Thanks, Cal.

A Pre-emptive strike

880 wins, 3 national titles, and not fit to shine Dean's shoes. Congratulations, Knight. I salute you.

Whirlwind holiday

Here's the brief rundown of the "Arranging your lamp" family trip to NC for Christmas. This post is sponsored by Xanax, palindromic alleviator of Pteromerhanophobia.

K and I took the redeye to Dulles on Friday, connecting to RDU at about lunchtime. Many people at SFO were trying to reach Denver and were being told that they probably wouldn't get there. Funny how it sometimes takes a holiday blizzard a time zone away to remind us how interdependent we are these days. Anyway, it was a sad scene, and I hope they found a way home.

Our first Triangle stop was K's father's house, for a celebration with that side of the family. From there, we headed to K's mom's farm, for another great family visit. Christmas Eve at the Advocate was beautiful; a reminder that I really do like church. It was great to see a bunch of people we've missed, at least those who were not in MS. Church was followed by the traditional dinner at a Japanese steak house- always good times. While there, I ordered bourbons for K and myself. After about 10 minutes, we noticed a fly in my bourbon, and five (5!) in K's. Back at the bar, the bartender asked what bourbon I had ordered. Knob Creek. His reply: "Knob Creek? No wonder." My reply: "Why do you keep a bottle at your bar if you know it's slap full of insects?" He had no answer, but I was happy to return to the table carrying a couple of drams of the bourbon for which I am an ambassador.

After a fine Christmas morning and brunch with K's family, we headed to the 'boro, center of hotness, to visit my folks. We had a good time with them, including checking out the new 'boro hotness, which consists of hanging a ton of lighted balls in trees, turning the whole neighborhood into something out of a sci-fi movie. Almost certainly not unique to Greensboro, but very cool. Enjoy.


The trip home was highlighted by a 2-hour delay at O'Hare caused by a diaper lodged in the plane's plumbing system. A device called the Super Sucker was summoned, and was partially effective. We made the flight to San Francisco with only half of the lavatories fully operational. My good friend S generously picked us up at the airport, and we returned home to our cats, our bed, and our sweet-ass new TV.

Buster Olney at ESPN.com, who is an excellent baseball writer, has published a column stating that he thinks Tony Gwynn ought to be elected to the Hall of Fame. Thanks for stepping out on a limb, Buster. As a Ripken fan, what do you think his chances are? Do you think he'll make it? I'm going to roll the dice and suggest that Roger Clemens will be elected first-ballot as well, if he ever retires.

Thirty pages of writing to do this week, on a paper that has been giving me fits. I think people who are not subject to the whims of institutes of higher learning enjoy Christmas more than people like me. My Christmas looks like this: overnight flight to NC, Day and a half with K's family, Day with my family, flight back to CA. That's not a holiday. That's a punishment. This will absolutely be the last time I move to CA to work on my Master's.

Every couple I know is now officially pregnant, or has pulled the goalie. For those who are anxious about such issues, the "Arranging your lamp" household has left its goalie in the game, and is counting on him to do what he is paid to do. Big Country and his wife make me happy. I've not been this excited about a pair of parents and the kid who gets to be raised by them.

Oh yeah, let me say this for the record: I do not think Borat is funny.

Way too much work to do to really write a good post. Enjoy this video in the meantime.

Quick update

Had a phone conversation with the aforementioned professor I would like to study with at a fine institution of higher learning that shall remain nameless so I can claim that it was wherever I end up. It went well, if not smashingly. I remain encouraged, and yet more prepared for a letdown.

No classes next week, thanks to the American Academy of Religion meeting in DC. That means more reading and a second date with the GRE. Go crazy folks. Go crazy.

Butch Davis will leave UNC for a better football program. This I know. Where will he go? Will UNC become Texas' AAA club, much like Kansas is for us in basketball?

With the first day of truly shitty weather in the Bay Area now upon us (mid-50's and a nice, blowing sneeze from God), it is now officially higher-proof whiskey season. My beer selections will be getting darker as well. I like rainy days. Adam Duritz lives in my neighborhood, you know, 'round here.

What a week.

When last we spoke, it was Monday, and I was being very quiet about my hopes for Tuesday. Well, they were all pretty much realized. I now look forward with a modicum of optimism and a whole lot of cynicism. None the less, seeing Macacawitz concede in VA, and having it specially set aside as the official end of the battle was beautiful.

Today, I emailed a man I've never known, in hopes that he has some interest in taking me on as a doctoral student. I'll be doing this a lot in the coming weeks. I'd like to go on record as stating that applying to doctoral programs in a field not covered by U.S. News & World Report, et. al (read: a field that won't put you in line for Bush's tax cut) is an experience that will keep you constantly regular. You have to pretty much shoot your qualifications off into the void, in hopes that someone will at least read them. Nonetheless, my advisor and other faculty here are being very helpful, and are rooting for me, which boosts confidence. Spontaneous offers of recommendation letters are the best affirmation a graduate school boy could get. Reminders that Duke is sooo close to home are not helpful.

Thesis research is progressing. Currently on the table is a collection of works by Octavio Paz. There are worse things to have to read for research. I'll get to them soon.

Bay Area professional sports franchises are joining the rest of the business in showing little regard for their fans, though it is in their interest to head for the South Bay if they want to jack up ticket prices. Silicon Valley folk will pay a premium for anything if you tell them it makes them special. At times like this, I am proud that UNC owns the Dean Dome, built it with private money, and is extremely unlikely to move the team to Burlington if Chapel Hill won't shell out for a new building that will generate no additional revenue.


Thanksgiving is around the corner; possibly my favorite holiday. Tons of food, highlighted by a smoked/grilled turkey, plenty of alcohol, a football game, and a righteous nap make for a fine way to spend a day. It's a great way to commemorate the false harmony between Europeans and Native Americans.

Dancing about Architecture

Keith Jarrett's The Carnegie Hall Concert is an amazing recording. One man, one piano, and he improvises for over an hour, before being called out for 5 encores by the crowd. It was his first US solo concert in a decade, due to a struggle with chronic fatigue syndrome. When Keith Jarrett improvises, it's not seemingly random notes strewn in a structureless void. He lays out beautiful music. This is a fantastic release.

In the spirit of Big Country, I have decided to list my 5 favorite Grateful Dead tunes. It's my blog. No rankings assigned.

Scarlet Begonias > Fire on The Mountain: This counts as one because the Dead, with only a couple of exceptions, always segued from the former to the latter after '77. Any of the versions in my collection brighten my day. 2/5/1978 is a barnburner.

Dark Star: Quintessential Grateful Dead, played hundreds of times over their career, different every time. Dark Star is to the Dead as IPA's are to beer; you might have to work up to it, but then it's the best thing in the world. Current favorite is 11/11/1973. Subject to change.

Ripple: Just a great song. It's become somewhat cliche over time, but it may be the best piece of songwriting in the Dead songbook. The version on "Reckoning" is nice; this song was really only played on the two tours that featured acoustic sets, so there's not a lot to choose from, but this one from Fall 1980, when great people were born, is really good.

Eyes of the World: I love the jazzy feel of this song and the lyrics that no one knows the meaning of but everyone understands, and I love where the Dead took it. The version from 3/29/1990 with Branford Marsalis is so good it's not worth writing about.

Stella Blue: Clearly Jerry loved to play this song. Sweet lyrics with an even sweeter tune, beautiful solo from Jerry. The version from the Grateful Dead Movie (10/17/1974) always seems to sneak up on me. Sometimes the room gets a little dusty.

Honorable mentions go to Morning Dew (my favorite song about the apocalypse) and Sugar Magnolia (the best song ever about an enabler... "Wonderful Tonight" is dreck). Sugar Magnolia is the only song on this list sung by Bob Weir. Go figure...

