(sort of) Live Blogging the end of a season

(Don't forget to check Chris Goes Hoggin' and Bare Knuckle Writers for more [frequent] entertaining posts)

It's a sad time for me. The baseball season is nearing its end. (I'm writing during the 5th game, a damn great pitching match up so far, so this post could take a turn at any moment.) I think I'm going for the Giants, I love the city of San Francisco, and was there more recently than Arlington. I usually go for the American League when I don't have a dog in the fight, but in this one, I'm actually alright either way.

3-run shot by Edgar Renteria in the top of the 7th, this game is over.

I'm not ready for the baseball season to end. I remember watching the Yankees and Red Sox play the first game of the season back in April. While I only made it to a handful of Royals games, I watched many, many more on TV, and followed along in the office when I could.

I went to Opening Day at Kauffman Stadium, watched no-hitters, perfect games, an imperfect game, saw the National League win the All Star Game for the first time in almost 15 years and...

Solo home run by Nelson Cruz, maybe this isn't quite done.

Anyways. Royals didn't surprise anyone. Zack Greinke had a slight letdown from last season, but still showed brilliance. Billy Butler is still one of the best young hitters in the game, if he can keep maturing he'll be a freaking stallion. There's hope in the future. Moustakas, Hosmer, Montgomery, Duffy, et al. There were times when frustration came over me, and I was ready to give up on the team. Who was I kidding? I've been a fan of theirs for over 25 years. Mostly painful years, but still, I can't quit them. I've said it before, and I'll say it again here: I think the Royals can be in contention in 2012. They might not necessarily win the division, but they'll be close. Stuff like that gives me hope.

Going to the bottom of the 8th, still 3-1 Giants.

This will be the first season in probably close to a decade that I didn't go to a game anywhere other than Kansas City. And the first season in a few years that I didn't see the World Series champion play. Ah well, streaks are meant to end, I suppose.

I'm a sucker for those "look back" or "year in review" montages they always do. "One Shining Moment" always gets me, even when Iowa isn't anywhere near the NCAA tournament. I'm a sap like that sometimes.

Lincecum plows through the Rangers in the bottom of the 8th, heading to the 9th now.

It might be kind of obvious by now, I have no real direction to go for this. Didn't exactly want to do a live blog of the game, and didn't really want to make it a swan song for baseball. I know it'll be back, pitchers and catchers report in just over 3 months. It's sounding like I might be going to Spring Training. It'll be my first trip, I'm so so pumped for it.

Going to the bottom of the 9th. Rangers down 3-1. This has been a pretty excellent game (maybe helped by Dogfish Head's World Wide Stout).

One out left in the bottom of the 9th.... Nelson Cruz up to bat, I'm not sure there's anyone the Rangers would rather have up. Oh wait, Josh Hamilton struck out looking a couple of batters ago. They had the batters up, it just wasn't their night.

One strike away now for the Giants.

Full count, bottom of the 9th.

Strike out, game over, World Series over, season over. Congratulations to the Giants!

I can't wait for the Royals to return to the playoffs. I'll be there. I don't care where I am in the country/world, I'll be at the next playoff game to be played in Kansas City.

I'm really not a crotchety old man yet. I promise.

Yeah, it's been 2+ weeks since I last wrote posted. And I'm ok with that. You know why? Because no one wants to read about me sitting on my behind. There hasn't been much action in the past few weeks (not like there was really much action in the weeks/months preceding that, but I digress), though there has been some plans made for action in the future. Like a January visitor to help celebrate 28, and possibly a springtime trip to New York City. oh, and I'll be getting a dog in a few days.

But I'm still trying to figure out what, if anything, I'll be doing on New Years. Part of me wants to just sit at my place alone, struggle to make it until midnight, and fall asleep. (in actuality, I give this the highest odds of happening.) I'd like to make a trip somewhere, since I now have the 2nd off of work, but don't know where to go. Maybe Tampa for the Outback Bowl, or Chicago to see some friends, or elsewhere. who knows?!

Otherwise, things are quiet here. I have yet to do any Christmas shopping, but have an outline of what I want to get for most people on my list. It will just be a matter of getting the items in an orderly fashion, without inflicting bodily harm upon myself or others during the act of acquiring said items. I would consider doing my shopping online, but I'm getting to the point where I'd have to pay more to get the packages in time.

In sports news, Iowa's Shonn Greene received the Doak Walker award, given to the best running back in the NCAA. I was hoping he'd be invited to the Heisman presentation, but knew he'd have about a 0.3% of winning, since he's not a QB that plays in a league that barely plays defense (I'm looking at you, Bradford and McCoy). The Royals signed Kyle Farnsworth. great. awesome. He can throw 97 mph. And tackle dudes (see video below). That's about it.



Umm, what else. . . Oh, the weather is kind of ridiculous. Monday, it was 60 degrees. Tuesday, we got an inch or two of snow in a decent-sized snowstorm. Last night it was raining, this morning I had a layer of ice on my car (and some on the parking lot, which I found and promptly slipped on), and then the temperature got into the mid-40's. Now there's this forecast for the weekend/early next week


Taken from wunderground.com. Yes, the high is supposed to be 61 on Sunday. And the high on Monday is forecasted to be 16. That's gonna be hell on my joints.

Apres moi, le deluge

What have I been up to in the last ten days? Pretty much alternating between being kind of busy and very lazy.

