Nearly Swept Away

After the other 3 Divisional Series had already ended in the minimum number of games - with the Rockies, Diamondbacks and Red Sox victorious and moving on to their respective League Championship Series - and with the Indians up 3-0 midway through tonight's Game 3, it was beginning to look like all four first round best-of-five series would end in sweeps. I'd already mentioned to Vicki my belief that that had never happened before - in the relatively short period of time that Major League Baseball has had Divisional Series - shortly before the commentators confirmed it. And that must've put the jinx in on Cleveland, as it wasn't long until a 3-0 lead turned into a 8-3 deficit, to the delight of the Bronx faithful. The game just finished, with a final score of 8-4 for the Yankees, earning us the only Game 4 of this year's round of Divisional Series.

I have to say that the Colorado / Arizona NLCS has the potential to be a barn burner, with how well both teams have been playing of late. The Rockies have only lost once in their last 18 games, which should mean that the Diamondbacks will have their hands full. Interestingly, this series will feature the two teams who finished with the best records in the National League this year, despite both coming from the West. Of course, both franchises are very young, even though Arizona's already got a World Series win under its belt (2001, when both Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling pitched lights out for them).

Regardless of the eventual outcome of the lone surviving Divisional Series, the ALCS will showcase a pair of legacy teams. Boston, New York and Cleveland have all been around for more than a century, and all have World Series titles in their history, although Cleveland's most recent was almost 60 years ago.

That makes the Rockies the only team with a chance to earn their very first championship in 2007... and as hot as they are right now, I wouldn't bet against them!

Vic 'N' Dale

A staring contest of epic proportions... (click on the image for a closer look!)

Those Poor Cubbies!

With their 5-1 home loss to the Diamondbacks tonight, the Cubs were swept out of the 2007 playoffs. What that means, in a historical sense, is that they, and their fans, are now the very unhappy owners of a century-long championship drought (officially only 99 years at the moment, but since the earliest they could end it now is next October, it's going to reach 100... at least!) Let's just consider that for a moment.

To appreciate how big that is, mull this over: there probably aren't any people alive on the Earth today who can remember the Cubs winning a World Series. After all, for that statement not to be true, a person still living today would have had to have been old enough in 1908 to be cognizant of that year's baseball championship (which probably rules out kids of four years old or less?), in addition to having enough of their faculties still working today to be able to recall that period from their childhood, at the ripe old age of 106 or whatever. Seems quite unlikely to me, and every successive playoff year makes the odds even longer.

Another depressing way to look at it is this: over that span since 1908, how many young Cubs fans have come to love the team, spent the rest of their childhood and their entire adult life in the thrall of the Northsiders in the Windy City, only to die of natural causes without ever seeing a championship? Hundreds? Thousands? Tens of thousands? There's undoubtedly a story that goes with each and every one of those broken hearts.

I also can't help but think of the abuse heaped upon New York Rangers fans - and the franchise itself - leading up to 1994, and that was a 'mere' 54 year slump, at its peak. What must it be like to have futility almost twice that long hanging over your head every day? Crushing, I suspect. Join me now in observing a moment of silence for the Chicago Cubs, their fans and anyone else who's ever suffered along with them over the past 99 years.

Life In The Big City

Here we are in Toronto, watching a bit of the Indians / Yankees game (1-0 NYY in the bottom of the 8th) before heading out to see Magnolia Electric Company. No idea who the opening band is, but I'm betting none of the three of us will have heard of them / him / her, but whatever.

Probably not much more coming from me for awhile. Talk amongst yourselves.

Thursday Night Blowouts

For whatever reason, each of the three playoff games tonight have been lopsided. The early game saw Colorado outslug the Phillies to a final score of 10-5, and then the Indians shocked the Yankees 11-3. [Correction: 12-3] Right now the Diamondbacks have just jumped out to a 6-2 lead over the poor Chicago Cubs - last World Series championship for the Cubs? Only 99 years ago! - and they're not even out of the inning yet!

