Raised by Wolves

swish

2008-11-16T17:56:00.004-06:00

Nick Swisher traded to Yankees for assorted parts (Wilson Betemit, Yankee Pitching Prospect #1, Yankee Pitching Prospect #2).

I had difficulty speaking in complete sentences after this fleecing. So, bullet points.

1) Swisher stunk, but he's only 27-28, and he's under contract for around $22M for the next three seasons. Contrary to everything Jerry Reinsdorf will say, the White Sox are a big payroll team (5th last year at $120M), so dumping $22M isn't going to necessarily get you down to a very low number anyway.

2) Even if you think he's going to continue to decline, look who the Sox already have on the team. Who's going to have a better next 3 seasons, between Swisher, Thome, Konerko, and Dye? I'm not counting Quentin because he's further behind on the salary cycle.

Thome finished his age 37 season, and has a $13M option for 2009, or the Sox could buy him out for $3M. Needless to say, he won't be around long and his option for one season is half the value of Swisher's 3 seasons left. Ugh.

Konerko finished his age 32 season, owed $12M until 2010.

Dye finished his age 34 season, owed $11.5M in 2009, $12M option for 2010 ($1M buyout).

Heck, the only guy who would be around in 3 years might be Swisher. I just cried a little.

3) Wilson Betemit = Juan Uribe with less defense.

4) There are reports that Swisher's clubhouse intensity guy act was wearing thin on people (not enough room with Ozzie's ego in the dugout). Fine. That doesn't mean you give up on getting any value for him. I just laid down in my closet and curled up in a ball.

5) So Gio Gonzales, Ryan Sweeney, and Fautino de los Santos (our best pitching and OF prospects that we traded for Swisher) have now turned into one bad year of Swisher, Wilson Betemit, two pitching prospects for the Yankees that were not in their top 10 and were never going to see the majors. That is an impressive talent downgrade.

Nobody knows where this team is going. What makes sense at this point is go straight salary dump (Sox probably have to keep the albatross Konerko contract), but they don't even have young guys to replace the old guys. 2008 might end up hurting the team for the rest of the decade because it'll probably fool people into thinking that this team has some direction. Making emotional decisions instead of professional ones is going to stop the Sox from finding one. Sorry that your boys didn't pan out, Kenny, but the way to fix that is getting back value again, not pissing it all away in some emotionally cathartic toilet flush.

Also, the Bears got mauled today. I'm going to read a book.

"willow"

2008-11-13T00:31:00.001-06:00

Priscilla Ahn tells us that autumn is here.

numeral

2008-10-28T22:57:00.002-05:00

More to come, hopefully.

bon anniversaire

2008-08-28T21:53:00.002-05:00

Rolling Stone is not my favorite media publication, but they have an interesting oral history of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which is now 10 years old.

Of course, 45 years ago, a young preacher from Alabama stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial, perhaps realizing his words would stir generations that would produce individuals as unique as a young senator from Illinois with a pastiche for background that reflects the diversity of the country he wishes to lead.

Here's the full text, which my AP kids will be oh so happy to learn that they'll be reading soon. McCain's too.

Obama's 2008 Democratic nomination speech:
To Chairman Dean and my great friend Dick Durbin, and to all my fellow citizens of this great nation: With profound gratitude and great humility, I accept your nomination for the presidency of the United States.

Let me express my thanks to the historic slate of candidates who accompanied me on this journey, and especially the one who traveled the farthest_ a champion for working Americans and an inspiration to my daughters and to yours — Hillary Rodham Clinton. To President Clinton, who last night made the case for change as only he can make it; to Ted Kennedy, who embodies the spirit of service; and to the next vice president of the United States, Joe Biden, I thank you. I am grateful to finish this journey with one of the finest statesmen of our time, a man at ease with everyone from world leaders to the conductors on the Amtrak train he still takes home every night.

To the love of my life, our next first lady, Michelle Obama, and to Sasha and Malia, I love you so much, and I'm so proud of all of you.

Four years ago, I stood before you and told you my story of the brief union between a young man from Kenya and a young woman from Kansas who weren't well-off or well-known, but shared a belief that in America, their son could achieve whatever he put his mind to.

It is that promise that has always set this country apart, that through hard work and sacrifice, each of us can pursue our individual dreams but still come together as one American family, to ensure that the next generation can pursue their dreams as well.

That's why I stand here tonight. Because for 232 years, at each moment when that promise was in jeopardy, ordinary men and women, students and soldiers, farmers and teachers, nurses and janitors, found the courage to keep it alive.

We meet at one of those defining moments, a moment when our nation is at war, our economy is in turmoil, and the American promise has been threatened once more.

Tonight, more Americans are out of work, and more are working harder for less. More of you have lost your homes, and even more are watching your home values plummet. More of you have cars you can't afford to drive, credit card bills you can't afford to pay, and tuition that's beyond your reach.

These challenges are not all of government's making. But the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush.

America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country than this.

This country is more decent than one where a woman in Ohio, on the brink of retirement, finds herself one illness away from disaster after a lifetime of hard work.

This country is more generous than one where a man in Indiana has to pack up the equipment he's worked on for twenty years and watch it shipped off to China, and then chokes up as he explains how he felt like a failure when he went home to tell his family the news.

We are more compassionate than a government that lets veterans sleep on our streets and families slide into poverty; that sits on its hands while a major American city drowns before our eyes.

Tonight, I say to the American people, to Democrats and Republicans and Independents across this great land: enough! This moment, this election is our chance to keep, in the 21st century, the American promise alive. Because next week, in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third. And we are here because we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight. On Nov. 4, we must stand up and say: "Eight is enough."

Now let there be no doubt. The Republican nominee, John McCain, has worn the uniform of our country with bravery and distinction, and for that, we owe him our gratitude and respect. And next week, we'll also hear about those occasions when he's broken with his party as evidence that he can deliver the change that we need.

But the record's clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than ninety percent of the time? I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take a ten percent chance on change.

The truth is, on issue after issue that would make a difference in your lives, on health care and education and the economy, Senator McCain has been anything but independent. He said that our economy has made "great progress" under this president. He said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. And when one of his chief advisers, the man who wrote his economic plan, was talking about the anxiety Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a "mental recession," and that we've become, and I quote, "a nation of whiners."

A nation of whiners? Tell that to the proud auto workers at a Michigan plant who, after they found out it was closing, kept showing up every day and working as hard as ever, because they knew there were people who counted on the brakes that they made. Tell that to the military families who shoulder their burdens silently as they watch their loved ones leave for their third or fourth or fifth tour of duty. These are not whiners. They work hard and give back and keep going without complaint. These are the Americans that I know.

Now, I don't believe that Senator McCain doesn't care what's going on in the lives of Americans. I just think he doesn't know. Why else would he define middle-class as someone making under $5 million a year? How else could he propose hundreds of billions in tax breaks for big corporations and oil companies but not one penny of tax relief to more than 100 million Americans? How else could he offer a health care plan that would actually tax people's benefits, or an education plan that would do nothing to help families pay for college, or a plan that would privatize Social Security and gamble your retirement?

It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it.

For over two decades, he's subscribed to that old, discredited Republican philosophy — give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else. In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is, you're on your own. Out of work? Tough luck. No health care? The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, even if you don't have boots. You're on your own.

Well, it's time for them to own their failure. It's time for us to change America.

You see, we Democrats have a very different measure of what constitutes progress in this country.

We measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays the mortgage; whether you can put a little extra money away at the end of each month so you can someday watch your child receive her college diploma. We measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were created when Bill Clinton was president, when the average American family saw its income go up $7,500 instead of down $2,000, like it has under George Bush.

We measure the strength of our economy not by the number of billionaires we have or the profits of the Fortune 500, but by whether someone with a good idea can take a risk and start a new business, or whether the waitress who lives on tips can take a day off to look after a sick kid without losing her job an economy that honors the dignity of work.

The fundamentals we use to measure economic strength are whether we are living up to that fundamental promise that has made this country great, a promise that is the only reason I am standing here tonight.

Because in the faces of those young veterans who come back from Iraq and Afghanistan, I see my grandfather, who signed up after Pearl Harbor, marched in Patton's Army and was rewarded by a grateful nation with the chance to go to college on the GI Bill.

In the face of that young student who sleeps just three hours before working the night shift, I think about my mom, who raised my sister and me on her own while she worked and earned her degree; who once turned to food stamps but was still able to send us to the best schools in the country with the help of student loans and scholarships.

When I listen to another worker tell me that his factory has shut down, I remember all those men and women on the South Side of Chicago who I stood by and fought for two decades ago after the local steel plant closed.

And when I hear a woman talk about the difficulties of starting her own business, I think about my grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle-management, despite years of being passed over for promotions because she was a woman. She's the one who taught me about hard work. She's the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. She poured everything she had into me. And although she can no longer travel, I know that she's watching tonight, and that tonight is her night as well.

I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine. These are my heroes. Theirs are the stories that shaped me. And it is on their behalf that I intend to win this election and keep our promise alive as president of the United States.

What is that promise?

It's a promise that says each of us has the freedom to make of our own lives what we will, but that we also have the obligation to treat each other with dignity and respect.

It's a promise that says the market should reward drive and innovation and generate growth, but that businesses should live up to their responsibilities to create American jobs, look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road.

Ours is a promise that says government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves, protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads and new science and technology.

Our government should work for us, not against us. It should help us, not hurt us. It should ensure opportunity, not just for those with the most money and influence, but for every American who's willing to work.

That's the promise of America, the idea that we are responsible for ourselves, but that we also rise or fall as one nation; the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper; I am my sister's keeper.

That's the promise we need to keep. That's the change we need right now. So let me spell out exactly what that change would mean if I am president.

Change means a tax code that doesn't reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it.

Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America.

I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the startups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.

I will cut taxes — cut taxes for 95% of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class.

And for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as president: In ten years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.

Washington's been talking about our oil addiction for the last thirty years, and John McCain has been there for twenty-six of them. In that time, he's said no to higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars, no to investments in renewable energy, no to renewable fuels. And today, we import triple the amount of oil as the day that Senator McCain took office.

Now is the time to end this addiction, and to understand that drilling is a stopgap measure, not a long-term solution. Not even close.

As president, I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power. I'll help our auto companies retool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America. I'll make it easier for the American people to afford these new cars. And I'll invest 150 billion dollars over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy; wind power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels; an investment that will lead to new industries and 5 million new jobs that pay well and can't ever be outsourced.

America, now is not the time for small plans.

Now is the time to finally meet our moral obligation to provide every child a world-class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy. Michelle and I are only here tonight because we were given a chance at an education. And I will not settle for an America where some kids don't have that chance. I'll invest in early childhood education. I'll recruit an army of new teachers, and pay them higher salaries and give them more support. And in exchange, I'll ask for higher standards and more accountability. And we will keep our promise to every young American — if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford a college education.

Now is the time to finally keep the promise of affordable, accessible health care for every single American. If you have health care, my plan will lower your premiums. If you don't, you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves. And as someone who watched my mother argue with insurance companies while she lay in bed dying of cancer, I will make certain those companies stop discriminating against those who are sick and need care the most.

Now is the time to help families with paid sick days and better family leave, because nobody in America should have to choose between keeping their jobs and caring for a sick child or ailing parent.

Now is the time to change our bankruptcy laws, so that your pensions are protected ahead of CEO bonuses; and the time to protect Social Security for future generations.

And now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day's work, because I want my daughters to have exactly the same opportunities as your sons.

Now, many of these plans will cost money, which is why I've laid out how I'll pay for every dime, by closing corporate loopholes and tax havens that don't help America grow. But I will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less because we cannot meet 21st century challenges with a 20th century bureaucracy.

And Democrats, we must also admit that fulfilling America's promise will require more than just money. It will require a renewed sense of responsibility from each of us to recover what John F. Kennedy called our "intellectual and moral strength." Yes, government must lead on energy independence, but each of us must do our part to make our homes and businesses more efficient. Yes, we must provide more ladders to success for young men who fall into lives of crime and despair. But we must also admit that programs alone can't replace parents; that government can't turn off the television and make a child do her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility for providing the love and guidance their children need.

Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility — that's the essence of America's promise.

And just as we keep our keep our promise to the next generation here at home, so must we keep America's promise abroad. If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next commander in chief, that's a debate I'm ready to have.

For while Senator McCain was turning his sights to Iraq just days after 9/11, I stood up and opposed this war, knowing that it would distract us from the real threats we face. When John McCain said we could just "muddle through" in Afghanistan, I argued for more resources and more troops to finish the fight against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights. John McCain likes to say that he'll follow bin Laden to the Gates of Hell, but he won't even go to the cave where he lives.

And today, as my call for a time frame to remove our troops from Iraq has been echoed by the Iraqi government and even the Bush administration, even after we learned that Iraq has a $79 billion surplus while we're wallowing in deficits, John McCain stands alone in his stubborn refusal to end a misguided war.

That's not the judgment we need. That won't keep America safe. We need a president who can face the threats of the future, not keep grasping at the ideas of the past.

You don't defeat a terrorist network that operates in 80 countries by occupying Iraq. You don't protect Israel and deter Iran just by talking tough in Washington. You can't truly stand up for Georgia when you've strained our oldest alliances. If John McCain wants to follow George Bush with more tough talk and bad strategy, that is his choice, but it is not the change we need.

We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country. Don't tell me that Democrats won't keep us safe. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans — Democrats and Republicans have built, and we are here to restore that legacy.

As commander in chief, I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm's way with a clear mission and a sacred commitment to give them the equipment they need in battle and the care and benefits they deserve when they come home.

I will end this war in Iraq responsibly and finish the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan. I will rebuild our military to meet future conflicts. But I will also renew the tough, direct diplomacy that can prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and curb Russian aggression. I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century: terrorism and nuclear proliferation; poverty and genocide; climate change and disease. And I will restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future.

These are the policies I will pursue. And in the weeks ahead, I look forward to debating them with John McCain.

But what I will not do is suggest that the senator takes his positions for political purposes. Because one of the things that we have to change in our politics is the idea that people cannot disagree without challenging each other's character and patriotism.

The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America, they have served the United States of America.

So I've got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first.

America, our work will not be easy. The challenges we face require tough choices, and Democrats as well as Republicans will need to cast off the worn-out ideas and politics of the past. For part of what has been lost these past eight years can't just be measured by lost wages or bigger trade deficits. What has also been lost is our sense of common purpose our sense of higher purpose. And that's what we have to restore.

We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country. The reality of gun ownership may be different for hunters in rural Ohio than for those plagued by gang-violence in Cleveland, but don't tell me we can't uphold the Second Amendment while keeping AK-47s out of the hands of criminals. I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters deserve to visit the person they love in the hospital and to live lives free of discrimination. Passions fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers. This, too, is part of America's promise, the promise of a democracy where we can find the strength and grace to bridge divides and unite in common effort.

I know there are those who dismiss such beliefs as happy talk. They claim that our insistence on something larger, something firmer and more honest in our public life is just a Trojan horse for higher taxes and the abandonment of traditional values. And that's to be expected. Because if you don't have any fresh ideas, then you use stale tactics to scare the voters. If you don't have a record to run on, then you paint your opponent as someone people should run from.

You make a big election about small things.

And you know what it's worked before. Because it feeds into the cynicism we all have about government. When Washington doesn't work, all its promises seem empty. If your hopes have been dashed again and again, then it's best to stop hoping, and settle for what you already know.

I get it. I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I don't fit the typical pedigree, and I haven't spent my career in the halls of Washington.

But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What the naysayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me. It's been about you.

For eighteen long months, you have stood up, one by one, and said enough to the politics of the past. You understand that in this election, the greatest risk we can take is to try the same old politics with the same old players and expect a different result. You have shown what history teaches us that at defining moments like this one, the change we need doesn't come from Washington. Change comes to Washington. Change happens because the American people demand it, because they rise up and insist on new ideas and new leadership, a new politics for a new time.

America, this is one of those moments.

I believe that as hard as it will be, the change we need is coming. Because I've seen it. Because I've lived it. I've seen it in Illinois, when we provided health care to more children and moved more families from welfare to work. I've seen it in Washington, when we worked across party lines to open up government and hold lobbyists more accountable, to give better care for our veterans and keep nuclear weapons out of terrorist hands.

And I've seen it in this campaign. In the young people who voted for the first time, and in those who got involved again after a very long time. In the Republicans who never thought they'd pick up a Democratic ballot, but did. I've seen it in the workers who would rather cut their hours back a day than see their friends lose their jobs, in the soldiers who re-enlist after losing a limb, in the good neighbors who take a stranger in when a hurricane strikes and the floodwaters rise.

This country of ours has more wealth than any nation, but that's not what makes us rich. We have the most powerful military on Earth, but that's not what makes us strong. Our universities and our culture are the envy of the world, but that's not what keeps the world coming to our shores.

Instead, it is that American spirit that American promise that pushes us forward even when the path is uncertain; that binds us together in spite of our differences; that makes us fix our eye not on what is seen, but what is unseen, that better place around the bend.

That promise is our greatest inheritance. It's a promise I make to my daughters when I tuck them in at night, and a promise that you make to yours, a promise that has led immigrants to cross oceans and pioneers to travel west; a promise that led workers to picket lines, and women to reach for the ballot.

And it is that promise that forty five years ago today, brought Americans from every corner of this land to stand together on a Mall in Washington, before Lincoln's Memorial, and hear a young preacher from Georgia speak of his dream.

The men and women who gathered there could've heard many things. They could've heard words of anger and discord. They could've been told to succumb to the fear and frustration of so many dreams deferred.

But what the people heard instead, people of every creed and color, from every walk of life, is that in America, our destiny is inextricably linked. That together, our dreams can be one.

"We cannot walk alone," the preacher cried. "And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back."

America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future. Let us keep that promise, that American promise, and in the words of Scripture, hold firmly, without wavering, to the hope that we confess.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.

don't sound stupid

2008-08-02T14:42:00.002-05:00

Courtesy of pixadaus.

St. Lou pics, South Side quandary, baseball deluxe post

2008-07-30T00:26:00.009-05:00

Whenever I take pictures, I honestly feel like I'll forget about the entire thing unless I post them. So.

Officially, I've adopted the Cardinals as my "second team," which I've been putting thought to since January, and which I documented here (I love self-referencing!). But the Cardinals won out because of the prospect of a cheap, relaxing train ride, and some friends who live in the area. The Cardinals' new ballpark (above, Greg posing), was also a draw. It's pretty beautiful, with that neo-classical feel that is the rage in ballparks now. The buzz of the crowd, the way they cheer for every good play regardless of which team makes it, and the reverence that the facility is treated with all points to the fact that St. Louisans (?) really love their team, but also really love baseball.

The Cards won both games we went (ripping up the Padres' pitching staff), we visited, among other places, the Arch (TM), and some old courthouse building that I forget the name of. The best part? Our hotel was right on the next block. We also went to St. Louis' gorgeous Byzantine style Cathedral Basilica.

Looking from the back entrance toward the front. The tour group in the pews gives you an idea of the scale.

Front entrance facing the main street. It's within walking distance from St. Louis University, or the SLU, as my kids who are attending this fall have informed me.

Up at the roof. I'd love for Chicago's cathedral to be like this. Sigh.

Anyway, back to the baseball. The trading deadline is in 24 hours, and the Angels have just picked up Mark Texeira for a song, and the Yankees have addressed, though ultimately futilely, their own holes with XNady and Damaso Marte. But the tightest race is in the AL Central, and rumblings and rumors are swirling around the Sox since they're about to cough up the lead to Twins, maybe before the weekend hits (breaking eye contact with sharp objects... now). Can the Sox do anything to improve by trade?

Basically, no, not really. They actually have some pieces they can move, probably Josh Fields and the oft-mentioned pitching prospie Aaron Poreda, even Juan Uribe. The potentially exciting shortlist is:

1) AJ Burnett, RHP, Tor - A big name, big contract, and the big dreaded "has great stuff, but..." tag. Really, a guy who looks great on a scouting report but has an ERA north of 4, like Javy Vazquez. Basically a rental.

2) Justin Duchscherer, RHP, Oak - "Duck-sure". The best value because he's having a good year and there's a good chance to re-sign after the season. I'd gamble that this is one Oakland pitcher that won't break down once he's traded. Even if he does, you don't lose much.

3) Brian Roberts, 2b, Bal - Would look great hitting leadoff, playing good D, and stealing bases. But he's a got a big contract, he's a little older, and you have to displace either Cabrera or Alexei.

