No poo discussions. Promise.
First off, yum.
First bun: I don’t know if I’m thinking about this wrong or not, but it kinda seems like this makes a lot of sense. It’s a lot like the mafia (or as I see the mafia portrayed on tv and movies): the ones who can do the most damage are the ones who are deepest into it. Unfortunately, if you do manage to flip one of these, it’s very easy for them to start playing for the wrong side again.
He was the Big Pussy of Al Qaeda.
Second bun: Someone needs rehab! Seriously, passed out in a Mexican Restaurant? How far has this young man fallen? Wow.
Third bun: Big Unit goes limp. Good ridance, sez I.
Fourth bun: Already covered, but someone’s buying lunch from here on out.
Fifth bun: Greedy birds want Miggy, too.
Sixth bun: Do we want this? This isn’t bad, is it?
Dump monkeys! And, um, assorted non-monkeys.
Not all caps: The Grill. Any acronymizationalizing is a retroactive formation. Fixed.
but it needs to stick out from the Grilled part, no?
Giants interested in Cust. That would make me very happy.
That can’t possibly make sense for them. Cust in their RF = ROFL.
Eh, play him in left.
They’re just making him more expensive for the A’s.
I really don’t want to see this happen, but I don’t understand why we haven’t seen any rumors linking him to the Rangers.
’cause they’re gonna sign Vlad…
Do you even LOOK AT my links?
TWHS
{snerk}
extension to Pujols
Self-defe
cating.Fixed.
winner
Vlad = do not want. Rapidly declining DH who is far from certain to be better than Cust (who we need to sign).
I thought he was asking if we want him to go to the Rangers, to which I say no. He has slipped, no doubt, but I still dread the A’s facing him 20 games/year, especially half in Arlington. I’d rather see him go to a team in another division. Tempered, however, by the fact that I do like him and enjoy watching him play, just not so much when he does damage against the A’s.
Yeah, that’s kinda where I was with it, too…but he’s fallen off SO much…I dunno.
He would be more entertaining to watch than Cust. I love Vlad. If the A’s sign him, I might have to borrow some of Dave Cameron’s Beltre tissues.
… to daub at Vlad’s bedsores from his hospital bed next to Chavvy?
I will daub Vlad’s bedsores, if that’s what it takes.
I think you’d feel about watching 2010-Vlad the way I felt a couple years ago when Ghostbusters was free On Demand: sad, empty, and old.
Settle for Tejada. He also used to be good and fun to watch, and he might help the team.
That’s what I’m talkin about. I’d take Miggy. Is the thought that he’s going to be too expensive or that he can’t play 3rd?
I think it’s a combination of doubts about how he’d play third and concerns about his offense. I don’t think he’ll be very expensive.
They need someone to play 3rd, so I’d be happy to have him.
Heck, why not Barton?
Not this again.
What would possibly be the arguments against it, given that 2010 is a 100% noncompetitive year, we have a ton of prospects to push Barton off of 1B, Barton needs to shit or get off the pot offensively and reestablish some sort of performative/trade value, and we have no real 3B prospects?
The arguments against it:
1) Trying to learn a new position is exactly the wrong thing [TWSS] for someone who “needs to shit or get off the pot offensively.”
2) If he could really handle 3B, the switch would have been made 2 or 3 years ago.
1. Maybe.
2. Quitters never win.
2. And here I was misremembering you as not being a fan of Little Miss Suinshine
I demand satisfaction.
I can’t get none.
2. Would it have, though? The organization was still in “ChavvywillbefineChavvywillbefineChavvywillbefineChavvywillbefineChavvywillbefine” mode at that point (and IIRC there weren’t really any strong 1B prospects).
Maybe.
Three years ago, Chavez was coming off seasons of playing 137 and 160 games, at a level that was clearly diminished from his 2000-2004 peak, but was still quite a bit above average. We don’t know what the team knew about his health, but optimism may have been warranted.
Two years ago, he had finally had surgery, so optimism was maybe still not entirely unreasonable, but at that point Beane must have had his doubts just like everyone else did, no matter what he was saying publicly. And Barton had been tried at 3B for 18 games in Sacramento.
One year ago, everyone except maybe Blez knew that Chavez was done. Carter and Doolittle were considered good 1B prospects. The team was (evidently) prepared to send Barton back down to the minors. And a few people were loudly advocating on the internet for him to be moved to 3B.
So I’ll amend that to “If he could really handle 3B, the switch would have been made 1 or 2 years ago.”
That I wouldn’t really argue with.
However, I still think it’d be worth it for shits & giggles.
Have Carter & Doolittle been tried at 3B?
