Dem Bums!
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Dem Bums!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sancho
I grew up in Brooklyn, NY {what we used to call God's Country}. Am old enuff to remember how PO'd so many folks were over the loss of our Bums to LA. For decades many people blamed Walter O'Malley but historical revisionists now put the blame on dirty dealing real estate developer/planner Robert Moses. Moses was more corrupt and profited far more than Tammany Hall ever did. But he did so "legally" and got away with it.
Yup. And history repeats. It’s not a perfect correlation but, like the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Oakland A’s have stadium problems. So … Bright light city gonna set my soul, gonna set my soul on fire:
I like this version: The Reverend Horton Heat, Viva Las Vegas:
https://youtu.be/58LGAl88gOk?si=BwY2sXy3pgnZIWk-
I’m sure you guys have read Roger Kahn’s The Boys of Summer. Great sports book, in my humble opinion. I had to go to Flatbush and visit the old site of Ebbets Field after reading it. I like to do that sort of thing. After reading Killer Angels I went to Gettysburg, PA. I’m still trying to figure out how to get to Nantucket to visit the whaling museum.
Hey, speaking of Flatbush, not long after the movie My Cousin Vinnie came out I was working a NYT crossword puzzle and this four-letter clue came up: Flatbush Juvenile… ans: YUTE.
Herman Munster — The two what? … What was that word?
Joe Pesci — Uhh, what word?
Herman — Two what?
Joe — What?
https://youtu.be/ThEf_88FFs4?si=BFvS6cvolErnDvWH
It’s almost painful watching Joe Pesci try to pronounce “Youths.”
Quote:
Sancho,
It’s almost painful watching Joe Pesci try to pronounce “Youths.”
The following is a true story:
Growing up in Brooklyn way back in the 1960s, I was in the 6th grade and the teacher tried to get us to pronounce month(s) and myth(s). Almost none of us could do it properly. We kept saying muntz and mitz. I tried to alter it by saying mumfs and mifs. The teacher would call on someone and would get angry because the kids couldn't say it right. Thankfully, she did not call on me. What a relief it was when she finally stopped.
Fast forward several decades later after I moved to the Midwest. Now late in life I finally learned to pronounce months and myths properly. Jeepers. Took almost forever for me to learn.
Haha. Good story.
Although it's been fading my entire adult life, I'm saddled a regional accent as well, only from a little further down the Eastern Seaboard than yours, hellsapoppin. But my wife is from California, so the first time I took her back home to South Carolina, I had to act as interpreter. The next-door neighbor back there was a sweet old lady named Reetha, and Reetha had a very thick southern accent. Anyway Reetha could understand my new wife just fine because she sounded "jess like they do on the TV." But my wife couldn't make heads or tails out of what Reetha was saying. And Reetha was going a mile a minute because she was excited to meet her. Anyway it was hilarious, the wife was in auto-nod mode, with smile pasted on her face, faking comprehension. Then every once in while Reetha would stop, signaling a response was needed, and the wife would look at me for help:
Sancho — She says she likes your dress.
Wife — Oh thank you. I like your dress too, Reetha.
Reetha — unintelligible, unintelligible, unintelligible...
Sancho — She says she likes your hair
Wife — Oh thank you. I like your hair too, Reetha.
And so it went
Sancho, if it ever looks like you'll make it to Nantucket, and are interested, give me as much heads-up as you can. I think I mentioned this in your moby thread, one of my closest friends from undergrad days is from there, and still lives there. I could make an effort to get you two connected.
Oh man, that’d be awesome. Thanks, bounty. Although who knows if I can ever make it there. Nantucket isn’t really on the way to anywhere, and once you get there, to get back, you gotta go were you already been. I would like to visit it though. And Sancho’s old lady would too. It’s nice to know we’ve got a local contact.
its not so far away that if you are in boston for a length of time that you couldn't make a three-ish day detour, or to tie it into a visit to cape cod.
its funny---I was backpacking around Europe and I ran into all sorts of fellow adventurers who told me they were planning on going to Nantucket, and id give them her name and address and apparently more than one of them showed up at her house looking for a place to pitch their tent.
