Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Quick Baseball Thoughts, Rendon, Cole, Mookie, Colon & Sable

Posted: December 12, 2019 by datechguy in Uncategorized

The worst part of the off season is waiting for things to happen but here is my take on what’s currently going on.

When I heard that Anthony Rendon (who is on both my face to face and my online SABLE draft league) was picked up by the Angels my 1st thought was: It’s about time.

What the point of having arguably the best player in the game (Mike Trout) if you don’t put someone with him to give your team a chance at a pennant run? It’s sort of like the Phillies when they had Steve Carlton and nothing else except there is a reason to watch each game rather than one out of five.

Will Rendon be enough? I don’t know, after all we all remember what happened to Pablo Sandoval when he came to the RedSox.

The Yankees have signed Garret Cole to a monster contract and that to me means all is right in the world.

The Yankees are SUPPOSED to be overpaying for great players rather than building a farm system and a 9 year deal likely means they will be paying him big money when he’s got nothing left and as last year’s Red Sox team demonstrated, signing good pitchers for big contracts doesn’t mean they will not get hurt or have an off year.

Of course Cole could go all Roger Clemens or Nolan Ryan and prove to be valuable for the full time but either way I want the Yankees to be outspending my Red Sox. It’s a lot more fun to beat them that way.

Speaking of the Redsox and spending there is a lot of fuss about Mookie Betts wanting to go to the free agent market to make his fortune rather than re-sign here.

This is sad to me but hey if Mookie wants to make UnGodly money elsewhere rather than just Big money here, who am I to say otherwise? He worked hard for the right and I wish him the best. I’m just going to miss watching the best outfield the Redsox had since the days when Rice was in left, Lynn was in Center and Evans was in right.

As for trading him or not I say wait until the deadline, if it looks like we have a real shot this year then keep him for the run because the reality is you don’t get a lot of title shots (the Patriots are an aberration that has clouded the minds of Boston fans on that point) but if it becomes clear that this team is not going anywhere then if you’re going to lose him anyways I’d stock up that farm system while you can, hopefully with a few good arms because God knows we can use them.

I love this story:

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I was hoping the Redsox would sign Colon to a one year deal last year when everyone was falling apart because not only would he have eaten up innings he would have been fun to watch but given the need to preserve the illusion that they were playoff bound it didn’t happen, that being said having watched not only a bad Redsox rotation but having regularly seen the Baltimore Orioles pitching nobody is telling me that a I watched the Redsox play the Orioles a lot last year so nobody is telling me that a 46 or 47 Bartolo Colon isn’t better than a lot of guys currently on Major League Rosters.

And frankly it would be fun to have one player who pitched i the 20th century still not to mention a person who actually played for the Montreal Expos still in the game. I’m sure a non-contender with some young kids could learn a lot from this guy. It would be like carrying an extra pitching coach for free.

And you never know when a guy like Colon will surprise you, like this

The worst part about getting hurt and missing time right now is that this is the period where there is a bunch of overtime and 3 paid vacation days that I’m missing. The 2nd worst part is that it’s not during the baseball season where I could at least watch the RedSox every day.

Thank God for Dynasty League Baseball Online, between My greatest team league (1924 Senators 27-24 2nd place AL West behind 73 Oakland A’s) My worst team league (1970 White Sox 16-10 tied 1st place AL east with 2018 Orioles) and regular tournaments (just moved to a tie for 9th all time in the game) I’m getting my baseball fix.

This is a completely unpaid endorsement but if you have a baseball fan in the house a gift subscription to this game would be a gift that will keep giving for a lifetime.

If Jr Did nothing wrong why does Old Joe need to restrain him?

Posted: December 11, 2019 by datechguy in Uncategorized

At Drudge this weekend there was an interesting Joe Biden headline.

Now I don’t have HBO and I didn’t see the show in question but this headline brings an obvious question.

If there was nothing funny going on with his son, why keep him on a leash?

After all if Joe Biden got very heated with a voter at the suggestion that there was anything wrong with his son and Ukraine so if all this stuff if GOP BS why is any kind of restriction needed?

You think about it Joe, I’ve got all day.

Review of Who, the new album by the Who

Posted: December 9, 2019 by John Ruberry in culture, entertainment, Uncategorized
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By John Ruberry

Forty years ago Sunday I saw my first rock concert–and a great way to start out–it was my 18th birthday and it was the Who at the International Amphitheater in Chicago.

Sunday morning I was headed to another midwestern city on another birthday of course, this time headed for Milwaukee to run in the Santa Hustle 5K. And from my iPod I pressed “Play” to listen to the latest, and probably last, album by the Who, entitled, simply, Who.

The Who always had an attitude–and they still do. Lead singer Roger Daltrey, 75, now a baritone, barks out Pete Townshend’s lyrics on the opening track, “All This Music Must Fade.”

I don’t care. I know you’re gonna hate this song. And that’s it. We never really got along. It’s not new, not diverse. It won’t light up your parade. It’s just simple verse.

Townshend, 74, who wrote all but one of the songs for Who, the exception is “Break The News” by his brother Simon, looks back at the past, as is expected by any old man. Townshend once wrote on his iconic 1965 classic, “My Generation” this boast, “I hope I die before I get old.”

