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For Love of the Game

  OK then. Baseball is finally over for my beloved Giants. Thank goodness. This leadership pair of Farhan Zaidi and Gabe Kapler has created a baseball team and method that’s just pitiful. It’s painful to watch. And boring. Tedious. A struggle. Never knowing from day to day who is going to be on the club as players or where they might be in the batting order or what positions they might play. No stars. The way Kapler handles pitchers makes it even worse. One result of the inconstancy in player positions is that the Giants lead all of baseball in errors committed in an era of lower error rates in baseball. I can’t be the only one who sees the problem and the source of said problem. It’s no puzzle why the Giants find it impossible to sign truly first rate talent. I’m a big fan of Mike Yastrzemski and Brandon Crawford, but, other than that…….Who would want to subject themselves to that nonsense, anyhow? It’s no wonder that the ballpark is habitually empty, or nearly so. ...
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MLB and the National Anthem

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 Yeah….I’m a baseball guy. I live for baseball season….I have a grand-son playing baseball in Bakersfield Little League, and a daughter playing adult softball in Plumas Lake. Well, not actually IN the lake—that’s just the name of the town. I subscribe to MLB.TV. Because that’s where I can watch the MLB games featuring my beloved, yet incompetent, SF Giants. However, I have a couple of complaints about MLB.TV. I find that MLB shows endless commercials during the National Anthem. You’d think that a sport that wants to drape itself in Red, White, and Blue could carve out enough time for the anthem. You’d think. I find that I have to listen to the radio broadcast on Sirius Satellite Radio to get the Anthem, then launch MLB.TV to watch the game. Look, I have my issues with the butchering of the Anthem by “stylized” singers, but it’s still the Anthem, and it’s important. Then there’s the idiotic “Baseball Zen” nonsense that they use for time fillers between innings. I figure the...
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Homogenization in Baseball

  I’m wondering if any other baseball fans/followers are unhappy with the homogenization of the American and National Leagues. At this point, there’s really no difference—As an example, the Giants, at the beginning of this season, will have played their first 15 games, and 12 of them have been against American League teams. The only games they’ve played against a traditional National League team is a 3 game series against the Dodgers. I don’t really see any point of having National League and American League teams. Just call is Big Boys Baseball (or something) and divvy up the teams in 4 team configurations based on geography, or political bent, or total tattoos, or whatever you want to use. Give the little divisions whimsical local names, like the Peppercorn Division, or the Cornfield Division, or whatever. There’s currently 30 MLB teams, so if they made up 10 more, there would be 40 teams, or ten 4-team divisions. Just think!! Ten Champions every year!! And the...
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A Crisis Every Day

  Watching the local (Portland, Oregon) news this AM, and this stands out—Calling the situation with the “homeless” a crisis cheapens the word “Crisis”. When there’s a true crisis, they’ll need to make up a new word, because what they’re calling a crisis now is a government problem that can be addressed quickly and easily by institutionalizing the crazies in the population and arresting much of the rest for the crimes they commit and the arrest warrants already issued for crimes already committed. Those who are left will scatter. A “Crisis” is when the Russians launch nuclear missiles, or if a 5 mile wide asteroid is on a collision course with the Earth. A bunch of drug addicts, alcoholics, and nut cases living in tents on the sidewalk just doesn’t make the grade. As usual, you’re welcome.
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At Rest

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  My love affair with a cat came to an end recently. Well, not really…..Quigley died before he could manage to have one last Spring fling, but the love affair remains. He now has a peaceful corner of the yard. Here’s what I wrote on Facebook: Quigley was my side-kick for a really long time. He was never really over-friendly…..even with me. He was a one man tomcat. And I was the man. He attached himself to me as a kitten. And I was with him when he died of old age. The pictures are of me and him when he was a kitten, and then one of him in his prime on critter patrol in the front yard of our house in Ohio several years ago. I called him Quig, Q-Tip, Q-Cat, and “The Mostly Crazy White Tomcat”, as well as Quigley. He would answer to a simple calling out of “Q”. He was large, muscular, beautiful, and dangerous. He had the gait of a tiger. I’ve pretty much always had a cat as a companion, but never for as long as this guy. I’ll miss him. He was born in Santa Clarita, Cal...
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Baseball--Cleveland and San Francisco

  Yep. I caught some baseball on Opening Day. Watched some Cleveland/KC and some Brewers/Cubs. Much as they’ve homogenized the game, and as much as I abhor that, I watched. And listened. It’s still baseball. Mostly it’s turned into the American League version of a “baseball-like” game, but it’s all we’ve got now. I don’t really see the purpose of even having an American League and then real baseball in the National League. It’s all the same. And that’s awful. Time was, the American league played in smaller parks, and real baseball was played in larger parks. The American League was a “bloop and a blast” game dominated by home runs, while the National League was a “grind-it-out” league dominated by batting average and base stealing. My main team is the Giants, and has been for as long as I can remember, but I lived in Youngstown Ohio for a number of years and became an Indians fan. So today, since the Giants don’t start on time (they start tomorrow at home), I put o...
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Vegetables and Capes

  Honestly…..If you insist on calling vegetables “veggies”, I will no longer take you seriously about pretty much anything. And now I hear that at Disney resorts, there is no longer a welcoming phrase of “Ladies and Gentlemen…..Boys and Girls”--It’s been replaced with the gender-neutral term “Dreamers of All Ages”. What a Bunch-O-Hooey. No more “Boys and Girls”…..Don’t even say those words at a Disney resort, I guess. Look, I have grand-daughters and grand-sons. They are, in fact, “boys and girls”. And I’d like to think that they’re also welcome at Disneyland in the off-chance that their parents can afford the entry fee. You’ve just gotta wonder where Disney stands on Mickey and Minnie Mouse these days. Or Daisy and Donald Duck. I was watching some MST 3K—Something about 50’s era spaceships and such. An old serial made into a movie, I think. What I wonder about is why did capes go out of fashion with aliens? They look right snappy. The cherry trees here in Ca...
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