That is the description my wife gave to Nolan Ryan and Cal Ripkin, Jr. Watching Ryan, a fan several times would see the pitcher after striking out a batter, saunter off the mound like a sheriff who has just dispatched a gunslinger intent on harming peace and prosperity.
With Madison Bumgarner in the just concluded World Series, fans saw not so much a gunfighter as a man sitting across the poker table in a Dodge City saloon and his eyes and demeanor sending an unmistakable message: “Don’t do something stupid.”
Friday, October 31, 2014
The (NY) natives are restless
Taylor Swift is NYC’s new tourism ambassador, and lots of natives are upset. The upsetters say the position should have gone to a native, or to someone who … No, to a native.
Here’s a take: Swift, who recently bought a $20 million apartment in NYC, is white as white, blonde, and a country music star. (She was born in Pennsylvania and moved to Nashville at age 14 to become a country music star, so it’s not like she’s a native Southerner or anything.) Mentioned as “real” New Yorkers and who maybe should have been named to the (unpaid) position were (indicted and self-confessed criminal) rapper Jay Z, diva J. Lo or not really funny comic Jerry Seinfeld.
http://m.lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2014-10-30/taylor-swift-gets-bronx-cheer-new-york-city-ambassador#gsc.tab=0
Here’s a take: Swift, who recently bought a $20 million apartment in NYC, is white as white, blonde, and a country music star. (She was born in Pennsylvania and moved to Nashville at age 14 to become a country music star, so it’s not like she’s a native Southerner or anything.) Mentioned as “real” New Yorkers and who maybe should have been named to the (unpaid) position were (indicted and self-confessed criminal) rapper Jay Z, diva J. Lo or not really funny comic Jerry Seinfeld.
http://m.lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2014-10-30/taylor-swift-gets-bronx-cheer-new-york-city-ambassador#gsc.tab=0
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
What the not-presidential candidate meant to say
On Friday, Hillary Clinton rather forcefully claimed, "Don't let anybody tell you that it's corporations and businesses that create jobs."
After someone told Clinton of the Baby Ruth in the swimming pool, the former First Lady and former senator from NY and former secretary of state changed her lyrics, somewhat, on Monday deciding, "Let me be absolutely clear about what I've been saying for a couple of decades: Our economy grows when businesses and entrepreneurs create good-paying jobs here in an America where workers and families are empowered to build from the bottom up and the middle out -- not when we hand out tax breaks for corporations that outsource jobs or stash their profits overseas."
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/27/politics/hillary-clinton-job-creation/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
The Friday statement is an in-your-face declaration that would make for good campaign debate, while the do-over … Blah, blah, yadda, etc.
When real campaign time rolls up, her comment will be, “What difference does it make now?”
After someone told Clinton of the Baby Ruth in the swimming pool, the former First Lady and former senator from NY and former secretary of state changed her lyrics, somewhat, on Monday deciding, "Let me be absolutely clear about what I've been saying for a couple of decades: Our economy grows when businesses and entrepreneurs create good-paying jobs here in an America where workers and families are empowered to build from the bottom up and the middle out -- not when we hand out tax breaks for corporations that outsource jobs or stash their profits overseas."
http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/27/politics/hillary-clinton-job-creation/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
The Friday statement is an in-your-face declaration that would make for good campaign debate, while the do-over … Blah, blah, yadda, etc.
When real campaign time rolls up, her comment will be, “What difference does it make now?”
Monday, October 27, 2014
Racist architecture?
This idiot is serious!
Situation: Denver’s Union Station is undergoing restoration. The “fine arts critic” of the Denver Post says the architecture of the station is racist.
“Union Station is a neo-classical mix of styles — European styles. The symmetry, arched windows, ornate cornice and stacked, stone walls have their roots in the glory days of France, England, Greece and Rome, in empires that were nearly absent of ethnic minorities and who felt fully at ease invading, exploiting and actually enslaving the people of Africa, subcontinent Asia and South America.