(Side note: I just acquired an irrational love for Chris Carter because, while making a half-assed attempt to look up the answer to my question, I discovered that he was also born in Redwood City… okay, it was Redwood City, Nevada, but still…)
This.
Don’t need to tell me.
Sorry mikeA, I cannot endorse such a signing. I am opposed to performance enhancing drugs due to the public health risks and the terrible example they set for high school kids who are trying to succeed the right way. Rocky Balboa got big and ornery by drinking egg yolks and punching frozen cow carcasses. Miggy Tejada stabbed himself in the ass with a needle. I’m sorry if you are too morally bankrupt to understand the difference.
Patrick Sullivan, in the midst of an excellent FJM-ing of Dan Shaughnessy’s HOF ballot column, steals my schtick and blows the setup:
Re: your NYT link, I think this is the more persuasive analysis.
What was the alternative murdering those particular agents? If Al Quaeda is trying to blow up airplanes and smuggle dirty bombs and the like, I don’t know how learning about CIA operations is going to help. And the security lapse – “we forgot to pat this guy down before bringing him on the base” – wasn’t going to happen with Obama or even Panetta, as the guy in that link suggested Humam do.
As far as I can tell, they don’t appear to have a strategic goal, they just want to make Americans/Israelis/etc miserable. (And yes, nm, you’re going to say “we should just not respond with fear”).
I think we just have different approaches to this stuff. I see an unsophisticated attempt to blow up a plane and a squandering of a valuable resource (If I’m AQ, I want to know what the CIA wants to know, and I want to answer those questions with lies). It makes me less scared, not more.
We’ve discussed the fact that others feel differently.
I just don’t understand why AQ wants to know what the CIA wants to know, and then answer with lies. The only lies you can tell would be of the “uh, Bin Laden is over THERE” variety, since that’s what the CIA wants to know. It’s not like AQ is protecting the sovereignty of their state or something.
How about “guys, AQ plans to attack NY city subways in early February”? Think that wouldn’t achieve AQ’s goals if the guy was believed?
The CIA spends lots of time and energy trying to blow up the AQ leadership. They rely on satellite spying and informants such as the fellow in question to determine what and who they should be blowing up. I imagine it would be useful to feed them bad information and/or discover which areas they are targeting.
Fuck Jay Mariotti, and fuck Jeff Pearlman, and the respective horses they rode in on. Good to see that Calcaterra agrees with me about Pearlman (everyone feels that way about Mariotti).
Pearlman can never, ever redeem himself for the shooting the Rocker in the barrel, as it were. And of course, aiming unsubstantiated personal slurs at Randy Johnson doesn’t exactly engender sympathy for his “words hurt” whine.
That said, based on visage alone I don’t have trouble believing that Randy Johnson is a jerk. Which of course is the problem with unsubstantiated slurs.
TARE was unpleasant in a way that DIDN’T involve “closing” games for us?
I imagine this applies to a lot of sportswriters (from the comments):
I felt wounded after several of TARE’s performances…
Who is TARE?
The Arthur Rhodes Experiment.
And let us never speak of it directly again. It will suck all the light and goodness from the room.
First rule of TARE…
Also, TARE is not beautiful, but it had damn well better be a unique snowflake.
agreed. Kind of like the devil. We only want one of him.
Now that’s some empire-building!
If they play their cards right, they might actually make themselves relevant again.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
Ever since they decided not to make me one of their ten finalists …
Meh, fuck them. Fucking monkey haters.
That was step one.
Touché
Close my eyes, I got double vision.
Avoid Foreigner entanglements
Nice.
Fascinating
My three-week school vacation is almost over … then next Monday I’m back to student-teaching an eighth-grade U.S. History class. We just finished a unit on the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, and now it’s on to Washington’s inauguration and farewell address, John Adams and the Alien and Sediction Acts, Thomas Jefferson and the election of 1800, and then on to the War of 1812.
Anyway, for the last several months (since I got this job) I have been trying to make time for myself to lesson plan … but I inevitably get sidetracked and distracted, as I would prefer to spend my hours reading about the politics of today rather than designing politics about the politics of yesterday. The increased volume of comments here (perhaps attributable to mk’s inspirational meta-thread) is not helping. In fact, I kind of want to say in belated response to that call for more comments … forget all that! Don’t you have jobs to do?!
What I really mean to say is
1) How do y’all manage your Internet time so that it doesn’t have a negative impact on your non-Internet lives. (In other words, help me with my internet addiction.)
2) How do y’all think I could link my interest in politics with my responsibility as a teacher of 8th-grade history. (In other words, help me with my day job.)
Beware of foreign entanglements.