Let me take you back to last Thursday (the 24th). I was minding my own business, surfing the web or whatever it is I do at home, when I heard what sounded like water, lots and lots of water, flowing from somewhere. I went over to the area from where the sound was coming, only to nearly be drenched in a stream flowing from one of my ceiling light fixtures. I immediately called the apartment management, put down a tub, and waited for maintenance. Then, I noticed water spewing out my bathroom vent. A pot was placed here. A little stream started shooting out from the wall, where water had bubbled the paint out to the size of a large bubble of water behind paint. Another pan. I checked out my room, and noticed 3 holes in the ceiling, from whence (is that how whence is used? I feel like I should know this. . . but it sounds fancy, so I'll leave it) water poured. I was almost out of receptacles. I moved my bed into the corner, started piling stuff on, grabbed all of my stuff out of my closets (did I mention the water coming from somewhere in there? yeah), and tried to move as much stuff as I could into the now relatively arid living room. That's when I noticed the water flowing down the doorways. Had it meant to look like that, it would have been kind of neat. But, seeing as how I had not opted for the indoor fountains, I was pissed. Another call to management was made, seeing as how no one had shown up yet, about 10-15 minutes after my first call. This was not a thing that I really wanted to wait around to get someone over to check out.

The dude came, was kind of shocked by the vast amounts of water that was now falling (about 1/2" standing in the bathroom, stepping on carpet in the area caused a splash), then went upstairs to find the source. Apparently, the tenants above had moved out, but forgot to cap their washing machine line, or something like that. Whatever the cause, I had the Oceans of Fun, western location, forming in my domicile. The water line to the above apartment was turned off, and, about an hour later, the carpet guy came, and started sucking out water, then set up some loud fans, and a dehumidifier that pumped out about 80 degrees of heat. Right outside my bedroom door. Oh yeah, and my A/C was not working, either. When it rains it pou. . . you get the idea.

So that was Thursday evening.

Friday, I had the day off, and, not wanting to deal with anything at my apartment, I went to the IMAX theater to re-watch Dark Knight. Definitely worth the $8 matinee to see it. Then, pretty much right after getting out, I headed to the airport to pick up Marin. Because my apartment was in great condition to host a guest. Actually, I'm extremely glad she came, because had she not, I probably would have had some sort of freak out.

Marin and I didn't do anything too exciting over the weekend, we went to see Wall-E (very good movie, cute and all that), ate at some good places, went to a ball game (Royals lost, there was about an hour rain delay, but still, baseball is goddamn awesome, so it was a good game), used the pool at the apartment complex (the outdoor one, not the one that formed in my bathroom), played some Wii, and somehow managed to get some sleep in the hot, noisy bedroom (insert joke here).

Since she left on Monday, my apartment has pretty much gotten back to normal as far as not having a 98% humidity inside, and the air conditioning has been fixed. Right in time for this "Excessive Heat Warning" we've had here since Thursday I think, and it's supposed to last until Tuesday night. What does an excessive heat warning mean? It's really freaking hot. Like, 97+ degrees with 70%+ humidity. For nearly a week straight. And what do I decide to do today? Hey, I should go sit outside for 5 hours! I went to the Royals game today (bringing me up to I believe 9 games here for the season, 10 including the one in Denver), and watched the Boys in Blue win a good one against the White Sox, my least favorite team in Major League Baseball. It was awesome. And "officially" 95 degrees at game time, climbing from there. But hey, it was a good game, I got to see one of my favorite non-Royals player in Ken Griffey, Jr. play, got a sweet camouflaged Royals hat, and probably sweat off 3 pounds.

Anyways, I'll try to get some pictures from Marin's visit (once she sends them to me), and maybe catch up on some Flenker Thumbs Up, and maybe a few bands to listen to. Maybe I'll try to actually keep up on here. Who knows!

Alright, it may be nap time. Oh wait no, it's ice cream time. Definitely ice cream time.

I believe in DeJesus

I just got back from probably the best baseball game I've ever attended. Not only was there a milestone hit, photo finish between running hot dog condiments, and a monumental finish to the game, but the ticket was cheap!

First, a big congratulations to Mark Grudzielanek (and yes, I did spell that without looking it up), who, on his second hit of the night, picked up his 2,000th career hit. Awesome thing to see in person, he got a nice standing ovation, and gave the crowd a wave and a tip of the cap from first. Way to go, he's always been one of my favorites (even if he played for the Cardinals, at least it was only one season), and to have him here in KC for the past few seasons has been great. A class-act guy all around. (I can also name all the teams he's played on, in order, without looking it up: Montreal Expos, Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals, and the Kansas City Royals. Here's to hoping he ends his career here.)

It was looking like that would be the highlite of the night for the Royals, after they blew a 3-run lead. The hot dog condiment race was little consolation, even if it was a close one. Here's a clip from a past game's race:



Awesome, I wish I would have been at that one

It got to be a 4-3 Mariners lead in the bottom of the ninth, so there would be no appearance by the best nickname in baseball, the All-Star, the Mexicutioner. When the first two batters got out, it was looking very bleak indeed. Billy Butler was put in as a pinch hitter, and drew 4 straight balls. When Bill "The Thrill" reached first, he we promptly replaced by the much (much much much) speedier Joey Gathright. Hope was not lost. David DeJesus stepped up to the plate, a home run would win it. Every kid's dream scenario.

Watch the video fast, before MLB pulls it down!

The atmosphere was like that of a college football game, everyone high-fiving, screaming their guts out, and chanting "Let's go Royals," all the way out to the parking lot. It was a hell of game, one that I won't forget. The second walk-off win I've seen in person for the Royals, but the first come-from-behind, game-winning, two-outs-in-the-bottom-of-the-ninth home run I've ever seen. It was incredible.

I've been saying this for months!!!

Joe Posnanski, one of my favorite reporters, has written an article about something I've been thinking and saying for a while. The Royals should sign Barry Bonds. It's a win/win situation. He's stated that he'd play for free!!! What's the problem here? I'd go into it more, but Posnanski writes so much better than I do, so you should read the article.

And you should listen to The Submarines (website | myspace). I had a post about them from June 3rd that I thought I published, but must have forgotten. Anyways, they're like a combination of Mates of State and minipop, and every now and again, I hear hints of Nina Persson's voice coming out in Blake Hazard (which is an excellent name). Which is appropriate, because Nina was one of my first band-girl crushes, and Ms. Hazard has become one of my latest. Unfortunately (for me, but good for her), she's dating bandmate John Dragonetti. It's kind of a funny (cute?) story with them. They started dating, playing in each other's bands, broke up, each wrote songs about the breakup, she still was recording at his place, they talked, found out they had both written songs about how much they loved and missed each other, got back together (romantically and musically), and created The Submarines. Perfect! Their music is already all over the place, on Nip/Tuck, Gray's Anatomy, and Weeds, so don't be the last to hear them! Unless I am, which could be the case. . .



