer-jack stops around both ends …”


Man-O-man I miss Hunter S. Thompson.

[tailor STATELY]

No, lol, no super bowls for the pinstripes and blue... go figger. Haven't seen the recaps yet... too much college ball.

SB '74 - Lol!

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[tailor STATELY]

Sweet!

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Sancho]

Woo-hoo, Lower Alabama wins the NLCS. Gonna be a great Series.

I have a friend from Mobile, Alabama. Whenever he comes out here for a visit and people hear him talk, they inevitably ask him where he’s from. He always answers — I’m from LA. Sometimes they give him a strange look, and sometimes they say — You don’t sound like you’re from LA. To which he answers — Whaa-choo mean? Everybody in Lower Alabama talks like me.

[tailor STATELY]

Lol... the baseball gods have been generous... gotta find a way to follow the series (no TV package)... maybe radio feed to PC/phone (hope they're not playing on the Sabbath... prolly not with the NFL scarfing air time)... I don't miss football on Sundays... recaps are good enough for me - but not the Big Show :)

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Sancho]

You know, Tailor, Yankee Stadium has been referred to as the "Cathedral." I suppose that only applies if your religion is Baseball. But you're in luck. The World Series starts in Los Angeles on Friday. They play two games then the teams travel to New York on Sunday (day of rest), three games in NYC then back to LA for the last two if needed on Friday and Saturday next week.

So for folks who observe the Sabbath on Sunday — Woo-Hoo — for those who observe Shabbat — Woo-Hoo as well — Saturday’s game starts after sunset, East Coast time anyway, 5pm out west.

I’m sure it’s on the radio. Baseball is one of those sports where you can do a brake job and listen to the game at the same time without missing a thing. Ya don’t have to sit it front of the tube. If Vin Scully was still calling games for the Dodgers and Phil Rizzuto for the Yankees, I’d be just fine listening to the Series instead of watching it.

[tailor STATELY]

Got it... Baseball not quite a religion, more like a casual obsession... Bowling was back in the day; nothing like cranking a bowling ball 60 or so feet between two gutters :)

Found this:



WORLD SERIES 2024
Friday, Oct. 25
Game 1: NYY @ LAD, 8:08 p.m. EDT... / 5:08 pm PDT

Saturday, Oct. 26
Game 2: NYY @ LAD, 8:08 p.m. EDT... / 5:08 pm PDT

Monday, Oct. 28
Game 3: LAD @ NYY, 8:08 p.m. EDT... / 5:08 pm PDT... hmm, FHE @ 7 pm PDT (will have to miss dinner at 6:30)

Tuesday, Oct. 29
Game 4: LAD @ NYY, 8:08 p.m. EDT... / 5:08 pm PDT

Wednesday, Oct. 30
*Game 5: LAD @ NYY, 8:08 p.m. EDT... / 5:08 pm PDT... hmm, Bible Study @ 7 pm PDT

Friday, Nov. 1
*Game 6: NYY @ LAD, 8:08 p.m. EDT... / 5:08 pm PDT

Saturday, Nov. 2
*Game 7: NYY @ LAD, 8:08 p.m. EDT... / 5:08 pm PDT

(*if necessary)

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[bounty]

quickie tailor:

https://home.sportsurge.club/

[tailor STATELY]

Cool! Nothing on the telly yet for me to try, but I'll definitely check it out :)

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[bounty]

you'll have a large variety of choices tailor. some wont work for you but some will, so perseverance is good. also, many of them have the thing where the initial three efforts will open up pages that don't have anything to do with the streaming, or worse, make it look like you have to join, download and/or log-in to something. none of those things are the case so be wary. eventually you'll just get to the streaming site.

you might wanna practice ahead of time with some other sport that's presently viewable in order to work through the bumps.

[tailor STATELY]

Classic... good on ya Freddie :)

Sancho... 1 tailor... 0

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Sancho]

Does anybody know if Denny’s still has the 5.99 GRAND-SLAM breakfast deal? Because I feel like I could use a GRAND-SLAM breakfast.

Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand-slam homer in the bottom of the 10th was one of those moments in baseball that remind me of why I love this game.

Jazz Chisholm had quite the game, offensive and defensive.

[tailor STATELY]

Mmmm... sounds good. Denny's has many Grand Slams but the prices are all well above $5.99... Original Grand Slam $12.99... https://www.dennys.com/menu/classic-slams Maybe they'll run specials ?

Jazz hands and Jazz feet :)

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Sancho]

Oh, and I suppose now you’re going to tell me McDonalds no longer has the 29 cent hamburger deal. Ah well, even at 12.99 Denny’s Grand Slam breakfast is a pretty good deal. You know, in the history of meal-deals, that one ain’t bad. But in my humble opinion, the grandaddy of all great meal-deals was Del Taco’s 59 cent burrito on Taco Tuesday back in the day. You may appreciate this, Tailor, some years ago I was on a road trip and found myself in Salt Lake City and hungry at the same time. So I pulled into a Del Taco for a Green-bean burrito and some crinkle fries, but the place packed and the line was out the door. People were walking out of the restaurant with huge bags of burritos. I’m standing at the back of line and asked the guy in front of me what’s going on. He said, “59 cent Taco Tuesday, man. We got big families in the Salt Lake Valley. On Tuesday you can feed the whole brood for less than twenty bucks.” I said, “Ah hah.”

Anyway, I may have strayed from the topic at hand. Looks like another pitcher’s duel tonight. Rodón and Yamamoto. I’m looking corward to it.

[tailor STATELY]

Best deal I remember was all you can eat beef ribs at the Sizzler... ours closed down some time ago unfortunately :(

Starters are ok... need the bull pen... a slight nod to the Blue.

May tonight's game be as eventful as last night's game... if that's possible.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Sancho]

A warmup:

There was a team of bombardiers
Two games behind but never fear
Slugger in a slump
But he ain't no chump
So let's all give a big Bronx cheer
...
—THBBFT!—
https://www.reddit.com/r/80s/s/5LvtCHTTW9

[tailor STATELY]

Great series !

Lol! Great limerick... love Bill. Watched the first game; listened to the second on ESPN Sports Radio on my Kindle Fire on pins and needles... bases loaded top of the ninth for the pinstripes just looking for a hero... and sure enough it was the Dodger bullpen... oh well, saw that coming I guess.

Have been tinkering with another Ohtani homage in Haiku form... Somehow I missed him getting injured and when I found out assumed he was done for the series...
NEW YORK -- Although initial indications were positive, the Dodgers left Dodger Stadium on Saturday night with legitimate concern about whether Shohei Ohtani would be forced to miss some -- if not the rest -- of the World Series against the Yankees with a left shoulder subluxation.

But on Sunday, Ohtani’s injury was in a better spot than the Dodgers anticipated. So much, in fact, that manager Dave Roberts said the expectation is for the superstar designated hitter to be in the Dodgers’ lineup for Game 3 on Monday night at Yankee Stadium. https://www.mlb.com/news/shohei-ohtani-injury-update-world-series

What a gamer, he and Freddie, two of a kind.

And what's up with a Dodger fan interfering with a Yankee home run... may he be burned in effigy in Time's Square, da bum !

So I'm down 2-zip, but we're coming home... Yankee magic needed, maybe a few blowouts are warranted to offset the blue reliever crew, then steal game 5 and 7 (gotta have a game 7) :)

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Sancho]

Somebody get a broom. It's starting to look like a sweep.

[tailor STATELY]

My Invocation

Ah, my bubble nigh burst
Allay the besom o' baseball gods
I invoke Ruth, Mantle, Gehrig,
Ford, Berra, Jackson, pinstripes all
Quell my blue spirit I implore
May Freeman everywhere be beset
To choke on diamond dust,
Their bats splinter...
And lest I forget, pray, one and all
For today is Judgement Day!

