Football/Baseball QUESTIONS

Football season begins today. (This is American football, not what we heathens call soccer.) All that other stuff for 17 weeks is merely prologue.

I need to rank the teams in the order I WANT them to win, not who I think WILL win. Right now, I think San Diego beats Minnesota in the Super Bowl, because the Chargers played their starters maybe a third of the time last week and STILL beat Washington. OK, it WAS a lousy team, but Indianapolis lost to Buffalo, FCOL.

1. *New York Jets (A) - I seriously thought they were toast after losing 10-7 to Atlanta at home a couple weeks ago. then they beat/were allowed to beat the 14-0 Colts and division-leading Bengals so they can play the Bengals AGAIN this weekend.
2. New Orleans Saints (N) - it'd be good for the city. Losing their last three makes me nervous about their chances.
3. *Philadelphia Eagles (N) - call it mid-Atlantic bias.
4. San Diego Chargers (A) - my sister lives in SD, I've seen them play. what can I
say?
5. Indianapolis Colts (A) - if only for the favor they gave the Jets.
6. *Arizona Cardinals (N) - still think it's unnatural playing football in the desert, but like Mary Richards in the premiere episode of the Mary Tyler Moore Show, they got spunk.
7. *Green Bay Packers (N) - they're GREEN, which IS a plus.
8. Minnesota Vikings (N) - always liked the Vikings. Why could Favre played like this LAST year with the Jets? Oh, because this is a better team.
9. *Baltimore Ravens (A) - eh.
10. *New England Patriots (A) - they've won too often this century.
11. *Cincinnati Bengals (A) - have a history of being thugs.
12. *Dallas Cowboys - when did they have an election and pick the Cowboys "America's Team"? I sure didn't vote.


Meanwhile in the Baseball Hall of Fame voting, Andre Dawson FINALLY made it in. "The Hawk" I’d have picked for sure. But there were FIVE BLANK ballots? Ticks me off.
Though in fact, without the five blanks, Bert Blyleven would have ended up with 74.9% (400/534) of the vote, with 75% needed, and no, they don't round up. Now THAT would have hurt. And tell me, why doesn’t Lee Smith get more love? I also would have voted for Roberto Alomar, and yes, Mark McGwire.

QUESTIONS:
1. Who do you want to win the Super Bowl? Who do you THINK will win?
2. What did you think of the HoF balloting?
ROG

Y is for Yankees

The New York Yankees won their 27th World Series in 2009. Twenty-seven, which, coincidentally, is the number of outs each team gets in a standard nine-inning baseball game.

It's interesting to me how people become fans of sports teams. Sometimes it's based on geography, but it can also be a matter of particular players. My father-in-law still roots for the Minnesota Twins because he liked a player named Harmon Killebrew back in the 1960s. My father was a Los Angeles Dodgers fan because the Brooklyn Dodgers, before they moved to the West Coast, had signed Jackie Robinson in 1947.

For me, in baseball, it was both players AND geography.

Mickey Mantle, 1958

I remember well the 1962 World Series, whereas I have absolutely no recollection of the previous Fall Classics. It was the New York Yankees versus the San Francisco Giants, my favorite teams. Why I preferred the Yankees was easy; the minor league team in my hometown of Binghamton, NY had been a farm team (minor league affiliate) of the team from the Bronx. Then there was that New York State pride. The Giants USED to be a New York team and had my favorite player, Willie Mays. The Yankees, lead by Mickey Mantle, would win that Series, 4 games to 3, but would lose in 1963 and 1964, and then not even get back into the Series for over a decade.

But let's start at the beginning. The team now known as the New York Yankees was an original team in the fledgling American League in 1901 - as the Baltimore Orioles. They became the New York Highlanders in 1903 and never got to the World Series.

Babe Ruth, 1920

The team's fortunes were about to change when they acquired outfielder George Herman "Babe" Ruth from the Boston Red Sox after the 1919 season. Ruth lead the league in home runs with 11 in 1918, and an incredible 29 in 1919. But in his first two years with the Yankees, he hit 54 and 59 homers, respectively, eventually reaching 60 in 1927. Ruth's presence also made the team first in attendance from 1920 on. And in 1923, in the Yankees' first season in Yankee Stadium - they had been playing in the Polo Grounds - they won their first World Series against the crosstown Giants, 4 games to 2.

By the time they won their 2nd and 3rd titles in 1927 and 1928, they had a "Murderer's Row" of sluggers that included first basemen Lou Gehrig. He's known mostly for his Iron Man streak of over 2000 games played in a row, and the disease, ALS, which eventually claimed his life.

Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio watching batting practice, April 1939

I think Yankee hatred started when the team, led by outfielder Joe DiMaggio, got to seven World Series between 1936 and 1943, winning six of them. Worse, the Yankees, now featuring catcher/outfielder Yogi Berra, won in 1947, and every year between 1949 and 1953. The team, which by then also starred Mickey Mantle got into every Series from 1955 to 1958, winning two.

Reggie Jackson

After they were swept by the Reds in 1976, the Yankees won back-to-back titles in 1977 and 1978. This was the Bronx Zoo group that featured the self-described "straw that stirs the drink", Reggie Jackson.

Derek Jeter, 1998

But after a World Series loss in 1982, another drought ensued until 1996, when some young players, led by Derek Jeter, won the title in 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000. But they lost the Series in 2001 and 2003, and didn't even get into the playoffs in 2008.

So yes, I was rooting for the hated Yankees, in their controversial new stadium, in 2009. I mean the archrival Boston Red Sox had won more World Series rings in the 21st Century (two) than the Yankees had before 2009 (zero).

So congrats to the Yankees; doesn't mean I'll root for them in 2010. One oughtn't to be greedy about these things.
ROG

Forsooth! A final week of 2009 meme!

I was not looking for a meme, but I did think I needed to write a post or two about end-of-year stuff. As it turns out, I found one from that American expat in New Zealand, Nik at spatulaforum, that met my needs. Oddly, Nik has written about spatulas only once.

Not incidentally, Nik's meme was stolen for this week's Sunday Stealing, which I usually purloin. Like a circle in a circle.

1. What did you do in 2009 that you'd never done before?

Go to a bunch of kindergarten events, such as the "Apple Run"; the daughter is fast! Go on a vacation with the wife, without the daughter, for our 10th anniversary; it was surely the highlight of the year, though we were only 30 miles from home. Saw Bruce Springsteen live. Flew on an airplane with the daughter, her first flights.

