Saturday/Sunday Bird Droppings
by Camden Chat on Jan 2, 2010 7:00 AM EST
in Open Threads
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PrintWe're gonna take the rest of the weekend off so we can be all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed when the Hot Stove wurlitzer cranks up again next week. Because of the need to fill up 48 hours, I'm giving you a TON of reading. There will be a test.
Consider this your place to yap about the Orioles until Monday morning. -zk
Reports: Baez agrees to 2-year deal with Phils
"Former Orioles reliever Danys Baez has agreed to a two-year deal with the defending National League champion Philadelphia Phillies, according to multiple reports." Talk about falling up. -duck
Baseball Beginnings " Catching up with Matt Hobgood, RHP, Baltimore Orioles
John Klima has a terrific in-depth interview with the O's number 5 draft pick from this past year. Hobgood answers questions candidly about his velocity and his winter conditioning regimen. In two parts: (Part 1 link; Part II link). -zk
Starting a New Year pondering starting pitching - MASNsports.com
Malewski blogs about the rotation, and then closes with this unrelated factoid:
At bats per homer in 2009:
Holliday - 1 every 24.2 at bats
Reimold - 1 every 23.8 at bats
The Baseball Analysts: Heyman "Breaks" Another Story
Rich Lederer provides a scathing analysis of the degree to which Jon Heyman is a mouthpiece for Scott Boras. An article that's almost a year old, but I'd never seen it before. Well worth the read. (Hat tip to Demsey's Army) -zk
third annual year Of team recaptacular
I often don't know what planet the Wayward O is living on, but his year-end recaptacular is well worth your time. My fave quote:
April 3: Hayden Penn sent packing for Robert Lazaro Andino, who got into nearly half of Team's games in 2009 and acquitted self. Redundant note to fans who currently think every young pitcher on Team is next Jim Palmer: there will be Penns.
Answers to some O's questions for '10 | orioles.com: News
From the official website, 10 questions related to the Orioles for 2010, including "Which Felix is the real one?", and "Whaddaya do with Luke Scott?". -zk
Adam Jones on the New Year - MASN
Kate Wheeler gets Dr. Jones to answer a bunch of year-end questions via Twitter. Did you know he's an astronomy freak? -zk
2010 MLB Free Agents: MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com
Wondering who's left for 1B/3B? MLBTR's list was updated on New Year's Eve. Rich Aurilia, anyone? -zk
The 2000s sports hall of fame and shame - baltimoresun.com
The Sun reprints an LA Times article about the highs-and-lows of sports stories in the first decade of the new millenium. Predictably, the article is very LA-biased (Kobe Bryant is a "close facsimile" of MJ? Um, no.) I know the Sun has fired all their decent sportswriters, but seriously? An article like this localized to Baltimore would take all of three to four hours of research and would pretty much write itself. Too much work, Sun scribes? -zk
Holiday Q&A with Nicole Sherry | orioles.com: News
A little chat with Baltimore groundskeeper Nicole Sherry from just before Christmas. -zk
Orioles - MLB Outlet - MLB.com Shop
MLB has extended their 15% off sale on O's clearance items through January 4th. -zk
Oh, and a special Happy Birthday to Mrs. zknower today. :)
Major Strasser: Are you one of those people who cannot imagine the Germans in their beloved Paris?
Rick: It's not particularly my beloved Paris.
Heinz: Can you imagine us in London?
Rick: When you get there, ask me!
Captain Renault: Hmmh! Diplomatist!
Major Strasser: How about Open Thread?
Rick: Well there are certain sections of Open Thread, Major, that I wouldn't advise you to try to invade.
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Many thanks
for assembling this interesting array of articles. CC is a great way to get my Os fix every day.
Hobgood
I took two points away from the Hobgood interview. First, he seems like a thoughtful, mature young man. We have all seen athletes with amazing tools fail to progress or self destruct because of immaturity or stupidity. So, Matt, as his earlier scouting reports say, has a good head on his shoulders. Second, his stuff is suspect. Klima gives him an overall grade of 55, which is well below the Franchise Prospect category and on the dividing line between Mild Prospect and Definite Prospect. I know that we have discussed all of this before, but I was expecting to be blown away by the player taken number 5 overall. He seems more like a second round guy. Hope that the experts are right.
I beg to differ...
After I read the whole thing, my thought was, "Holy shit, this kid is gonna be a bust."