I think the top priority is a good starting pitcher, repeat GOOD, because the guy to bring would ideally be better than the top 3 of Danks, Floyd, or Buehrle, or else this is a one round and out. What ends up putting the stop to a deal for a good starter is Joe Crede's balky back, which makes Fields untradeable. What'll most likely happen, if anything, is a trade for a reliever that'll shore up a bullpen that's been overused by necessity.

I realized that this roster, this team as currently configured, is on its last legs. 2008 is pretty much the last time the window of opportunity will be open for a while. This roster was KW's vision since the title in 2005; this is the roster he figured would keep the Sox in contention for the rest of the decade (re-signing Contreras, trading for Vazquez and Thome). Things are bleak in 2009 with a core that is aging not so gracefully, and few younger players to replenish the core (nobody wants to think where this season would be without Danks, Floyd, and Quentin). So, it kind of makes sense to go big THIS year, because it's the best chance for a while. Roy Halladay, come on down! Farm system, schmarm system. We don't have the young core that teams like the Rays or the Cubs (ugh) or even the Cardinals have, so I say go for it while it's still reasonably within grasp. Or else losing the division lead by the weekend will just be the beginning.

Aside from trade possibilities, it would help a whole fricking lot if Paul Konerko would stop getting all Sylvia Plath about his hitting approach, and if Orlando Cabrera could stop hacking away like a blindfolded kid at a pinata party.

hello blog. remember me?

2008-07-14T23:29:00.002-05:00

Taking off to St. Louis at the end of the week to go check out the new ballpark. It's a good baseball related week, taking in two games with Greg and Mike and then another game on Monday.

Also, Josh Hamilton hit about a thousand home runs in the derby. If I'm Justin Morneau, I just give the trophy back.

The players with the best seasons so far in 2008:

American League
1. CF Grady Sizemore, Cle
2. 2b Ian Kinsler, Tex
3. RF Josh Hamilton, Tex
4. DH Milton Bradley, Tex
5. 1b Justin Morneau, Min
6. LF Carlos Quentin, ChiSox
7. C Joe Mauer, Min
8. 3b Kevin Youkilis, Bos
9. SS Micheal Young, Tex

SP Cliff Lee, Cle
SP Roy Halladay, Tor
SP Joe Saunders, LAA
SP Justin Duchscherer, Oak
SP Ervin Santana, LAA
RP Mariano Rivera, NYY
RP Joakin Soria, KC

National League
1. SS Hanley Ramirez, Fla
2. 2b Chase Utley, Phi
3. DH Albert Pujols, StL
4. 1b Lance Berkman, Hou
5. 3b Chipper Jones, Atl
6. LF Pat Burrell, Phi
7. RF Jason Bay, Pit
8. C Geovany Soto, Chi
9. CF Nate McLouth, Pit

SP Carlos Zambrano, Chi
SP Tim Lincecum, SF
SP Dan Haren, Ari
SP Edminson Volquez, Cin
SP Ben Sheets, Mil
RP Brad Lidge, Phi
RP Kerry Wood, Chi

some days, you feel like this

2008-05-21T00:14:00.004-05:00

Either end of it.

just in case you were wondering... and a list

2008-05-04T19:51:00.002-05:00

Iron Man = awesome. Yet another sign that the summer has arrived. Bring on the Crystal Skull:

Top 5 comic book hero movies (outside of Iron Man):

1. Superman II
2. Batman
3. Batman Begins
4. Spider Man 2
5. X-Men United

Top 5 worst comic book movies ever made:

1. Catwoman
2. Punisher
3. Batman and Robin
4. Ghost Rider
5. The Shadow

We were talking about how there are no good comic book heroine movies, probably because the genre faces the same issue that the WNBA deals with: trying to gain credibility while avoiding over-objectification. Good luck, Wonder Woman. Really, every female character outside of costume dramas deals with this.

Hurry up summer!

awesome

2008-04-28T22:10:00.003-05:00

This picture is without a doubt the best thing I've seen in the past 72 hours. Courtesy of Jalopnik. Its power to render me speechless is impressive. It's also impossible to caption.

Starting Romeo and Juliet with the Squirrely Freshmen (TM), so went to Best Buy to pick up Baz Luhrmann's loved/hated/pooped on version with L.DiCaprio. Those are widely unavailable, as evidenced by its absence in new copies at Best Buy and Amazon. Oh well. It wasn't a fruitless trip, however, since I picked up the 1968 version of R+J and... Cloverfield. The nauseous shakiness is much more manageable on a small screen. Was tempted by Juno, but I'll wait for the price to drop a little.

I will now go crawl in a hole and wait for the year to end. Planning on going to California once the school year ends. Maybe up to Washington to staff a retreat. Still deciding.

early color photos

2008-04-13T20:56:00.005-05:00

Photos taken with the first commercially color film available to the general public. It's interesting to see images normally associated with "black and white" time in color, like the one above of South Side steel mills in 1939.

The weather is turning brighter, and I'm finding the need to take up a new hobby. While my brain searches for distraction, my body says "get to the gym, dummy." Maybe one of these days I'll actually listen.

Only a four day week this time, because I'm helping out with something for school. Woo!

There's a Coptic Orthodox Church on the way to work, and the curiosity is increasing to go and look inside. The Coptic tradition of Orthodox Christianity developed mostly in Egypt, founded by St. Mark (the Gospel writer, whose influence is felt widely across southern Europe and northern Africa). There's so little I know about the Orthodox Christianity; it's weird to think that I know more about Judaism or Islam in comparison.

Summer plans are shaping up: retreats, vacations, hanging out with Ed, taking summer school

Greek philosophy + MLB 2008 (American League)

2008-04-02T21:26:00.007-05:00

The Greek philosopher Demetri Martin once said that he stopped being interested in sports when he realized that instead of the actual teams playing, he'd rather see the actual animals fight than teams with those names.

In that spirit, like a Roman gladiator cage match gone wrong, we pick the losers for the 2008 major league baseball season.

AL Central
The contenders: White Sox, Indians, Royals, Tigers, Twins

The clear losers are the linen (White Sox) and the anemic inbreds (Royals). The Twins have a disadvantage in that there can only be two, or multiples of two. That doesn't make any sense, but it seems limiting to me. The battle royale is between the Indians and the Tigers, but I have to give the edge over the ferocious carnivores over the aboriginal Americans or denizens of the Asian subcontinent, although a battle between Indians from India and Tigers would give the Tigers less of a home field advantage.

WINNER: Tigers

This makes so much sense. Those Greeks know what they're talking about.

AL East
The contenders: Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays, Rays, Orioles

Instant elimination goes to the apparel (sorry defending champs) and the marine life (Rays). I don't how to stage a battle between a Ray and birds, unless you get a bunch of guys named Ray together, which potentially could be quite formidable. The fowls cancel out, and it unfortunately only leaves the Yankees as the winners, although I think this can depend on the quality of the gathered Rays. Ray Charles? Not a good pick. Ray Romano? C'mon. Ray Winstone? Maybe. Jamie Foxx who played Ray Charles? Better. Sugar Ray Leonard? Now we talkin'.

WINNER?: Yankees, dark horse Rays

AL West
The contenders: Angels, Athletics, Mariners, Rangers

A battle between the Texas hardened Rangers and the swarthy Mariners sounds great, but the eventual victor would fall to the celestial power of ethereal spiritual beings, I think. Even if these are the Texas Rangers with Chuck Norris. But there's no roundhouse kicking archangels, I think, even Angel from the X-Men. I have no idea what an Athletic is. Oakland has a white elephant on its team patch. Nothing makes sense.

Winners: Angels in a landslide, even over Chuck Norris.

But I can't leave without this spectacular picture of Chuck:

happy opening day

2008-03-31T21:18:00.004-05:00

Spring break, good bye. But say yes to the Annunciation.

"The Annunciation". Henry Ossawa Tanner. 1898.

But, hello end-of-the-school-year-is-in-sight. And with it, hopefully, clarity, direction, and purpose.

(But one never does know). I could really use some before I start freaking out.

April brings us its usual greetings:

rainy weather (check)
the same Sox as the old Sox
new and interesting ways to waste time: Rasterbator. You'll love it.

I want to post photos from break, just because I finally got to TAKE photos, including the one I got yelled at for taking. Sweet. Some sort of mishmash of the Art Institute (and the Homer/Hopper exhibition), walking around downtown, grading, Divine Mercy Sunday, wishing I was here, wishing I lived somewhere else, Demetri Martin, watching baseball, grading a lot, eating a lot, praying a LOT. Happy Easter.

Good bye, friends.

a very blessed Solemnity of the Resurrection of the Lord

2008-03-22T23:17:00.003-05:00

"Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures; he was buried; and he was raised to life on the third day, in accordance with the scriptures." 1 Corinthians 15:3

Palm Sunday + new things I learned + baseball draft = monstrous post

2008-03-09T20:03:00.007-05:00

Duccio di Buoninsegna. "Maestà (back, central panel): The Entry into Jerusalem." 1308-11. Tempera on wood panel. Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena, Italy.

New things that I learned recently:

Sister Raffaella told me about the Ambrosian rite, which is mostly in the Archdiocese in Milan. The Ambrosian rite (established by St. Ambrose, archbishop of Milan back in the 5th century) is actually even older than the currently widely used Latin rite. In shorthand, as far as I know, in one of the bigboy meetings like the Council of Trent, if the rite of a particular liturgical tradition dates further back than the Latin rite, but still submits to the authority of the pope, and the tenets of the Church, then it's ok.

I have a friend who is a part of the Chaldean rite, which has its roots in Iraq, established by St. Thomas the Apostle in the first century. The difference in rites, from what I understand, is based on the simple fact that with the distance from the center of Catholicism in Rome, different traditions seeped into the liturgy of different locations as time passed. This page does the best in explaining all of this stuff.
I learned that coaching boys is a heck of a lot easier for me than coaching girls. Geez, no contest. Granted, at least I now have a season under my belt, but seriously. It probably makes a major difference that I'm helping with the freshman boys, who are willing to follow any sort of coaching at all, so that makes life easier too.
I learned that I need to make a decision on where I'm living/working next year, but I have no idea when I need to make it by. Which probably tells me that I need to pray more.
I've learned that my baseball team is giving no indications that it's going to do anything but suck. Related: my soccer team sucks too, ever since winning the League Cup.
I learned that when fantasy baseball drafting season comes around, I'm totally screwed. Wait? That's now?!

Speaking of which, here are the results of my fantasy baseball draft. I thought you'd never ask?!

5 x 5 Yahoo! fantasy league, 12 teams, I drafted 3rd. Max was 8th (ha).

David Wright, NYM, 3b - Yessss. It's nice to mix up who you get from year to year. I am excited to own JillKMeier mancrush David Wright for the first time. 30/30, prease.
Lance Berkman, Hou, 1b/OF - And then sometimes, you just draft the same guys every year.
Brandon Webb, Ari, SP
Carlos Guillen, Det, 1b/SS - The start of drafting a thousand guys who can play first base. Guillen qualifies for SS but will actually play 1b, which means less miles on the legs, which means more SBs, and he's hitting in the best lineup in league. Good times. 25-120, please. Also, Gat roto stalwart Brian Roberts gets picked right before me, so I'm rattled, and so I order cheese fries from the waitress.
Carlos Zambrano, ChiC, SP - Am I going to regret this? It's Max's fault. Just have to avoid the really bad starts. Still better than anyone else I could have gotten (Haren, Hamels).
Brian McCann, Atl, C - Hoping this works better than my Joe Mauer investment last year.
Nick Swisher, Sox, 1b/OF - A little early? Maybe. I think he's going to hit 35-40 at the Cell, plus it gives me a reason to care about my team.
Bobby Jenks, Sox, RP - Best reliever left on the board, I swear. Also, Paul Konerko is staring at me from the draft board. "Come on, man, we're frieeennnddsss."
Rich Hill, ChiC, SP - Love the strikeouts, and he surely will get better run support than last year. Also, why do I have so many Cubs. I punch Max in the solar plexus.
Jacob Ellsbury, Bos, OF - Am I going to regret this? Trade Coco Crisp, already. I'm desperate for speed, and I'd rather have Ellsbury rather than old Ellsbury, AKA Johnny Damon.
Tim Hudson, Atl, SP - Why do I have so many Braves? I almost drafted Texeira instead of Berkman, too. But what are my alternatives? Joba? Pedro? Brad Penny? Liriano? No thanks.
Willy Taveras, Col, OF - Speed, speed, speed. I am going to regret this. Damn you, whoever got Brian Roberts! Look what I've been forced to do!
Manny Corpas, Col, RP - Generic closer type who gets saves and doesn't kill my WHIP/ERA.
Kelly Johnson, Atl, 2b - Too many Braves. Why does my OCD pick up on that? He's the best left on a really weak board. I hate Kazuo Matsui's guts.
Jeremy Accardo, Tor, RP - BJ Ryan might be back, but Tommy John surgery takes two years to recover. Who's going to catch that beautiful butterfly? Accardo, with 30+ saves.
Brian Wilson, SF, RP - I'm lying in bed, just like Brian Wilson did. Just get me 30 saves.
Ryan Garko, Cle, 1b - You play 1b? Welcome to my team. Stop glaring at me, Paul Konerko.
George Sherrill, Bal, RP - Closer for the Orioles?
Ryan Theriot, ChiC, 2b/SS - Too. Many. Cubs.
Heath Bell, SD, RP - The guy K-Dub should have traded for instead of Scott Linebrink. 100 Ks as a reliever? Tasty.
Frank Thomas, Tor, Util - Just for old times' sake.

It feels like I need more power and speed. Pitching looks good, tho.

Have a great Holy Week. But before that, don't forget this guy:

good bye, February (almost)

2008-02-24T20:41:00.006-06:00

First things first, my soccer team has won some hardware.

My White Sox avoidance scheme is coming together perfectly.

Ever have a magnifying glass, put it in front of your eyes to look at something, then quickly take it away, then put it back in front of your eyes again, just to get yourself dizzy on the rapid change of perspective? Ok, fine, you didn't. But that seems like the feeling I'm getting from looking at my life, right about now. Sometimes I feel like I can't get past the next few days, then I think back to what I was doing a year ago, then I flash forward to what I'm trying to accomplish in an afternoon, then forward to when I get to go to Canada again, and... well, it gets to be like motion sickness.

I am secretly, secretly hoping that there will be answers to the life questions rattling around in my skull by the end of Lent. But, that's really more just a convenient time. I need something to look forward to. How can you put a timetable for a miracle to come into your life?

winter of my discontent

2008-01-31T20:59:00.000-06:00

Santana! to the Mets for a bunch of blue-chip prospects. (A better breakdown of the trade is here). I don't really care that the Twins might not have gotten the best deal possible in trying to maximize the value of the best pitcher of this decade.

What I do know is that the Sox now have 4-5 less guaranteed losses (I mean, they can still lose even with they don't face Johan) every time he pitched against the Pale Hose. It's bad enough that the best pitcher in baseball lives in your division, but it's something else when said pitcher's best career numbers come against your team. How good? Since 2003, when was put in the starting rotation:

13-4, 141.3 innings, 155 Ks, 0.94 WHIP, 2.42 ERA

Welcome to the National League, Johan, home of no-DH. I will be very pleased to watch Cub hitters flail away helplessly at this. Also, he makes the Mets the instant offseason frontrunner for the NL pennant, thus an easier path to the World Series, where each playoff opponent will definitely face him twice in a series. I have no problem with the best pitcher in the game having a better shot at getting to and winning the Series.

Despite the departure of the Isildur's Bane of my team, at most, it makes the Sox an 81 win team to an 85 win team (because it doesn't make Nick Swisher any better in centerfield, or Ozzie any less offensively inept, or help Jerry Owens hit, or... let's just move on). So, in anticipation of the suckitude, I am currently accepting applications for another baseball team to follow for the 2008 season. I'll still keep a tab on the Sox, but they won't be doing anything, and I want to watch meaningful baseball at some point. The leading contenders:

Philadelphia Phillies
Good: The Wall Crashing Messiah left for the Giants, but there's still plenty of ex-Sox guys here with Sweaty Freddy and the Gooch. Also, I have an unhealthy fantasy baseball crush on Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Cole Hamels, so there is an interest here. Also, since they had a play-in game against the Rockies last year at the end of the season, so they were knocking on the door.
Bad: The Johan just moved into their division. Sucks.
New York Mets
Good: A dumber, just as rich, but not as successful version of the Yankees. Natural rival of the Yanks and the Cubs. Now owner of the Johan, who I genuinely like, and they'll be on TV a lot because of the New York bias and front line talent like Reyes, Beltran, and fantasy baseball mancrush David Wright. Can you imagine playing the Mets and having to face Santana! and Pedro on consecutive nights? To paraphrase from before: Sucks.
Bad: Who wants to root for a frontrunner? They have too much of the aroma of failure too. I don't need any more heartache.
Tottenham Hotspur
Good: Screw baseball, I can watch the "beautiful game" and boycott my sucky team! Tottenham started off slow this season, but Spurs have fought up to mid-table of the Premiership, and have looked good with new manager Juande Ramos and a slew of defensive help coming in during the transfer window (Jonathan Woodgate, you are my new friend). They could still crawl back in to UEFA Cup qualification at the end of the season and they just thumped Arsenal 5-1 in the League Cup. Good times! Since I don't watch TV, I just watch soccer highlights on the internets.
Bad: The Premier League season (and those of most major European leagues) end in June. So that still leaves the whole summer uncovered. Don't even mention Major League Soccer, the WNBA of the professional soccer world.
St. Louis Cardinals
Good: Albert Pujols. Like, really stinking good. Also, my bros Greg and Mike have chosen the Cardinals as their alternative team for the summer, so it'd be fun to go watch a game with them. Natural rivals of the Cubs.
Bad: This is a terrible, aging, mediocre team. They might win the same amount of games as the Sox. I just looked at their roster, and didn't realize how terrible they are.
Milwaukee Brewers
Good: Natural rival of the Chubs. Great ballpark with good, cheap food and drink. Close enough to drive to and catch a game, and there isn't a problem getting in. Up and coming talent like Prince Fielder (who I saw hit a ball like a thousand feet with my own two eyes), Ryan Braun, and Yovani Gallardo will be lots of fun to watch. They are the current frontrunner for alternative team of 2008.
Bad: They did falter down the stretch last year, and seem to be counting on the health of Ben Sheets to get them over the hump, instead of signing anybody new. A problematic strategy, at best.

So. Still thinking.

Snow day tomorrow? (Please, Lord, please). Feast of the Presentation on Saturday, and then Super Bowl Sunday is here! Who's the winner? Me! Because I'm going to get Buffalo wings!

tough day... but always hope

2008-01-22T20:50:00.000-06:00

I dislike Institute Days at school very much, because it never feels like the time is being used efficiently. I suppose it's much like the rest of my life.

In lieu of dwelling on another shocking Hollywood death, February is the official timeline for the RPM Challenge, which consists of recording an entire album of music 29 days. This is similar in spirit to last November's National Novel Writing Month, in that it forces you, the floundering artist, to get off your duff and get the creativity flowing. If you were looking for an excuse, then here it be.

In related news, the release of The Dark Knight is now going to be very creepy.

Wanted to comment on the Nick Swisher trade but there's nothing to say except "we're sure pushing really hard to win 85 games." Swisher is pretty good, but the trade feels like paying $20 for a cheeseburger. It better be a really good cheeseburger. Also, Ozzie is totally dumb enough to play Swisher in centerfield, a LOT. Don't say I didn't warn you.

my favorite Stephens

2007-12-26T11:04:00.000-06:00

3. Stephen Colbert
2. St. Stephen, the first martyr (December 26 feastday)

1. my Dad
Happy naming day, Dad.

merry christmas

2007-12-25T10:32:00.000-06:00

Botticelli, "Mystical Nativity" c. 1500-1501

"It is only the Child lying in the manger who possesses the true secret of life. For this reason, he asks us to welcome him, to make room for him within us, in our hearts, in our homes, in our cities, and in our societies... Let us endeavor to be among those who welcome him. Before him one cannot remain indifferent. We too, dear friends, must continuously take sides. What will our response be? With what attitude will we welcome him? The simplicity of the shepherds and the seeking of the Magi who scrutinized the signs of God by means of the star come to our help. The docility of Mary and the wise prudence of Joseph serve as an example to us...

"The love that Jesus, born in Bethlehem, brought into the world binds to himself in a lasting relationship of friendship and brotherhood all who welcome him. Saint John of the Cross says 'in giving us all, that is, his Son, in him God has now said all. Fix your eyes on him alone... and you will find in addition more than you ask and desire.'"

