I'm a connoisseur of leisurely things. | Theories, Predictions, Opinions, & Other Nonsense

September 28, 2008September 29, 2008

2008 NY Mets – Thanks for Trying

If someone were to tell me in June of 2008 that on the very last day of the season, the Mets could possibly be in the playoffs, I would have laughed and taken that bet. And, I would have lost.

In 2007, the Mets had a good team. They had a spectacular collapse under what now appears to be a manager that couldn’t rally the troops. This year, they worked very hard to get from 8 games back in July to tied for the wild card before the start of the final game. This year was not a loss—this year was growth. If nothing else, it showed who shined brightly under different management and different direction. In 2007, the Mets gave away the division. In 2008, the Mets simply did not reach the opportunity. In 2007, Tom Glavine didn’t make it through 1 inning. This year, a solid Mets starter gave 6 excellent innings. A loss is a loss, but in no way does this loss hurt as bad as last year. At least not for me.

So, that leaves this year finished with 2009 soon approaching. Pitches and Catchers report in mid March, which is only 5 short months away. Some changes will need to be made for next year. Some individual, some team-wide. Here’s my short list of necessities:

The Mets, in my opinion, must sign Jerry Manuel to a contract of no less than 3 years. The team – key word being team – seemed to respond much better to Manuel than to Randolph. With all due respect to Randolph, and I was very critical of the Mets firing Randolph earlier this year, the team simply performed remarkably better under Manuel compared to Randolph. Similary, Warthen (Mets pitching coach), should as well be signed to no less than a 3 year deal as he transformed Pelfrey and Perez into quality starters.

So, where are the problems. Here we go:

Offense: Too inconsistent. Consider replacing HoJo as hitting coach. He was a fantastic player, but perhaps he is not the best teacher. Nothing against the man, but sometimes – in any profession – this is the case.

Relief Pitching: Second half, when the offense took off, the bullpen was terribly inconsistent. I don’t believe this is Warthen’s fault. It’s just simply the fact that relief pitching in baseball is tough to come by. Hopefully, Wagner can come back and be a quality closer. If not, decide early to acquire another high-quality closer. Find a middle relief that can hold a game.

Injuries: None can be prevented, but always expected. As much as I like Alou, he’ll be gone. Keep Ryan Church–he’ll be back to true form of good offense and excellent defense.

Free Agents: Pickup Delgado’s year. Sign Oliver Perez. No questions here. Mets don’t do either, they will make a big mistake. Martinez? Ehh, that’s iffy. Can he be put in the bullpen?

Miscellaneous: Dump Castillo. He doesn’t fit with this team. Get what you can for him. Get a second basemen, either from the farm or from a trade. Do not give up Reyes or Wright. Get a left-fielder—I cringe at the idea of Nick Evans and Murphy platooning. Somehow acquire a quality starter. Not a Santana – as I don’t think anything of that caliber will be available, but defintely a “second” starter. Lastly, if Easely wants to play, let him play. He says he does, so please sign him. Two years, $5 million.

This season was not a let down!! This was a remarkable turn around from a team that was destined for last place in June. Some of the older, more seasoned Mets players (like Easley) may disagree with me, but that’s how I feel. Fix a few of the core problems, and 2009 will be an excellent year.

For now, I tip my hat to Milwaukee and Philadelphia for a season well-played. Good luck to all teams, but I’ll be rooting for Milwaukee in their series vs Philly, and for Los Angeles in their series vs. the Cubbies. No offense Cubbies–I want you to get a ring, but I love Joe Torre. The way Joe Torre was flushed down the toilet by the Yankees was innapropriate, so I have a special place in my heart for him.

A post like this would not be completely without a prediction, so here we go:

National League Division Series:
Milwaukee vs. Philadelphia: Philadelphia in 4 games.
Los Angeles vs. Chicago: Los Angeles in 5 games.

NLDS:
Philadelphia Vs. Los Angeles: Los Angeles in 7.

American League Division Series:
Minnesota vs. Tampa Bay: Tampa Bay in 3 games.
Boston vs. Los Angeles: Los Angeles in 5 games.

ALDS:
Tampa Bay vs. Los Angeles: Los Angeles in 7.

World Series:
Los Angeles Angels in 6.

Here’s to exciting baseball times. Good luck!

September 20, 2008September 20, 2008

Space Shuttle Endeavor Awaits as Possible Rescue Shuttle

On October 10th 2008, the Space Shuttle Atlantis is due to launch for a final mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. On this mission, the astronauts will make necessary repairs and upgrades to the 18 year old station, in order to get 7 or so more years of life from the invaluable telescope.