2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I don't make the things. Less grief.

3. How will you be spending New Year's Eve?

Watching my wife valiantly trying to stay awake but likely failing.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No, though the husband of a fellow choir member did.

5. What countries did you visit?

None, including the US. In fact, the longest trip was the aforementioned flight to Charlotte.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

More sleep. More democracy. Less war. Steve Bissette wrote What I Won’t Miss About 2009, and I really can't argue with any of it; re: the year, this video Steve found will do nicely.

7. What date from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

April 3, the massacre in Binghamton, NY. May 14, Springsteen.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Getting through my wife's two weeks away at college, taking care of the daughter while trying to maintain a semblance of a work schedule.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Controlling the temper, especially during the aforementioned trip to Charlotte.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

The usual minor aches and pains. My neck is a little stiff. I have a cut on the heel of my left foot which makes walking without at least slippers, and preferably thick-soled sneakers, painful. And I suffered with some sort of head congestion/lung congestion/coughing up phlegm thing for two weeks in December which seems FINALLY to be over.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

The Top Pop Singles book. Fun! Actually, I liked buying Wonder Pets DVDs for the daughter; she enjoyed them.

12. Where did most of your money go?

The mortgage, of course. Also house renovation; the attic is being insulated this very week to take advantage of a tax credit.

13. What song will always remind you of 2009?

Tennessee Jed by Levon Helm, from his new Electric Dirt album, one of the very few albums I actually got in 2009.
I also bought A Very Special Christmas 7, and it had a bunch of newer artists that don't cut it; Kellie Pickler doing Santa Baby is unconvincing. A Christmas Song by Charice was the best tune, though Gloriana's Silent Night I liked as well. Still, it's for a good cause, the Special Olympics, and I'll probably buy the next one when it comes out in 3 or 5 years.

14. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Playing racquetball. Also wish I had bought my bicycle earlier than June. I saw no live baseball - bummer.

15. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Overthinking.

16. What was your favourite TV program?

"Glee", for sure. It's a show I get to watch with my wife, which doesn't happen that often. People say it's not realistic, as though it were a docudrama. No, the cheerleaders wouldn't wear the outfits ALL the time. Sheesh. I bought the wife both soundtracks for Christmas. Al;so been watching The Good Wife, which is a show I watch sans wife.
Whereas The Office has lost something, and I can't put my finger on it - Jim & Pam being married? The co-managing thing?

17. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

Well, not hate. What's interesting is when there is someone everyone in a certain circle seems to love. But you're just not that enamored, and it seems to be mutual.

18. What was the best book you read?

The Jack Kirby book by Evanier. Or was that last year?

19. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Well, there's this British band called the Beatles that I seem to be newly into. Also, to a much lesser degree, Queen. About as little NEW music as I've ever experienced.

20. What was your favorite film of this year?

2008 movie I saw in 2009: The Visitor.
2009 movie: Up or Amreeka or maybe District 9. Though if I just got the Julia part of Julie and Julia, it'd be that. But there are a LOT of films I haven't seen.

21. What did you do on your birthday?

Played (hearts) cards.

22. What kept you sane?

This assumes that I am sane. There's no evidence I've seen.

23. Who did you miss?

Nobody, really. I mean I wish I saw some people more often, but that would be a shopping list. And because of the magic of electronics, I feel I DO keep up with them and/or know they keep up with me. Without that, it'd be pretty tough.

24. Who was the best new person you met?

There are some new folks in church I'm rather fond of, but I won't name names.

25. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009:

Left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot...

Actually, it is the wisdom of Satchel Paige:
"Age is a case of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it don't matter."
"Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you."
"Don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines."
"Not to be cheered by praise, not to be grieved by blame, but to know thoroughly one's own virtues or powers are the characteristics of an excellent man."
"Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching."

ROG

Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot QUESTION

Here's the 2010 Hall of Fame ballot, with their 2009 votes noted; those with no 2009 votes are eligible for the first time.

Roberto Alomar
Kevin Appier
Harold Baines 32 (6%)
Bert Blyleven 338 (63%)
Ellis Burks
Andre Dawson 361 (67%)
Andres Galarraga
Pat Hentgen
Mike Jackson
Eric Karros
Ray Lankford
Barry Larkin
Edgar Martinez
Don Mattingly 64 (12%)
Fred McGriff
Mark McGwire 118 (22%)
Jack Morris 237 (44%)
Dale Murphy 62 (12%)
Dave Parker 81 (15%)
Tim Raines 122 (23%)
Shane Reynolds
David Segui
Lee Smith 240 (45%)
Alan Trammell 94 (17%)
Robin Ventura
Todd Zeile

1. Who do YOU vote for, and why?
2. Who will get selected, if any? 75% required for enshrinement.
3. Who will get the lowest votes and not be eligible next year? "Candidates may remain under consideration for up to 15 years provided they are named on at least five percent of the ballots cast."

1. Dawson and Blyleven should have gotten in years ago. Alomar and Larkin are strong middle infielders. I vote for Raines because he played well on a mediocre team (Expos). And though I wouldn't have voted for McGwire in his first year of eligibility, I would now. And why doesn't Lee Smith, who is or at least was the career saves leader for a time, back when saves weren't always 3 outs, get more love?

2. From most likely to least: Roberto Alomar, Barry Larkin, Andre Dawson, Bert Blyleven. McGwire doesn't get in unless/until he shows some contrition over the steroids thing.

3. From most likely to reach the 5% threshold to the least:
Ellis Burks, Eric Karros, Todd Zeile, Ray Lankford. Kevin Appier, Pat Hentgen, David Segui, Shane Reynolds, Mike Jackson

ROG

Truth, or a Variation on the Same

This is one of those breakfast blogs Dan VanRiper said I write.

The New York Times recently ran a story about how Rosa Parks WASN'T =the first black person to protest treatment on the bus. How did these others get ignored by history? Because history is arbitrary and not generally 100% accurate. And as a friend of mine put it, "Food for thought about figureheads...Teenagers don't get respect!"

Jackie Robinson was not the first black to play major league baseball, only the first one in several decades, which does not at all diminish his breakthrough. Meanwhile, the black players who reintegrated the NFL, friends of Robinson, BTW, are all but forgotten, or were until this recent Sports Illustrated story. Even if you're not a sports fan, read it, if you haven't. One writer has suggested these players ought to be in the football hall of fame.