After last night's relatively close games, today's action has had little in the way of late drama. I may not make it all the way to the end of this game, like I did in Arizona's 3-1 victory last night / early this morning.

Tomorrow I'll actually end up missing most or all of the two games (both in the American League)... but it's for a good cause!

The Alpha Omega

As I mentioned not too long ago, Jonathan Lethem's version of Omega the Unknown was due out this week, and I've just finished reading it. While I suspect that my comic store owner's reaction to the art style ("Ugh. How do I sell this?") may end up being typical of how it's received, I really loved the first issue!

Lethem perfectly retains the original series' mood and basic setup, but simply writes circles around the 1970s version. He's renamed and re-imagined each of the main characters, with the exception of Omega himself, and imbued most of them with more interesting personalities. Gone is much of the weird-for-weird's-sake narrative blather that I found added nothing to the original's appeal. We still don't know what's going on, and should be as disoriented as Hell by the end of the debut issue, but this Omega the Unknown doesn't read like it was written on acid (or under delusions of grandeur). It's a much more comfortable experience, this time around, knowing that someone of Lethem's talent is behind the wheel and is well aware of exactly how many issues he has to tell the entire tale.

Ironically, despite my positive response to the comic, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the sales on Omega are rather pathetic. It's not at all what today's comic readers are used to, partly because it's based on a story from a different era, partly due to the off-kilter nature of the characters themselves, and then there's the artwork. I used to care a lot about who drew my comics, and would rank my top artists on a regular basis - George Perez, Brian Bolland, Neal Adams, Mike Zeck and the rest - but at some point not too long after Alan Moore arrived on the scene, I kind of lost my enthusiasm for the topic. I can still get excited about the odd assignment - Ethan Van Scriver on Green Lantern, anyone? - but as I mentioned to Vicki tonight, all I really require anymore is that I can tell who the characters are, from page to page! Against that bar, the style in which 2007's version of Omega the Unknown is drawn is just fine!

I can hardly wait for the next issue in this series, and the eight that are planned to follow it! Jonathan Lethem did not disappoint!

Dream Team, Blueshirt Style

A few days ago, frequent blog visitor Shane suggested to me that I launch Year Two of this site with a description of my "All Time New York Rangers Team" selection. He'd been having similarly deep conversations about the Wings and Leafs with his father (I think) and wanted to put the bug in my ear.

I had already planned to change the template for the blog as the kick-off move for Year Two, and wanted to think about the Rangers question for awhile before answering it anyway. I've now had that chance.

I'm definitely inclined to limit the candidates to the period of time that I've been a Rangers fan, which is essentially the early 1970s to present. Sorry, Andy Bathgate and the rest of the greats from the more distant past! You guys all rocked, especially in 1928, 1933 and 1940!

So here's my half-assed take on a Dream Team from Madison Square Garden... and I ain't talkin' basketball! I'd put these six fellas, in their prime, on the ice any old day of the year!

Goal: Mike Richter (1990s) - I give the nod to Mike, not just because of the whole ending the 54-year drought thing, but also because he was drafted by the Rangers and played his entire career with them. In the modern era, that's a rarity indeed, and it's a delightful thought that his name will only ever be associated with that one team. His play for them, especially during the 1991 - '97 run, was usually nothing short of spectacular. The Rangers won the President's Trophy twice, the Stanley Cup once, and made the playoffs every year but one, over that wonderful stretch. They also made it to at least the second round of the postseason during each of those five trips, which meant that I always had at least something to cheer about each Spring.

Honourable Mention: Ed Giacomin (late 60s through early 70s) - Even though Eddie left the Rangers for Detroit shortly after I started following the boys in blue, his exploits were already legendary at the time (eg. he was on the 1st or 2nd NHL All-Star team several years in a row). I wish I'd gotten to see him play more before he went over to the dark side.