Thank you, George Washington
Beware of AAAA entanglements
Boooo
I’m unemployed.
Congrats(?)
thanks(?)
1) For me, spend a lot of time at work and use FK to recharge batteries. Billing time helps since I can work or not at any given moment (as long as I account accurately).
2) The solution that pops to mind is compare/contrast (topically: how senate worked then vs. now).
Can I have a job? I always wanted to be a lawyer.
“Buster can run the company. He’s a got a degree in business.”
“Of course it’s 17th Century Agrarian Business, but it’s essentially the same thing. Now, does anyone fear an uprising?”
A note to those of you who were unaware: there really was a Karl “Madman” Mundt
Not really related, but my buddy Phil and I have named our bullpen’s slider savant “Wormhole” Wuertz.
Evil Rortybomb Plan
Yikes
Even more Yikesy
I don’t want to like him.
That’s like telling me good things about…I dunno…Rush Limbaugh.
I am having no difficulty whatsoever in continuing to dislike him intensely.
agrd.
I think there’s all kinds of wrong being exhibited here. Really, it’s not all that different from the whole Brit Hume-Tiger Woods thing.
Tiger slept with Brit Hume, too?!
What a slut!
The power of Christ compelled him.
Christ, what a manho.
I’m not sure I see the connection. He’s saying “stuff is complicated, make time to learn it” which is true, if impractical/unnecessary.
I’m focusing on the guy MY approvingly quotes:
That’s simply stupid. I’d argue that a well written and well constructed .ppt (with the correct analysis behind it) is a far more effective tool at communicating strategies and tactics than a .doc of any length.
Maybe. A powerpoint version of a 15 page essay, however, is a looooooooooooooooooooong powerpoint. And 15 pages is a short essay.
I know this is an unfair and not-entirely-on-point riposte, but isn’t that kind of his criticism of Krauthammer?
A .ppt translation of a 15pg .doc should NOT be long. It should basically present the outline of the essay, with some key illustrative points and conclusions and recommendations.
But that’s his point, you’re obscuring the detail
Ah, I see: you’re a modernist after all.
I hate you all.
Eh. Seems like picking nits to me. I’m a Krauthammer guy. Free Kraut!hammer
Not to mention the artistic potential.
Whoever started this “eleventy billion” thing should be slapped, right after we slap the guy who first decided it was cool to refer to players as “assets”. If it turns out the same guy did both things, we should slap him twice.
While we’re at it, maybe we can round up everyone who ironically deploys ALL CAPS TXT SPK FOLLOWED BY LOTS OF QUESTION MARKS?? OR EXCLAMATION POINTS!!! but doesn’t realize the joke wasn’t funny four thousand iterations ago and isn’t now, and slap them, too.
Top threats to the American way of life:
1. al Qaeda
2. People who think constantly typing OMG!!CRAZee!11!! to mock people who type OMG!!CRAZee!11!! makes them part of the Internet avant-garde or something
Also, this Grill phenomenon is dubious.
Also, you all need to get off my lawn as soon as possible.
you are quite cantankerous.
3. the BBWAA
bAnNed! < kRaZee WAnD akShUn >
my heart is momentarily warmed by nostalgia
QOTM
Up yours.
I love you.
Can I have $10?
< soaks $10 in betadine >
< falls off >
I know people in your school, and they say you’re only 3’2″.
I laughed.
Hermano!
OMFG ROFLtastic!!!!!111
Are you still running the IT department? If so, which forms do I fill out to request the simultaneous banning of two FK regulars? (will need to block IPs, etc.)
One of each of these and I’ll get right on it.
I like this grill business. It makes us seem old and fat and from the midwest.
um…
… or mikev
in other words, happy!
I think people really are happy in the midwest. I do not believe any actual human being who lives in Florida is happy who is not also psychotic.
Sometimes we’re both unhappy and psychotic.
Andre. Dawson.
Sorry to violate the no-poo dictum, but You. Have. Got. To. Be. Shitting. Me.
Not just that he was elected, but that he was the only one. Sweet Ba’al Almighty.
Yeah, Dawson’s election was sort of predictable, but whiffing on Alomar and to a lesser extent Larkin, mostly (I’m guessing) because several dozen writers believe in protecting the distinction between first-ballot Hall of Famers and all others … well that’s f-ing stupid.
I remember thinking of Raines as a better player than Dawson, even before I knew that was the sabermetrically-correct viewpoint. Same goes for McGwire and Edgar.
Do you get the sense that this is simply a milestone issue, or something more? If Alomar, Raines, and Larkin (especially Alomar and Raines) had traded in a few hundred of their walks for singles, or if Blyleven had 13 more wins, would they all be in? Or are other biases at play?