My wife, who teaches English as a Second Language, tells me that sometimes only the primary teacher in a classroom is considered the "real" teacher by some students, whereas the specialists (ESL, speech) are though of more like teachers' aides. This is particularly true when the primary teacher is a male and the specialist is a female, and all of the specialty teachers in her schools are women. Stereotypical gender roles, even in our "enlightened" 21st century, come creeping back.

I've mentioned that when I was my daughter's age and in the hospital for an uncontrollable bloody nose, I was slackjawed to discover a male nurse and a female doctor; even at five and a half, I could be surprised that the world wasn't as I expected it to be.

I was listening to the podcast KunstlerCast #90: The Demise of Happy Motoring this week. The host, Duncan Crary, didn't know that "Happy Motoring" was a catchphrase of Esso gasoline (later Exxon). Duncan told Jim Kunsler said he'd Google the phrase, and I ended up doing the same. Apparently, Esso tried to be culturally diverse in its ads. Here are the Esso logo morphing into folks from the British Isles, and, showing some real stereotypes, these American folks.

Here's 18-and a half minutes of sharp political commentary. Eighteen-and-a-half minutes? Shades of Rose Mary Woods!

There seems to be no clear consensus on the meaning of Boxing Day.
ROG

The Breakfast Blog

My friend Dan really cracked me up, when, in his comment to my NaBloPoMo post, he described my blog as one of the "Breakfast Blogs. That what I call blogs like yours, Roger. 'For today's post I'm going to tell you what I had for breakfast this morning! I had exactly what I told you I had for breakfast in yesterday's post, but today I also had a big glass of orange juice! Let me tell you how that came about!' etc."

For the record, I can recall noting my breakfast habits five times in four and a half years, twice in my dedication to cold cereal, especially mixed; one about maple syrup; and a couple times in response to a meme question. OK, and once in answer to this question. That's about once every nine months.

And it's fine that he has a more "slow cooking" blog. Frankly, if I wrote as infrequently as he does, I'm afraid I wouldn't write anything at all. I have so many ideas, or at least pieces of ideas floating around in my head at any given time.
***
What I will tell you is that I went to a comic book show on Sunday, well described by Fred Hembeck here (November 3). Had a grand old time talking with Fred, his wife Lynn Moss, John Hebert and his wife and mother, Bill Anderson, Joe Staton and especially Rocco Nigro. But what Fred and Rocco and I all said at different points was, "Where's Alan David Doane?" He plugged the event in his blog and then no one saw him there. Maybe he was incognito in one of those Watchman or Star Wars costumes; one really can't tell much about a person in a Darth Vader outfit.
***
I've been at a State Data Center Affiliates meeting Wednesday, Thursday and will be today, learning a lot about the 2010 Census, the American Community Survey. and other Census products. I know the Census people really can't say this, but I can: if you don't want some intrusive government person coming to your house, fill out the form and return it right away. The decennial form next year is 10 questions, 10 minutes. Expect me to bore you with this regularly until at least mid-April.
***
I TOLD you the Yankees would beat the...Cardinals I TOLD you the Yankees would win the World Series. Didn't see an inning of it live; mostly caught the highlights.
***
I'm really pleased to announce that I received an acceptance letter this week for the proposal I submitted for Underground Railroad History Project of the Capital Region, Inc. 9th annual conference in February. I'll talk more about it as it gets closer, but I've been a big fan of Paul and Mary Liz Stewart's work on this for years.

ROG

Sports Questions and Samhain

The World Series continues into November. In the Northeast, no less. This really bugs me. With two rounds before the Series, somethings gotta give. Maybe a 154-game season, which Major League baseball used to have until the 1960s, when it went to 162 games. And while they're at it, couldn't they starts some games earlier, so I kids could watch past the third inning?

I suppose this is sacrilege, but I wish the Yankees, and some minor league teams, and maybe others, would get rid of "God Bless America" during the 7th-inning stretch. It started after 9/11/2001, but now it's become a "new tradition". And at the last Hall of Fame game I attended, "honored America" with a scratchy and warped Kate Smith recording. And some people are now getting bent out of shape if television doesn't cover the singing of same, even when TV doesn't cover Take Me Out To The Ballgame, which follows.

In the NFL, I was really happy that Denver beat New England a few weeks ago, but I found it unfair that the Patriots never touched the ball offensively in overtime. There's got to be a better way than a coin flip. In the college game, each team at least gets a chance to score, not a perfect model, but clearly fairer.

So what's bugging you about sports? Maybe it's the relatively new scoring system in figure skating; I happen to like it better than the 6.0 standard. I read that some are advocating for more instant reply in baseball; not sure how that would work. The example is a ball, not a home run ball, that was judged as foul by the umpire but fair in the replay. Where would the batter, and even trickier, the runners, end up? I'm not opposed out of hand, but I can't see how it would work.


Swiped from Uthaclena: In Druid tradition, Samhain is the time of the dead, when the veil between the worlds thins and spirits walk the land of the living. It is the feast of death and rebirth, and the New Year of the Celtic calendar with the fall of the last leaves, the heart of the Autumn, the beginning of the Darkened Days, and the Quiet Time to listen to the Wisdom of the Crone. At this time we celebrate and commemorate our ancestors and elders who have passed into the Otherworld. But, fear naught, for the Sun will be born anew, and Light and Life will return to the world!

Solemn Blessings to you all; hold fast to the seed of Hope, and dream of Better days!


ROG

Oh, Yeah, Television. I Remember Television

The wife and daughter left to visit parents/grandparents Sunday afternoon until Monday afternoon. I had this impressive list of things to do. Not the least of which is to remove clothes from the armoire I have and put them in the new dresser I bought from my in-laws the day before. I always disliked the armoire I have currently. I didn't ask for it, I didn't buy it, and I felt it was imposed on me. But my clothes had to go SOMEWHERE when Lydia took over the room which had a massive closet where my clothes used to reside, especially for socks and underwear.

One time. one of my sisters rearranged my armoire, so that all of my T-shirts were in one large section. I realized early on that I HATED this. Moreover, my T-shirts hated it. I may have mentioned this before: Karen Sammler, a character on one of my favorite shows of all time, Once and Again, would organize her underwear and socks in such a way that they would each get used approximately the same number of times. In the armoire, the most recently-washed T-shirts tended to get washed, put away and be the only ones I could easily get to. I suppose I could have rearranged them back, but that wasn't optimal either.