Defense: Brad Park (early 1970s) and Brian Leetch (1990s) - Many people before me have opined that, had Park played at virtually any time in the history of the NHL other than the Orr era, he'd likely be remembered as the premiere defenseman of his generation. Like contemporary Bobby, Brad was absolutely sturdy behind his own blue line and yet still managed to rack up impressive assist totals each year (eg. he tallied 37, 49, 43, 57 and 44 between 1970 and '75, while playing in an average of about 65 games each year). Though he had almost as impressive a career as a Bruin - again, in Orr's shadow - he'll always be among my favourite Rangers. Park was also drafted by the R's, which tends to earn extra points with me.

Brian Leetch was not only the Rookie of the Year in 1988 and the Norris Trophy winner in 1992, but he also won the single most important individual award in modern day Rangers history: the Conn Smythe Trophy in 1994, as the Most Valuable Player when his team won the Stanley Cup. That last achievement would almost grant him his spot here all by itself; when you add in the other contributions (eg. notching 100 points - as a defenseman! - in 1990) he's a no-brainer for the Dream Team.

Honourable Mention: Ron Greschner (mid-70s through 80s) - Though he never put impressive numbers up, Greschner was a solid defenseman over most of his career, and he wore the red, white and blue as his only professional jersey. The closest he ever got to a Stanley Cup was unfortunately a 1-0 series lead in the spring of 1979, against the eventual Cup champion Canadiens, and that's too bad. On the other hand, he got into the playoffs 12 of his 16 seasons, and that's not such a lousy legacy.

Center: Mark Messier (1990s) - This was actually tougher than you might think (see Honourable Mention below) despite the fact that Messier seemed - at times - to have picked up the entire team and carried them on his shoulders to their 1994 Stanley Cup championship. In 1991, when Mark came over from the Oilers, I don't think I would ever have believed that someday he'd be remembered as much for being a Ranger as he would for his time in Edmonton. In fact, that still boggles my mind, what with the five Stanley Cups with the Oilers. On the other hand, he had the Great One with him for all but the last of those championships in Edmonton, and none of those wins had the historical significance of ending a 54 year drought. Thanks to what he accomplished in New York, Messier may just go down in history as the greatest captain the sport has ever seen.

Honourable Mention: Jean Ratelle (60s through mid-70s) - Around the same time that Brad Park was working magic on the defense for the blueshirts, his teammate, gentlemanly Jean Ratelle, was at the center of the GAG line... which stood for Goal-A-Game! He, Rod Gilbert and Vic Hadfield were quite the powerhouse combination, and Ratelle even averaged almost one and three quarters points per game in one of those seasons (1.73, to be precise). Ironically, both Ratelle and Park departed for Boston in the same trade, bringing Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais back the other way... and breaking at least one 13 year old fan's heart in the process! I'm not sure I've ever recovered, to be honest!

Right Wing: Rod Gilbert (1960s through late-70s) - Showing my age again, but man oh man how can you go wrong with Rod Gilbert? He spent 18 seasons with the Rangers, holds the team career mark in points and goals, and was just a Hell of a player. Of my three favourite players the first year I followed the team, he was the only one not traded to Boston shortly thereafter! Like Mike Richter a couple decades later, Rod spent his entire career in New York. Until Jagr broke it recently, the Frenchman had held the right winger single season point record on the team, at 97. He got to experience their Cup run in 1972 (losing to the Bruins in a six game Finals) and then retired one year before their five game loss to Montreal in 1979. If you're a Rangers fan and don't love Rod Gilbert, there's something wrong with you!

Honourable Mention: Jaromir Jagr (current) - Jagr hasn't completely won me over just yet, but he still has a couple years to do so! He definitely helped rejuvenate the Rangers in 2005/06, after they'd gone seven straight seasons with no playoff appearances. And that accomplishment, as perhaps only my wife can appreciate, was pretty huge in this household!

Left Wing: Adam Graves (1990s) - One of the first things I learned about Adam Graves, after he arrived in Rangers camp in 1991, was what a great guy he was off the ice! There was a segment done on him, within his first season in New York, that I happened to see, and which showed just how much the man gave back to whatever community he was in. That impressed the Hell out of me, and I've never forgotten that aspect of his character. His 17 points in the 1994 playoffs didn't hurt, either! Of course his performance was overshadowed by Leetch and Messier that year, but it didn't go unnoticed around here!

