1) When rappers do a fake laugh in-song. There is nothing amusing about anything you're saying. Comedy and rap have never co-existed. Laud your own cleverness and dazzle me with metaphors, but don't so this little tiny "ha ha" when telling me that you're the greatest....and OH, it's generally before you've even rapped anything! Stop. Please. You sound ridiculous.
2) Inappropriate use of apostrophes. I subbed for fifth graders the other day and had to stop the lesson to applaud them for getting this right. Apostrophes are for possessives and contractions, NOT plurals. Please, bone up on this. For grown adults, it's embarrassing to have to read that, often in a formal piece of writing. This is not difficult. Call me a snob, but I would hope that your employer would find fault in it, as well....and it'd be more embarrassing for your boss to say something about it to you than it is for me to say it on a blog the read by perhaps a dozen people.
3) When meeting someone for the first time, sticking your nose in your phone. We have all been told that you only get one first impression. More and more frequently, the people I meet for the first time could barely be bothered with me. If it's ego, it's ego. I just can't understand what is so hard about retaining your attention long enough to engage (even half-heartedly) in a brief conversation with someone you don't know. It's bad enough the constant need to be reached has had a profound impact on face-to-face interaction among people who know each other. Look up, make eye contact, and feign your way through a conversation.
4) "Fail." While a well-placed, one-word summation of a scenario can be a hoot, there's still a tremendous overuse of another internet sensation. I'd rather be laughed at than have someone say "fail", as if it is some sort of authoritative comment on your part that brands me a failure. Eat it. If something flies that we as a people cannot simply laugh at in our own lives as we stumble, then we have deeper-seeded issues. But I don't need people adding their two cents without any provocation.
5) The Miami Dolphins. Injury bug or not, a shutout in prime time is terrible. Makes me want to look forward to spring training even more. Woof.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Back to basics
I write this on what is (very realistically) the last day of the Yankees 2010 season, and so you and I will be enjoying* where this article goes as I scrutinize the 2010 Yankees who apparently are lacking...something. Let's go:
As the leaves change colors and we here in the Northeast U.S. start to hunker down for what will undoubtedly be the cruelest. Winter. Ever. (Note: sarcasm should have screamed out like a terrific, cutting-edge-but-ultimately-a-phase 3-D movie) I am finally at a tipping point of NEEDING to write. I'm going to assess that 1% of this need stems from the apparent demise of the New York Yankees, and while that does not ultimately amount to much in the larger scope of the world in which we live, it angers me to the point that my writing hiatus is to be ended here. Without delay, here are 5 things the Yankees are guilty of, things which they need to turnaround ASAP if they are to be successful in the near future:
1. Refusing to change your outlook at the plate:
The 2010 Yankees have, in this postseason, totally relied on their reputations saving them, a la the big home run. What they are learning, however, is that pitchers in LONG SERIES are going to do their homework better than they would over the course of a 162-game season. No one bunts on this team. None. I understand that they are a home run-hitting team, and that they are built on their ability to hit the long ball. But when pitching staffs change THEIR stuff to cancel out the pitches that a Cano or a Teixeira or a Rodriguez would take deep...you HAVE TO, as an offensive ball club, re-evaluate how YOU are going to approach your half of an inning. The Yankees leave SO many men on base. Of course, over the course of a full regular season, they will have 3 guys with 100+ RBI, with another 2-3 guys flirting with that mark. In a compacted 5 or 7-game series, however, a change of pace is needed. If the Yankees bunt in ANY situation in which they had a leadoff man get on base (particularly Game 4, which had me actually turn off the game, knowing...KNOWING...that the Yankees were ACTIVELY waiting for the Rangers to bring out their bullpen. Would a Home run have brought the crowd back into it? Sure. Would a drag bunt that moved runners to second and third with one out get the crowd excited? Based on the lackluster hitting and absence of fundamentals, I say yes.
Had I been IN Yankee Stadium II last night and had I been witness to a complete lack of basic baseball fundamentals (sacrificing, advancing runners, stealing bases) through 3 games, Gardner's hit is followed by a first-or-second pitch steal of second, and a bunt from Jeter. You had VERY little reason to assume that Jeter, who throught three games was batting .259 (which is LOWER than the near-unanimously-determined-to-be .270 he hit in the regular season this year), would crank out two extra-base hits in this game. If that's the case, why not have Jeter bunt? He's not going to hit that dinger that you want. He's one of 3, MAYBE 4 Yankees who could hustle out an infield hit on a properly-placed bunt (Gardner and Granderson are the others. A-Rod gets an "N/A" for this as he has never bunted). But that's just me.
2) Inability to steal bases:
Yankees with 20+ Stolen bases: 1 (Brett Gardner with 47)
Yankees with 10+ SB: 2 (Jeter, Curtis Granderson)
Rangers with 20+ SB: 1 (Elvis Andrus with 32)
Rangers with 10+ SB: 4! (Kinsler, Borbon (NON-STARTER), Murphy, Cruz (MISSED 50+ GAMES))
After Gardner, there is a DRASTIC lack of stolen bases in this Yankees lineup. Let's not kid ourselves: the Yankees his .267 this year, which is NOT indicative of a prolific offense in a small sample, such as a 7-game series. For the Rangers, they have more than half of a lineup that can steal a base, essentially at will against the Yankees. The Yankees catching woes are not the focus right now. Their inability to push that envelope is the matter at this point. WHEN you are on base, your goal is to_____________? Give up? The answer is "to ADVANCE". And the Yankees are telling people that they are too good to want to advance their runners in the off chance that anyone in that lineup- who again COLLETIVELY hit .267- does not take a ball and hit it into the seats. Including Gardner. He has one stolen base, taken AS JETER TAKES STRIKE 2! You're sure you don't want to send him immediately? Really? Your season hangs on your ability to squeeze out runs when you NEED them...and believe me, down 2-1 in a best-of-7...you're in a NEED to win situation. And they don't. Jeter last night SHOWED YOU that WHEN he gets hits, he can still physically leg out an extra base. Jeter hitting a triple last night was probbaly the least probable hitting scenario for that team (other than maybe Posada hitting a triple) last night, and they do...nothing.
