Then the top of the 10th and I "watched" the Padres go ahead by one. Silent screams of agony at LA's wasted comeback.

Then Nomar rocks the baseball world and I could contain myself no longer. I wake my wife and she smiles politely before going back to sleep. The next day I check Dodger Thoughts and relive the magic.

I had the same experience "watching" Steve Finley's walkoff, division-clinching Grand Slam against the Giants in 2004 on ESPN's ticker. What a frustrating way to keep up with a game. Nobody was home to babble to, so I called my brother in law. He wasn't home, but my sister agreed to listen to me go on and on.

Again, the Dodgers were tied with the Padres for first place going into the game and before the seats got warm, they were quickly behind. But they clawed back and tied the game (for the first time that evening after trailing by 4 runs).

The bottom of 6th saw the frustration of loading the bases and then not scoring.

The reliable Broxton and Saito both had rough outings that saw the Padres take that 4 run lead.

But, despite all that, the large crowd (the Dodgers had set an all-time attendance record for a 4 game series that weekend) was buzzing and there was a sense that something could happen.

Finally, you know you love DT when despite being caught up in all the excitement at the Stadium, you think to yourself, "I wonder what is going on Dodgerthoughts right now?"

We were at the game the Saturday prior when Billingsley came back and got absolutely shelled and we were down something like 8-1 in the 4th. That was the first game I left early all year and I guess it was contageous going into the regular week.

Q: Why does the Los Angeles Times print so many more stories about the Dodgers? I hate the Dodgers. I'd prefer that The Times only write about the Angels.

Rob Simpson

A: Haven't discussed this with my sports editor, Rob, but my guess is that since the Dodgers draw more than 3 million fans annually, garner solid television ratings, have won five World Series titles in Los Angeles, have one of the game's greatest broadcasters in Vin Scully and are located in the heart of the paper's circulation area, which happens to be the second-largest market in the U.S., we might want to drop a few paragraphs about them into The Times every now and then.

(Oh...and hello Tom, I loved your piece last year on playing for the Bluejays..)

LOL, LOL, LOL.

That's because the average fans want to read a newspaper that covers an event and has writers who reflect a viewpoint that is 99.5% in accord with theirs.

9. I'm pretty sure it was "gleeful sarcasm", as I am pretty much all about sarcasm. The gleeful part, I had to think about for a few seconds, but overall I am pretty gleeful about the description. It's just too bad he didn't quote one of my anti-tv/movie talk posts. Those are true classics! :)
vr, Xei

And now the internet gives us all a place to make fun of them.

Congrats to Tom Verducci for getting his article linked. It would have meant even more if the article wasn't pay-per-view so that I could read it. Maybe one day I'll run across the magazine in a doctor's office and get a chance to read it, but I don't get sick much.

Well, you're cursed now. I hope your affairs are in order.

It's great stuff. I still remember watching the game sorta-live the next morning on the mlb.tv archive.

I'll probably see it bc I'm a sucker for inspirational sports movies.

"Wildcats" was one of my favorite movies growing up, and its no classic by any means.

I believe

I thought we'd get a NVR during movie talk, but Xeifrank is always respectful, even when he wants to ductape our keyboards.

I'd never seen that before. I should try that. Maybe VTR (very truly yours) or RY (respectfully yours).

VTR, MB

Yours in peace. ;)

It's got the advantage of being pronounceable.

I always thought "vr" stood for "VORP Rules!"

...and now you guys know I am not the only PSUer who hangs out here at Jon's house ;)

DUH, MB

Oh. And here I thought it was Talk Like Scooby Doo day!

http://tinyurl.com/yje3n8

Not only was XeiFrank's entire entry quoted but many others. It does capture what was going on in the blogosphere.

I'm hoping Verducci meant "childlike"

https://dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/archives/393628.html

Start at 115 and go to 136. Beware of extraneous, though not profane, Beowulf references.

It was true!

Three hundred preselected families received a complimentary holiday ham donated by Farmer John and fixings provided by Ralphs and Food4Less.

Who likes ketchup on waffles?

But I'm pretty sure any waffles discussion would violate Rule #4.