Honourable Mention: Vic Hadfield (1960s through mid-70s) - I can't not mention the first 50 goal scorer in Rangers history! He also gave the New Yorkers 13 solid seasons, enjoying a breakout year in 1971/72, like so many of his teammates. He's perhaps not as well remembered as his teammates during that time, but he's one of the Ranger greats, nevertheless.

Baseball Fever!

I couldn't watch this afternoon's game live - despite working in an environment where almost everyone has a TV on their desk - so I recorded it. When I got home, Vicki had ascertained that it was in the 8th inning, but wisely imparted no other information to me so that I could enjoy it from the start. Between 6:00 and 8:00, I saw the entirety of the Rockies / Phillies match (4-2 Col) and the first several innings of the Angels / Red Sox game that had started around 6:30.

With one minute to go before my recording would end (at 8:00), I caught up to live and was done with the five hour recording I'd whipped through. I couldn't record past 8:00 because both tuners were going to be tied up PVR'ing 2 regular shows (not baseball games; how weird is that?) so that's when I switched over to using the TV's tuner (losing my HD quality in the bargain, but at least the game viewing continued uninterrupted). In another few minutes (9:00) I'll be able to resume watching the current game in HD, which stands at 4-0 Bos in the 8th. I'll stay up to watch at least the first several innings of the late game (Cubs at Arizona, 10:00 start) but likely won't last for the whole thing.

Tomorrow, which features another three games (Col vs Phi Game 2, NYY vs Cle Game 1 and Chi vs Ari Game 2), will likely look a lot like today! Have I mentioned I absolutely loooove the first round of the baseball playoffs every year? It's possibly my favourite week of sports each year!

Today's Look: Mo' Better Blue!

Couldn't take the brown of Scribe anymore, plus the margins were so wide that entries with photos didn't really have room for the text alongside the pictures (resulting in words spanning many lines). So we'll try Thisaway Blue and see if it's any better.

I'm all about change these days, it seems!

Marriage Counselling 101

You don't have to actually know me to judge that I'm not exactly a perfect husband. First off, there is no such thing (nor a perfect wife). But more importantly, you'd only have to frequent this blog for a week or so before you'd be saying, like anyone who actually does know me, "the man's wife must be a saint!" So what follows is not the mad ramblings of someone who's deluded himself into thinking that he's beyond reproach in the husband category... although it may, in fact, be mad and rambling. It's just an observation that came to me out of the blue.

What occurred to me today was the question, "Would more marriages last if the people in them spent time on a regular basis making their partners feel like they're something special?" Put another way, what if your goal, as a husband or a wife, was to do what you could to ensure your significant other always felt like they were better off than any of their friends? I don't mean that you would try to convince them that they're financially superior, because that can be pretty hard to control; nor am I talking about "sexier," or "prettier/more handsome," because now you're talking about Nature's roll of the dice. But just suppose you focused on everything within your control:

• how appreciated you make them feel for everything they do within the relationship;
• how often little treats are done for them for no particular reason;
• how frequently you remind them of how attractive they are to you;
• how much you show affection toward them in public;
• how proud you seem to be whenever you "show them off" to friends and family;
• how much you respect them for their best characteristics, like intelligence, sense of humour, or judgment;
• how sensitive toward, and interested in, whatever matters to them, you are;
• how happy you are whenever you're within them; and
  
• how often you think of their feelings ahead of your own.

Are most of those even topics many husbands and wives think about? And if they did, would they maybe try harder, or possibly realize that they shouldn't be together at all? (I'd argue that, if you don't have those positive feelings toward your mate, then you're probably in the wrong relationship.)