3) Leadership:
To clear this up beforehand, I'm not worried about criticism from Yankee fans. Where's the leadership? Those who railed against Joe Torre before his departure did so because he was stone-faced in the dugout and while not getting in the faces of veterans may have helped the morale of the clubhouse, it did nothing to light a fire under the ass of any of the young guys that the Yankees were bringing up. Joe Girardi does the same thing. He has spent the last two months plus in what can only be described as a fog. There does not seem to be any sense of urgency, even KNOWING that his club has 2 MAYBE 3 arms ready for the playoffs (Pettitte has worked out quite well, obviously, but we had no way of knowing that with his September starts). Even knowing that the leaders in the clubhouse are not being vocal and this year are NOT leading by example, which seems to have been the Yankee way for as long as I can remember. I'm sure the frustration mounted a bit between the following players:
Jorge Posada- Posada had a down year in EVERY statistical category between 2009 and 2010 except...At bats. He had EXACTLY the same number of at bats in 2010 as in '09. Numbers below.
Year Hits 2B HR RBI AVG OBP SLG OPS
2009 109 25 22 81 .285 .363 .522 .885
2010 95 23 18 57 .248 .357 .454 .811
Derek Jeter- An even more drastic drop-off for Jeter, with the exception of RBI (+1 from 2009) and doubles (+3 from 2009, negated by 44% drop in HR production), AND we have to take into account that this is over 29 MORE at bats. Yeesh. Numbers below.
Year Hits 2B HR RBI AVG OBP SLG OPS
2009 212 27 18 66 .334 .406 .465 .871
2010 179 30 10 67 .270 .340 .370 .710
Granted, many people called Jeter's 2009 campaign his best ever, or at least in the last decade. However, with more reps and more opportunities to tweak whatever started off on the wrong foot, Jeter- as a VERY talented player- has the ability to make up for whatever speed was missing off of his swing or whatever the prognosis may have been. And despite a strong finish to the season, still managed to hit for the lowest average of his entire career...by 21 points.
Mark Teixeira- Injuries have slowed Teixeira this season to what I consider to be a disappointment. Despite reaching the 30-HR and 100-RBI plateau for the 7th consecutive year. I expect a bounceback year from Tex next season, assuming his injuries heal. My bet is he returns closer to his 2009 numbers if healthy, a year in which he was MVP runner-up. Numbers below.
Year Hits 2B HR RBI AVG OBP SLG OPS
2009 178 43 39 122 .292 .383 .565 .948
2010 154 36 33 108 .256 .365 .481 .846
Alex Rodriguez- What's interesting is that A-Rod's lofty HR and RBI total are in line with his 2008 and 2009 totals considering the amount of games he has played and the injuries he has had in that time. Obviously, he's off from his career bests in 1998 and 2001-02, but he is still capable- in this lineup- to produce the sort of power numbers the Yankees expect of him. The numbers don't corroborate with the point I'm trying to prove about 2010 being an all-around down year, and like any good journalist, I will therefore leave them out. You CAN, however, find them here.
The conclusion of this particular long-winded point is that while the Yankees have the players who have been there before and done that before, there is little that the "elite" Yankees did this year to prove to newcomers that this is the way things are to be done in order to achieve what is (both unrealistically and admirably lofty) the only goal in New York: winning the World Series. While you may not agree that this has anything to do with leadership- and I will grant that providing statistical evidence which illuminates a lack of production at the plate does not instantly conjur up the term "leadership"- if you DO watch and follow and/or support the Yankees, you know that there are few, if any, players on that team who fire up their teammates. Leading by example has been the Yankee way over the course of this past decade, from Jeter running out every ground ball (and GIDP in 2010) to A-Rod taking Cano and Melky Cabrera under his wing to Joba pumping his fist like he just reached the best orgasm of his (or, based on the screaming, anyone's) life...the Yankees lead by a graceful example...until this season. Cano came into his own and took a seat at the table. Gardner played above the projected ceiling for him this season. Swisher carried the load for a good portion of the season. Pettitte was stellar in the first half of the season. Heck, even AJ Burnett had a strong April to set the proper pace while the rest of the team struggled. Sabathia won 21 games. Phil Hughes was lights-out in the first half of the season. The bottom line here is that there were enough pieces of the puzzle that fit this season to make it this far. The problem is that the names at the top of the list of Yankee faces and names weren't the ones you might expect to do so at the beginning of the year.
4. Letting players play hurt:
Teixeira's probably the best example here, though A-Rod's injuries may or may not be lingering. My problem here is that the Yankees imported players to take the place of injured starters, and yet the Yankees did not feel the need to properly rest their ailing stars. Girardi needs to take the bull by the horns here and bench these guys if they are not 100%. A broken toe means a lot to a guy who plays 160+ games in a season, as does a hip that underwent off-season surgery. It's not like the Yankees would be tossing out Cody Ransom again this season. That's the benefit of being the Yankees, Joe: when you have an all-star at (just about) every position, you can afford to not have 2 of them in for a part of the season. While I'm not a huge Lance Berkman fan, he was brought here AS AN EVERYDAY player! He wasn't riding the pine in Houston. He was playing. He was healthy. He can afford to take the place of an injured infielder while they nurse their injuries, whether it's a broken toe or a bruised and sore finger WHICH, I might add, is going to have an impact on the way that player swings a bat. In any event, as the manager, you have to make that decision and stick with it...particularly when you've been in the driver's seat for much of the regular season.
5. Bullpen:
This wasn't as much of an issue against Minnesota as the Yankee starters went deeper into games with more dominant pitching, but the benefit of your bullpen is that the opposing team has less time to figure out the tendencies of your pitchers, particularly those who face 3 batters or less. However, in a best-of-7 series, the Rangers in this case seem to have figured out what the Yanks are tossing. What's worse, the relievers are not making adjustments game to game. This is most prevalent in the case of one Joba Chamberlain. Joba throws his stuff in exactly the same manner no matter who he's facing. Unfortunately, he isn't Mariano Rivera. He needs to adjust for individual hitters. Yeesh. They have been PUTRID. Unfortunately, while there's always more than enough talk about the "Yankee mystique", the bullpen has nullified any rally that may have ensued after game one of this series.
Game five is starting as I type this, and so I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. Needless to say, the odds are stacked against the Yankees. Here's hoping these issues are dealt with after a champagne bath. Go Yanks!
