Yankees-Norse Mythology

I'll credit my buddy Soup for sending me this article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/30/sports/baseball/30squirrel.html?ref=nyregion

Soup lives in the Bronx, and formerly resided in the Dominican Republic, but, sadly, is not yet a baseball fan. However, it seems some of my work to steer him this way is paying off...

Cheers.

Ralph

Dogfighting colunmist

This editorial appeared in the Erie Times this morning. It covers some of the backlash the Vick case is starting to generate. In other words, the pendulum is starting to swing back the other way, as it should. I hate to come out in favor of dog-fighting, but, has I've said, it's really a ghetto culture thing and that's the culture Vick comes from. It's kind of hypocritical to come down so hard on Vick, when white, upper-middle-class people are allowed to legally go out and hunt and kill deer. That's not the mention the animal abuse and cruelty that goes on in dog racing, horse racing, and slaughterhouses that provide us with food. I'm sure there are other cases as well. No, I'm not big on harming animals. Heck, I'd rather not even exterminate ants of they are not bothering me. But I eat meat because I need something to sustain me, and you can always go back to the argument that these cows and chickens would not even come into the world if they not used for meat... but based on their lives, it's maybe better if they didn't. But nonetheless, the mass slaughter of these beings is legal, while Vick kills a handful of dogs, nothing apparently in comparison to the number that are slaughtered legally in dog racing circles, and people are ready to crucify the guy. Yeah, maybe suspend him from the NFL for a year for gambling, but could we leave it at that? As I've always said, if people are going to promote keeping pit bulls as pets, there's going to be dog fighting, because that's what these dogs were originally bred for. They're fightin' dogs, so if we're going to have them around, let them do what they do best. We don't keep thoroughbred horses around and not race them. Nobody keeps cows around without planning to slaughter them for meat, or at least use them for milk. Everything has a purpose, let it fulfill that purpose.

I've probably said enough.

Cheers.

Ralph

More on Mussina

Geez, it looks like after all these years, I'm finally in tune with the Yankees braintrust. Per my speculation, and others as well, the Yankees appear to be dropping Mussina from the rotation in favor of Ian Kennedy, a rookie, who pitched in college last year and has successfully moved up the minor league chain this year. This gives the Yankees three such pitchers on their roster, although Philip Hughes, who didn't go to college, has actually been in the minors a bit longer.

Anyhow, as I've said before, the old pitchers weren't getting it done, so it's time to call on the kids. This is a great sign, and the Yankees have talent similar to the early 1990s Braves when the developed Gavine, Smoltz, and a kid named Avery. Avery burned out, but the other two were solid, and still are in fact, for a long time. Let's hope the Yankees continue to be cautious with the young arms, as winning now would be nice, but having a solid core of your staff in place for the next 10 years would be even nicer.

Oh yeah, 45-year-old Roger Clemens goes against the Bosox tonight. At least we're at home.

Mussina Toast

In his last two starts, the Yankees have given up something like 30 runs. That sucks. They have to get him out of the rotation, but as this article questions, in favor of whom? Mussina represents very well the core of the Yankees' problems for the past 3-4 years, their starting pitching is just too old. Starting pitching is tough, it takes endurance, you need some young arms to trot out there. Sure, you can get away with one or two old guys, that don't necessarily throw hard, but when you have three or four guys approaching, or past, 40 years old (Clemens, Mussina, and Petite), it's tough to expect those guys to hurl a complete season and go deep into games. One result is that it burns out your bullpen.

Young arms are on the way in the form of Hughes, Chamberlain, and Kennedy, but they won't be ready for prime time for another 2-3 years. This sucks, because by then our line-up might be getting old. Oh well, such is the game. Maybe we can get it together and sneak into the playoffs this year, and maybe the arms will be healthy, and maybe, etc.

Cheers.

Ralph

Traverse City

Just returned from a wonderful week of vacation in Traverse City, MI. We stayed in this place, which was really nice (the picture is a sunrise taken from the back porch). We found through some creative Web searching for "last minute vacation deals. Traverse City is a cool place. Michael Moore has a home up there. It's about four hourse northwest of Ann Arbor, right on the western side of the state, on Lake Michigan. It has been developed rather nicely as a vacation spot. It kind of kicks Erie's ass unfortunately, because of the tremendous amount of waterfront accessibility. Plus the people are really friendly, and downtown is set up to be accessible to tourists, with cars yielding for pedestrians and all that. Plus, the waterfron has tons of resorts built up around it. We stayed in a cottage just outside of town. Moore has a film festival there, and there is a culteral bent to the downtown, but there is still plenty of family and more touristy things to do also.

One of best things we did was visit this place called the Sleeping Bear Dunes:

Basically, it's miles of these several hundred-foot high sand dunes that you climb, look at some great views (photo on left), play around on (photo 2) and then run down (that's me and my daughter in the middle of the third photo). The sand is really soft
with no big stones to worry about. It's hard work getting to the top, but very soothing on your feet. You can roll around or lay down and relax on the sand. Then you can fly down the hills, which are pretty steep, but if you fall, it's a very soft landing. The place has almost a holy feel to it-as these giant dunes, left behind by the glaciers, are quite remarkable.

That's about it for now.

Cheers.

Ralph

Moving on up...

Greetings from eastern Pennsylvania.

I think I saw Ed Rendell drinking a Pina Colada at Trader Vic's, and his hair was perfect. I miss Warren Zevon...and Frank Zappa.

Anyway, I watched the celebrity roast of Flavor Flav the other night. Wow. Jokes about gaping vaginas and gang murders.

I liked the comic who said, "This is impossible. How do you embarass a crack head who wears a viking helmet?" Good point.

I also liked when Snoop Dogg said to Ice Tea, "I tried to listen to some of your music on the way over, but the car didn't have a cassette player..." Boiiiieeeee!!!!

Anyway, there's a lot going on over here. MusikFest in Bethlehem, the annual Kutztown Fair...we even took a ride up to the Poconos. School starts on the 27th, so it's coming up fast.

That's it for now; must work on syllabi.

DokTorDee