For all our respective flaws, the above approach is something Vicki and I seem to do pretty well at, without having to think too much about it. In fact, what made me realize this were comments we've exchanged over the past little while about how so many of the couples we know have this issue or that one, while we have nothing nearly so 'interesting' going on. At the same time, there's no one I know who I'd rather be with than Vicki, and I get the impression she feels the same way about me. But that sort of feeling doesn't just happen... especially after nearly twenty years together!

Quite The Freakin' Game!

Tonight's one-game tiebreaker between San Diego and Colorado had a little bit of everything, including a grand slam, a bunch of lead changes, a 2-run top of the 13th followed by a 3-run bottom half, a play at the plate to decide the game, and an injury to a player on the winning side on that final play! The game lasted almost 5 hours and they're still showing the replay of that final confrontation at the plate, and it's pretty clear that the runner never actually came into contact with home (so, a blown call by the ump)! Final score: Colorado 9, San Diego 8 (in 13 innings)

Un-be-liev-able!

If this is indicative of how the postseason's going to go... bring it on!

Into The Unknown

Later this week, Jonathan Lethem's first issue of Omega the Unknown arrives at long last. Lethem, who wrote Motherless Brooklyn and The Fortress of Solitude, among other novels, has won me over with those two works. His use of the English language is exquisite, so much so that I'll probably track down more of his previous fiction. When it was announced - a year or more ago - that he'd be re-imagining this Marvel Comics oddity from the 70s, I just knew that I'd have to re-read the original 10 issues sometime before the new series launched.

This past weekend, I did just that. In fact, I read the entire run Sunday afternoon, virtually uninterrupted (other than bathroom and meal breaks). I remember buying those Omega issues as a teenager - Hell, I faithfully picked up pretty much anything Marvel or DC slapped their logos on back then - just as I recall being mildly intrigued, but mostly non-plussed by the experience. The comic was bi-monthly, which in those days meant it either didn't, or wasn't expected to, sell well enough to come out on the more common, and more frequent, monthly basis. The challenge as a reader of any bi-monthly series at the time was that they required you to remember what had happened last issue for twice as long as normal, and often I just didn't. With some comics, that wasn't too big a deal (simple stories like two guys duking it out: how much did you have to recall from the last chapter?) Omega the Unknown had a whole lot more than that going on in it, though, and I suspect that I was pretty much lost for the better part of its run.

This time, though, I was a much older reader, and had only minutes (or seconds) between issues, both of which helped me appreciate it more. The series was created by Steve Gerber and Mary Skrenes, the former of whom was always a little too weird for my tastes (he also 'gave birth to' Howard the Duck; need I say more?) Despite Lethem's fannish love of the original material, I found that I enjoyed it but wasn't overly wowed by it. The mysteries of the series - why were young James-Michael Starling's parents robots? what planet did Omega come from? what's the connection between Starling and Omega? why does Omega speak as rarely as he does? and what were the "Kill! Kill! Kill!" robots all about? - are great puzzles indeed, but the fact that none of them were answered by the time the series was cancelled leaves me unconvinced that Gerber and Skrenes ever had anything especially satisfactory planned by way of resolutions. Kind of like Twin's Peak, now that I think of it.

However, I'm glad I read the original Omega, because I'll now have better context for comparing what Lethem comes up with. He's not doing a sequel, a prequel or a pure re-telling. Instead he's doing his own version of it, inspired by what Gerber and Skrenes did thirty years ago that affected him so deeply when he was a child. I'm looking forward to finding out what that is, and since - this time - it's planned as 10 issues right from the get-go, hopefully we'll get a complete tale. As this is Lethem's debut as a comic writer, though, I suppose there's also a chance it'll be complete crap. But I kind of doubt it.

Welcome To The New Blog (Same As The Old Blog)

As we embark on Year Two today, I figured that at the very least I should try out a new template. I may still revert back to the Harbour look - sort of like how I'm beardless at the moment but reserve the right to grow it back any day now - but here's a new look to commemorate the 2nd year launch. It's called Scribe, and it's... well, very brown, anyway!