And their video is so damn cute. I hope it works out for those kids. I don't know if I could be in a band with someone I'm dating, but between these guys and Mates of State, they make it seem easy. Anyways, listen and enjoy!

Happy "Opening Day!!"

Today marks the very first baseball game of the season, between the Boston Red Sox, defending World Series champions, and the Oakland Athletics, who could end being one of the worst teams in the Majors, in the Tokyo Dome. Sounds like a good game to me!

I was thinking of channeling my inner Bill Simmons and doing a running diary throughout the game, but decided against it, mostly because it's 5 in the morning, and I don't feel like typing constantly. I'm not going to miss the game, though. It's probably been almost 20 years since I've missed the very first pitch of the season, including the two times the season started overseas (Yankees/[Devil] Rays in 2004, Cubs/Mets in I think 2001?).

So get, grab a hot dog, root, root, root for the A's, and play ball!

5:20 AM Central - Eh, screw it, I'll do a running diary for a little while. Dice-K was off to a good start, his very first pitch was an out. The next three: ball, ball, the first home run of the season by Mark Ellis. Then, 6 of the next 7 pitches have been balls. (Right after Steve Phillips said Matsuzaka can throw 7 pitches for strikes at any time. And he wonders why he hasn't managed in 4 or 5 years.) All this after the Sox got a leadoff hit, then the next three went down in order. Awesome.

5:25 - Former Kansas City Royal Emil Brown is up to bat, after Jack Cust is hit by pitch, and surprise, surprise, first pitch ball. Now a wild pitch, advancing runners to second and third. Is it too early for ESPN to run stories about what's wrong with the Red Sox? Probably not.

Now is a good time, I guess to mention that another former Royal, Mike Sweeney, is now on the A's. Good for him, I hope he has a great season. I appreciate the time he spent in Kansas City, and wish things could've worked out better the last few years, but still, I will cheer him on all season.

Meanwhile, Dice-K walks Brown to load the bases.

5:35 - Brandon Moss gets the start because JD Drew has a "stiff back." Which I'm pretty sure is code for "he hit a grand slam in the post-season so he feels like he's made good on his contract and only has to show up when he wants." If you can't tell, I'm not a fan of his. As I'm typing, he grounds into a fielder's choice at second, and Jason Veritek grounded into a double play. I'm sure Dice-K is happy that he got about 4 minutes to rest after he got out of the bases loaded jam only giving up one run.

5:40 - I'm kicking myself, I thought I had some hot dogs, but apparently I don't. What the hell am I supposed to eat while watching the game?? I guess I'll have to settle for Waffle Crisp.

5:43 - Cedar Rapids, IA's own Ryan Sweeney is up to bat! I wasn't aware he went to the A's, last I knew he was on the White Sox. He just skied a ball about 350 feet, both in distance from the plate, and in height. Unfortunately for him, the outfield wall is about 380 feet away.

5:47 - Trivia: first stolen base of the 2008 goes to Kurt Suzuki. Another piece of trivia: I love what these ball boys and girls are wearing. It looks like they were extras in Tron or The Running Man. I'll see if I can find a picture. . .

5:52 - I love shots of the crowd, especially when it shows Red Sox fans shaking their head after their $100+ million pitcher walks another batter. Is it too early to be sick of "Red Sox Nation?" No? Good. Feel good Red Sox fans, you have Julian Tavares warming up in the bullpen.

5:53 - Bill Simmons may have actually set himself on fire this time.

6:03 - Matsuzaka got out of the inning on a questionable strike call with bases loaded. Damn.

One thing I don't like about this early Opening Day, both of these teams still have exhibition games to play when they come back to the States. Why make the game today and tomorrow part of the regular season? Make them exhibitions, and have the normal start date here.

6:09 - David Ortiz smokes a ball, right to the the 2nd baseman playing in shallow right field, who tosses to 1st for the final out. Gotta love the shift.

6:14 - Gary Thorne just explained that Bobby Crosby has never hit a home run against Boston. Next pitch - a little dribbler to the pitcher.

6:17 - I'm feeling a home run here for Kurt Suzuki.

6:18 - or a line-out to short to end the inning.

6:20 - Commercials in this break include some retirement planning company and an erectile-dysfunction pill. I guess that probably says something about who they think is watching. They got me pegged.

6:22 - I'm pretty sure commissioner Bud Selig just asked Steve Phillips on a date

6:25 - shower time for me. I figure if I go now, and Dice-K is still pitching in the top of the inning, I'll miss about 5 batters.

6:35 - Out of the shower, and I overestimated the batters I missed. I only missed 4. I'm awesome.

I also heard Charczuk's alarm go off for the first time, meaning he'll be up in half an hour. Yes, I heard it while I was in the shower.

6:39 - Bud just told Steve he'd see him at 2 in the morning. Awkward.

6:47 - A couple of uneventful evenings. Plus, I'm a little distracted, playing Scrabulous.

6:51 - The name "Kurt Suzuki" reminds me of the baseball game we used to play on the XBox like 7 years ago, where the names for new players were generated by putting a first and last name together, based on names already in the game. Most of the time it worked out, but there was the occasional Dmitri Hasegawa or Tadahito Martinez.

6:57 - I'm pretty sure David Ortiz's face has gotten bigger. It looks like a planet, orbiting the large mass of his body. How was his name not included in the Mitchell Report? Oh, that's right. George Mitchell is in the front office of the Boston Red Sox.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox have taken the lead. Shit.

7:08 - I'm pretty sure I hate the Progressive commercials with the "shopping center" place. They just showed two in a row.