We're gonna re-elect the Kindergarten Cop to the governorship of the most populous state in the union tomorrow. Once the results go final, look for Phil Angelides, the Invisible Democrat, on a cockpunch list near you.

I wrote a research paper on megachurches last year, and Ted Haggard was one of the primary subjects. Harpers ran an article a couple of years ago about his rising influence among evangelicals, suggesting that he had surpassed James Dobson, Brother Pat, and Jerry Falwell. He's a ridiculously effective pastor, and talked on the phone with the President or his advisors on a weekly basis. I'd put him on the cockpunch list, but really, who could take the irony? Oops.

We're in a rain delay for game 4 of the World Series, and Fox is showing an episode of "The War at Home," which is like saying, "sorry, we're all out of chocolate cake, but here's some dog poo on a plate." This gives me an opportunity to mention two things in the world of sports that I would like to do away with.

1. Chris Berman. His contribution to society rivals that of Paris Hilton. Seriously, next time you hear him, ask yourself if you would hire that guy for your network based on what he brings to the table today. The answer is no; Berman works for ESPN because he has always worked for ESPN, and that's it. His nicknames and his song references are not funny, and he lends no insight to any sport. His catchphrases are deployed with all the spontanaety of the voice mail operator that lives in my cell phone. Be gone.
   
2. The 3/4 time footage in NFL films. Apparently, my grandmother can run like Jim Brown and the ball used to be filled with helium. Really, it's the speed of the game that makes it so impressive. Why take that away?

This week is reading week. I've been... reading. Thesis reasearch is happening, as is a little reading for fun. K and I are going with a friend to see Gomez (band) tonight in San Francisco, at the Warfield. Should be good. Tomorrow I will cook ribs for the first time and draft my first fantasy team. It's clearly a big day.

It's midterm time, kids. That means papers, papers, and more papers. A more substantial update comes after Friday, when the wonderful thing we call reading week begins. For now, I give you this:

Start spreading the news...

It's Liza Manelli time in NYC. I just got back from Yosemite (another post on another day) and checked ESPN.com. Not only did the Yankees lose, thereby making their season a complete failure in the eyes of their heartless, bloodthirsy fan base, but they are apparently thinking about firing Joe Torre in favor of...


wait for it...



no...



why?...



Lou Pinella. This would make my year. God bless baseball.
(Late Edit: It is not only because I think Mike Lupica breathes the rarified air of sports hackdom normally only accessed by Chris Berman and Skip Bayless that I post this link, but because it is written from a purportedly reasonable viewpoint.)

I am now a Detroit Tigers fan. Every year, there are two sporting events I try hard not to care too much about. The first would be the basketball matchups between Carolina and Duke. No matter how rational, calm, and collected I pretend to be, I will be yelling obscenities at my TV within 2 minutes of tipoff. The other is the Yankees in the playoffs. I don't just hate the Yankees in some innoccuous "oh, it's just sports" sort of way. I actually hate the entire organization, from top to bottom. Though I am on record as a person who respects Derek Jeter, I have yet to wish a good thing upon him. I dream of a baseball world in which the Yankees do not exist, or at least one in which they are mediocre for 9 straight years, only to have more steroid accusations pointed at them than any other team. Every modicum of success that the Yankees enjoy is an affront to the idea of competitive sports.

Just booked a campsite at Yosemite for next weekend- they'll even let us build campfires. That will certainly be a nice getaway from the world of papers, people who are way too anxious about papers, and my thesis research. Also, apparently a strange thing is happening up there. The leaves are said to change colors, and the air becomes crisp, and cooler than it has been for the last few months. I think they call it "autumn." I'll not complain about Bay Area weather in its sunny, temperant constancy, but I will be happy to experience fall.

The new version of iTunes supports gapless playback. As a fan of noodly hippy music, this makes the segues in the long jams I love so much seamless again. Thank you, Steve Jobs.

If you get an email from my brother, do not open it. It may be pterodactyl porn.

Well, shit.

Though I will get my act together and send an actual present, this link is in honor of a man starting his fourth decade on earth.

Big Country, as of today, is old enough to run for the United States Senate. President of the neighborhood association is merely a stepping stone. Happy Birthday, big man.

Let's get my baseball whining out of the way. The Orioles finished 40-41 at Camden Yards this year, the lowest attendance since the park opened. That includes 1994, the strike year. Jay Gibbons hit his wife with a foul ball. He blames the ballpark. In "God, I hate that place" news, Norfolk, VA will be the home of the Orioles AAA team, replacing Ottawa, which wasn't going to work anymore a) because it's in Canada, and b) because the Lynx are moving. About 1,000 people staged a walkout at OPCY to protest the ineptitude of the team over the last 9 seasons.

I've got tickets to a couple of shows in San Francisco, at the Warfield (seeing Gomez) and the Fillmore (seeing Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins), which makes me happy. Both concerts are acts I really want to see, and both venues are high on my to-do list as well.

In a moving show of solidarity with Big Country's laptop (is it Wrigley Field?), the display on my laptop stopped working on Saturday morning. The tech-support guy at Dell walked me through taking it apart, disconnecting and reconnecting the display cable, and then reassembling the computer (though I think I could have figured the last bit out on my own). So far, so good.

The Panthers had Steve Smith back this week, against a shitty team. They won. Go figure.

Carolina Basketball starts in 18 days.

From the Washington Post article on today's military coup attempt in Thailand:

"The armed forces commander and the national police commander have successfully taken over Bangkok and the surrounding area in order to maintain peace and order. There has been no struggle," a Thai military announcement said, according to the Associated Press. "We ask for the cooperation of the public and ask your pardon for the inconvenience."

I guess they're getting the hang of this sort of thing, as this is the 18th coup or coup attempt in Thailand since 1932.

So which is cooler, a Monday Night Football game (regular season), or the second place team in the NL West (the Dodgers) hitting back-to-back-to-back-to-back home runs in the ninth to force a game against the first place team (the Padres) to extra innings, then giving up a run in the 10th and coming back with a 2-run walk-off homer to take a 1/2 division lead? Jaded Giants fans should attempt to remain impartial. No way is the Jaguars win last night the story of the day.

This is yet another post that I wrote to distract myself from US foreign policy. My current "thing that makes me want to vomit" would be the innocent Canadian citizen that we arrested based on shabby Canadian investigation, then extradited to Syria where he was imprisoned and tortured, without telling Canada. Could Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions be any more important at this point?

Football Sabbath

I did a bunch of reading today so I can fully appreciate the first full day of the NFL season tomorrow. I will miss some of the early game for church, but otherwise, it's football all day long, capped by the Giants-Colts evening game. Apparently the quarterbacks of those two teams are brothers. The media should really work that angle.
No Carolina Panthers coverage here tomorrow, as the local Fox affiliate will be showing the Seahawks / Lions game. Were the Panthers on, I would consider skipping church (1 PM games in the East are on at 10AM here).
K is out of town, so this is pretty much the only day of the season that I can get away with watching so much football in one day, knowing well that I will probably be watching both MNF games as well. Ordinarily I work out a compromise with her. The early game on Monday features the Redskins and Tony Kornheiser, so it's a much higher priority than the Raiders/Chargers matchup.
It's game time. Time to separate the men from the boys. These are the times when champions step forward, when sweatpants become acceptable attire again, and when football announcers stop sniffing glue long enough to utter some mindless macho cliches into a microphone. This is when the great ones come to the rise of the occasion. Happy football season, everybody.

This is fun...

Make your own at www.ronaldmchummer.com

I must live in Berkeley. Look what happened two blocks away from my apartment.

I used to live in NC. Look what's going on there.

This is great. All 12 people in attendance must have been thrilled.