Maybe it’s my HS teacher radar going off, but I thought he was full of excuses and admitted some pretty unprofessional habits as far as conditioning and training until he got signed. He never really did address the extreme lack of velocity (from 96 to as low as 88?) and admitted that as soon as he landed in Bluefield he had to start making fundamental changes in his delivery. He threw 96 in one game early in the HS season and never touched it again? Does that bother anyone else besides me? I had warning bells and sirens going off in my head the more I read that interview.
There’s no way he shaved off 3 percentage points of body fat in the time period he gave unless he’s working out intensively for 2+ hours a day 6 days a week while completely changing eating habits, and you certainly didn’t get the feeling from the interview that’s what he was doing. No way. And I’ve been dealing with body fat % readings for more than a decade in kids his age. I was waiting for him to say, "Yeah, and I added 80 pounds to my bench, too." He’s throwing numbers around that have no basis in reality, I’m guessing.
Writers gave Mychal Givens a ton of crap for not doing anything until he signed, yet Hobgood did the same thing. And Givens doesn’t walk around at 260, either.
To quote 6 of my favorite movies….
I’ve got a bad feeling about this.
"The moment you stop thinking you're the best, it's time for you to get out the game." -'King' Mo Lawal
Which movie is that?
And, I would agree. I saw bust the minute he was drafted. OK, maybe not. But it feels like that. I hate to see a high draft pick wasted like that. I guess you never know…
All 6 Star Wars movies
It was one if the 1st lines in Ep 1, iirc. My wife and I laughed out loud. No one else got the joke.
"The moment you stop thinking you're the best, it's time for you to get out the game." -'King' Mo Lawal
by duck on Jan 2, 2010 1:36 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
all 6 of those are your favorites?
Because three of them sucked
by Stacey on Jan 2, 2010 9:47 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Because three of them sucked
This. Seriously.
"I doubt he could reach [second base]...mostly cuz his fucking arm was in Aybar's nuts." – twistedlogic
I liked II and all of III except for...,
Noooooooooooooooo!
That was lame.
Ep I sucked except for Darth Maul.
"The moment you stop thinking you're the best, it's time for you to get out the game." -'King' Mo Lawal
by duck on Jan 3, 2010 9:53 AM EST via mobile up reply actions
darth maul was the shit
although that damned kid totally ruined everything. “Now THIS is podracing!!!” yeaaa…you get ’em kid.
Darth Maul was a cool looking charecter
but the dude gets chopped in half in the 1st movie he is in? By a padawan? He sucked ass.
Actually, on second thought, he was cool. Lucas’ writing sucked ass.
Yup. And that scene was awesome. EP 1-3 weren’t very good but some of the individual fighting scenes were awesome. That scene stands out and the Obi-Won/Vader fight in EP 3.
Vizzini: Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?
Man in Black: Yes.
Vizzini: Morons.
It was an awesome scene
they just made big bad Darth Maul get killed by a padawan right after he killed a Jedi master. I mean, really? It still was a great scene, Maul just sucked way harder than he should have.
forget titles
Obi-Wan Kenobi > Qui-Gon Jinn
Vizzini: Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?
Man in Black: Yes.
Vizzini: Morons.
Noooooooooooooooo!
to your dislike of Noooooooooooooooo!
Vizzini: Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?
Man in Black: Yes.
Vizzini: Morons.
That line killed my childhood.
Really. Growing up, Darth Vader was an icon – the epitome of evil and the power of the temptation of power.
And it all went POOF! with that stupid line.
And the visual of the sequence, where he breaks the shackles like a bad H.S. production of Frankenstein? Ugh. Lucas at his absolute worst.
"The moment you stop thinking you're the best, it's time for you to get out the game." -'King' Mo Lawal
Did you expect Anakin Skywalker to react positively to becoming Darth Vader? Noooo is simple and gets to the point.
Vizzini: Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?
Man in Black: Yes.
Vizzini: Morons.
The line reading was HORRIBLE!!!!!
And given the direction of the movie, I though Anakin would have seen becoming Darth Vader as a step closer to reaching his goals…
"The moment you stop thinking you're the best, it's time for you to get out the game." -'King' Mo Lawal
Wait...
didn’t he say “Nooooooo!” because he just found out Padame was dead, and not because he became Darth Vader?
I thought it was both. I think Duck is right in that Anakin wanted to become Darth Vader but with his own body not in some suit. Padame’s death only added to the horror in his mind.