Imaginary Stories: Chapter Two (** Draft **)

(Chapter One of this evolving tale can be found here.)

Chapter Two: The Abyss Gazes Also

"Lambert fought to return the woman's cool stare, as unsure of her intentions as he was captivated by her beauty. Sure, he'd seen her type many times before in his line of work - tall, blonde and blue-eyed with a body that made her clothes seem like they'd been drawn on with scented markers - and yet there was still something about her that made him notice the thumping of his forty year old heart.

"Am I under arrest, Detective?" she asked, in a tone suggesting that she knew more about the law than he did. "I'd like to call my lawyer, if I am."

Pausing before answering, Lambert shifted uncomfortably in his chair, suddenly aware of just how small the table was that separated the two of them. "No, Mrs Mason, you're not," he said without making eye contact. "It's just routine. We always interview the spouse when someone dies in a violent fashion." As he spoke the last few words, he forced himself to look directly into her almost-blindingly perfect features.

"So I'm not a suspect in Gerald's murder, then?" she inquired, with a raised eyebrow that Lambert struggled to interpret between hopefulness and surprise.

"Well, ma'am, I didn't exactly say that," Lambert replied. He placed both hands, palms down, on the table between them, a gesture intended as much to hide the sweat starting to form on them as it was to prevent them from shaking. Stop acting like a love-sick teenager, he told himself. You've got a murder to solve!"
- "The Abyss Gazes Also", Coming Of Age Tale, James Hancock (Born 1990), Published 2006

"Betraying his father?" echoed Linus, moving to squat beside his prone Indian friend. "What'd he do?"

Before Sanjay could respond, James rasped, "Did he have sex with his mother? I mean, his own mother, not his father's mother. That'd be his grandmother... eww, gross!"

"Because, of course," Peter said, "having sex with your own mother isn't gross!"

"You know what I mean!" James countered. "Hey, if that's where your story's going, I've got the perfect title for it: Oedipus Wrecks! With a W, like he wrecks his family!"

"It's like you've already read my book, James. Totally uncanny!"

"Ah, sarcasm, my faithful companion" crooned James, "never far from me are thee!"

"So you were about to say...?" ventured Peter, speaking to Sanjay while looking disapprovingly at James.

"Well," began the young man, as he sat up and pulled his knees up tight to his lithe body, "my central character's father has some very specific plans for him, but then he realized that he couldn't go through with them. He's conflicted, though, because there's a lot of family tradition at stake, and he's jeopardized some important relationships in the process."

"So... this is starting to sound like an autobiography, my friend," said Linus. "Is that what you're writing?"

Sanjay looked down quickly, unable to hide his discomfort. "No. Not exactly. I mean, there are certain similarities, yes. But the situations are quite different, and my hero is a few years older than me." Then he looked up, and with more energy said, "And after all, the teachers all tell us to write what we know! This is what I know!"

"Sounds reasonable to me," Peter said. "So what's the corner that you've painted him into, and what kind of vindication is he supposed to find?"

"Well, he disobeyed his father's orders, because he believed his father was wrong. But now he's in trouble with the law, even though it turns out his father was wrong!"

"Kind of like Icarus, then?" Linus asked.

"How so?" Sanjay countered.

"His father told him not to fly too close to the sun, or he'd burn his wings. Now that's crazy, because the higher you fly, the colder it gets, and so the old man was wrong as wrong could be. And yet legend has it that ol' Icarus still fell, so what're we to make of that story now?"

"Don't mess with Daddy?" James offered, at which point Peter slugged him in the arm.

Linus said, "Or maybe that disobedience is a greater sin than being wrong?"

"That's pretty screwed up, if you ask me," James replied, over the low grumble of his stomach. "But not as screwed up as I'll be if I don't get some food in me soon. See you ladies tomorrow!"

Three days later, the four boys were together again, but this time back inside the walls of their school and accompanied by classmate Elizabeth Lee and their teacher, Laurel Allen. All six of them sat in a loose circle, facing inward, enveloped in bubble chairs that combined comfort and support as if designed by an expert on both.

