I heartily recommend Son Volt's cover version of the Springsteen song quoted above for those who haven't heard it.

One of the L.A. papers this morning (forget which) reported that tonight's game would be available on other, random cable stations instead of FSW2, much like the game the other day. (The game is not on Extra Innings.)

You know it's the end of the world when:
- Hideo Nomo beats Randy Johnson.
- Kaz Ishii beats Roger Clemens (sort of).

"Now don't try for a home run, baby
If you can get the job done with a hit
Remember, a quitter never wins
And a winner never quits"

"I got this fever burnin' in my soul
So let's take the good times as they go
And I'll meet you further on up the road"

I hate knocking Bob Oates, because he is a peerless football writer. But his column on DePodesta makes him sound like a grumpy old man in a bad sitcom. "What is that darned thing you got your head in, boy? Some kinda fancy corn-pooter?"

I'm not really a fan of the unapologetic cliche song either, though.

My DT is broken too. This is the second or third time this has happened.

More than a few times when someone has posted a link toward the top of a thread, I've found a big gap in the comments. But it seems to heal itself as more comments get added.

"I'm an intellectual, at least I'd like to think so." - Milton Bradley

I liked Alexander's snide remark at the end about the previous administration(s) unwillingness to make bold moves during the season for a playoff push.

Dilbeck's column seemed pretty even handed. It's nice to see writers in the LA area actually try to understand what DePo was trying to do. I'm not sure if either of them would be writing complimentary articles without the fast start, but it's still better than hearing Simers say "They are still a crummy team, blah, blah".

From the other thread, it seems like taking pre-orders for the Ghame Over shirts would be the way to go. That way, no one is stuck paying out a chunk of cash and left with more shirts than they know what to do with. I propose that if there are pre-orders and extra money left over at the end, that it should be sent Jon's way.

First, the design:
http://zoom.cafepress.com/2/7111492_zoom.jpg

Using CafePress is not an option because they don't have the printing capabilities to put white ink on a gray shirt.

I've used customink.com before and they make good quality shirts relatively cheaply and quickly. If we order 50 shirts, they will cost around $8 each. (About $1.50 more if we were to add "www.dodgerthoughts.com" or any other writing on the back.)

I'd be willing to handle getting the shirts printed, but don't have time to handle the distribution. If somebody else volunteers to do that part, we can do it. People can pay easily through Paypal and all you'd have to do is mail the shirts out.

I have no interest whatsoever in any leftover money... Jon and Bob can arm-wrassle over that if they want.

Thoughts?

Yeah, it does. I had my Gagne T next to me while I was working.

John Lennon, Rolling Stone interview 1980

"Bruce Springsteen's 'Hungry Heart,' which I think is a great record, to me, is the same kind of period sound as '[Just Like] Starting Over.' ... It's a Fifties song made with an Eighties approach."

But then we just come up with another T-shirt saying Eheighth Ihnning Ohver guy.

Medium is my preference.

Yeah, I thought about that too. As long as we're keeping it among friends, you shouldn't have any trouble. But I suppose there is a non-zero chance that the Dodgers could get their hands on a shirt and do something silly -- using the Dodger logo could technically be considered a copyright violation. (The rest of the design is just a parody of a well-known logo; those are perfectly legal.)

Of course, ultimately, Jon, it'll have to be your decision whether to include the "Dodger Thoughts" name or not.

Eric. E:
"Does the normal "Game Over" design have a period at the end?
Yeah, it does. I had my Gagne T next to me while I was working."

Is the "normal" 'Game Over' of your creation as well? I wouldn't mind getting a couple of those as well.

Don't I wish! But alas, no.

Could we kill two birds with one stone by putting "Dodger Thoughts" in place of the official logo on the shirt's front?

And since we're discussing shirt designs, I thought I'd share the design for the "Free Milton" t-shirts that my friends and I wore to DS after his suspension last September...

www.vivalosdodgers.com/images/freemilt.jpg

Not that I'm mad about it or anything because we all ready knew how the MSM felt, but I am a bit surprised it is still "swept under the rug".

I guess the next Big Deal will be when they eventually lose... sad.

So anyway, I also have a spiritual concern - do any of you think this could somehow be perceived as an endorsement of Brazoban over Gagne? I'm being paranoid, right?