I’ll manage to get there one of these days. Most of my travel is work related, hence I’m at their beck and call and I don’t usually have that much time for a side trip. Also I’m not set up genetically to travel on my own nickel. Boston was fun last month. We went Seattle to Boston and laid over for 24 hours. Then Boston - Lisbon, 24 hours, Lisbon - Boston 24 hours, then back home. Good trip.
maybe someday the red sox and mariners will play for the al championship and you'll get tickets.
Haha. Something about hell freezing over immediately popped to mind.
I watched a video yesterday of a little boy, in an effort to earn some doritos from his father, made a pig fly.
captain sisko on star trek: deep space nine is the captain of the station. he's a huge fan of an old American sport. an old rival from Starfleet academy shows up and challenges him to a contest. some of the highlights, with a heavy lean towards worf's involvement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzPQAeRsBXc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRRbYE9jRCk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N22YyheMW-c
Haha!
That pitch wasn’t even close. Yer blind ump! What are ya? Regenerating?
I do love a good baseball metaphor. Came across this one in my current read. Dave Robicheaux has been surveilling a small-time mobster with binoculars and the guy sees the glint off the lens and goes to investigate. Dave figures he can skedaddle so he doesn’t get made, but:
What Dave really wants to do is provoke the guy so he can beat the livin’ tar outta him, which he does.Quote:
I could have gotten out of there, I suppose, without being seen. But sometimes self-respect requires that you float one down the middle, letter high, big as a balloon, and let the batter have his way. I walked through the trees back to the road.
From Black Cherry Blues, by James Lee Burke
I think the more you know about life in general, the richer any particular reading can end up being, a la your dave robicheaux section.
captain sisko keeps a baseball on his desk in ops on the station. when the federation had to evacuate and let the dominion capture the station, the old/new bad guy gul dukat takes over. watch from 2:11 to the end...
among other things, its interesting to consider that baseball lasts into the 24th century.
Every time we think baseball is dead, it rises from the ashes. The king is dead. Long live the king. You know, spring training is just around the corner.
Hey, I was happy to see the baseball metaphor I posted above was more fully developed later in the novel:
Black Cherry Blues, by James Lee BurkeQuote:
Maybe it’s like the seventh-inning stretch, I thought, when they’ve shelled your fastball past your ears and blown your hanging curve through the boards. Afternoon shadows are growing on the field, your arm aches, the movement and sound of the fans are like an indistinct hum in the stands. Then a breeze springs up and dries the sweat on your face and neck, you wipe your eyes clear on your sleeve, scrub the ball against your thigh, fork your fingers tightly into the stitches, and realize that the score is irrelevant now, that your failure is complete, that it wasn’t so bad after all because now you’re free and alone in a peculiar way that has put you beyond the obligations of victory and defeat. The batter expects you to float another balloon past his letters, and instead you take a full windup, your face dry and cool in the breeze, your arm now weightless, and you swing your leg and whole butt into the delivery, your arm snaps like a snake, and the ball whizzes past him in a white blur. And that’s the way you pitch the rest of the game, in the lengthening shadows, in the dust blowing off the base paths, in the sound of a flag popping on a metal pole against the blue sky; you do it without numbers in your head, right into the third out in the bottom of the ninth.
Oh yeah! The sh*t’s about to go down.
Baseball "dead" ???
Many moons ago I was outside of Kansas City and was thumbing thru a book about baseball. It included an article from a Baltimore writer who complained that ticket costs were exorbitant, that salaries were ridiculously high, and that so much fun had been taken out of the game. If this persisted, wrote the critic, baseball would no longer exist in ten more years.
The article was written in 1867.
While baseball is not as much fun as it used to be because the pace is so slow today, the strike zone much too small, the ball itself far too lively, so many commercials are shown, and that idiotic kiss cam is so repulsive, the game will live on. It's American as is apple pie and will always be with us.
and not to spite James lee burke in the least, but as far as baseball metaphors and pop culture, I don't think anything beats paradise by the dashboard light by meatloaf!.
“…So now I’m praying for the end of time, to hurry up and arrive
‘Cos of I gotta spend another minute with you,
I don’t think that I can really survive…”
Why is it I can remember lyrics to thousands of tunes from the 70s, but I can’t, for the life of me, remember where I put my car keys?
“I am stuck on Band Aid, ‘cos Band Aid’s stuck on me
I am stuck on Band Aid, ‘cos Band Aid’s stuck on me”
Jingles too.
Enjoy the ear worm.
