Big Al

Go Cubs!

She's got my vote! Now I can leave that quarter at home!

Yeah fuckin' right. 7-4 lead in the ninth and it goes: double double home run pitching change single walk homer Not even a motherfucking out recorded. With fucking luck like that can you blame the Rays if they think they're fucking invincible? Wow, that looked kinda familiar! Anyway, we got three in Fenway next week and then the Red Sox come to town for three the following week. Assuming the Red Sox are not leading the AL East, that oughta be a couple of good series! The bad news, of course, is that the Rangers were swept by the Sox once this season. The upside is that was back in April when things were really in the shitter. So, SHOULD be a good series! Tonight's Yankees game.... er, the Rangers/Yankees game is on ESPN tonight. I would love nothing more than to embarrass the Yankee-loving media tonight! Not sure it will happen with the rookie Hunter on the mound tonight, after giving up six runs in his last start. Still, this team puts the Ranger in "stranger," and that's happened before!

I feel the same way about the Angels right now; gettin' tired of them winning all the time as well. Here's another frustrating stat for ya, Dan: the Rangers had a winning record in July (a surprise in itself) with an ERA over 6.00! Eek!

I'll be watching the diving; I've always liked that. Plus, the UT diving coach is there (he's a good friend of my sister, and we stayed at their house one year when our daughter went to a UT swimming/diving camp). Speaking of all the personal syrupy reality stories, don't be surprised if they do a special interest story on this guy. He and his wife adopted their daughter from China, which is a wonderful thing, don't get me wrong. Their daughter is 12 now, and they're taking her to the Olympics as well as her old orphanage. Oughta be interesting to see how ready Beijing is for these games. They were scrambling back in November when my wife and I went; according to a kid in my Sunday School class, his mom went in February and they were nowhere near ready. And yes, the air is dreadful. Any athlete dumb enough to go over there and run in that shit, well..... I'm not gonna have much sympathy for them. I agree with the OP: the Olympics and the medals don't hold near the prestige they once did, and risking your health for a shot at a medal isn't worth it, IMO.

Hey Dan, You're welcome. Again! Two in a row against the Yankees here in Texas. If anyone had told me at the beginning of the year that the Rangers would do this well against the Yanks this year, I would've passed out from laughing so hard. It's still being a fun ride, but I'm not ready to drink the Kool-Aid just yet. Folks around here are already talking about a run for the wild card. Yeah, that's a nice thought; but until they can get some solid, consistent starting pitching, that ain't gonna happen. Not this season, anyway. CJ Wilson going on the DL will help, but it sure would've been nice if he'd acknowledged this problem a couple weeks ago instead of just now, after he's already given up a couple of games and almost gave the game to the Yanks last night. Now if they can just find a replacement for Millwood, we'll be in decent shape. For the first time in a LOOOOOOOOONG time, I feel like the Rangers are headed in the right direction. For that, I credit Nolan Ryan. He put his reputation on the line coming to work for this "organization" (term used VERY loosely), and likely told Tom Hicks that he (Ryan) wasn't going to stand for any of Hicks' meddling. Proof of that lies in the decision to FINALLY get rid of the Rangers' long-time pitching coaches. Their firing should've been done YEARS ago; these guys have that rare ability to bring in good pitchers and coach all of the goodness out of them, so that all that's left is a confused shell with a decent arm who doesn't know what or where to throw. Good riddance, I say; it's been a LONG time coming.

Yeah, that was pretty scary since it could've been a lot worse: the shoulder injury was likely caused by him ducking outta the way of a Pudge surprise rocket to second. Getting smashed in the face by one of those missiles could've been fatal.

RANGERS WIN!!! RANGERS WIN!!! HOLY COW!!! A GRAND SLAM BY MARLON BYRD!!!! WWOOOWWW!!!! Whatta game! 2 balks in one inning causing Washington to go ballistic like I've never seen him! Michael Young's three-run HR to cap a comeback after being down 3-0. The double-play that was called back and changed to a foul ball. And to top it all off, THEY BEAT THE F^%#%$#&$&ING YANKEES HERE IN TEXAS!!!! That hasn't happened in almost THREE YEARS!!! Marty's gotta be dyin' right now: closer walks three and then gives up the walk-off grand-slam. Man, that kinda stuff usually happens to US! And Dan: you're welcome! 'specially since you guys lost to the Royals, ferchrissakes!!!

Seriously, though, of course Tex is gonna hit in the clutch once in a while. Come talk to me when he does it on a consistent basis.

Aw, man, I'm in shock! It's only been 10 years since Harry's death! While we were in Chicago this past week, I picked up the book Harry Caray: Voice of the Fans which comes with an audio CD. On that CD is a clip of the game where Harry, Skip, and Chip introduced themselves before the start of a Braves-Cubs game. Watching those Braves-Cubs games was fun because whenever one team would get a home run, you'd hear one Caray going bananas and the other Caray saying how the wind was in the batter's favor or something like that! Geez, this hurts. RIP Skip, and say "Holy Cow" to your old man up there.