7:13 - Oakland re-takes the lead on a MAMMOTH shot by Jack Hannahan. I love home runs. I can't think of one better event in sports.

7:27 - Mark Ellis just missed his 2nd home run. Darn.

Well, I'm going to start getting ready for work, so I'll have to stop the live updates. Unfortunate. Thanks for reading this far, it's been really fun! Maybe I'll do it again for something. Like if I ever have a date, I could bring a laptop and give continuous updates. Seems like a good idea to me. Although, by the time that happens, I'm sure laptops will be very very obsolete.

Right on

Yesterday was a pretty exciting day around these parts. Well, more exciting than usual, I guess, which doesn't really take a whole lot. Like, if I saw a firetruck going down the street with its lights on, that would qualify as an exciting day. Or if I saw a dog with a curly tail. Exciting. But yesterday was exciting in a way that makes me feel like things in this crazy world aren't so bad.

It started in the morning, as days usually do. I've been battling a cold for the past few days (quick aside: something like that happens every time when I hang out with the Minneapolis crew; regardless of where we meet up [Ames, Iowa City, Minneapolis, Cedar Rapids], someone gets sick. Last time Jimbo ended up with mono. H has had her fair share of sickness, alcohol related or no, Bill's felt under the weather once or twice, and last St. Patty's day I was a party pooper because I was coming down with a cold), but I woke up feeling better. Seeing the snow falling made me feel very relaxed, enough to fall asleep again. That was nice. I've never really been one to sleep in, I usually am up and ready to go around 9 every day. Yesterday, I slept all the way until 10:30! Very nice.

After a lunch at McDonald's (I can't resist those Shamrock Shakes. They're too good.), I had decided to read for the rest of the afternoon. But I hadn't even turned a page when my phone rang, a call from Kansas City. With a job offer. Awesome. I start the 17th, so I'll be heading west soon. I had been told that I was going to get the job offer, but didn't want to mention anything here until things had been more cemented. Now I feel like I can talk about it and not jinx it or whatever. So yeah, I'm basically rockin' out.

Later that night, my bro and I went to a friend's place and played Guitar Hero. Any time I can showoff my excellence at video games, I just at the occasion. It makes me feel like the last 20-odd years of my life weren't a total wash. It was a good time, with some good home-brewed beer. Something I need to get into, once I have the money to do so.

When I returned home and checked my email, I had a message from Lee Klein, author of the Flenky-winning "All Aboard the Bloated Boat." I was excited. He pointed out that his piece was more of an essay than a short story, which I had meant to mention, but just plain forgot. So thanks again, Lee, your prize will be on its way shortly! And, as I mentioned here before, I'll do a bigger write-up of the essay. I'll just say it was incredible. And getting that email was a good way to end my day.

*****

Now it's time to play a little catch-up with a few things. First off, Bill's Countdown to Opening day!

From two days ago, here's a special salute to those going after foul balls.

Real Men of Genius

In a slightly related story, one time, years ago, Bill and I were at an Iowa Cubs game with some friends. They have this "hot dog cannon" that comes out once or twice a game, shooting hot dogs into the stands. Well, Bill must have really wanted a hot dog, he sprinted after one that was probably 3 sections away, I swear he pushed a few kids out of the way, and grabbed it. He may have been jealous of me- I was thrown a ball by right fielder Angel Echevarria. To this very day, I think he throws his hot dogs in the air, just to get that "airborne" taste.

Here's yesterday's update, ten reasons why baseball is better than sex:

1. It is legal to play professionally.
2. You can count on it at least four times a week.
3. You have a coach to tell you when to advance.
4. When you are tired, you always get relieved.
5. When you strike out once, you always have two more chances for a hit.
6. Up to four people can score at once.
7. Pop-ups are frequent.
8. 30,000 people cheer when you score.
9. After seven innings, you get to stretch.
10. You can get a home run without any foreplay.

Thanks Bill!

Now for a quick music recommendation, I'll present to you Bishop Allen (site | myspace), with the song "Click, Click, Click, Click."



I really liked the song "Rain" when I first heard it, and was pleased to hear that the other songs are just as good. A fun band, they released a 4-song EP at the end of each month of 2006, each put out by themselves. That's productive, and a great idea.

We're gonna sing the pirate's gospel

This annual article from one of my favorite sports writers, Joe Posnanski, is one reason why I love baseball. Also, Posnanski is the author of the book I'm currently reading, The Soul of Baseball: A Road Trip Through Buck O'Neil's America. I'm a little over halfway through, and think it may be my favorite baseball-related book, ever. And a book I think even non-fans of the sport would love.

While I wait for Bill to send today's baseball video along, I'll give you all something to listen to. This one is for Captain Crab! Here's Alela Diane with "The Pirate's Gospel."



I'll figure out how to play it, then the next time you have some piratin' to do in Eastern Iowa, Cap'n, we'll have some rum and sing this song.

In other music-related blog postings, Bad Wims has found himself the perfect song to have as his theme. I'm jealous. It works so well. I have one that I've thought up for myself, and will try to get it posted soon. But it just pales in comparison. Check it out.

Alright, and Bill just sent out the video, right in the nick of being 5 minutes late!



I got a batting practice ball hit by Derek Jeter at the World Baseball Classic a few years ago, and a couple in some AAA games, a handful of A-League balls, and had a BP ball hit by Prince Fielder bounce off of my hands, but that's about it. Maybe some day that will change!

So I'm playing with the idea of starting a new blog, one for baseball specifically. If I get the initiative to do it, I'll have it going in the next couple of days. Stay tuned for more announcements on this front (I'm sure everyone cares!). And let me know what you think! I know there are a few readers out there who probably don't care as much about the baseball aspects of some of the posts, so I thought this could be a good way to clear up some posts, and maybe attract a different crowd, those looking for some baseball insight from some dude who really likes the Royals.

Only 23 days to go!