* You may not have enjoyed it. Kudos to reading through until the end, though.
As the leaves change colors and we here in the Northeast U.S. start to hunker down for what will undoubtedly be the cruelest. Winter. Ever. (Note: sarcasm should have screamed out like a terrific, cutting-edge-but-ultimately-a-phase 3-D movie) I am finally at a tipping point of NEEDING to write. I'm going to assess that 1% of this need stems from the apparent demise of the New York Yankees, and while that does not ultimately amount to much in the larger scope of the world in which we live, it angers me to the point that my writing hiatus is to be ended here. Without delay, here are 5 things the Yankees are guilty of, things which they need to turnaround ASAP if they are to be successful in the near future:
1. Refusing to change your outlook at the plate:
The 2010 Yankees have, in this postseason, totally relied on their reputations saving them, a la the big home run. What they are learning, however, is that pitchers in LONG SERIES are going to do their homework better than they would over the course of a 162-game season. No one bunts on this team. None. I understand that they are a home run-hitting team, and that they are built on their ability to hit the long ball. But when pitching staffs change THEIR stuff to cancel out the pitches that a Cano or a Teixeira or a Rodriguez would take deep...you HAVE TO, as an offensive ball club, re-evaluate how YOU are going to approach your half of an inning. The Yankees leave SO many men on base. Of course, over the course of a full regular season, they will have 3 guys with 100+ RBI, with another 2-3 guys flirting with that mark. In a compacted 5 or 7-game series, however, a change of pace is needed. If the Yankees bunt in ANY situation in which they had a leadoff man get on base (particularly Game 4, which had me actually turn off the game, knowing...KNOWING...that the Yankees were ACTIVELY waiting for the Rangers to bring out their bullpen. Would a Home run have brought the crowd back into it? Sure. Would a drag bunt that moved runners to second and third with one out get the crowd excited? Based on the lackluster hitting and absence of fundamentals, I say yes.
Had I been IN Yankee Stadium II last night and had I been witness to a complete lack of basic baseball fundamentals (sacrificing, advancing runners, stealing bases) through 3 games, Gardner's hit is followed by a first-or-second pitch steal of second, and a bunt from Jeter. You had VERY little reason to assume that Jeter, who throught three games was batting .259 (which is LOWER than the near-unanimously-determined-to-be .270 he hit in the regular season this year), would crank out two extra-base hits in this game. If that's the case, why not have Jeter bunt? He's not going to hit that dinger that you want. He's one of 3, MAYBE 4 Yankees who could hustle out an infield hit on a properly-placed bunt (Gardner and Granderson are the others. A-Rod gets an "N/A" for this as he has never bunted). But that's just me.
2) Inability to steal bases:
Yankees with 20+ Stolen bases: 1 (Brett Gardner with 47)
Yankees with 10+ SB: 2 (Jeter, Curtis Granderson)
Rangers with 20+ SB: 1 (Elvis Andrus with 32)
Rangers with 10+ SB: 4! (Kinsler, Borbon (NON-STARTER), Murphy, Cruz (MISSED 50+ GAMES))
After Gardner, there is a DRASTIC lack of stolen bases in this Yankees lineup. Let's not kid ourselves: the Yankees his .267 this year, which is NOT indicative of a prolific offense in a small sample, such as a 7-game series. For the Rangers, they have more than half of a lineup that can steal a base, essentially at will against the Yankees. The Yankees catching woes are not the focus right now. Their inability to push that envelope is the matter at this point. WHEN you are on base, your goal is to_____________? Give up? The answer is "to ADVANCE". And the Yankees are telling people that they are too good to want to advance their runners in the off chance that anyone in that lineup- who again COLLETIVELY hit .267- does not take a ball and hit it into the seats. Including Gardner. He has one stolen base, taken AS JETER TAKES STRIKE 2! You're sure you don't want to send him immediately? Really? Your season hangs on your ability to squeeze out runs when you NEED them...and believe me, down 2-1 in a best-of-7...you're in a NEED to win situation. And they don't. Jeter last night SHOWED YOU that WHEN he gets hits, he can still physically leg out an extra base. Jeter hitting a triple last night was probbaly the least probable hitting scenario for that team (other than maybe Posada hitting a triple) last night, and they do...nothing.
3) Leadership:
To clear this up beforehand, I'm not worried about criticism from Yankee fans. Where's the leadership? Those who railed against Joe Torre before his departure did so because he was stone-faced in the dugout and while not getting in the faces of veterans may have helped the morale of the clubhouse, it did nothing to light a fire under the ass of any of the young guys that the Yankees were bringing up. Joe Girardi does the same thing. He has spent the last two months plus in what can only be described as a fog. There does not seem to be any sense of urgency, even KNOWING that his club has 2 MAYBE 3 arms ready for the playoffs (Pettitte has worked out quite well, obviously, but we had no way of knowing that with his September starts). Even knowing that the leaders in the clubhouse are not being vocal and this year are NOT leading by example, which seems to have been the Yankee way for as long as I can remember. I'm sure the frustration mounted a bit between the following players:
Jorge Posada- Posada had a down year in EVERY statistical category between 2009 and 2010 except...At bats. He had EXACTLY the same number of at bats in 2010 as in '09. Numbers below.
Year Hits 2B HR RBI AVG OBP SLG OPS
2009 109 25 22 81 .285 .363 .522 .885
2010 95 23 18 57 .248 .357 .454 .811
Derek Jeter- An even more drastic drop-off for Jeter, with the exception of RBI (+1 from 2009) and doubles (+3 from 2009, negated by 44% drop in HR production), AND we have to take into account that this is over 29 MORE at bats. Yeesh. Numbers below.
Year Hits 2B HR RBI AVG OBP SLG OPS
2009 212 27 18 66 .334 .406 .465 .871
2010 179 30 10 67 .270 .340 .370 .710
Granted, many people called Jeter's 2009 campaign his best ever, or at least in the last decade. However, with more reps and more opportunities to tweak whatever started off on the wrong foot, Jeter- as a VERY talented player- has the ability to make up for whatever speed was missing off of his swing or whatever the prognosis may have been. And despite a strong finish to the season, still managed to hit for the lowest average of his entire career...by 21 points.