When you have to coddle the monsters in medieval literature, the terrorists have won.

http://pvspade.com/Sartre/cookbook.html

On the list of lazy pre-Christmas time videos to whittle away the remaining office hours with, this one might be the most cringe-inducing. It's part 1 of a half-hour "musical adventure" -- here's Part Two and Part Three -- involving the 1987 Mets, some extremely annoying children and a "nerd" who illustrates that the "Moneyball" debate has been going on for an awfully long time. Your actors are Gary Carter, Roger McDowell and Mookie Wilson.

Think Rockie Horror meets the Super Bowl Shuffle. It is nausea-inducing. Enjoy.

http://www.deadspin.com/

(scroll down a story or two)

Because the former Miss Shibata is significantly older than Matsuzaka (she's 31, he's 26), she was viciously criticized in the Japanese media for "seducing" Matsuzaka when the couple began their liason in 2000 when he was only 19 years old. Because of the difference in their ages, they began dating in secret, and a huge scandal errupted when it came out that Matsuzaka's car had been towed for being illegally parked overnight in front of Shibata's house (it was such a big scandal that the Seibu Lions even suspended Matsuzaka for a few games).

Wow. Suspended by the team for sleeping over at your girlfriend's house? What would the Japanese do with Lindsay Lohan? Or Demi and Ashton?

(BTW: Did I mention that I get a fee for every person I link to Deadspin?)

No, but I think that violates rule 11.

By which I mean, I threw up in my mouth a little.

But can we have an unofficial ban on the throwing up in your mouth line? It's just turning me off in a big way.

http://tinyurl.com/y6ttle

What's wrong with me that I still think of #11 as Pat Haden and #12 as Joe Namath or Terry Bradshaw?

#11 Thou shall not post while drunk -- and brag about the experience?

Right

vr, MB

I love A Confederacy of Dunces, whereas my wife gets two paragraphs in -- the description of Igantius Reilly's clothes and his views on the ways others dress -- and quits every time. I can't figure it out.

And Meche, of course.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6290182

VR,
Sushi

...does McDowell get to wear #42 again now that he is coaching for the Braves?

I think Spinal Tap is just fundamentally a male thing. Though it is certainly sublime! I recently addressed the sublimity in a recent eBay posting (I'm selling a copy of the Criterion laserdisc):

http://tinyurl.com/tqyvd

I feel honored to share the same message forum as Xei.

vr, DL

I'm so proud. It's like seeing my kid graduate from high school. Or hitting 11 on the amplifier.

vr, MB

Haha! The 80s were horrible confusing, to be sure! Try growing up during such a time -- my goodness! "Tears For Fears" "Phil Collins" The mind boggles.

But "Spinal Tap" is still such a rocking-cool good time that holds up just fine nowadays in the Age of Irony.

Leg warmers

Bruce Campbell

Xeifrank is a respectful celebrity. Not like that Crowe fellow.

vr, Shot

Xeifrank is YOU. We're all just THEM OTHER GUYS.

My vote goes to oswald

This is how addictive that game is to me, I am seriously considering paying $15.00 for off-season Gameday Audio, just to listen to that game until opening day.

I always buy regular season Gameday, plus I have XM Radio. I have the Russ Martin walkoff game still recorded on my portable player.

In no particular order, aside from first

Bob Timmerman
Jon Weisman
NPurcell
ToyCannon
JoeyP
Xeifrank
Sam DC
Maury
Eric Enders
Andrew Shinmin
Greg Brock

Go google that now.

Right now Memphis vs AZ

Later LSU vs Washington

Men's Basketball : During interviews today, freshman center Greg Oden was asked about how long he intended to stay at Ohio State. Oden answered "There's a very big chance I will be here four years." When asked if he really intended to be here four years he replied "Of course. I've got to finish college. That's what my Mom told me."

What possible reason would I, as an Ohio State basketball fan, have not to believe him?

Any list without DzrtRatt on it is a flawed list.

I ate dinner Sunday at a guy's house who is suffering from this now. I feel the icy specter of death hovering over me waiting to strike.

Did you have any ketchup...?

[high five to xei]

Of course I blame Plaschke.

Nobody double-dipped. My girlfriend had this and I didn't get it. One guy in my office got it.