Chronologically only drummer Keith Moon,died young at 32, but years of drug and alcohol abuse aged him quickly–he was a physical wreck when he died in his sleep of a drug overdose. Drugs killed bassist John Entwistle at 58, also in his sleep, on the eve of a Who tour.

The Who have taken us from “The Music Must Change” on Who Are You, the last album with Moon, to “All This Music Must Fade.” Moon, who died a month after that album’s release, was unable to play drums on “The Music Must Change” because it was in the 6/8 time measure. He was once considered the worlds greatest rock drummer

The surviving Who members, aided on some tracks by unofficial bandmates Zak Starkey on drums and Pino Palladino on bass, don’t embarrass themselves. But they don’t exceed expectations. So if you’re looking for a septuagenarian anthem to match with “I Can See For Miles,” or “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” you will be disappointed. With few exceptions, the aforementioned “Break The News” is one, Who is formulaic, it’s got just enough synthesizers to recall Who Are You and the other Townshend/Daltrey Who album, Endless Wire, and the Townshend backup vocals seem scientifically placed. And that’s a problem as Townshend and Daltrey never appeared in the studio together for Who.

Other elements of the past on Who include the album artwork, designed by Peter Blake, who also created the Face Dances album cover, and the song “Detours.” Who scholars know that the earliest incarnation of the band was named the Detours.

“Ball and Chain” was the first song released from Who. It’s about the Guantanamo Bay detention center. Townshend opposes it, and that’s all you can extract from the pedestrian lyrics, that is, to reference “All This Music Must Fade,” only “just simple verse.”

As one ages death often becomes a common thought, and Townshend explores mortality in several songs here. If you are looking for intriguing albums about death, I recommend instead Magic and Loss by Lou Reed and the later albums of the American series by Johnny Cash. If you are prefer something less morbid from an older person looking back, the two Americana albums by Ray Davies, the Kinks mastermind, will provide a much better experience than Who for you.

Let me obscure. The most moving song about getting old and having regrets is “Ghosts” by Randy Newman, from his largely forgotten Born Again collection.

Back to the Who.

But does any of this discussion even matter to Daltrey and Townshend? I downloaded the deluxe version from Apple Music, which contains “Got Nothing To Prove.” An unexpected throwback to the mid-1960s, when the Who was a great singles band, it would have been one of the best tracks on the album, had it not been ruined by James Bond-theme styled orchestration.

Yes, the Who has nothing to prove anymore.

John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.

Report from Louisiana: Quick Roundup

Posted: December 9, 2019 by Pat Austin in Uncategorized
Tags: , ,

By:  Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT – Since I was on the road last week doing book events and unable to post, this week I’m bringing you a roundup of all things Louisiana; while I may not often love Shreveport (it’s in decline), I do LOVE Louisiana and this has been both a good and bad week to be in the Bayou State.

The Bad

Ransomware Attack: the state’s DMV was crippled early in the month by a ransomware attack. No one likes to go to the DMV, but for the last two weeks nobody has been able to go to the DMV!  From The Advocate:

Two weeks ago, a ransomware attack – triggered by what officials suspect was an employee opening a sketchy link – hit several state servers including at the Office of Motor Vehicles. The state quickly shut down network traffic to prevent the spread, and have subsequently brought most of the state’s offices back online. Gov. John Bel Edwards said the state did not pay a ransom or lose data, and he said the effects could have lasted weeks or months under a worst-case scenario. Ransomware attacks typically lock users out of their computers until they pay a ransom, and the attackers threaten to delete the data if they aren’t paid.

Edwards activated the state’s cybersecurity response team after the attack. He also declared a state of emergency, allowing OMV and other agencies to forgive fines and fees for people unable to take care of business because the computers were down.

As of close of business Friday, only DMV offices were still closed. 

I can’t even begin to imagine the lines and wait time after such an event. 

The BP Oil Spill (2010):  Nine years after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, new lawsuits are hitting the courts.  This will never end.

Recession: There is talk of a coming recession in the state, but some officials refuse to believe it. There is a sort of wait and see attitude. Much of our revenue is of course tied to the oil industry and as prices drop, tensions rise.

The Good

LSU: Oh, baby! What a beautiful season!   Championship bound!

The Saints: Not always pretty but not too shabby.  It’s certainly been worse.

Christmas: I love Christmas in Louisiana!  The bonfires on the levee on Christmas Eve, the community parades and concerts, the Natchitoches Christmas Festival, it’s all fabulous, as it is all across the country. Every community has its own traditions and celebrations – take part in those. Explore something new.

Christmas was really hard for me after my mother died a few years ago; I’m still overcome at the most unexpected moments with sentiment and tears. I think I’m all past that, and then I walk past the candied fruit in the grocery store and am weeping. You never see it coming.

It helped a lot though when we decided to develop some new traditions. When you have a very small family, Christmas can be lonely.  Our friends adopted us into their traditions and families, and it has helped. As you celebrate this year, take a moment to check on those who may be struggling.

Coming Soon:  76 days until Mardi Gras.  And we are starting to see live crawfish available in local places!  Few things are more celebrated than crawfish season.

Here ends the short roundup. I’m off to a Christmas concert!

Pat Becker blogs at And So it Goes in Shreveport and is the author of Cane River Bohemia: Cammie Henry and her Circle at Melrose Plantation (LSU Press). Follow her on Instagram @patbecker25 and Twitter @paustin110.

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