-- Pope Benedict XVI

"It is not enough to say that Jesus is the name we give to the Truth. Jesus is the man who is the incarnation of the Truth... We do not seek solutions to problems in life derived from religious sentiments, spiritual approaches, or philosophical convictions... In each circumstance of life, whatever it is, we seek not an answer but a Presence, the human presence that is the way to the 'Answer,' to the Truth. We do not come together as a Church to find intellectual answers to our questions about the meaning and purpose of life. This is to reduce the Church to an ideology... The Church is not 'our way' of finding answers to our religious quest for the Truth; it is the method through which the Truth becomes humanly present to us... We come together as a Church to learn how to recognize the fact of this Presence, and to witness to it any circumstance of life, especially when there are no answers. Jesus Christ is the way to the Answer. In him, way and answer coincide."

-- Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete

happy music christmas

2007-12-18T22:59:00.000-06:00

Stereogum has posted a link to .zip files of Pitchfork's top 100 tracks of 2007. Woo!

detritus

2007-12-11T23:01:00.000-06:00

This looks awesome. Say hello to Persepolis:

I want to go read the graphic novels this is based on. Speaking of which, Time has released their top 10 graphic novels for 2007.

It was a long and arduous day at the office (late starts are always like that), so I needed to veg out once I got home. Like, checking out my fantasy football team, which has managed to finish 2nd in my league, having the advantage of being chosen by a computer, and not by me. That pretty much tells you everything you need to know about fantasy sports. Sweet Lady Autopick grabbed me Tony Romo, although that's offset by also picking Johnsons, Larry and Rudi.

I've been tempted to play Football Manager 2008, but I've held off, waiting for the weekend. I've just downloaded the demo, so it only lets me play a season up to January, which, all things considering, is probably healthier for me.

Fr. Edward and the Tiggers

2007-12-05T21:14:00.000-06:00

From the sublime to the absurd. First, some words from Ed.

"Human portraits of God’s Fatherhood" 12/4/07

Dear Friends in Christ,

Considering that one's personal relation with fatherhood in turn greatly influences how one perceives God and his fatherhood, we understand the exigency for positive models of it in our society. We may hear about fathers who become so engrossed in pursuing a career or some other goal that they end up seriously neglecting their children. But fatherhood ought to be an imitation of the one fatherhood of God who created and lovingly watches over us. Above all, its purpose is to communicate the love that God has for all His earthly children.

I recently watched "The Pursuit of Happyness" (2006), a film based on a true story which beautifully portrays the essence of authentic fatherhood. It is reminiscent of Roberto Benigni's character in "La Vita è Bella", of a father who's willing to make any sacrifice in the hope of a better life for his son. The storyline is set in San Francisco in 1981 during the economic recession in the U.S. and Chris Gardner is an optimistic and intelligent African American salesman struggling to support his wife and young son, Christopher. Chris reveals not having known his own father until he was 28 years old and vows not to let history repeat itself with Christopher. So when the financial strain becomes unbearable and his wife decides to leave him, he insists on retaining custody of Christopher. Chris is vindicated in this clash when Christopher reveals that he is happy and confirms the desire to remain with his father. With a diminishing source of income, they are eventually evicted from their home to living in homeless shelters and at one point, even reduced to passing the night in the bathroom of the subway station. In the face of this difficult life, Chris has the desperate inspiration to try for a long shot, non-paying stockbroker internship at Dean Witter, where only one of the twenty candidates will ultimately end up with an opportunity for a lucrative full time position. Even in the midst of competing for this internship, Chris refuses to compromise the personal vow he has made to his son, choosing to leave work early in order to pick him up from the daycare lest Christopher be left alone. Chris demonstrates a heroic capacity to give that which is most important to Christopher: a father's presence and an unfailing love and attention. There were several dialogues and scenes which I found moving; evoking the love the Heavenly Father has for each one of us. In one of them, Chris asks his son, "You gotta trust me, alright? Cause I'm getting a better job." "I trust you." In another, Chris extends his arm to give blood at the hospital to provide for his son conjuring up the kenosis (self-emptying) of Jesus bleeding and giving his life on the Cross. Lastly, while tucking his child into bed at the shelter and completely exhausted after a long day, he receives a goodnight kiss and the words, "You're a good papa". It is all the affirmation he needs and that which makes all the sacrifices worthwhile and meaningful. Chris initially applied for the stockbroker internship because all the people on Wall Street had smiles on their faces and looked so happy, and he desired as much for himself and his son. In the end, after acquiring the coveted position, he rushes to passionately embrace his son, capturing the essence of what he knew all along. That it's not so much what you have but who you're with that really matters.

Above and beyond the example of Chris in this film, we are reminded that Our Heavenly Father lovingly keeps custody and provides for His children at every moment. That Our Father proves His willingness to sacrifice at all costs for His children, through the ultimate demonstration of life-giving love of the Cross. That Our Father too entreats every one of us, "You gotta trust me, alright?" when the uncertainties of life tempt us to doubt His providence and judgment. "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are (1 Jn 3:1)."

May we at all times learn to appreciate and love a Father so great!

In Jesus and Mary,
Edward

***
Now to the absurd. Namely, the rest of the AL Central doing the best they can to dust the Sox, the latest example being the Tiggers trading assorted shiny goods for Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera, who, even more than the Santana! is the crown jewel of available MLB talent this offseason.

A stupendous claim, you say. Gat, you must be out of your mind. That is totally bogus, as my students would say. Not so. Why?

He's driven in 100+ runs the last 4 years, and hit over .320 the last 3. More telling indicators say that he's over 150 in OPS+ (which is MVP caliber) and has an OPS over .940. The only guy of recent vintage that had better age 21-24 seasons was Albert Pujols.
He's going into his age 25(!) season, which means he's still cheap and the Tiggers can lock up his most productive years under contract for less than market price.
He's had all this production with a mostly average Florida lineup protecting him and a cavernous stadium to hit in, so Tiger Stadium's much maligned hitter suppression won't affect him much. Also, he'll be surrounded by the likes of Sheffield, Ordonez, Guillen, et al., and playing for a winner.
His fatness (as referenced in a previous post) is becoming less of a problem, as he's motivated by being on a winner and having fellow Venezuelan compatriots Ordonez and Guillen kicking his lardy butt. "I'll want to be in the best shape of my life" says he.

The downside is that he sucks on defense and he doesn't help the lopsided righthandedness of their lineup, and he may not want to stick around after his arbitration years, but he's still the real deal.

I humbly submit to the greatness of the Santana!, but he's going to cost a boatload of treasure, and he still is a pitcher desiring a long term contract, and pitchers are always a risky signing because of their significant odds of injury. He's definitely not a Kevin Brown, but signing any pitcher long term, no matter how great he is, is not as "safe" a bet as signing a position player who plays everyday. Also, unlike Santana!, there is no pressure to sign Cabrera to a long-term contract immediately, since he's still in his arbitration years. Cabrera gives the Tiggers a chance to compete now AND set up for the future.

Oh, AND... they got Dontrelle Willis, who is overmatched as an ace, but a perfectly serviceable #4 starter behind Verlander, Bonderman, and Rogers in the tougher AL, pitching in a friendly ballpark and an excellent defense behind him.

Fricking unbelievable.

What does this tell me about the Sox?

Even if they had signed Torii Hunter (who signed a ridiculous contract with the Angels, but he can be a difference maker for them), they still would be 4th in terms of talent in this division. Also, signing Aaron Rowand is still not going to help.
Seeing the demand and availability of pitchers like Santana!, Erik Bedard, and Dan Haren helps me realize that maybe the demand for Jon Garland wasn't ever that high, and that it'll be even lower for fodder like Jose Contreras. We were lucky to get the OC.
The Sox don't have the prospects or the talent to trade for a big name. They dangled some combination of Fields, Gonzalez, and Broadway for Cabrera, but that wasn't going to be close to the 2 major league ready players and 4 plus prospects that Detroit could offer. There simply isn't enough to talent/value to trade, which is probably why Kenny has been trying to stick with what he had as long as he could, which usually ends up being a death sentence for repeating success. Teams with continued success always add something new and always have young talent coming to the forefront. Just for the record, the Sox have holes in LF, CF, 2b, a balky Joe Crede, and the bullpen (don't comfort me with the ludicrous Scott Linebrink signing. 4 years for $19mm for a reliever? Are we the fricking Mets now?)
Heck, after the Royals signed Jose Guillen and ran in the bidding for Japanese import Kosuke Fukudome, the Sox might have the least amount of talent in the toughest division in baseball. That means last place, friends. With the Cubs at least making the playoffs last year, all of a sudden, 2005 seems really far away. I'm going to get a box of tissues, some ice cream, and watch my 2005 championship DVDs now.

thousand words

2007-11-27T23:02:00.000-06:00

but all of them sum up to "Crap, he looks really OLD."

See more here and here.

yesssssssssss

2007-11-25T20:57:00.000-06:00

I AM... SPARTA! I mean, BEOWULF!

2007-11-24T16:20:00.000-06:00

Took in Beowulf last night, which is pretty much only worth seeing if you're going on the IMAX 3D, otherwise, there's not enough to keep you interested, even a "digitally enhanced" Angelina Jolie. Speaking of which, there were way too many little kids to be watching a movie with so much nakedness (real and implied). I'm all for making literature exciting, but... I don't need to see butts. Don't even get me started about the painstaking detail that must be delivered to make Beowulf's butt look realistic and believable. What is the conversation that has to happen? "Hey, I need you to tape these golf balls onto your heiny so we can get some motion capture. Ok, now run away from me!"

Entertaining as it is, I would have liked it more if it played more to the "indestructible monster angle" and less of the court intrigue. The animation is still very good, to the point where you forget that it's animated, until you get to a movement where they really haven't quite got the rendering right, like whenever a character rides a horse.

Max and I were talking about what other old stories could be taken as fodder for future movies (related to but different from the "What 80s cartoons should they turn into movies next?" conversation), and this was the short list:

Jason and the Argonauts
Perseus and Medusa (that being said, Clash of the Titans is in the works as a remake)
Theseus and the Minotaur
Hercules (although this could be crippled by the TV show and Disney cartoon)
St. George killing the Dragon
Custer's Last Stand (I'm sure this would be borderline offensive because of its historical inaccuracy and the lionizing of Custer, but they did make The Alamo)
The Hobbit (obvious)

buying lemonade instead of making it

2007-11-19T22:05:00.000-06:00

Sox trade SP Jon Garland to the Angels for SS Orlando Cabrera + $1.5mm
Um, I know that Garland is a little overrated because his shiny stats are the "intangible" ones that dumb sportswriters and media types drool over (stuff like wins and being "playoff-tested"), but I didn't think that GMs were this smart. Considering the sort of contracts that guys like Ted Lilly, Jeff Suppan, and Gil Meche signed last offseason (all guys who don't have the youth, health, and track record that Garland have), it's a little tough to swallow that there wasn't a better deal available for the oh-so-coveted Starting Pitching.

That's not to say that the OC is terrible, because he isn't. He's an upgrade to Uribe's historically bad hacktastic-ness, although that's not saying a lot. He'll play good defense, he won't strike out too much, and he'll steal bases and play that grinder brand of baseball that made Darin Erstad and the White Sox promotions staff so rich. And he's 33 years old. Garland is 28.

The good thing is that both of them are in the last years of their contract, which means the Sox would have had to sign Garland to a long-term contract in his big-money years, which nobody really wanted to do, even if he did kind of earn it. Is he the guy you want to spend $13mm per? On the other hand, the OC costs only a $9 mm commitment for this year only. Which is a great move for a team that's trying to win right now, but not so great for a team like the Sox that has a lot of holes. The Sox are still the 4th best team in the division after this move. At best, I think adding OC and subtracting Garland is break-even, maybe less if Uribe ends up playing a lot of second base this year. The verdict ultimately depends on Kenny spends all the savings. Here's a hint: no Torii Hunter, although the Sun-Times is saying otherwise.

I'm not overly excited about it, because I don't think either of these guys is money well-spent, but there aren't really any better players out there (the Sox are not creative enough to get Miguel Cabrera). I think whether we can get a decent leadoff guy and the performance of Floyd and Danks will have more to do with success than Hunter or Cabrera. Yah, just to remind everybody, WE STILL HAVE JOSE CONTRERAS. Kenny's sure hit gold with all of those re-signings from the 2005 championship team.

Jill: #7 - "Heartbeats" Jose Gonzales (2:45)
#8 - "Fake Empire" The National (3:27)
#9 - "Is There a Ghost" Band of Horses (3:02)
#10 - "Summer in the City" Regina Spektor (3:50)

(I didn't forget 3-6, I just hid them somewhere else.)

Vote in Stereogum's Gummy Awards, win the best 50 albums of the year. Woo!

happy birthday jill

2007-11-18T15:31:00.000-06:00

If anyone can give me a better understanding of the last 20 minutes of No Country for Old Men, I'd be very appreciative. Avoids a lot of cliche traps to provide some uniquely chilling moments. The very highest praise that a movie can earn is that it still has people thinking days after seeing it, and that's the case here. Something about morality, the inevitability of death, numbness, and ... a whole lot of something else. Hmm. I might have to go see it again.

Jill, #1 is "Song for Clay (Disappear Here)" by Bloc Party (4:49).
#2 is "The Heinrich Maneuver" by Interpol (3:28).

american gangstars

2007-11-05T16:16:00.000-06:00

My favorite NFL highlight over the weekend:

Took in the much ballyhooed American Gangster on Saturday. I was hoping for something awesome along the lines of Heat, another cops and robbers story with two high voltage names sparring in the plotline until the final showdown. Both have much respect for Denzel and Russell Crowe for their ability to be captivating even if the rest of the movie stinks (i.e. Deja Vu).

I still think it's worth seeing, but there was something that stopped AG short of great, to just merely good. I read some review that said the filmmakers seemed a little too in love with the bad guy, played by Denzel. It's one thing to be intrigued by the heart of darkness in the villain, but I think my sense of justice wants somebody that evil to get some sort of comeuppance by the end, otherwise it feels like the evil is too glamorized.

But, I didn't like Heat, either, until after multiple viewings. AG is still worth watching, if you're into it. I think I might have enjoyed Gone Baby Gone or The Darjeeling Limited, more.

Top 5 Denzel movies I like better than AG:

Inside Man
Training Day
Crimson Tide
Malcolm X
Remember the Titans

glaring omission: The Hurricane. Never got around to this one. Boxing doesn't interest me. That whole slew of boxing movies just passed me by without a ripple.

Top 5 Russell Crowe movies I like more than AG:

L.A. Confidential
3:10 to Yuma
Master and Commander
Gladiator
A Beautiful Mind

glaring omission: The Insider. Never got around to it, sorry. I think I'm more in the mood to watch it now than when it first came out. Political intrigue is more interesting to me now.

memories

2007-10-28T21:21:00.001-05:00

My brother emailed me with a list of hilarious events commemorating my birthing (31 events, to be precise). Some of the high/lowlights (Ed's words in quotes, mine in parens)

1) "Tonka Truck incident" (Basically, I threw one of those hard plastic tires off of a Tonka truck at my brother. When he was 4. I was 11. Also, I hit him in the forehead. From about 4 feet away.)

5) "I'm sure you clearly and can resentfully recall me accidentally throwing a baseball at your face from ten feet away. 'Tanks foh bweaking mah teeth.'"

7) "I can’t recall which Los Angeles apartment we lived in during this period, but among all of the sports posters we used to have, I smothered James Worthy with all of my boogers! Poor James Worthy. Oh yeah, and sorry about that.

8) "Foam baseball" - Line drive hit above the pitchers hips would be a double, the Venetian blind would be a triple, and the little space between the blind and the ceiling would be a homerun. Grounders and the ceiling would be automatic outs. In our Buffalo Grove home, we got a little more sophisticated with taping a sheet of paper on the wall to denote the strike zone. We passed countless hours having fun which cultivated our love for the game of baseball. (this was inside, by the way)

20) "Hanging out with Todd Watermann and eating at 'the Duck.'"

22) "Watching the Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment every week."

25) "Toronto World Youth Day 2002. What an awesome pilgrimage. This experience was the beginning of my conversion and desire for an adult faith. It was my first exposure to youth across the country who were normal and yet on fire for the faith!... Meeting these Catholic youth made me realize how little I knew about my faith and the desire to know more. It was great to be able to share this with you and it turned out to be our sole pilgrimage together."

29) "Your trinity of hamstring injuries. Among Mark’s life lowlights."

30) "The discovery of you being 208 lbs on the scale. 'Taanks foohhh bweaakkiing mah scale.'" (Thanks to the all-stress, no-sleep diet, I am now a svelte 195 again.)

Nothing says love like sharing life together, certainly.

national novel writing month

2007-10-26T00:05:00.000-05:00

is november 1-30. Just a little excerpt from the site to explain what the deal is:

What is NaNoWriMo?

National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30.

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down.

And all of that warms the cockles of this writing teacher's heart.

The awkward acronym is crap, though.

cinematique

2007-10-14T20:03:00.000-05:00

Didn't get to see Jesse James yet, but indulged in some quality movie time with the boringly-named but awesomely directed Michael Clayton:

I realize when I watch movies like this, that I have a tendency of getting sucked in completely by the story, so I lose my third-person position of objectivity to analyze the story. Which left me thinking, "wait, so is he in the clear with his law firm?" when I left the theater. But, whatever. Some hard-earned self-reward at the end of a long day. I've found that a good way to get through the week (aside from lots of prayer and abandoning the outcome to God) is to have little rewards on the weekend. Like, friends coming in from out of town in the next few weekends, or movies, or watching football. Even though I'm tired, just catching up on sleep isn't enough to rejuvenate me; I need something for my mind to chew on that's not work-related.

and then, I disappear

2007-09-28T22:56:00.000-05:00

Kickin' it to:

Took in the V-Show at school, got to intro my bro to the coworkers, went to hit baseballs, fell asleep on the phone. Watching one of the last White Sox games of this forgettable season on Saturday, with aforementioned brother and dad. And bye to Ed on Sunday.

Welcome October. Welcome, new Radiohead album (?).

telekinesis

2007-09-24T18:39:00.001-05:00

as in, if I stare at these piles of paper on my desk long enough, they'll magically be graded and disappear. I can make it move with my mind.

Kanye's new album? I like all the tracks except the radio cuts. Figures.

3:10 to Yuma is fantastic. I love the mini-resurgence of the Western, because of the theological element and also, cuz it's straight-up manly (insert Brokeback joke, here). Next up: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.

My brother is back in town, before he heads off to school. He begins his first year of theology, after having completed all of his philosophy. It's funny because he's gotten into the habit of posing everything as a rhetorical question. "What is the best way to live a holy life?" "I don't know, Ed. Why don't you tell me?"

Little Sister (TM) Jillupa is coming to watch my sophomores play tomorrow against Barrington. Barrington = one of our fiercest rivals. But, my girls are more excited that Little Sister Jillupa is watching in the stands than actually, you know, playing against our regional rivals. Back to the drawing board.

I still can't hear out of my right ear. Please, doctor, fix it on Wednesday.

plotting out the madness

2007-09-03T20:26:00.001-05:00

One of the OCD things I do when I have too many things jumbled in my mind is to make lists. It doesn't even help me organize, it just smooths my nerves. Here goes:

I keep finding mechanical flaws in my setter as she delivers the ball. She's slow with her hands prior to the ball arriving, which means she rushes and ends up "flicking" at the ball instead of making a steady, even push with both. Her feet are off-balance when she sets, also, so that she's often on one foot when she delivers, which throws off the timing. I don't want to overload her mind with too much information, but she needs to make a consistent set about 90% of the time.

Why are the Puritans so dreadful to read about? *I* even fall asleep trying to grasp it. Jonathan Edwards is fun, though. You don't really read anything close to "angry" in public school literature anymore.

On the end of the American Lit pool that I like to wade in is Edgar Allan Poe, and "The Cask of Amontillado," which my frosh get to read this week. Unless they tell me that they've read it before. I tell them, too bad, you haven't read it with me. Muhahaha. Bricks and mortar, anybody?

I can hear my mother grinding vegetables and fruits into the juicer upstairs, which takes me back to a childhood full of mornings with carrot juice, because, well... I don't why. They told me to drink it, so I did. The grinding juicer sound still heebs me out, as does vegetable juice in general, which my V8 drinking coworkers take advantage of.

I'm in a rut with music and movies. The last few purchases have been up and down (Feist? Up. Interpol? Down.), and the impending Kanye/50 sales peeing contest is unappealing. Somebody rescue me. A Place to Bury Strangers? The National? Liars? C'mon guys. Thankfully, two fave actors open this coming week, so... I've got weekend plans. Woo!

phew

2007-08-25T22:32:00.000-05:00

One thing I'm excited to find out is how I'm going to maintain a sustainable pace over the school year. The trick seems to lie in either controlling your sense of time (when to be aware or not aware of it) or not letting the time ever get you into a panic. I suppose there's also not letting the wearing effects of no sleep get to you.