What makes this flight interesting, is that since the Columbia disaster, this is the first Shuttle flight where the destination is not the International Space Station (ISS). After Columbia, one of the main tasks of all flights is to look for Shuttle damage while it’s docked at the ISS. If there is sufficient damage to the Shuttle, they could abandon the Shuttle and leave it at the ISS, the crew returning to Earth in one of the Russian cargo modules.

With this Hubble mission, the astronauts will have no ability to get to the ISS due to the differences in the orbits of the ISS and the Hubble. If there is sufficient damage to Atlantis whereby it would present a problem upon re-entry, NASA is taking the unprecidented step of reading the Shuttle Endeavor for a “rescue” mission to the Atlantis. Here, the Endeavor would launch with a skeleton crew of 4, and would be “docked” with Atlantis at the Hubble, transferring the 7 Atlantis crew members to the Endeavor. Endeavor would transport everyone home, and Atlantis would be allowed to disintegrate into the Earth’s atmosphere. Leaving only Endeavor and Discovery as workable Shuttles, this would effectively end the Shuttle program 2 years early, as they are scheduled to be retired in 2010.

This marks the first time since 2001 that two Shuttles were ready on their respective launch pads.

Clearly, the need to send Shuttles to the ISS after 2010 is needed. Given the current political climate between the US and Russia, leaving all missions for the ISS to the Russians – for people and cargo – is something that I don’t think should be tolerated. While we have had some problems with the Shuttle over the last 20 years, we appear to be in a time of “high confidence” and safety measures with the Shuttle program. Dozens of cameras capture all angles of a Shuttle launch, and all efforts are made while in orbit to view any possible damage either in real time via space-walks, or via recorded footage from launch. I see no reason why there should be a rush to retire the [aging] Shuttle program.

Apparently, NASA administrator Griffin feels the same. Let’s hope that there is a way to keep the Shuttle program active – even on a limited basis – until the ISS and the next future vehicle by NASA is completed. I don’t think it’s appropriate to rely on the Russians given the current political climate.

Click here, for some rare photos from the upcoming Atlantis launch:

And in a slightly related story, here are some photos and information about the Russian Space Shuttle, called the “Buran” which was disbanded in 2003 or so.

August 19, 2008September 20, 2008

LeRoi Moore; 1961 – 2008

August 19, 2008September 20, 2008

Russia vs. Georgia – What Are Our Options?

There are no “ifs”, “ands” or “buts” about it. Russia invaded a neighboring state, who is a democratically-elected government. They’re currently occupying it, and even as a cease-fire has been signed, there are conflicting reports of exactly how far the Ruissians have removed themsleves from Georgian territory, and how far they plan to go. From some reports, it appears that they will be staying in Ossetia in similar fashion how the US is staying in Iraq. This is unacceptible.

I am not a fan of the current United States administration, but comparing our invasion of Iraq to Russian’s invasion of Georgia is not an accurate similarity.

So, what is there to do? As Defense Secretary Gates said recently, the United States has worked hard for 45 years is ensure that there is no military confrontation between the United States and Russia [the USSR]. In our best efforts, we should continue to keep this a valid line of reasoning. However, the USSR is no more. Georgia, a former Soviet republic, is now fighting a former republic for independence. The United States promotes democracy, and always steps in when efforts of democracy are being extinguished, so let’s hope the that the US has a better response to Russia than they have had so far.

Militarily speaking, there isn’t much that the US can do without endangering the lives of millions of people and setting the word back to 1984. However, combined with European backing and various NATO alliances, there are several moves that can be made to pressure Russia to remove itself from Georgian territory, which include, but are not limited to:

suspending NATO military excercises with Russia
boycott the 2014 Olympic games in Russia
Dissolve the G-8, and the instantly reform the G-7 without Russia

I read these fine suggestions in an Op-Ed piece from a journalist from the Washington Post, and at the current time, I can’t find the original article.

Something needs to be done. The US was asleep at the wheel watching the Olympics for the first week. We’re now in the third week—let’s all hope this works out. If not, looks like it’s time to break out the Cold War history books.

July 19, 2008

Billy Joel – Last Play at Shea!

I was fortunate enough to get tickets for both Billy Joel shows at Shea Stadium, on 7/16 and 7/18. In his entire career and throughout my entire life, I had only seen him once before, in 2006 when he did those 12 shows. I came away extremely impressed after that 2006 show. The last two shows at Shea really made me appreciate what an outstanding musician and performer he really is.

Prior to July 16th, my last visit to Shea stadium was in July of 2000. Merengue night at Shea. Oh, what a lovely evening that was. Terrible parking, and the whole place looked like Tijuana on a Saturday night. As I tried to watch the game that night, a large, portly Spanish guy insisted on banging drums through most of the game. I decided that night that it would be one of my last trips to Shea for a while.