Mark Teixeira- Injuries have slowed Teixeira this season to what I consider to be a disappointment. Despite reaching the 30-HR and 100-RBI plateau for the 7th consecutive year. I expect a bounceback year from Tex next season, assuming his injuries heal. My bet is he returns closer to his 2009 numbers if healthy, a year in which he was MVP runner-up. Numbers below.
Year Hits 2B HR RBI AVG OBP SLG OPS
2009 178 43 39 122 .292 .383 .565 .948
2010 154 36 33 108 .256 .365 .481 .846
Alex Rodriguez- What's interesting is that A-Rod's lofty HR and RBI total are in line with his 2008 and 2009 totals considering the amount of games he has played and the injuries he has had in that time. Obviously, he's off from his career bests in 1998 and 2001-02, but he is still capable- in this lineup- to produce the sort of power numbers the Yankees expect of him. The numbers don't corroborate with the point I'm trying to prove about 2010 being an all-around down year, and like any good journalist, I will therefore leave them out. You CAN, however, find them here.
The conclusion of this particular long-winded point is that while the Yankees have the players who have been there before and done that before, there is little that the "elite" Yankees did this year to prove to newcomers that this is the way things are to be done in order to achieve what is (both unrealistically and admirably lofty) the only goal in New York: winning the World Series. While you may not agree that this has anything to do with leadership- and I will grant that providing statistical evidence which illuminates a lack of production at the plate does not instantly conjur up the term "leadership"- if you DO watch and follow and/or support the Yankees, you know that there are few, if any, players on that team who fire up their teammates. Leading by example has been the Yankee way over the course of this past decade, from Jeter running out every ground ball (and GIDP in 2010) to A-Rod taking Cano and Melky Cabrera under his wing to Joba pumping his fist like he just reached the best orgasm of his (or, based on the screaming, anyone's) life...the Yankees lead by a graceful example...until this season. Cano came into his own and took a seat at the table. Gardner played above the projected ceiling for him this season. Swisher carried the load for a good portion of the season. Pettitte was stellar in the first half of the season. Heck, even AJ Burnett had a strong April to set the proper pace while the rest of the team struggled. Sabathia won 21 games. Phil Hughes was lights-out in the first half of the season. The bottom line here is that there were enough pieces of the puzzle that fit this season to make it this far. The problem is that the names at the top of the list of Yankee faces and names weren't the ones you might expect to do so at the beginning of the year.
4. Letting players play hurt:
Teixeira's probably the best example here, though A-Rod's injuries may or may not be lingering. My problem here is that the Yankees imported players to take the place of injured starters, and yet the Yankees did not feel the need to properly rest their ailing stars. Girardi needs to take the bull by the horns here and bench these guys if they are not 100%. A broken toe means a lot to a guy who plays 160+ games in a season, as does a hip that underwent off-season surgery. It's not like the Yankees would be tossing out Cody Ransom again this season. That's the benefit of being the Yankees, Joe: when you have an all-star at (just about) every position, you can afford to not have 2 of them in for a part of the season. While I'm not a huge Lance Berkman fan, he was brought here AS AN EVERYDAY player! He wasn't riding the pine in Houston. He was playing. He was healthy. He can afford to take the place of an injured infielder while they nurse their injuries, whether it's a broken toe or a bruised and sore finger WHICH, I might add, is going to have an impact on the way that player swings a bat. In any event, as the manager, you have to make that decision and stick with it...particularly when you've been in the driver's seat for much of the regular season.
5. Bullpen:
This wasn't as much of an issue against Minnesota as the Yankee starters went deeper into games with more dominant pitching, but the benefit of your bullpen is that the opposing team has less time to figure out the tendencies of your pitchers, particularly those who face 3 batters or less. However, in a best-of-7 series, the Rangers in this case seem to have figured out what the Yanks are tossing. What's worse, the relievers are not making adjustments game to game. This is most prevalent in the case of one Joba Chamberlain. Joba throws his stuff in exactly the same manner no matter who he's facing. Unfortunately, he isn't Mariano Rivera. He needs to adjust for individual hitters. Yeesh. They have been PUTRID. Unfortunately, while there's always more than enough talk about the "Yankee mystique", the bullpen has nullified any rally that may have ensued after game one of this series.
Game five is starting as I type this, and so I'm going to go ahead and wrap this up. Needless to say, the odds are stacked against the Yankees. Here's hoping these issues are dealt with after a champagne bath. Go Yanks!
* You may not have enjoyed it. Kudos to reading through until the end, though.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
April 21, 2010- What I know...
The following items are fact:
- When you're insecure about something, EVERYTHING seems to connect to that one thing.
- RBI is not a meaningless statistic in baseball. In fact, it is a combination of batting average and on-base percentage as well as the "productive at-bat" statistic. Should it be a Hall of Fame-considered stat? Probably not. But I'm tired of hearing that RBI are meaningless.
- June marks the end of the 5th academic year in which I have been substitute teaching. 4 of them have been full years. The kids I subbed for at the end of 8th grade are graduating. I'm like Mr. Feeny.
Now, if I could just muster a 'stache...
- 2010 is a perfectly acceptable justification for being smart. Smart people are starting to run the facets of life that the dumb ran when I was in school. That said, the things I learned being the fat, smart kid are numerous and priceless.
- I'm convinced Lady Gaga would have been better-suited for Andy Warhol's Factory. That way she would still wear her absurd outfits, but we would be spared from hearing her insipid songs. Or, ya know, perform in the Velvet Underground.
Heinous. Bad news: it doesn't get better when she opens her mouth. Good news? No audio here.
- Vampires have become this generation's muscle-bound action heroes. Too bad emo doesn't suit cinema; if Edward Cullen had any lines that could be amplified by flexing, Twilight would have salvaged some credibility.
- Commercials and rapidly-changing camera angles have contributed to the meteoric rise in ADD/ADHD cases in kids. Note the lack of fully-devoted scouts who have trouble focusing. I'm not saying it'll get them laid, but...
- Youtube is SO fucking unreliable for finding important video...
- The majority of funniest material I've heard comes from people who are none too concerned with whether the audience has gotten the punchline. If you have to pause before making the joke, chances are people will instinctively take your cue. This does not mean that you are funny.