I feel like I'm playing Russian roulette. Most likely this disease will manifest itself on Sunday or Monday.

Says Nomar will wind up one of the most underpaid players of his generation===

http://tinyurl.com/y4ko3g

Backwardness has long been one of my problems.

I still think Dellucci was the best signing.

So, it looks like 4+1 is catching on as the name of the game? Unless anyone else has a prior claim, I think I came up with that.

No. Such remakes are shameless and should be avoided at all costs. I still can't believe music "artists" can remake someone else's song and make millions doing so.

http://tinyurl.com/ynfup6

Next thing they'll be telling us that Snook doesn't make it's own chicken-fried bacon.

Did she write the song? No. Did she play any instruments? Not that I know of. Could pretty much anyone do what she did? Yep.

Is that all women are good for? Marriage, barefootedness, and pregnancy?

That comment makes me feel old, D4P. I mostly listen to Jazz, and vocal jazz is almost nothing but covers of "standards" - singers giving their own versions of songs that everyone has performed. Someone wrote them. Someone performed them first, but it almost never matters. And I think the last new standards have been "New York State of Mind," and "Time after Time," neither written by jazz artists. Most of the rest are from the 40s and 50s, many even earlier.

Some rock classics have been covers as well. Doesn't bother me a bit. If the new performance is good, it's good. If it's not, it'll fade away, and the earlier version will re-emerge.

What I hate is bad remakes of bad movies/songs.

On that note, I agree with you. Where would this world be without Bob Dylan's version of "House of the Risin' Sun"? Or even Roger Waters' version of "Across the Universe"? Okay, maybe I could do without the latter.

Of course, it's hard to be both edgy and stodgy at the same time.

And really, Andrew, I was sure you were going with "My Favorite Things" for Coltrane.

Man, I am old. A few other commenters have some years on me, but I might still be older (and none the wiser).

And Johnny Cash owed nearly his entire revival to covers.

Awesome to behold.

He feels like since he defeated the grim reaper in a game of checkers, he can just do whatever he wants from here on out.

Kinda sad, really.

i think there are some GREAT covers as well, however. some better than the original. for example, i just came across jose feliciano's version of "california dreamin'":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClgJL3C_BC0

http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2006/12/19/problem-solved/

http://tinyurl.com/yb7pcc

One of the worst cases of a band getting famous for a cover song was The Ataris doing "Boys of Summer". The song sounds pretty much exactly the same except they change "Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac" to "Black Flag sticker..." and for some reason everyone ate it up.

Then again, there's UB40's "Red Red Wine" which took an already good song (Neil Diamond did the original) and make it a classic. Well, to me at least.

It's a terrific cover, and I say this as a huge Johnny Cash fan.

They've been on a real basketball kick there. They recycled another article about why fighting is good for the NBA.

Slate also had an article about why diving is a good tactic for soccer.

The bigger question is: why do I read Slate? I hate them so.

Slate will likely run an article telling us that the best baseball game of the year was Tampa Bay's 7-3 win over Texas on August 23.

That may be one of the dumbest things I have ever read.

"Another point in AAU's favor is that the talent is homegrown. Rooting for State U is pretty much the same as cheering for a pro team, considering that your favorite school's roster is more likely to be stocked with guys from Croatia than with instate kids. Let's say you live in Atlanta. Does it make more sense to root for the Atlanta Celtics—an AAU program that recently produced Dwight Howard, Josh Smith, and Randolph Morris—or the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, whose top players of recent vintage are all from out of state? There should be no debate: If you want to support local hoopsters, then go with AAU. These teams comprise boys and girls who attend your church and bag your groceries. You know them, and they know one another: It's not for nothing that Jalen Rose's 13-and-under AAU squad was called Team Superfriends."

For the same reason I do Madlibs online. Because reading utter nonsense is very entertaining.

http://tinyurl.com/kd8jq

Don't people want to have a rooting interest? Don't people like to go to college basketball games because they have some connection to the college?

http://tinyurl.com/y9te87

I thought that was an odd line, but if that's true, than those "East Coasters" are nothing but a bunch of ignorant sports talking heads.