This is just toying with my emotions.

wait for it....

... baseball.

After seeing the A's and O's play twice in the last couple of days, a few observations:

The "Rafael Palmeiro, I hope you get syphillis" phase of my baseball life continues, as I watch the Orioles struggle with the fact that they don't have a very good defensive first baseman. Friday night's game hinged on what was officially scored as throwing error on Melvin Mora. Really, it was a low throw, and Kevin Millar should have scooped it up. Today, Chris Gomez did pretty well, but his footwork around the bag still kept things interesting in the ninth. After pitching, I would consider this a top priority in the offseason.

Frank Thomas can clearly still knock the cover off of the ball. For those who'd like to criticize Billy Beane, just remember that the Big Hurt only makes $500K this year, and he hit his 30th HR today.

My wife has crushes on David Newhan and Brian Roberts. Alex Rodriguez remains unattractive.

The atmosphere at A's games these days is pretty electric. With the O's up 5-0 today and Adam Loewen having only allowed 1 hit going into the 5th, the crowd was still incredibly upbeat and focused in on the game. All I'm saying is that this does not happen in Baltimore these days. I've mentioned before how loyal A's fans are, and how much I love the energy at their games. It's pretty cool to be there when the team is really on a roll.

The Orioles really are pitching (everyone needs pitching) and a good first baseman away from being solid. Other than 1B, the infield is Melvin Mora, Miguel Tejada, and Brian Roberts, all 3 All-Stars last year, with Ramon Hernandez behind the plate. In the outfield, I like David Newhan, Corey Patterson, Nick Markakis, and Jay Gibbons just fine, off the top of my head. If a marquis player becomes available out there, great. Otherwise, we have more pressing needs.

I miss important phone calls sometimes...

The Big East may have more good teams in its ranks, but let's not forget that ACC basketball is pretty much an affair of the original 8 teams. The rest of the conference is merely a fashionable accessory to generate football revenue (the jury is out on BC). Now, somebody please explain to me how the core group, composed of UNC, Duke, NC State, Wake Forest, Virginia, Maryland, Georgia Tech, and Clemson can be beat.
Of course, you have the rivalries in the Big East. ESPN stops what they are doing to drool over the big UConn / Syracuse game, and broadcast it on approximately 30 channels. Wait, sorry. I was thinking about Duke / Carolina. We win championships, we beat non-conference teams, and we're fun to watch. What else matters?

This is the worst Bill Simmons column I've ever seen. Awful.

I am on an orientation panel today. Topic: Intentional Spiritual Formation. It's me, another (supremely great) student, and the dean of the school. This oughta be good.

A's / O's, coming up. We've got tickets for the Friday and Saturday games. The A's are coming off of a sweep of Pawtucket, so they're feeling good.

Cheese

The Little League World Series...

...is not very good baseball. The fact that ESPN is airing games played by middle school kids and upping the pressure of the situation is one thing. The fact that, thanks to a foul-mouthed player and the coach who slapped him, they have to do it on a 5-second delay is just silly. Not silly like showing dominoes, darts, poker, aerobics, cheerleading, or the X Games on a sports channel, but silly.
Thanks go to my brother for alerting me to the existence of www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com
That's all. Life starts getting more interesting next week.

Daniel Cabrera pitched a complete-game shutout against Toronto; God be praised. If the O's are to avoid a 9th straight losing season next year, he will have to be a key player. The offense also scored 15 runs, which is always nice.
Ben Harper tonight at the Greek. I'm more excited about the venue (4 blocks from the apartment) than the performer, but it should be a good show.
I picked up the new-ish Coltrane set from the Half Note in 1965, and it's very, very good. The Half Note is now a convenience store. The idea of seing Trane's quartet (Elvin Bishop, McCoy Tyner, and Jimmy Garrison) in a venue the size of a convenience store, especially in '65, when you can hear him trying to reach a higher plane through his playing, is something I can't comprehend.
Since I'm an Orioles fan, I'm getting excited for UNC Basketball this year. In the new landscape of college basketball, we have a legitimate shot at greatness. That game against Florida Atlantic will be a lot less awkward now that Matt Doherty is at SMU. Seeing him coaching the opposing team in the Dean Dome would be a very conflicting situation for me and most other Tar Heel fans.
Hooray for no more German classes!

There will be nearly 1700 players on the rosters of NFL teams this year. A particular one of them went to practice today under the supervision of his blowhard coach, who works for a blowhard owner whose face looks more than a little bit like that of Joan Rivers. Apparently this is a big deal. I could not care less, and I think the voluminous coverage of T.O.'s hamstring is a key indication that simply too much air time and too many column inches must be filled every day with sports news. Any field in which Skip Bayless becomes a noted figure is clearly oversaturated.

K and I watched "Little Miss Sunshine" the other night, and enjoyed it thoroughly. Very few movies manage to be both funny and good. I thought this one did.

My seminary buddy S and I went and hiked 11 miles along the Marin County coast today, which was a great change of pace and a nice way to spend a day. I'll miss that when I move.

I am dissappointed that I was not a Gomez fan during the last few years. My good friend K sent me an mp3 of "Revolutionary Kind" back when we were both exploiting the glories of university internet connections with pre-Napster litigation innocence. I liked the song a lot then, and for no good reason at all, never even bought an album. Now I am making up for lost time. "How We Operate" is a fine collection of pop songs by a band that can really play their instruments and harmonize. Good stuff.

The German language has permeated my brain. I now dream in German, which would be something if I spoke it fluently, or even competently. I really can only read German. As it stands now though, I say something I don't understand in my German dreams, and then people reply with more German that I don't understand. Maybe I should watch some foreign films, so I can dream in subtitles. Then again, maybe I'll just go see Talladega Nights, the cinematic equivalent of drinking a beer.

Random notes:

Jerry Garcia died 11 years ago yesterday.

I translated a german text last night detailing the role of "The Matrix" in propogating a feminist theological formulation of the Trinity. In English, of course, nouns don't have genders, so it matters less.

I was hoping that this would happen.

This may be my favorite standup bit ever.

Beirut

Anthony Bourdain was one of the Americans stuck in Beirut when Hezbollah kidnapped the soldiers and Israel went postal. His account of it, for Salon.com, is excellent. Bourdain, for the record, is a TV chef who does a show about exotic food in exotic places. That makes the quality of this article even more impressive.

The only other thing I'll say right now is that I'm extremely disappointed in our president's response, and that a CNN reporter was spot on the other day in asking a Defense Department official, "Do you see it as slightly ironic that we paid for the food being sent to Lebanese refugees and for the bombs that made them refugees in the first place?"

The friendly skies

Airplanes are the safest way to travel, though you apparently have a 1 in 117 chance of having a drunk pilot. Fine. I had said before I went to NC that I missed thunderstorms, as there are none of those here in CA. I got thunderstorms on each of my first 3 nights in Greensboro, and then was able to take in 2 more on the tarmac at RDU. Nice way to spend an hour and a half. Consequently, I missed my connection at Dallas. Here's the good part.

I was one of 8 people trying to make it from my flight into Dallas to a flight to San Francisco, and the only who appeared to have run since the dot-com boom, so I sprinted to the gate to try to hold the plane, missing it by seconds. In retrospect, the bourbon I drank on the plane probably accounts for my sluggishness. No regrets.