Vizzini: Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?
Man in Black: Yes.
Vizzini: Morons.
I didnt take it that way
He’s actually pretty chill when he first speaks with the suit on. Then the emporer tells him that in his rage he killed the woman he loves and he freaks and then the “Noooooo!” line. He is pretty calm as the mask is decending too. He knows what is going on. Here it is (you can skip to around 2:30)
NOBODY can be happy having his legs CHOPPED off and being stuck in a suit in order to breathe. His initial “calm” was probably due to disorientation and shock.
Vizzini: Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?
Man in Black: Yes.
Vizzini: Morons.
I know, I know… this conversation reminds of the time that my friend and I debated the merits between the Bat Mobile and Wonder Woman’s Invisible Jetl But that will not stop my pyscho-babble!
Vizzini: Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?
Man in Black: Yes.
Vizzini: Morons.
I dont even know that much about Star Wars
I just know it seemed pretty obvious from that clip what he was reacting to. I’m no big fan though.
And Wonder Woman’s invisible jet doesn’t even exist anymore. They wrote that golden age crap out. The Batmobile is iconic. Edge goes to Batmobile.
I just know it seemed pretty obvious from that clip what he was reacting to.
I’m not disputing that he’s reacting to Padame’s death. I agree with that. I just think his reaction reflects his emotional state to Padame’s death AND the tragedy of his new body. I think I, you, or anybody would react in a horrified way if we had our legs cut off and had to rely on some gadget to walk and breath. Throw in the death of our spouse, well, that’s just one bad day.
Vizzini: Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?
Man in Black: Yes.
Vizzini: Morons.
whatever
I think its pretty clear what he’s refering to, but it doesn’t really matter. I’m no expert on Star Wars anyway.
The Avatar argument in the article is secondary (although I agree with it), but the argument against the prequels – that they weren’t any fun, they were boring, that the CG was forced and out-of-place, and the characters were incredibly annoying – is spot on.
the argument against the prequels – that they weren’t any fun, they were boring, that the CG was forced and out-of-place, and the characters were incredibly annoying – is spot on.
Well, duh! I thought this line of thinking was a rather widely agreed consensus.
Vizzini: Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?
Man in Black: Yes.
Vizzini: Morons.
I like II & III. I’d like “1” except Jar Jar and the kid are both really annoying. (And I hate that they made a scientific explanation for the force).
Still…at the time…in the theater, I enjoyed it, just because bad Star Wars was better than no Star Wars.
In III, what I didn’t like so much (if I remember it correctly) is that Annakin kind of turns evil for no reason. He’s got this vision that Padme’s going to die and wants to learn the darkside power over death. It seemed like it would have made a little more sense (I guess I shouldn’t quibble about stuff making sense in Sci Fi) if there was a basis in “reality” for him to be worried.
Episode II set the stage for him turning to the dark side with his slaughter of the Sand People women and children, but it his fall still seemed abrupt.
disagree
I think it was a pretty good interview. I mean, the kid just turned 19. He went to Bluefield, not the GCL. I like the idea that he sees the import of getting ground balls. I like the idea that he took it upon himself to call Jordan about his concerns.
Re: his weight…I assume he is going to that conditioning place for the first time in his life. They are going to change his eating habits, his workout habits, etc.
Re: velo…dead arm, as he mentioned? I think we need to see where it’s at a year from now. I do like that he seems to understand that’s it’s not all about velo, and he has to learn how to pitch more.
I came away pretty encouraged.
Librarians are hiding something
by dfa on Jan 2, 2010 1:53 PM EST up reply actions
I dunno
I tend to agree with you on the article. But at the same time, I question taking those conclusions very far.
I wasn’t big on the Matusz pick; I wanted Smoak and thought Matusz would likely bust. Boy was I wrong. At the same time, I see a lot of Jordan’s picks panning out as he predicted. Particularly Arrieta, who I think has become underrated and had a great 2009 in my opinion. To question the Hobgood pick too much is to question Jordan’s judgment, and particularly regarding a kid whose makeup was rated as off the charts by Jordan, his ability to judge a prospect’s character, since he made the same calls on Matusz and others – it has emerged as a major theme of his drafts.
So I don’t know. I’m troubled. But I also have faith in Jordan.