I am back from Minneapolis, after a very fun weekend, full of some drinking, some Trivial Pursuit, and lots of food. There may or may not have been some karaoke, we'll wait to see if there is video evidence. Nothing too exciting happened, just some hanging out with friends, but really, what more do you need? I made it back to Iowa to be under another winter weather advisory, some more snow could be on the way. Hurrah!

Well, I'm tired and don't have too much more to say at this moment, but here is Bill's video for the Countdown to Opening Day!



Fare thee well, Irish

I live for this

It is foolish and childish, on the face of it, to affiliate ourselves with anything so insignificant and patently contrived and commercially exploitive as a professional sports team, and the amused superiority and icy scorn that the non-fan directs at the sports nut (I know this look -- I know it by heart) is understandable and almost unanswerable. Almost. What is left out of this calculation, it seems to me, is the business of caring -- caring deeply and passionately, really caring -- which is a capacity or an emotion that has almost gone out of our lives. And so it seems possible that we have come to a time when it no longer matters so much what the caring is about, how frail or foolish is the object of that concern, as long as the feeling itself can be saved. Naivete -- the infantile and ignoble joy that sends a grown man or woman to dancing and shouting with joy in the middle of the night over the haphazardous flight of a distant ball -- seems a small price to pay for such a gift.

-Roger Angell in his piece "Agincourt and After"

Spring training has started, the Royals won yesterday, beating the Padres 13-9 (I'm starting my "Hideo Nomo for Cy Young" campaign soon), after they lost their "spring opener" to the Rangers. Just seeing a baseball field on TV is enough to get me in better spirits, and almost bring a tear to my eye. My friend Bill is adding his own touch to the excitement and anticipation of Opening Day by sending out emails each day, leading up to the hallowed event, with baseball-related videos. I decided that more people need to get pumped up for this, and, with his permission, am going to share his videos. Now he's a couple of days into it, so I'll play catch-up today.

First was from 2 days ago



Then yesterday



And here's today's



I'm optimistic this year about the Royals. Of course, I am every year. But the young players are a year older, there's a new manager , Jose Guillen is a pretty big signing for them (even if he has to serve a 15-game suspension for steroid-related stuff), Luke Hochevar, a first-round pick from a few season ago, pitched two perfect innings the other day against some big-time hitters in the Rangers' lineup, and, as a Royals fan, I have to have hope. But it's not always a blind hope, this year, I have a good feeling about it!

Shed a tear for the baseball season

There's still time for people to join up in the Great Blogger Mix CD Exchange: Round 2! Leave a comment or email me if interested. And if anyone else out there with a blog wants to promote the exchange, feel free! I'll probably give it another week or so, then I'll contact everyone who responded.

Anyways, I've been in a little funk lately. I don't know why exactly. . . Things on the job front are coming along, I've had a few interviews, one offer, and a couple more prospects. So this time next week, at the latest, I will have a job. The weather has been damn near perfect, in the 70's with little to no wind, no clouds, just sunny, beautiful days to enjoy. I've been sitting outside and reading, but, unfortunately, I don't really have any destination to which I can walk. Unless I wanted to go to Joe's Crab Shack (which I will sometime, I've never been to one, but it can wait, I'm sure). I've made some friends, been hanging out with a couple of people, so that's going well. But there's still some sort of nagging feeling that just won't go away, not quite an unhappiness, but not exactly a contented feeling. I think I have a case of the blahs. Maybe it's from sleeping on an air mattress. I think that'll do it. I'm looking forward to going home for Christmas, mostly because I'll be able to sleep on a bed.

I've decided on a Halloween costume! It may be a little too late, a lot of people went out and hit the town in their costumes this past weekend, but I think the biggest night will be Wednesday. And I'm not really planning on going out and getting wild that night, but I may meet up with some friends just to people watch. And, if I hand out candy, it'd be fun to be in costume. I won't say here what I'll be yet, you'll have to wait for the pictures. . . I'll just say I picked up my main components today, a suit (from Goodwill) and some hairspray. Stay tuned.

I suppose I should mention something about the World Series. . . I was able to watch (most of) every game, keeping my streak of catching at least one inning of every Series game for as far back as I remember. I'm disappointed that the Rockies lost, more so that they were swept. Plus, I didn't want to see the Red Sox win again. The good news is that everyone in the country gets a free taco from Taco Bell. (Whether or not that is actually good news is debatable. I'm pretty sure that the "meat" they use is also used as an anti-tank weapon. But hey, from 2pm-5pm on the 30th, you can get one free taco! If you think I'm not going to eat one, you don't know me very well.) Then there was the not-so-subtle commercial for Taco Bell, in the Red Sox's dugout.



Why in the hell would Royce Clayton be miked-up? Was he being payed by Taco Bell to go around and talk to all the players about the deal? And why would he tell Ellsbury that he had to steal a base, and then he conveniently did in the next game. . . I'm sure there's some sort of conspiracy here, and I'll get to the bottom of it.

There are also some people upset at Alex Rodriguez for announcing that he'll opt out of his contract with the Yankees during the World Series, but I really don't blame him. I blame his jerkass of an agent Scott Boras. Boras is a major contributing factor to the problems in Major League Baseball. I can't blame a player for taking a $30 million a year deal. I'd do it in a second. It's a business, after all. But I think that agents like Boras are driving the salaries up. The other side of the problem is that the owners are willing to pay the price. It should make for an interesting off-season, though. Especially with the Mitchell Report looming. . . (for those who may not know, that is the report that supposedly names a huge number of players implicated for using steroids or HGH. Honestly, I don't think it will do too much. Sure, it'll be huge in the beginning, but by the time the season rolls around, it will have died down. It'll be interesting, though, to see how people react. I can't wait for all of the people who have publicly slammed Barry Bonds to try to backtrack and defend their favorite player. Or to see if people think that the World Series titles won by the Red Sox should have an asterisk next to them if someone like David Ortiz or Manny Ramirez appears on the list. Or the Cardinals with Pujols.)