People are freaking out. It's 103 degrees in Dallas, and Texas is the home of the president; both concepts hard for denizens of the Bay Area to swallow. All that's left on flights to SFO is standby, and if that doesn't pan out, you get to spend the night in suburban Texas; a prospect that really cheers the group. "If you can put me on a plane to Oakland tonight, I'll be a happy traveller," I say, thinking that Oakland was closer to home, and that many people are scared of that city, for many minorities and poor people live there. Some of them do not even speak English. The ticket agent smiles at me, looks up the flight, and prints out a boarding pass for first class, the last seat available on that flight. My trip just got better, and the people behind me (the non-runners) hate me. Time to go. After a visit to TGIFridays for a fermented beverage and a salad the size of a small child, I'm in a cushy seat with lots of free food and drink (hot towels, too), which I pass up in favor of sleep.

First class is a different world. Rules do not apply to you in first class. The "fasten seatbelts" sign is for the groundlings in coach; in first class, you get up to pee whenever that free chardonnay they give you tells you to. If you don't want to put your seat in the upright position, don't. No one will stop you, you are in first class. If the person next to you snores, stab them in the face with an ice pick. The flight attendant will hurriedly help you hide the body, while apologizing profusely for not stabbing the person before their snoring woke you up, you first class passenger, you.

Today I think my bag will make it to me, so I'll be able to use my regular hygiene products and recharge my laptop.

You can never go home again

This would be my first extended visit to North Carolina since moving to CA. Many of my friends in Berkeley spend weeks or months in their hometowns, but a week is about all I had time for. Nonetheless, it's been interesting. This is not the first time I moved; my family left VA when I was 12. Trivial, I know, but this blog is the closest I have to a journal, so I'm going to log these thoughts here.
Riding around Chapel Hill and Durham, I don't find myself looking for things that are different so much as simply subconsciously recognizing familiar terrain. After nearly a year in Berkeley, I've become so acclimated to trying to take in as much as possible to familiarize myself with new streets, grocery stores, and landscapes that it takes me by surprise when I find my brain relaxing more as I ride in a car. Apparently Chapel Hill is still home, and I'm not as settled in Berkeley as I'd like to think.
Visiting friends here has been good for my soul. My friends in Chapel Hill are people who were around me as I forged my identity and figured out who I am, a process that led me to graduate school and, God willing, an eventual academic career. I'm blessed to be surrounded by amazing people in Berkeley, and I have formed friendships that I imagine will be lifelong, but something about being around people who know you because they watched you become you is comforting and nourishing. I think this paragraph is the most I've ever written about my feelings on this blog, or anywhere else on the tubes of the internet. That's because I know some of the people I'm talking about read this blog, and I'm lousy at expressing my appreciation in person. Consider this an inadequate substitute. Thank you.

DBAP

Durham Bulls Athletic Park

The first picture is a panorama of First Horizon Park in Greensboro. Click on it to see the full-size version, but please forgive the sloppy photoshop job. This game featured a steal of home by the home team (the Grasshoppers), and a walk-off home run, as well as fireworks, free bread, and Red Oak beer on tap.







The second shot is the final score from tonight's Bulls vs. Clippers game in Durham. Note the hits column. A panorama of this stadium may follow, because I like to amuse myself.

I always wanted to be a baseball writer when I was a kid; a dream that I never quite let go of, but which was put aside in favor of the greater interests of someday being a family man and a rival calling to academics. Nonetheless, I still covet that lifestyle, and the following paragraph, written by Roger Angell during Spring Training in 1975, encapsulates my idealization of that particular profession.

It was raining in New York- a miserable afternoon in mid-March. Perfect. Grabbed my coat and got my hat, left my worries on the doorstep. Flew to Miami, drove to Fort Lauderdale, saw the banks of lights gleaming in the gloaming, found the ballpark, parked, climbed to the press box, said hello, picked up stats and a scorecard, took the last empty seat, filled out my card (Mets vs. Yankees), rose for the anthem, regarded the emerald field below (the spotless base paths, the encircling palms, the waiting multitudes, the heroes capless and at attention), and took a peek at my watch: four hours and forty minutes to springtime, door to door.

Kites

I took this one at Cesar Chavez Park here in Berkeley last weekend.

Funny how easy it is to regard losing in a championship game as a let-down. A team puts together the best season in the history of the program, reaches uncharted waters in the College World Series, and loses in a close deciding game. Great season, nothing to be ashamed of, right? Not if you're the local sports media. The News and Observer chose the asshat headline of the year for their article on game 3 of the College World Series, which we all need to remember was played by young men between the ages of 18 and 22; college kids.

For sure, that was a stomach punch loss for the Tar Heels last night. Absolutely agonizing. Bryan Steed should not be the scapegoat, though. A terrible baserunning error killed a potential rally earlier in the game, UNC hitters chased a lot of bad breaking balls, and most crucially, Oregon State played much better defense than a college team can be expected to play for these two games. Let's not forget that Carolina was up 5-0 in game 2, with Mike "Are you kidding me?" Patrick proclaiming the game to be all but over (this in the 4th inning; Mike is an idiot), when some atrocious defense gave OSU a chance to mount a rally. OSU made the plays, and they won. Jonah Nickerson did a hell of a job getting outs when he needed to, even without his good stuff. Hell of a run, Heels.

N&O Headline writers, meet me here.

Pics from the Parents

My parents and my sister were in town last week. Here's some pictures from the week (out of the 142 that Mom took). This layout would look cooler, but I got a little tired of messing with the blogger interface.

World Cup Shocker

So it turns out the American team really wasn't very good at soccer. Huh.

Haiku

Driving while impaired.
Unbelievable, baby!
Anyone surprised?

Larry Bowa yelled at Corey Patterson for stealing second and third with the Orioles up 10-4 on the Yanquis the other night, telling him to "play the game right."

Since we have seen the Yanqs come back from 9 down to win a game this season, what part of Patterson's steals was bad form? If a team is supposed to stop trying to score once they hold a commanding lead, when is A-Rod going to hit his home runs? If Patterson can steal two bases off of the revered Scott Erickson / Kelly Stinnett battery, why wouldn't he?

Larry Bowa, welcome to the cockpunch list.

This site is cooler than you are.

Be sure to tell people that they don't get it. Look at mine. You don't get it, do you? I am a sensitive artist.

http://jacksonpollock.org/

Whiskey again

So today's whiskey that I like a lot is George Dickel No. 12. This is easily one of my favorites, for several reasons. Here goes.

1. Nothing gets a better reaction than asking a friend if they want a sip of your Dickel.
2. It might be the smoothest American whiskey. It's certainly the smoothest one I've tried.
3. Dickel is a Tennessee Whiskey, but unlike Jack Daniels No. 7, it's good. Unlike Gentleman Jack, I can afford to buy it regularly (under 20 bucks a bottle). Dickel No. 8 is a bit cheaper, but not quite as good- it's basically just a younger version of the 12, and is 80 proof, as opposed to the 90 proof No. 12.. It's a value judgment
   
4. The bottle is pretty classy looking.
5. It tastes great.

What's the deal with all the numbers, you ask? Not much. 12 and 8 just weren't copyrighted.

The American League All-Star Team, if voting stopped yesterday:
C- Jason Varitek - BOS
1B- David Ortiz - BOS
2b- Robinson Cano - NYY
3B- Alex Rodriguez - NYY
SS- Derek Jeter - NYY
OF- Manny Ramirez - BOS
OF- Vladimir Guerrero - LAA
OF- Johnny Damon - NYY

I can't decide if I should just not bother watching the game, or if I should root for the National League. No Tigers, no White Sox (both teams have better records than NY and BOS, and one of those teams also happens to be the World Series Champion). This roster omits the top two hitters in the AL, as well as the HR leader. At least we'll have Big Papi holding down the defense at 1B, since he can't DH. Also, I will take Ichiro Suzuki over Johnny Damon in my outfield anyday. Jeter, for once, has earned his spot, though a case can always be made for Tejada, currently second in voting. But Mark Grudzielanek, in KC, is a more deserving second baseman than Cano.

