countdown to 30: favorite athletes

in biographical order:

1. Walter Payton, RB, Chi - Even though I could barely speak English, I knew who Sweetness was.
2. 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.
3. Dave Winfield, OF, NYY - Unlike Darryl Strawberry, wasn't a cokehead. As far as we know.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. Will Clark, 1b, SFG - A continuation of the Don Mattingly mancrush. Also singlehandedly wrecked the Cubs in 89, so that's always fun.
11. 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.
12. 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).
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. Jon Kruk, 1b, CWS - People forget he played about 12 games for the Sox. Thus began the genesis of the All-Fat team.
18. 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.
19. 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.
20. Tim Raines, LF, CWS - Played with intelligence, style, and class.
21. 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.
22. Mike Brown, SS, Bears - Gets as many season ending injuries as defensive touchdowns.
23. The Rock, WWF wrestling - The electrifying People's Champion brought the noise and intensity to fake sports like no other.
24. Marshall Faulk, RB, StL - For winning me my only office fantasy football championship.
25. 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.
26. 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.
27. Roy Oswalt, SP, Hou and
28. 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.
29. 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.
30. 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!

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

"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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Chris Chambers, WR, Mia - ready to make the leap, with a real QB throwing to him finally.
4. 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.
5. Donald Driver, WR, GB - Favre doesn't throw to anyone else.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. Chris Cooley, TE, Was - Never mind that an Asian guy is drafting a "Cooley."
9. Lawrence Maroney, RB, NE - this year's LJ. On the other hand, what I am doing taking my 4th RB in the 9th round.
10. Matt Jones, WR, Jax - Secret weapon #2, after Maroney. Could wrest away the "Best White Wide Receiver" title away from Joe Jurevicious.
11. Chris Simms, QB, TB - Is Kurt Warner 5 picks better than Simms? No. I'm an idiot.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. Washington defense
15. 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

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

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.

O-F-F to the J-O-B

Off tomorrow for new teacher orientation, followed by meetings (?). Not sure how long the day will be, but getting antsy about starting up; I think if I *had* gotten a job last spring, the wait until August would have killed me. Dunno if it's jitters or ennui or something I ate, but I'm feeling nervous, like I'm fighting myself to do anything aside from laying awake in bed sweating about not knowing what the heck to do when Wednesday comes (which is dumb, I know). I'm hoping it'll subside some more once work gets going.

On a more positive note, it was nice to get out and mingle with nice, normal people (Mel's friends are, despite "adult" treehouses and rollerskating parties) and have a reasonable answer when they ask "so what do you do?" It tells me that I put a lot of stock in what I do, as long as it's doing something. Which strikes me as weird, then, when I lack the overwhelming gratitude that I suspected I might be gushing with when I finally found work. It was more, "alright, finally; let's get going." Which led to the aforementioned mental tossing and turning. I'm some weird psychosomatic hypochondriac. I'm hoping once I get a few days under my belt, I'll be more thankful.

But, as often happens, hardships (even supposed ones) are not unaccompanied by joys. My brother comes home to visit on Tuesday.

Dear sweet baby Jesus...

... thank you for DVD players, that will allow me to enjoy Ricky Bobby indefinitely.

Right before the lights go out, my friend D: "I think this is going to be life-changing." Mmhm. Really solid cast, a la Anchorman, with John C. Reilly, Gary Cole, whoever those two little kids were, and Amy Adams, my favorite Redhead in Hollywood (C).

Odd fact: John Irving writes great stuff involving characters who have strange injuries. There's always somebody around who has a missing finger, eye, nose, etc. It's hard to write about a freak injury in a way that seems totally plausible, and he does it pretty well (yeah, I'm trying to do the same thing).

Good to see the Sox get off on a roll against the good teams (5 of 6 from the Yankee$ and the Tigers), despite the derfman's constant noise about a sweep before it actually happened. I just think it's one of those things that you leave unsaid until it's over, like a no-hitter.


To whit: Last week's game against the Yankees, Randy Johnson (warming up before the game, above) is cruising into the 7th inning, and the Yanks fans in our section start chanting "no-hitter, no hitter!," which is pretty much a guarantee that you're going to lose it. No sooner than they settle down, then the Gooch strokes a sharp single to break it up. I heard later on that the Yankee broadcast team were even mentioning it on the air. Any sports fan worth his/her sand knows that you *never* mention "no-hitter" or "perfect game" until it gets broken up or it actually happens. Lady Luck and her loyal stepbrother, Mo Mentum, don't look kindly on being so brazenly called out. Just one example of some egregious breaches in sports fan etiquette I've been noticing lately. A public service announcement of acceptable conditions would be:

1) Know the basics about your team. Lots of "fans" don't seem to know the names of the players, or the name of the opposing team, etc. That's totally acceptable, you can't know everything. But you can't call yourself a fan of that team, then.

2) Understand what level of fan you are. For instance, if you've just started following a team, then start with the fundamentals, like learning the players' names, what positions they play, etc. like mentioned above. I'm doing this right now with Premier League soccer, with the help of our boarders (Tottenham and Liverpool are their faves). You cannot wade into more advanced topics of fandom until you've learned up the basics. For instance, a newly christened White Sox fan, caught up in the frenzy of last year's playoff run, should not be engaging in any Cubs/Sox debates for the time being. Brashness in a newbie is intolerable, because you'll most likely make the rest of us look stupid. (I.e. Caroline trying to make fun of Maximus for being a Cub fan by taunting him about the Sox's success, except she doesn't know anything about the Sox. Ugh.)