My view on his mindset
Hobgood gets high marks for realizing that he must change his eating and workout habits now that he is a professional athlete. As you mentioned, he gets low marks for allowing himself to blubber up in the first place. There is no comparison between the abilities of Strasburg and Hobgood, but I read somewhere that Strasburg was a blimp when he entered college and had a “come to Jesus” moment about his conditioning.
Like you, I am worried that only Joe Jordan sees Hobgood as hot stuff. I hope that three years from now we are not reading a reprise of the “has talent and is still very young and might yet pan out” litany that we read about Rowell.
LOL
I love how he said, “I’ve lost 8 lbs of fat, and gained 8 lbs of muscle”
Interesting kid. after a month, the scale doesn’t seem to have changed one bit. but i guess your explanation makes sense. yeah, that’s the ticket.
"I doubt he could reach [second base]...mostly cuz his fucking arm was in Aybar's nuts." – twistedlogic
In college
there was a guy on our team who used to say “who gives a shit what the scale says, the mirror tells the truth.” The optimist in me wants to believe that the mirror is telling him a new story…
You ask me
I say let the fucking kid fucking play and stop trying to fucking determine if he’s going to bust or not.
It seems like from Day Zero everybody – and I mean every single person – has been trying to put their opinion out there and it’s always been either on Team Jordan or on Team Bust (which is usually also Team Matzek) and all it is is useless banter that doesn’t advance a conversation so much as advance a Kool-Aid Drinker versus Pessimistic Realist agenda and if nothing else it’s fucking boring.
Fact is, Hobgood might turn into a good major league starting pitcher (there are more than a few professionals outside of Baltimore who think so) and he might turn into nothing at all. But we don’t even have a clue yet. Not even a smidgen of a clue. You’re seriously trying to make a definitive judgment on his future based on an article written after his first year out of high school? Puh-lease.
"I like baseball, movies, good clothes, whiskey, fast cars ... and you. What else you need to know?"
by Andrew_G on Jan 2, 2010 9:56 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
i agree
but thats kinda what we do with every player. projections for everybody no matter how much they’ve played etc. i say screw the projections and just wait and see. surprises are fun sometimes.
Geez, I didn’t think anyone was being too hard on Hobgood. He’s just making a projection. What’s the harm in that? Of course, it’s too early to tell now but I don’t see anything wrong with making predictions based on limited evidence.
Vizzini: Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?
Man in Black: Yes.
Vizzini: Morons.
“i don’t see anything wrong with making predictions based on limited evidence”
don’t know what it is, but there is something funny in that statement. maybe its the making a prediction without knowing anything of value part.
A prediction based on limited evidence is just a poor prediction, that’s all. There’s nothing wrong with that as long as you realize it’s a poor prediction. This is a blog. If people can’t come here and post their half-formulated ideas, then traffic is going to die here fast.
Vizzini: Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?
Man in Black: Yes.
Vizzini: Morons.
A small correction
Z’s comment on the Sun article is on the money in the sense that it is disappointing to see an LA Times article reprinted where a Baltimore-centric one would be much more fun. Why do I care what some schmuck in LA thinks? At least inflict a Baltimore-based Schmuck on us instead.
I do disagree with the statement that all the decent sportswriters were fired, though. I like Kevin Van Valkenberg a lot, although his best work has never actually been in the printed version. Freed from the shackles of X number of inches, though, he writes some great stories about stuff you might not have thought about otherwise.
Cry havoc and unleash the Esskay hot dogs of war! - The Wayward Oriole, Opening Day 2008
by Eat More Esskay on Jan 2, 2010 12:59 PM EST reply actions
Gotta give props to Dean Jones Jr as well
Love his O’s On Deck column online
"The moment you stop thinking you're the best, it's time for you to get out the game." -'King' Mo Lawal
by duck on Jan 2, 2010 1:49 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
you're both right
and i was indulging in a little hyperbole, i guess.
"I doubt he could reach [second base]...mostly cuz his fucking arm was in Aybar's nuts." – twistedlogic
So, here's a thought that I've been having
The Orioles should pursue and try to sign Jose Valverde.
Sure, we don’t need to add another closer-type reliever. But the market for Valverde has collapsed – most people are predicting that he gets 1 year/$6-7 million at this point. As a Type A free agent, he’ll cost most teams a very high pick in addition to the money, and most teams don’t still need a closer.