Man, I just thought of something. My 3 least-favorite teams have all won the last 4 World Series - Red Sox (twice), Cardinals, and the White Sox. damn

Well, that's enough of a rant from me! I should be heading to bed anyways. Of course, I don't know if I'll be able to sleep, I may be too excited about getting that taco!

Stolen from H

I'm stealing this video from H, only because it's hilarious, it's made me laugh out loud every time I've watched it, and really, I'm having trouble coming up with stuff on my own at the moment.



I sometimes wish the Royals had someone like Bert Blyleven. But, Denny Matthews is a joy to listen to on the radio, one of the best in the business.

I guess now is as good a time as any to delve into the playoffs. Unfortunately, Bill's dream match up of Cubs vs. Yankees is already out, as both teams have been eliminated, as have the Angels and Dodgers. I'm hoping for an Indians/Rockies Series, mainly because I hate the Red Sox, and have a soft spot for the Rockies. I went to a Rockies game their first year in existence, 1993, when I was in San Francisco (Rockies won 5-1, I believe). I have a cousin that lives in Denver, her apartment is right next to Coors Field, a beautiful stadium. But then I also have family in Arizona, who love the Diamondbacks. But I have yet to see them play in person, so I'll stick with Colorado. Plus, the Rockies have been white hot lately, winning something like 18 out of their last 19 games, regular season and post-season included. Matt Holiday is a freaking stallion and MVP candidate (and carried my fantasy baseball team to the championship round, which will discussed in another post), Kaz Matsui has turned into a monster once October came around (I saw him play for the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, Rockies' AAA team, a season ago, and caught a foul ball he hit), and besides having a name that's fun to say, Troy Tulowitzki is not only a Rookie of the Year candidate, but he turned an unassisted triple play (only the 13th such play ever), and then about two weeks later, was putout on a triple play. Wacky! (Maybe the Rockies are becoming my favorite NL team!)

So there you have it, my pick for the World Series Champion. Which means, now that I've typed it out, they don't really stand a chance. I just have that effect on teams.

The Final Season

A few hours ago, I went to the free screening of The Final Season that a local theater was having. I have been looking forward to seeing this movie for a while, ever since filming started in Cedar Rapids. I mean, a baseball movie in Iowa? Sounds like a winning combination.



Now, you have to understand while you're reading this that I have a big bias towards this movie right off the bat. I love baseball, and have a soft spot in my heart for Iowa, so I knew going into it that there would be a pretty good chance that I would enjoy this movie. And although it falls short of me saying that I loved it, it's a great story, it's got some good-looking baseball scenes, with good acting (especially for a cast made up of a number of locals). Some of the facts weren't 100% accurate, some names were changed, but it stays surprisingly true to the original story upon which it was based. The writing could have been a little better, some of the characters could have been a little more well-developed, but overall, I enjoyed it, it made me want to play catch, and made me a little homesick. Four Flenker Thumbs Up!








I'll be back with a real, non-movie reviewing post soon. There have just been a lot of good movies that I've been seeing, and I figured that without lots of little pictures of me giving a goofy "thumbs up" pose, my loving readers would not know which movies to see!

My kind of town

This past weekend was a blast! A huge weekend in sports, and a fun trip for the Flenker(s)!

My dad and I started for the Second City early Friday morning, so we could make it in time to take a shuttle to the Cubs game. All along the way, we saw cars full of Hawkeye fans making the trip east for the weekend, a sign of things to come. If you were in Chicago this past weekend, there was a very good chance that you saw black and gold all over the place. Like in this photo I took at Wrigley Field on Friday:

(click to get a better view!)

The game was fun, Hunter Pence was a one-man scoring machine on this day. He hit 2 homers, drove in 5 of the Astros' 6 runs, and the other run he scored. The highlight for me may have been BJ Armstrong singing the 7th-inning stretch, and the fans saying "Root, root, root for the Hawkeyes" instead of Cubbies. It was great. Another great thing? The Royals winning 9-4 over the Twins in the first game of the doubleheader! (I'll get to the second game in a bit.) I had to put this picture up there for H. I'm sure she will appreciate it. . .


After the game, my dad and I headed to our hotel, just in time for the nightly serving of freshly baked cookies. These may have been the best chocolate chip cookies I've had in a long, long while. I wish I had had my camera with me to take photos of my dad and me stuffing our faces. If the cookies weren't enough, we hit up a Lou Malnati's for some Chicago-style pizza. Delicious stuff!

We made it back to the hotel in time to see the end of the Syracuse game get interrupted since a pitcher was throwing a perfect game through 8 innings. A Twins pitcher. Against the Royals. Now I'm a fan of baseball, I would always root for a no-hitter to be thrown, let alone a perfect game. But not when it comes to the expense of the Royals. So when the lead-off man in the 9th was walked, I was cheering. When Mike Sweeney came up to bat for the first time in nearly 2 months and promptly hit a laser into left-center field, I almost jumped off of the bed for joy. Sorry Twin fans, I just couldn't see my team be a part of history.

Saturday morning we got up and headed downtown, towards Soldier Field, and the first game of the Hawkeye's football season. And again, the sea of gold was prevalent. This was the view of the south parking lot, full of gold flags and thousands of drinking Iowans.


And this was the scene inside the stadium, for what was supposed to be a "home game" for Northern Illinois. Unfortunately for them, they were outnumbered by at least 2-to-1 by Iowa fans.

(Their fans are in red. Everyone else was cheering for Iowa!)

Also, this was the view from our seats, not too shabby, even if they were in the second-to-last row. This is one of my favorite moments of any Iowa game, when the team comes out as a group, with the "IOWA" flags out in front of them!


And, one last picture, this time of the mass of people trying to get out after the game had ended.


This was an awesome weekend, I'm extremely glad I was able to go, especially since it was my dad's first time at both Wrigley and Soldier Fields.