So when I put my T-shirts in the dresser drawer - ah! There were T-shirts in there I hadn't even SEEN in two years. It takes SO little to make me, and the T-shirts, happy.

I should have emptied the rest of the armoire, but I discovered this device in my living room that discovered I could watch anytime I wanted, without negotiation, called the television. Since I was over two weeks behind on everything, save for The Office, I decided to actually watch some of the new and old shows I had recorded.

The Office (NBC): watched with the wife the Pam and Jim wedding show. My, Dwight seems even nastier this year than before, with real potential to create actual harm.

Modern Family (ABC): I've seen only seen the first episode and I failed to record the second. It didn't really come together for me until the family actually came together at the end. Look forward to seeing again.

Glee (FOX): I missed that premiere episode in the spring. When my wife and I saw it rebroadcast this fall, we weren't sure it was worth seeing again; it seemed a bit facile. But the second show sealed the deal. It featured my adoptee Victor Garber as the father of the lead character. Jane Lynch's character seemed less shrill and more devious.

The Good Wife (CBS): I decided to watch this because it features actors from other shows I've watched. Not only Julianna Margulies from E/R, but also Josh Charles from Sports Night, Christine Baranski from Cybil (and a lot of other stuff). Also, Matt Czuchry, Rory Gilmore's obnoxiously pompous boyfriend in Gilmore Girls, who plays the same pompous jerk here, and Chris Noth, doing some cross between his characters on Law & Order and Sex in the City. I thought the premise - woman stands by her man after sex scandal a la Silda Wall Spitzer with Eliot, then needs a job - was pretty thin, enough for a one-off movie but hardly a series. But after two episodes, I am looking forward to see what happens, how it plays. The secondary story about her home life (two kids and her mother-in-law) has potential.

Brothers and Sisters (ABC): The tease of the first episode suggested trouble for one of Nora's (Sally Field) children, and intentionally make you think it's one rather than another. I was irritated. But I'm two eps behind, so i haven't seen the resolution.

Grey's Anatomy (ABC): Yes, I'm still watching it. I thought the premiere was a rather good example of how people grieve, in this case, the death of George; it's not all at once, and you can postpone the pain, but not really avoid it. the second show was about cutbacks and a whole other type of pain and grief. Izzy (Katherine Heigl) hasn't irritated me as much as she has in previous seasons, but I'm not unhappy that the actress will be taking off time to make a movie.

But I also watched football. Not a whole game, mind you. Overtime of the Broncos over the Patriots; are the Broncos for real? Interesting how the Red Sox and the Patriots seem to be on the same arc - ultimate success to also-rans. I also watched a little baseball, primarily Game 3 of the Yankees over the Twins. Caught the baserunning blunder on the Twins' part and homers by A-Rod and Posada. But I just couldn't stay up another half inning to see if the Yankees would hold the lead. (They did.)

People often ask me if I saw "last night's JEOPARDY!"; the answer, almost invariably, is "no". So they often tell me what the Final JEOPARDY! answer is, testing me to see if I would have correctly gotten it, but almost always, some major element of the answer is missing.

Well, back to sharing the set with the wife and child; it was fun while it lasted.

ROG

Roger Answers Your Question, Scott

Our next contestant is Scott, husband of Marcia (no, not my sister), father of Nigel and, since September 22 of Ian:

Who's going to win the NL pennant, the AL pennant, and eventually the World Series?

I thought in the beginning of the season the Red Sox would be the AL wild card but would get to the Series. Not feeling it any more. While the Angels COULD beat them, I got to think that the Yankees just seem too solid to lose.

Did you happen to read that cover story about Detroit in Sports Illustrated this week? I REALLY will be rooting for the Tigers, but I'm not seeing it happening. If it did, I'd be happy - shades of 1968. (Off topic: BREAK UP THE LIONS!)

I don't see the NL wild card (probably Colorado, though I'd prefer the Giants) winning the pennant. The Phillies have an unreliable closer and leave too many on base. Certainly can make the case for the Dodgers, but I'll go with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Want to say Cards win the Series - shades of 1964 - but I think the Yankees, shut out of the postseason last year, are ticked off enough to win it all - shades of 1928 and 1943.

Is there an entertainer (singer, musician, actor, all, etc.) that you first couldn't understand why they were even in the business, but now admire their work?

Yeah. Almost any singer-songwriter whose singing voice isn't pretty; the first is Bob Dylan, who I first knew as a singer, long before I heard that he wrote all of those songs that other people performed. Then I thought that he should ONLY be a songwriter. But given the number of Dylan albums in my collection, evidently I've changed my mind.

To a lesser degree, Neil Young: his voice wasn't as harsh as Dylan's so I did not have as far to travel to get to owning well over a dozen Neil albums, just as I own numerous Dylan discs.

Given how the media has access to so much information and gets to see so much of a famous person's life, do you think it's best to always steer clear of them being accepted as role models?

I think young actors and athletes and musicians are ill-served. If there was some sort of mechanism that said that when you reach a certain level of the profession you seek, you need some sort of counseling to make sure your head is on straight. I'm thinking of folks like the Mets' Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry, who had too much money too quickly and screwed themselves up.

But everybody is a role model for someone. One can refuse to accept it - was it Charles Barkley who said that he wasn't role model for anyone? - but it doesn't alter the fact that he is. I'm a role model, you're a role model, even if we're unaware. And you don't even know when one's going to become a role model. The Phillies fan who catches a foul ball, hands the ball to his daughter who throws it back, then hugs his daughter; he's a role model. Now if he chewed out his daughter instead, he'd STILL be a role model, albeit not a very good one.

On the other side of this, who that is famous do you think is a good example of a good role model?

There are lots of athletes and performers who work for their various charities, sometimes with limited publicity nationally. That said, I've always been impressed with Bill Russell (Boston Celtics) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Milwaukee Bucks, LA Lakers) for the way they carry themselves. Kareem is also a JEOPARDY! winner - actually the week before I won - so that's also a plus. BTW, he's going to be on JEOPARDY! this season in a million-dollar celebrity invitational; someone's favorite charity will receive one million dollars at the end of the season.

What is your favorite show that is not shown on one of the big four networks (and Jeopardy!, though syndicated, counts as a big network show, since it's always found on one of their local affiliates)?