"Yankees fans love carnage — they are the kinds of people who use cheat codes in their video games. So, watching them writhe in pain while losing to the Royals was priceless. "

-Joe Posnanski, Kansas City Star

Owned?

Now, I am enjoying the decline of Randy Johnson as much as the next guy who likes to see the Yankees waste money, but I think the commentators for tonight's Yanqs / Sox game have gone a little overboard. They more or less pronounced his career dead when he gave up two runs in the first inning, both on a home run by Manny. The point is not that the Big Unit is not on the way down- he certainly is. The point is that giving up a homer to Manny right now, especially one to left field in Fenway, just can't be a litmus test for your prowess as a pitcher.

Listening to Jon Miller describe the Giants defense today was fun. "I wonder if the ball is a little too slippery for the Giants to handle..." BLB didn't play, though, so it wasn't really a game. Best nickname on the Giants: "P. Happy." End of discussion.

The photo is grainy, because it took some zooming and cropping, but please notice the man on this baseball-themed boat, which was in McCovey Cove the other night, dressed up as Babe Ruth.

"You only have eight responsibilities during a baseball game: Take your hat off for the National Anthem; don't take your shirt off; don't bring your baseball glove if you're over 13; don't wear a jersey with your own name on it; don't run onto the field; don't reach into the field of play to grab a pop-up or ground ball if it could adversely affect your team; don't boo one of your own players unless it's absolutely warranted; and don't throw up. That's it. Everything else is up to you. "
- Bill Simmons

Today's silly seminary email phrase is:
"IF YOU PARKED YOUR VEHICLE IN OUR PARKING LOT, PLEASE PRAYERFULLY CONSIDER MOVING YOUR CAR."

I handed in 3 papers and gave a presentation yesterday- feeling pretty good about all of it, too. One more paper to write next week, but I've already researched it, so it shouldn't be too big of a deal.

In response to the NU hazing scandal, I'd like to say that I am tired of hearing jocks defend hazing. The absolute worst argument for it is that the victims, "had a choice- they could have walked out." Right, so you're a freshman at college and your scholarship is contingent on being a member of the soccer team (so quitting has serious repercussions), who would certainly exclude you for the next four years if you walked out, but you have a choice. Since when do we let students (also scholarship athletes) force other students to make that kind of choice? This is one of the stupidest debates alive. If your team can't pull together and play some soccer (not that the NU team has been anything but mediocre) without hazing the freshmen, hang up your cleats.

Thanks to Justin for this one...

Just a nice thing to see.

You gotta read it from the left coast

The headline on the Post article read "Episcopalians reject gay candidates." All I'm saying is that it could have read, "Episcopalians elect strong ally of gay rights."

Jason Whitlock's column from the Kansas City Star presents an interesting perspective on the Duke Lacrosse Team situation.
The more the public gets involved, the more tragic this gets.

Time to read until my eyes fall out. It's interesting stuff (to a nerd like me), so it could be a lot worse. It could be for a math class.
Anyway, tomorrow night is the follies, which is seminary speak for a really geeky talent show / bunch of skits where we make fun of ourselves. Preferring not to show off my inability to be funny on command, I signed up with a friend to play a couple of songs. It'll be my first Bay Area performance- sure to be a classic. I think we'll be pretty good, actually.
There's also a brewing contest as part of the evening, and another friend and I have entered a mocha stout in that one that ought to at the very least be unique among the entries. It also means that I will have a beer or two in me by the time I get up to play, which will probably help.

I think the mere existence of this site explains why the internet is without a doubt one of the best things humanity, with our under-utilized brains and opposable thumbs, has managed to fashion.
Note that I will not be subscribing to the service, but it's great to know that it's there.

I have, however, bookmarked this one. I used to sit up late in my bedroom as a kid, with headphones plugged in, trying to pull random sporting event broadcasts off of the AM dial. I'd love coming across a minor league game from another city. From Greensboro, I could listen to stations as far away as Saint Louis, San Antonio, and Montreal. The fact that I can now listen to any minor league game for free is just beautiful.

I shouldn't be writing this.

I have 50 pages of writing to crank out for the end of the semester. Two of my topics- the theology and biblical exegesis behind Messianic Judaism and Messianism in Paul, at least overlap some (by design), so I can conserve research. The semester ends on the 18th, and one of my papers isn't due until the 25th, so there's time, but there's also a lot of research to do.

Is a protest meant to change the mind of your opponents, or just to fire up your movement? I'm not sure how the impressive demonstrations against immigration legislation will be received by conservatives. In terms of sheer principle, I think it probably will fuel their fire, and contribute to many of the stereotypes they love to perpetuate. On the other hand, the sheer inconvenience caused by the boycott hopefully cannot be ignored.
I was glad to see more folks waving American flags in the rallies. The SF Chronicle nicely pointed out as the protests ramped up a few weeks ago that waving a Mexican flag at a protest does not exactly say "You need me in the US, and I want to be in the US." It was a nice public service announcement from a thoroughly liberal publication. The US / Mexican flag ratio appeared to be about 4:1 yesterday, which I think is about right.
In case you hadn't figured it out, I analyze protests based solely on the effectiveness of their statement, and how they'll play in the media. Venting of anger and expression of pride are key components, as well, I'll happily admit. I've simply seen too many poorly executed protests that ultimately didn't make a statement. I don't think yesterday was one of those.

Last night, during the 6th inning of the Sawks-Yanqs game I realized something. Johnny Damon plays for New York now. I didn't catch it until the 230th time the announcers pointed it out. I appreciate their persistence. In other news, apparently there was a ballgame played in Fenway Park last night. I wonder how that went...

Truthiness strikes.

Stephen Colbert is now one of my heroes.

Here is a transcript of his speech.

That is all.

There's video out there somewhere, but all the sites I tried were slammed.

"Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's record," Selig said. "We don't celebrate anybody the second or third time in."

There was an Orioles game in the early 90's in which the Orioles had to scramble to find a replacement starter for the injured Ben McDonald. Big Ben's injury? He had cut his fingernails too short. This year, we have had the Kevin Mench story, featuring a major league baseball player who gets a pair of shoes that actually fit him, and immediately goes on a hot streak. Fingernail clipping and ill-fitted shoes were the funniest injuries I knew of in baseball, until I read this.

First,
OH GOD, NO! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!

Secondly,
I would like to see this film, though I suspect the ending is a total cop-out, since Jeffrey Maier is involved.

Asshat.

Collin Finnerty, come on down.

You served 25 hours of community service as part of a diversion program to avoid standing trial for punching a kid who asked you to stop calling him "gay and other derogatory names."

Now, since you've been arrested for rape and kidnapping in Durham, you get to stand trial for both crimes.

You're the pride of Garden City, NY.

Here I Go...

Due to the annoying infringement of grad school upon my reading habits, it took me a couple days to get to it, but Boswell's column in the Post about the O's is spot on. Angelos is quickly creating one of the most disgruntled fan bases in sports out of what used to be a loyal fans. He's also soiling the reputation of the organization that won more games between 1961 and 1987 than any other. The Baltimore Sun would tar and feather him at this point.

I never thought that the presence of the Nationals would matter that much if the Orioles could put together a solid team. After all, the Orioles had momentum, a great ballpark, and divisional opponents that fill the stands. However, by putting a substandard product on the field and by publicly undermining the ability of Nats fans to watch their team, Angelos has alienated a lot of the casual Orioles fans. Unfortunately, it's the casual fans that determine attendance. You're going to get your die-hards and your season-ticket holders at every game. Getting a family from Bethesda or Falls Church to come up for the game, though, is not to be taken for granted. Now you know.