- Popular culture may have taken off in the 1920s, but "Rock Around the Clock" was the Christy Matthewson of the genre (The Beatles, Ruth...and The Stones, the ever-underrated Lou Gehrig).
- Bryan Adams has led a suspiciously strong career...
- Television has worn itself too thin. Time was, a show united the country (M*A*S*H*, Cheers, Cosby Show). Nowadays, the instant gratification angle and myriad options create niches for everyone, but no unifying qualities...except, American Idol. And forget about books.
- "Overpaid" teachers are not the problem facing America today.
- At least 50% of the reason education is getting trampled is because it's the one thing people are actually getting to participate in actively. Notice there's no local voting on whether we spend hundreds of billions of dollars on defense.
- Apple is not helping the economy in the long run. Not by a longshot.
- Sports, the Discovery Channel, and some History Channel programs are the only things that look better in HD. The rest of your overpriced boxes take away from the viewing experience.
- Among non-comedies, The Godfather would square off against The Shawshank Redemption for the coveted "most quotable movie" title.
- While Larry Bird or Magic Johnson get whupped against Kobe Bryant or LeBron James in 1-on-1, any of the 1980s Celtics (pre-1988) or Lakers mops up any Bryant OR James team, except maybe the 2000-2001 Lakers.
- Most badass revolutionary figure? Washington. Second? Paul Revere.
These are facts....
- When you're insecure about something, EVERYTHING seems to connect to that one thing.
- RBI is not a meaningless statistic in baseball. In fact, it is a combination of batting average and on-base percentage as well as the "productive at-bat" statistic. Should it be a Hall of Fame-considered stat? Probably not. But I'm tired of hearing that RBI are meaningless.
- June marks the end of the 5th academic year in which I have been substitute teaching. 4 of them have been full years. The kids I subbed for at the end of 8th grade are graduating. I'm like Mr. Feeny.
Now, if I could just muster a 'stache...- 2010 is a perfectly acceptable justification for being smart. Smart people are starting to run the facets of life that the dumb ran when I was in school. That said, the things I learned being the fat, smart kid are numerous and priceless.
- I'm convinced Lady Gaga would have been better-suited for Andy Warhol's Factory. That way she would still wear her absurd outfits, but we would be spared from hearing her insipid songs. Or, ya know, perform in the Velvet Underground.
Heinous. Bad news: it doesn't get better when she opens her mouth. Good news? No audio here.- Vampires have become this generation's muscle-bound action heroes. Too bad emo doesn't suit cinema; if Edward Cullen had any lines that could be amplified by flexing, Twilight would have salvaged some credibility.
- Commercials and rapidly-changing camera angles have contributed to the meteoric rise in ADD/ADHD cases in kids. Note the lack of fully-devoted scouts who have trouble focusing. I'm not saying it'll get them laid, but...
- Youtube is SO fucking unreliable for finding important video...
- The majority of funniest material I've heard comes from people who are none too concerned with whether the audience has gotten the punchline. If you have to pause before making the joke, chances are people will instinctively take your cue. This does not mean that you are funny.
- Popular culture may have taken off in the 1920s, but "Rock Around the Clock" was the Christy Matthewson of the genre (The Beatles, Ruth...and The Stones, the ever-underrated Lou Gehrig).
- Bryan Adams has led a suspiciously strong career...
- Television has worn itself too thin. Time was, a show united the country (M*A*S*H*, Cheers, Cosby Show). Nowadays, the instant gratification angle and myriad options create niches for everyone, but no unifying qualities...except,
- "Overpaid" teachers are not the problem facing America today.
- At least 50% of the reason education is getting trampled is because it's the one thing people are actually getting to participate in actively. Notice there's no local voting on whether we spend hundreds of billions of dollars on defense.
- Apple is not helping the economy in the long run. Not by a longshot.
- Sports, the Discovery Channel, and some History Channel programs are the only things that look better in HD. The rest of your overpriced boxes take away from the viewing experience.
- Among non-comedies, The Godfather would square off against The Shawshank Redemption for the coveted "most quotable movie" title.
- While Larry Bird or Magic Johnson get whupped against Kobe Bryant or LeBron James in 1-on-1, any of the 1980s Celtics (pre-1988) or Lakers mops up any Bryant OR James team, except maybe the 2000-2001 Lakers.
- Most badass revolutionary figure? Washington. Second? Paul Revere.
These are facts....
Sunday, March 14, 2010
March 14th, 2010- Why?
I've been battling. I've found myself at a junction in life where I have these tools but nothing close to an idea of what to make or do with it. The steady emptiness that is the job market for what it is that I chose to do with my collegiate career and graduate program hounds me daily. For as competent as I know myself to be, I find that the re-thinking and the panoramic viewing of all the hard work (and what I have to show for it) I've put into getting to this point has been detrimental.
Sending resumes, cover letters, applications...a dizzying routine of envelopes, stamps, my best handwriting...scouring the internet, checking districts throughout the state in alphabetical order from Westchester all the way out to Buffalo and Rochester, hoping for just an opening...lacing up to work in what is my 4th full school year of subbing, and 5th school year overall...I understand there's a grind involved with looking for work. The downer is that there's a bunch of people in the same boat, and with every passing semester and every absorption of schedules of reluctant retirees, the oasis gets smaller and smaller.
Going away meant a few things, and as of right now, I am only sure of some. Opportunity knocked, and the records will show that I took the opportunity and ran with it. I came back to find work closer to home, thereby cashing in on the time and money put into getting my Masters. The other side of this coin is that I was running from something...and whether or not that's true is not the question. The mere idea that I COULD be running from something opens the floodgates up for an outpouring of possibilities. I think if I could have it my way, the idea of moving away for a time was appealing because I had nothing to lose.
Upon my immersion in Chilean life, I caught the travel and exploration bug big time. The problem now is that it's an expensive illness to treat. In the meantime, I've found myself back at the proverbial square one: poor and working the grind shifts of subbing by day, hosting by night. But why travel? Why is that the ultimate in rewarding activities? I've begun to look at traveling as the ultimate in distractions. It seems like taking an overnight or weekend trip is another opportunity to not sit in silence, to not have to sift through the districts and lack of listings, to leave the printer alone, stop the careful scrutinization of working documents, rinse, repeat.