Ya know, this song speaks to high schoolers and to dudes in their middle age, but it probably doesn't get at it from the lady's perspective. I wanna think Mr Loaf came back at this song with a reply tune 20 or 30 years later, but I don't really remember that song.Quote:
I'll never break my promise or forget my vow
But God only knows what I could do right now
So I'm praying for the end of time
It's all that I can do, Woo, Woo
Praying for the end of time,
So I can end my time with you
Chorus
Well it was long ago and it was far away
And it was so much better that it is today
It never felt so good
It never felt so right
And we were glowing like
A metal on the edge of a knife
i wonder about that, given how true we all know this to be:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d3diodXKPU
just did a quick search for "reply to" and "sequel to" and nothing came up.
I could be mistaken. I frequently am. I think maybe it was — I would do anything for love, but I won't do that. When the song came out the music critics liked to compare it to Paradise, so it’s probably not an answer song, but rather a compare-and-contrast song. It sort of tracks the arc of his music from Hot Patootie Bless My Soul, to Paradise, to I would do anything. Or not. Donno. Hey, it’s rock-n-roll.
that's a fun way to look at it---like the tunes on the beatles "red album" to their "blue album."
I just finished a ride while watching a DS9 episode and took a screen shot for you of the closing scene. note the forefront of the shot.
Super Bowl 58 soon!
San Francisco vs KC Chiefs
I have never missed a Super Bowl. Have seen each and everyone without fail. Am thinking of making a pork roast for the occasion. Will be fun fer darn sure ...
I have a love/hate relationship with football. on the hate side, its so regulated with rules, and those rules get transgressed with so much frequency, and the officials miss things, misjudge things and find consistency difficult, it makes loving the sport difficult.
my favorite part of the game is when its over, and the players from the opposing teams get together for congratulations, commiserations and other greetings.
who ya gonna root for?
Quote:
Originally Posted by bounty
Too many rules, indeed. Things like back field in motion, intentional grounding ~ both rules should be eliminated. Just let them play. Endless stoppages of the clock unlike soccer or rugby, interminable commercials, mindless pre & post game interviews of players/coaches/commentators each with their own opinions spewing nonsense much of which has nothing to do with the match itself ~ all take away from the game.
In the old days we had numerous tip offs per game in basketball. People got tired of it and as these things needlessly prolong the game. The rules were changed to remove them. Today the kickoffs are not returned for TD's or for long runs like they were in the past. Why not eliminate these needless wastages of time as well?
While I always enjoy the Super Bowl, I NEVER watch the interviews, half time show, or anything not related to the actual game itself.
Don't have any faves in this particular game. All I want is that it be fun and memorable.
I agree that flow is an important aspect of the fan experience. im okay with kick-offs though. as a normal part of the game, without the tv time-outs associated with them, they can happen pretty quickly and add variety and excitement.
I recently watched an old episode of Hogan's heroes. the actual show time for the half-hour slot was 27 minutes. today's half-hour shows are ~21-22 minutes. ninety minute movies on the telly take 2 1/2 hours to get through. I trust there are lots of reasons for that, but one of them has to be the necessity of more commercials in order to pay the huge salaries of the actors. the same thing has to be occurring with the nfl.
all else being equal, i often find myself often rooting geographically---east over west, north over south. i don't necessarily have that for this game, but since im a bills' fan, i think you gotta root for the team that beats your team.
The NFL has conceded that on average, the amount of actual play time per game is only 10 minutes.
Back in the way back when, there used to be fewer passes per game and much fewer incomplete passes. Also the RBs did not go out of bound like they do today.* Because of that there were much fewer time clock stoppages and the game was often completed in about 2 hours or so. I would like to see changes in the game today that would reduce the amount of time. Sixty minutes of football should be sixty minutes. Not 3+ hours of interminable commercials and talk.
There is talk today that Bill Walsh of the SF 49ers was a cheat. There had been rumors of that years ago but nobody proved it. Now the talk has reemerged. Perhaps his actions were what inspired Bill BeliCHEAT. Hopefully, it will be a clean game. Am looking forward to it.