I was at the gas station after practice and getting to Mass, and I thought, this is exactly what I'd wished for; teaching English, coaching volleyball, and all in my first full year. All the exhaustion and stress aside, I feel like I've received way more than I had ever hoped to get. I'm grateful for the balance it brings.

Work has been full bore since I got back from the last retreat of the summer in Toronto (happy picture, below)

with volleyball tryouts and practice. My head's been swimming, but it's different than the fear-driven sweating-it-out of last year. Coaching? No problem. Working 6 days a week? No problem. Not getting paid until the 14th? Uhhhh.

I haven't watched any baseball since I came home, my self-imposed White Sox fast notwithstanding. So no baseball, and but I've been closely reading every match result from the English Premier League. As is typical to my life, my team is off to a slow start after an offseason of lavish spending, plus rumblings about the manager getting fired and our best player maybe leaving. Gotta love British media drama. Come to think of it, a sport that plays once a week and that I don't get on my cable package is probably the only one I can follow at this point.

on the runway

2007-08-02T18:11:00.000-05:00

Been waiting around for, well, a lot of things. My brother to come home (that was yesterday, and he's all good). My teaching schedule. The last of our summer programs in Toronto (we'll drive up this weekend). The end of the summer, sadly. The beginning of the girls' volleyball season (I'm coaching?!).

But in the midst of the waiting, with a Cow living at our house, we checked out the Simpsons movie, which was still worth the non-stadium-seating, extra cheapo theater rate of $4.50.

Can't wait til Bourne Ultimatum this weekend. Woop!

emptying the notebook

2007-07-16T00:20:00.000-05:00

I am stealing this quote from a baseball blog I read (and highly recommend) which stole it from an interview with author Philip Roth. Roth was speaking about the need for the modern reader to read books in some weird, alternative way (I blame the 21st century), as in, "what do these characters' names really MEAN?" Or "what does this tell me about the AUTHOR?" Mr. Roth says:

"It’s like baseball. Suppose you and I went up to the ballpark together and there's a guy next to us with his kid. And (the father) was saying, 'Now, what I want you to do is watch the scoreboard. Stop watching the field. Just watch what happens when the numbers change on the scoreboard. Isn't that great? Now do you see what just happened there? Did you see what happened? Why did that happen?'

"And you say, 'That guy is crazy.' But the kid imbibes it and he goes home and he's asked: 'How was the game?' And he says, 'Great! The scoreboard changed thirty-two times and Daddy said last game it changed only fourteen times and the home team last time changed more times than the other team. It was really great! We had hot dogs and we stood up at one point to stretch and we went home.'

"Is that politicizing the game? Is that theorizing the baseball game? No. It's not having the foggiest idea what baseball is."

True that, dawg.

Ambiguously Masculine Moment (TM): Durty and I, sitting on his couch, watching, laughing, ENJOYING "The Devil Wears Prada" on a slow Sunday night on TV. "This is great. I watched this with my sister. You should see the rest of it," says he. Hmm.

let me sing you a waltz

2007-07-11T03:22:00.000-05:00

Just watched the very delightful "Paris Je T'aime." It's not as cheesy or "chick-flick" as one might expect. In my DVD collection, it'd be under "joie de vivre."

One of the taglines for the movie is "18 different stories by 18 of the most celebrated directors." Ok. How is Wes Craven one of those?

durable lefties are NICE

2007-07-08T23:48:00.000-05:00

Mark Buehrle re-signs for 4/56mm. Take that, Barry Zito lovers.

The Sox very obviously need an overhaul, so it was a little strange to hear Buehrle's name being bandied about in trade rumors so often. Who do you build around on this roster beside someone like Buehrle?

Teams build around players that are 1) cheap, 2) young and 3) dependable. If you're young, then you're usually cheap. It's the rare treasure that is all three, young superstars like David Wright, Miguel Cabrera, and Brandon Webb. The sustainability of success depends a lot on those cheap, young, good players that keep the winning percentage up and the payroll down. Even big spenders like the Yankees (Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera) and the Red Sox (Dustin Pedroia, Jonathan Papelbon, Kevin Youkilis) have young players playing at a high level every day, to offset all those high salary guys.

The short list of young and/or cheap is: Danks, Jenks, Fields, Podsednik and Iguchi
The list of dependable is: Buehrle, Garland, Uribe
The last list is guys who are probably too expensive to move: Thome, Konerko, Vazquez

So, with Buehrle back in the fold, the only guys left to deal are the Rotting Corpse of Jose Contreras and the Slightly Less Rotting Corpse of Jermaine Dye, both of whom have a year left on their contracts but may still entice someone into a two month rental for mid-level prospects. Vazquez has suddenly resurrected himself, having his first good year since 2003, so he looks unlikely to move.

The only other thing is to figure out which, if any, of the chumps among Luis Terreo, Andy Gonzalez, and Jerry Owens can play (survey SAYS: no), and see if we can get some more of those cheap, young, good players, because the 2007 Sox are overloaded with old, expensive ones.

Come on, Kenny!

"i'm not leaving without Bumblebee"

2007-07-02T23:37:00.000-05:00

Amidst all the hilariously bad dialogue and indifference to things like "scripts," the Transformers movie was a good time, totally worth $10 in the middle of the summer.

"Optimus Prime gets Prostate Cancer"

Top 10 fav Transformers (I mean the old-school ones, not the crappy permutations)

Optimus Prime
Soundwave
Grimlock
Devastator
Megatron
Prowl
Sunstreaker
Sideswipe
Brawn
Laserbeak

Top 10 cartoons from our childhood that will be made into movies (according to me, Moose, and Young Patrick):

He-Man (no, we're forgetting the Dolph Lundgren version ever existed)
Robotech
JEM (truly outrageous)
M.A.S.K. - you forgot about it? Well, it was vehicles that turned into... other vehicles. With guns attached.
Thundercats (obvious)
She-Ra, if they showed it right after He-Man, like they did in real life. She-Ra's pretty much like the WNBA, the bastardized, more boring counterpart to a more popular product.
GI Joe. Oh yeah.
Centurions - we couldn't remember if this was really a cartoon, or just a toy.
C.O.P.S. - what's with acronyms that aren't really acronyms?
Captain Power - only if we get to shoot at the screen with those infrared toy guns.

all the stars you need

2007-07-01T23:17:00.000-05:00

...and I don't mean the new Stars single, "The Night Starts Here." MLB vote tallies are in, so the hitters are set for the midsummer "classic." Instead of doffing the old hat of picking my own '07 all-stars, I thought, who are the best players of this DECADE? In the future looking back towards the Oughts (albeit an arbitrary but convenient span of time), which players will stick out? We're at a point in time where we can do that, too, being 7 years into it.

So... I picked these out by eyeballing the stats, looking at Win Shares, blabbedy blaZZZZZZZZZ. Ok here's the list.

MLB Team of the 2000-2010 (I know, it's actually 11 years)

C - Jorge Posada, NYY. Hasn't had a down year since the decade started. The NL counterpart would be Mike Piazza, who's only been middling since 2003, but had a spectacular 2000-2002.
Jorge's 2003: 281/405/518, 30 HR 101 RBI

1b - Albert Pujols, StL. The undisputed best. The AL's best for the decade was a little more cryptic, but Carlos Delgado has the slight edge over Jim Thome (injured 2005).
Fat Albert's ridic 2006: 331/431/671, 49 HR 137 RBI (in 143 games)

2b - Jeff Kent, SF/Hou/LAD. Has been very consistent even until this year, in his age 39 season. His AL counterpart is Alfonso Soriano, although his days playing 2b might be over.
Kent in his 2000 MVP season: 334/424/596, 33 HR 125 RBI

3b - Alex Rodriguez, Sea/Tex/NYY. Only because there are no AL 3bs worth a mention. Scott Rolen, Phi/StL is the best from the NL.
ARod's MVP 2005: 321/421/610, 48 HR 130 RBI 21 SB

SS - Derek Jeter, NYY. Over Miguel Tejada. Both have been consistent, but Jeter's good years have been better than Tejada's (according to OPS+). The AL also Carlos Guillen, Nomar when he was good, and ARod, but the NL is a barren wasteland of SS. Edgar Renteria had two Jeter-like years, but that's about it.
Jeter's 2006: 343/417/483, 14 HR 97 RBI 34 SB

OF
Vladimir Guerrero, Mon/LAA - Vladdy's 2000: 345/410/664, 44 HR 123 RBI
Manny Ramirez, Cle/Bos - ManRam's 2000: 351/457/697, 38 HR 122 RBI in 118 games
Steroid Bear, SF - The Bear's 2001: 328/515/863, 73 HR 137 RBI
Honorable mention OFs: Gary Sheffield, Lance Berkman, Magglio Ordonez, Ichiro!

Starting Pitchers
Roy Oswalt, Hou - 2005: 20-12, 2.94 ERA, 184 Ks, 1.20 WHIP
Tim Hudson, Oak/Atl - 2003: 16-7, 2.70 ERA, 162 Ks, 1.08 WHIP
Pedro Martinez, Bos/NYM - 2000 Cy Young: 18-6, 1.74 ERA, 284 Ks, 0.74 WHIP
Johan Santana, Min - 2004 Cy Young: 20-6, 2.61 ERA, 265 Ks, 0.92 WHIP
Roger Clemens, NYY/Hou - Rocket's 2005: 13-8, 1.87 ERA, 185 Ks (at age 42)
Honorable mentions: Roy Halladay, Randy Johnson, Mark Buehrle, Carlos Zambrano.

Relief Pitchers
John Smoltz, Atl - 2003: 45 saves, 1.12 ERA, 0.87 WHIP
Billy Wagner, Hou/Phi/NYM - 2005: 38 saves, 1.51 ERA, 0.84 WHIP
Trevor Hoffman, SD - 2006: 46 saves, 2.14 ERA, 0.97 WHIP
Mariano Rivera, NYY - 2005: 43 saves, 1.38 ERA, 0.87 WHIP
Jason Isringhausen, StL - 2005: 39 saves, 2.14 ERA

duh

2007-06-27T00:51:00.000-05:00

Shouldn't I have known that Interpol's new album is coming out in July?

Will it be any good? Who cares! New music! Yay!

excerpt

2007-06-26T09:41:00.000-05:00

from Percy Shelley's "Zucca" (1822)

I loved—oh, no, I mean not one of ye,
Or any earthly one, though ye are dear
As human heart to human heart may be;—
I loved, I know not what—but this low sphere
And all that it contains, contains not thee,
Thou, whom, seen nowhere, I feel everywhere.
From Heaven and Earth, and all that in them are,
Veiled art thou, like a ... star.

By Heaven and Earth, from all whose shapes thou flowest,
Neither to be contained, delayed, nor hidden;
Making divine the loftiest and the lowest,
When for a moment thou art not forbidden
To live within the life which thou bestowest;
And leaving noblest things vacant and chidden,
Cold as a corpse after the spirit’s flight
Blank as the sun after the birth of night.

In winds, and trees, and streams, and all things common,
In music and the sweet unconscious tone
Of animals, and voices which are human,
Meant to express some feelings of their own;
In the soft motions and rare smile of woman,
In flowers and leaves, and in the grass fresh-shown,
Or dying in the autumn, I the most
Adore thee present or lament thee lost.

dulcet tones

2007-06-24T01:10:00.000-05:00

I am digging my fav Canadian songstress, Feist.

Congrats, Todd and Kate.

seamhead

2007-06-22T00:56:00.001-05:00

Sammy Sosa hit #600 (homers, of course), which is only good in that it beat the Cubs, and in showcasing how steroids dilutes the sport. In related news, the once strong US dollar continues to lose value.

Anyways. Speaking of baseball and money, and the All-Star Game not too far away, I found diversion in trying to come up with the best 25-man roster, using the talent pool from each of MLB's divisions (so, the best roster based on the AL Central, NL Central, etc.). By the "best" roster, I mean trying to actually build a roster like a GM should. So this means picking backup middle infielders, having enough lefthanded relievers in the bullpen, and having an players who can actually field their positions (which is not a consideration in fantasy baseball). Some players are shifted around on defense, but not into a position where he would hurt the team (no putting Jim Thome back at 3b where he used to play).

I'll just put the AL Central, since I don't think anyone else cares about the other divisions. 14 position players, 11 pitchers, as most MLB rosters are. Just for kicks, I put in 2007 salaries.

AL Central - best 25 man roster

pos, name, team

hitters
C - Mauer, Min
1b - Morneau, Min
2b - Polanco, Det
3b - Inge, Det
SS - Guillen, Det
LF - Sizemore, Cle
CF - Hunter, Min
RF - Ordonez, Det
DH - Sheffield, Det

bench
C - Martinez, Cle
3b/RF - Blake, Cle
2b/SS - Uribe, Chi
OF - Granderson, Det
1b/DH - Thome, Chi

pitchers
SP - Santana, Min (L)
SP - Bonderman, Det
SP - Verlander, Det
SP - Sabathia, Cle (L)
SP - Buehrle, Chi (L)
RP - Nathan, Min
RP - Jenks, Chi
RP - Neshek, Min
RP - Peralta, KC
RP - Betancourt, Cle
RP - Carmona, Cle

salaries
(in $ millions)

3,750,000
4,500,000
4,600,000
4,900,000
5,000,000
916,667
12,000,000
13,200,000
10,916,071

3,200,000
3,750,000
4,150,000
410,000
15,666,667

13,000,000
4,500,000
1,030,000
8,750,000
9,500,000
5,250,000
450,000
395,000
400,500
840,000
387,500

total
$131,462,405

Notes: 1. Hunter over Sizemore in CF because of the better arm.
2. This division has no decent lefty relievers. For goodness' sake.

The best that the AL Central can offer tops a whopping $131mm, which, even more strangely, would only place it 3rd in all of MLB in payroll, behind the Yankee$ and the Red $ox. The average payroll in MLB is right around $84mm.

Obviously, a great team can cost a lot of money. So, what would a "best" roster culled from the AL Central look like if forced to stay under the $84mm cap? Still a contender?

pos, name, team

hitters
C - Mauer, Min
1b - Morneau, Min
2b - Barfield, Cle
3b - Inge, Det
SS - Peralta, Cle
LF - Cuddyer, Min
CF - Sizemore, Cle
RF - Ordonez, Det
DH - Sheffield, Det

bench
C - Buck, KC
3b/RF - Teahen, KC
2b/SS - Bartlett, Min
OF - Granderson, Det
1b/DH - Garko, Cle

pitchers
SP - Santana, Min (L)
SP - Bonderman, Det
SP - Verlander, Det
SP - Sabathia, Cle (L)
SP - Carmona, Cle
RP - Nathan, Min
RP - Jenks, Chi
RP - Neshek, Min
RP - Peralta, KC
RP - Betancourt, Cle
RP - Soria, KC

salaries
(in $ millions)

3,750,000
4,500,000
395,800
4,900,000
1,000,000
3,575,000
916,667
13,200,000
10,916,071

440,000
416,000
405,000
410,000
383,100

13,000,000
4,500,000
1,030,000
8,750,000
387,500
5,250,000
450,000
395,000
400,500
840,000
380,000

total
$80,590,638

As usual, the cost cuts came in the form of backups and relievers who tended to be cheap, younger players. The bulk of the cost was the starting rotation, and big bats having big years.

I am digging the new White Stripes and the new National. Happy Friday.

cowboys

2007-06-19T00:32:00.000-05:00

Nothing quites makes praying feel more efficacious than when someone is dying. You tend to pay more attention to words that you normally gloss over.

Saw the new trailer for "3:10 to Yuma" a cowboy flick with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale.

Which looks just as good, if not better, than Crowe's other cowboy movie, the lesser known but surprisingly watchable "The Quick and the Dead" (1995).

My top 10 cowboy movies of all time? Cowboy movies seem to have died off, for the time being.

The Magnificent Seven - You can't really lose with Yul Brynner, can you?
Tombstone - James hated it when I kept saying every quote every time we watched this.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - with the seminal cowboy soundtrack of all time.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Pale Rider
Unforgiven
High Plains Drifter
The Outlaw Josey Wales - I'm more of a Clint Eastwood guy than a John Wayne guy.
Rio Bravo
Shane

The last "cowboy" movie of note is "Brokeback Mountain," which I think is indicative of the genre being a little stale. Really hasn't been very many, let alone good, cowboy movies lately. "The Missing?" "Open Range?" "Shanghai Noon?" The nice thing about "3:10" is that it looks like it'll stay within the boundaries of the genre, namely, dudes with funny hats, six shooters, mustaches, horses, whiskey.

prayers for the dying

2007-06-15T10:10:00.000-05:00

Go forth, Christian soul, from this world
in the name of God the almighty Father, who created you,
in the name of Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who suffered for you,
in the name of the Holy Spirit, who was poured out upon you,
May you live in peace this day,
may your home be with God in Zion,
with Mary, the virgin Mother of God,
with Joseph and all the angels and saints.

i miss hawaii

2007-06-11T00:32:00.000-05:00

"View from the 9th floor," 4/29/07, Waikiki Beach.

i need something to do

2007-06-07T23:56:00.000-05:00

... because Mass and praying the liturgy of the hours, does not take all day. Still waiting on assignments from school as to what I'll be teaching next year, which spells out having a lot of free time on my hands. I'll admit, I've wasted a bit catching up on my crappy baseball team (on which I will not spend any of the money I don't have), going to the library to nap, sleeping in all the rooms of the house again because my room still feels too weird, burning DVDs of the photos we took on the tour (3+ GBs worth), and watching youtube vids of Premier League soccer, which just ended. To those of you who don't know, meet Dimitar Berbatov:

Anyway. I think I need to chew some more on the nubs of the little writing assignments I left off. The Poker story. The Project. Maybe a travelogue of what we did for 4 months, for posterity's sake. Or maybe I'll put it off and go watch the next installment of Sequel Summer, which allegedly has been getting better reviews than some of the previous installments:

oh yeah... blogging

2007-06-07T00:01:00.000-05:00

Back home, and back to the slight awkwardness of trying to answer questions like "how was your trip?" Not that I mind the questions, but it's still hard to answer, succinctly. I just went through the photos we took on the trip (more than 3 GBs worth) and over the MAX2007 blog, and it's a lot, but at the same time, it seems like it wasn't all that long ago that we were starting. Time is far more elastic than you think, yah?

Anyways. I think these photos are among my favs:

Missy singing one of her originals to her grandmother. A very human moment of one person sharing with another.

Jun really loves crawfish.

On Jurassic Park, er, Hilo, on the volcano tour.

Most Reverend Thomas Collins, Archbishop of Toronto, signing our cross, with all the names of the kids on it. Very personable guy; has the feel of the next door neighbor you like, or a favorite uncle.

Here's a little synopsis that Cow, self-proclaimed youngest and hairiest team member, wrote on our month-long jaunt into Toronto:

In February of this year, a small team of young adults from all across our beloved continent came together in the wilds of Los Angeles, California with the humble hope of taking over the world for Our Lady as soon as possible. And thus was formed the mighty Max007 team, which gets its name from our founding saint (Always a good way to start an organization!) Maximilian Kolbe and of course this year of Our Lord: 2007.

We've spent the last four months on the road, driving all around the United States (including that envy-causing little state made up of the Hawaiian islands) and spending the entire month of May staying here in the mighty metropolis of Toronto and all the towns and areas around it, giving retreats and talks and hanging out with the youth and trying out hardest to make sure every one of them knows the message that Pope Benedict XVI wants to share with them.

First of all we let the message that God is love, be firmly known. The Holy Father asks us youth this year to "Love one another as [Christ] has loved you." God is not a huge angry old man who is just itching to catch you breaking the rules and send you packing into eternal suffering. God really is Love. Christ gave up everything in the hope that we would be able to be loved and love more deeply.

The faith and the whole of being Catholic is about love as well, and to really get anything out of being Catholic, we all have to be willing to join in that love, and really take interest and ownership of our faith. As the Militia Immaculata, we know that the best example of Christianity is that given by Mary, and so we entrust ourselves to her care and her direction to help us follow and suffer with Christ when necessary.

Through our missionary work we were blessed to be able to follow in that sacrifice in our own meager ways, as we gave up jobs, universities, our friends and families, and came here to Canada to help the teens and young adults here. The whole month we stayed wherever we could, in the basements and spare rooms of whoever could help us, and ate when we had food.

As for the events themselves, they all went beautifully. We went to parishes, prayer groups, youth groups, Catholic schools, and met with all kinds of remarkable and holy people, including Archbishop Thomas Collins and Msgr. Robert Nusca, who is both the rector of St. Augustine Seminary and the spiritual director of the MI in Canada.

