One more quote from W. P. Kinsella's masterpiece:
"But mostly the arrivals will be couples who have withered and sickened of the contrived urgency of their lives."
That's the J.D. Salinger character finishing his spiel about why people will come to an Iowa farm to watch ghosts play baseball.
Cheers.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Sports Notes
Couple quick note here.
First of all, I just watched the first episode of "The Bronx is Burning" on the Abc.com Web site. I guess it's an ESPN series that started right after the All-Star game. But it certainly rocks. At least for me personally. It's about the 1977 Yankees, which is one of my favorite teams of all time. It was the first Yankees team in my lifetime to win the World Series. And I even remember staying up late to watch Reggie Jackson hit three home runs in the sixth and final game of the series to clinch it, and then sprinting through the crowd, which was pouring onto the field after the game. You certainly don't see that anymore. The first episode had the whole "Straw that stirs the drink" quote thing in it, which was a dig by Jackson at my favorite player at the time, Thurman Munson. I'm like 10 when all this is going on, so to me these guys were larger than life.
Can't wait to watch the second episode. And the video quality online is outstanding.
In addition, I just ran across this great perspectivce on the whole Mike Vick thing. I don't have the streed cred to have said it even close to as well as Mr. Granderson does.
That's about all for now.
Cheers.
Ralph
Oh yeah, and what the fuck is up with the Tour de France? Can that even be considered a sporting event anymore?
First of all, I just watched the first episode of "The Bronx is Burning" on the Abc.com Web site. I guess it's an ESPN series that started right after the All-Star game. But it certainly rocks. At least for me personally. It's about the 1977 Yankees, which is one of my favorite teams of all time. It was the first Yankees team in my lifetime to win the World Series. And I even remember staying up late to watch Reggie Jackson hit three home runs in the sixth and final game of the series to clinch it, and then sprinting through the crowd, which was pouring onto the field after the game. You certainly don't see that anymore. The first episode had the whole "Straw that stirs the drink" quote thing in it, which was a dig by Jackson at my favorite player at the time, Thurman Munson. I'm like 10 when all this is going on, so to me these guys were larger than life.
Can't wait to watch the second episode. And the video quality online is outstanding.
In addition, I just ran across this great perspectivce on the whole Mike Vick thing. I don't have the streed cred to have said it even close to as well as Mr. Granderson does.
That's about all for now.
Cheers.
Ralph
Oh yeah, and what the fuck is up with the Tour de France? Can that even be considered a sporting event anymore?
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Starbucks
This is just plain silly.
I actually went to Starbucks today and grabbed a latte. As I've said before, the shit really works, especially when you haven't had it in awhile.
I find myself wondering, however, if Google is not the next Starbucks. (Because I've written "Google" in this blog, will it be passed by someone at Google for perusa? "Google for purusal." I like that.) You know, something that started out pretty cool, and still has some good product, but just got so big that it's Quality (as in the Zen in the Art of Motorcycle sense-I mean to reread that book again this summer) control could just not be maintained, and it got kind of bland and diluted, in a least-common-denominator sort of way. But the stuff still works, if you can channel in.
Coffee talk, hah, hah...
X
I actually went to Starbucks today and grabbed a latte. As I've said before, the shit really works, especially when you haven't had it in awhile.
I find myself wondering, however, if Google is not the next Starbucks. (Because I've written "Google" in this blog, will it be passed by someone at Google for perusa? "Google for purusal." I like that.) You know, something that started out pretty cool, and still has some good product, but just got so big that it's Quality (as in the Zen in the Art of Motorcycle sense-I mean to reread that book again this summer) control could just not be maintained, and it got kind of bland and diluted, in a least-common-denominator sort of way. But the stuff still works, if you can channel in.
Coffee talk, hah, hah...
X
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Shoeless Joe
I'm currently reading the book Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella, which the movie Field of Dreams is based on. Field of Dreams is a great movie, and the book is equally great so far, but different. One major difference is that the kidnapped writer is not some fictional '60s radical, but instead is J.D. Salinger, the very real (albeit in a fictcional account) author of Catcher in the Rye, which is a great high school read. (Enough with the "greats;" they're getting grating.)
Anyhow, I'm talking to Dr. Dee last night about my last post on Randy Moss (incidentally, which has been published on this Web site, where you get the most insightful, unbiased Bills coverage in the world), and he comments that I have always had good insight into Randy Moss. Intersting. Then, I'm reading Shoeless Joe and on page 84 (Moss' old number with the Vikes, who are Dr. Dee's favorite team), I came across this passage, which made me think of Dr. Dee:
(The narrator and Salinger are at Fenway Park watching a Red Sox game, and the narrator is trying to encourage Salinger's passion for baseball). "Look around at the fans, count their warts just as they count ours; look at them waddle and stuff their faces and cheer with their mouths full. We're not just ordinary people, we're a congregation. Baseball is a ceremony, a ritual, as surely as sacrificing a goat beneath a full moon is a ritual. The only difference is that most of us realize that it is a game. Good writing is a ritual, I've been told, so many words or so many pages a day. You must know that..."
The funny thing is this whole number, interconnected universe, tumblers coming together and opening up a peak into what could be --- well, this all plays in with the theme of Shoeless Joe.
Cheers.
Ralph
Anyhow, I'm talking to Dr. Dee last night about my last post on Randy Moss (incidentally, which has been published on this Web site, where you get the most insightful, unbiased Bills coverage in the world), and he comments that I have always had good insight into Randy Moss. Intersting. Then, I'm reading Shoeless Joe and on page 84 (Moss' old number with the Vikes, who are Dr. Dee's favorite team), I came across this passage, which made me think of Dr. Dee:
(The narrator and Salinger are at Fenway Park watching a Red Sox game, and the narrator is trying to encourage Salinger's passion for baseball). "Look around at the fans, count their warts just as they count ours; look at them waddle and stuff their faces and cheer with their mouths full. We're not just ordinary people, we're a congregation. Baseball is a ceremony, a ritual, as surely as sacrificing a goat beneath a full moon is a ritual. The only difference is that most of us realize that it is a game. Good writing is a ritual, I've been told, so many words or so many pages a day. You must know that..."