*Years ago I remember when Cleveland RB Jim Brown condemned Pittsburgh RB Franco Harris for running out of bound during the games. Harris would run out of bound to avoid hits and to accumulate more yardage. In doing so the time clock would stop and that would prolong the game. Try that in soccer or rugby and you'll cause a turnover!
everything you said poppin, and id add in lots more stoppages of play for injuries too. it could be that memory is deceiving but I barely remember players getting hurt back then compared to the extent they are today. everyone's bigger stronger and faster and that combined with less natural grass leads to lots more injuries.
seems like lots more penalties too, plus coaches challenges.
I don't remember hearing that about bill walsh---what were the allegations?
~ bill walsh---what were the allegations? ~
Tons of them: https://yourteamcheats.com/SF
The one that I remembered the most was the headsets "problem". Many of these came out in 2011. Thereafter, Giants Coach Bill Parcells wrote a book in 2018 in which he repeated these allegations. IIRC there may have been some allegations of spying & stealing of signals as well - that these tactics were later used by BeliCHEAT in New England.
Hah, good screen shot, bounty. I see that Commander Worf (pretty sure that’s who that is anyway) and I both see the baseball as a thing of beauty, art even. And like a sword, it can be beautiful and dangerous at the same time. The first time the grown-ups let us kids play with a real baseball, we all thought we’d entered a new world. We were big kids now and entrusted with important stuff.
Anyway, is there a more vulnerable time for a player of any sport, than there is for a major league pitcher after he releases a 100mph fastball and is following through, waiting for the ball to come off the bat at 115+ right at his head? Sheesh!
its captain sisko, although in the baseball episode, worf was by far the most comical as the naïve straight man.
to your point---when I was a kid I was a cardinals fan and I remember how discombobulated (no pun intended) bob Gibson was after he threw a pitch.
not that im condoning it poppin, but the headset debacle actually sounds kinda funny.
and though ive never been intimately read-up on the stories, sign stealing to me always seemed to be a part of the game. unless maybe its going on in some way other than in plain view.
I always think its comical when football coaches cover their mouths with clipboards while they are talking. they've apparently never seen the nfl bad lip reading clips.
Speaking of using the ball as a weapon, here’s a fun one from the gridiron. Christian is the new QB. Myron is his agent, watching from the stands. It’s a scrimmage in full gear:
Deal Breaker, Harlan CobenQuote:
On the field Christian was fading back again. For the third straight time Tommy Lawrence blitzed over left guard untouched. In fact, the left guard stood with his hands on his hips and watched.
“Christian’s own lineman is setting him up,” Myron said.
Christian side-stepped Tommy Lawrence, cocked his arms, and whipped the ball with unearthly velocity directly into his left guard’s groin. There was a short oomph sound. The left guard collapsed like a folding chair.
“Ouch,” Win said. Myron almost clapped. “The Longest Yard revisited.”
The left guard was, of course, wearing a cup. But a cup was far from full protection against a speeding missile. He rolled on the ground, back curved fetal-like, eyes wide. Every man in the general vicinity gave a collective, sympathetic “Ooo.”
Christian walked over to his left guard—a man weighing in excess of 275 pounds—and offered him a hand. The left guard took it. He limped back to the huddle.
“Christian has balls,” Myron said.
Win nodded. “But can the same be said of the left guard?”
ah good one---you see that or variants of it a few times in movies, but that's the first ive heard it in literature.
a very sports related pre-super bowl super bowl commercial:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1753080114223677873
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gR3nO...?feature=shareQuote:
Originally Posted by Sancho
Oh man!
I don’t know but I wonder if the NCAA mandates face masks for pitchers. I mean she’s smiling, but without that mask she might have been stuck with a snaggle-toothed grin.
Superbowl LVIII is history
La Señora thinks it was all about the Ben Affleck, J-Lo, Matt Daman, Tom Brady Dunkin Spot:
https://youtu.be/Ve2miT5iF2M?si=oyFsXuvGJVBzqnYN
But El Sancho thinks the Reese's Caramel Big Cup won the night:
https://youtu.be/sOH23Pup6AQ?si=7N6274QMDJaafAGR
Man! I like that hula-hoop dog.
As usual for me, I did not watch any commercials. But Super Bowl 58 was AWESOME! Coach Andy Reid made some great calls.
I have never missed a Super Bowl in all these years. Am already looking forward to the next one.
for a variety of reasons I missed all of last nights commercials, but in going in search of almost of all them today...
id say the reeses commercial overtook the former first place of Arnold being a good neighbaah, and maybe held it until I saw this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjLzH8qj0gQ