Dave James

Wow, nice play all around. Gardner isn't known for his arm, but that throw was money. Having his momentum going towards the infield helped him along, but you still have to be on target. Nice, gutsy, stand-up-and-take-it play from Russell Martin too. He's a tough nut.

The Yankees beat the Cubbies today by a run. Nice outing from A.J. Burnett, although he continues to be maddeningly inconsistent. A win is a win, though, and I'll take it. Nonetheless, I'm starting to have some negative noodlings about Mo. He got the save today, but it was the same sort of struggle he's been having over the last few weeks. I'm hoping that this is just a fluctuation and not a trend, but with the team's well-documented bullpen pitching woes, they can ill afford any chinks in the Rivera armor.

I absolutely love what Laurie Pepper is doing to keep Art's work up front and in the public eye. If there's any artist who's worthy of the kind of focus she's bringing to his later work, it's Art Pepper. Only downside for me, and I may be alone on this, is that I'm not a fan of the name she's chosen for her record label, Widow's Taste. For some reason, that just doesn't sit well.

Is the reviewer saying that the appealing elements of the song as written have been there all along? Uhhh....yeah. Isn't that kinda like saying that the red meat and sweet smell of the strawberries at the market are - as one suspects they always have been - inherent in the fruit's basic architecture? I mean, what is there to suspect? I don't know what this means. It's nonsense. Mr. Jurek is clearly over enamored of his own descriptive abilities. It's a sentence that when you first read it, sounds profound, but, upon further review, you realize he's really said nothing. Also, I'm very upset at the attribution of the song Pipeline to The Ventures when it was originally recorded by the Chantays. Sloppy journalism, Tom, just sloppy. You should have spent more time fact checking and less on your florid prose.

For your consideration, here's a compilation of Tim Thomas saves from both the playoffs and the regular season. When this guy is on his game, he is really something: http://www.wimp.com/timthomas/

Wow. Just a SLIGHT exaggeration, there. Two, three years from now, it will be Tim who? He's a decent goalie, but clearly Vancouver was kept off their game by Boston's more physical game and superior defense. It's not like Thomas had to face the '84-'85 Oilers! OK, tell who has played better and more consistently in the modern era over the course of this many games in the Stanley Cup playoffs. We are talking about three of Boston's four series going the distance and a goalie who not only set the record for the most playoff saves in Cup history, but who also carded a .937 save percentage and a 2.07 GPA over the 24 games he played prior to last night. Where I come from, that ain't bad. Further, no one is suggesting that Tim Thomas is one of the all-time greats. He isn't. Nonetheless, I will continue to argue that in this year's playoffs, and especially in the finals, he was about as good as you can get. There are only two reasons you wouldn't agree. Either you were not watching the same set of games I did or you see the game differently than I do.

Ever hear of Mike Richter, or Marty Brodeur, for that matter? Please. Ever hear of Glenn Hall or Terry Sawchuk or Johnny Bower or Ken Dryden or Jacques Plante or Frank Brimsek or Bill Durnam or Harry Lumley or Gump Worsley or Turk Broda of any of a dozen other guys I could name? If you think Richter or Brodeur played better than Tim Thomas in an SCF, that's fine. I just don't have to agree. Remind me again, how many teams have had to win a game seven three times (with two of the three being shutouts) before they could claim the hardware? That's due in no small part to the efforts of Mr. Thomas.

I don't think there's a more universally despised commissioner in sports than Gary Bettman. Those Vancouver fans really let him have it, but it wasn't as bad as it would have been if Boston had won at home. He'd have needed a couple of security guards standing next to him during the post-game ceremonies.

They have to sign him first. I think that will happen, but it's not a slam dunk.

Assuming the B's hold on for another ten minutes, I'm not sure there will ever be a more deserving winner of the Conn Symthe trophy than Tim Thomas. I don't think I've ever seen a goaltender perform at this high a level over such a long stretch of the most important games any hockey team ever plays.

Jim, you're starting to sound like Dan did back in the dog days of May. The Yanks are hitting the ball extremely well right now and Texas just happens to be the "beneficiary". I see Feliz was touching 100 MPH on the gun tonight. That's some major heat unless the ball doesn't move. Tonight, it didn't.

I was trying to make a point with some friends of mine who are all excited about a band called Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears. My argument was that there's really nothing new under the sun and to put as fine a point on this as I could, I offered up a YouTube clip of James Brown. It's remarkable to me what this guy could do with a song as simple as "Get Up Offa That Thing". There's really nothing here, no lyrics to speak of...just the same riff repeated over and over again, but he cranks it up to a whole different level. It's like a fire drill. Brown was not just the hardest working man in show business, he may also have been the most exciting. Check out the audience, they're almost as into this as he is. One of the great missed musical opportunities in my life came in 1966 when I turned down a free ticket to see James Brown here in Portland. I often wonder WTF I was thinking.

I was thinking the same thing. Got to pondering it when I wondered what the Yanks would do if Cervelli was injured. i suppose you go with Posada, but I'd really like to see them give the kid get a shot.

More than a few people out there in baseball land are convinced that Jeter's injury is a put on so he can come back and attack the 3,000 hit plateau while the Yankees are at home. That seems a little far fetched, but not far enough that I can't buy into it. While he's out, it gives New York a chance to experiment with Billy Gardner leading off which is probably what they should have been doing all along. Over the last month he's been hitting well over .300, so in combination with his speed, maybe one of the idiots who run that show will figure out the team is better with him at the top of the order.

Stanley Crouch?

I'll be all over this one. Chick Webb was dynamite. I'm not sure how apocryphal it is, but I love the story of Webb's crew blowing Benny Goodman off the stage when Goodman came to the Savoy for a battle of the bands. I'm also guessing this would capture Ella before she was overcome by the need to scat incessantly. At least for me, that would be a good thing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7yGiTxAyRQ

Amen to that. IMO, not just one of Baker's best late period recordings, but one of his best, period.

Yankees, Red Wings and Eagles. Since I was just a kid in the '50's, these have been my teams. Lots of thick and plenty of thin over the years, but there's no way I could ever root for anyone else. Don't care enough about NBA basketball, even the Trailblazers, to have a favorite.

I have a Blackberry smartphone, but I'm going back to a "dumb" phone when my 2-year contract is up next month. There are some things about the BB I don't care for but, basically, I think it's something I can live without. Lord knows I'm sufficiently tethered to the internet by virtue of my laptop.

That's definitely The Kingsmen. Lynn Easton, the guy with the silly black hat, is on vocals and the clean cut guy on the right, I think is Barry Curtis. The drummer is Dick Peterson. They and Paul Revere & The Raiders were the two big local Portland bands back in the day. While they are only remembered now for Louie, Louie, The Kingsmen had another hit record called The Jolly Green Giant.

She did one of my very favorite songs from that era, Hurt. Who knew that in addition to her voice she was equally blessed in other areas? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CoPNSIogbg

I'm having trouble grasping the concept of James Brown on the Mike Douglas Show. I'll bet that white bread audience filled with Philadelphia housewives went down big time for the Godfather.

Although the chest is all wrong (well not exactly wrong, but not right) I'm going with Eydie Gorme.

Some interesting information here including some from Mr. Levin himself. Also, for those who do this sort of thing, there's a link that will let you DL The Dragon Suite. http://inconstantsol.blogspot.com/2009/01/mark-levin-dragon-suitesavoy-new-jazz.html

Yup. Have a good one.