I feel as though this amplifies everything that is going on in the meantime, and all of that suffers as a result of looking ahead to the next big adventure. While I look forward to life's big adventures, I wonder what it is that's really driving me to go explore the unknown...whether it's a desire to do one thing or a lack of desire to do another. The chaos that Chile established has taken many shapes and forms in the ensuing attempts to get it back together in some way, shape, or form. The present situation is just that I'm searching for answers, and at the same time the realignment of my self-perception is (agonizingly) slowly coming into focus.
Anyway, enough of that. A big week ahead, and a newfound NEED to write. So stick around.
Talk to each other.
Sending resumes, cover letters, applications...a dizzying routine of envelopes, stamps, my best handwriting...scouring the internet, checking districts throughout the state in alphabetical order from Westchester all the way out to Buffalo and Rochester, hoping for just an opening...lacing up to work in what is my 4th full school year of subbing, and 5th school year overall...I understand there's a grind involved with looking for work. The downer is that there's a bunch of people in the same boat, and with every passing semester and every absorption of schedules of reluctant retirees, the oasis gets smaller and smaller.
Going away meant a few things, and as of right now, I am only sure of some. Opportunity knocked, and the records will show that I took the opportunity and ran with it. I came back to find work closer to home, thereby cashing in on the time and money put into getting my Masters. The other side of this coin is that I was running from something...and whether or not that's true is not the question. The mere idea that I COULD be running from something opens the floodgates up for an outpouring of possibilities. I think if I could have it my way, the idea of moving away for a time was appealing because I had nothing to lose.
Upon my immersion in Chilean life, I caught the travel and exploration bug big time. The problem now is that it's an expensive illness to treat. In the meantime, I've found myself back at the proverbial square one: poor and working the grind shifts of subbing by day, hosting by night. But why travel? Why is that the ultimate in rewarding activities? I've begun to look at traveling as the ultimate in distractions. It seems like taking an overnight or weekend trip is another opportunity to not sit in silence, to not have to sift through the districts and lack of listings, to leave the printer alone, stop the careful scrutinization of working documents, rinse, repeat.
I feel as though this amplifies everything that is going on in the meantime, and all of that suffers as a result of looking ahead to the next big adventure. While I look forward to life's big adventures, I wonder what it is that's really driving me to go explore the unknown...whether it's a desire to do one thing or a lack of desire to do another. The chaos that Chile established has taken many shapes and forms in the ensuing attempts to get it back together in some way, shape, or form. The present situation is just that I'm searching for answers, and at the same time the realignment of my self-perception is (agonizingly) slowly coming into focus.
Anyway, enough of that. A big week ahead, and a newfound NEED to write. So stick around.
Talk to each other.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
February 25, 2010- Olympics
Just so we're clear, the Olympics are the best thing about sports. This shouldn't be debated, and yet I've heard more than a few people complaining about the Olympic games. Here's why the Olympics are better than our regular (Americanized) sports:
1) Playing for your country is ultimately the best thing you could do. Sports in America rightly get knocked around for being greedy capitalists. While the gold medal hanging from your neck may not equate to a contract worth in excess of $100 million, there's something to be said about representing your country on the world's largest scale. We are no longer the only market for baseball, basketball, and hockey. Golf and tennis as professional entities are global sports. Other than American Football, we are finding ourselves getting closer (albeit very gradually; I don't see a disproportionate number of non-Americans DOMINATING the NBA yet) to a level playing field internationally. How does this tie into the Olympics? We are squaring off against the best from every other country in the world, and dominance in THAT means we're truly the best in the world.
Look, as much as I love baseball, I know that when the Yankees win the World Series, it doesn't necessarily represent every organization in the world. The Olympics get down to good ol' nationalism at its finest.
2) No trades- Here's the thing: in professional sports, it ultimately comes down to dollars and cents. Granted, most teams make an effort to put together a winning combination of players to put on the field/court/rink/pitch, but I doubt that owners are REALLY upset about not winning a trophy as long as their pockets are still lined with dodo skin (or whatever it is that they line their pockets with). When you start running a team like a business, at least a TINY bit of the game gets out of focus. In the Olympics, there's no question where a participant's loyalty lies. Seeing athletes wrapped up in the flag of their home country, singing their national anthem gives me shivers.
3) Watching sports I normally wouldn't watch- We're exposed to things like figure skating and curling, both team and individual sports, which are not usually shown on many screens around the country. I get that Americans like to rally around pixies on 1/8" blades, and really, that's a good thing. Having pride in the people representing our country SHOULDN'T be reserved for every 2 or 4 years, or sports, really. Luckily, our government has made Olympic athletes bigger stories by being such asshats. I devote a ton of time to watching the downhill, slalom, cross-country, ski-jumping, curling, the biathlon...and aside from learning new sports, getting exposure to world-class athletes competing at the highest level.
4) Medal counts- Takes the arbitrary number-crunching out of the equation. Winning is the only thing that matters. No MVPs, no Cy Youngs, no 6th man awards...you win, you win.
5) Two weeks off from American Idol talk- because really, we don't need to obsess over fabricated acts crammed down our throats. It's THE best dose of reality television in the world. Go U-S-A!
1) Playing for your country is ultimately the best thing you could do. Sports in America rightly get knocked around for being greedy capitalists. While the gold medal hanging from your neck may not equate to a contract worth in excess of $100 million, there's something to be said about representing your country on the world's largest scale. We are no longer the only market for baseball, basketball, and hockey. Golf and tennis as professional entities are global sports. Other than American Football, we are finding ourselves getting closer (albeit very gradually; I don't see a disproportionate number of non-Americans DOMINATING the NBA yet) to a level playing field internationally. How does this tie into the Olympics? We are squaring off against the best from every other country in the world, and dominance in THAT means we're truly the best in the world.
Look, as much as I love baseball, I know that when the Yankees win the World Series, it doesn't necessarily represent every organization in the world. The Olympics get down to good ol' nationalism at its finest.
2) No trades- Here's the thing: in professional sports, it ultimately comes down to dollars and cents. Granted, most teams make an effort to put together a winning combination of players to put on the field/court/rink/pitch, but I doubt that owners are REALLY upset about not winning a trophy as long as their pockets are still lined with dodo skin (or whatever it is that they line their pockets with). When you start running a team like a business, at least a TINY bit of the game gets out of focus. In the Olympics, there's no question where a participant's loyalty lies. Seeing athletes wrapped up in the flag of their home country, singing their national anthem gives me shivers.