But then again, Heyman was probably just using that line as a filler in his article, as it doesn't make any sense.

I got the feeling that was in Beijing, Vishal. You might want to see that in person.

Etta James has a special place in my heart. I've tried to verify this, but I believe that it was 1988 at Ella Guru's in Knoxville, and she singled me and my grilfriend of the time out for our dancing. Earlier that year, I'd been out to LA and after traveling for hours was hugging and kissing on this same GF, and some guy was waiting behind us at a gas station. I apologized and he said something like "young man, if I had that to hold onto I'd savor every minute of it. Don't you worry about me."

Ella Guru's, by the way, is historical now. Hard to believe Ashely Capps went through the same Philosophy dept I did! Somewhere I have all the tickets of almost all the shows they had. John Lee Hooker, Etta, Buddy Guy, Wynton, Garth Brooks (see "the old stuff"), Prine, the Neville Bros, Richard and Linda Thompson (during or immediately after breakup), Capercaille, Roy Bookbinder, Roger McGuinn, Leon Ruseell, on and on. Ah the days of the Lame Monkey Manifesto and Spike Gillespie... Sort of like Cheers, with awesome bands everynight.

I can understand why.

After Nomar hits his game winning 2-run homer and Vinny says the Dodgers win 11-10, he does not say anything for 1 minute and 24 seconds then he says "By the way, the Dodgers are in first place."

Could anyone else broadcasting a game stay quiet for that long?

Ben Howland supposedly brought "East Coast" basketball to UCLA, although he started coaching on the West Coast and learned much of his style at hardscrabble UCSB.

The NBA tries to use that distinction too. In the 1980s, the Lakers were the "soft" ones compared to the "tough" Celtics.

Just a bunch of hooey.

Talks about how while Gagne's fastball will likely never be what it once was, his changeup is so good that he could still have a Trevor Hoffman-ish career.

And also:
"Gagne is an incredible teammate, often offering spare bedrooms to rookies and other newcomers. Russell Martin and Jason Repko are recent boarders. He even took Joe Beimel out for a couple beers in New York City, which, granted, did not work out so great for the Los Angeles Dodgers."

By the way, when does the 10 most hated posters list come out? I've gotta get some recognition somewhere.

Am I the only one who thinks Ben Howland is the best coach in college hoops these days? That's an East Coast team out there on the left coast.
-- Tom Tuchscher, New York City

N.Y. Times, Pete Thamel, 3/24/2006

By scurrying back from deficits as large as 17 points in the regional semifinals of the N.C.A.A. tournament, U.C.L.A. showed that its East Coast style of basketball can reign on the West Coast.

(I'll ignore the NY Times style that requires periods in UCLA. They also require periods in USC. I hate this.)

after about 5 years of "The Party" and 5 years of "The Producers".

The Producers is of course the best comedy not named Cabin Boy ever made. A group of us in our college days rented The Party, though, and found it...um...dated.

Back in 1961 the Mets hired Rogers Hornsby to scout major league games to give the organization his opinions about players in advance of the 1962 expansion draft. The most glowing report Hornsby submitted that summer was "looks like a major league player." He made that comment about Mickey Mantle. I figure XFrank would be the Rogers Hornsby of movie critics.

Stan from Tacoma

That's not hard to do.

Even adjusted for inflation.

Newsweek did this for a while too, IIRC.

http://tinyurl.com/yaz5nb

http://childressmustache.com/

But you knew that.

Except that I will never root for the Dallas Cowboys.

http://tinyurl.com/yf9plt

He was down for two full days.

I'm still waiting to get some stomach flu. If half the people at work are getting it and one of them cooked me food this week, then I'm doomed. DOOMED.

But I will die, as I lived, wearing a green shirt, a catcher's mask, and dancing the Can Can.

I've also been learning html code. What a wonderful way to spend your time off {bangs head}.

http://www.lapl.org/resources/inet/history.html

I have a feeling Brock will never be like this.

Thanks

They can watch The Candidate instead.

There's always IP blocking.

Doesn't he deserve better?

Doesn't that kid have a right to read a book without getting his mind warped. Or maybe that turns you on Bob, maybe that's how you get your kicks... You and your goodtime buddies...

