Global Warming

Quote of the Night

After starting the game throwing in the low 90s, Verlander ramped up it up near 100 mph in the later innings.

That's what he does," Rangers center fielder Marlon Byrd said. "There's a reason he's leading the world in strikeouts.

Leading the WORLD! Awesome.

Game Notes: Granderson led off the game by sending the third pitch into the bleachers. (He also did it on Monday.) He added another HR later in the game, his fourth career two-homer game. It was the 20th time he's led off the game with an HR (I realize "homerun" does not start with a vowel, so that should be the word "a" instead of "an" before "HR." However, on the baseball team, we call them "H-R's". Then again, the letter H, last time I checked isn't a vowel either, but I believe if you spell H, it is spelled a-i-t-c-h. Sorry...that was one of the words on the spelling bee contest on ESPN. Revoke my Man Card). Not too shabby your lead-off hitter is 9th in homeruns in the AL.

Bumper Music, Vol. 3

The Black Keys - "Strange Times"

Airplane Movies

Our flight back from Hawaii took us straight to Minneapolis. That was a nice 7 hour flight. But, each seat had it's own 6" monitor and could pick from about a dozen or so movies. Not many really peaked my interest, but I haven't seen "Watchmen" and that was one of the choices and I wouldn't mind seeing it. I've got nothing better to do, what is 2.5 hours going to hurt?

I really know nothing about the comic book, but this was definately long, weird, and dark. It was also difficult to hear well on the plane, so some parts were a little confusing. It appeared the comic book was really hard to bring to life on the big screen, but did a pretty good job. Seemed like there was a bunch of story they wanted to fit into 2.5 hours. And, I would agree with Adam, "Rorschach" was my favorite character.

Speaking of "Rorschach," I am addicted to the IMDB, so I did a search. "Rorschach" was played by Jackie Earle Haley, who, come to find out, will be playing the character of "Freddy Krueger" in the remake of "A Nightmare on Elm Street."

Also according to the IMDB, Jackie Earle Haley had a role in an episode of "MacGyver" from season one, which I own and just watched not too long ago. What a small world.

College Fantasy Football

CBS Sports is offering college fantasy football this year, and unlike previous years, you get to draft individual players instead of team positions. Anyone interested? Apparently you can't change the settings after you sign up, so everyone who wants to play will need to be committed before I can create a league.

Vacation

I'm going to be in CC approximately August 1st through the 8th for some R&R. I know we talked about going to see the Tigers in September, but would anyone be interested in trying it that week instead? I've got a wedding to go to on the 8th (maybe Matt does too?), but the rest of that week is wide open.

In the Valley of the Dying Sun

Idiots

While I haven't supported the government's actions in dealing with the automakers, the members of Congress that are grilling the auto task force are idiots. Or maybe marginally intelligent people hoping to score a few points with voters. They claim to know better than GM or Chrysler about how many dealerships they need, but most of them have never run a business, or even done real work, in their lives. And looking at the way the government runs, I don't think there's any doubts about the quality of their collective business sense, and drunken sailors have more spending restraint. But back to the point at hand, let's look at an example. How many GM and Chrysler dealers are there within a thirty minute drive of Cass City? And how many people live in the Thumb? Does that seem right to you?

That's a Wrap

In case you're interested, Iron Man 2 finished shooting principal photography over the weekend, which was right on schedule. The sequel has a release date of May 7, 2010. Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow return and new cast members Don Cheadle, Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson. Samuel L. Jackson is also expected to make an appearance.

"Can we get another angle?"

Check out Pujols's feet. On top of homeplate and he had to practically lunge forward to get it and scoop it off the ground.

"Never tell me the odds."

The Detroit News has a story on the odds of various teams winning the national championship, per Las Vegas Sports Consultants. Florida is the overall favorite at 2-1. Ohio State has the best odds from the Big Ten at 12-1. MSU has 75-1 odds; Michigan checks in at 150-1. Notre Dame is predicted to have 30-1 odds, which just seems silly to me. Eastern Michigan has 3,720-1 odds.*

*I made that up. That number and the title are both references to a particular movie; coolness points to whoever posts the source.

"...want to loosen up my arm a little bit."