3) Watching sports I normally wouldn't watch- We're exposed to things like figure skating and curling, both team and individual sports, which are not usually shown on many screens around the country. I get that Americans like to rally around pixies on 1/8" blades, and really, that's a good thing. Having pride in the people representing our country SHOULDN'T be reserved for every 2 or 4 years, or sports, really. Luckily, our government has made Olympic athletes bigger stories by being such asshats. I devote a ton of time to watching the downhill, slalom, cross-country, ski-jumping, curling, the biathlon...and aside from learning new sports, getting exposure to world-class athletes competing at the highest level.
4) Medal counts- Takes the arbitrary number-crunching out of the equation. Winning is the only thing that matters. No MVPs, no Cy Youngs, no 6th man awards...you win, you win.
5) Two weeks off from American Idol talk- because really, we don't need to obsess over fabricated acts crammed down our throats. It's THE best dose of reality television in the world. Go U-S-A!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
February 9, 2010 (a)- Leaving Antofagasta
By the time I had made the decision to leave Antofagasta, Chile, for good, a lot had taken place to turn life upside-down. Uncle Tom- a hero of mine- passing away put things into perspective: being away from home involves big steps and while those steps were a daring step to something new, having taken that step away from home had its consequences. I grew up in a very close-knit family, and so having not been there immediately when he passed away (and definitely being in another continent) made the terrible experience even more saddening. THEN, having to go back...I dunno, something changed and my attitude was different. I love the kids, I love my co-workers...it's just an incredibly tough thing to do. If nothing else, I needed some downtime. I understand the need on the part of the school to get a commitment, I just couldn't wrap my head around the possibility of being down there for two more years.
In the end, I decided to come home for good. At the time, I also thought I had a teaching opportunity back home (which has since been yanked off the table, news which I received the day after I got back from the funeral). Heading back, the last ten days of classes became a celebration and an opportunity to have fun with my kids more often and discipline them heading out the window. We played wiffle-ball, took breaks to admire the ocean view, had futbol practice, made a music video, and taught each other languages.
The students, the parents, the staff, the city...I will miss it all. Every day I consider the idea of heading back and what I'll be missing (a lot). I just felt at the time that my heart was at home...and I needed to get back there. What I will miss about Chile is that it was truly a time to learn something about fear (being a stranger in a strange land with a language barrier) and courage (trying to communicate anyway). I learned many a valuable lesson and life skill while in Antofagasta, and will carry that with me for as long as I live. I gave teaching my all, and am content with my attempts to do things that I would not otherwise do, regardless of opportunity.
Tough place to leave. Thank you so much, Antofa, for the memories...
As a result, I feel much more comfortable in my own skin and in my ability to communicate and accomplish things that are set on my plate. Chile transformed me and gave me confidence. I was told that it would take everything I knew about myself and knock it to pieces, forcing me to re-build from the ground up. It's true, perhaps. As it is, I'm at a point where I am still trying to re-align what it is that I want to do, where it is that I want to be...needless to say, Chile has stirred the pot; what will be interesting to see is how things settle, or if they settle.
Talk to each other.
In the end, I decided to come home for good. At the time, I also thought I had a teaching opportunity back home (which has since been yanked off the table, news which I received the day after I got back from the funeral). Heading back, the last ten days of classes became a celebration and an opportunity to have fun with my kids more often and discipline them heading out the window. We played wiffle-ball, took breaks to admire the ocean view, had futbol practice, made a music video, and taught each other languages.
The students, the parents, the staff, the city...I will miss it all. Every day I consider the idea of heading back and what I'll be missing (a lot). I just felt at the time that my heart was at home...and I needed to get back there. What I will miss about Chile is that it was truly a time to learn something about fear (being a stranger in a strange land with a language barrier) and courage (trying to communicate anyway). I learned many a valuable lesson and life skill while in Antofagasta, and will carry that with me for as long as I live. I gave teaching my all, and am content with my attempts to do things that I would not otherwise do, regardless of opportunity.
Tough place to leave. Thank you so much, Antofa, for the memories...As a result, I feel much more comfortable in my own skin and in my ability to communicate and accomplish things that are set on my plate. Chile transformed me and gave me confidence. I was told that it would take everything I knew about myself and knock it to pieces, forcing me to re-build from the ground up. It's true, perhaps. As it is, I'm at a point where I am still trying to re-align what it is that I want to do, where it is that I want to be...needless to say, Chile has stirred the pot; what will be interesting to see is how things settle, or if they settle.
Talk to each other.
February 9, 2010- End of 2009
As promised, thoughts on the year that was...
I started 2009 fresh out of school and in search of a job. What I found instead was a sense of restlessness to see and to do something important. While I didn't get a full-time job, I took advantage of what I was doing to heighten my sense of adventure and maybe, just maybe, get to see a bit of the world. What transpired was the most interesting year of my life.
January- added a family member (Liam Patrick Doyle), watched President Obama get sworn in, went to first NBA game.
February- Visited Miami, first Heat game, first trip to an art museum, made first visit to west coast in LA and San Diego.
March- Marched in St. Patrick's Day parade in NYC, listened to 31 new albums.
April- First game at the new Yankee Stadium, visited Chicago, first game at Wrigley Field, first game at Fenway Park, visited Boston.
May- Visited Charlotte, NC, saw Charlie finish law school, saw Erik finish school at Dutchess.
June- Went to a horse track, saw the Daily Show live, kissed Cherry good-bye, toured New York Harbor, went to NY beer garden.
July- Watched fireworks over the Hudson, saw Coldplay in concert, saw Blink-182 and Weezer in concert, was Assistant Director of DAC.
August- Bought a new car, moved Erik into school, visited the Outerbanks, NC, visited CitiField.
September- Visited Colorado, saw Broncos game, saw Rockies game, saw Kings of Leon in concert, saw U2 in concert twice (and Muse), celebrated one year anniversary of trivia hosting, tried rocky mountain oysters, bombed my first job interview.