When the team first arrived here in Toronto, there were less than a dozen adults who were actively involved and interested in the MI…and several of those people were already on the team. As we leave this beautiful city, the number has been bolstered dozens of times over, due mainly to the enthusiasm of the young people. It has been said on occasion that the youth are the Church of the Future.

That is wrong.

The young people are the Church of right now. Youth are the ones on the front lines, the ones who can love the world from the inside out, the ones who know that joy is worthy fighting for. The Max007 team worked hard to minister to the youth. But the youth are the ones who are ministering to us. Thank you all for such a fantastic experience in Canada.

You guys pray for us, and we'll be praying for all the people we got to meet during this month. God bless you!

And now, back to "ordinary" time.

keeping a promise to caroline

2007-04-16T00:11:00.000-05:00

...because I said that I would mention the folk artist that I ran into down in Ponchatoula.

Let me back up.

First, a few friends and I had been told about this hermitish folk artist, a painter, who happened to live in the same town we were staying, by someone who caught us admiring some of the art that was hanging up on the wall.

His name is Bill Hemmerling, and he's quite a treat to talk to. He was nice enough to chat with us for about an hour and a half, show us around his studio, talk about God, life, and art (to me, which I will forever remember and appreciate. He encouraged me to write as much as possible, and to find that place in myself to be original, because there's no point in being somebody else telling somebody else's story. Thanks Bill).

His painting have something soulful and beautiful, a fullness that isn't necessarily apparent from the surface. Some people, I hear, dislike the faceless quality of the figures (almost always of black people) that he paints, but he says he has them remain faceless because he wants to represent a kind of universality. The universality being the dignity, the grace, and the beauty of people, especially black people.

He has a series of paintings with the same figure, called "Sweet Olive." She is long, lean, and graceful, and Bill says he paints her that way because growing up, he saw that black people had always been represented in negative ways, so he wanted to paint them in a way that was beautiful, in some sort of classical way.

Bill himself is very gentle, calm, childlike. Despite his humble appearance, he is articulate, sympathetic, aware of the world. His publicist handles the sales, freeing him to paint and live his solitary lifestyle. He paints, feeds his dog and his cat, meets with people who like his paintings, hanging in the back gallery of a furniture store. Who knew you could find this stuff in a small town in Louisiana?

I almost, rashly, put some money down on one of his originals, which would definitely have put me in some kind of ridiculous financial hole, but... it sure felt like it'd be worth it, before I came to my senses. Maybe, just maybe, I can have one of those hanging on my wall one day, now that it looks like I'll be able to support myself.

Also, Blades of Glory? Totally ridiculous.

easter + baseball

2007-04-08T16:54:00.000-05:00

"Resurrection," Piero della Francesca, 1463

"Christ has offered one single sacrifice for sins, and then taken his place forever, at the right hand of God, where he is now waiting until his enemies are made into a footstool for him. By virtue of that one single offering, he has achieved the eternal perfection of all whom he is sanctifying." -- Hebrews 10:12-14

In the spirit of the great mystery of the Easter season, Raised by Wolves will preview the '07 MLB campaign according to the resurrections (and the inverse of resurrections, rotting corpses) within each division. Here's hoping that your team is resurrected, and not a rotting corpse (even you, Cubs fans).

NL West
Tightly packed mediocrity is the name of the game. Can the fogies (Ari's Randy Johnson and SF's Steroid Bear) bring their teams to contention? Probably not, so the Padres will dully limp their way to the division and get swept in the first round again.

It feels like SD, LA, Ari, SF, and Col, but not much difference between them.

Resurrections:

Steroid Bear - So everyone hates you, you're coming off gimpy knee surgery and the hardest season that even your hellfire-hardened soul has gone through. What do you do? Come back in excellent shape so you can absolutely smash through Hank Aaron's record. It would be tragic, but beautiful, like synchronized swimmers drowning, if the last 98 MPH fastball of the Unit's career bounced off Steroid Bear's noggin while the Unit's balky back snapped in two. All I'm saying is, that's a heck of a Hall of Fame plaque, way better than what they have now.
Marcus Giles - the Braves' trash is the Padres' new treasure, as they get a decent 2b for bargain basement prices (1 yr, $3.25m), which would only have gotten you about one third of Mark Derosa.

Rotting corpses:

Randy Johnson - So, you're 41, going on 42. This is your second offseason with surgery. You came off a bad year, albeit pitching in a tougher division. But, nobody writes you off because you've made a career out of being a freak of human physiology. Technically, you should have been DONE about 5 years ago. The Unit can just as easily be in the "resurrection" pile above, except for the fact that he looks like a rotting corpse. He'll probably get a bunch of strikeouts with an ERA in the mid 4.00s.

Best version of the NL West:
C - Josh Bard, SD, 1b - Adrian Gonzalez, SD, 2b - Jeff Kent, LA, 3b - Garret Atkins, Col
SS - Rafael Furcal, LA, LF - Steroid Bear, SF, CF - Mike Cameron, SD, RF - Matt Holliday, Col
SP - Brandon Webb, Ari, Randy Johnson, Ari, Jason Schmidt, LA, Jake Peavy, SD,
Chris Young, SD
RP - Trevor Hoffman, SD

NL Central
The Cardinals proved that it's not the best team in the regular season, but the one playing the best ball in October that wins, adding the corollary of "it's good to play against opponents that put up the resistance of a wet sack" (thank you Padres and Tigers). They managed to get weaker in the offseason, and the Cubs spent a pot of gold on free agents. Raised by Wolves is not buying the hype from Milwaukee, as much fun as it would be to have another Midwest team in the playoffs.

Chi, StL, Hou, Mil, Pit, Cin. Yes, I'm actually picking the Cubs to win it. They have less holes in their pitching in a pitching-thin division.

Resurrections:

Derrek Lee - the real engine for the Cubs' offense, since new acquisition Soriano will only exacerbate the team's weakness, plate discipline. Anybody who goes through that much undeserved personal tragedy, you root for.

Rotting corpses:

Cubs bullpen - So with the sackful of cash spent (on a CF and 2 SPs), none of that was spent on a closer? Do we really need to recount the Ryan Dempster experience?
Mark Mulder - Cards are hoping he regains his mojo, but his shoulder might be done. Sad thing, he's only 29.
Milwaukee Brewers playoff hype (?) - No. They're not as consistently good as the Phillies, and the Phillies haven't made the playoffs since '93.

Best version of the NL Central
C - Michael Barrett, Chi, 1b - Albert Pujols, StL, 2b - Adam Kennedy, StL, 3b - Aramis Ramirez, Chi, SS - Adam Everett, Hou (only for defense)
LF - Jason Bay, Pit, CF - Alfonso Soriano, Chi, RF - Lance Berkman, Hou
SP - Roy Oswalt, Hou, Chris Carpenter, StL, Carlos Zambrano, Chi, Rich Hill, Chi, Aaron Harang, Cin
RP - Francisco Cordero, Mil

NL East
Last year was the Mets' year. End of story. Can they get over the hangover from losing a tough series? More importantly, can they overcome losing Pedro? Phillies fans will hate it every minute, but they're the favorites coming in.

Phi, NYM, Fla, Atl, Was. The Nationals are going to be historically bad.

Resurrections:
Miguel Cabrera - Now that he's finally coming in with the understanding that he has to actually stay in shape during the offseason, all the Pujols comparisons might come true. What is it with young millionaires and McDonalds, anyway?

Rotting corpses:
Pedro Martinez - The most dominant pitcher I've ever seen in a 5-6 year period (Clemens and Maddux never had a run like Pedro did from '97-'02), but he's probably done. Sorry bro, there's no bounceback from a torn rotator cuff.

Best version of the NL East
C - Brian McCann, Atl, 1b - Ryan Howard, Phi, 2b - Chase Utley, Phi, 3b - Miguel Cabrera, Fla
SS - Jose Reyes, NYM, LF - Pat Burrell, CF - Carlos Beltran, NYM, RF - Andruw Jones, Atl
SP - Cole Hamels, Phi, Tom Glavine, NYM, John Smoltz, Atl, Dontrelle Willis, Fla, Brett Myers, Phi
RP - Billy Wagner, NYM

AL East
NYY, bye, bye. Raised by Wolves can't get behind the Yankees winning the division again with a starting rotation that includes a broken Andy Pettitte, a crappy Carl Pavano, and gas-guzzling Japanese import Kei Igawa. It's unfortunate, though, that Boston had to become the very Evil Empire that they despise to reach the summit, just like Yoda said would happen if you embraced the Dark Side. The lesson as always, don't mess with Yoda's lunch.

Bos, NYY, Tor, TB, Bal.

Resurrections:

Daisuke Matsuzaka - Dice-K comes in with better stuff and pedigree than Nomo did in '95, when Nomo led the LAD to a division title and won ROY. Matsuzaka has the same slow-whip, funky delivery but more heat on the fastball, a splitter, and the "gyroball," the firm existence of said pitch residing somewhere in the area code of Amelia Earhart, my vertical leap, and El Chupacabra.
The good thing about the Yankees falling out of contention is that it means ARod will be a fantasy force again. Hugs and kisses for everybody!

Rotting corpses:

Yankee starting rotation - "Geez, I can smell you from over here." - Texas Ranger, from "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby"
Curt Schilling -Admits that he didn't pay attention to his conditioning because he was devoting more time to his... video game company. By the way, you're 40 years old, way past whatever statute of limitations there is on miraculous bloody anklets. Fattiness aside, Schill's blog is a pretty great read, particularly the analysis of his pitch sequences.

Best version of the AL East
C - Jorge Posada, NYY, 1b - David Ortiz, Bos, 2b - Robinson Cano, NYY, 3b - ARod, NYY
SS - Derek Jeter, NYY, LF - Manny Ramirez, Bos, CF - Vernon Wells, Tor, RF - Carl Crawford, TB, DH - Jason Giambi, NYY
SP - Roy Halladay, Tor, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Bos, Erik Bedard, Bal, Chien-Ming Wang, NYY, Mike Mussina, NYY
RP - Jonathan Papelbon, Bos

AL West
The Angels, after signing good free agent deals (which have gotten worse over the years), have had their window of opportunity quashed by unwilling to part with prospects that never seem to pan out, while the gestalt-minded A's grind to 90 win seasons no matter what the personnel loss (the overrated Zito, this time). Actually, you can insert "Rangers" or "Mariners" in the that first sentence, but the outcome is always the same: A's win. Raised by Wolves is sad that superstars like Vladdy Daddy and Ichiro! are wasting away their prime in loser outposts, and invite them to a happy summer on the south side of Chicago, some time soon. Just putting that out there.

Oak, LAA, Tex, Sea, just like last year.

Resurrections:

Mike Piazza - the Ahn Fantasy Baseball Favorite. Muhahaha. Plus, those blond tips will go over waay better in Cali then in NY, Mikey. 30 bombs and 100 RBI, Comeback Player of the Year, here we come.

Rotting corpses:

Rich Harden - the A's really, really think that THIS will finally be the year he stays healthy. Really. They promise. Why not trade him and let someone else deal with the headache? Two straight years of substantial injury time is not bad luck, it's Kerry Wood.
Eric Gagne - dude, it was a great run. Thanks for the memories, if only for bringing back goggles into professional sports again.
Gary Matthews, Jr. - Angels sign him to 5/$55m after a career year, then find out that this 180-lb looking dude is accused of steroid use. Sweet.

Best version of the AL West
C- Mike Piazza, 1b - Mark Teixeira, Tex, 2b - Ian Kinsler, Tex, 3b - Chone Figgins, LAA
SS - Michael Young, Tex, LF - Nick Swisher, Oak, CF - Ichiro, Sea, RF - Vlad Guerrero, LAA
DH - Raul Ibanez, Sea
SP - John Lackey, LAA, Dan Haren, Oak, Felix Hernandez, Sea, Ervin Santana, LAA, Rich Harden, Oak
RP - J.J. Putz, Sea

AL Central
In the toughest division in baseball, the Sox can finish anywhere from first to fourth. Considering the issues around an old/overused pitching staff and an offense that is bound to regress after a stellar year, it looks like closer to fourth than first. But, Detroit looks like they have World Series sweep hangover. Minnesota wins with a proven formula of Santana + defense + tough homefield, but they've lost Liriano for the year. Raised by Wolves thinks the Cleveland Native Americans are ready to take their turn, but can't stomach their awful bullpen and field manager. Even KC is playing guys with actual talent, now. It'll be another wild finish, with the top two advancing to the post season.

Min, Cle, Chi, Det, KC

Resurrections:

Gary Sheffield - Great trade, paying just for a year, and addressing an obvious on-base percentage deficit in the lineup. This has "Thome traded to the Sox in '06" written all over it.

Rotting corpses:

Scott Podsednik - Despite being OddTodd's favorite, he seems to have ceased to do anything well on a baseball field, the proof being perennial rotting corpse Darin Erstad (DARIN ERSTAD) looking like an all-star in comparison. Winning is great, but Raised by Wolves thinks the Sox playing only 8 in the field might be too prohibitive. My kingdom for an Ichiro.
Cleveland bullpen - You underperform by 11 wins (according to Pythagoras) in 2006, mostly due to relief pitching, so naturally you pick up Joe Borowski and Roberto Hernandez, and invite Keith Foulke to spring training for 2007, maybe accidentally thinking this was 2001? or 1999?
Kenny Rogers - please get this overrated ragarm soft-tosser out of my house, please. Cuz he kills my team. Blood clot? Maybe it's all that "resin" you have on your hand.

Best version of the AL Central
C - Joe Mauer, Min, 1b - Justin Morneau, Min, 2b - The Gooch, Sox, 3b - Joe Crede, Sox
SS - Carlos Guillen, Det, LF - Gary Sheffield, Det , CF - Grady Sizemore, Cle, RF - Jermaine Dye, Sox, DH - Jim Thome, Sox
SP - Johan Santana, Min, Jon Garland, Sox, Jeremy Bonderman, Det, Justin Verlander, Det, C.C. Sabathia, Cle
RP - Joe Nathan, Min

Baseball's back! Happy Easter!

good friday

2007-04-06T12:28:00.000-05:00

"Crucifixion" by Masaccio, 1426.

"See, my servant will prosper, he shall be lifted up, exalted, rise to great heights. As the crowds were appalled on seeing him – so disfigured did he look that he seemed no longer human – so will the crowds be astonished at him, and kings stand speechless before him; for they shall see something never told and witness something never heard before." -- Isaiah 52:13-15

brother and baseball

2007-04-05T10:38:00.000-05:00

Thursday, April 5

Dear Friends in Christ,

One day during my ethics class last semester, we were discussing the theme of friendship. More specifically, what the goal of friendship is: to love or to be loved? For Christians, the response is obvious in Christ's supreme love culminating on the cross by which He commands us, "Love one another as I have loved you" (Jn 15:12). And yet I was faced with a dilemma: If the goal is to love, in being altruistic and in seeking the good of the other, why do I instead often find myself seeking to be loved? Like all persons, I have the vocation to love and of being a man for others, and yet in examining my relationships (especially in THE relationship par excellence with God) I am aware of the constant tendency in seeking to be loved first by others. How then am I to evolve from seeking to be loved into loving first?

"In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us… We love, because He first loved us" (1 Jn 4:10,19). God loved us FIRST, not the other way around. The creative act is that which makes God the creator and us his creatures, and being the creator necessarily implies that He loved us first. It is in God's very nature to love first, and being creatures, it is thus natural for us in seeking to be loved by Him. The fact that God loves first means that His love cannot be purchased. God does not love because we deserve to be loved but because He wants to and must give it freely. During my sophomore year at the University of Illinois, one day I was at Mass in line to receive Communion. At that moment this thought occurred to me: How would I respond if Jesus through the priest, right before offering me the Eucharist were to say, "The Body of Christ… wait, not today, Edward. Come back when you are more worthy of me. When you are able to love me as I ought to be loved". I would have been terrified had I not been able to receive Jesus in the Eucharist, my daily Bread, and yet it would have been completely justified had I not received Him… And in that moment after having received the Eucharist, I was so grateful for the Love that loves without limit. God beckons each one of us, "Come, come as you are", that is, come in the condition that you are in now. God does not wait for a more opportune time to love, but loves us immediately and totally, precisely because he knows that our existence depends on His love, because we need to be loved. Because without Him, we would not even be capable of loving first.

"We love, because He first loved us" (1 Jn 4:19). The wonder of God's Love is the ennobling effect of its recipient. That God loved first and that we have been loved by Him is by no means a stagnant reality. Rather, having experienced the utter fullness of His Infinite Love (Eph 3:18), we are transformed and invested with the capacity to become authentic lovers ourselves! It is God Himself, who having loved first, enacts us to be persons who no longer seek to be loved, but who love first. This is the gospel message, the Good News: God loved us first and we are loved by Him, and as a consequence, WE too are now able to love others first! It is thus we are able to respond generously and courageously to Christ's imperative to all Christians "love one another as I have loved you" (Jn 15:12). May the knowledge of the imminent Resurrection of Christ fill you with peace and joy as well as the desire to share the love with which God has loved you with others by loving first. A Blessed Triduum and Happy Easter!

In Jesus and Mary,
Edward

Ed's gotten a lot better as a writer since going off to seminary.

It's still been strange to be at "home" but I've slowly started to allow myself a few personal indulgences after having relatively few. I was sad (but also nerdily ashamed) that I was missing out on the NCAA tournament and pretty much all of spring training, so naturally, I got up this morning, checked my email, did morning prayer with a breviary I found lying around, and drafted a fantasy baseball team (roto scoring, picking 8th out of 12). Ah, relief.

Round, player

Carlos Beltran, NYM, OF - Santana already taken, Howard and Ortiz still on the board, still feels too high to take someone like Chase Utley or Carl Crawford. But, I've never picked him before, so...
Lance Berkman, Hou, 1b-OF - a personal favorite from the All Big-Boned Team
Roy Oswalt, Hou, SP - he's been on one of my teams ever since he got called up midseason 2001.
Rafael Furcal, LAD, SS - Whoops, didn't know he was injured. Could've taken Michael Young, but wanted speed over power, and Furcal was the last decent speed guy at SS. Yargh.
Brian Roberts, Bal, 2b - Did I take him too high? Another Ahn loyalty pick from year-to-year.
Paul Konerko, Sox, 1b - Still good for 35-100, I think, although Delgado might've been a better choice here. The hometown thing won out. On another note, Thome is not 1b-eligible this year, and gets taken two rounds later. Grrr. But, still looking good.
Cole Hamels, Phi, SP - One of those Young Starting Pitchers with lots of Upside and good strikeout rates (TM) that fantasy nerds rave about. Kinda like the anti-Mark Buehrle.
Mike Piazza, Oak, C - Catcher eligible, but will mostly DH. Oakland's had great luck with getting good years out of fading hitters (i.e. John Jaha, Frank Thomas, etc). I'm pretty sure he can double up any other catcher's production, except for Mauer.
Ricky Bobby Jenks, Sox, RP - Why did that nickname not occur to me earlier?
Dan Haren, Oak, SP - Young Starting Pitcher with good Upside (TM) a few years ago, now is more like Solid but Unknown Guy.
Brian Fuentes, Col, RP - I hate it when everyone else starts taking relief pitchers so it forces you to do so, or else you're left with Bobby Thigpen and Rollie Fingers. At least I have two now, so I can concentrate on something else.
Rich Hill, ChiC, SP - Young Starting Pitcher with good Upside (TM), even if he is a Cub.
Dave Roberts, SF, OF - Noticed that everyone is fishing for stolen bases, so this is trade bait for later. I have gaping holes at SS and 3b.
Luke Scott, Hou, OF - my favorite sleeper pick for '07. I think he's Lance Berkman, Part Dos.
Joe Crede, Sox, 3b - Not bad for the 15th round, but I'd like to upgrade here. I don't think I've ever had this many Sox players on my fantasy team. He's not the best, but at least JC won't embarrass me.
Brandon Phillips, Cin, 2b - Should I really have taken Brian Roberts that early?
Barry Bonds, SF, OF - Yes, yes, I know. But the Steroid Bear is on a mission, and he looks healthy, and it's the 17th round, ok?
Adam Wainwright, StL, SP-RP - Young Starting Pitcher with good Upside (TM)
Dave Bush, Mil, SP - Young Starting Pitcher with good Upside (TM). One of the main reasons why Milwaukee is being touted as a contender, although I still don't get why.
Frank Thomas, Tor, Util - Muhahahaha.
Justin Duchscherer, Oak, RP - Pronounced "duck-sure," as in, "I am duck-sure that Huston Street will get injured again."