The group was engaged in the part of each school day dedicated to discussing Coming Of Age Tales, and Laurel was the COAT counsellor to the five students gathered around her. She'd been working with all of them, in this manner, since the current school year had started. While none of them were required to tell her anything about their own COAT progress, it was inevitable that she learned some of what each of them was up to, just by the nature of the discussions they had. Because of that, she'd gotten the distinct - and unwelcome - impression that Linus had yet to start his. Based on where the conversation was going at the moment, though, she suspected that she was about to get a serious clue as to why.

Elizabeth was saying, "It's a lot more complicated than you're making it sound. You have to consider how it started, the changes that it caused after only a few years, and the fact that it only took a couple of decades to spread worldwide. That certainly puts it on the same footing as some of the other revolutionary movements of the past few centuries, wouldn't you say?"

"I'm saying that I don't really see what one has to do with the other, is all," Linus said.

"What part of your education were you paying attention to, Linus?" asked Elizabeth, drawing a frosty look from her teacher.

"Liz, that's not a very helpful attitude," Laurel said, in her best neutral voice. You may be my star pupil, Liz, she thought, but I'm certainly not going to treat you like one! "Why don't you drop the sarcasm so that we can have a conversation like adults?"

"But that's what I'm talking about: adulthood," Linus continued, as if the conversation were going exactly where he wanted it to. "Does anyone in the 21st century really believe that the best way to judge if someone's ready to take on the rights of a full citizen is by making them write a story to prove it?"

The Big Finish

This is my last post before # 1200, which will be an installment of my "Imaginary Stories" tale, and which will also close out my first year of blogging (never fear: Year Two starts tomorrow!)

On the baseball front, only a little has been decided in the National League postseason picture. Atlanta and Milwaukee are out, and Chicago and Arizona are definitely in. But New York, Philadelphia, San Diego and Colorado are all still fighting for the last two places (Mets and Phillies, for the NL East; all four for the Wildcard, where there's only 1 game separating the group). Checking the early scores, it looks like the Mets, after winning 13-0 yesterday, gave up 7 runs in the top of the 1st against Florida this afternoon, so the Phillies must be rubbing their hands with glee as they resume hostilities with the Nationals. What a great way to wrap up the regular season... we could still have a four way tie to clear up after the final game tonight! (Though I wouldn't bet on the Mets making the playoffs after that 1st inning of theirs today!) In the much less exciting American League, the Red Sox will play the Angels, and the Indians will host the Yankees.

And with that update out of the way, it's time to wrap up Blogging Year One and get ready for whatever the second year may hold.

Fox: Dumbest Network Ever?

Today, on the 2nd last day of the regular baseball season, Fox Sports has decided to show the Chicago Cubs / Cincinnatti Reds match-up as its national game. A few days ago, when Chicago was battling Milwaukee for the AL Central crown, that decision would've seemed reasonable. Today, the day after Chicago clinched the AL Central (and with Cincinnatti continuing to be out of the playoff picture, as they have been for weeks) it looks absolutely insane!

Other choices for Fox to have shown:

San Diego at Milwaukee, where the Padres are still trying to catch Arizona for the AL West title, or to lock up the Wildcard spot.

Washington at Philadelphia, where the Phillies have a 1-game lead in the AL East, after supplanting the Mets last night.

Florida at NY Mets, where the Mets are trying to get back into 1st in the AL East, or at least grab the Wildcard spot.

All three of those other matches are going on this afternoon, with the first two listed being at exactly the same start time as the Chi/Cin game! How in the world did Fox decide to show anyone the (completely meaningless) Cubs game, when they could be watching the Padres or Phillies? And that completely irrelevant game is on not only the regular Fox affiliate that we get, but also the West Coast one! Someone at the top of the sports division of that 'network' needs to be seriously fired... and fired now!

And yes, these are after all the same buffoons who decided to not show the final Drive episodes!