Scott, with that caveat, you know me too well. Actually, don't mind watching some of the daughter's shows such as Jack's Big Music Show (Noggin). But I suppose I'll pick The Closer on TNT; once you realize it's not a whodunit, but rather how the team discerns it, it's much more interesting. There were a couple particularly moving episodes this summer.

That said, there are SO many shows out there that I might be interested in watching, I pretty much say "no" more often than "yes" lately. Even in this new season, I've taped only three new network shows (Glee; The Good Wife - strong cast; and Modern Family) and I haven't watched ANY of them yet. My wife started watching Glee with Lydia - she mistakenly thought it was child-friendly.

You might have posted this already and I missed it, but had Lydia been a boy, what were your choices for a name?

Had to ask the wife. She claims we agreed on Micah, but I'm not convinced. Sounds too much like the ever-popular Michael. In all likelihood, the child would still be called Male Child Green.


ROG

Let's Talk About Race. Again?

A few things I've seen have brought me back to the topic of race, not the least of which is Greg Burgas' declaration that he is not racist. A bold statement, that. Certainly, I don't recall anything he's written - I only "know" him electronically - that would suggest that he is. I wouldn't be bold enough, though, to say that I am without prejudice. I WOULD say that I work very hard to know what my biases are in order to counteract them.

I think the problem with race and racism generally is that we get caught up in these simplistic myths. Though the Civil War supposedly ended slavery in 1865 - as I noted in the talk I plugged here - there were vestiges of neo-slavery in the US that lasted up until World War II.

Or the notion that South was terribly racist, which it was, but that the North was just the epitome of racial tolerance. I'm thinking of Phil Ochs' songs such as Here's to the State of Mississippi or Neil Young's Alabama or Southern Man. By pointing out the sins of the South, it seems to have given the rest of the country a self-congratulatory free pass. Yet, it is the South, which has had to face its racism more directly, that now has more black mayors, black city council members than the rest of the country.

And the source of that attention to the South was not limited to the US. Mark Evanier posted this episode of Great Britain's That Was The Week That Was, a satirical review that ran in the early sixties, hosted by David Frost. Check out the piece starting about five-and-a-half minutes in that runs for three minutes or so; a warning - liberal use of blackface and the N-word.

The conclusion that a threshold has been met really never comes when the first person gets there. When Obama was elected, people - lots of people - seem to think that "We HAVE Overcome." It's NEVER that simple.

Jackie Robinson is the classic example; when he joined the Dodgers in 1947, did racism disappear from baseball? Of course not. It took a decade before every team had at least one player; if memory serves, the Yankees and the Red Sox were the last, a full decade after Jackie had broken the barrier, and indeed after Jackie had retired.

There are a lot of folks including Howard Stern, in his occasionally salty language, that believe that racism is what's at the bottom of the rampant hatred for President Obama. Probably, but I'm thinking about how prejudice has tread in the past eight years. After 9/11, there were lots of bigotry and even attacks on Arabs and Muslims, and people who some yahoos THOUGHT were Arabs or Muslims. Some black comedian said, in a widely-understood comment, "Now black people AREN'T the most hated people in America!"

Then we have Obama who is black, but it would be politically incorrect to attack him on that. So they can attack him on being Muslim! They're still fair game, aren't they? Throw in that he's a socialist, communist AND a Nazi - he REALLY needs to hone in on one philosophy and stick with it - and all vestiges that it's his race that is the problem are washed away. Except that, when you strip away all of the lies, the only truth left is his race.

I'm going to revisit this soon in the context of a book review.

ROG

Autumnal aspirations QUESTIONS

What are you looking forward to this fall?

For me:
TELEVISION: the usual TV shows (JEOPARDY!, The Office, 30 Rock, news programs). The only new program I've recorded is Glee, and that only because Jane Lynch, who I liked in movies such as The 40 Year Old Virgin and Best in Show is in it. I haven't even read the TV Guide with all the new shows yet; anything else I should be watching?I'm already passing on Cougartown; the whole woman as "cougar" thing is bothersome to me.
Then there's sports. I'll probably watch more baseball in October than I did from April through September. Football, probably from Thanksgiving on, unless I get lucky.
CHURCH: Choir began last Thursday. Homecoming Sunday is tomorrow. And there's a wedding, but since the bride hasn't announced it yet, I shan't.
EVENTS: Definitely attending a talk by Douglas Blackmon, author of Slavery By Another Name on September 24 at the Albany Public Library. Really want to see the The Civil Rights Struggle, African-American GIs, and Germany photo exhibit at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY sometime in October.
Also want to go apple picking and leaf gazing, the latter preerably in Vermont.
***
Learn more about picture above here.
ROG

August Ramblin'

Tuesday night, I couldn't sleep, so I got up to use the computer. I was startled by my wife entering the room - the fan drowned out any noise she made - and we decided to go downstairs to watch the NBC show The Office. We got through the March 19 episode where [SPOILER WARNING] Michael Scott quits Dunder Mifflin [end of warning]. This got me thinking about spoilers. There was a review of some sci-fi TV show, now on DVD, and the reviewer mentioned a significant character development. A commenter complained that he hadn't seen the season yet, as he was waiting to watch it all on the DVD; the reviewer apologized. So what IS the rule for spoilers these days for a TV show or movie? Is it three months after the DVD comes out? What if the DVD NEVER comes out?

We're now down to the last series we watch together. First we saw Scrubs, because we had all the episodes recorded. Then we got through 30 Rock; saw the season finale just last week, then a couple December shows in rerun that we'd missed when the DVR got fried in a late autumn lightning storm. I know what happens on The Office - chances are I read it in someone's blog - but I have no expectation that the plot points remain a secret, though, in fact, my wife does not know, so DON'T TELL HER.

Since JEOPARDY! is in reruns, I'd decided to tape the Regis Who Wants to Be a Millionaire primetime episodes. A much better game with the 15-, 30- and 45-second clock. Of course, I saw the Patricia Heaton math meltdown; she really psyched herself out that she couldn't get the answer to this question: "If a Euro is worth $1.50, five Euros is worth what?" Her choices are A.) 30 quarters, B.) 50 dimes, C.) 70 nickels, and D.) 90 pennies.
***
I'm reading the New Yorker for August 7 online this week, when I come across this: It’s big news in France and Germany that Willy DeVille, a founder of the band Mink DeVille, died yesterday in New York. The death of the director, producer, and screenwriter John Hughes is unmentioned in the major newspapers there. Nothing travels worse than the local rites of adolescence.
I totally missed that story. I wasn't a huge fan of the band, but I do own some Mink DeVille on vinyl.
***
Yesterday, someone in my office was talking about the "famous" Doobie Brothers episodes of the show What's Happening; I had no idea what he was talking about. But it was easy to find clips here and here and even each of the whole episodes on Hulu here and here. I DID see the series from time to time, but it was not appointment television for me.