Also, clearly, this guy doesn't know what he's talking about.

finally "home"

2007-04-03T23:05:00.000-05:00

... just in time for Easter.

Got in last night after driving most of the day from just outside of Atlanta.

Sorry for anyone who was expecting retreat tour updates here; they're mostly on MI Youth's LiveJournal, complete with links to photos and such.

We *only* did 4 retreats, 5 parish-related evening presentations, and 1 leadership training day in our 6 weeks of retreat ministry, but it sure seemed like a lot more. All that driving took up a lot of time:

Los Angeles to Seattle - 1136 miles
Seattle to Corvallis, OR to Chino Hills, CA - 1174 miles
Chino Hills, CA to Albuquerque, NM - 774 miles
Albuquerque, NM to Ponchatoula, LA - 1137 miles
Ponchatoula, LA to Newnan, GA - 449 miles
Newnan, GA to Chicago, IL - 749 miles

That adds up to 5419 miles, not including mileage accrued at the locations. Pretty close to 900-1000 miles a week. I guess I'm not crazy if I feel tired. No way to put a measure on all the moments of grace, challenge, and poverty that we encountered, though.

But it's great, beyond anything. I'm going to cloister myself until after Easter because I don't feel ready to interface with the world yet. I still feel like a nomad; my room and my house feel strange and unfamiliar.

first stop on the road: Seattle

2007-02-27T03:32:00.000-06:00

Jun trying to push a Melinda-flavored donut down the hill.

First stop in Washington camp was great. It was a relatively easier program to do, but more significant for MAX2007 because it allowed the team members to finally feel out some definitive roles on the retreat. Up until now, we've been on retreat ourselves, getting ourselves ready to hit the road, attuning ourselves to the spiritual tone of the tour (through Pope Benedict's 2007 message to youth), getting to know one another by living in community, and driving all over place (and getting snowed in between California and Oregon). It showed me how people will work in a retreat environment, and how we can deliver the theme of "Love one another as I have loved you" (John 13:34). It was satisfying to start doing what we set out to do, and then see the love and camaraderie and prayer come together in a cohesive, effective way. The miracles along the way have been numerous and astounding just to get to this point, even getting the vehicles to ride in. Situational poverty has never been this fun.

We head out for Corvallis tomorrow.

flags + letters

2007-02-10T15:13:00.000-06:00

Last week, saw Flags of Our Fathers in the second run theater nearby (can't beat $2 for a movie), then saw its (not sequel) companion? Counterpart? in Letters from Iwo Jima yesterday.

I don't remember an instance where two movies that came out in a very short space of time showed two sides of the same event, so that, and the war stuff, got my attention. Neither of the films is really pro-American or pro-Japanese (or anti-, either). Like most poignant war films, the point was more about the universal suffering that goes on regardless of political or ethnic affiliations in armed conflicts, including the moral ambiguity, the homesickness, the red tape that can rears its head at the most inopportune times, and the camaraderie. The treatment never felt sentimental, or pretentious, or unnecessarily glorifying of the hero ethic. It hit the emotional notes just right.

Flags of Our Fathers:

Letters from Iwo Jima:

Taking Sunday for the west coast, warm weather, the ocean, and getting ready for retreats. Here we go.

new addiction

2007-02-09T02:25:00.001-06:00

Finetune, for those of you who like making playlists for online radios and finding out about new music that matches your taste. Pandora is fun, also.

Warning: totally, hopelessly addictive for music lovers.

a word from Ed

2007-02-05T22:01:00.000-06:00

Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

Dear Friends in Christ,

Each morning I slowly recite, "Our Father... thy will be done" of the Lord's Prayer as I ask God that that which I know in thought and profess in words may become realized in deed. Holiness consists one thing: complete loyalty to the will of God. The saints who lived came in all shapes and sizes: men and women, consecrated and married vocations, young and old, yet their uniting characteristic was that of perfect obedience to God's will during their lifetime. Complete loyalty to the Divine Will may be the single greatest challenge known to man precisely because it involves the renunciation of our will. Humans tend to tenaciously guard their free will and unyielding when opposed. A brief examination of our preferences, daily choices, manner of doing what we want, when we want, and how we want it, illustrates this point. I recently heard a meditation entitled, "The Maturation of the Vocation", dealing with vocation in reference to the Divine Will. The speaker referred to vocation as the response to God's calling and that unwillingness to renounce your own plans for responding to the vocation would ultimately destroy it. One cannot serve love affirming oneself...

I have been absolutely enamored with Sanctity ever since I realized that it was the one pursuit in life worthy of investing my every endeavor. I never cease to be inspired in reading the lives of the Saints and in zealous moments swear that I will not settle for anything less than His infused presence in the Transforming Union in this life. The meditation I heard served as a good examination of conscience. Jesus tells us, "Not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in Heaven" (Mt 7:21). I thought about the fact that many people serve God, but how many serve Him in the manner in which He desires to be served by adhering to the Divine Will? For a servant unwilling to listen is of no use to his master. "Do I really love the will of God? Am I willing to do whatever it takes in being loyal?" I realized that as noble as my desire for holiness may be it is still in need of purification. I reflected upon the life of Maurice Bellière (the adopted spiritual child of St. Thérèse of Lisieux), a man with whom I could identify who was filled with magnanimous aspirations in serving God on the missions through preaching the Gospel in Africa and gaining the crown of martyrdom. His life didn't unfold quite like he would have expected. He was never considered to be a great man of heroic virtue by anyone who knew him while his experience in the missions left him somewhat deluded. He would eventually contract a fatal disease which would definitively conclude his missionary career and toward the end of his life went out of his mind passing away in relative obscurity in an insane asylum at the age of 33. I desire to be the type of saint John Vianney and Thérèse of Lisieux lived to be, but would I be willing to forego my glorious notion of sanctity for a humiliating one like that of Maurice Bellière if God so willed??? Even for the saints, it was not always easy deferring their will to God's. Three times, St. Paul asks for liberation from a thorn in the flesh (2 Cor 12:7-9) which God does not grant. St. Louis IX preferred the monastic life to being a ruler and only out of obedience to the Divine Will was King of France. Saint John Vianney, who heard the confessions of penitents for over four decades sometimes up to 17 hours daily, several times fled from his parish seeking a more contemplative life yet always returned in obedience. If we are not completely loyalty to the Divine Will, let us ask God to at least make us want to be loyal to Him. "Lord, help me want to be what you want me to be".

On this World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life, let us pray for all Priests, Religious, and Consecrated persons, that they may be a witness of the total self-donation to God they have professed and live their vocation to Holiness through complete loyalty to the Divine Will.

In Jesus and Mary,

Edward

Super Bowl magic

2007-02-02T01:22:00.000-06:00

Actual email exchange between me and Max this week (I'll take out the smiley faces to protect the identity of the innocent):

Max:
it just hit me, your team [Sox] won when you were unemployed. Now that we're
both unemployed, the Bears have to win!

me:
Also, in 98 when we graduated, and when I was FIRST unemployed, even the fricking Cubs made it to the playoffs as the wildcard, and I was unemployed when the Chubbies won the division in 2003, and then there was 2005 of course, and now. Weird.

Max:
Ah, the Cubs curse develops further. If the Cubs make it to the playoffs & want to win, they should make sure the Gat has a job.

Other than us and most of Chicago, there isn't anyone in America that gives the Bears a chance. I know better than to prognosticate, but here's what the BEHRS need to do to see if Coach Ditka can still shuffle:

Peyton Manning knows all about the Cover 2, since Lovie got it from Indy coach Tony Dungy. The teams that have given Indy and Manning the most trouble have been 3-4 teams like Pittsburgh and New England. Lots of pressure on Urlacher and the safeties to make every tackle, because I don't think there'll be much of a pass rush generated by the front four.
Rex will need to deliver in some difficult situations, mostly due to the fact that the Bears' line hasn't faced a speed rusher like Dwight Freeney off the edge all season, meaning fumbles/interceptions. Staring down the barrel of a 3rd or 4th and long, can he do it? If the Bears get down late, can he bring them back?
A big one from the Windy City Flyer.
The one or two horrendous passes Manning throws into the numbers of the defense (he ends up outsmarting himself, and throws a laser right at a corner, almost Favre-like), they gotta catch and score it, not just get good field position.
Hopefully Peyton can choke on the bile from tasting his own legacy being cemented, after never beating Florida in college, and taking 4 attempts to beat New England. You know he's thought about all of the magazine articles and TV pieces if he doesn't get this one. Heck, he even has to win for his dad. That's way too much pressure on one guy, and I'm thinking he'll pull an A-Rod. Even A-Rod doesn't have to win for his dad.

I could use some good luck on Saturday at the job fair, too.

meh

2007-01-28T23:02:00.000-06:00

Darin Erstad, the ersatz loot for the once-proposed deal for Jon Garland, signed a one year deal with the Sox last week. This is good news in the light of Podsednik out for 6-8 weeks with sports hernia surgery. Erstad is a lefthanded bat off the bench that can play above average defense in all outfield spots and first base. Basically, he takes Gload's role, with + defense and - offense. I think anyone watching Rob Mackowiak, poor soul, "play" center field last year realized that the Sox needed an upgrade. Erstad is also a Gold Lover (TM) at first base, and although he shares Podsednik's crappiness against lefties, at least he can catch the damn ball, and he should be a more than adequate fourth outfielder. An outfield of Pods, Anderson, Dye with Erstad backing up is great, and Erstad, Anderson, Dye is an excellent defensive outfield.

Please note that said "FOURTH" outfielder above. Ozzie demonstrated very often last year that he had no problem taking Anderson out because of his offensive deficiencies, which ended up hurting the team more than he seemed to realize. Now with a shiny piece that has the Proven Winner tag on him, I think Ozzie might be even more tempted to sit Anderson and keep Erstad in the lineup even after Podsednik comes back. Just in case anybody is still hung over from Erstad's breakout 2000 season, he hasn't been an above average offensive contributor (OPS+ under 100 since 2001) since then, or been particularly healthy. It's not too hard to fathom that freaking Erstad could be an obstacle to Anderson, Ryan Sweeney, AND Josh Fields.

So, basically, I'd like to see lots of this:

And not a lot of this:

This is ok, though:

Darin Erstad is the intelligence litmus test for Ozzie. Are we doomed to see the same Ozzie mistakes from the past, or has the newer, less openly homophobic Oswaldo turned a new leaf.

how i spent my friday

2007-01-27T00:30:00.000-06:00

credo

2007-01-25T23:51:00.000-06:00

"The Last Judgment," Michelangelo, 1541, detail

"Christianity is through-and-through an eschatological faith. It holds that the murky transactions of our sin-clouded history stand under the gaze of a divine justice that will assert itself in final confrontation at the Ultimate Moment (to Eschaton)... To have an eschatological faith is to have a 'synchronic' faith, one in which eternity is continually intersecting -- literally, cutting across -- time. We are created now, at every now. Christ comes now; the Incarnation is now. The great judgment is now. 'The accomplishment of everything impends' (1 Peter 4:7). That is the good news Jesus came to bring. Believing it is what makes me Catholic."

-- Garry Wills, Why I Am A Catholic

miami. my mammy.

2007-01-22T00:13:00.000-06:00

I got everything I wanted on Sunday. Well. Just two things:

The Bears going to the Super Bowl, and
playing the Colts when they get there.

BEHRS can't pass block, but the run blocking was superb as TJones and Cedric rolled to almost two hundee on the ground. Conversely, the D was stout against the run, holding Bush/McAllister to 56 yards.

Rex didn't screw anything up.

Colts, with the legacy wobbly Manning at the helm, finally exorcised the Patriot Mystique (TM), with quarterback/philanthropist/golden boy Brady throwing the game sealing interception. I wanted the Colts to win because Sprint/MasterCard schill Peyton Manning will discover that if he thought the pressure to GET to a Super Bowl was intense, wait until he feels the pressure to WIN one if he's favored (the early line has the Colts favored by 7). I think he's going to shrivel up like a cold day at the beach.

Predictions for the Big Game later. Right now, I'm bathing in the euphoria.

If the BEHRS can actually pull this thing out (can it happen?! are we actually talking about this?!) then the onus falls more squarely on the Cubs to win something, the Chicago media being the killjoy it is.

This feels similarly magical to the White Sox postseason run in 2005, although baseball sustains a longer tenure of intensity because of the mulitple game format, whereas football is more spastic. The common denominator being my lack of employment. 2005? No job. Spring of 2007? No job. If the BEHRS get this one, it's a little bit of a weird coincidence. I will be looking to be permanently employed, mostly for the benefits of having a job, but also so it ensures that another Chicago pro team won't win something. The obvious hole in this argument is that I'd like for the Sox to win it again, but at the cost of being unemployed again... ? We'll think about that later.

sames and opposites

2007-01-15T01:58:00.000-06:00

In Roman mythology, Janus was the god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, and endings, usually depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions. A perfect image for the worst 13-3 team in the history of the NFL, the 2006 Jekyll and Hyde Chicago Bears. Beating the Seahawks was far from perfect (dropped passes, Rex's predilection for panic under pressure, Hester's adventures in returning), but they were stout on 3rd-and-short situations, the offense was mistake-free, and the linebackers and corners played particularly well.

The Bears don't have any semblance of the stability that most championship teams have, but maybe the fact that they're so volatile makes it that much more fun. I have no idea whether they'll beat the Saints, but, staying true to the Janus-like nature of this team, what can be an advantage to the Bears can turn around and bite them in the collective rear. To whit:

Point 1: NO's suspect secondary

Pro: New Orleans' D is not a world beater. Bernard Berrian and Rashied Davies can get open deep on a suspect secondary, especially after Jones and Benson can gash them for big runs like Philly did in NO's opening playoff game.

Con: A suspect secondary may tempt Mssr. Grossman into trying his luck on the deep routes, which means more chances of getting intercepted, and more chances of getting sacked as he holds onto the ball longer in hopes of a receiver uncovering deep.

Point 2: The weather

Pro: The Saints' high-powered offense, which plays in the cozy confines of the Superdome, will bog down in the mucky winter weather of Soldier Field.

Con: The Bears have given very little evidence that they're any more acclimated to the cold, dropping lots of catchable passes against the Seahawks (including some crucial third down conversions) and Hester on punt returns and Grossman on sacks both having problems securing the ball. It's only going to get colder, so it's only going to be more difficult to catch a slick, rock hard pigskin. Gloves, kids.

And if they can get past the Saints, who are the kings of good-feelings mojo this season...? I don't even want to say Super ----. All I know is, I hope Indy somehow beats New England, cuz I'd rather face a crap-the-bed Peyton Manning feeling the weight of legacy on his shoulders instead of 3 time SB MVP Tom Brady, making it look so easy that it's boring.

Also, the first half of the 24 premiere was fricking awesome. Come on. You were all thinking it. Kumar? Oh, and that guy from The Matrix Reloaded? And the guy that always plays any prominent Arab speaking role?

Then it was followed up by the Demetri Martin special on Comedy Central, which you can still catch clips on their website. And more 24 for tomorrow. Great day to stay home.

a word from Father Edward

2007-01-08T23:54:00.000-06:00

Feast of the Epiphany (1/6/07)

Dear Friends in Christ,

I recently saw the first of the Lord of the Rings trilogy for the first time since it came out in theatres. This time around I was able to pick up on some of the more obvious Christian symbolism in Tolkien's storytelling. The focal point of the story is the Ring of power, the universal representation of the sin that is within every person. To the righteous (Aragorn, Gandalf), it is evident that the ring is treacherous and must be destroyed at all costs. To those whose consciences have been cooled and have "lost the sense of sin" (Boromir), the ring is more ambiguous, perhaps even a good thing which shouldn't necessarily be destroyed. I drew parallels to the Christian journey distinguishing two types of persons, the humble and the arrogant. Since the ring represents sin the presupposition here is that every person is susceptible to being tempted by it without exception. At least in this story no one is immaculate or above sin. The humble person is the one who recognizes this reality, that he is weak and susceptible to sin, that he will inevitably fall but shouldn't be surprised by his fall. Just as Aragorn and Gandalf distrust themselves and are vigilant in the presence of the ring, the humble person is vigilant and on guard against temptation. The arrogant person is the one whose pride blinds him from acknowledging his own frailty, choosing to rely on himself and thereby rejecting God. Likewise, Boromir is seemingly convinced that he is immune to the ill-effects of the Ring, rejecting the proposed solution by Way of the Cross (the journey to Mt. Doom) insisting rather on bringing it to Gondor. Boromir commits the Pelagian heresy by relying on the strength of his own arm and failing to see that salvation can only come from God for "there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

The only proper response to sin is that of humility, which prompts us to get up immediately after every fall, and by patiently bearing the Cross which serves to mortify concupiscence and destroy the sin within us. I likened Frodo to the exemplary models we have in the Saints. Frodo is ordinary, not one who is perfect and without sin. Throughout the film, he noticeably feels the effects and burden of the Ring, even bearing a shoulder wound which "he will bear the rest of his life" resembling humanity's woundedness in original sin. Like Frodo we too feel the effects and burden of our own sins. At times the going may seem too difficult and we may be left wondering if we will ever be liberated from the sins that ensnare us. But just like Frodo we too can count on the Fellowship of the Ring, that is, our siblings in Christ that God has gifted us. The Way of the Cross is difficult, but we have the aid of others like ourselves who are making the same journey in the collective effort toward Salvation. During our times of weakness and difficulty we can be assured of the company and support of friends like Samwise. Just as Aragorn and Gandalf realized that the only way of defeating Sauron definitively and achieving Final Victory was by journeying to Mt. Doom in order to cast the Ring into the fire, so too must the Christian disciple journey his entire life by taking up the Cross whereupon reaching the foot of that Cross, he will already have been assured of Victory over death and sin.

Christ repeatedly tells us in the gospels, "Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me". And what is this cross of which He speaks? The Way of the Cross signifies the self-denial that is necessary as a means of self-donation. It is the lifelong combat against the poison of sin countered through the antidote of practicing virtue. It is graciously accepting the difficulties that come your way by generously offering the suffering that has been invested with redemptive value through Christ. It is patient endurance with confident faith, unfailing hope, and merciful love while keeping your eyes fixed on the King who has tread the journey before you.

Your brother in the Fellowship of the Christ through Mary,
Edward

treasure

2007-01-07T22:32:00.000-06:00

This sucks, I thought. Got to the theater late from dinner, so there weren't very many seats available except for front and right-under-the-screen center. I was staring down the barrel of creaky neck and movie motion sickness right off the bat. Plus, in the trailer, director Alfonso Cuaron is heralded for being the director of Y Tu Mama Tambien and, ahem, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Say what you want, but that's not something I put on my resume when trying to sell a movie about a Macchiavellian future.

For all of the relentless bleak outlook on the future, Children of Men still celebrates and values that which is most precious: life. It does it in a way that isn't necessarily predictable or overly sentimental, but still, without a doubt, shows what is most important, and I don't have to traverse some iffy moral territory to agree with that. And I didn't puke from all the handheld shots.

Happy Christmas/New Year from Huggy Bear &T-Bone

2006-12-27T15:27:00.000-06:00

christmas interrupted by the white sox

2006-12-24T00:04:00.000-06:00

I heard Sisqo was releasing a single for the holidays, called "Perfect Christmas," forgetting just a minute the inherent lunacy of a short black man calling himself "The Dragon." Dude needs some serious help with his Asian culture fetish.

I got even MORE excited when I read the headline "Gload traded for Sisco" because my temporarily malfunctioning brain thought that the celebrity stock exchange game had come to life, and suddenly acquired the ability to trade in professional sports, and started wondering, hmm, is this a fair trade? Who wins in that? A useful spare part that can hit linedrives off the bench, or the "thong th-thong thong thong?"

I woke up to realize that Sisco was Andrew Sisco, a 23-yr-old lefty who's as tall as Randy Johnson, throws about the same, and if he's a third as good, this trade's awesome. Has a similar profile to Matt Thornton, a tall lefty with 95-98 velocity but control issues (which always makes me think his coworkers would say "he's too bossy" or "he never shares"). He'll probably start the year in Charlotte to see if he can continue developing as a starter, but if not, it's still a nice piece to have for Gload, whom Ozzie never used correctly anyway.

A more interesting trade is BMac going to the Rangers for precious, precious, minor league arms, the most notable being John Danks and Nick Massett. I like Baseball Prospectus' breakdown of the trade, which says the Sox get in Danks an equally talented piece as McCarthy. It just seems weird to make what looks to be a parallel move in a market where starting pitching is so valuable. I think the most viable explanation is that the Sox are looking to move one or more of the young pitching arms (TM) for a shinier piece (please Carl Crawford, NO Rocco Baldelli). So, a lot of the outcry seems unnecessary until the bigger move is made.