“Yes, that’s all in the past; things have changed. But the $54 million renovation of Union Station doesn’t take that into account. It restores the symbols of an old world with no updates. The gilded chandeliers have been rewired, the marble polished, but there’s no nod to the present, no interior walls in the bright colors of Mexico, no Asian simplicity is in the remix. There are no giant sculptures by African-American artists bonused into the lobby, no murals on the basement walls.”
http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_26742711/did-diversity-miss-train-union-stations-architecture?source=infinite
Link at http://neveryetmelted.com/
Situation: Denver’s Union Station is undergoing restoration. The “fine arts critic” of the Denver Post says the architecture of the station is racist.
“Union Station is a neo-classical mix of styles — European styles. The symmetry, arched windows, ornate cornice and stacked, stone walls have their roots in the glory days of France, England, Greece and Rome, in empires that were nearly absent of ethnic minorities and who felt fully at ease invading, exploiting and actually enslaving the people of Africa, subcontinent Asia and South America.
“Yes, that’s all in the past; things have changed. But the $54 million renovation of Union Station doesn’t take that into account. It restores the symbols of an old world with no updates. The gilded chandeliers have been rewired, the marble polished, but there’s no nod to the present, no interior walls in the bright colors of Mexico, no Asian simplicity is in the remix. There are no giant sculptures by African-American artists bonused into the lobby, no murals on the basement walls.”
http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_26742711/did-diversity-miss-train-union-stations-architecture?source=infinite
Link at http://neveryetmelted.com/
Those 35,000 walruses on the beach because ice melted or something?
And that had never happened before and WE’RE DOOMED! DOOMED, I TELL YOU!
Well, maybe not.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/10/25/the-bogus-fuss-over-walrus-beach-parties-walrus-haulouts-are-nothing-new/
Link at www.maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com
Well, maybe not.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2014/10/25/the-bogus-fuss-over-walrus-beach-parties-walrus-haulouts-are-nothing-new/
Link at www.maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com
A little research, please
In Summer of ’49, author David Halberstam makes this claim: “They were an odd mix, the players and writers. The players were more often than not rural Southern Protestants; the writers were urban Irish and Jews.” P. 95, Nookbook edition.
Common sense, and a little knowledge of population, says the statement cannot be accurate. In 1949, total population in the Southern states was far less than in the North, when one assigns all states outside the South in one group. Only if a far greater percentage of Southerners played baseball could Southern ballplayers could outnumber Northern players.
Since Halberstam’s book focuses on the Red Sox and Yankees, and on New York and Boston sportswriters, I accessed team rosters at www.baseball-almanac.com. Here are the number of ballplayers on both teams combined and states/provinces of birth:
California – 11; New York – 7; New Jersey – 4; Pennsylvania – 4; Washington – 4; Maryland – 3; Alabama – 3; Ohio – 3; two each from Georgia, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Texas, Louisiana and North Carolina; and one player each from Saskatchewan, Michigan,Virginia, Utah, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Wisconsin, Colorado, Nebraska, Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virginia, Vermont, Oregon, New Mexico, Michigan and Kentucky.
When a writer of Halberstam’s reputation makes such an unsubstantiated, inaccurate statement, you have to wonder about his other writings.
Common sense, and a little knowledge of population, says the statement cannot be accurate. In 1949, total population in the Southern states was far less than in the North, when one assigns all states outside the South in one group. Only if a far greater percentage of Southerners played baseball could Southern ballplayers could outnumber Northern players.
Since Halberstam’s book focuses on the Red Sox and Yankees, and on New York and Boston sportswriters, I accessed team rosters at www.baseball-almanac.com. Here are the number of ballplayers on both teams combined and states/provinces of birth:
California – 11; New York – 7; New Jersey – 4; Pennsylvania – 4; Washington – 4; Maryland – 3; Alabama – 3; Ohio – 3; two each from Georgia, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Texas, Louisiana and North Carolina; and one player each from Saskatchewan, Michigan,Virginia, Utah, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Wisconsin, Colorado, Nebraska, Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virginia, Vermont, Oregon, New Mexico, Michigan and Kentucky.
When a writer of Halberstam’s reputation makes such an unsubstantiated, inaccurate statement, you have to wonder about his other writings.
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