Well, you know what they say: if Al predicts it, the opposite will happen.

I know, but I just visited the site and the 15% off sale was still on. Perhaps the site was programmed to reset any outstanding shopping cart at 5:00 pm EST. I don't know. I just figured if MWTGA tried to re-visit the site now instead of waiting until tomorrow, he might be able to get the deal now.

I did! CUBS WIN!!! CUBS WIN!!! HOLY COW!!!!

Try it again. I just now placed my order and still got the 15% off. Maybe you just need to re-fill your cart. Hope it still works. I just snagged the Rich and the Turrentine with shipping for $181.00.

I don't know how difficult it is to find, but I picked up Urbie Green's Blues & Other Shades of Green at the Borders on State & Randolph yesterday. Anything with Freddie Green is alright with me!

PM sent on the following: Coltrane, John & Harden, Wilbur Countdown Savoy Jazz 2-lp $5 larger sticker on back Gibbs, Terry Latin Connection Contemporary Gonsalves, Paul Ellingtonia Moods & Blues RCA (France) Gonsalves, Paul & Hines, Earl It Don't Mean a Thing Black Lion sticker Hodges, Johnny The Smooth One Verve 2-lp $5 Hodges, Johnny The Johnny Hodges All-Stars Prestige 2-lp $5

Pudge to the Yankees for Farnsworth. Unbelievable. My respect for Pudge has hit rock-bottom. I hope Farnsworth continues his winning ways and leads the Tigers past the Yankees (or at the very least, keeps the Yankees out of the playoffs).

seems like Texeria is more trouble then he is worth. They were going to run away with the division regardless. However its a good trade since the Angels time is now. It seems that in the playoffs you need two long ball clutch hitters, two elite starters and a great bullpen. Depth in starting rotation, speed (of course being able to create runs certainly helps since your facing elite pitching), defense less so like the regular season. Angels seem to be the favorites right now for a WS title. Tex wouldn't know clutch hitting if it bit him on his pompous ass. His avg is good and his OBP is okay, but a lot of times the game is out of reach or meaningless when he gets his HR or whatever. When the game is on the line, when his team really needs him, he buckles. Without fail.

Online only, though... Thanks. I should have specified. Then ago, who walks into a Borders these days and expects to find any (jazz) CDs? Well, FWIW, the Borders at State & Randolph in downtown Chicago had a decent jazz selection, decent when compared to the decimated selection in the DFW metroplex. I mean, I bought Urbie Green's Blues and Other Shades of Green import CD, and saw a lot of other discs that have long since been unavailable at any Borders here in Texas. Regular discs like RVGs (Blue Note AND Prestige) and Keepnews discs were readily available at the State Street store that I haven't seen in DFW for a loooong time.

Give 'em time. It's still July. They still have two months to fuck the whole thing up. Damn, you sound like a Rangers fan.

Online only, though...

As for Teixeira, it feels like that move the Sox made with Gagne last year - best team in the league making a trade that seemingly makes them potentially unbeatable. Of course, it turned out they were, with no help from Gagne. You'll see some major bidding war break out for Teix in the fall. I would love nothing more than for the Halos to suffer a severe collapse. Not that I think that anyone else in the division could catch them anyway, but bad enough so that if th Rangers continue winning they might make it interesting. In a perfect world, the Rangers would catch fire the rest of the season as the Angels collapse. Yeah, like that'll happen! Still, I'd settle for Tex going into such a horrific slump that his trade value plummets at year-end. Just like former Ranger Gagne.

Do I know my team or what? Blalock was scratched with an upset stomach before the game! Oh no! We've built our entire franchise around this guy and he keeps having these tragedies!!! What will we do? What WILL we DO???? Feldman gives up three HR's to Seattle tonight... yet another fine performance by our Keystone Kollection of starters. Just another post-All-Star swoon from the "Texas" team. God, I'm glad in Chicago this week. Like I said before, I only wish the Cubbies and the Brew-crew were here this week instead of Milwaukee. Oh well. Here or there, CUBS WIN CUBS WIN CUBS WIN still sounds the same!!!

I am a rock. I am an island. A rock feels no pain, and an island never cries.

Wait a second..... you mean to tell me that I've been in Chicago since JG's death on Friday and I'm only finding out about it NOW when I get a chance to log on for the first time since being up here???? Hell, I was in the Jazz Record Mart on Sunday and not ONE mention anywhere of Griff's passing! His hometown, fer Christ's sake!!!! Shit. RIP Johnny. You deserved better than this. Gonna throw on A BLOWIN' SESSION when I get back to Texas.