At least we know BMac had his Christmas dream come true, getting that starting rotation spot that he always wanted. Unfortunately, his craptacular home run rate (30 HR in 150+ IP) is going to be even more inflated in the Rangers' home park. It's not like last December, when the defending champs traded for Javy (I can't believe he's still on the roster) and re-signed Paulie, but, they're not the defending champs anymore, either.

Merry Christmas

2006-12-22T00:18:00.000-06:00

Ikon of the Nativity of the Lord

"[The artist being aware of his own vulnerability within his art] has in it all the mystery of the relation of the maker with things made. There falls on it from afar even some dark ray of the irony of God, who was mocked when He entered His own world, and killed when He came among His creatures."

-- G.K. Chesterton, Chaucer, 1932

"Elder father, though thine eyes
Shine with hoary mysteries,
Canst thou tell what in the heart
Of a cowslip blossom lies?"

"Smaller than all lives that be,
Secret as the deepest sea,
Stands a little house of seeds,
Like an elfin granary."

"Speller of the stones and weeds,
Skilled in Nature's crafts and creed,
Tell me what is in the heart
Of the smallest of the seeds?"

"God Almighty, and with Him
Cherubim and Serpahim,
Filling all eternity --
Adonai Elohim."

-- G.K. Chesterton, "Holy of Holies," 1927

things i learned over the weekend

2006-12-18T11:31:00.000-06:00

In teacher school, being a "lifelong learner" was always emphasized as something necessary to maintain a positive attitude toward the industry and students (although at the same time, it was an unwritten rule that this sort of canned answer was not very welcome in interviews).

So, in the interest of continuing education at the school of life, here is what was on the curriculum over the weekend:

Caroline collects her toenails when they fall off. To answer your questions, yes, it's happened more than once, and yes, it happened right in front of me. And yes, she will drive to come and pick it up if you just "happen" to find it on the floor, you know, just in passing.

Trying to think of gifts for under-2 yr olds is not easy. I mean, sooner or later, I will run out of books from my childhood to get for my goddaughter. Mike Mulligan and your Steam Shovel, you're up next.

Stranger Than Fiction is well worth two hours out of my life, and I will probably sacrifice two more hours at some point to it again. Just on a gut reaction level, I haven't watched a film in a long time where I felt I could relate to so many of the characters. Harold, because, well everyone is lonely at some point. Karen, because I have similar writing-induced neuroses. Professor Hilbert, because I would love to be that kind of oddly scholarly sage. And of course, the whole thing is about writing a book and how it's so strangely yet uniquely tied to sacrificing a part of your life (which is the way writers see it, usually).

jillapalooza

2006-12-15T00:48:00.000-06:00

Things that Jill should demand for Christmas, sipping the champagne while her suitors haggle over her like a Japanese starting pitcher:

White Sox tickets - an Ozzie plan sounds about right. Also, the cancellation of the 2006 season from collective memory.
A copy of U2 by U2. Also, a restraining order on U2 best of collections, compilations, or use on popular American dramas.
Definitely some tshirts cuz it's getting colder outside.
Some new music, especially Clipse, or The Hold Steady, or Bloc Party's new one in February.
Oh, and something to play all that new music on.
Definitely not a copy of GuitarHero for PS2.
The restoration of Bob Dylan's good name.
Something to read. My sleeper favorite is Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog.
A soccer jersey. Wait, that's what I want.
Being home for Christmas.

hot stove: dooby dooby doo

2006-12-06T23:18:00.000-06:00

Philly granolas rejoice as their number is increased. First inning Freddy and his hemp necklace shipped for uber-prospect Gavin Floyd and former Thome swag Gio Gonzalez. No word on whether Freddy will find a line on a reliable guy.

Floyd and Gonzalez is decent swag for Garcia, who's in the last season of his contract. (Basically we're getting Floyd + Gonzalez for the Phillies getting one year of Garcia + trying to re-sign him.) I guess I'm disappointed and briefly furious because the going rate for starting pitching seems so high (Ted Lilly to the Cubs for 4/$40 mill, which apparently made some people faint), so it seems like the Sox could've gotten more. The positives slightly outweigh the negatives, even if it's not a big splash. I'm not super thrilled. I guess this also means the market for Vazquez is bigger than for Freddy which is odd, since Garcia, overall and of late, has been the better pitcher.

Bad things:

I'm hearing a rumor that Crash might be a throw-in on this trade. No, no, a thousand times NO. Let my Brian Anderson free.
Seriously. Ted Lilly, never pitched 200 IP, never won more than 15 games, never had an ERA under 4.00 (not that these are the most important stats, but these are the ones idiot GMs go by), is getting $10 mill per, and Garcia's been steady with the innings, wins, ERA, and strikeout rate, has the shiny Proven Veteran (TM) tag, the even shinier Proven Playoff Starter (c) tag, and we just get two prospies? I was hoping to land a Carl Crawford with the Garcia bait.
Didn't we get rid of Gio Gonzalez on the premise that prospects are expendable? And here we go getting him back. Our farm system must stink to high heaven.
Floyd's ERA, walk rate, and WHIP look terrible.

Good things:

Finally, an open spot for Brandon McCarthy in the rotation.
This means also about $9 mill in savings in salary, which hypothetically can be used for a NEW. LEFT. FIELDER. Hint, hint.
Floyd is only 23, lefthanded, and has a wicked curve. Coop did well in turning Matt Thornton around, so hopefully he can work the same magic with Floyd.
Garcia was in the last year of his contract, and trying to re-sign him in the current ludicrous market would've killed the payroll, and dude was clearly on a decline.

I'm sad because I wanted a king's ransom in this pitching-crazed free for all, and all we got was... stock options. And we need upgrades in left field, backup C, and maybe center field. The best signings so far have been by the Dodgers (Schmidt, not Gonzo) and the A's (Piazza, the new hotness for fantasy baseball because he DHs with catcher eligibility).

bloggery

2006-12-05T01:25:00.000-06:00

Stereogum put two things I like together: San Francisco Cure-wannabes Film School and comic Demetri Martin.

Fimoculous put out a list of the 30 best blogs you're not reading, including three standby timewasters (I mean, favorites): t-shirt critic, Pop Candy, and indexed.

This is going to be hellish week for grading. Yay, grading. I feel a certain solemn dignity in being the one to introduce to my future productive citizens of the world the concept of in-text citations. Hopefully, in said future, none of them will shake their fists in impotent rage at my dim memory.

Hot Stove: suckiness

2006-12-03T23:20:00.000-06:00

Scott Podsednik signed for 1 year, $2.9 mill. Seeing how spare parts are signing for 5/$50 mill, and other overrated former Sox leftfielders are getting 6/$100 mill, this is quite the bargain. The problem is, now the Sox are set in the one position they can very obviously upgrade. I am hoping that K-Dub can hype the sellability of Pods' light contract plus a pitcher for some useful Christmas loot. Because I really don't want to sit through another summer of getting tagged out at second and helplessly flailing away at lefthanded pitchers.

Ozzie showed last summer that he's an awful lineup juggler. 2005 worked because he didn't have to make any choices; his everyday guys were clearly the best options defensively and offensively at their positions. Yes, Carl Everett sucked, but there wasn't anybody around that was any better. I wonder if K-Dub has to do something similar; construct a roster that leaves no doubt in Ozzie's mind who the best guy is. I don't need to see Mackowiak/Anderson Part Deux, cuz Ozzie doesn't know anything about defensive value.

The ridiculous free agent market is driving teams to look for starting pitching elsewhere, and the Sox have pitching to trade. I'll be disappointed if we don't upgrade before Christmas, cuz last year's was pretty great. Should be an interesting set of winter meetings this week.

mom and dad and mexico

2006-11-28T21:45:00.000-06:00

Mom and Dad in Mexico. In pictures.

1.

2.

3.

movie time over the holiday time

2006-11-22T22:05:00.000-06:00

One of my coworkers was telling me about the habit she and her husband have gotten into on Saturday mornings, which is to go and see a matinee show at the Barrington AMC. Ever since that conversation, I've gone from seeing one movie over the summer to seeing four in the last month.

The Departed is a great mobster movie, and the main thing from it, aside from Jack Nicholson's ridiculous performance, is whether Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio are becoming Scorsese's new DeNiro and Pacino. This is further underscored, probably unintentionally, in Damon's next film, The Good Shepherd, which includes DeNiro. Which is funny, because I had a hard time remembering Damon in any of his characters, aside from being the non-descript, nice white guy, the only time he broke the mold being Will Hunting.

Borat can be summed up in one sentence: "My mustache still smells like your testes." I was surprised that it actually had some semblance of a coherent storyline, and creatively skewered Baptists, frat boys, and southerners.

The next day I parked myself to see Casino Royale, which I was really hoping would be good, because the Bond franchise has been treading water, mostly due to crappy scripts. I didn't mind Pierce Brosnan, but Daniel Craig has a physical violence to him that makes up for any lack of social polish. There was some spy stuff, there was a twisty plot, and the Bond trademarks at the right moments with the right touch. Highly entertaining. The poker scenes are totally ludicrous, however.

Just got back from watching Deja Vu. Denzel makes it a lot more believable than it should be, with all the time shifting hocus pocus, and I don't buy the love story, but heck it's Denzel, and if it's ok with him, then it's ok with the audience.

On the docket for the weekend: football, grading, shopping, Stranger than Fiction, The Prestige.

new bloc party

2006-11-21T21:29:00.000-06:00

New track ("Prayer") off of Bloc Party's new album, coming out in February.

Hot Stove: Adios Neal Cotts

2006-11-20T21:49:00.000-06:00

I remember once there were rumors of Cotts being groomed for a starter's role, but that's gone by the wayside on the Sox, considering that they're already trying to find room for McCarthy. He should do ok filling in the Glendon Rusch role on the north side.

Speaking of which, despite the ridiculous number of year on the contract, the Chubs might actually be serious about contending (or at least putting butts in seats) with the signing Alfonso Soriano. Yes, they gave a 30 yr old too many years (8 year for $136 mill). Yes, they will probably stick him in a brand new position (center field, on a team filled with rookie pitchers that need all the help they can get). Yes, he is a little sensitive to getting his own way, like never taking pitches, and preferring to waste his 40+ home runs batting leadoff, but still. Sounds like another Dominican slugger we know.

The NL Central division leader won 83 games, a scant 4 games above break-even. A healthy season from Derrek Lee, along with the addition of Soriano, could make up a lot of ground in a very mediocre division (and a very weak league) could have the Cubs in the hunt late into September. Whether they get a playoff spot or not probably depends more on the pitching than the hitting, but a staff headed by Carlos Zambrano and Rich Hill is a good start.

The positional lineup looks set for the Chubs:

1. Soriano, CF, R
2. Murton, LF, R
3. Lee, 1b, R
4. Ramirez, 3b, R
5. Jones, RF, L
6. Barrett, C, R
7. DeRosa, 2b, R
8. Izturis, SS, S

Piniella will probably go with the nonsensical Baseball Lifer (TM) logic of having the small fast guy hit near the top of the lineup, so Barrett will probably bat lower, and Izturis, OBP sinkhole though he may be, will hit second. Piniella also has the non-logic of Izturis being "a lefty hitter to break up the block of righthanded hitters" to back him up. Anyway, it's still decent, although only Lee and Barrett take pitches with any regularity. Now all the Cubs need is some pitching (closer, then starter) and they're set.

"Everybody wants to win, so that's the most important for me." -- Alfonso Soriano, former Texas Ranger.

Form. blazing. sword.

2006-11-13T22:30:00.000-06:00

Voltron coming to Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. Or, online. Yesssss. One of the only things I liked about growing up in the 80s.

Speaking of the 80s, Slate asks: are you an REM person or a U2 person?

Happy birthday to my dad, the nicest man in the world. Who is now 10 pounds heavier thanks to Brazillian barbecue.

yawn

2006-11-09T00:55:00.000-06:00

Anyone looking to get published should look into Lulu.com. You can upload what you want to publish in simple MS Word format and a cover in .jpg, .gif, or .png, and they'll make it into a book for you. How cool is that? Other people can even buy your stuff. I am actually mulling over publishing my Master's project on Asian American Lit; it's the only thing I've written that is important enough to "publish." With 65 pages, it's thick enough to flesh out a book. Hmm.

In other news, my soccer team is on a 10 game unbeaten streak. I did not know that following a team that I cannot regularly watch live, on another continent, could be so fun. (Wait, this is exactly like fantasy football). The pageantry of European soccer is unequaled by anything in the States, except for maybe the NCAA basketball tournament or rivalry week in college football. The plethora of teams and levels in so many different countries lends itself to all sorts of interesting tournament formats like the Champions League, the UEFA Cup, and the Carling Cup, and that on top of the normal domestic schedule. There are lots of legitimate complaints about the Bears racking up wins on a easy schedule, but that can't really happen in European soccer; if you're good, then you'll have to prove it against very good clubs regularly. The Bears have maybe 4 games out of their 16 that are "big games," whereas a top flight English Premier League team has Champions League games (which is a round robin tournament), Premiership regular season games, Carling Cup matches, and FA Cup. Crazy. It's like playing 4 different seasons at once.

Unseasonably warm November. I can't believe Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and I somehow have a month to get research papers prepped and done. Eeep.

Democratic Congress? Who cares. More of a slap in the face of the current administration than an endorsement for Democrats, I think. They ARE, who we THOUGHT they WERE!

One of my coworkers, on being told about the K-Fed/Brit split, said "I hate people like him! I hate people who advance socially without doing anything! Like Paris Hilton! I hate her!" I helpfully pointed out that people did it all the time in 14th century. I mean, so there's precedent.

tidings

2006-10-29T22:46:00.000-06:00

My weekend in a few thousand words.
Number 1:

Number 2:

Number 3:

countdown to 30: last thirty...

2006-10-27T00:01:00.000-05:00

music purchases.

Mew "And the Glass Handed Kites"
Joshua Radin "We Were Here"
Junior Boys "So This is Goodbye"
Sufjan Stevens "Avalanche"
Beirut "Gulag Orkestar"
Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Fever to Tell"
Sleater-Kinney "The Woods"
Wolf Parade "Apologies to the Queen Mary"
The Walkmen "Bows + Arrows"
Lupe Fiasco "Food and Liquor"
Kanye West "Late Registration"
Common "Be"
Gnarls Barkley "St. Elsewhere"
I'm From Barcelona "Let Me Introduce My Friends"
Rhymefest "Blue Collar"
The Hold Steady "Boys and Girls in America"
Beach House (self-titled)
Film School (self-titled)
Dirty Pretty Things "Waterloo to Anywhere"
Broken Social Scene (self-titled)
Jens Lekman "Oh You're So Silent Jens"
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan "Ballad of the Broken Seas"
The New Pornographers "Twin Cinema"
LCD Soundsystem (self-titled)
Camera Obscura "Let's Get Out of This Country"
Band of Horses "Everything All the Time"
Tapes 'n Tapes "The Loon"
Regina Spektor "Begin to Hope"
Pinback "Summer in Abaddon"
Yo La Tengo "I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass"

countdown to 30: movies that I'll yell at you for if you haven't seen them

2006-10-24T22:35:00.000-05:00

But first, time-wasting movie-guessing games.
Viking's Stationery Movies (out of 20)
M&Ms "Dark" Movies (out of 50)

Charade - I already yelled at a coworker who teaches a cinema class about this. What is wrong with me.
Fight Club
Memento
The Matrix - they should have just stopped after this one.
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
North by Northwest
Rear Window
Seven Samurai - or watch the bastardized Magnificent Seven
Fellowship of the Ring - I didn't like the other ones nearly as much.
The Usual Suspects - it's questionable whether the plotline is feasible. Who cares?
Braveheart
The Godfather
The Godfather Part II
Aliens
The Sting
Hero
Fist of Legend
The Shawshank Redemption
Saving Private Ryan
The Pianist
From Russia with Love
Goldfinger
Roman Holiday
The Princess Bride
Bull Durham
Cool Hand Luke
Silence of the Lambs
Brazil

countdown to 30: favorite athletes

2006-10-22T21:02:00.000-05:00

in biographical order:

Walter Payton, RB, Chi - Even though I could barely speak English, I knew who Sweetness was.
Don Mattingly, 1b, NYY - Yes, a Yankee, back when we lived in New Jersey for a few years. Even though the Mets won the Series in 86, I still liked the much less successful Yankees. Loved the 'stache and the huge RBI numbers, even though he never won anything.
Dave Winfield, OF, NYY - Unlike Darryl Strawberry, wasn't a cokehead. As far as we know.
Magic Johnson, PG, LAL - Showtime's ringleader, and the reason why every kid my age that played basketball learned to dribble behind the back and give no-look passes. I also never grasped the double entendre of his name until much, much later. I cried when the AIDS annoucement came out.
James Worthy, SF, LAL - Big Game James made wearing goggles cool, way cooler than Kareem ever did. Underestimated, I think. Living in LA during the late 80s was great.
Wayne Gretzky, C, LAK - So great was the Great One that kids on California hardtops traded in skateboards for hockey sticks. At least we did.
The 1984/1988 US Men's Olympic Volleyball Team - Who were the guys with the funny names? Kiraly? Ctvrtlik? The 88 Olympics were under close scrutiny in my household, since it was being hosted by the mother country, which gave me the chance to watch volleyball's version of the 85 Bears roll up on those heartless, Communist jerks, exactly like an 80s action movie.
Mark Price, PG, Cle - When you're out in the backyard or in the park playing ball with your friends, it's nice to have a good player who has the same first name as you. My buddy was Ronny was Ron Harper, so it worked.
Kevin Johnson, PG, Phx - Lightning quick point guard that got to the basket without any crossover moves, just blinding speed. Killed the Lakers all the time, and kinda looked like one of those Aliens from the movie, even more than Sam Cassell.
Will Clark, 1b, SFG - A continuation of the Don Mattingly mancrush. Also singlehandedly wrecked the Cubs in 89, so that's always fun.
Michael Cooper, SG-SF, LAL - A fan favorite for his ridiculous skinny legs, tall socks, and superhuman hops. Unfortunately, most famous for getting dunked on by Dr. J in the 83 Finals.
Wally Joyner, 1b, CA - The only California Angel that didn't suck when I lived out there. I'm serious about not noticing the first baseman trend until now. I related to him because he looked like he was 12 years old, like me. Screw the Dodgers. The Dodgers are the West Coast version of the Cubs, without so much of the losing, but with the same old people moxie (all Tommy Lasorda's fault).
Frank Thomas, 1b, CWS - A really tall, skinny rookie who hit monstrous opposite field home runs. It's cool to be at the beginning of a Hall of Famer's career.
Robin Ventura, 3b, CWS - Always looked calm and cool, like playing baseball didn't take any effort. Won a permanent place in my heart when he took several dozen noogies to the head from a Hall of Famer that can throw a hundred miles per hour.
Black Jesus, SG, Chi - It took some time to come around to like him, because he defeated Magic and Worthy in the 91 Finals, right when I moved from LA to Chi. It was a nice way to transition from one basketball dynasty to the next, but I was hating it a lot at the time. The only athlete that I am completely sure would die to win.
George Bell, LF, ChiC - Yes, a Cub. But he has two great things going for him: 1) being the greatest player in RBI Baseball for the NES (equivalent to Bo Jackson in TECMO Bowl), and 2) there being a 50/50 chance Harry Caray would screw up his name on the air. "In left field, George... Bush." "Now hitting, Greg Bell." I watched Cubs games cuz we didn't have cable and I was starving to watch any kind of baseball.
Jon Kruk, 1b, CWS - People forget he played about 12 games for the Sox. Thus began the genesis of the All-Fat team.
Darnell Autry, RB, Northwestern - The engine behind the most unlikely football story of all time. Northwestern on the cover of Sports Illustrated? Yah, it actually happened. And we beat Notre Dame, Michigan, and Penn St. that year, too.
Zak Kustok, QB, Northwestern - The 95 Rose Bowl team that had Autry, Fitzgerald, and Schnur were almost clinical in how they dismantled opponents, but the Kustok-Anderson teams were high-wire acts that scored a lot of points and gave up a lot of points. Youtube has got some great ones. All hail the Zak Attack.
Tim Raines, LF, CWS - Played with intelligence, style, and class.
Magglio Ordonez, RF, CWS - Best Sox OF of "my" era. Probably the best one in the last 20 years. And it was cool that he kinda looked Asian.
Mike Brown, SS, Bears - Gets as many season ending injuries as defensive touchdowns.
The Rock, WWF wrestling - The electrifying People's Champion brought the noise and intensity to fake sports like no other.
Marshall Faulk, RB, StL - For winning me my only office fantasy football championship.
Albert Pujols, 1b, StL - Hands down, Frank Thomas had the best start to a career I'd ever witnessed, until this guy came along. It also took me forever to understand how grossly funny his last name is. He, Bonds, and Big Papi are the only guys I stop channel surfing to watch their at bats.
Lance Berkman, 1b-RF, Hou - One of my favorite all-Big Boned Team members. When chunky guys do well, it makes you think, yes, YOU TOO can be a professional athlete. But, probably not.
Roy Oswalt, SP, Hou and
Brian Roberts, 2b, Bal - Guys I always target for fantasy baseball because I know exactly what I'll get for them, and they're not "hype" guys that everyone is jumping all over.
Steve Nash, PG, Phx - He plays the way Magic used to play. Everyone else in the NBA is boring, except for maybe D. Wade. Yes, Lebron is boring (too physically dominant, like Shaq was). Nash, Tim Duncan, Jason Kidd, and Paul Pierce are the small handlful of NBAers with any kind of cunning deceit to their game, who can win without being 100%. Too bad Kobe and McGrady will never learn this. Kobe's cunning is what gets championships (Shaq) traded to another team, while McGrady's means he shoots 20 more times in the 4th quarter.
Joe Crede, 3b, Sox - The next Sox folk hero in the making.