Totally nuts that the sixth or seventh best player on the ballot was the only one voted in.
I think there are other biases at play, but the milestone issue trumps all. If they had 3000 hits/300 wins, they’d be in long ago.
as long as they played a position.
I think Blyleven’s a pure milestone millstone — 300 W’s and he’s an automatic yes vote.
Alomar, I think the Hirschbeck Incident continues to hurt him among sportswriters (as, I suspect, do the old AIDS/gay rumors, which are IIRC connected to the HI). He also dropped off so suddenly that that fact alone hurts him a lot; it also contributes to writers not knowing/remembering just how good he was — which by itself is also the case for Larkin and Raines.
Raines is also, I think, a very indirect victim of the whole steroid kerfuffle — with “pre-roid” not-very-good sluggers like Rice and Dawson being more direct beneficiaries. Writers are punishing McGwire (and, stupidly [or not] McGriff; and others coming down the pike) and rewarding HR hitters from the pre-panic era regardless of their actual skills or achievements. That comes at some cost to non-HR hitters from the same era (Raines, Trammell) who I think will have to wait until (a) the roid issue is “resolved” in an inane majoritarian-but-not-democratic fashion by the BBWAA, and (b) until the current shift toward OBP and speed and defense is likewise canonized as CW.
< forgets that I don't care about the HOF >
That seems to be the safest route. It is all contrived.
I honestly think Sabr-flogging hurts them too since the old crazies (read: most of BBWAA) entrench.
True — which is stupid and weird per andeux’s point.
I don’t know. It’s probably a combination of things.
Not appreciating the value of OBP is clearly a big factor in some cases (no on Raines and Edgar, yes on Rice and Dawson). But Edgar and Alomar hit .300 for their career, and Larkin .295, so I would still expect them to be appreciated by traditionalists.
Alomar and Larkin were definitely hurt by the “first ballot is different” nonsense. Alomar, at least, will get in easily next year.
Alomar (spitting) and McGwire (steroids) were also hurt by “character” issues.
And Dawson won an MVP and had two other second-place finishes, while Raines never finished higher than 5th, so either I was already out of touch with mainstream opinion or I’m simply misremembering. What’s weird about Raines (and I’m not the first to point this out) is that the same mainstream writers who accuse today’s analysts of overrating power relative to speed have so completely missed the boat on a guy who among other virtues was the second best base-stealer of all time.
I would have had Dawson 8th, after Raines, Alomar, Blyleven, Trammel, Larkin, McGwire, and Edgar.
re: speed, what do you think about my roid-panic thesis above?
Interesting, if a bit convoluted.
Five votes. Blyleven must be pissed.
Only Dawson?!
(and now the news of Alomar’s and Blyleven’s non-election seems to have crashed BTF)
More like Hall of LAME, amirite?
If this old classic from the ED was already linked above, well, sue me.
Stew’s his agent?
BEST CRAB SANDWICH IN SAN FRANCISCO?
20-25 years ago, when I shared a seasonal box at Golden Gate Fields with a bunch of professional horse-players, Pete, the usher for our section on the mezzanine grandstand level, offered my buddy Mike and I a crab sandwich on sourdough which had been given to Pete by a friend of his at some sandwich shop or diner or restaurant in San Francisco (where Pete lived).
Mike and I split the sandwich, which turned out to be the best crab sandwich either of us had ever tasted before or since. Mike passed away a couple of years ago so I can’t ask him if he remembers where that sandwich came from and I don’t see Pete anymore.
So … monkeyball! nevermoor! Any ideas or opinions?
Best crab sandwich in SF?
I haven’t actually had one. I’d guess Swan Oyster Depot would be a safe bet … but it seems to me one of those things that could very easily be made at home to be better than anything you could get out.
Thanks. You’re right–I could probably make one more easily.
But it’s just one of those memorable experiences that you want to somehow repeat. I could very well eat the exact same sandwich today and think, “Hmm…not as good as I remembered it.”
< placeholder for forthcoming Leopold Bloom Proust reference >
It was a Madeleine, not a crab sammich!
Of course, that is ripe for parody. He takes a bite of the crab sammich and sees five seasons of The Wire flash before his eyes…
I like her.
Meh. I’ve always been more of a Midge man myself.
You want meandering, indecipherable twaddle, nevermoor? Swann’s Way is meandering, indecipherable twaddle.
hey-8-tur.
But if it were shorter and more direct, you’d be obscuring the detail.
Pretty easy to decipher. He likes cookies, asparagus, flowers,and dashing young men.