In happier Orioles news, the Sun is reporting today that a new contract agreement with Melvin Mora is near, which would keep our All-Star infield intact until we have to negotiate with Roberts. The Mora-Tejada-Roberts trio is the only thing about the current Orioles that reminds longtime fans about the classic Baltimore teams. The handshake they've developed after an Orioles win actually shows a little team unity and a playful spirit. It's good to see the management trying to keep them together.

So this column could be about half as long as it is, but the phenomenon it describes is pretty awesome.
I just lifted weights and went for a run for the first time since moving to CA. Needless to say, I could throw up at any minute.

RDU gets JetBlue service on July 20th. I am more excited than I should be. Still no direct flights, of course- the one route to RDU is from JFK, but I could still get home while watching sports.

One lump or two?

Jon Miller just spilled Kambucha tea while broadcasting the Giants-Snakes game. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume that the Giants broadcast booth is the only one in the league in which fermented mushroom tea is consumed during games.

Shake Shake Shake...

Today is the 100 year anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake. If you live here, you're probably nervous. You see, the local media has talked about virtually nothing else for the last two weeks. We live two blocks away from the Hayward Fault, which seismologists predict will be the next troublemaker. Interestingly, it also runs through the Cal football stadium. Yesterday, the local NPR station ran a story about the fault running under Hearst avenue. I listened to the story in my car, while driving up Hearst Avenue. The quake coverage has been a little overwhelming for us, as there is almost nothing that we can do to prepare for the Big One.

They say you should be prepared to be on your own for 72 hours. We rent our apartment, and it's in a pre-1906 building, which is good or bad, depending on your perspective, but what that means is that we can only hope it's up to snuff. It's hard to imagine being on your own in the middle of a big city for three days, but we only need to look at New Orleans for an example.

I am quite ready for this anniversary to pass.

No need for Dr. Spock

A couple of pet policies for our future children:

1. If we become wealthy (unlikely, but still...) and have a daughter, she will clearly want to get a chihuahua. This is unacceptable, but she can have her pick of a) a real dog, or b) a chicken.

2. It's ok to get a ferret, but you need to understand that if it gets out of its cage, Daddy will beat it to death with the nearest blunt object. He does not like ferrets, and will not tolerate the freedom of any member of the weasel family in his house.

Alleluia! Christ is Risen.

Tonight K and I met up with our friends S & H to head into the city for Easter. We grabbed dinner in Chinatown, where H's attempt to order a rum & coke was a highlight, and then headed to the Top of the Mark for cocktails. The Top of the Mark is a bar on top of a hotel by the same name on Nob Hill, one of the highest spots in the city, so the view was really nice. It's also a block away from Grace Cathedral, so we had a nice view of it before we headed over for the Easter Vigil.

I'm always a fan of the Easter Vigil. I love the buildup, the drama, the beauty... the whole thing captivates me every year. The entire congregation left their pews to circle around the baptismal font. At the end, we all crowded around the altar, inside the communion rail, for the reading of the classic excerpt from St. John Chrysostom's great Easter sermon, the singing of "Jesus Christ is Risen Today," and the closing blessing. Apparently tomorrow they are going to drop a lot of rose petals, confetti-style, at the conclusion of one of the services. As we gathered around the altar, stray petals drifted down on us, leading us all to expect some sort of big drop as the finale. It never came, so we were left hanging a little, but I really was struck by the ways in which the liturgy both engaged us and put on a fine show. I'll not be joining a cathedral anytime soon (I'm a small-congregation, low church guy for now), but I appreciated the grandeur present on a night like this.

Every year at Easter, I get excited, imagining what it must have been like for the disciples of Christ to discover the empty tomb, what a simultaneously triumphant and unnerving day that must have been for them, the absoulute rawness of their nerves and emotions at the end of such a horrible week. Every time the Gospel is read and I hear the words, "He is not here," I just smile, thinking that this must be the ultimate validation and justification.

The Lord is Risen Indeed.

I just got a gift certificate to the school bookstore as a thanks for helping out with our program for prospective students last week. I used it to buy a book of commentary on Peter Singer, including Singer's rebuttal. I thought that a certain baseball conspiracy theorist in Chapel Hill might find that interesting, given the long discussion we had about Singer while consuming pizza and beer one night. Also, I used money from a religious institution to buy it... from that same institution.

It's sunny today, which is good, because Marin County is apparently going to lead California into the ocean if the rain doesn't let up for a while.

Maundy Thursday service tonight at the liberal parish in Berkeley. Easter Vigil Saturday night at the cathedral in San Francisco. Not sure where we'll go for Good Friday. On Monday, I'm brewing beer with some fellow students.

According to today's Baltimore Sun, Kris Benson had two pitches in his arsenal last year, presumably a fastball and a breaking ball. Under Leo Mazzone this year, he has added a cut fastball and a changeup. This begs a couple of questions.

First, how do you watch baseball and not realize that pitchers who throw cut fastballs tend to be very successful with them? Greg Maddux in the 90's was one of my favorite pitchers to watch, because every pitch moved. They're not even that hard to throw, other than the part where they need to be at least in the high 80's.

Second, did he really just add those pitches this Spring, or did Mazzone just get him to bring them back? If they're new, it's pretty impressive that he has good command of them already. If they're old, why the hell didn't he use them in New York? Ray Miller used to make pretty much every pitcher learn to throw a changeup. It's another dimension of deception and strategy at your disposal. It's an essential pitch for people who are not Randy Johnson and yet still plan to pitch more than one time through the batting order.

The O's are back at .500, which is my goal for the season. I have excellent seats to see them in Oakland in September, and I'd like for the O's to be decent at that point. At some point here I'll write about the A's, who have secured their position as my second-favorite team.

It was quite a weekend. Friday night, I led a small group of prospective students at my school. This is a brilliant set up, for all I have to do is show up and be completely honest about my experience here. Anyway, after I talked with them for an hour, K and I went to see Jim Gaffigan in San Francisco. He, as expected, was hilarious. I'd heard some of the material before, but his comedy is about 60% delivery anyway, so it was still quite funny.
After the show, we took advantage of the lack of traffic late at night, and explored the city a little bit, before getting on the Bay Bridge to head home.

Saturday we slept late, bummed around, and read for most of the day. We took a quick time out to hit the 5 cent sale at BevMo, which, when paired with Trader Joe's, is the best way to stock up a wine rack. Then, we helped orchestrate a surprise party for a friend here. She's a Lutheran seminarian, and is married to an Episcopal seminarian. It went over well, and we challenged the Lutheran school to a brew-off. This, my friends, is the definition of full communion.

Yesterday, K and I went into the city again, attending a Palm Sunday service at Grace Cathedral (Get the podcasts! Impress your friends!), and visiting the De Young Museum, which has an exhibit of the Arts and Crafts movement going right now. The exhibit was nice, and I enjoyed their modern art as well. We didn't make it through the whole museum, though. We returned home, had sushi with our friends who threw the suprise party on Saturday, and read the evening away.

Back to school today.

Alone at the top.

The Orioles are in first place. You heard me. We're 1.23% through the season, and Baltimore is on top. Don't call it a comeback. We've been here for years.

I've been reading a lot about globalization lately, as it will figure prominently in my thesis. It really makes me aware of how precarious my life is, and how fortunate I am to be able to do what I do. That priveleged position is also a key source of guilt for me and, I'd wager, for most Americans who are aware of it. It's easy to see why so many people are resistant to the forces of globalization. They present an enormous unknown commodity and challenge our traditional cultural and social identities. I believe that those forces, regardless of their ethical value, a) are unstoppable and b) constantly present us with chances to be better neighbors to each other and better stewards of creation. In my classes, this makes me an optimist.