10/29/2024

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[bounty]

tailor, don't forget "Costanza!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGQLRQP-aEI

[Sancho]

Nice invocation, Tailor. It worked. I should’ve left the broom in the closet and invoked Sandy Koufax instead. But it’s like Jerry says, “Elaine, don’t get too down. Everything’ll even out. I have two friends. You were up and he was down. Now he’s up and you’re down. Ya see how it all evens out for me?”

And, boy-howdy, talk about fan interference. Those Yankee’s fans took it to a new level.

https://www.mlb.com/video/gleyber-torres-flies-out-to-right-fielder-mookie-betts-in-foul-territory?partnerId=web_video-playback-page_video-share

[tailor STATELY]

Costanza?... nah, he plays for the Mets (sheesh)

Lol ! Great clip!!!

It aint NY without a mugging

Game 5... Good luck to da bums... let it ride: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=TQHBY34tPvw

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[tailor STATELY]

It's over... Sancho 4.... tailor 1... poem forthcoming
I left for Bible study with the pinstripes up 5-0... Wha happened ?

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Sancho]

In a nutshell, Dodgers took advantage of a few Yankee errors and scored a few unearned runs. I guess we’re in sync, Tailor, because I missed the end of the game as well. I had to bail in the 6th and go make the donuts. At the time the score was 6-5 Yankees and I convinced myself the Series was going back to L.A. for game 6. Ah well.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to what you come up with. Also I think we all won tonight because El Sancho will not be writing an Ode to the Yankees. Phew! Rest easy. Tragedy narrowly averted.

[tailor STATELY]

Ah, getting ready to watch the CBS Sports recap to see where the game went off the rails in a bit, thanks for the heads up.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Sancho]

While I’m relieved I won’t have to write an ode to the Yankees — P’tooey! I feel somewhat guilty about Tailor (a Giants fan if I’m remembering correctly) writing one to the Dodgers. I would understand if you can’t find anything laudatory to say about them. It was a fun Series though. Anyway I was on a long airplane ride today, killing time by thinking about the National Pastime, and decided to write an ode to the game in general. Can I just say, I'm no poet. Also I’m not much of a ball player. But I’ve never let lack of ability stop me. Apologies in advance. (I borrowed some stuff)

From The Sports Desk
5 Ws in 9 innings

W #1 who

A game for all
Big and small
Short and tall
Them and y’all

Prisoners and Presidents
Professors and Pipe Fitters
Soldiers and Stock Brokers
Leaguers, Big and Little

Guys named Freddie
Guys named Mookie
Guys named Shohei, Max, and Kiké

Guys named Jazz
Guys named Juan
Guys named Aaron, Alex, and Anthony

W #2 what

A Ball
A Bat
A Diamond
And One facing Nine
How ‘bout a little chatter:

Hey batta-batta-batta, SAW-ing, batter


W #3 when

It’s
Played in the spring
It's
Played in the fall
It's
Played when the morning sky holds the Dog Star
But it’s
Played in winter months not at all

W #4 where

It's played in:
New York — L.A. — Denver, Colorado
Incheon — Tokyo — San Juan, Puerto Rico
Fresno — Omaha — Erie, Pennsylvania

It's played on a bright, bright, sun-shiny day.
In:
The Land of the Rising Sun
The Land of the Setting Sun
The Land of the Midnight Sun
And in:
This favored land where the sun is shining bright and hearts are light


It's played:
In the street
In the dirt
In the Park
On a field of grass
And in a stadium
of cathedral dimension



W #5 why

It’s for fun

[tailor STATELY]

Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!