This coming weekend should be even more exciting, as Iowa plays their first home game of the season, the reason why I'm still here, why I waited to move. I needed to say one last goodbye to Kinnick as a resident of Iowa. And, I needed a good time to have some people in town and have a good old time. So if you're in the area, you're more than welcome to stop by Iowa City and join in any fun, there should be plenty to go around! But for now, I'm exhausted, enjoy the pictures!

Sweet home Chicago

Well, I'm leaving for the next few days, I'll be going to Chicago to catch a Cubs/Astros game tomorrow, and then watch the Iowa Hawkeyes take on the Northern Illinois Huskies at Soldier Field! I'm pretty excited about it, my dad and I have been looking forward to this ever since they announced it. And after the past week that we've had, we could use a little vacation, especially after spending nearly all day yesterday moving him and his wife into their new place, a super nice condo in the Quad Cities. So more about that later, I need to pack and hit the road! I'll be back Sunday, hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Kickin' it in Muscatine

Sorry for the little lack of updates recently, I've been busy doing, well, not much of anything. (Plus, I wanted to make sure that everyone had a chance to read Jad's most excellent post! If anyone else ever wants to do a guest post here, let me know, I'm always up for new and exciting ventures!) I've been helping out around the house a little, watching some TV (it's been a long long time since I've done that), hanging out and watching baseball with KP, and just enjoying the air-conditioning. (I've been thinking that I need to write stuff down as it happens, because I feel like there were some funny/good thoughts, etc. that would have been good to put up here, but by the time I get around to doing anything about it, I forget what the hell it was that I thought was clever or whatever.) I drove a motorcycle for the first time yesterday, my mom and step-dad took me out to an empty parking lot yesterday and I tried out my mom's Harley! It was a ton of fun, and I think for it being my first time ever on a bike I did alright. Definitely something that I want to do more of in the future.

My big excitement recently was purchasing a Nintendo Wii! This was the only one I've ever seen at a retail store; I had to stop by 5 different places before I found one in stock. Muscatine only have one store that sells stuff like this, as far as I know (Wal-Mart, gross), but I was in Iowa City to take care of some things, and had nothing but time on my hands. It's a little present to myself, a done with school/moving away gift, if you will. I'm very pumped for it. I didn't get any extra games yet, just the Wii Sports that comes with it, but those are hell of fun as it is! I think I'm going to be picking up Madden '08 on Tuesday. And of course I'll have to get Zelda for it very soon. I've done some stuff online with it, like reading sports, news, and weather, and am thinking about spending the $5 to be able to actually surf the internet with it. I'm also going to look into buying some points for it, which will allow me to download old Nintendo/Sega/Turbografix 16 games and play them on the Wii. Most excellent stuff. If anyone out there reading this has one and wants to be Wii friends, let me know, I'll send you my Wii number.

Later this afternoon I'll be heading up to Cedar Rapids with my dad and step-mom to see my brother's new place. He seems pretty happy with it, from what I understand there was already a little garden there with grape tomatoes and jalapeño peppers and asparagus growing. Maybe onions too, I'm not sure. He called me up yesterday to find out what goes into salsa, so today I'll have to judge it and find out if he did a good job. And apparently, his girlfriend gave him a cat. I'm going to get him to name it Chico.

One good thing (among many good things) about being home is the food. I haven't gone out to eat once since being here, and the food that my mom has in stock is usually pretty healthy stuff, which is nice. I've grilled out a lot (turkey brats, chicken sausage, veggies, etc.), including one of my favorite foods, fresh sweet corn. Last night I was talked into eating 4 ears of it! (We made 6 ears, my mom and step-dad each ate one, and I was told that I should eat as much as I wanted, since they don't usually eat corn. So it didn't take too much convincing.) Plus, they get Schwann's food delivered here, so there are some good things with there, like frozen loaves of bread you just pop in the oven, or chicken breasts, or best of all, butter pecan frozen yogurt. mmm.... Also, there is a lot of beer here. Good beers. In the past few days, I've had the following: a Rogue Brewery chipotle brew and a Rogue hazelnut brew, a couple of the new Michelob Ultra flavors (Pomegranate raspberry and Cactus lime - both amazing!), Sam Adams Brown Ale, Miller Chill (like water with a hint of lime) and some others. I'll devote an entire post to these beers soon, I promise.

Well, I'm going to see what baseball games are on right now. For some reason I started watching a NASCAR race today and haven't been able to turn the channel. I actually kind of enjoy it. Although in my defense, it is a road course, so it's not just driving in a circle. But also I've catching some of the Little League World Series games, and love them. Those kids love the game, which makes it so enjoyable to watch. Also now that I'm somewhere that has cable, I can watch like 3 or 4 MLB games almost every day, whilst eating delicious frozen yogurt. Incredible!

I'll try to get some pictures from my next adventures on a bike, or maybe some exciting Wii shots, or just photos of whatever the hell I can find around Muscatine. I gotta say, though, sometimes it's nice to be able to lay around and watch TV.

Congratulations Barry!

Tonight, Barry Bonds hit his 756th home run, breaking the record and becoming baseball's all-time leader. I know I'm in the minority here, but I've been a fan of his for years, since I saw him play in a game when I was visiting San Francisco in '93.

I'm glad that espn2 was showing the game, and that I was home to watch. As soon as the ball hit the bat I started jumping up and down and cheering to myself. I'm a dork like that. And I thought it was a very nice gesture by Hank Aaron to have pre-recorded the video.

Anyways, congrats to Barry, here's to a few more, and maybe reaching the 3,000 hit mark.

Greetings from the East Coast

This is my last day out in the DC area! Right now I have a little free time while I'm waiting for a friend to call, so I thought I'd write something in the meantime.

First off, a pretty monumental weekend in baseball, with Alex Rodriguez hitting his 500th home run, Barry Bonds getting his 755th, and Tom Glavine picking up with 300th win. Congratulations to all, we won't see another 300-game winner in a long time, and it'll be a few years before A-Rod catches up to Bonds, if he's able.