Today we had a discussion about balancing our sense of justice against foreign cultural values. The case was the treatment of women in Southeast Asia and Mexico, in communities where multi-national corporations take advantage of pre-existing gender roles to generate a largely voiceless, oppressed female workforce. The tricky part is that the gender roles that are exploited are those of daughter, mother, and wife. The way these roles are structured, especially in SE Asia, would be highly offensive to most Americans, but is it our place to try to "correct" them? Against my every instinct, I don't think so, but I'm not sure. Cultures are not absolute. I take issue with the fact that American corporations (Japanese, too) indirectly set up sweatshops and factories in these places with conditions that have been illegal here since the Triangle Shirt Factory fire. As the "greatest nation on earth" we can afford to demand better.

So we all participate in this system. Something you own was made by women who were not allowed to use the bathroom, who were forced to perform extremely repetitive actions for hours on end, and who were verbally and perhaps physically abused at work. It is virtually impossible, as consumers, to be knowledgeable enough to avoid these economic interactions. How do we reconcile that to the fact that these systems, which make us wealthy, are flagrant violations of our basic calling to be people of God? How are we to use the leverage and privelege we have as Americans in a global economy? Someday I want to write a book about that.

curb your optimism

Anna Benson withdrew her petition for divorce.

It's good to be an O's fan.

We are tied for first place in the AL East.

In his otherwise useless column for the Baltimore Sun yesterday, Peter Schmuck reignited his feud with Fred Manfra, TV play-by-play man for the Orioles. Just to revisit the issue, if you are a very overweight sportswriter, and your name is also Peter Schmuck, it's probably best that you not dredge up fights with witty men who have to occupy three hours of airtime with something every day.

Miguel Tejada hit a home run, as did the supposedly disgruntled Melvin Mora.

And, last but not least, Anna Benson has filed for divorce.

Today I will subscribe to the MLB Gameday Audio plan. 15 bucks to listen to any and all games that I want to. Deal.

Everyone here is tired of the rain.

Why I read Metafilter.

So apparently GM has started a contest. The person who makes the best commercial for the Chevy Tahoe wins. Unleash the power of the internet on the SUV, and you get...

this

this

and this.

These are not destined for a long life on the GM website, so check them out now.

Cheese

I needed some Gorgonzola for a sauce I'm going to serve some gnocchi under tonight. This dish is one of K's favorite things that I cook, and having lounged my way through Spring Break, I thought I would make it for her.

This entry isn't about K, though. It's about cheese.

I remembered today that there is a cheese shop in my neighborhood, and I thought it would be cool to go there, and then walk down the street to the grocery store and pick up some other things.

This isn't about the grocery store, though. It's about cheese.

So the Cheeseboard Collective is, in fact, a co-op that runs a shop with an amazing selection of cheeses. I told them I wanted some Gorgonzola, and they produced three varieties for me to sample, which were each unique. Also, they have a cookbook that features a blurb on the back by Mollie Katzen, who wrote the Moosewood cookbooks, and apparently lives in my neighborhood. Anyway, I thought it was pretty cool, and will go there whenever a recipe calls for a cheese outside of the cheddar-mozarella range, or maybe if I'm passing by and want to try something cool. They had an English cheese that was rubbed with beer hops. I think I need to try that one soon.

If you're keeping score, I have now blogged about sports, whiskey, current events, and cheese.

We'll be out there having fun...

So we're wrapping up the wettest March in Bay Area history. To date, it has rained on 24 of 30 days this month. It's enough to make me drink more coffee, don a flannel shirt, and form a band that plays songs consisting of chords I can play with 2 fingers.

I've been reading about the situation with the Duke Lacrosse team, and I am extremely anxious about it. Duke and Durham have a plantational relationship in a lot of ways, and I am hopeful that this will be a catalyst for dialogue, and hopefully, change. At the same time, the prospect of a group of rich white kids hiring high-octane lawyers to defend themselves in a rape trial is gut-wrenching. Every public rape trial is a powerful event, as it forms the frame of reference for rape survivors who are deciding whether or not to come forward. The Kobe Bryant trial was a nightmare for anyone who is interested in seeing rapists brought to justice, with the accuser's name being leaked and her character smeared across the national media, as what should have been a private trial became very, very public. Though all evidence is to the contrary, I hope that the media will not do the same disservice to rape survivors everywhere this time around.

For the second year in a row, Opening Day is not the lead story in the baseball press. I'm hopeful that the new investigation will provide some sort of resolution. Me, I'm a cliche kind of guy. When I see the players run out onto the impossibly green grass in some baseball cathedral and begin playing my favorite game, I'll be just fine.

Not just a sports blog.

In my profile, there are in fact interests listed which are not sports-related. I don't think I'll post much about theology, as I have more opportunities than I need to write about it elsewhere. I'll get around to writing about music, though it has been correctly said that "writing about music is like dancing about architecture." I have not posted thus far about whiskey, though, and I think Spring Break makes an opportune time to start. Note: I am not currently drinking whiskey, as it is 12:00 PM, and I have a siginificant amount of reading to do. Anyway, I want to periodically post about a whiskey, or occasionally a rum that I like a lot.

Right now, I am really enjoying a bottle of Old Grand-Dad 114 bourbon, which has been one of my favorites for a couple of years. The Old Grand-Dad brand is produced by Jim Beam, but with a more rye-based mashbill than their other products. A mashbill, by the way, is the blend of grains used to make the whiskey. Bourbon, by law, must be 51% corn, but the rest is variable. Basil Hayden's, part of the Beam small-batch line, is from the same mashbill, watered down to 80 proof, and sold for about 30 bucks. It's a very good bourbon, but I paid 23 bucks for my OGD 114, which, as the name indicates, is 114 proof. I cut it with a little water, but I enjoy the warmth of the higher proof. It also dictates that I drink the bourbon slower, and in smaller quantities. You can do the math- this bourbon is a fantastic value. The heavy use of rye gives it a very spicy flavor, at the opposite end of the taste spectrum from a wheat based bourbon like Maker's Mark, but it is still a very smooth sipping whiskey. I don't have a large collection of whiskeys (I have three bottles in the cabinet right now), but the value and quality of this one will keep it in regular rotation. Also, as you can see, it looks really cool.

Man enough to admit when I'm wrong

I'd like to issue an apology to the SEC. You came ready to play, and you'll make up half of the Final Four, joined by no teams from the ACC or Big East. Also, neither SEC team that will be playing next weekend is Kentucky. Well done. As for the Big East, let's all just realize that they were overrated this year. The ACC underperformed as well, but let's not take anything away from the grand failure to achieve by the Big East this year.

That said, I can't stand the thought of Billy Donavan winning a title. Anyone else, I'm cool with. Particularly George Mason and LSU.

K and I bought tickets to see Jim Gaffigan in SF in a couple of weeks. That's going to be excellent. We spent today enjoying the beautiful weather here in Berkeley, walking around the Marina and checking out the Lawrence Hall of Science, which offers this view.

I'm on spring break now, which means sleeping a little more, and still reading for school. I'll temper the academic reading with some preparatory baseball reading and some cooking. It's a nice chance to catch my breath.

The media on the media.

I think that this column is pretty funny, and I find it therapeutic. I also think that it is completely asinine, since it appeared on ESPN.com. If ESPN wants to actually improve the content of sports reporting (they don't, but bear with me), then the logical solution is exactly the same as for any media outlet in real news that decries the overly cliched, tired storylines we all see every single day. Stop broadcasting it 24 hours a day. ESPNews is probably the most significant driving force behind the phenomenon Hruby describes, since they have to talk about sports every minute of every day.