You have a future in military powerpoint presentations. Needs moar bullets, though.
I drafted that comment in word until it was just right, but the bullets didn’t translate well into wordpress.
I don’t want it. Don’t want it at all.
20- to 25-year-old sandwiches, Dude.
It’s like the two cannibals eating a clown.
One turns to the other and says, “Does this taste funny to you?”
Just noticed your sigline.
Best crab ever: head out to Netart’s Bay in a rusty old boat with outboard motor, catch some crabs, haul a few gallons of seawater back to the farm, crack, boil, and eat. Delish.
Now we’re talkin’. I’ll bring the sourdough.
Wish I could help, but I don’t know that I’ve ever eaten a crab sandwich. I pretty much only interact with crabs bought locally and boiled at home (or, very rarely, at Crustacean)
{snerk}
I thought you’d like that.
How is Crustacean, by the way? I’m always amused by the crowds outside. It’s the single most *bling* crowd I’ve seen in SF.
It’s good, but also pricey.
Layonna Vegetarian Butcher in Oakland’s Chinatown used to do an amazing fake crab – exquisite taste and the right shape and colour. Sadly it’s import is now banned because of the chemicals in the colouring. I try not to think too much about that …
My brother does a great mock eel with dried shiitakes.
I’d make a joke, but she never mocked my eel.
You guys are doing a terrible job of feigning indifference. I am actually indifferent, except to the extent that I’m sort of tired of hearing about Blyleven and Raines for 2 months every year, so I wish they’d just vote yes to everyone who is controversial.
Tiger Woods, Janet Napolitano, and Kathy Griffin: first-ballot HOF’ers
All unanimous.
I seriously may be gay. I love her.
Ugh. If all women were like Kathy Griffin, I’d swear off humans entirely.
I thought you did that in 2002?
He’s more than 7 years old.
Kathy Griffin’s controversial?
She may convince me I “play for the other team”, but I don’t think she’s controversial…is she?
This will be a key tertiary source for my American Studies dissertation, WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!1!1!! Irony, Panic, and Rage in the American Jeremiads of Internet Sports Fandom
snazzy title.
I can’t listen to rest of that. I wanna hit them both with a shovel.
Though I think this is wrong:
I think a general strike from New Orleans to Baton Rouge could indeed bring the whole country to a halt. The more relevant proposition, I think, is whether a general strike in any American city/metroplex is even possible, let alone plausible.
So many great lines, but this may be my favorite:
however, eleventy-bazillionaire or gazillionare would’ve been a dead giveaway
/ fixed
The downballot results are always fun
Mike Jackson, Ray Lankford, Shane Reynolds, and Todd Zeile were not so fortunate.
Actually, if historical WAR is to be believed, Ventura, Appier, and Burks, are not ridiculous choices.
Eric Karros is no Kathy Griffin
Ventura’s totals are hurt by lingering suspicion that he didn’t run out his wouldabeen walkoff grand slam in the 1999 NLCS so that he and his Canadian gambling syndicate could cash in their heavy bets on the under.
damn Canadians.
Was this already discussed and I missed it? Makes me wanna load up the undies with explosives and hop a freight to
CantonCooperstown (though those NFL bastards need to pay too; Bill King was also an awesome football announcer. And while I’m launching vendettas, Canton China better watch out too; Bill King was an awesome consumer of foreign lands and foods).Bill King not included on list of 10 HOF Frick Award finalists.
{feigns indifference}
Fuck ’em. That’s what Bill would say.
I was going to post something, but then I remembered I didn’t vote once this year and felt too embarassed to bitch about the top 10.
Sadly, I think his only real chance was 2006.
The Sexual Innuendo All-Stars
Would I lose my FK membership if I were to, say, hypothetically, admit that I never saw the sexual innuendo inherent in his real name? Would I get my membership fee back?
Depends, can I have $5?
Hunh, I would have thought it would be LB bringing Depends into the discussion.
When I’m old and infirm, Meesus Moonkeyball will handcraft me some reusable, low-CF, sustainable-material adult diapers.
Will she come on here and yell at us about them?
Forget about it, Jake — it’s Yementown
They should just ask their buddies to the north for some of sweet, sweet Zamzam water. The guide told us that it was by the grace of Allah that the well never runs dry. Sounds perfect for Yemen.
One thing that struck me as funny was the running between Al-Safa and Al-Marwah (between which is the Zamzam well). In the middle is a zone in which pilgrims have to speed up, so even on a relatively uncrowded day it can get pretty hairy. Fortunately, there is a middle “handicapped” lane for pregnant and elderly pilgrims. It really is a sight to behold.