Someone commented on why the show didn't pick a black artist instead. I was instantly reminded of a 1977 Warner Brothers Loss Leader called Cook Book, "focusing on Warner's black acts." The only predominantly white act on the record was the Doobie Brothers. The song on the album was the same as the song on the What's Happening episode of the same time frame, "Takin' It to the Streets." The Michael McDonald version of the group must have had some cred.
***
From the July 7, 2009 Fortune magazine comes this review of the book Cooperstown Confidential, by Zev Chafets. It addreses the inconsistencies in the process of getting into the Hall of Fame. Reviewer Daniel Okrent writes:
Sure, numbers count -- RBIs, ERAs, etc. -- but Chafets demonstrates that cronyism, prejudice, and financial self-interest play a huge part as well.

He addresses a variety of factors that have influenced the people who make (and unmake and remake and unremake) the rules. In 2009, in the looming shadows cast by Clemens and Bonds, the rule that matters most is No. 5, the one about character. It's been used to keep out witnesses to gambling (Joe Jackson) and gamblers themselves (Pete Rose) but has somehow not been applied to cheaters (Gaylord Perry), racists (Cap Anson), sociopaths (Lefty Grove), and cheating racist sociopaths (Ty Cobb). Nor to a quantity of drunks, drug users, and other lowlifes that could fill the reservation book at Hazelden.

About those druggies: Most people who follow baseball closely suspect that a large share of Hall members from the '70s and '80s got their games up with the help of amphetamines. But Chafets has turned up evidence that steroids go back as far as the 1950s.

I guess it solidified my sense that the hysteria over the latest revelation from the (supposedly secret) list of 2003 users of substances that would become banned in 2004 just doesn't disturb me as much as it does others.
***
And now, a message from movie maker Tyler Perry:
I'm back from Vegas and had a great time at the Hoodies, but I gotta give a quick WARNING to all my Facebookers, Twitters and TylerPerry board members: I'm so pissed right now!

I'm sitting in my den writing, minding my own business, when I get an email from my staff saying that someone put an ad up on Craigslist saying that I was casting a movie in L.A., and in order to be considered for this (FAKE) Tyler Perry movie, you have to join their club for $29.95. THAT IS A LIE, don't fall for it. These folks are trying to rip you off. I hate for people to prey on people's dreams and hopes. Why don't people get a job and stop trying to steal folks' hard-earned money....Ugh, that makes me mad; let me breathe.

Okay listen my dear folks, if anyone asks you to pay in order to do an audition or pay a fee to join a club to put you in a movie, please don't fall for it. That's not how it works in this business. It's free to audition for any film. I'm calling my lawyers about these THIEVES! You're my best help here, so please do me a favor and send this out to all your followers and friends.

Thanks,
TP



***

ROG

Crimes and Misdemeanors QUESTIONS

It's the dog days of summer when "nothing" happens, except that, of course, it does. In addition to this month being the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, it is the 40th anniversary of the Tate-LaBianca murders by the Charles Manson "family" and the 35th anniversary of the resignation of Richard Nixon. So please answer one or more of these questions.

1. Susan Atkins is "gravely ill with a brain tumor". Her release would save the cash-strapped state of California thousands of dollars per year. Should she be released? Should Leslie Van Houten be released? Filmmaker John Waters, who has befriended her, says yes: "Leslie has taken responsibility, and she has followed the rules — the rules that they have told her to follow to get parole. ... She's the poster girl for the California prison system."
In Atkins' case, I just don't know enough to say. Is she penitent? But in Van Houten's case, I agree with Waters: "I do believe in rehabilitation."

2. When Richard Nixon resigned, it was with such mixed emotions. On one hand, I was glad he was gone. On the other hand, I wanted him to suffer more for his "high crimes and misdemeanors" as "unindicted co-conspirator" in the Watergate mess. I'm STILL not convinced that Gerald Ford should have pardoned him a month later, certainly not without some responsibility taken by Nixon; I suppose I was looking for some sort of contrition over what he put the country through.
But what say you?

3. There were 104 names on this list of baseball players who, in 2003, tested positive for some sort of controlled substance. The list was supposed to be confidential, as the official MLB ban on these products didn't take hold until 2004. Yet the names drip out: Bonds. Sosa. A-Rod. Ramirez. Big Papi. All the players of that period, including the ones not guilty of anything, are tainted by suspicion. Should the list be released? Should the Players' Association agree to such a thing? I think the constant drip...drip...drip of names is so harmful that I hope the association agrees to the release. Your thoughts?
***
Oh that's a LIFE magazine pic of Paul and Paul. My father had some Les Paul/Mary Ford singles, as I recall.

ROG

My grandfather and his brother

I never knew my maternal grandfather, Clarence Williams. He died when I was two or three years old.

But my mother didn't really know her father as well as she ought to have, either. Apparently, my grandmother's mother Lillian had a whole lot more control on her kids, even as adults, than she should have, and somehow essentially caused the breakup of Clarence with my grandmother Gertrude, though my mom knew her dad to some degree. My mother was primarily raised by Lillian, Gertrude and Gert's siblings, my great uncle Ed and my great aunt Deana.

My sister was going through some photos and came across these:

Top row-4th from left is Clarence Williams
Seated on right end is his brother, Charles Williams

I had heard vague stories of my grandfather and his brother playing in the Negro Leagues, but I never got any sense of the time frame. And, as this article notes, there were LOTS of teams named the Giants.


Top row 2nd from Left is Clarence Williams
Top Row 4th from left is Charles Williams



This is Charles. He has a daughter, Barbara, who my mom has befriended only relatively recently.

If, by chance, someone knows more about these guys, I would love to hear about it.

ROG

Roger (Finally) Answers Your Questions, Scott

Scott from the Scooter Chronicles - GIVE THIS MAN A JOB! - wrote several questions:

Since obtaining your current job, have you ever thought of switching careers?

What, and leave show business? Seriously, not really. I learn something new (and sometimes interesting) every day. I work with smart people, and I provide a valuable service, if I do say so.