President Obama is planning on warming up before throwing out the first pitch at the All-Star Game tonight. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think ceremonial pitchers usually warm up. But I'm sure a guy who thinks as highly of himself as our president wouldn't want to one-hop a pitch into home plate, especially since George W. Bush was known to throw some pretty good strikes for a guy wearing a bullet-proof vest. If he does short it, I'm curious to see the media reaction, because you know throwing a strike will lead to days of reflection on how "cool" and "studly" our president is.

UPDATE: I'd make some comments about the actual pitch, but since Fox didn't even bother showing home plate it's kind of tough. Also, is there a game tonight? I was hoping to see at least one inning before I had to turn in, but at the rate they're going I'll be able to catch the third when I'm eating breakfast tomorrow morning.

UPDATE 2: Apparently the pitch made it to the plate, but it was short. In the game itself, Curtis Granderson hit a triple in the eighth that led to the AL winning the game 4-3.

UPDATE 3: Andy McCarthy has more at The Corner.

UPDATE 4: After watching the MLB in McCarthy's link, that pitch definitely wasn't going to make it past home plate. It would have been in the dirt if Pujols didn't lean forward and grab it.

Big Ten Predictions

The Detroit News has a good roundup of preseason Big Ten football predictions. The general consensus: #1 Ohio State, #2 Penn State, #3 Michigan State, #6 Michigan.

Grownups

I have to admit, I find this idea kind of compelling. If we're determined to let people act like children, giving them a chance to without ruining it for the rest of us just might work.

Bumper Music, Vol. 2

Even More Stupidity

I hate it when Congress gets involved in sports, which I've mentioned before. They've got more important things to do, like try and spend more money than we've spent in the entire history of the United States. But that's neither here or there. The real problem is that representatives like Orrin Hatch and Joe Barton are abusing their power to try and score some points with their constituents. Now, I could go on and on about how any replacement for the BCS will be vulnerable to the same issues at a different level, but I'll just skip to the most interesting quote from the article:

The point is that rankings were never about fairness or producing a clear-cut winner. They were about creating what fans need most: something to argue about. Before he died, the AP sports editor who created its famous poll, Alan Gould, explained it this way: "It was a case of thinking up ideas to develop interest and controversy between football Saturdays. . . . That's all I had in mind, something to keep the pot boiling. Sports then was living off controversy, opinion, whatever. This was just another exercise in hoopla."

So the whole thing is flawed right from the get-go. But it sure does produce controversy.

"The Saga of the Catalytic Converter" or "Detroit Sucks"

I've been meaning to post this story for a few days but haven't had the time. On July 3rd, I went with my dad, brother, and brother-in-law to see Star Trek: The Exhibit, a display of various Trek props and costumes, at the Detroit Science Center. We got there 10:30am and parked down the block next to the African-American History Museum, just off a main street near an apartment building. There were lots of other vehicles on the street. We were driving the Grand Am. To my knowledge, this is a pretty decent part of Detroit.

A little over an hour later, we had finished with the exhibit and returned to the car. We got in, and my brother turned the key. The engine rumbled to life with a throaty roar, which was unusual for a 3.4L V6. "It didn't sound like that when we parked, did it?" As we pulled away from the curb the noise mounted to unbearable levels. Something was obviously wrong, so we pulled back to the curb, shut the car off, and made an inspection. The muffler was fine, but between the muffler and engine was a bright metal cut. Someone had stolen the catalytic converter. Keep in mind, the car sits a whopping 4" off the ground. We discussed what to do for a while, finally coming the conclusion that calling the Detroit Police was a waste of time. We headed down the one way street so we could head back toward the freeway and my brother's house. We drove around a park and came to a four-way stop when a car shot through the intersection, bumping up over the curv and through the park:


It nearly ran into a fountain, then kept on driving through the park. I think I spoke for us all when I said, "Let's get out of here."

After an extremely loud ride back to my brother's place my Dad was able to track down the local Midas online and schedule an appointment so we could get the car repaired that afternoon. I was able to make it to the reunion.

As for Detroit? I say we burn the place down.

Gordon and Villanueva

I don't follow the NBA that closely, but this seems like a pretty big deal for the Pistons.