But they will come midseason. Closer-types are always in demand at the trading deadline. Valverde would only cost the Orioles a third-round pick, and would be an easily moved commodity at the deadline on an inexpensive one year deal. In the meantime, Valverde would give the Orioles another elite bullpen arm who would be insurance if Gonzalez was hurt and would help us give security to our young pitchers. At six or seven million and a third round pick, Valverde seems like a bargain who is likely to be worth more to us than he will cost.
Why not?
Rich Lederer in the Heyman piece put it pretty aptly
“You throw enough mud against a wall, some of it is bound to stick”. Heyman’s a dick and everyone knows that, but honestly alot of esteemed national writers use the same method as Heyman. Anybody read Peter King? How much stuff does he say that doesn’t come true.
Also, couldn’t you find that Scott Boras gives most reporters false info so as to drive up his negotiating power?
Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words—"mank" and "ind". What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.
-Jack Handey
Is it fair to say that at this point it’s personal between you and John Heyman?
What’s up with you & Jon Heyman?
I don’t see why a few people saw this piece as a hatchet job. I thought Lederer was quite fair and to the point.
Vizzini: Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?
Man in Black: Yes.
Vizzini: Morons.
And most importantly
He’s accurate in his assessment of Heyman.
"The moment you stop thinking you're the best, it's time for you to get out the game." -'King' Mo Lawal
That he's a smug douchebag?
Worst part of games on Fox is Heyman as sideline reporter.
"I'd like to do something. We all would here," he added. "As I've said before, you just don't want to do anything stupid that you're thinking in May, 'What in the God's green earth was I thinking about?'" - Andy MacPhail 12/8/09
Luke Scott and First Base
I want to start by saying that I don’t think Luke as a first baseman would be a long-term solution by any means. However, I was wondering if anyone had any idea why Luke playing first has seemingly been ruled out by Trembley and the front office. They really didn’t give him many starts there last year (only 8), and he seemed to do pretty well (both from what I remember watching the games and according to UZR — small sample size and all, I know). Granted, he looked a bit awkward there at times, but he could work on it this offseason and spring training. Considering they didn’t give it much of a shot last year, I’m surprised that Trembley says that Luke’s “priorities” are DH, then LF, then 1B.
I’m pretty sure that we want to get both Reimold and Pie regular at-bats. Having Luke fill up the DH spot is not going to help with that. If Luke can play 1B regularly to get his bat in there, Pie and Reimold can DH when the other’s in LF. I have a hard time understanding why they wouldn’t want to increase Scott’s versatility, which can only help his trade value. The only thing I can think of is that the front office wants a chance to evaluate guys like Michael Aubrey and Rhyne Hughes more thoroughly. I like Aubrey, especially how smooth he seems defensively (and it’s backed up by UZR — small sample size again, I know), but not enough to think that he’s a long-term solution at 1B any more than Luke is (and I don’t know anything about Hughes).
So, I guess my question is, why are they ruling out something they barely tried, especially since it didn’t go badly when they did? And why get another veteran guy when we want to try Snyder later this year, have Hughes and Aubrey as backups, and need to get Reimold and Pie at-bats regularly?
Weaver's Fourth Law: Your most precious possessions on offense are your twenty-seven outs.
i think it's a fair question
something must have happened, because I remember reading “the experiment is over” even before the end of the season last year. Roch or someone said it.
"I doubt he could reach [second base]...mostly cuz his fucking arm was in Aybar's nuts." – twistedlogic
2010 AL East WAR
My 2010 WAR preliminary worksheet is done now and here are the AL East summary results. The Orioles ranked 4th in the division in my study. Probably not a big surprise who the top three are. :)
Top 5 Orioles were…
1) Matt Wieters 4.8
2) Nick Markakis 4.7
3) Brian Roberts 3.9
4) Adam Jones 3.8
5) Brian Matusz 3.1
vr, Xei
Wow
The kicker in Liberty Bowl for ECU hooked three field goals, I think he’s related Steve Hauschka :)
Don't give up, don't ever give up. - Jim Valvano
by BaltimoreSportsFan on Jan 2, 2010 9:50 PM EST reply actions
I hate technology
Tell me how I close my laptop lid for ten seconds and it jacks up my whole computer?
And tell me why my tech support people tell me my wait will be 5 minutes and yet I’ve been on hold over 30?
And tell me why the computer voiced lady keeps telling me to go to their website for answers? I called you because my computer is broken you stupid asshole!
One day when I’m not commenting mobilely (is that a word?) I’ll tell you all about my theory that I have some weird electrical current or something that causes everything I own that uses electricity to freak out.