3) Only take middling interest in the success of other teams, unless it directly affects your team. If Detroit ends up winning the whole thing, then good for them, but I'm definitely not sitting around and watching that happen. I'm a fan of MY team, see, so what other teams do is irrelevant. This also means you can't be a fan of two teams; none of this "Cubs AND Sox" or "Mets AND Yankees" nonsense. What's the point? Monogamy is more satisfying, in real life and in sports fandom.

4) If you're taking someone to the game with you, and they're not a fan of the teams that are playing, or don't know anything about the sport, then help them out. I know lots of good female fans, so this is not meant as a stereotype, but I've gone to too many games where a dude brings his clueless girlfriend to the game, and then they're on the cell, or talking about work 75% of the time, or asking really inane questions like "how do they know which direction to run on the bases?" (the only exception to this is little kids). I can't help but think about more deserving supporters who would've really enjoyed those seats. Help your non-sports literate friends out at the game, for everyone's sake. Or just go to Wrigley, where they (mostly) don't care.

no-no

It figures that I'd go the game where my team gets no-hit for 6 innings. Also, blogger is being lame and not letting post pictures. It was fun to be at the ballpark with a playoff atmosphere and ride that emotional rollercoaster on every pitch, but it was the same old story for the Sox. Pitching gives up an early lead that the offense make up the defecit for, defense and bullpen were solid. I just don't see the weaknesses getting better, because there's no consistency. Four guys (Thome, Konerko, Dye, Crede) are carrying the weight of the entire offense, all 5 starting pitchers have been schizophrenic, and the execution of subtler baseball tactics (holding runners on, laying down bunts, taking pitches) has been subpar. There just isn't enough cloth to cover all the holes, not enough consistency and reliability to make it to the postseason. I'm tired of "bases loaded, no outs" and coming up with zero runs.

And despite all this, they're still in the thick of the wildcard hunt. Sox faithful cling to the hope that the sum performance will finally equal the parts, but there don't seem to be any indicators that say otherwise. It's been the same-old, same-old since Opening Day; when the starters do ok, then the offense has enough room to win it (the starters don't really win it, the offense does). When they don't, then all the defense, hitting, and bullpen pitching in the world can't save them. And until that changes, I expect to see some more "bases loaded, no run" situations.

---

So, for those who do not know, I got a teaching job up here in the north 'burbs. (Thanks to y'all who've helped me along for the past 20 months, I know it hasn't always been a picnic.) Off to the races of Adulthood and Responsibility. In the midst of trying to figure it all out, I wrote a lot of personal manifestos, because 1) writing it out makes me feel better and 2) I was trying to figure out if I wasn't having any luck because my teacher antenna was all wrong. Anyway, here's a little blurb. It was sort of an open letter type deal:

...I get along with people. I like making them feel comfortable, because if they're comfortable, then they're willing to listen to me. It's reciprocal, isn't it? If I listen to you, then you might listen to me. I want people to get better at whatever it is that they want to do. I want to serve them in this way. Not because I know so much more, necessarily, but because everybody needs that
help to get better. I don't see them as empty vessels that I need to fill and anoint with my Knowledge. I want them to be good people. I want them to be the ones making the decisions in the future that are going to change the world. Because, you see, this is how I change the world, by affecting the ones that will change the world in the future. And I wouldn't be a responsible mentor to them (yes, I see myself as a role model, and I take that seriously) if I didn't give them an ability or a desire to choose to do the right thing, whatever that right thing may be in their different, unique, individual selves. Not some fakey all-inclusive, mind-flabby "tolerance" that just accepts everything, but to hone their minds as a sharp tool that desires to know the truth about everything. Because knowing that "true thing" is how you do the right thing. I believe that if you follow what's true, then it follows that you'll do the right thing. I think that's the key to finding happiness and fulfillment and deep, substantial joy with yourselves, and isn't that what we want? Isn't that what we want our kids to have? This is what we do when we study literature; we're searching for the truth. We talk about wanting to shape and nurture young minds; what better lesson can be taught than this? To discern what is true. To understand what the guiding principles are for how we make our decisions.

I suppose the true proving ground for all this idealism will be the classroom, starting in late August. Can't wait.

3 up, 3 down

Checked out the new Miami Vice yesterday. It's a competent remake, but seems to lack a certain energy to it. Maybe it has to do with the excessive handheld camerawork (IiIiI LlLooOOvvVeee sSShhHaaAAkkKKyyyYYy iiiIImmMaaAAAggGGeeESSSss), or the slightly out of focus screen at the theater, or the mumbled dialogue.

Also, Colin Farrell is a fungible part in almost every movie he's in, but he did ok here. It seems to me that he's best when he has some kind of controlled fury in his performances, but he's never done that except in Daredevil. Yet, all the hype. Again, the vagaries and mystery of celebrity-dom.

Schlepped over to Lula Cafe for some excellent food and wine. Highly recommended for small groups for dinner, and it has that Logan Square indie chic about it. Yes, it was tempting to jump on the piano that we were seated by, but we refrained from punishing everyone with my version of "The Entertainer."


Capped off the evening by heading over to watch Exit Clov, a DC band fronted by two acquaintances from undergrad, who happen to be identical twins. It's weird watching and hearing two people sing that have the exact same voice; it's like a living, organic echo/delay. (As a side note, it's also weird to see people that you knew in younger, more formative settings go on to do things like be in a band, or broker deals with multimillion dollar corporations, or doctors, etc. You know, really respectable or cool or responsible things. I guess it's only weird because I still see myself as really young still.) They're a pleasant mishmash in the land of No Doubt or the Cranberries, but Veruca Salt with more musical talent strikes me as the best description. Good times all around.

...and all i got was this shirt

Nothing says "I had a good trip" like a happy group photo.

The kids? Deep. And hungry, starving, for truth.

The leaders? Selfless. And patient.

Our priests? Generous, with their time and their care.

Me? Humbled, at the way God moves souls.