Sportscenter is enough of a stretch, especially during NFL season when the days with games are outnumbered 5-2 by the days on which professional football is not played. A mandatory hour of programming, on a national level, about the days events in sports is just going to run out of interesting material most days. Throw in the league-specific shows (Baseball Tonight, etc), and you have a situation in which a schmo like Chris Berman enjoys gainful employment because he can rattle off cliches for an hour and portray what in the corporate world would be called a decent work ethic as a symbol of an athlete's iconic status . Sports, like every other media genre, simply cannot provide enough content to fill the available airtime. Let's turn to Digger Phelps for analysis...

Stu Sez...

I'd like to point out that last night on Sportscenter, Stu Scott said, "Aw, Przybilla's here, Baby Bubba."

LSU

That's the best thing an SEC team has done in a long, long time.

J.J. cried.

My apologies to Kate for the fact that J.J. crying makes me happy. I'm not proud of it.

Thanks to Eric for making me aware of the game. I can't actually watch Duke games without yelling at the TV.

I now covet this book. I should also check Amazon to see if they have any books about the Pacific Coast League, as reading Joe DiMaggio's biography last summer really piqued my interest in it.






This art installation at, of all places, the Sacramento airport, is also something I'd like to check out, though I can't imagine actually going to Sacto to see a skyway in their airport. Now that I think about it, they do have the highest-drawing AAA team in the country up there, so it could be feasible.

Time for another Sports Guy citation:

Troy (Gainesville, FL): Since you apparently have immunity to talk about announcers today, any thoughts on the MNF booth?

Bill Simmons: (1:41 PM ET ) I'm delighted about Kornheiser, he's one of my all-time favorites and I think he was meant to be in that Cosell role. Seriously. he's going to be great. Also really like Mike Tirico as a play by play guy. He's excellent. Um ... that's really all I can think of ... um ...

I don't want to talk about Joe Theismann either. Not sure I spelled that name right. Not gonna look it up. He's a punk.

Carlos Boozer is suing Prince.

So Carlos Boozer is suing Prince.

That's all, really. Just that Carlos Boozer is suing Prince.

Also, Carlos Boozer is suing Prince.

Like the old days...

Oh, man, what a busy week. Two papers due on Thursday, a meeting with my advisor today (about thesis topics), and a whole lot of reading. Of course, it follows a fine weekend, spent showing Mike the sights and sounds of the Bay Area, consuming much fine beer (Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale has entered my beer pantheon, joining Left Hand Sawtooth Ale, Dogfish Head 90-Minute IPA, and Old Rasputin Imperial Stout), and attending a David Gray concert (Thanks Mike for the ticket), where I fell trying to get to the aisle, and busted my hip. The bruise is a free souvenir.

Of course, UNC lost. The saddest thing about it is seeing David Noel go. The record book will never show it, but all of us know that he's one of the finest Heels ever.

Next week is Spring Break. I'll spend it catching up on some reading I've missed, reacquainting myself with my guitar, and cooking fine food for my wife.

Well, off to class, and then home to write a paper. I'd like to ratchet the stress level down so I can return to being a decent person again.

D, my professor and friend, points out that Theo Epstein is Michael Corleone, especially after getting Arroyo to sign a lesser contract to stay in Boston, and subsequently trading him for Wily Mo Pena. That's cold.

Opening Day is in 12 days.

David Ortiz update

The home run I mentioned on Monday can be viewed here.
It's under Monday, March 13th, titled "David Ortiz hits a long homer."
Badass.

A thousand words....

Now accepting caption suggestions.

If you want to see someone absolutely jack the hell out of a baseball, the shot David Ortiz just hit in the 5th inning of the D.R. / Cuba game is footage you should seek out. As John Lowenstein used to say during O's games, he hit the mud out of that one.

I just made a sandwich on a bagel with turkey, some fresh basil, and a slice of tomato, but I had some fresh mozarella left over from the other night (so is it still fresh? It was the soft kind. That's what I'm driving at). So I put a slab of it on the sandwich and ran it under the broiler. It was at that moment that it transcended mere sandwichness and became the embodiment of goodness. I should have saved it. People could have gazed at it, understood what it is to be good, and thus enlightened, gone on to live beautiful, peaceful lives. But I ate it.

Nothing says "Why don't you just have another gin and tonic?" like a Ron White special. Nothing.

UNC got beat for the second time by BC today. Tyler Hansbrough has now seen a big man who is better than him (Craig Smith), and I think that it can only make next year better for UNC. This also is the point at which I am required to point out that Roy Williams does not put much stock in a conference tournament, though that is not why we got beat today. We got beat because BC took our boys to school in the paint.

One of my professors and his wife are coming over for dinner tomorrow. Grad school could not be more different from undergrad at this point.

I read the cover story in the latest Harper's and I find it compelling, if not a cause for hope.

So this year, as is the case for most years where Stanford and Arizona are not peaking, West Coast college basketball is just a pale shadow of the game played back East. Nonetheless, you can never underestimate the lengths to which college kids will go just to mess with a scholarship athlete. Thanks to Chris for pointing this one out to me.

Quoth the Sports Guy:

If you missed the UNC-Duke game, not only is UNC for real, but Tyler Hansbrough is the first 2005-06 college player who makes me feel, "All right, there's a guy who's a mortal lock to be an excellent pro." I know he's not coming out this summer … but it needs to be said. The guy never stops hustling. He can create his shot going left and going right. He already has a post-up move. He can use his body in traffic. He has 3-point range. He even seems to play bigger in big games. I love this kid. Twenty more players like him, LaMarcus Aldridge and Adam Morrison and I'd really be excited about the upcoming NCAA Tournament. Anyway, when you're filling out your bracket next week, watch out for the Tar Heels -- maybe they're a little young, but they keep getting better and better, they're athletic as hell, they have a very good coach, they're road-tested, and they have a franchise guy.

This from a writer who doesn't even like college basketball that much. I really enjoy knowing that my team has the best coach in the country.

I'm watching Championship Week from the Left Coast for the first time. Instead of the rightful hegemony of the ACC Tournament that I grew up with, I'm left watching the Big East, Big Ten, and PAC-10 tournaments right now. The first two are at least good conferences this year, and I don't mind them, but I miss the ACC.
As Big Country mentioned in his post today, the ACC tournament is back in Greensboro, where it belongs (the ACC was founded and is headquartered in Greensboro, a city which built a 23,000 seat arena pretty much just for the tournament). I went to high school in Greensboro, where we would sneak our portable radios into school, and listen to games during class, through headphones. What I'm saying is that I don't really care if Georgetown beats Marquette, but I would really like to watch Florida State play Wake Forest. I want to listen to Woody Durham talk for 12 straight hours during the early rounds. I want to listen to the fans from other school join in cheering for any team that plays against Duke or UNC. If you grew up in ACC country, you understand why no other conference can compare this week.

Thanks to Jeff for the picture.

I'm watching USA - Canada in the World Baseball Classic right now. A couple of years ago, my friend Buck and I, along with our wives, went and saw the same matchup in Durham, though the teams were of inferior pedigree. That USA / Canada game was one of the poorest baseball games I've seen in terms of quality of play, though our seats were fantastic. The game on TV right now is not looking a whole lot better- I will soon be studying while watching it.

I drove my car down Lombard Street yesterday, while showing my brother some of the sights in the city. It's one-way, so you can't drive up it- they have straight streets that go up the hill. The most exciting part of it was when a motorcyclist passed me ON LOMBARD STREET. Having negotiated that section of town with my Subaru and its manual transmission, I now feel like a competent driver once again. I noticed all of the stoplights and everything.

They still do not have a suicide barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge. This bothers me, and apparently it bothers the San Francisco Chronicle as well. There's a notion out here that "what you do to yourself is your business," and while I can understand and generally endorse that, I think that the devastating effectiveness and popularity of jumping off the Golden Gate call for some action.

This is the first of what will be many posts on this blog that have nothing to do with theology.