Tony talks up those Angels

If all goes well, the hated Yankees will be gone from the World Series race this afternoon. Thanks Angels. However, Oaktown is going to 0wn you in the ALCS.
Oh fsck, I just turned on the game… 11 - 2 Twinkies? Come on A’s, don’t make me look the f00l.
Damnit. We’re going back to Oakland for [...]

How to remember Sept. 11 — and how not to

[ via RC3 ] Keith Olbermann’s writing for Salon:

I can summon effortlessly from my memory an image of an NYPD officer standing outside the New York Stock Exchange that morning. There was still so much smoke downtown that until I got within a few feet of him, I couldn’t tell whether he was wearing [...]

Appreciating Stephen Jay Gould

David Gergen interviewed Steven Jay Gould, who died yesterday, back in 1996. The interview highlights what I liked about him: how he clarifies what this scary thing natural selection means, and his polymath mind.
Pinker, Dennet, and Dawkins — the heart of evolutionary biology’s batting order — often denegrated Gould’s writings as trivial. However, having read [...]

What to watch? Start with the catcher

[ via Glish.com ] Joe Morgan wrote a nice guide for watching a baseball game: where to look to understand the inside game; how camera angles confuse our perception of the action; and why “small ball”, the underappreciated art of getting runners on base and moving them around with base hits rather than home runs, [...]

My dance with the Devil (Rays)

[ via Michael Rawdon ] My friend Andy Hooper does an occasional fanzine called “9 Innings”, where he narrates one of his trips to a Major League Baseball game. Those fanzines helped turn me onto baseball because Andy knows the game and can bring the history, and insider knowledge to the fore.
I hope he doesn’t [...]

Has Selig Gone Too Far This Time?

[ via RC3.org ] Opening day’s a few days away, so it’s time to throw brickbats at the Comissioner everyone loves to hate:
Think about that for a minute. In a multi-billion-dollar industry whose largest investors include Disney, News Corp., AOL Time Warner, and the Tribune Company, a car dealer from Milwaukee not only dictates labor [...]

Who was better: the 1989 or the 2001 Athletics?

[ via Oliver Willis ] So who was the better team? The World Champion 1989 A’s or the Wild Card Champion 2001 A’s?
Correction: It was the 1989 and not the 1990 A’s who were World Champions in the Earthquake Series. Thanks to observant Reds fan Robert Ralentz for the correction.

Iron Man Cal keeps his hand in the Pastime

MLB hero Cal Ripken’s bought a minor leauge club and is relocating it to Maryland. I hate it when small clubs move (bows head in memory of the Madison Muskees), but I’m also glad to see that Ripken’s keeping involved in the Game.
Why did I link to the BBC version of this story? Well, the [...]

Bonds hits #70

From SFGate: a movie of Bonds’ 70th Home Run. I’m going to the final game of the season, against LA, this Sunday. I’m with a group in the outfield bleachers and I’m bringing my glove. [ QuickTime ]

The fun never stops in the Oakland clubhouse

[ via Cyn Gonsalves ] Gotta love those A’s.

The 13 Scariest White Guys in America

AlterNet lists their choices for America’s thirteen scariest white guys. Besides the usual suspects, they include NY Yankee hurler Roger Clemens (not only did he bean Piazza, but he left Boston for New York.)

The First 100 Days of Commissioner Bush

It could be worse, he could be President.
Finally, as the first 100 days drew to a close, the Bush Commission reported a severe scarcity of baseballs. The shortage is attributed to a scarcity of leather resultant from recent incidents of mad cow and foot & mouth disease. The A’s, Padres, Giants, and Dodgers seem to [...]

Cricket Explained for Baseball Fans

I listen to BBC News in the evenings and have always been mystified by the results of cricket ‘tests.’ Jeff Tucker’s written an introduction to the game for people familiar with baseball. It’s more than the players dressing nicer and refraining from spitting.

Emerald City on Wiscon, McLeod, Raphael Carter

There’s a new issue of Cheryl Morgan’s fanzine Emerald City online. It covers WisCon 24 (and determines that SF3 needs to ISO 9001 all the stuff Jeanne Gomoll does for the convention,) Ken McLeod (the other Red Ken,) and Raphael Carter’s first novel: The Fortunate Fall.

Blow your own Kingdome

[ via Scripting News ] My friends in Seattle refer to it as “The Crypt,” a poorly lit, sick building where Randy Johnson used to hurl fastballs, and Ken Griffy, Jr. hit long balls. But Saturday the 26th of March, it goes boom. Try your hand at positioning explosives and blowing the Kingdome without taking [...]