Besides which, I came to it so late (library school at 37, librarian at 39), I feel behind the curve compared with people who are my contemporaries agewise but have twice as much experience in the field.

Do you think the Obama administration will be able to make changes to the current health care systems? If so, do you think it will truly change for the better?

It'll be incremental change, and it'll be marginally for the better. But it won't be the sweeping changes you righteously ranted about a few months ago. I knew trouble was brewing when single-payer wasn't even on the table. I blame Sen. Max Baucus for that. Then the single-payer people were at the table but could not speak. Do not underestimate the power of the insurance lobbies.

Who do you think will be in the World Series, and who will win it?

At the beginning of the season, I picked Mets over Red Sox. Still feel the BoSox will be there. I could/should jump on the Dodgers/Cards/Phillies bandwagon, but heck with it, I'll stick with the Metropolitans.

Oh, there was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about "high-leverage" situation hitting versus the two-run homer in the fifth inning when you're already ahead 11-1.
These are the best and worst, through June 13.
Crucial/non-crucial
Giants .299/.254
Phillies .288/.247
Marlins .263/.231

Nationals .236/.284
Mariners .252/.279
Rays .257/.276

When growing up, did you play in any organized baseball leagues?

No. Tried out for Little League once. I was a middling to poor fielder, but what really made me give up was being at bat. This kid threw a 3-2 pitch for a strike and I never even saw it.

Is so, what position(s) did you play? (If you didn't, what position would you have liked to play?)

I played a lot of unorganized baseball. I tended to play the right side of the infield, though I'm right-handed, because my arm wasn't great. I could throw relatively accurately from second to first, but not from shortstop or third base. Also played first, since I was a large target. Actually got better getting throws in the dirt, but not throws that were too wide or too high.

I also caught some games. Didn't much enjoy it, but I could block the ball if I didn't catch it.

Who was your favorite baseball player while growing up?

Clearly, Willie Mays. He could hit for average and power, he could run and he could field well. That said, I always had an affection for National League outfielders such as Vada Pinson (Reds), Lou Brock (Cards), Billy Williams (Cubs), Hank Aaron (Braves), the Alou Brothers (Giants), Frank Robinson (Reds/Orioles), and Roberto Clemente (Pirates); I had a Clemente card that referred to him as "Bob", but he was no "Bob".

Do you have a favorite baseball player now? If so, who and why?

Albert Pujois (Cards). Seems like a decent guy and he's very good.

Any big travel plans for the summer months?

At this very moment, we were supposed to be in Williamsburg, VA with my parents-in-law, my two brothers-in-law, their wives and collectively, their three daughters. But my wife Carol has so much school work to do in preparation for going away to college for 17 days in a row later this summer that we bailed. During that 17-day run, I'll be doing the solo parenting thing. Having my wife back will be like a vacation; we did this last summer as well, so I know of what I speak.

There's talk about going somewhere in August, but so far, I'm not feeling it. I don't know about your experiences with Nigel, but my experience with Lydia is that vacation away from home is more taxing than just staying in the routine. I AM basing that on our vacation when she was three, and she's more self-sufficient now.


ROG

Shorted season

How did I not notice before? It's baseball season already.

Oh, I'm not talking about Major League Baseball; hard to miss that one. I'm referring to Minor League Baseball. I was reminded of this when I got an e-mail touting MiLB.TV - 800 games for only $29.95 for the whole season to one's computer. This seems like not such a bad deal.

The reason that minor league baseball is off my radar is that it's not yet being played around Albany. The Tri-Cities Valley Cats, a Houston Astros farm team, are in the New York-Penn League a "short season A" league that doesn't start until June and ends around Labor Day. It seems strange for a city of 95,000 in a metropolitan area of about 850,000 to have such a low affiliation. Meanwhile, my hometown of Binghamton, with maybe 47,000 and a metro of 250,000 has a Double A team in the Eastern League, the Binghamton Mets.

Speaking of the Eastern League, I love the angle of this story about Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice Rice being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. It notes that they are the 28th and 29th players from the Eastern League so honored. BTW, I've thought for years that Rice, selected in his 15th year of eligibility, was deserving.

I usually seem to miss that free opportunity to experience Extra Innings, the MLB package of games around the country. This year, it was April 6-12. I did take advantage a few years ago, though. It's fun watching the same game, while alternating two different announcing teams; totally different perspective.

I just realized that I haven't talked with my father-in-law about the inaugural Hall of Fame Classic featuring retired players, some of them Hall of Famers, replacing the Hall of Fame Game. That's probably because tickets aren't available at all until this weekend to Museum members, and not to the general public until April 26. A different system than waiting in line in Cooperstown in February or March, which is what my father-in-law's tradition has been.
***
Failed to note the passing of the colorful Mark "the Bird" Fidrych, the AL Rookie of the Year. Here's a 1985 interview:



ROG

Harry Kalas, RIP

I was saddened to here about the sudden passing of the legendary Philadelphia Phillies announcer Harry Kalas. Harry, whose career spanned 43 years, the last 38 with the Phils, was inducted into the announcers' wing of the Baseball of Fame in 2002. He was 73

Condolences to his family, including his brother Jim, who I know as he's a member of my former church and was my boss's boss's boss for a time; he has the same resonating voice.

Here's Harry celebrating the 2007 National League East division champion Philadelphia Phillies with his rendition of "High Hopes".


And even if you're not a sports fan, the voiceover in the commercial and others in the series is Harry's.

ROG

Roger Answers Your Questions, Scott and Gordon

Our first contestant is soon-to-be-daddy again Scott from Scooter Chronicles:

1. In a previous post, you predicted the winners of each MLB division. Who do you think wins the league pennants, and who wins the World Series?

Once you get to a short series, there are so many variables so it's hard to say. It wouldn't surprise me if it's a wild card like the Boston Red Sox. And, shades, of 1986, I'm going to pick the Mets to beat them.

By the way, Scott - you NEED this: a free, 586-page PDF of the Emerald Guide to Baseball 2009.

2. What is your take on the AIG bonuses? Where do you think the government needs to take this?

First, those noting that the bonuses were a small percentage of the bailout are correct. Second, the first point is totally irrelevant; AIG is totally tone deaf. I've been REALLY uncomfortable with this "too big to fail" label; gives these companies a feeling of entitlement. Given the fact that the average American didn't even know what AIG WAS a year ago, it's unsurprising. The only time I ever saw them was on advertisements on Sunday morning talk shows. So their audience was never the average American, it was the DC movers and shakers.