Happy fucking new year.
by Stacey on Jan 2, 2010 10:06 PM EST via mobile reply actions
well it explains all the tech support issues
also, its not nearly as snarky if explain it. stop trying to ruin my false sense of superiority!
and...
your false sense of cool, ‘fight the man’ indie-ness that Mac gives you…..
"Real Orioles don't pout. Real Orioles don't gloat. Real Orioles just win."
by NewYorkOriole on Jan 3, 2010 1:07 AM EST up reply actions
fight the man’ indie-ness that Mac gives you…..
How Apple ever managed to create this sense of " indie-ness" is both perplexing and brilliant. I’m thinking about buying a Macbook Pro. I’m looking at a few other notebooks but the Macbook Pro is the first Macbook that’s caught my attention.
Vizzini: Let me put it this way. Have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?
Man in Black: Yes.
Vizzini: Morons.
just bought one. it replaced my old powerbook.
i am absolutely in love with it. it’s just a beautiful machine, and it kicks ass functionally as well.
"I doubt he could reach [second base]...mostly cuz his fucking arm was in Aybar's nuts." – twistedlogic
enjoy your right clicks
and the all important elusive delete key, the single worst (lack of) feature of the macintrashes
"you know what the orioles could use right now? a day off." - joe angel
what the hell?
all the macs except laptops have the delete key. on laptops, you just hit function-delete. not that hard.
and right clicking is also available. when was the last time you tried a mac?
"I doubt he could reach [second base]...mostly cuz his fucking arm was in Aybar's nuts." – twistedlogic
IT'S NOT FALSE, IT'S REAL #$@!$#%#@
(passes out)
"I doubt he could reach [second base]...mostly cuz his fucking arm was in Aybar's nuts." – twistedlogic
this.
"I doubt he could reach [second base]...mostly cuz his fucking arm was in Aybar's nuts." – twistedlogic
I'm not saying mac isn't better
I’m saying my power to break things has nothing to do with the brand.
Few thangs
Wayward O = wordsmith
Adam Jones makes me enjoy life a little more.
Matt Hobgood will have a fantastic 2010.
Baez to the Phils? Really?
Phillies
So they can’t afford Lee but they can afford Baez? And they won the world series in 2008? Fancy that.
Librarians are hiding something
by dfa on Jan 3, 2010 3:42 AM EST up reply actions
I fully expected Danys to end up in Toronto
I will choke myself out if he goes to Philly and gets a ring.
It could happen
It did for Adam Eaton, anyway
"The moment you stop thinking you're the best, it's time for you to get out the game." -'King' Mo Lawal
Baez will be their closer, I bet.
Since guys with ERAs over 7.00 don’t usually get to keep their jobs.
"I'd like to do something. We all would here," he added. "As I've said before, you just don't want to do anything stupid that you're thinking in May, 'What in the God's green earth was I thinking about?'" - Andy MacPhail 12/8/09
Face it: You went to college too soon
Deconstructing ‘The Wire’
By AMANDA M. FAIRBANKS
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/03/education/03wire-t.html?ref=todayspaper
…Jason Mittell, a media scholar at Middlebury College in Vermont, teaches "Urban America and Serial Television: Watching ‘The Wire’ " as a way into American culture through the lens of television. At the University of California, Berkeley, Linda Williams’s rhetoric course "What’s So Great About ‘The Wire’?" examines its journalistic, novelistic and dramatic roots.
Premium cable is not required. While Professor Williams skips season two (for brevity), Professor Mittell shows all 60 episodes during class time, five episodes a week.
"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Churchill,1942-- a rebuilding year.
Full disclosure: I’ve taught at both these places (pure coincidence). Fuller disclosure: my classes weren’t as popular as The Wire, dammit. Fullest disclosure: You call this college?!? The kids these days!!!
And their music— it’s just noise!
Get off my lawn!
"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Churchill,1942-- a rebuilding year.
Dude, I took racquetball FOR CREDIT in 1988.
"The moment you stop thinking you're the best, it's time for you to get out the game." -'King' Mo Lawal
I took aerobics too!
Lotsa hot girls in skimpy outfits jumping, so yea… that went well.
I also took “Women’s Changing Roles in Society” frosh year. It was either that or racism/sexism, which my councilor told me all the guys go into and that women’s changing roles was mostly all women. I loved that class. 43 women, 4 guys, and we took field trips to nyc sex shops. Oh, and my group partners were gorgeous. My final paper was on the porn industry. It was amazing.
