Some Sort of Sunday
By Dan on Oct 5, 2008 in Family, Music, Politics, SJ-R, Sports
No Joy in Cubville
Although a Cardinal fan by nature, I took no joy in the Cubs’ spectacular flame-out. If I were a gambler, I would have bet good money that this was the year Cub fans have been waiting for.
What I look forward to now is hearing from all of those baseball pundits who picked the Cubbies to win it all to explain how the team was inherently flawed. If that were the case, then why didn’t they pick up on it before the playoffs?
I don’t belief in hexes or superstitions, but I do believe that mental pressure can have dire effects on physical outcomes. Not only did the Cubs have the pressure of being the favorite, based on their record, they also had a century’s-worth of expectations weighing on their bats. I suppose that’s what kept them down. What else could it have been?
Lincolnesque
Next Friday, be sure to catch my feature article in the Heartland. It’s on two local actors and their experience preparing for a play currently running at the ALPLM. I went to the premiere last Thursday and it was excellent. Lincolnesque is a political satire with a tender heart that skewers the culture of our nation’s capital.
With a name like Naumovich, you know we ain’t playing basketball
Victor is coming into his own on the soccer field. Last spring, he picked up the important lesson of hustling at all times. Now in the fall, he’s starting to figure out where he needs to be and where the ball is going before it gets there. He came oh-so-close to netting his first goal on Saturday. His gritty determination on the pitch reminds me of me during my college intramural days. His handsome face and spectacular green eyes remind me of guys that got girls I never could in college.
Maria is also playing great, bringing her toughness and intensity to the midfielder/defender position. Although she’s in a co-ed league, most of the competing teams have genetically engineered their rosters to ensure a Y chromosome in each player. They’re getting to the age where this does make a difference. I’ll have to teach her how to use her elbows and where a well-placed kick can be directed to render her competition useless.
Funny is funny, except when it’s our guy
Without question Joe Biden is a hundred times more qualified to be vice president - and should it come to pass, president - than Sarah Palin. It amuses me, however, that bloggers who are chomping at the bit to poke fun at every gaffe Palin makes saw nothing rib-worthy in Biden’s claim that FDR’s presidential reign and television both existed during the dawn of the Great Depression.
Get the Stray
Local Fetchin’ Bones fans (me) are rejoicing this weekend at the discovery that their Bad Pumpkin and Galaxy 500 albums are finally available for digital download. The Bones came of age during the Athens, GA years and they play a twangy/swing/rock hybrid featuring the strong vocals of Hope Nicholls. If you’d like a primer, I’d recommend "Steamwhistle", "Stray" and "Tag Along."
Might doesn’t make right
Maybe it’s always been this way, but it seems that Police Beat abounds recently with stories of people beating each other up. What gives?
I’m not sure we can solve the problems of ineffectual schools and predatory loans until we get people to realize that you can’t beat up pregnant teenagers while they’re sitting and waiting for an exam.
BFS Sunday Trivia*
Who said quizzically, rather than forlornly, when lunch arrived: "What am I, chopped liver?"
*BFS admiration could be yours!
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Judge Schmales?
Thanks for the compassionate remarks about the Cubs. I think you hit it head on.
I agree with you on the Biden blunder, however I think it’s just pretty well accepted that it was a slip of the tongue and not a complete incomprehension on the part of Biden. It’s kind of like when your Mom or Dad calls you by your brother or sister’s name. You know they know the right name, they just slipped up. I don’t believe the same is true for most of Palin’s mistakes. I’m sure Palin would give Biden a pass on that one too since it was relating to the past and we need to be looking forward
nancy | Oct 6, 2008 | Reply
The best Biden blunder was when he told the wheelchair-bound Sen Chuck Graham to stand up…..priceless!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRV5Y1JCGRI
Dave H | Oct 6, 2008 | Reply
So Biden meant to say Hoover and radio, but it came out FDR and television?
It’s not a big deal and doesn’t speak ill of his abilities to be VP, but that wasn’t a slip of the tongue, that was a guy talking out his ass. And Palin would have been raked over the coals had she said it.
Dan | Oct 6, 2008 | Reply
“What am I, chopped liver?”……if you’re talking movies, my lousy guess is the Joey Bishop character in the HBO film “The Rat Pack”…though I myself used that same expression last weekend….but not during lunch.
And thanks for the LINCOLNESQUE plug….
Mary | Oct 6, 2008 | Reply
So you’re amused by your blogger bretheren for not calling out Biden? How many of Palin’s gaffes have you described? Isn’t that kind of the beauty of blogging?