Yankee's fan first and foremost and forever (late 50's on), Giant's fan circa 1962 and on (my Dad used to work with some players in the off season and also played golf with some), A's (hooray!) '70's to 2023, East Sacramento/Vegas Ɐ's - {ptooey}

Yeah, it's going to be tough to laud the Dod...gers... ideas are fleeting: Missing Persons: "Nobody Walks in L.A.", Eiffel 65: "I'm Blue", "Blame Canada"/South Park - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddie_Freeman . Maybe a word challenge... or Acrostic

D
Ohtani
D
G.................FRE
EMAN
R
Sancho

Sancho
U
Canada
K

Blue/Baseball
U
T
T
E
R
M
I
Left Coast
K's

or Acrostic (Dodgers) with Golden Shovel:

• "Now is the winter of our discontent" (Richard III, Act 1, Scene 1)"
• Maltese Falcon "The stuff that dreams are made of"
• Field of Dreams "If you build it, he will come"
• White Heat "Made it, Ma! Top of the world!"
• Forrest Gump "Mama says 'stupid is as stupid does'"
• Star Wars IV, a New Hope "I have a bad feeling about this"
• WarGames "Would you like to play a game?"
• Seinfeld “Boy, these pretzels are making me thirsty.”
• Seinfeld "I'm like a phoenix, rising from Arizona!"
• Sandy Koufax "Pitching is the art of instilling fear."

Example using one quote from above:

Dodger Dogs on ice, foreign Made
Ohtani didn't crush............. it,
Diamonds! It's diamonds..... Ma!
G (something) to the.......... Top
Enter Freeman....................of
Royal Canada .....................the
Sancho is on top of the ........world!

... und so viter. We'll see.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Sancho]

Haha

This reminds of a multiple-choice test I once took in the Air Force. We had to sit in a converted airplane hanger all day, listening to endless briefings in support of “Safety Week.” To get out we had to pass a test. About half way through the test most of us realized the lettered answers spelled out:

S-A-F-E-T-Y-I-S-M-Y-M-I-D-D-L-E-N-A-M-E

[tailor STATELY]

CongRATs to the DOdGerS, an operetta, of sorts, to The 2024 World Series
- an Acrostic/Golden Shovel

Overture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGKy0jdYVX4

Dodger Dogs for sale, on ice, foreign Made__ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daLjXXJ3huw
Ohtani didn't, but we were in awe of it,_______https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuIg9r8HZYg
Diamonds! It's played on a diamond Ma!_____ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf1ARbpB0gA
Going to the pinnacle, the apex, the Top______ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeQUxNf3G6k
Enter Freeman, a capable journeyman of______ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDCLXTOvRBw
Royal Canadian heart, a hero who has the_____ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PmmMG-6mwo
Sancho sitting smugly on top of the world!____ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxpMe_bF1Sc

11/2/2024 - Epilog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5JF9Gq5tL4

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Sancho]

There it is. I know that was a hard thing to do, Tailor, but — woo-hoo — good job. I think you missed a couple. I’ll link them below. Also thanks for the shout out. Sancho, if not smugly atop the world, is at least happily astride his donkey. I’ve never been a Dodgers fan, but this year they seemed to be the team to watch. I live in the Northwest (for now), but have been working out of L.A. for a little over a year now. Also I’ve been spending a fair amount of time in Tokyo. I notice I get a lot more smiles there when I’m wearing a Dodgers ball cap rather than my usual Braves cap. My works mates and I take a bet when we get off the plane at Haneda on how long before we see a picture of Shohei Ohtani. Usually it’s about 30 seconds. They’ve got him, in a 20 foot tall advertisement, selling watches before we even make it to customs.


So here’s a few more for your listening pleasure:

I love L.A., Randy Newman

https://youtu.be/KcADqxnQA_4?si=HA4a0BHbwJZAEtXT

L.A. Woman, The Doors

https://youtu.be/pDlx-ZUj9qs?si=iU0syD0z-4QpESw8

L.A. Freeway, covered by Jerry Jeff Walker

https://youtu.be/YLwYKkxo9Dc?si=olOpU8arVRIKKHIb

“If I could just get offa that L.A. Freeway without gettin' killed or caught…”

I had another one banging around my head the last few days, or really just a line from one:

Rocky Mountain Way, Joe Walsh

https://youtu.be/Rt75y38J00s?si=XHtyuNrQf-r2e6co

“Bases are loaded and Casey's (Freddie's) at bat…”

I sort of used a line from Casey At Bat in my “poem.”