I also took intro to music as a senior. I was a music major my freshman year and had studied music since I was 10. The professor let me teach the class a few times. It was also awesome.
gotta get in on this
I had a semester with Golf, Weightlifting, Health & Wellness, Safety, and some science class that I most likely failed.
That was my wasted semester in school. Luckily it was on the school’s dime.
Don't let the sunshine fool ya. - Townes Van Zandt
My freshman year of college, I took weightlifting
It was only a one credit class, but I didn’t go a single time and forgot to drop it. I got an A.
Even though I’m 33 and haven’t taken a class in 11 years, I still have recurring nightmares that there’s some Lit class on my schedule that I completely forgot to attend or do any assignments for all semester and now the final is coming up.
my fiance and I both have those also
I was about as relaxed about school as a person could be (never stressed about midterms/finals/papers whatever), but those dreams really stress me out!
True dat: Sitting around a large table, Episcopal H.S., Alexandria, 1987, waiting for a Foreign Languages Dept. mtg to begin…
French teacher: [The principal] said he’d attend today, make some announcement. So where is he? This is really dragging on…
Latin teacher: Yeah, it IS getting really worrisome— and we can’t start the mtg without him.
Titov: Yeah, we’re tapped here. Helpless. Unprepared. It’s almost like a Math Anxiety Dream or something.
All 8 other teachers, virtually simultaenously: YOU have those TOO? Thank God, I thought it was just me…
Titov: I wonder if math teachers have Foreign Language Anxiety Dreams or something…
"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Churchill,1942-- a rebuilding year.
Oh, almost forgot this gem: in my h.s. 25th Reunion Scrapbook, one guy wrote that although he’d flown F-16s in combat, the recurring nightmares he had were of being late for an English class, which he couldn’t find and for which he hadn’t done the homework all semester. And he was an honor student, as I recall…
"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Churchill,1942-- a rebuilding year.
my college guts included...
introduction to opera (aka clapping for credit)
astronomy 101 (aka astrogut)
introduction to film theory (aka monday night at the movies)
"I doubt he could reach [second base]...mostly cuz his fucking arm was in Aybar's nuts." – twistedlogic
Wish my astro class was that easy
I needed 1 more science class, and geez, I had to learn calculus all over again!
"The moment you stop thinking you're the best, it's time for you to get out the game." -'King' Mo Lawal
no joke...
i HATED my astronomy class. Plus, there was a lab as well.
Don't let the sunshine fool ya. - Townes Van Zandt
I loved astronomy!
The professor posted all of his lecture notes on the internet before class (which in 1999 was simply unheard of) so hardly anyone went to class, and if you did the prof was this dorky mid-20s guy who loved talking about The X-Files. And half of our labs were held at like 11 p.m. and involved looking up at the stars. It was the tits.
My fave ridic classes were “History and Film” and “Vietnam War Through American Memory.” History and Film was held Wednesdays from 7-10. From 7-9 we’d watch a movie, from 9-10 we’d discuss it, and at 10 we’d go to the bar. And the movies were good, not boring crap. I wrote a paper on how The Godfather paralleled greater society. What a hoot.
Vietnam War Through American Memory was taught by this bitter guy who’d been drafted for the war and in class we watched Platoon, First Blood, Apocalypse Now, etc. Our assignments were to read some books by Graham Green and shit. It was amazing because it was all basically stuff I’d do on my own time anyway.
Ahem: Three Classes That Successfully Fulfilled the Science Requirement
1. One Lab Science: Geology 101 (aka Rocks for Jocks). Prof. Page, in lecture: “For those of you not planning on majoring in geology, tune out for about 20 min; do a crossword or something. I’ll tell you when it’s time to listen again.” Field trip: Observation of Sand and Rock Outcroppings at Half Moon Bay. Pizza boarding optional.
2. Two Non-laboratory Electives:
(a) Man and His Environment (aka Garbage Collecting). Isn’t non-recycling just awful? My paper: “The Flush Toilet: Convenience or Necessity?” Well? WELL?!?
(b) Human Sexuality. (No aka. That was its real title.) If Woody Allen was kicked out of NYU for looking into the soul of the student sitting next to him during an Ethics exam, this one had people looking into their own pants during the final. (And no, there was no 2nd-semester course on Animal Husbandry or something.)
"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Churchill,1942-- a rebuilding year.
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