[Update: Less than five minutes after I posted this, the Fox commentator came on between innings and announced they'd be going to the Phillies game instead! I suspect the thousands of angry phone calls and e-mails they must've received during the first inning of the Cubs game might've had something to do with them coming to their senses!]

Reading Frenzy

It's not unusual for me to be reading two books at once, as I find that sort of variety quite appealing (if one of them gets slow, the other will likely make up for it). But right now I somehow find myself in the midst of four different books!

I just finished Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, and immediately started on his previous work, The Tipping Point. Both of those were lent to me by the Man from Mars. Blink was fantastic (although it finished weaker than it started) and so far The Tipping Point is also making for fascinating reading.

I've been slogging my way through The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman, a loaner from Tammy that she thought I might like. I'd almost given up on it after a very slow - and repetitive - start, but then he hit on a topic that interested me, and I got into it more. The jury's still out as to whether I'll finish it or not, though.

After hearing many good things about it again and again over the past couple years, co-worker Kerny (aka AgileBoy) handed me his copy of Good to Great by Jim Collins on Friday. Maybe this is his way of saying that he thinks I'm "good, but could be great" or maybe he just knew I wanted to read it. Either way, I'm about 60 pages in and enjoying it quite a bit.

And finally, I'm also about a dozen pages into Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders, a collection of short stories by one of my favourite bloggers. The first one is a Sherlock Holmes tale, "A Study in Emerald", and the notion of a Holmes tale by Gaiman very nearly blows my mind! Also included is "How to Talk to Girls at Parties" which I figure has to hold some good tips for all of us!

2007 Swimming Season: Now Officially Closed!

Almost five months after it started, another swimming season ends tomorrow when we close the pool. Between the dubious weather this year, and the several weeks during which I couldn't enjoy the pool thanks to boil surgery, our 10th summer as pool-owners wasn't the greatest.

But looking on the bright side... there's always next year!

Hyperbole, Or Something Really Cool?

From a Babylon 5 news site comes this little J Michael Straczynski nugget:

"For the last year, very much under the radar, I've been working with two film makers who have created some of the biggest SF movies in the last twenty years on a television project. (I can't reveal their identities, but pick any three of their movies and you have box office of over two billion dollars.) We've been quietly writing and creating the first three scripts for a new SF series that would pretty much revolutionize the form, and which have gone out to the networks for auction. Offers are coming in. Whether or not the offers are enough to make the project work -- it's huge -- remains to be seen. Where this goes will be determined in the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned"

Yeah, OK, I'm interested... but JMS does tend to hype his own stuff just a tad.

(And Vicki and I theorized that directors of the "biggest SF movies in the last twenty years" would be: Spielberg, Lucas, Ridley Scott, James Cameron... who else?)

Baseball Playoff Picture... Getting Clearer?

Well, I suppose it has cleared up a little from two nights ago. First, in the American League, the Tigers were put out of their misery last night and so we know for sure that New York, Boston, Cleveland and LA will be in the postseason. It looks likely that the Angels will play the Red Sox, while the Yankees and the Indians tangle. But even those matchups are still up in the air!

But it's the National League that continues to provide all of the entertainment these days. With four days left - counting tonight - there are still seven teams in serious contention for those four spots. No division leader currently has more than a 2 game lead, and the Wildcard has three teams all 1 game apart! The Dodgers have been eliminated in the last 48 hours, and Atlanta's on the edge of the cliff (4 games back, with 4 games to go, in both their division and the Wildcard race). But each of those other seven teams (New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Milwaukee, Arizona, San Diego, and Colorado) are either sitting in a playoff spot right now, or within 2 games of one! That's a very nutty situation this late in the season, but it's making for an amazing conclusion to the 162-game campaign! I guess it's comparable to how the NHL season ended in the Spring this year, with so many teams in it right up to the final weekend.

If you're any kind of baseball fan at all, you may want to keep an eye on how things play out over the next 75 hours or so... and possibly beyond (if we go to tie-breakers)! This could be a Finish For The Ages!