Honorable mention: Kirk Hinrich, PG, Bulls. Mark Buehrle, SP, Sox. Jalen Rose, PG, U.Mich., Ross Gload, 1b-OF, Sox.

This is JEOPARDY!

2006-10-19T18:17:00.000-05:00

Found out that a friend/former coworker was on JEOPARDY! today (She's Elesha from Durham). Didn't get to watch all of it, but saw she was in second place going into Final Jeopardy within striking distance of the defending champ. And it unfolded like so:

Trebek: "The answer: He was a spy and invented the mug shot used in the Wild West (my paraphrase)."

E: (snickers) "Who is Polaroid?"

The correct response: Who is Allan Pinkerton.

That pressure was sure getting to her.

life and times of my brain

2006-10-15T22:50:00.000-05:00

"The flesh is indeed no more than a bruise / on the spirit." -- Paul Muldoon, from The End of Poetry

"Good. Then we'll have our battle in the shade." -- Dienekes, a Spartan, when told that the arrows of the Persian Army would block out the sun at the battle of Thermopylae. From Herodotus' Histories.

idling by

2006-10-11T01:13:00.000-05:00

Trying to get my mind off of rather heavy things; thank goodness for research paper units and the internet!

I didn't know Stephen Colbert was Catholic. He's also awesome enough to demand a 7 page web article from New York Magazine. Get the extra big coffee before settling into this one. And have some for me, because a friend convinced me over the weekend to cut out caffeine and sugar (which I will *mostly* keep to). "It's good for your joints" says she, while lifting weights. In my living room. Just don't hit me with the free weights.

NYC's mayor's office has an interactive map of all the movies and TV shows that have been filmed there (mostly Manhattan), in celebration of 40 years of Film in NYC. So you can virtually hop over from where Audrey Hepburn walked for Breakfast at Tiffany's to where Bruce Willis and Samuel L. tore up Central Park in Die Hard with a Vengeance.

requiescat in pace

2006-10-10T00:20:00.000-05:00

Matt Covey, 1982 - 2006

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Pirates and Knights and nights oh my

2006-10-01T00:29:00.000-05:00

It's been a strange week of retro themes. Went on Friday to check out the Variety Show at my school (I notice that I'm slowly relying on my work for all of my friends, off-time entertainment, etc. This freaks me out a lot, but more on that in some other post), which had a pirate theme to it. What did I happen to be re-watching this past week? Pirates of the Caribbean. Yarr.

Woke up in time on Saturday to catch Jordan's birthday at infamous suburban kitschfest Medieval Times. What was I watching the week past? First Knight. Oh yeah. And we got yelled at by the Harry Potter-lookalike security manager who thought our party was getting a little too rowdy, although our Green Knight hero thought we were "awesome. I even told the security guys to leave you all alone."

It was way too much fun, and now I'm itching to get every good knights-in-armor movie, although, really, there aren't too many great ones. Braveheart is the best of that breed, in terms of combining an interesting story with medieval battle action and with elements of knighthood. The old school Arthurian movies don't really hold up in terms of the action (Knights of the Round Table) while the newer ones are lush to look at, but empty of story (Kingdom of Heaven, King Arthur) and some are just a little different (The Princess Bride). Probably the best recent knight/medieval movies are the LOTR trilogy, and the knighthood stuff was overshadowed by the elves and the hobbits and such.

potpourri

2006-09-25T21:30:00.000-05:00

Played volleyball last week without damaging any major body parts. Only some of you have any idea how momentous that is. My brother and I were talking about how sad it is that our physical peak was, like, age 18-21. Not that we're professional athletes, but that seems way too small of a window.

If you ever had any doubt, don't ever, ever mess with the Madden Curse. As videogame savvy as most football players are, you'd think they'd eventually refuse to be on the cover. They can't MAKE you be on the cover of anything, can they?

I really like Canadian trance nerds the Junior Boys. I also really like the aptly named, Jet-but-better-guilty-pleasure Dirty Pretty Things. They make driving to and from work much easier to bear. And I am entranced by the soothing lilt of Priscilla Ahn, whose last name allows me to indulge in the idle fantasy of being married to a singer/songwriter, you know, the one who'll put you in the liner notes in the part where she thanks everyone, writing a cryptic line like "Thanks for warning me about the purple alligators" and only you know what the heck that means in the first place.

I've tried bringing in music to class, but the speakers are limited to small ones connected to the teacher's computer, and most of the kids bring their music players anyway. I'm curious as to what they listen to.

what's with the funny hat?

2006-09-19T22:53:00.000-05:00

Happy feast day of St. Andrew Kim Taegon (left) and St. Paul Chong Hasang + companions. Sts. Andrew and Paul were among the Korean martyrs who were executed over a period spanning 1839-1867, back when Korea still had minimal contact with the outside world.

My favorite part of this rather grisly martyrdom story is that Christianity was planted on the soil not by missionaries, but by several books on Christianity that they had obtained on trips to the foreign embassy in Beijing. A group of people immediately converted and a community of the faithful flourished underground, so when French missionaries finally arrived in 1836, they found a community in the thousands who'd never seen a priest before. John Paul II canonized St. Andrew (the first native Korean priest), St. Paul, and the martyrs on May 6, 1984. I'd like to think that it's no coincidence that my brother was born in the same month and year.

"Even though the Christians in the first half century had only two priests from China to assist them, and these only for a time, they deepened their unity in Christ through prayer and fraternal love; they disregarded social classes and encouraged religious vocations. And they sought ever closer union with their Bishop in Peking and the Pope in faraway Rome...

The splendid flowering of the Church in Korea today is indeed the fruit of the heroic witness of the Martyrs. Even today, their undying spirit sustains the Christians in the Church of silence in the North of this tragically divided land...

The Korean Martyrs have borne witness to the crucified and risen Christ. Through the sacrifice of their own lives they have become like Christ in a very special way. The words of Saint Paul the Apostle could truly have been spoken by them: We are "always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies . . . We are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh".

The death of the martyrs is similar to the death of Christ on the Cross, because like his, theirs has become the beginning of new life. This new life was manifested not only in themselves - in those who underwent death for Christ - but it was also extended to others. It became the leaven of the Church as the living community of disciples and witnesses to Jesus Christ. "The blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians": this phrase from the first centuries of Christianity is confirmed before our eyes." -- Pope John Paul II, Seoul, May 6, 1984.

Like my brother said, "Dude. It's OUR day." Sts. Andrew and Paul, pray for us.

Godspeed

2006-09-18T22:17:00.000-05:00

Typical 2006 White Sox game:

Fall behind early in the game? Check.

Junkball pitcher with average changeup dominates? Check.

Lefthanded opposing pitcher dominates? Check.

Horrendous Mackowiak error? Check.

One crappy relief performance (minimum)? Check.

Ozzie leaves in starter too long? Check.
Offense wholly consisted of home runs? Check.

Choke with runners in scoring position? 13 left on base. Check.

Thanks for 2005.

good tidings, good innings

2006-09-13T19:25:00.000-05:00

A sea change for the Palehose Six? Starters in their last few outings:

Garland's last 6 starts
43.7 IP, 25 Ks, 1.44 ERA, 0.98 WHIP

The Count's last 3 starts
21 IP, 23 Ks, 1.71 ERA, 1.00 WHIP

Fifth Inning Javy's last 3 starts
26.7 IP, 24 Ks, 2.36 ERA, 1.01 WHIP

First Inning Freddy's last 2 starts
14.1 IP, 11 Ks, 1.28 ERA, 0.78 WHIP

Buehrle's last 4 starts
24.3 IP, 13 Ks, 4.07 ERA, 1.60 WHIP (ugh)

Vazquez's and Contreras' showings are particularly encouraging. Yet, despite the resurgence of the starters, Sox are only 11-8 in this span, including 0-3 for Vazquez starts. Buehrle still sucks, but at least he's league average.

Sox continue to sputter, however. The negatives:

Sox still have to face Oakland, Detroit, Seattle and Minnesota, by far the most difficult stretch left out of the 3 Central leaders. (Detroit faces Bal, the Sox, KC twice and Tor, while Minny gets Cle, a depleted Boston, Bal, KC, and the Sox.)
Ozzie keeps doing stupid things out of arrogance or loyal machismo, like continuing to waste leadoff ABs for Podsednik, despite the fact that Scotty refuses to even *run* well, let alone, hit, field, bunt, etc. He needs to hit 9th, and start packing his bags, thanks for 2005, cuz he won't be here next year.
Ozzie keeps using Jenks despite Bubba giving up runs in his last 4 outings (2 blown saves and a loss). He's hurt and his velocity's down, and Ozzie keeps rolling him out there. Part of it is not having a reliable reliever outside of Thornton, but when every win is precious, call me crazy, you don't go with your injured closer.
Ozzie also keeps trotting out Rob Mackowiak's carcass out in CF, despite Brian Anderson hitting like a real major leaguer since the AS break. He even has new hotness Ryan Sweeney who can play center, but he gets no use, cuz apparently Ozzie is willing to sacrifice wins for getting Rob regular ABs. Sweeney's played CF and LF throughout his professional career. Mackowiak never played center until this year. I need to go lie down.
Sick of Sox hitters flailing away early in the count, Pierzynski and Uribe being the worst culprits. Maybe they're buying into the fact that the Sox can't seem to score unless they hit home runs.

However, circumstances are setting up for the Sox to make a run, ever since Black Jack McDowell has brought good mojo by sitting in for Hawk on the TV call on Saturday (9/9).

Minnesota got Liriano back, but looks like they've lost him to injury in his first start back.
Detroit 's won 3 out of their last 10, and got a particularly good thrashing by the Twins.
Sox have taken 2 of 3 so far on the dreaded West Coast Roadtrip (TM), including a one-hitter from Hash Pipe Freddy.

The verdict? They've gotten a lot of breaks, but these are meaningless unless they take advantage of them. But a playoff spot is still there for the taking.

memory

2006-09-10T20:29:00.000-05:00

On another sabbath he went into the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to see if he would cure on the sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him.

But he realized their intentions and said to the man with the withered hand, "Come up and stand before us." And he rose and stood there.

Then Jesus said to them, "I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?" Looking around at them all, he then said to him, "Stretch out your hand." He did so and his hand was restored.

But they became enraged and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.

--Luke 6:6-11

"Sometimes it seems to us that God is not governing the world very attentively. We wonder why he does not with one nod of his head crush and grind to dust all [his enemies]... That's the way our narrow, finite minds think. But God in his eternal wisdom judges otherwise. He sees that persecutions purify souls as fire cleanses gold... Inscrutable and most wise always are the ways of God!

Nevertheless, this in no way means we are to fold our hands and allow the enemy to play around with the souls of men. Not in the least! On the other hand, we must in no way try to correct God's Infinite Wisdom, or tell the Holy Spirit what to do. Rather we must allow him to lead us.

Let us imagine therefore, that we are brushes in the hands of an infinitely perfect artist. What must the brush do to make the picture perfectly beautiful? It must allow itself to be used in a perfect way. A brush could, of course, aspire to correct an earthly, finite, erring artist, but when Eternal Wisdom, God, uses us as instruments, then our activity will be most consistently perfect when we allow ourselves to be led completely and wholly by him.

-- St. Maximillian Kolbe, 1932

"The world needs God. We need God, but what God? The definitive explanation is to be found in the one who died on the Cross: in Jesus, the Son of God incarnate ... love to the end."

"This is the God we need. We do not fail to show respect for other religions and cultures, profound respect for their faith, when we proclaim clearly and uncompromisingly the God who encounters violence with his own suffering; who in the face of the power of evil exalts his mercy, in order that evil may be limited and overcome."

-- Pope Benedict XVI, 9/10/06, Munich

laboring

2006-09-04T16:25:00.000-05:00

Neuroscientists say that visual art, such as Wassily Kandinsky's paintings, can be heard as well as seen.

Kandinsky's "Composition VIII," 1923. It makes sense to me that sound could be represented this way, but I'm curious to see if someone would perceive it as something more visually realistic. Maybe that doesn't make any sense.

American military deaths in Iraq have gone over 2,600 since March 2003. Ugh.

Over the weekend, a friend told me about a website (some additional media coverage) that allows for teachers to sell and pay for lesson plans made by other teachers. Personally, I think I'd have to be in a pretty desperate place to use plans from someone that I don't know, but I could see it working for something universal, like grammar or particular types of writing. In theory, it's no different than the shiny catalogs teachers get in the mail all the time touting brand new curricula, and you don't have any more guarantee of classroom success. It's a pretty good idea, actually, if done right. I kind of wish I knew about this earlier because, despite my short life in the profession, I have a whole bunch of handouts, lessons, and unit plans that were just sitting on my computer. It would've been nice to have some pocket money while looking for work, and offer something of value to somebody at the same time.

It does kind of violate the ethos of sharing teaching materials, since most teachers share for free with coworkers, but I suppose you can justify the cost if it's low enough (educators not being the richest people in the world). There are open source educational material projects out there. In theory, if a teacher is up late planning one night, and can't seem to come up with something, would paying a couple of dollars (the sellers can set their prices) for a grammar handout be worth it? It might be, for the convenience and the time saved. Another "macro" issue would be copyright; there's some contention as to whether teacher-produced materials belong to the author(s), or the school, or the district.

I've been following English Premier League soccer regularly, helped by a new laptop (which has been the bane of my productivity). The latest story involves defender William Gallas (shipped to Arsenal after a nasty spat with Chelsea) and how Chelsea alleges that he'd start kicking the ball into his own net if he didn't get transferred to another club. I love how ridiculous this is, if it's true. I can't even think of an equal counterpart in American sports. Euro soccer players pout like no other.

fantasy football draft day is like christmas

2006-09-02T11:10:00.000-05:00

Some people wake up on a glorious late summer/early autumn Saturday morning and sip in the sunshine from mowing the lawn, wiping the last suds from the hood of the car, or leisurely leafing through the paper on the patio.

Not me. I rolled out of bed, landed on the "power" button of my laptop, and drafted my customary random league football team. Who needs a girlfriend/hobby/breakfast?

I've already drafted in my keeper leagues, which have been, conservatively speaking, Hindenburg level disasters. How does this happen? 1) You don't make it to one of the drafts because you're picking up your little priest brother from the airport, leaving you to the fickle whims of Fraulein Auto Pick and 2) keeper leagues horde running backs the way third world dictators collect weapons grade plutonium. I'm pretty sure right now there's a waiver claim for Shaun Alexander's 2 yr old daughter. It's crazy. My off-time happiness shouldn't have to depend on the performance of Wali Lundy, or how gimpy Corey Dillon is feeling.

Sticking myself in a random redraft league of complete strangers gives me the chance to start afresh, unburdened by the failures/legacies of the previous year, and to (hopefully) whoop up on 5th graders and old ladies. Hey it's still competition; if they don't want to get BEAT, they should STAY HOME and play Risk. Picking 5th in a 10 team league.

Ronnie Brown, RB, Mia - didn't want Edge (crappy OL), Portis (bum shoulder). Maybe should've taken Rudi? Argh. Fantasy sports always seduces you with potential.
Lamont Jordan, RB, Oak - decent pick, but I don't like how he faded at the end last year, and the Raiders always seem to bring out the underachiever in everyone. In other news, somebody takes the Chicago defense in this round. This is going well.
Chris Chambers, WR, Mia - ready to make the leap, with a real QB throwing to him finally.
Roy Williams, WR, Det - nervous about this one cuz he gets hurts, but still banking on the Lions' new Rams offense to put up numbers.
Donald Driver, WR, GB - Favre doesn't throw to anyone else.
Willie Parker, RB, Pit - was looking to take one QB out of Brady, McNabb and Bulger, but lo and behold all 3 get taken right before. Parker's a good value, but I'm going to be mixing and matching QBs all year.
Kurt Warner, QB, Ari - Ugh. Too bad this isn't 1999. I'm still tailspinning from not getting a QB last round and how many good RBs are still left on the board. I still need to brush my teeth.
Chris Cooley, TE, Was - Never mind that an Asian guy is drafting a "Cooley."
Lawrence Maroney, RB, NE - this year's LJ. On the other hand, what I am doing taking my 4th RB in the 9th round.
Matt Jones, WR, Jax - Secret weapon #2, after Maroney. Could wrest away the "Best White Wide Receiver" title away from Joe Jurevicious.
Chris Simms, QB, TB - Is Kurt Warner 5 picks better than Simms? No. I'm an idiot.
DeAngelo Williams, RB, Car - My fav sleeper pick. I can't help myself from picking these; I'm like the guy that takes four too many free samples at the grocery store. By the way, I can only start 2 out of 37 running backs that I now have.
Kevin Curtis, WR, StL - Might vie for "Best White Wide Receiver" in a few years. Joe Addai, another sleeper RB, gets taken right afterward. I feel sad.
Washington defense
David Akers, K, Phi

I need to trade some of my RBs for a better QB. Carson Palmer, I'm looking at you, boyeee.

a list of books

2006-08-29T21:48:00.000-05:00

Cuz Melvis made me, and I'm too bland to post anything else.

1) One book that changed your life:
Professionally? In the Middle, by Nancie Atwell, about teaching writing and reading workshop. Personally, the last one would be... A Mother's Plea, by Fr. Anthony Bus.

2) One book you have read more than once:
U2: At the End of the World, by Bill Flanagan

3) One book you would want on a desert island:
A book large enough to build a vessel or turn into ample kindling for firewood. So, this Ming dynasty manuscript with over 23,000 chapters would be perfect. Otherwise, I wouldn't mind plowing through Moby Dick again, being in the middle of the ocean, since I'm the only one I know that likes it anyway. It's got plenty of pages for kindling, too.

4) One book that made you laugh:
A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving. "YOUR MOTHER HAS THE BEST BREASTS OF ALL THE MOTHERS."

5) One book that made you cry:
I haven't cried while reading, but I got really sad after Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer. 9/11 seen through the eyes of a kid.

6) One book you wish had been written:
A Decade of Dominance: The Hegemony of Asian Men over Mainstream American Society and the White Sox Championship Run, 2005-2014.

7) One book you wish had never been written:
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, by Carson McCullers. Ugh. So. De. Pre. Ssing. This made midwestern winter nights during high school a LOT more bleak.

8) One book you are currently reading:
Prayer Primer, by Fr. Thomas Dubay.

9) One book you have been meaning to read:
Norwegian Wood, by Haruki Murakami.

insurrection of the brain

2006-08-27T22:16:00.000-05:00

I have to reel my summer mind back into work mode.

The headaches have ceased with increased water consumption. Coffee is out of the diet, except on weekends.

Now to eliminate waking up mid-sleep cycle. I'm guessing the key is, no naps.

It's great seeing my brother. But I feel that I haven't spent very much time with him, and he's gone for two weeks to Kansas already. He'll have two weeks when he comes back, at least. Mostly, I think I'm looking for an excuse to go to another baseball game and to hang with low intensity, low maintenance people.

A lot of my kids are Sox fans. Bonus. Much different than the north shore burbs. Or perhaps the bandwagon is bigger than I thought.

It's hard for me not to compare leading retreats and teaching, since the parallels are pretty obvious. What gets me is how much *harder* teaching is. You'd thinking spending all day on a retreat would be harder than 90 little minutes in the morning involving writing, but... you'd be wrong.