So, I decided to return. This time not for a ball game, but for two Billy Joel sold out shows. I played it a little smarter this time. Patty and I drove to Manhasset where we boarded a LIRR train for the direct trip to Shea.

On Wednesday night, our seats were really, really good. First row in the mezzanene, almost dead center. Joel started around 8:30, playing 2 dozen of his hits until about 11:30. That night, he was accompanied by a few special guests that were a real treat for me. Tony Bennett, John Mayer, Don Henley, and John Mellencamp. Aside from the $8 beers, it was a great concert. He played all of the hits; Angry Young Man, Entertainer, Captain Jack, Scenes, and Piano Man just to name a few.

On Friday night, our seats were still very good. This time, we had field-level boxes on the first base line. Aside from a few young kids (19 or so) that finally were escorted out of the stadium around the 5th song, this night was also really amazing. Tony Bennett came out again for “New York State of Mind”, and then the other guests tonight were as spectacular as Wednesday. Both Steven Tyler and Garth Brooks arrived to sing, and then the special treat at the end…Paul McCartney came on to sing “I Saw Her Standing There” and “Let It Be”. For me, that was probably one of the highlights of my life. To see one of the surviving members of The Beatles come back to the stadium in it’s last year to the place The Beatles played when they got to the United States was truly an amazing sight.

Eh, to top this concert, John, Elvis, and Buddy would have to rise from the dead and sing Yankee Doodle Dandy on my doorstep.

Thanks Billy for a wonderful two days at Shea. You really made 60,000 people happy for 2 nights. And, don’t worry–I won’t take shit from anybody. 😉

July 18, 2008July 18, 2008

Time For Some Campaigning!

The people at JibJab.com are back with a new great parody of this year’s election. If you haven’t seen their work before, check out the video below. Then, go to their website. While this video isn’t their best work, it’s still very funny.

July 18, 2008July 18, 2008

Wisconsin Bans Sex With Dead People

This story prompted Wisconsin to create a law that specifically bans people having sex with dead people.

I find it funny that we need to put a law on the books that explicitly prohibits this. I don’t know, I thought it was implied you don’t dig up a grave and have sex with the contents.

“Armed with shovels, a crowbar and a box of condoms, the men went to a cemetery in Cassville in southwestern Wisconsin in 2006 to remove the body of a 20-year-old woman killed the week before in a motorcycle crash, police said.”

I like how they brought condoms with them. That’s showing that they are at least thinking about their decision to dig up a corpse. Because, you know, when you want to have sex with a dead woman, you want to make sure that you don’t get (or give) anything to her, including a child.

One of them had seen an obituary photo of the pretty nursing assistant and asked the others for help digging up her corpse so he could have sexual intercourse with it, prosecutors said. They used the shovels to reach her grave but were unable to pry the concrete vault open and fled after a car drove into the cemetery.”

Talk about intent! Wow, this kid really planned this!

If this story absolutely make you want to hurl and question whether or not these 3 kids are even human, I think we’re all in a lot worse shape than we think. If Wisconsin needs a law to say you can’t have sex with a dead body, fine. May be I’m different, but I realize that it’s not only illegal, but inhuman to do that, which sort of trumps any law we could put on our local code of accepted social guidelines.

The issue here is these 3 kids really need to be taken off the street before they kill someone in a few years.

July 3, 2008

4,060 Years for Molestation

Ok, first things first. Sexual Exploitation of a minor is a terrible, terrible crime. It’s my opinion that the ramifications for this offense are severe. In my opinion, your second conviction for a sexual crime against a minor warrants life in prison.

All of a sudden this case from the AP comes to light. This guy sexually assaulted 3 girls over 2 years. Horrible? Yes. Four thousand and sixty years in prison is what the judge and jury decided.

Call me crazy, but that’s a bit excessive. A life sentence is a life sentence. Whether it’s 60 years or 100 years, a person even of 20 years of age with a 60 year sentence may very well die in prison. Depending on the crime, that’s fine with me.

But this 4,060 year thing bothers me. He was actually sentenced to that time frame. What if, just what if, something happened in the next 40 years that granted immortality to some people. It costs $19,000 per year to house an inmate in a US prison. Say, just say, he gets some potion in that grants him immortality. Multiply $19,000 x 4,000 years and you’re getting a figure approaching $100,000,000 – at the current value – to keep this inmate alive and well for his stay.

Why not save the money and just execute these people? That’s a definite, legal argument. In my eyes, why not just sentence them to 100 years in prison, and call it a day. That way they’re either too old to live or too old to move, and surely too old to fuck, so all is ok.