I'd be up for replacing the Dodger logo with Dodger Thoughts - seems safer.

I think you may be a bit paranoid Jon. Preferring Brazoban over Gagne would be like preferring Cora over Kent and only a crazy, deluded personn would so that.

That was my first thought as well, but I dismissed it immediately because I thought the new shirt was really cool!
Seriously though, I believe you are being a bit paranoid Jon... we all want Gagne back; what better than to have both guys in our bullpen?

Does anyone have Yhency's mailing address? Maybe we could send him a courtesy T.

https://fairpole.baseballtoaster.com

No spiritual concerns here. After all, we want the game to be over in the eighth inning anyway, don't we? If Schmoll could be a lights-out seventh inning guy, I'd be all over a GAME SCHMOVER shirt. :)

But the idea of using an image and slogan that we may not have rights to, in order to promote the website, still makes me nervous. Who wants to play lawyer?

We should send one to Yhency and Gagne and see what they think.

Let's commission eric to come up with a DT logo. Not necessarily a whole shirt theme but just the words Dodger thoughts. Maybe interlocking D & T like LA somehow.

I'm stunned to say the least at the 11-2 start, comebacks, and performances of too many guys to even list. I'm just waiting for the pendulum to swing the other way, but its fun for the present. Those '55 Dodgers started something like 22-2 didn't they?

Regarding the legal fears, does anyone know if the interlocking "LA" on the cap is a trademarked symbol? If so, perhaps it could be replaced with an interlocking "DT".

If not, then never mind.

Anyway, to repeat: me, shirts, two, yay!

Here's a sample of a shirt a Hawai'i msg board I'm on/in designed.

http://www.hawaiithreads.com/showpost.php?p=779&postcount=1

I'd buy a DT shirt that was something like that.

http://zoom.cafepress.com/9/7116569_zoom.jpg

Did Pee Wee Reese bat leadoff in 1955? If he did, how did he end up leading the NL in GIDP that year? He had to have been lower down in the lineup.

That explains the GIDPs

1)The Dodgers own the trademark for the phrase "Game Over", they would probably view it as an infringement of that copyright and their intellectual property even if spelled the way it is proposed;

2)The Dodgers also own the trademark rights for commercial use of the LA cap logo, as depicted on Yhency;

3)Yhency, and the Dodgers, have rights to the use of his likeness if used for commercial purposes.

Put it this way, without authorizations, and legal clearances, you run the the same legal risks as vendors selling concert t-shirts near a venue.

If not for all that, put me down for a large.

(True eric. DT is a world all its own. How about DT circling the earth as a logo? that would be cool)

The only thing the Dodgers could complain about would be the "LA" cap. But in practical terms, there's no way in the world that they would sue over the design posted in #54. And even in the extraordinarily unlikely case that they decided to do that, they'd send a cease-and-desist letter first.

#63 captures my concerns.

If you want the Dodger Thoughts name used as depicted in #54, great.

If not, we can go with the original design -- no "Dodger Thoughts" -- and as the designer, I would assume the legal risk. Which I am more than willing to do, as I believe the risk is infinitesimal anyway.

Let us know which you prefer.

(And of course, unless somebody agrees to help me mail the shirts out, there'll be no shirts anyway. This is the third call for a volunteer.)

Front: The Brazoban image, with GHAME.
Back: A similar Gagne image (though it'd have to be different than the exact official shirt =P) with OVER and DodgerThoughts.com

Too expensive and too dangerously close to copyright infringement, but still, it'd look damn cool AND cover both players. :)

I'll help mail the shirts out. send all the shirts to me if you want and then I'll mail them out. guess we will figure out shipping later. maybe charge a little extra each shirt so were able to send one to Hong Kong(if need be)

I'd rather not handle any $$ but can if needed

"Dans mon approche initiale à la boule, j'ai sous-estimé la vitesse sur le terrain de Milwaukee. Par conséquent, j'ai été rendu sans défense au champ la boule mentionnée ci-dessus."

http://geocities.com/uclacpa/team_depo-3.jpg

That's hilarious. Now if someone will just do "Operation, the Wacky Dodgers game, from Milton Bradley . . .

Love the mock Home Depot too. Nice work bigcpa.

Who will be the first to come up with a Rand inspired parody?