Speaking of baseball, I made it out to a couple of Washington Nationals games, seeing them win twice against the Cardinals! Awesome! The Friday game started with a nice diving catch by Nats' centerfielder Nook Logan, and Austin Kearns made an impressive diving catch on Sunday to end that game. Ryan Zimmerman is a stud, a Cardinal-killer. He had a large weekend at the plate, hitting a walk-off single on Friday night, then 2 HR's on Saturday, and then driving in the tie-breaking run in the 8th on Sunday, going 3-for-5 in the two games that we saw.

Here are a few pictures from the games:

it was "Negro Leagues Tribute Night" at RFK on Friday, so the teams went by old Negro League names and wore the corresponding jerseys. This makes my 2nd Negro Leagues tribute game this season!


The view from our seats on Friday (this was still during batting practice, the place filled up more)


It was nice that the Cardinals let a 14-year-old play shortstop for them.


The Nats have the presidents from Mt. Rushmore race and dance. Fun, but not quite as entertaining as Milwaukee's sausage race. Unfortunately, I wasn't prepared to take a picture of the president race on either day.


Our view for Sunday's game


Poo-Holes


My favorite picture from the games, this is a broken-bat single by Nook Logan. You can see the barrel of the bat, and the ball in the air and everything! I should become a professional.


Chico was the starting picture for Washington. This made my day.

There were other activities, including a trip to the National American Indian Museum and some delicious food, but that'll wait until I'm back home.

Flenker has some new shoes!

I am now the proud owner of a new pair of shoes, the adidas Viper Cushion. I feel that these shoes are the right ones for me, and will make me run much faster for the Bix 7, coming up in 2 weeks. I should probably start training. Now that I have the shoes in which I will be running, I can start breaking them in while training. I even bought a couple of pairs of socks that are supposed to provide air flow for the foot, while wicking away sweat. Neato!

My trip to Arkansas was a success, my grandpa got moved up to the Quad-Cities! Although his stuff will remain in Mountain Home, AR, for the time being. There was a little snag in the plan for getting a moving van, but really, it worked out for the best, we didn't have to worry about moving everything, which allowed for a quicker trip. His stuff is being delivered sometime next week, in the meantime he's staying in a furnished apartment at Lighthouse in Silvis. It's a super nice place, with a bunch of really nice people. He seemed to like it from the start, hopefully that'll continue.

This past week and the future months will be a busy time for the Flenkers on the move. My brother just had his offer accepted for a house in Cedar Rapids, so he will be moving in August to his new home. Very exciting for him, he'll be graduating in a few weeks, then moving and starting his full-time job. Then, I found out tonight that my dad and step-mom may be getting a condo in Davenport, IA, the town in which I was born and the city my dad lived in for most of his life. So that's pretty awesome, it sounds like an amazing place, hopefully it'll all work out for them, getting their current house sold and whatnot. Then of course, I'll be making the move to Austin in September.

Much to my relief, I was able to watch almost all of the All-Star Game on Tuesday night! We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, and made it to the room in the 4th inning. Which means I was able to see Ichiro's historic inside-the-park home run (the first homer of the sort in an All-Star game), saw the NL's attempt to come back, and best of all, saw Eric Byrnes' dog swim out to sea. For those of you who missed it, have no fear, it is all captured on youtube! At least two of the three things mentioned are in this video, so check it out. It's seriously worth it, just for the dog.


Watching this happen live was hilarious, even my mom was cracking up. Just ignore the commentating (especially the stuff about 300), Joe Buck and Tim McCarver shouldn't be allowed near microphones.

Also, I'm starting to think Tony LaRussa shouldn't be allowed near a baseball field anymore, the Cardinals are sinking and he threw away his chance at winning this game. Why would he not pinch-hit Poo-Holes in the bottom of the ninth? And that's just the most obvious mistake (I think) he made. Maybe he realized that the outcome of the game (home-field advantage for the Wold Series) won't have anything at all to do with him, since the Cardinals won't be anywhere near the post season.

One last thing, it has been decided that the Flenker Bros Going Away/Graduation party will be taking place in Iowa City on July 21. Anyone and everyone is invited, and more than welcome to come to the festivities. I'm pretty excited for it, now I just need to get the night off for work. . .

This is strangely involuntary!

A few sports-related notes:

Tomorrow I'll be missing the All-Star game for the first time ever. I'm going to be going to Arkansas with my mom and step-dad to help my grandpa move up to the Quad-City area. (For those of you unfamiliar with the QCA, it's on the border of Iowa and Illinois, made up of Davenport, Bettendorf, Rock Island, and Moline. At least that's the way I see it. Some people throw in East Moline. Whatever. Anyways, it's about 30 minutes from my mom in Muscatine, so he'll be a little bit closer than the 8-hour drive to Arkansas). Oooh, wait, I'll just get someone to tape the game for me. Or I guess maybe TiVo or DVR. Does anyone even "tape" stuff anymore?

Also, Tyler Smith has been allowed to play next season at Tennessee, the NCAA ruled. He won't have to sit out the customary year for transfers, since he moved home to be closer to his dad, who is fighting an advanced stage of lung cancer. Like I've said before, I don't hold a grudge against Tyler for transferring, and will cheer for him in Tennessee. His addition should make an already good team immediately better. So right now, I'm making them my (very very) early pick to win the title next season. Don't let me down Tyler.

As I mentioned yesterday, I went to a showing of Ratatouille, at the suggestion of Marin. I was a big fan of The Incredibles, and love cooking, so this seemed like a good movie for me. And it was, I thought it was very clever, and though it had a couple of cheesy parts (get it, because of the rats!), it definitely had me smiling and laughing out loud. The animation was beautiful, and it has Will Arnett from Arrested Development (TV show, not the rap group) as a voice, both pluses. It also had some good lines in it, like the one I used to title this here post, and the line "She believed in heaven, so she's covered... after-life speaking." I would highly recommend seeing this movie, especially if you like other Pixar films. I'm giving it 4 Flenker Thumbs-Up!