Personally, I think the Biden FDR/Hoover gaffe is “funny”, the same way the millions of examples of Palin’s errors are funny. But Dave H.’s link actually made me cringe, even though it has NADA to do with Biden’s readiness for the vice-presidency, it was just realllllly bad for Biden.
If you haven’t seen bloggers call out Obama and Biden, you haven’t been looking very hard. Maybe you just enjoy blogs of more liberal authorship, and who could blame you?
So was it Juges Schmales (Ted Knight?)
nancy | Oct 6, 2008 | Reply
Oh for the love of…..that should be JUDGE Schmales, not JUGES Schmales.
nancy | Oct 6, 2008 | Reply
Nancy,
I was referring to a certain brand of blogger who takes it as their duty to point out the foibles of their ideological opposites. I’ve never felt the need to do that at BFS.
I realize that this goes both ways, but perhaps because I read more left-leaning blogs, the phenomenon is more apparent to me when it happens against the right.
I don’t know, maybe these bloggers feel that it is their role to point out the weaknesses of the enemy while ignoring any gaffes from the home team.
What bothers me is that many of these bloggers have little to say about their guy, but have daily belittlements on the opponent.
I’d rather vote for somebody, than against somebody. Maybe that’s too much to ask for.
Thanks for commenting and it isn’t Judge Schmales. But you’re warm.
Dan
Dan | Oct 6, 2008 | Reply
Oh….it’s whatshisname….Rodney Dangerfield’s character!!!! Duh.
I doubt that bloggers who write about politicians and point out weaknesses consider it their duty, so much as their right. You wouldn’t want to feel required, out of a sense of fairness, to point out Victor’s soccer opponents strong points would you?, Or detail the rare mistake by his team? You write about what you want to write about.
However, I get what you’re saying about bloggers being against a candidate rather than for one, but that’s the climate today. Educated voters know where their candidate stands on policies, for the most part, and that’s why he’s “your guy”. These platforms have been carefully crafted and posted and advertised. So that facet of a candidate really doesn’t change all that much over the 18 or so months of campaiging. (flip-flopping notwithstanding….it happens on BOTH sides)
So how to sway voters who have decided they agree with one guy’s policies? The only way is to did up some dirt, or point out inadequacies. You can only sell your guy so long before you have to look for votes by tearing down the other guy.
There are McCain people and there are Obama people, and ne’er the twain shall meet UNLESS one side is able to dig up something just undeniably distasteful about the other. Personally, I don’t think either side in this election had changed many minds before Sarah Palin entered the picture.
nancy | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
Actually, I thought Biden recovered pretty well from his “stand up” thing. Anyone can make a mistake………Even people with really fu&*ed up ideologies.
M.B. | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply
I dont’t feel the least-bit sorry for all the long-suffering Cubs fans out there. Call it nerves, call it the jitters, call it the Goat Curse, call it the weight of millions of fans longing for that elusive championship riding on your shoulders, they choked. Plain and simple. They did not hit, had some miscues in the field and Zambrano looked Triple-A to me. Carlos, the no hitter was nice, the finger pointing in the air and all, but you know what….you sucked when it counted the most. Enjoy it for another hundred years.
Dan, with your family DNA and all, I see a hoops dream in your future. I mean, look at Spud Webb….5′6″ slam dunk champion and all. Muggsy Bogues all 5′ nothing….All-Star. Don’t let the Eastern European ethnicity deter you. Heck the Lithuanians back in ‘92 had all those neat looking tie-dyed uniforms didn’t they? They were no slouches either. Victor, pick up the rock and go to the hole my brotha’. You were OK back in the day, I mean, you were no Nnamdi Whatever-his-name-was, but you could hold your own in the pick-up league.
If your mind isn’t made up by now on who you’re voting for than I think you’re missing the boat. Obama’s far too left-wing for me and I do think his past assosiations do merit some scrutiny. As do McCains as well. But I tend to lean over on the other side of the aisle on most thnigs (not all mind you). Palin scares me, I think he could have come up with a wiser choice. But damn she looks good. I thought he and Rudy could have made for a better Republican ticket, that’s if Rudy was even in the running as a VP candidate. I just find Obama’s message a lot of rhetoric and not much on substance. On the bright side though, if you’re a kid and you miss the word “change” on the next spelling test than there’s no hope for you at this point.
Chaz | Oct 7, 2008 | Reply