Hilarious. Well done.

Just for Xeifrank, I watched Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me tonight and wow was it horrible. David Lynch can make some fine cinema from time to time, but this was definitely not one of those times.

Also, a nice piece by the Nats beat writer on the team's only major Dominican signing, a 16 yr old SS prospect named Esmailyn Gonzalez, and on the Domincan buscones system overall. http://tinyurl.com/yzycco

Have they no shame...?

I'd forgotten what a roller-coaster of a game that was, too.

Here are some that I use. Don't know if it is what you are looking for.

http://countrystudies.us/united-states/

http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/modules/index.cfm

http://www.historyplace.com/index.html

http://harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByTheme.asp

http://www.beyondbooks.com/bbsuites/gov91.asp

http://infotree.library.ohiou.edu/bysubject/social-sciences/political-science/elections-and-campaigns/

http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/CourtCases.htm

Best Cover Everrr.

All musicians play other people's music when they're young. This is very good, because their music wouldn't be any good. Their covers are often bad, too. Listen: most music is bad. Most poetry is bad. What you seem to be against is lottery winners, which is fine as far as that goes, but you're a little strident about it. Is Norman Greenbaum that much more deserving of tons of cash than the twig-boy who just got done covering Brock's favorite song, More Than Words?

http://tinyurl.com/yxemp6

Originally penned by Glenn Danzig, my former teenage idol.

Two thumbs up to the Gourds' cover of Snoop Dogg's Gin & Juice.

http://cdbaby.com/cd/stanridgway3

Thanks to everybody for the links.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZn-AQSRka0

sheesh

How are the Dodgers winning? I have their offense being anywhere from below average to god awful, depending on how the ball bounces. The Dodgers remain competetive solely due to their starting pitching, and maybe a couple of strategic injuries. Does the sim agree with me?

http://postgazette.com/pg/06355/747788-63.stm

Was last years offense god awful?

Rusty Cage - Johnny Cash 2nd best cover

Also, the Dodgers OPSed 42 points higher with RISP, if they actually become "unclutch" the Dodgers could see their offensive output drop around 120 runs in the worst case scenario. I'm expecting around 750 right now, which would be 22nd in 2006.

http://tinyurl.com/yzz73l

However, last year's team only had one player that had a career season, Furcal, Kent was more hurt than in a decline phase, Betemit or LaRoche or Nomar should provide better offense at 3B for the year than having Izzy and Lugo play about a third of season in that spot. The big loss will be Drew.

But the Dodgers should have better starting pitching to help balance that.

In the end, yes, I would feel more comfortable with a little more sock but I am not sure that Drew's loss alone will cause a huge drop off.

Losing far and away your best hitter and replacing him with Gonzo and The Human Out Machine will hurt a lot. You could argue that Loney, Martin, Ethier, and Kemp (if he plays) will improve, but losing Drew is going to hurt.

The counter argument I thought of was that the Dodgers didn't start the season with their complete lineup, they got better as the season went on, but this wasn't true. The Dodgers did most of their damage in May, when they scored over six runs a game, after that, they were around average, except when they scored 5.39 runs per game in September, and when they couldn't score at all in July. The Dodgers were a better overall offensive team when the lineup was still in flux than it was for the final push.

You can thank guys like Ramon Martinez and Nomar for that.

http://tinyurl.com/y2zvzu

and

http://tinyurl.com/y3wu6s

http://tinyurl.com/yzuagp

You have now doomed me to an afternoon of the Tijuana Brass set to endless repeat on the iPod In My Head™.

This special remedy can be found here:

http://prettypictures.com/maim/
(work friendly, of course)

http://tinyurl.com/ymnbjo

Neon Park was a genuinely special artist, and it's a shame he died too young.

I love the whole series of Little Feat covers -- they have pledged that they will always use Park paintings as their cover art.

http://www.tcnj.edu/~messmer2/duke_ellington.html

I've never had much use for posters, but have always wanted one of this print.

The email from BP was signed, "Love, Baseball Prospectus and [My father's name]." Which is very sweet. Baseball Prospectus loves me, this I know, for their email told me so. . .

http://tinyurl.com/y5hvqw