Now I want a martini.
You fucking hippies. Get off his lawn.
By the way, the date on the story is “Sunday, December 3, 0.” I’m pretty impressed that this story was digitally archived.
I just want some sweet Zamzam water.
No, wait, I want some pussy, too.
Brit Hume wants a Word with you.
I like the capitalization of Word there.
Nice touch.
The PowerPoint of Christ compelled me.
It’s good to know He’s diversifying.
WE’RE ALL GONNA DIVERSIFY!!!1!!1!!!11
If you have faith, though, your stocks will split.
Incredibly, the Persian Aub Zam Zam was the very first California bar I ever went to. I moved back to CA at age 20, after ten years away, driving from DC via Boston to Oakland in a U-Haul with a dude I just met, sleeping in the truck along the road, with our worldly belongings, a half dozen clipboards, three boxes of literature, a map, and no money, to open the new SF office of a nat’l peace group.
Eventually one night we made it to the East Oakland address of other people we didn’t know, with whom we were to stay, exchanged pleasantries, then got back in the U-Haul to go get a drink. Where would the clueless, intrepid young would-be hippies go? To the Haight-Ashbury, natch.
So we drove over the bridge, found a U-Haul sized parking spot, went looking for a bar, and entered this bizarre place which was about as far removed from the patchouli-dope-sweat flavored place we expected as one could imagine. There were tons of people crowding Haight sidewalks, but this place was completely empty, the bartender was staring at us intently, it was either sit down or flee, so we sat, at the bar. Which turned out to be a good move. The bartender slowly approached, and fortuitously, Jack, the guy I was with, was an patrician to-the-manor-born Boston guy (turned out to be a real asshole; imagine!) and he ordered a martini, so I did too. Really good move. The barkeep, Bruno, in vest and tie as the article describes, eyed us warily but approvingly and said “in San Francisco, we put our money on the bar when we order.”
So we did, and he served up a mighty fine martini, and we proceeded to place money on bar for more rounds over the next few very entertaining hours. Groups of three or four or five people would come in, and all but a very few would quickly run afoul of one of Bruno’s rules. They’d sit at a table and not the bar, or laugh and talk loudly, or place an unacceptable order, and they’d hear “Sorry, we can’t serve you tonight.” We must’ve seen 20 people turned away perplexed, wondering why exactly this strange guy in this strange place was unwilling to take their money.
As a young guy on my own in a city where I knew no one, the bizarre and highly unlikely acceptance by this stern, formal Bruno fellow was somehow empowering, and may have in some small way helped keep me in CA, rather than fleeing home scared to Mom and Dad back East.
A week later all our worldly possessions were stolen in Oakland, and I moved down to LA by way of the PCH in a 1972 Saab 99 which stalled every time the engine got hot, so it took four days. But that’s another story.
Great story.
Seriously. My life is boring.
Great story indeed. I remember going there after reading a Herb Caen reference to his martinis sometime after I first moved out here around 1980, I’ve probably wandered in there every five years or so since. Classic place with a great jazz juke box.
Byg Csnurb: A’s talking to Cust, talking about Kouz + the 3B LaRoche.
Why not Plan K?
Beane proposed Operation Northwoods, but Kennedy rejected it
This seems designed specifically to triangulate an appeal to every single person here.
I wonder how many times James Caan’s jeans split open during the filming of Thief.
I’m not sure I can forgive him for ditching deadwood for that crappy show.
I’m sure I can’t.
Psst…I got the horse right here.
I was sure you’d link to this.
Ha! I wish I had–that was perfect.
Damn it. Now I gotta go watch Guys & Dolls.
(sigh–I’ve never seen it)
David Milch is dead to me. Fuck him. Series abandoner.
Uh, wow. Guess I’ll have to cross Charlie Pierce off my list of Respectables.
At least he’s terse, leading to an unusually concentrated stupid.
I do not wish to ruffle the feathers of my math-inclined brethren here, and I also am completely aware that visual evidence and memory (anecdotal) is the weakest of all evidence. However, Dawson was the best player on a pretty good Cubs team for a five-year period–he was supposedly even better for the decade before on the Expos.
I know he had a weak OBP–but we also have to remember he was a 3(Expos)/4(Cubs) hole hitter for teams that valued base hits and devalued BBs.
Golodrygas of 2010
Wasn’t Golodrygas one of the elves of Lothlorien?
Go low, dry gas
I am finally starting to accumulate data to back up my thesis that without dogs, cigarettes, and golf, society as we know it would collapse.
More confirmatory data that sportswriters = “Beltway insiders”
You pick insects off my back, I let you eat ’em.