October- Got replacement job...in Chile, visited new continent, saw Harlem Globetrotters, swam in Pacific Ocean, tried Pisco.
November- Missed first Thanksgiving, introduced Chileans to NY.
December- Lost Uncle Tom, said good-bye to Chile, spent NYE in NYC.
It's a lot to take in and to absorb and consider, but my thoughts on all of this are as follows:
I took in a lot. I saw a lot more than I would have thought possible over the course of one year. At this point in my life, getting all of that in makes the experience of a lack of full-time employment well worthwhile. I loved almost everything about this year. It's driven me to make long-term goals. What people don't necessarily understand is that all of the above came relatively unexpectedly. Oh, I knew I'd go to Yankee Stadium. The rest of it? No idea. I had no idea what was in store for me, and if I hadn't had the predisposition to be open-minded about life in general, this would not have been possible. Thank goodness for open minds!
There's a lot to see out there, and this blog turned into just as much an opportunity to chronicle those things that I've seen/done as it was being true to the original plan of the blog itself. As you all know, I've been bit by the travel bug. However, the degree to which I got bit has only intensified over the course of the last year. I decided to say "fuck it" to a lot of restrictions, and take the steps to get out and experience as much as I can before I settle down and :gulp: get a job. What will come this year will be hopefully a lot of the same.
A goal I have for each month this year is to visit somewhere new each month. January, I went to Niagara Falls (and, by association, Canada). February, I've been to Northern Ireland already. As for giving something up, I think while I've been lax on that, it will pick back up, so that I can hopefully get back on track with documenting those struggles/opportunities. I learned a lot and have been very busy. There's more to come, I assure you, and I hope that you stick around for what's in store.
That's all for now. Talk to each other...
I started 2009 fresh out of school and in search of a job. What I found instead was a sense of restlessness to see and to do something important. While I didn't get a full-time job, I took advantage of what I was doing to heighten my sense of adventure and maybe, just maybe, get to see a bit of the world. What transpired was the most interesting year of my life.
January- added a family member (Liam Patrick Doyle), watched President Obama get sworn in, went to first NBA game.
February- Visited Miami, first Heat game, first trip to an art museum, made first visit to west coast in LA and San Diego.
March- Marched in St. Patrick's Day parade in NYC, listened to 31 new albums.
April- First game at the new Yankee Stadium, visited Chicago, first game at Wrigley Field, first game at Fenway Park, visited Boston.
May- Visited Charlotte, NC, saw Charlie finish law school, saw Erik finish school at Dutchess.
June- Went to a horse track, saw the Daily Show live, kissed Cherry good-bye, toured New York Harbor, went to NY beer garden.
July- Watched fireworks over the Hudson, saw Coldplay in concert, saw Blink-182 and Weezer in concert, was Assistant Director of DAC.
August- Bought a new car, moved Erik into school, visited the Outerbanks, NC, visited CitiField.
September- Visited Colorado, saw Broncos game, saw Rockies game, saw Kings of Leon in concert, saw U2 in concert twice (and Muse), celebrated one year anniversary of trivia hosting, tried rocky mountain oysters, bombed my first job interview.
October- Got replacement job...in Chile, visited new continent, saw Harlem Globetrotters, swam in Pacific Ocean, tried Pisco.
November- Missed first Thanksgiving, introduced Chileans to NY.
December- Lost Uncle Tom, said good-bye to Chile, spent NYE in NYC.
It's a lot to take in and to absorb and consider, but my thoughts on all of this are as follows:
I took in a lot. I saw a lot more than I would have thought possible over the course of one year. At this point in my life, getting all of that in makes the experience of a lack of full-time employment well worthwhile. I loved almost everything about this year. It's driven me to make long-term goals. What people don't necessarily understand is that all of the above came relatively unexpectedly. Oh, I knew I'd go to Yankee Stadium. The rest of it? No idea. I had no idea what was in store for me, and if I hadn't had the predisposition to be open-minded about life in general, this would not have been possible. Thank goodness for open minds!
There's a lot to see out there, and this blog turned into just as much an opportunity to chronicle those things that I've seen/done as it was being true to the original plan of the blog itself. As you all know, I've been bit by the travel bug. However, the degree to which I got bit has only intensified over the course of the last year. I decided to say "fuck it" to a lot of restrictions, and take the steps to get out and experience as much as I can before I settle down and :gulp: get a job. What will come this year will be hopefully a lot of the same.
A goal I have for each month this year is to visit somewhere new each month. January, I went to Niagara Falls (and, by association, Canada). February, I've been to Northern Ireland already. As for giving something up, I think while I've been lax on that, it will pick back up, so that I can hopefully get back on track with documenting those struggles/opportunities. I learned a lot and have been very busy. There's more to come, I assure you, and I hope that you stick around for what's in store.
That's all for now. Talk to each other...
Sunday, February 7, 2010
February 7, 2010- Remembering Pop
Four years ago today, my grandfather passed away. In the time since, I've been trying to wrap my head around what it is that that I'm on this planet to do. Heavy, yes. For all that Bill Whalen did for those around him- family, friends, business associates, and those he didn't even know through his many ventures and associations- I've found that the rewards that come with hard work and personal involvement are immeasurable. It is because of this that I intend to better myself through working at finding where it is that I should be in the world.
Now, while I've been finding SOMETHING in the world, it's time to start addressing what needs to be done with what I've seen, what I've found, who I've met, etc. Let's go.
Now, while I've been finding SOMETHING in the world, it's time to start addressing what needs to be done with what I've seen, what I've found, who I've met, etc. Let's go.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
January 7, 2010- Happy New Year?
A lot to get to this year, and just wishing you all a Happy New Year, a week late. I've been out and about since coming home, but there's a lot to reflect on this weekend (possibly even later today). I'm in Washington, DC, right now, so I've got to get on the road and get back home, but among the things I need to address are:
End of days in Antofagasta
Leaving again or staying?
Washington, DC
End of 2009 reflections
Looking ahead: plans, what to do...
What's up next
Giving something up...
Talk to each other. This year, that should be your resolution...
End of days in Antofagasta
Leaving again or staying?
Washington, DC
End of 2009 reflections
Looking ahead: plans, what to do...
What's up next
Giving something up...
Talk to each other. This year, that should be your resolution...
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