[tailor STATELY]

Good picks; Doors and Walsh rock! I remember Newman's song, but not Walker's.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Sancho]

Ya know, Iron Mike might need a limerick after that spectacle last week.
Hmmm…

[tailor STATELY]

Lol... it was well worth the price Netflix charged viewers who already owned a subscription :)

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Sancho]

There once was mighty fighter
Who at times was a frighty biter
Slapped Jake Paul
Gave the bout his all
But the bare bum an almighty sight, sir!

[tailor STATELY]

Lololol !!! Caught the spirit of the event perfectly :)

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Sancho]

Haha,
Thanks, T.
It wasn’t exactly The Thrilla in Manila.

[Sancho]

🎶…O'er the land of the free
and the home of the brave(s)🎶

Play Ball!

Baseball is back. Woo-Hoo!

Opening day was good this year.

[hellsapoppin]

https://dac8r2vkxfv8c.cloudfront.net/images/post/Blog%20Banner%20-%202025.04.01_TorpedoBats_JustBats-8494-03-25.jpg


the latest thing in MLB ~ torpedo bats

[tailor STATELY]

Been hearing about them since opening day with the Yankees... interesting wrinkle. I wondered how much of it is a boost to confidence in the new or an actual aid... found some answers here: https://www.npr.org/2025/04/02/nx-s1-5345852/torpedo-bats-baseball-physics... and there we go with the confidence angle... still, it's a novel approach, and legal... be interesting to keep an eye out for further developments :)

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Sancho]

Great baseball being played in the NL West this year. I reckon there’s a good chance one of the California teams will take the league pennant.

Hey I wrote this for the Limerick Thread, but Ima post it here instead:

There is a young fellow named Shohei
Who's pitching is better than okay
Bats for the Yen
In a state of Zen
And game day is always his best day

(Love that guy’s batting stance)

Anyway, although I still live near Seattle, I’ve been working outa Los Angeles for the past couple of years. And when you spend a fair amount time in a place, you tend to accrue a certain amount of paraphernalia. So the other day I had on a Dodgers ball cap and was wandering around a small town near Seattle. Evidently, since the recent shenanigans down in LA, a Dodgers cap signals an act of civil disobedience, to some people anyway. I was just walking along, minding my own business when some dude in a pickup (with a lift kit) drives by screaming out the window at me. Not sure what he said, but I think it was something like — eff you, effing anarchist! I smiled and waved because that’s what I do. I’m not certain what it was he actually said though. It might have been — Dodgers suck! Go Giants!

[tailor STATELY]

Baseball is great... Giants, Yankees, Shoheis... Vegas Ɐ's are in the toilet complaining about their facilities/stadium in West Sacramento...

Love the limerick... Great batter's stance and swing :)

I consider Seattle my home town, though I wasn't born there and only lived there from 1954 - 1962 on NW 107th... odd, I know... but home is where the heart is they say.

Yeah, L.A.'s only good thing going for them is their baseball team: the L.A. Shoheis

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Sancho]

Thanks, T.
Speaking of troubled cities, which are probably all cities, I think The Detroit Tigers might be the team to beat this year.

Man, I love the PNW, but my wife isn't too jazzed about the soggy winters. She grew up in The Mojave, which has about 364 1/2 days of sunshine on average. She likes NorCal. You know, those gold hills between Sacramento and Reno. She'd be in heaven if we moved to Grass Valley or Auburn or Placerville, so ya never know. I seem to remember you live around there somewheres. The California surcharge frightens me though.