Today’s Seemingly Benign Information That Somehow Makes Me Feel Really Old:
Players who will be eligible for the HoF in three short years: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Craig Biggio, Curt Schilling, Sammy Sosa, and Mike Piazza
That’s going to be a messy ballot.
We’ll yearn for the days when all we had to deal with were blowhards who preferred low OBP to high OBP.
Step 1 of a 38 step program to put salb918 in touch with his Inner Obama Love:
Progress signposts / behavioral change expecations:
Step 6: Gives me a “+1” instead of arguing when I (metaphorically … not sure how he’d react if I literally did it) fellate the president.
Step 17: Remarks that Obama’s tie was particularly striking today.
Step 23: JediLeroy innocently links to a National Review blog post. Sal tells JediLeroy to “STFU”, then, apropos of nothing, details all the cost-saving mechanisms in health care reform legislation.
Step 34: Links to slide show of the Obamas in Hawaii, with accompanying remarks like “Isn’t Sasha just the cutest? And Michelle’s dress! Such style!”
Step 38: Announces bid for Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat. In kick off speech, pledges to “do all he can to help the president achieve his historic agenda to renew American prosperity.”
38 steps huh? As long as these guys do the background music I’m cool with it.
I have been impressed with his administrations education reforms. In fact, I’ve read (but can’t find at the moment) conservative commentators compliment the administration in this regard.
Careful, if you link them mb will say it’s just words!
As I recall, monkeyball’s criticism was not of conservatives praising Obama, but of pundits of whatever political stripe advocating policies that can never happen in real life. Columnists who go on about a “straightforward, common sense tax on carbon”, for example, have taken a nice, logically sound, and totally fake position. We can all agree that in politics, there’s usually the right thing, the wrong thing, and the possible thing. For health care, you might say that was “single payer”, “status quo”, and “what we ended up with, more or less”. It’s fine to state your preference for the ideal, but if you use that as a cheat to a) conflate the wrong thing and the possible thing, and b) avoid talking about how to realistically improve the possible thing, you’re just wanking. And Douthat does a lot of wanking.
Better put than my statement.
While this hurts the anouncer’s chance for the NBA equivalent of the Frick, his lawyer’s a shoo-in for the ABA’s Sexual Innuendo All-Stars: LA Clippers announcer stole $735K from friend in bogus land deal.
“Smith’s attorney Dyke Huish says the deal went sour after the housing market collapsed…”
Dyke Huish? Dyke Huish? Yeah, I had a Dyke Huish once, but when the chance finally came I was too drunk to enjoy it.
LB: We got Wii Fit a couple days ago too. BMI is an incredibly stupid system. I’m 6’6″, and it says I should weigh 190 lbs. I used to weigh that much, and every healthcare professional I spoke with told me I was too skinny. I could lose 10 or 15 pounds, but the 40 they want me to lose is a bit much.
That said, it’s still fun.
Recs for Wii:
Mario Galaxy
Okami
Zelda: Twilight Princess
Zack & Wiki (if you like point and click adventure puzzle type games)
Metroid Prime Trilogy
World of Goo
Mario Kart Wii(if you like kart racers)
There are more.
Thanks, JL!
I do keep wanting to type with my feet.
It has become the recent joke in the Ice Cream household, when listening to TV sports interviewers ask any question that begins with “How big was that (play, win, etc.)?” to shout out, “It was HUGE!” Invariably, the (ex)coach/(ex)athlete/sports analyst being interviewed obliges with the same response.
Guess who signed a one-year deal with the Yank-ees today?
Bo, the Pope didn’t sign with the Yankees.
They’ve got a lot of money, but not quite THAT much money. Yet.
Bo knows Pope.
Did I really type that?
The Pope’s not the only one who gets to wear the funny hat.
I lied. A poo discussion, of sorts.
Okay, so is it the fact that I’ve had digestive/intestinal problems/issues lately or are there significantly more digestive/intestinal regularity products being advertised out there right now?
I don’t remember there being this many. Not even close.
OT: I once harbored a secret crush on the “diarrhea” dancer from one of the Yay! Pepto Bismol! commercials.
While finding that video, I also came across this video, wherein a teenager named Sky (maybe about 15 years old?) snorts lines of Pepto Bismol, much to his friends’ amusement. I am usually an optimistic person, but I do think that, Atlantic Monthly essays notwithstanding, we are a society in decline.
I am usually an optimistic person, but I do think that, society notwithstanding, Atlantic Monthly essays are in decline.
This most likely won’t come as a great surprise to most of you, but I’ve snorted several things, including table salt, aspirin, No Doze, Mini Thins, Cheetos, hot sauce, et al.