At this point, with over a sixth of a TRILLION dollars already in, the government isn't going to say to AIG, "Go ahead, go bankrupt," though those bonuses could have been voided if it had. Some of the bonus monies are going to be given back - or deducted from the next check. But if the government is going to nationalize these companies, and they have all but done so - whatever you want to call it - they damn well better job of setting the rules of engagement for giving away lending OUR money. Politically, if not economically, I think the administration needs to try the "clawback" of AIG bonuses; I know that New York State's Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, has been looking at the contracts as well. Here's an interesting article about other money our government might try to recover.

3. Who is your favorite musician? Could be a member of a band, or a solo artist, or whomever. But specifically, a musician.

This is probably influenced somewhat by my birthday present, the 2004 Crossroads Guitar Festival DVD, but I guess I'll pick Eric Clapton. The stuff on the Yardbirds, Derek and the Dominoes, Blind Faith, his early solo stuff, and especially Cream moved me greatly, and that concert showed that sometimes, he's still got it.

4. What is your favorite season of the year?

Spring, beginning of new life. It gets warmer. Oddly, it's also still in Lent, so I get to sing the more mournful stuff in church.

5. Did you read "Watchmen"? If so, what did you think of it? Have any interest in seeing the movie?

I read Watchmen when it came out, and I liked it a lot at the time. I feel as though I should read it again either before or after I see the movie.

Next up, social network maven Gordon from Blog THIS, Pal!

1. Taking a quick business trip to NY City, I want to visit again...but I also want to do more out-of-the-way, quirky places as well as the usual tourist-y stuff. Any suggestions?

The Queens Public Library. Serving the most diverse county in the country, it has a wide variety of collections.

2. Your preliminary thoughts on these early days of the Obama presidency - is he doing right? Way off course?

I have some reservations, but I'm more pleased than displeased. The stuff on Iraq, stem cell research, Gitmo, and much of the stimulus I'm for, especially the emphasis on GREEN jobs and the part about health care, in part because of this story, something Scott has blogged about recently. I loved his apology over the Daschle nomination.

But I'm still not convinced that we're not going into a quagmire in Afghanistan, as the Soviet Union did, if we're not already, and more troops might not help. Also, there were a LOT of vacancies in the Treasury Department with a lot to do. I know he inherited TARP, but it rather stinks.

The other question I'll hold in abeyance.

Still taking more questions!

ROG

I is for Indian

As every American fifth-grader knew when I was growing up, the aboriginal people of the Americas were called Indians because the Europeans who headed west to get east thought that they had reached Asia, probably the East Indies (Indonesia, et al), but it is THIS place that's involved in the current discussion:

There developed real confusion when saying Indian whether one meant someone from the Asian subcontinent or from the Americas.

Subsequently, there was a movement by some Americans to use the term Native American instead of American Indian as more "sensitive" to the first Americans. Yet there were and are many entities that still use the term Indian, from the American Indian Movement to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, part of the US Department of the Interior to the new Museum of the American Indian, pictured above, which incidentally is staging an exhibition of Native American comic art.

So what do the people involved feel? Seems from this article that there is really no consensus:

A 1995 Census Bureau Survey of preferences for racial and ethnic terminology (there is no more recent survey) indicated that 49% of Native people preferred being called American Indian, 37% preferred Native American, 3.6% preferred "some other term," and 5% had no preference. As The American Heritage Guide to English Usage points out, "the issue has never been particularly divisive between Indians and non-Indians.

Further:
In the end, the term you choose to use (as an Indian or non-Indian) is your own personal choice...The recommended method is to refer to a person by their tribe, if that information is known...[W]henever possible an Indian would prefer to be called a Cherokee or a Lakota or whichever tribe they belong to.

The 2010 Census is coming up and the Bureau will be using "American Indian or Alaska Native" as the designation for native peoples, just as it did in 2000. At least one of the reasons may lie in this true story I heard from someone who works at the Bureau. Census forms are tested periodically. In some neighborhoods with large immigrant populations, Census was finding an anomaly; a large number of people were checked as Native American, often inconsistently within a family structure. It soon became evident that the new arrivals were checking their country of origin for themselves, but their children who were born here they designated as Native American. The children WERE native to America.


Still, I am still quite uncomfortable referring to the Major League Baseball team in Cleveland or the National Football League team in suburban Washington, DC by their respective nicknames. It just feels wrong to me. At least the NFL team doesn't have that dopey grinning logo, Chief Wahoo, which reminds me very much of the caricatures of black people in old minstrel shows.

For those of you not into sports or from the United States, the topic of sports nicknames "honoring" Indians at the high school, college or professional level has been an ongoing debate, as you can see, for instance, in this article.


ROG

SPORTS questions

OK, I've gotten myself in another one of those March Madness men's basketball pools, with, as usual, little idea what I'm doing. I know the seedings not until tomorrow and the first games not until midweek (and the play-in game doesn't count), but any teams you think are peaking at the right time, I'd consider your advice.

Meanwhile it's spring training in baseball so it's time to make my predictions for the division winners:
AL EAST: The NY Yankees. More than ever, they're trying to buy a pennant. but they have. Haven't they?
AL CENTRAL: The Minnesota Twins. Not only is it my father-in-law's favorite team, they started looking like a team last year.
AL WEST: The Los Angeles Angels. Smart money picks the Texas Rangers. And it may be right.
NL EAST: The New York Mets: with a new stopper, they can't collapse three years in a row. Can they?
NL CENTRAL: the St. Louis Cardinals. I want to pick the Cubbies, but they broke my heart last year, the centennial of their last World Series victory. of course, THIS will be the year they win it.
NL WEST: Colorado Rockies. Because an overpaid Manny won't help the Dodgers nearly so much.

Meanwhile, I'm more convinced that anyone who was using steroids before 2004, when the MLB ban went into effect, I don't care. Well, I sorta care, but not enough to think they shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame. Of course, I'm on record thinking that Shoeless Joe Jackson should be in the Hall of Fame. So should Pete Rose - as soon as he dies.

Prediction: Tiger Woods will win one, and only one, Grand Slam tournament in 2009.

What's boring about the NBA is that only three or five teams have even a reasonable shot at the title; last year's finalists, the Celtics and the Lakers; and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Maybe the Orlando Magic. MAYBE the San Antonio Spurs.

What sayest thou?

ROG