I heart the Team Depo concept.

geocities says you've run out of bandwidth for the hour :P ...

--ev

A parody T-shirt would fly, but not one endorsing another product.

*

I love GHAME OVER (TM). The T-Shirt is awesome. That said, and for what little it's worth, it seems to me that even though the risks here are very very low, they do exist, at the very least on the level of complicating or mucking up relations with the Dodgers at a time when enhancing those relations seems valuable to us all. And while Jon clearly doesn't want to frump all over a fun idea, it seems to me that the risks here -- small though they are -- run to him in a totally different way than they do to anyone else. If I were in his shoes, I'd be inclined to pretty risk averse in this area. And all that said, I get the sense from the thread above that what a lot of people really want is a cool Dodger Thoughts item of some sort. So my personal vote -- not that I have one -- would be for the collective to ramp up that marketing department and get a worry-free Dodger Thoughts item on the market pronto. That way, we'll all have something to wear when McCourt hosts his first Dodger Thoughts at the Stadium.

(And of course, if I'm voted down, I'll take a large.)

What I'll likely do is host the ordering page on my own site; it'll officially have nothing to do with Dodger Thoughts unless Jon wants it to.

Thanks to KCOP's "withdrawal", here in Scottsdale I'll only miss 4 games this year on TV (4/15 was the first). That's a new record and a very busy TiVo.

My attorneys say no problem with the Team Depo concept as long as it's not used on an orange apron.

Definitely want to get an original Dodger Thoughts shirt going. Alex Ciepley of Cub Town has offered to design a logo, and Tommy Nacarrato (whom I'm sure is happy to be wrong about the Dodgers for at least these two weeks) has worked on a logo in the past as well. But if any of you folks want to take the lead and offer up an idea or ideas, that'd be great.

Bring me the head of Tommy Nacarrato! :-)

You might want to fire up that disappointment valve again. Just caught Rome Is Burning, where Rome, some guy from the Detroit Free Press and the Blind Date guy all agree that, since they had already previously agreed that DePo clearly didn't know what he was doing, the Dodgers' hot start is obviously some kind of illusion somehow. Detroit Freep Guy: "It's way too early to say whether this is a good team," and Rome agrees that letting Beltre go was a "bad idea" (bad DePo, no donut.) Milton Bradley also takes a slapdown for being a .262 career hitter.

And the best one: since the Dodgers play in the "second worst division in baseball," it's credit to them they're 11-2 since "they should be doing this anyway."

Almost threw the remote through the TV on that last one.

Hi all. First post. Great board you've got going here.

Please email me at bigcpa@cox.net with your name, email, size and quantity. Once I see how many we're at I'll email all of you with final cost, shipping and payment info.

Again the image is linked here:
http://tinyurl.com/a7er6

It'll be a white Hanes beefy-T with NO mention of Dodger Thoughts.

- Jon Weisman

I personally don't see how much more relentlessly mediocre you can get than the AL West, but that's just me I guess.

Jim Rome: Celebrating Mediocrity Since, Oh, Forever.

Now I feel compelled to go deal with Sandberg's latest column and I'm afraid.

thanks for renewing my passion for the bums. i just sent a very small portion of my bush tax cut to you via paypal. keep on keeping on.

Care to provide any more specific "beatdown" details? I know it means nothing, but it's so fun to hear Billy P getting it thrown back in his smug face.

http://www.ericenders.com/yhency.htm

(And yes, you still need to place an order even if you already specified how many shirts you want earlier in this thread.)

It was highly amusing.

Any idea if the shirts run small? I'm one of those border line xl/xxl guys.

"Product Description: Pre-shrunk. Taped neck and shoulders. Double needle stitching throughout garment. (Sport Grey is 90% cotton 10% polyester.)

Comments: Generous fit. High quality, heavyweight t-shirt at a very good price. Best selling imprintable t-shirt in America."

"No, it isn't your lifelong dream was to eat the world's biggest sandwich and you did back in 1993!"

*Eric and cpa, thanks for your awesome creativity.
*Jon, though I know you have absolutely nada to do with this endeavor, thanks for creating a site where awesome people congregate.

patsweetpat

It seems like, in the interest of comity and good feelings, that we should give an amnesty to those momentarily lost in the Plaschke fog over the off-season. It happens to all of us.