The funny thing is this whole number, interconnected universe, tumblers coming together and opening up a peak into what could be --- well, this all plays in with the theme of Shoeless Joe.
Cheers.
Ralph
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Brady-Moss
I know that summer has barely reached its midpoint, and we haven't even played the baseball All-Star game yet, but with the Yankees sucking (playing mostly lackluster ball), and I having attended a cookout where a couple of grade school football coaches were already getting excited about starting pratice in a couple weeks, I guess I'm kind of in a football state of mind this morning. For some reason, I got up thinking once again that this Randy Moss to the New England Patriots thing is not going to work out.
Why is this important? Well, it's probably the most talked about trade of the offseason, plus the Patriots are somewhat of rivals with my beloved Buffalo Bills (who might be skipping town in a couple years, but that's another story.) Patriots play the Bills twice a year and have forever, so, I'm somewhat familiar with the franchise and also interested in what sort of team they will have.
A lot of the focus on this trade has been on how Moss' personality is going to fit in with the Patriots. This is mostly bullshit of course. Patriots coach Bill Belichick doesn't fool around, and if Moss is a malingerer (a term my father-in-law used to love to use), he will be gone. His contract is structured in such a way that the Pats can do this.
The more intriguing issue, from my view, is whether or not Moss will fit in with the Patriots offense. If you remember, Moss was famous for telling the Vikings to find someone who can overthrow him, so he had time to run under the ball-or something along those lines. With the Vikings, he played with strong-armed QBs like Cunningham, Jeff George, and Culpepper, an incredible run, and of course, Denny Green liked to air it out. It's my contention that Brady is not that type of quarterback.
I started trying to prove this theory by going to the numbers. I thought that stats like yards per attempt (YPA) and yards per completion (which is actually much harder to find and I had to figure it out myself) would bear out my contention. But the fact is they did not. Drew Bledsoe, for instanace, who I always consider a great long-ball thrower from personal observation, never ranked higher than eighth in YPA, and was only in the top 10 three times in more than 10 years as a starter.
Yes, in Moss' years with the Vikings, his quarterbacks averaged something like eight yards per attempt, and were in the top five in the NFL in YPA five out of seven years. In contrast, Tom Brady, who has been a starter for six years, has never ranked in the top five in YPA, but he has ranked between eight and 10 four times. This is really not that huge of a difference, and perhaps, we can attribute what difference there is direclty to Moss. After all, Vikings quarterback Duante Culpepper dropped from second in the league in yards per attempt at 8.6 in 2004 (his last year with Moss) to out of the top 10, with a 7.2 YPA average in 2005, his first year without Moss. (It also should be noted that Culpepper's career also went south when Moss left the Vikings, and he has not, as of yet recovered.) In fact, Brady, at 7.8 YPA, actually ranked ahead of Culpepper in 2005. (I thought perhaps that Culpepper's yards per completion might be higher because he might be getting more distance on the passes he completed vs. Brady's having a higher completion percentage, but that wasn't the case. Interestingly, when I ran YPA numbers vs. yards per completion, the ratios and rankings pretty much remained the same. Now, maybe if you go back to old school bombers like Lamonica, Bradshaw, and Namath, who generally had lower completion percentages than today's quarterbacks, the YPA vs. yards per completion ratio changes when comparing them to modern quarterbacks...)
So, I guess my first conclusion is that Moss should elevate Brady into the top five in YPA numbers in 2007. If he doesn't, he probably isn't doing his job.
Okay, so let's move onto more subjective material. Mainly, is Tom Brady a deep ball thrower that will be able to use Moss to his fullest and enable the Moss acquisition to benefit his team? There seems to be mixed opinions on Brady's arm strength, but my contention, after years of watching him, is, no, he is not a great deep ball thrower. Here's a write-up on Brady from before the 2000 draft when he was taken in like the fifth or sixth round:
"Pocket passer who has the arm strength to split zones...Very effective on quick slants...Can torch defenses once he gets into rhythm...Has a good feel for spotting his alternate receivers... Puts good zip behind his short tosses and can drill the long sideline throws..."
That concurs pretty much with my observations of him. Brady throws a great mid-range ball, very accurate, with good zip. And he can go over-the-top after defenses start cheating on his mid-range and shorter throws. This is what makes him an effective long-ball thrower-not the pure over-the-top arm strength of a George, a Culpepper or a Cunningham. Brady's like a pitcher whose location and ability to throw a change-up now and then makes his fastball that much more effective. It's my opinion that Moss doesn't fit into this type of offense, as he lacks the discipline to effectively run the mid-range routes that set up Brady's home run balls.
As a result, Moss is not due for a big year numberswise, because the Pats' offense is not set up to feature the type of receiver he is. Brady is not attuned to throwing numerous deep balls and letting Moss go up and get them-which is basically what they seemed to do in Minnesota. It's my prediction that unless Moss evolves into a Paul Warfield-type personality (which I'm not saying couldn't happen), he's going to be unhappy in New England, and it will show up in his play on the field.
If you remember, Warfield was an All-Pro with the Dolphins because he was such a deadly deep threat. However, in five years on the Dolphins, Warfield only caught more than 30 balls in a season once, although he did average more than 20 yards per catch. Warfield, who was a consummate pro, I'm assuming was a good blocker and ran out all his patterns (Shula would accept no less I think), even when he wasn't involved in the play, which contribtued to the Dolphins pair of Super Bowl titles. Moss' history hasn't shown he has the discipline to do this kind of stuff. Of course, maybe the Patriots' coaching staff will get Moss to change his attitute, but it's going to take a lot of work, and it's my opinion that he's not worth the effort the Patriots will need to put in. (I ran this piece in January, as to why I don't think the Patriots have won a Super Bowl in the past couple years, after winning three in four years, and I think the Moss' signing is indicative of the reasons why and will help prevent the Pats from winning this year's Big Prize as well. Of course, the Pats also miss Charlie Weiss, who is a great coach and would perhaps be able to figure out how to best utilize Moss in their offense.)
I'll just conclude by saying that although the Patriots don't run a true West Coast offense (I think they run something closer to the Mike Martz mid-range-based passing game), the West Coast offense has really changed the game. When I was trying to come up with teams that Moss would be a good fit for, I came up with the Colts and Bengals, two teams with strong-armed quarterbacks who consistently can get the ball deep. I think J.P. Losman may fall into this categorey as well, but he's a bit raw and the Bills already have Evans to run the deep routes. Ironically, the Raiders, for whom Moss famously failed, supposedly like to throw the ball deep, but unfortunately haven't had a quarterback (or an offense, I guess) who could do that effectively since Jeff George in the mid-199os. Funny thing is, this JaMarcus Russell, who they just drafted number one is rumored to have a gun, and it would have been interesting to see if he could have developed a Culpepper-type relationship with Moss. Alas, these things are why the Raiders suck anymore...
But, suffice to say that Montana and Walsh have changed the game to such a significant extent that a player like Moss is now a dinasour. Same as Drew Bledsoe became. Funny, I would have loved to have seen Moss work with Bledsoe, instead of Owens last year, but, hell, why do I know all this stuff that NFL execs can't figure out?
Best regards,
X
Why is this important? Well, it's probably the most talked about trade of the offseason, plus the Patriots are somewhat of rivals with my beloved Buffalo Bills (who might be skipping town in a couple years, but that's another story.) Patriots play the Bills twice a year and have forever, so, I'm somewhat familiar with the franchise and also interested in what sort of team they will have.
A lot of the focus on this trade has been on how Moss' personality is going to fit in with the Patriots. This is mostly bullshit of course. Patriots coach Bill Belichick doesn't fool around, and if Moss is a malingerer (a term my father-in-law used to love to use), he will be gone. His contract is structured in such a way that the Pats can do this.
The more intriguing issue, from my view, is whether or not Moss will fit in with the Patriots offense. If you remember, Moss was famous for telling the Vikings to find someone who can overthrow him, so he had time to run under the ball-or something along those lines. With the Vikings, he played with strong-armed QBs like Cunningham, Jeff George, and Culpepper, an incredible run, and of course, Denny Green liked to air it out. It's my contention that Brady is not that type of quarterback.
I started trying to prove this theory by going to the numbers. I thought that stats like yards per attempt (YPA) and yards per completion (which is actually much harder to find and I had to figure it out myself) would bear out my contention. But the fact is they did not. Drew Bledsoe, for instanace, who I always consider a great long-ball thrower from personal observation, never ranked higher than eighth in YPA, and was only in the top 10 three times in more than 10 years as a starter.
Yes, in Moss' years with the Vikings, his quarterbacks averaged something like eight yards per attempt, and were in the top five in the NFL in YPA five out of seven years. In contrast, Tom Brady, who has been a starter for six years, has never ranked in the top five in YPA, but he has ranked between eight and 10 four times. This is really not that huge of a difference, and perhaps, we can attribute what difference there is direclty to Moss. After all, Vikings quarterback Duante Culpepper dropped from second in the league in yards per attempt at 8.6 in 2004 (his last year with Moss) to out of the top 10, with a 7.2 YPA average in 2005, his first year without Moss. (It also should be noted that Culpepper's career also went south when Moss left the Vikings, and he has not, as of yet recovered.) In fact, Brady, at 7.8 YPA, actually ranked ahead of Culpepper in 2005. (I thought perhaps that Culpepper's yards per completion might be higher because he might be getting more distance on the passes he completed vs. Brady's having a higher completion percentage, but that wasn't the case. Interestingly, when I ran YPA numbers vs. yards per completion, the ratios and rankings pretty much remained the same. Now, maybe if you go back to old school bombers like Lamonica, Bradshaw, and Namath, who generally had lower completion percentages than today's quarterbacks, the YPA vs. yards per completion ratio changes when comparing them to modern quarterbacks...)
So, I guess my first conclusion is that Moss should elevate Brady into the top five in YPA numbers in 2007. If he doesn't, he probably isn't doing his job.
Okay, so let's move onto more subjective material. Mainly, is Tom Brady a deep ball thrower that will be able to use Moss to his fullest and enable the Moss acquisition to benefit his team? There seems to be mixed opinions on Brady's arm strength, but my contention, after years of watching him, is, no, he is not a great deep ball thrower. Here's a write-up on Brady from before the 2000 draft when he was taken in like the fifth or sixth round:
"Pocket passer who has the arm strength to split zones...Very effective on quick slants...Can torch defenses once he gets into rhythm...Has a good feel for spotting his alternate receivers... Puts good zip behind his short tosses and can drill the long sideline throws..."
That concurs pretty much with my observations of him. Brady throws a great mid-range ball, very accurate, with good zip. And he can go over-the-top after defenses start cheating on his mid-range and shorter throws. This is what makes him an effective long-ball thrower-not the pure over-the-top arm strength of a George, a Culpepper or a Cunningham. Brady's like a pitcher whose location and ability to throw a change-up now and then makes his fastball that much more effective. It's my opinion that Moss doesn't fit into this type of offense, as he lacks the discipline to effectively run the mid-range routes that set up Brady's home run balls.
As a result, Moss is not due for a big year numberswise, because the Pats' offense is not set up to feature the type of receiver he is. Brady is not attuned to throwing numerous deep balls and letting Moss go up and get them-which is basically what they seemed to do in Minnesota. It's my prediction that unless Moss evolves into a Paul Warfield-type personality (which I'm not saying couldn't happen), he's going to be unhappy in New England, and it will show up in his play on the field.
If you remember, Warfield was an All-Pro with the Dolphins because he was such a deadly deep threat. However, in five years on the Dolphins, Warfield only caught more than 30 balls in a season once, although he did average more than 20 yards per catch. Warfield, who was a consummate pro, I'm assuming was a good blocker and ran out all his patterns (Shula would accept no less I think), even when he wasn't involved in the play, which contribtued to the Dolphins pair of Super Bowl titles. Moss' history hasn't shown he has the discipline to do this kind of stuff. Of course, maybe the Patriots' coaching staff will get Moss to change his attitute, but it's going to take a lot of work, and it's my opinion that he's not worth the effort the Patriots will need to put in. (I ran this piece in January, as to why I don't think the Patriots have won a Super Bowl in the past couple years, after winning three in four years, and I think the Moss' signing is indicative of the reasons why and will help prevent the Pats from winning this year's Big Prize as well. Of course, the Pats also miss Charlie Weiss, who is a great coach and would perhaps be able to figure out how to best utilize Moss in their offense.)
I'll just conclude by saying that although the Patriots don't run a true West Coast offense (I think they run something closer to the Mike Martz mid-range-based passing game), the West Coast offense has really changed the game. When I was trying to come up with teams that Moss would be a good fit for, I came up with the Colts and Bengals, two teams with strong-armed quarterbacks who consistently can get the ball deep. I think J.P. Losman may fall into this categorey as well, but he's a bit raw and the Bills already have Evans to run the deep routes. Ironically, the Raiders, for whom Moss famously failed, supposedly like to throw the ball deep, but unfortunately haven't had a quarterback (or an offense, I guess) who could do that effectively since Jeff George in the mid-199os. Funny thing is, this JaMarcus Russell, who they just drafted number one is rumored to have a gun, and it would have been interesting to see if he could have developed a Culpepper-type relationship with Moss. Alas, these things are why the Raiders suck anymore...
But, suffice to say that Montana and Walsh have changed the game to such a significant extent that a player like Moss is now a dinasour. Same as Drew Bledsoe became. Funny, I would have loved to have seen Moss work with Bledsoe, instead of Owens last year, but, hell, why do I know all this stuff that NFL execs can't figure out?
Best regards,
X
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
History Detectives
This is a great show on PBS. It's only on during the summer, and it appears it wil be on this year at 10 p.m. on Monday. It starts out kind of like Antiques Road Show, but, the detectives only pick out three items per show that people have found around their house and think are valuable. The detectives (which include a socialogist and a couple appraisers) then investigate the validity of these items. Last night, this guy had a English pound note that was used in a drinking game and signed by WWII leaders like Roosevelt, Churchill, Patten, etc. Another great feature is the use of Elvis Costello "Watching the Detectives" as the theme song.
Cheers.
Ralph
Cheers.
Ralph
Friday, June 29, 2007
Everyone's Hero
Saw that flick Everyone's Hero last night. Surprisingly good movie. Can't believe I'd never heard of it before. It was either that or Bad News Bears, as I had promised my eight-year-old, whose in the middle of Little League season. I'm quite glad we chose Everyone's Hero as a last minute replacement. My neighbor had recommended it, and I had forgotten about it until we saw it on the shelf at Blockbuster.
It's an animated flick that Christopher Reeve's directed. It's got some great actors doing voices like William Macy and Rob Reiner, and Joe Torre even makes a cameo. Fairly entertaining story about a 10-year-old that helps recover Babe Ruth's stolen bat. It's got some good family value stuff as well as baseball stuff in it. So, it made it a perfect movie to watch with my son, who loved it. I've been putting off letting him watch Bad News Bears for awhile, as that's really an adult movie about kids, and it looks like I've succeeded for one more week at least. Of course, personally, I love Bad News Bears, and I even think I saw it in the theatres when it first came out, and I was about nine or 10.
One more note: We finallycaught the vole that has been haunting us for the past few nights. Since last week, he has been sneaking into our bedroom and burrowing down into a plant pot there to get at some roots. Last week, we discovered dirt from the plant had mysteriously been spilled on the floor and none of us could recall bumping the plant. Then, a few nights ago, we heard footsteps that sounded like a ghost near the plant. We flipped on the light and saw the little guy scurrying out of the room. That night, we began setting mouse traps. But this vole was tricky. He was able to clean the peanut butter, which had historically been so effective on mice, right off of the trap without triggering it. The war was clearly on. My wife began comparing me to Bill Murray in Caddyshack. Finally, last night, I laid like five traps. I felt like one of those old French trappers setting his lines. I used an apple in one and strategically placed the peanut butter on a couple others. About 12:30 a.m., the vole's usual feeding time, we heard the snap and found him lying in a trap with his back broken. A sad end for Mr. Vole, who has been like a playmate for me this past week, as we've matched wits in a game of cat and mouse. Well, the cat has prevailed and I uncerimoniously dumped Mr. Vole into the garbage last night. What will I do to keep myself entertained now?
This may explain some of my difficulty in catching the vole. It appears they are not your average rodent...
Cheers.
Ralph
It's an animated flick that Christopher Reeve's directed. It's got some great actors doing voices like William Macy and Rob Reiner, and Joe Torre even makes a cameo. Fairly entertaining story about a 10-year-old that helps recover Babe Ruth's stolen bat. It's got some good family value stuff as well as baseball stuff in it. So, it made it a perfect movie to watch with my son, who loved it. I've been putting off letting him watch Bad News Bears for awhile, as that's really an adult movie about kids, and it looks like I've succeeded for one more week at least. Of course, personally, I love Bad News Bears, and I even think I saw it in the theatres when it first came out, and I was about nine or 10.
One more note: We finallycaught the vole that has been haunting us for the past few nights. Since last week, he has been sneaking into our bedroom and burrowing down into a plant pot there to get at some roots. Last week, we discovered dirt from the plant had mysteriously been spilled on the floor and none of us could recall bumping the plant. Then, a few nights ago, we heard footsteps that sounded like a ghost near the plant. We flipped on the light and saw the little guy scurrying out of the room. That night, we began setting mouse traps. But this vole was tricky. He was able to clean the peanut butter, which had historically been so effective on mice, right off of the trap without triggering it. The war was clearly on. My wife began comparing me to Bill Murray in Caddyshack. Finally, last night, I laid like five traps. I felt like one of those old French trappers setting his lines. I used an apple in one and strategically placed the peanut butter on a couple others. About 12:30 a.m., the vole's usual feeding time, we heard the snap and found him lying in a trap with his back broken. A sad end for Mr. Vole, who has been like a playmate for me this past week, as we've matched wits in a game of cat and mouse. Well, the cat has prevailed and I uncerimoniously dumped Mr. Vole into the garbage last night. What will I do to keep myself entertained now?
This may explain some of my difficulty in catching the vole. It appears they are not your average rodent...
Cheers.
Ralph
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Nickel Back-Rock Star
This song continues to kill me every time I hear it:
I'm through with standing in line to the clubs i'll never get in
It's like the bottom of the ninth and I'm never gonna win
This life hasn't turned out quite the way I want it to be
(tell me what you want)
I want a brand new house on an episode of Cribs
And a bathroom I can play baseball in
And a king size tub big enough for ten plus me
(yeah,so what you need)
I'll need a, a credit card that's got no limit
And a big black jet with a bedroom in it
Gonna join the mile high club
At thirty-seven thousand feet
(Been there done that)
I want a new tour bus full of old guitars
And my own star on Hollywood Boulevard
Somewhere between cher and James Dean is fine for me
(So how ya gonna do it?)
I'm gonna trade this life for fortune and fame
I'd even cut my hair and change my name
[CHORUS]'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars
Live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny cause we just won't eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger's
Gonna wind up there
Every Playboy bunny with her bleach blond hairand well..
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar
I wanna be great like Elvis without the tassels
Hire eight body guards that love to beat up assholes
Sign a couple autographs
So I can eat my meals for free
(I have a quesadilla, ha ha)
I'm gonna dress my ass with the latest fashion
Get a front door key to the Playboy mansion
Gonna date a centerfold that loves to blow my money for me
(So how ya gonna do it?)
I'm gonna trade this life
For fortune and fame
I'd even cut my hair
And change my name
'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars
Live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny cause we just won't eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger's Gonna wind up there
Every Playboy bunny with her bleach blond hair
And we'll hide out in the private rooms
With the latest dictionary in today's who's who
We'll get you anythingwith that evil smile
Everybody's got a drug dealer on speed dial well..
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar
I'm gonna sing those songs that offend the censors
Gonna pop my pills from a pez dispenser
Get washed-up singers writing all my songs
Lip sync 'em every night so I don't get 'em wrong
Well we all just wanna be big rockstars
Live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny cause we just won't eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger's Gonna wind up there
Every Playboy bunny with her bleach blond hair
And we'll hide out in the private rooms
With the latest dictionary in today's who's who
We'll get you anything with that evil smile
Everybody's got a drug dealer on speed dial well..
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar
I'm through with standing in line to the clubs i'll never get in
It's like the bottom of the ninth and I'm never gonna win
This life hasn't turned out quite the way I want it to be
(tell me what you want)
I want a brand new house on an episode of Cribs
And a bathroom I can play baseball in
And a king size tub big enough for ten plus me
(yeah,so what you need)
I'll need a, a credit card that's got no limit
And a big black jet with a bedroom in it
Gonna join the mile high club
At thirty-seven thousand feet
(Been there done that)
I want a new tour bus full of old guitars
And my own star on Hollywood Boulevard
Somewhere between cher and James Dean is fine for me
(So how ya gonna do it?)
I'm gonna trade this life for fortune and fame
I'd even cut my hair and change my name
[CHORUS]'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars
Live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny cause we just won't eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger's
Gonna wind up there
Every Playboy bunny with her bleach blond hairand well..
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar
I wanna be great like Elvis without the tassels
Hire eight body guards that love to beat up assholes
Sign a couple autographs
So I can eat my meals for free
(I have a quesadilla, ha ha)
I'm gonna dress my ass with the latest fashion
Get a front door key to the Playboy mansion
Gonna date a centerfold that loves to blow my money for me
(So how ya gonna do it?)
I'm gonna trade this life
For fortune and fame
I'd even cut my hair
And change my name
'Cause we all just wanna be big rockstars
Live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny cause we just won't eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger's Gonna wind up there
Every Playboy bunny with her bleach blond hair
And we'll hide out in the private rooms
With the latest dictionary in today's who's who
We'll get you anythingwith that evil smile
Everybody's got a drug dealer on speed dial well..
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar
I'm gonna sing those songs that offend the censors
Gonna pop my pills from a pez dispenser
Get washed-up singers writing all my songs
Lip sync 'em every night so I don't get 'em wrong
Well we all just wanna be big rockstars
Live in hilltop houses driving fifteen cars
The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap
We'll all stay skinny cause we just won't eat
And we'll hang out in the coolest bars
In the VIP with the movie stars
Every good gold digger's Gonna wind up there
Every Playboy bunny with her bleach blond hair
And we'll hide out in the private rooms
With the latest dictionary in today's who's who
We'll get you anything with that evil smile
Everybody's got a drug dealer on speed dial well..
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar
Hey hey I wanna be a rockstar
Friday, June 22, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Beer
My wife just went out the door and is heading to the beer distributor to re-load. Before leaving, she shouted to me through my office door, "Ralph, do you like Molson?" Well, the answer to that is a resounding "yes, I do," especially as the summer breeze caresses my neck through the open window behind me.
God Bless Erie in the summertime.
Cheers.
God Bless Erie in the summertime.
Cheers.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Daughters and Sons
My son and daughter came into my office earlier this morning. My son had a question about the golf program I brought back from the U. S. Open. Mistaking the total par for the side as the par for a hole, he asked if there was a par 35 at Oakmont. My daughter immediately followed by showing the braid her mom had put in her hair.
Cheers.
Cheers.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Kutztown and Mineo
Wow. I've been really busy preparing for my move to Kutztown.
Moving sucks, let me tell you, but I keep telling myself: "Short term pain; long term gain."
I'll be out of the house on July 31...moving into an apartment in Allentown. If anyone has any hot tips for food or things to do in Allentown, please let me know.
Also: My house is on the market. It's a big, beautiful house in Millcreek. Four bedrooms, central air, French doors, and a gym in the basement. The outside is beautifully landscaped. I'm asking $149,900. It's guaranteed to gain value over the years. If you know of any house-hunters out there, please steer them to me. I can be reached at 868-9719.
One of the biggest selling points of the house is the fact that so many aspects are up to date. I moved in five years ago, and during that time, I've painted almost the entire interior, hung the French doors, installed sliding glass doors, insulated the den, built the gym, replaced nearly all of the electrical outlets, installed ceiling fans, and planted all kinds of trees and shrubs.
I hate to leave it, but it's time for me to go to that tenured teaching position at a state university.
I've also been making progress on my August Wilson book. I have 165 pages completed. I'm now in the process of editing and tightening. I hope to shop the manuscript with a publisher by the end of August.
That's it for now.
DDDDDDDDDD
Moving sucks, let me tell you, but I keep telling myself: "Short term pain; long term gain."
I'll be out of the house on July 31...moving into an apartment in Allentown. If anyone has any hot tips for food or things to do in Allentown, please let me know.
Also: My house is on the market. It's a big, beautiful house in Millcreek. Four bedrooms, central air, French doors, and a gym in the basement. The outside is beautifully landscaped. I'm asking $149,900. It's guaranteed to gain value over the years. If you know of any house-hunters out there, please steer them to me. I can be reached at 868-9719.
One of the biggest selling points of the house is the fact that so many aspects are up to date. I moved in five years ago, and during that time, I've painted almost the entire interior, hung the French doors, installed sliding glass doors, insulated the den, built the gym, replaced nearly all of the electrical outlets, installed ceiling fans, and planted all kinds of trees and shrubs.
I hate to leave it, but it's time for me to go to that tenured teaching position at a state university.
I've also been making progress on my August Wilson book. I have 165 pages completed. I'm now in the process of editing and tightening. I hope to shop the manuscript with a publisher by the end of August.
That's it for now.
DDDDDDDDDD
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Some words
This is from a recent flight back from Miami:
Disconnect
Discoteque
Good Guy
Die
Cobaine
Coltraine
In the rain
pain
Biting, taking
chunks of my skin
blood mixes with rain
the train races
buy this
you consumer man.
The buzzing of a fly
nearby
puzzles the yogi
sitting on the ground
RasX
Disconnect
Discoteque
Good Guy
Die
Cobaine
Coltraine
In the rain
pain
Biting, taking
chunks of my skin
blood mixes with rain
the train races
buy this
you consumer man.
The buzzing of a fly
nearby
puzzles the yogi
sitting on the ground
RasX
Thursday, June 07, 2007
'Nawlins
New Orleans still rocks.
Interesting, though, it apparently is not as busy as it was before the 2005 Hurricane.
Had a conversation with the guy who drove me back to the airport.
He said his business is about 40% of what it used to be.
“Just the weekends now are busy, you know what I’m saying,” he talked in kind of a rhythmic sing-song thing that a lot of Nawlins people seem to have going. He had worked in the French Quarter for like 40 years, so who knows how that has affected him.
I was down there on a Monday, so it was pretty dead.
But it’s a beautiful city. You can still see that, even amongst some of the ruins.
And I think its nickname, the Big Easy, is pretty well deserved.
Everybody certainly seemed pretty laid back, you know.
On Monday afternoon, it was raining and even though it was like 70 degrees and not raining that hard, you could see people just didn’t want to get wet. Being from the snow belt, I ploughed right through it. But again, I was hungry as Hades (I’ve starting using Hades in lieu of “hell” for some unknown reason, except that I think it sounds slightly better) after flying all morning and was looking for a Po’ Boy, which is what they call their version of a sub down there. The doorman recommended Johnny’s, which was about three blocks away from the hotel, but by the time I got there, it was five after three, and they were closing—at 3 p.m. So I wandered a bit more, I was on Royal Street, a block down from Bourbon I guess, which I never made it to for some reason, I just kept turning the wrong way. But I finally found a suitable with a Po’ Boy menu and ordered blackened/Cajun catfish Po’ Boy, which I munched down with a couple local brews. The whole bill was about $18, which seemed reasonable, and the waitress was friendly and laid back, and I heard her telling the recently married middle-aged couple a few tables down that she got so depressed after Katrina, she went to live in California for a few months with friends. She also said it had been a slow day for her, but didn’t seem overly upset—as it is the Big Easy. I sat there and watched the rain come down through an open archway and made some phone calls.
Back to my driver who somehow recognized me as Italian-American and recommended a try and meatball Po’ Boy with red gravy – does that mean sauce?
There seems to be some opportunity down there in Nawlins, as the city’s drawing potential still seems to be there. At least, it was compelling enough that I’d love to go back down there again with a few days to hang out and party. But business seems to be off for some reason, at least according to my driver. Maybe it’s just a matter of time before it returns, which would be where the opportunity comes in.
The guy who manages the Superdome talked at the conference I was at, and the Superdome seems to have really bounced back – I think the Saints sold out every game last year. Granted, it sounds like the Superdome was like priority one when rebuilding the city, but the rest of the city has to follow, right? Well, that is unless it runs out of funding—which the Superdome seems to have had plenty of. But, once again, maybe that’s where the opportunity lies, in the potential to invest in something down there at a reduced rate, and if enough of these types of private investments are made, they could potentially help speed up the city’s recovery and bring it back to its former vibrant self, instead of just a weekend party town. Then again, maybe it’s a city whose time and culture have past—but then again, sometimes it’s not so bad living in the past.
RasX
Interesting, though, it apparently is not as busy as it was before the 2005 Hurricane.
Had a conversation with the guy who drove me back to the airport.
He said his business is about 40% of what it used to be.
“Just the weekends now are busy, you know what I’m saying,” he talked in kind of a rhythmic sing-song thing that a lot of Nawlins people seem to have going. He had worked in the French Quarter for like 40 years, so who knows how that has affected him.
I was down there on a Monday, so it was pretty dead.
But it’s a beautiful city. You can still see that, even amongst some of the ruins.
And I think its nickname, the Big Easy, is pretty well deserved.
Everybody certainly seemed pretty laid back, you know.
On Monday afternoon, it was raining and even though it was like 70 degrees and not raining that hard, you could see people just didn’t want to get wet. Being from the snow belt, I ploughed right through it. But again, I was hungry as Hades (I’ve starting using Hades in lieu of “hell” for some unknown reason, except that I think it sounds slightly better) after flying all morning and was looking for a Po’ Boy, which is what they call their version of a sub down there. The doorman recommended Johnny’s, which was about three blocks away from the hotel, but by the time I got there, it was five after three, and they were closing—at 3 p.m. So I wandered a bit more, I was on Royal Street, a block down from Bourbon I guess, which I never made it to for some reason, I just kept turning the wrong way. But I finally found a suitable with a Po’ Boy menu and ordered blackened/Cajun catfish Po’ Boy, which I munched down with a couple local brews. The whole bill was about $18, which seemed reasonable, and the waitress was friendly and laid back, and I heard her telling the recently married middle-aged couple a few tables down that she got so depressed after Katrina, she went to live in California for a few months with friends. She also said it had been a slow day for her, but didn’t seem overly upset—as it is the Big Easy. I sat there and watched the rain come down through an open archway and made some phone calls.
Back to my driver who somehow recognized me as Italian-American and recommended a try and meatball Po’ Boy with red gravy – does that mean sauce?
There seems to be some opportunity down there in Nawlins, as the city’s drawing potential still seems to be there. At least, it was compelling enough that I’d love to go back down there again with a few days to hang out and party. But business seems to be off for some reason, at least according to my driver. Maybe it’s just a matter of time before it returns, which would be where the opportunity comes in.
The guy who manages the Superdome talked at the conference I was at, and the Superdome seems to have really bounced back – I think the Saints sold out every game last year. Granted, it sounds like the Superdome was like priority one when rebuilding the city, but the rest of the city has to follow, right? Well, that is unless it runs out of funding—which the Superdome seems to have had plenty of. But, once again, maybe that’s where the opportunity lies, in the potential to invest in something down there at a reduced rate, and if enough of these types of private investments are made, they could potentially help speed up the city’s recovery and bring it back to its former vibrant self, instead of just a weekend party town. Then again, maybe it’s a city whose time and culture have past—but then again, sometimes it’s not so bad living in the past.
RasX
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Foreman drugged
How much seedier can boxing get? Even its golden era is now being tarnished, or perhaps it's always been tarnished, I mean Don King has been involved with this "sport" for a long time now. Professional boxing, cycling, or baseball, take your pick on which is the seediest. Oh yeah, then there's that whole criminal element to the NFL.... No wonder poker is doing so well these days. Professional, televised poker is actually much cleaner than the amateur game that has been played for years in dark corners across the America. Based on that theory, I wonder what the next big "sports" craze will be? (Help me out here, I can't think of one, but is there some other sport where amateurs cheat like hell, but if you were to clean it up and put it on TV, you could reduce the cheating? Thanks.)
Ralph
Ralph
Friday, May 18, 2007
Greg Lemond
Has anyone been reading about this Greg Lemond thing? "I'm your uncle, and I'll be there tomorrow." Landis is hangin' out with people like this? I guess that tells you something about how competitive the cycling world is. These guys are sick. Landis, of course, is the former Amish guy who was apparently shunned for purusing a career in professional cycling, and then came back from a huge deficit to pull out the Tour a couple years ago (maybe it was last year) Anyhow, testing found this huge comeback was fueled by unusually high levels of testosterone, which makes sense, but, he's denying it.
Lemond is one of my favorite athletes of all-time; he also had an incredible cycling comeback. After becoming the first American to win the Tour, he was shot in a hunting accident, and came back and was so sucky, it seemed like his career was over and no top flight team would give him a job. He ends up with some rag-tag bunch, and proceeds to shock everyone by winning the Tour, capping it off with a record-setting time trial on the race's last day. His French rival at the time described him as "playing the chicken, when he is really a lion," as Lemond kept playing like he was shocked to be near the leaders and was just waiting for an inevitable falter, which never happened. Then, he came back and won the thing the following year as well, in a little more conventional fashion.
Anyhow, that was back when cycling wasn't quite as fucked up as it is now, or at least we didn't know as much. Now, it seems half the top riders are in trouble for doping and Lemond is being blackmailed regarding being sexually molested as a child. I would have to say cycling has now passed baseball as the most "fucked-up sport." Or, it's the European version of baseball -neither of which is a sport of course, as baseball is officially our national "pastime" and cycling's top race is actually known as a "Tour." That's what happens I guess when you get too deep into these things....
Cheers.
Ralph
Lemond is one of my favorite athletes of all-time; he also had an incredible cycling comeback. After becoming the first American to win the Tour, he was shot in a hunting accident, and came back and was so sucky, it seemed like his career was over and no top flight team would give him a job. He ends up with some rag-tag bunch, and proceeds to shock everyone by winning the Tour, capping it off with a record-setting time trial on the race's last day. His French rival at the time described him as "playing the chicken, when he is really a lion," as Lemond kept playing like he was shocked to be near the leaders and was just waiting for an inevitable falter, which never happened. Then, he came back and won the thing the following year as well, in a little more conventional fashion.
Anyhow, that was back when cycling wasn't quite as fucked up as it is now, or at least we didn't know as much. Now, it seems half the top riders are in trouble for doping and Lemond is being blackmailed regarding being sexually molested as a child. I would have to say cycling has now passed baseball as the most "fucked-up sport." Or, it's the European version of baseball -neither of which is a sport of course, as baseball is officially our national "pastime" and cycling's top race is actually known as a "Tour." That's what happens I guess when you get too deep into these things....
Cheers.
Ralph
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Doral
This place is kind of nuts. They seem to play reggae 24/7 in the lobby. It's actually kind of nice. Right now, they're playing some version of Bob Marley's "Chase Those Crazy Baldheads out of Town." It's hot as hell down here, so it's probably appropriate I guess. Doral is located a few miles inland and you don't get that fresh breeze off the ocean that you typically get nearer to the coast in Miami. But the palm trees are nice, and as long as you don't move too fast, just kind of sway with the reggae, it's kind of relaxing.
Cheers.
Ralph
Cheers.
Ralph
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
1973 continued
In 1973,
The A's won the World Series
Secretariat won the Triple Crown
The Dolphins beat the Redskins 14-7 in the Super Bowl in January....
Did anything else happen?
Yes, I was in kintergarten, Richard Nixon was president...hmmmm
The A's won the World Series
Secretariat won the Triple Crown
The Dolphins beat the Redskins 14-7 in the Super Bowl in January....
Did anything else happen?
Yes, I was in kintergarten, Richard Nixon was president...hmmmm
Thursday, April 26, 2007
George Will on China
Another great George Will column, this one on the economic awakening in China and its evolving interest in free trade. Will makes some great points, but as is typical of his columns, kind of leaves you hanging with a vague ending. Maybe that's part of his charm...
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Bill-Ravens MaGahee
Haven't posted in awhile because I've been busy with other things and whatnot... a lot of whatnot, of course. Anyhow, I came across this paragraph in scholar Greg Easterbook's Tuesday Morning Quarterback column this week. As a Bills fan, it is both funny and sad, which to me makes it some kind of literature:
"Discounting to Present Value the McGahee Trade: TMQ is underwhelmed by Willis McGahee, who's a legend-in-his-own-mind type. Football pundits speak of him as a star; McGahee speaks of himself as if he were Franco Harris, but McGahee's career stats are run-of-the-mill and defenses don't fear him. Still, he's a decent back, which makes me wonder why the same sorts of pundits who praise McGahee also said Baltimore gave up too much for him. The price was the Nevermores' third-round picks in 2007 and 2008, plus a seventh-round choice this week. Because Baltimore's seventh-rounder is choice No. 239, whoever is chosen there will be a long shot to make an NFL roster. If I were the Bills, I'd offer the pick to Denver for $3 million. Because this year's third-rounder is near the end of the round, it is only slightly better than a fourth-round choice; meanwhile, the 2008 third-rounder discounts to a fourth-rounder. (Future choices discount by one round per year: That is, you'd need to trade your first-round selection in 2008 to get someone's second-round selection in 2007.) In effect, Baltimore gave two fourth-round draft picks for a starting-quality tailback; the Ravens got McGahee for significantly less than the Patriots surrendered for Wes Welker. Anyway, whose front office has done a better job on player decisions in this decade, Buffalo's or Baltimore's?"
I could read absolutely no more after that touche at the end.
Regards,
Ralph
"Discounting to Present Value the McGahee Trade: TMQ is underwhelmed by Willis McGahee, who's a legend-in-his-own-mind type. Football pundits speak of him as a star; McGahee speaks of himself as if he were Franco Harris, but McGahee's career stats are run-of-the-mill and defenses don't fear him. Still, he's a decent back, which makes me wonder why the same sorts of pundits who praise McGahee also said Baltimore gave up too much for him. The price was the Nevermores' third-round picks in 2007 and 2008, plus a seventh-round choice this week. Because Baltimore's seventh-rounder is choice No. 239, whoever is chosen there will be a long shot to make an NFL roster. If I were the Bills, I'd offer the pick to Denver for $3 million. Because this year's third-rounder is near the end of the round, it is only slightly better than a fourth-round choice; meanwhile, the 2008 third-rounder discounts to a fourth-rounder. (Future choices discount by one round per year: That is, you'd need to trade your first-round selection in 2008 to get someone's second-round selection in 2007.) In effect, Baltimore gave two fourth-round draft picks for a starting-quality tailback; the Ravens got McGahee for significantly less than the Patriots surrendered for Wes Welker. Anyway, whose front office has done a better job on player decisions in this decade, Buffalo's or Baltimore's?"
I could read absolutely no more after that touche at the end.
Regards,
Ralph
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