Christ, what a nosehole.
But Pepto? Have you snorted Pepto?
I don’t think so. I may have.
I want to point out that the young man snorting the line in the video is apparently an Indians fan, perhaps indicative of his poor judgment. But the friend who videotaped the feat uses a picture of the Derek Jeter fist pump as his YouTube icon, indicating sociopathy.
not too often, but every so often, you speak the truth so plainly and clearly, I wish to kiss you full upon the lips.
That’s from Finnegans Wake, isn’t it?
you hope.
Ezra Klein on Colbert.
Colbert:
“I think the choice is simple: either hold on to our ideals, and accept the remote chance that you might die in a terrorist attack, or toss away our ideals … and accept the remote chance that you might die in a terrorist attack.”
Anyone else feel that?
no.
4.1, between Fremont and San Jose.
I bet it was the impact of Lew’s jaw dropping when he got the call from Bud telling him the A’s had to stay out of Santa Clara.
Either that, or the floor falling out of the CRE market.
No. Sub 5 doesn’t count anyway.
TWSS
Quake! Wheeee!
MY. I’d never thought of it this way
People doing work for purely cynical “I want to get money” reasons should really be encouraged to go work in the cynical “we’re trying to maximize profits” sector of the economy. But giving people generous pensions, instead of higher salaries, encourages the reverse.
The way I read it, he’s simultaneously insulting the private sector (if I’m interpreting “the cynical maximize profits sector”) while arguing that public sector compensation should be more like the (non-union) private sector compensation (ie paid up front, little/no pension).
Did I miss something?
Yeah, and the fact that IIRC he (if not MY, at least, then Ezra and/or Kevin Drum) has advocated in the past for providing incentives for Those Greedy Bastids to enter other more beneficial lines of work — instead of thousands of people flocking to the IB sector, peel some of them off into science/research/teaching/etc. through better wage/tax/loan structures.
MY occasionally falls into this “What I do is so, so precious and I cling to that sentiment because so many of my cohort have so much more money/power than I do” trap.
No, I don’t think you missed anything.
There are a couple serious problems with public pensions
1) The accounting issue he talks about, where governments prefer to give generous pension benefits in lieu of higher pay because that makes the short-term bottom line look better, but creates huge budgetary problems later. (The same thing can happen in the private sector, as we saw with the auto makers.)
2) No caps on the high end. In California, public servants can retire after 30 years with a pension equal to 90% of their (peak!) salary. So you see pensions of $200k+ for city managers, and $100k+ for some cops and firefighters. (Berkeley just gave their city manager a raise, using the bizarre but irrefutable logic that if they didn’t he would just retire and they would have to pay him almost as much anyway.)
But Yglesias’ argument here doesn’t seem to make much sense. The part you quote sort of contradicts his claim that the way to get the best way to get good public servants is “just paying people more money up-front.” It seems to me that paying people more money up-front is actually the best way to get people who
a) are motivated primarily by money, not by their actual job
b) will leave for something else at the earliest possible opportunity.
He also ignores arguments that (reasonable) pensions might in general be good for society, and the government can be a model employer in this regard. Would he have argued, pre-health care reform, that the government should offer higher salaries instead of health benefits and let their employees buy health care on the open market? Somehow I doubt it.
These are interesting points. And, I think, go against his army analogy. Don’t vets get access to the VA (but have to pay some percentage if they weren’t wounded in service)?
At the same time, though, pretending to work to pad your pension is a (very real/common) perverse incentive. On a personal level, my mom would probably quit (she got transferred from work she likes to work she hates) if she wasn’t motivated to hit her pension. It would be better for her AND the city to have someone motivated doing the work she does while she does work she wants to do.
At the same time, I think andeux’s last paragraph makes a ton of sense and salb is correct to point out that that quote is – at best – facile.
Good idea? (and yes, I know mb is going to feign indifference)
More baseball > less baseball, so yeah.
{unfeigned hostility}
Buster Olney thinks that
Bobby CrosbyKhalil Greene is a match for the A’s.That was *exactly* my reaction, too
Bert Blyleven sartorially endorses monkeyball’s view of the Hall:
Pic accompanies this compendium of Blyleven’s annual quotes of disappointment.
Should that be read as “I love to fart” or “I heart to fart”? The latter seems too modern/internet-y, but it also rhymes.
Can we set up a Marshall Plan for the new millennium, and get some hot links to the UK stat.
Christopher Lee … Charlemange … a pairing that just cries out for “a concept album with original words and symphonic metal music”.
How many Silicon Valley things can you count in the following sentence?
tink
LB’s links gone wild.