[tailor STATELY]

Tigers... hmmm, 45-25, not too shabby... Looks like JJ is out for the season though... trades may help.

Garden Valley is up the hill from the California Gold Discovery Site (Coloma), North of Placerville, South of Auburn on Highway 193; between the South and Middle/North forks of the American river. California prices are outrageous: House prices and rentals are high. Some say gasoline in California may hit $8 USD/gallon relatively soon. Ah, well.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor

[Sancho]

So I’ve been reading Pat Conroy’s The Lords of Discipline. The main character is the point guard on the varsity basketball team. I like Conroy’s sports writing, also his humor:



In January during a game with George Washington, I had thrown a pass to Johnny DuBruhl who had cut toward the basket. He had not seen the pass and it had careened off the top of his head, hit the high part of the backboard, and fallen softly through the net. The scorekeeper awarded me a basket and Johnny an assist. That’s how it was in that radiant season.

[hellsapoppin]

Great baseball being played in the NL West this year. I reckon there’s a good chance one of the California teams will take the league pennant.

Hey I wrote this for the Limerick Thread, but Ima post it here instead:

There is a young fellow named Shohei
Who's pitching is better than okay
Bats for the Yen
In a state of Zen
And game day is always his best day

(Love that guy’s batting stance)

Anyway, although I still live near Seattle, I’ve been working outa Los Angeles for the past couple of years. And when you spend a fair amount time in a place, you tend to accrue a certain amount of paraphernalia. So the other day I had on a Dodgers ball cap and was wandering around a small town near Seattle. Evidently, since the recent shenanigans down in LA, a Dodgers cap signals an act of civil disobedience, to some people anyway. I was just walking along, minding my own business when some dude in a pickup (with a lift kit) drives by screaming out the window at me. Not sure what he said, but I think it was something like — eff you, effing anarchist! I smiled and waved because that’s what I do. I’m not certain what it was he actually said though. It might have been — Dodgers suck! Go Giants!



Immense talent and great batting stance. Always takes a level swing ~ this is what I always taught my players to do when they came to bat. Unbelievably, he has over 200 career home runs in only about 7 years in MLB.

[Sancho]

De aquerdo, time for post-season picks. I gotta say, I think it’s the Mariner’s year in the Fall Classic. I also gotta say, ticket prices are a nightmare at T-Mobile Park.

[tailor STATELY]

Yankees, oh, yeah... and the L.A. Ohtani's

... predictable, no ?

[Sancho]

^ Haha

Los Doyers are looking good, but we’ll see how good when (if) they face the Phillies. La Señora and I went to their last regular season game on Sunday with the Mariners. Great fun it was. Shohei homered and so did Freddie. Cal hit okay. But honestly it was like an exhibition game. Both teams were just trying to get through it and not get anybody hurt before the playoffs. And yet the Dodgers got their broom out and swept the Mariners in the three game series. Still though, it was fun. We had a great time at the game. On the drive home, not so much — some DOT yay-hoo shut down all of I-5 for the weekend. Curses to you, yay-hoo. May all your farts be wet ones.

Los Yanquis, uhh I don't know man. They might not even make it out of the Wild Card Series. But hey, it's baseball and on any given day in baseball, the worst team can beat the best team. It’s one of the many things I like about the game.

[Sancho]

Sheesh, how could I forget? Clayton Kershaw pitched well in his last regular season game. Everyone in the park, Dodgers and Mariners fans, was on their feet when he left the game.

[tailor STATELY]

Cool ! I haven't been to a MLB game since the late 80's (Giants at Candlestick vs. lol, I don't remember)... though I did go to a Sacramento River Cats game, when they were an A's farm club, circa 2008. I have cousins who live and die w/ the Seattle teams: NFL & MLB.

I think I need to study more; I've been too hyper-focused on the Yankees and Giants and L.A. Shohei's... and to a lesser extent the Phillies. It'd be cool if Shohei and Judge got the MVP's :)

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor