JSngry

Expand each league by a team, go to four divisions, and lose the Wild Card altogether. At least it'll be all "winners" playing instead of three "winners" an one or tow "runner up"s.

"If you can't beat 'em with your own cynicism, use an appeal to a Simpsons reference." - Jim Sangrey

Ivory Joe Hunter Ebony Jackson-Rendon Jesse McCartney

One trick, one dimensional ponies are the backbone of "Rock 'n' Roll". You don't build an Industry on subtly and complexity. You build it on Image. If you create an indelible image, you win at "Rock 'n' Roll". Especially if you lose at life. Joan Jett would have been in there years ago if she'd have fucked up her life. OTOH, you don't see Cherie Currie in no RNRHOF. Go figure that. Or do they wait until she dies before The Runaways make it? When do we get to Lita Ford? Now there's a Rocker!

People Who Work For Frito-Lay People Who Enjoy Salty Snacks People Who Use Laurie Pepper In The Name Three People Game (it's addictive, you know!)

Bucket List. I will gladly barf and defecate in that bucket and on that list, and will do it in individual segments if necessary. On my Fuck It List, there's Bucket List.

Salty Parker Art Pepper Laurie Pepper

Hey, The Man gonna own everything eventually, or at least die trying. Nevertheless... and even

Must be some kind of PC thing going on in AZ or something... Wally World online got your hookup http://www.walmart.c...chs+indian+corn They also taunt you with claims of availability, so yeah, hit'em hard! Walmart# 1325-Tucson 455 E Wetmore Rd Tucson, AZ 85705 (520) 292-2992 4.58 miles | View Map In stock Walmart Supercenter# 1612-Tucson 1650 W Valencia Rd Tucson, AZ 85746 (520) 573-3777 6.38 miles | View Map In stock Walmart# 1291-Tucson 7150 E Speedway Blvd Tucson, AZ 85710 (520) 751-1882 9.03 miles | View Map In stock Walmart Supercenter# 2922-Tucson 7635 No. La Cholla B Tucson, AZ 85741 (520) 297-0840 9.07 miles | View Map In stock Walmart Supercenter# 5031-Tucson 8280 N Cortaro Rd Tucson, AZ 85743 (520) 744-3652 12.43 miles | View Map In stock Walmart Supercenter# 3379-Oro Valley 2150 E Tangerine Rd Oro Valley, AZ 85755 (520) 544-0016 14.29 miles | View Map In stock Walmart Supercenter# 1411-Sahuarita 18680 S Nogales Hwy Sahuarita, AZ 85629 (520) 625-3808 21.37 miles | View Map In stock Walmart Supercenter# 3807-Benson 201 S Prickly Pear Ave Benson, AZ 85602 (520) 586-0742 48.34 miles | View Map

The cover photo makes me sad, though.

Cartoon "faith" in general, actually...it's ok, I like cartoons. A lot. But I don't model my life-view on them.

Don't shoot the internet. The internet is your friend. http://www.amazon.com/Candy-Crate-Brachs-Indian-22oz/dp/B002MVJV5K http://www.candywarehouse.com/occasions/halloween-candy/halloween-candy-bulk/products/brachs-indian-corn-22-ounce-bag/ http://www.candycrate.com/brachs-indian-corn.html

otoh, one can use "prayer" as a form of directed meditation, a way to find the centeredness to be able to deal with...whatever, be it by effecting an action, accepting an outcome, instilling/sustaining hope, resilience in the face of adversity, all kinds of things. It's not all/always Letter To Santa Claus...fundamentalist/skeptic stereotypes to the contrary. That's the easy way out.

Good call. Thad Jones as a player was often quite startling. If we're talking about simply a quick mind, one that responds to the moment without hesitation and seemingly being able to play the future as if it had already happened, I submit Plugged Nickle-era Wayne shorter & peak-from Warne Marsh. And actually, Herbie Hancock from time to time, especially as accompanist. Hell, that whole Miles Second & Lost Quintets arc. The live recordings, especially of the Lsot Quintet show an incredible amount of "in/of the moment" inspiration that's expressed w/o hinderance (or so it sounds).

Are there any Brazilian cats in New York you can hang out with, just to get a feel for the speech patterns and such? Call me crazy, but I think that speech patterns and musical phrasing are sorta/kinda the same thing, at the least, related, in a lot of musics. But I'd imagine it's like any other music, you don't get a feel for the music by getting to know the music, you get a feel for the music by getting to know the people. Then the music doesn't need to be figured out, it starts making sense by itself.

But you gotta love this: Either Valentine's being a Good Soldier, or else he's being left out of the discussion altogether because his ass is gonna be out of there too and he just don't know it yet. Of course, the possibility that both are true also linger... Corporate behavior is really quite predictable!

One wild card team is enough. It's ok this year b/c the records between all the AL teams besides Detroit, there's what, at most a two game difference? But two wild card teams very much allows for the second WC team to be some bunch of schmucks who barely make it in having one game against a team that played really well but was in a division with a team that played even better. And when that happens, it won't be drama, it will be bullshit. B.S. = Bud Selig = Bull Shit. I'm not a fan.

Had the very real privilege of meeting Mr. Sipiagin last night and hearing him play a little bit (couldn't stay the night as family matters beckoned). I don't say this lightly or politely - the man has a sound, a pure, full, sustained energy sound - that his recordings come nowhere near close to capturing. Those of you who know me well enough will know that I'm all about having a sound first and foremost. If you play well but don't have a voice...Well, this guy definitely has one and again, the records don't come close to getting it all. Plus, he's dedicated to the whole post-Woody Shaw school of extended harmonies (which I know not everybody has an appreciation of/for, but still...), and that stuff is very taxing physically for a trumpeter. What I heard last night was pretty damn revelatory, not so much in terms of the vocabulary itself (although there was no cheapness there, none at all), but more in terms of the "voice". Strong, serious, sound. Marvelous, very very marvelous. If you ever get a chance to hear Alex Sipiagin in person, do so. What's on the records ain't half the deal.

Truthfully, I'm pulling for the A/s this year now. Not against the Rangers, I couldn't do that, but let me put it this way - I get the same kick out of seeing these "out of nowhere" kids just stepping up and refusing to be intimidated or pressured that I did out of seeing the Rangers team of a few years ago do much the same thing. Watching kids play a kids game at a grown-up level vs jaded old fucks treat it like a business (even though it is)...call it the Endless Summer Syndrome, but I can't deny that it's a cool thing to watch.

URRITE as far as I've heard. How much is there, and can the Tangerine side be included?

It may or may not be a "collapse", this last week of the Rangers' season, I suppose mathematically it is, but if you watched the team every game, it's not a surprise. The pitching (other than Darvish, and even Harrison) had been getting wobbly for a while now, and the offense never really got into what we've come to recognize as a Rangers Groove. Physically they looked more than a little worn down, and mentally they seemed to be relying on "it" happening just because "it" had happened before. I tend to think of a "collapse" as something sudden and unexpected. This was more of a "fade", a team not having any gas left in the tank for the last quarter lap. Same results, but hardcore Ranger fans have been wondering for quite a while now when "it" was going to come back together, and I was of the school that "it" just might not come together. Nobody does it all the time, you know? There are years when teams don't get it done, they just don't have it. This years' Rangers, from about late April on were one of those teams. Best record in the AL for a good while, they kept winning games, but not a lot of "strong" wins. The real competition was coming from the A/s, and for a quick minute, the Angels. The Angels obviously had issues of their own, but the A's... This year's Rangers never really showed the "heat" to be able to withstand a constant onslaught of aggressive baseball. I don't have the stats in from of me, but it sure seemed that we won a lot more come-from-behind games in the later innings last year than we did this year, a lot more. How much of this was mental, how much was physical, how much of it was just "law of averages", I don't know. I hear murmuring that Kinsler's been playing with a bad-ish ankle almost all season, etc. Definitely all the injuries to the pitchers had some kind of gradually unfolding negative effect...and in the end it looked like it was all coming down to "one game". And if you want to look at the "one game" that could have made the difference, you can look way past the last week or two. You can look back to when Josh Hamilton was swinging at anything and everything and leaving runners on base. You can look at all the times we left runners on third base with nobody out. You can look at all the times where we'd get a lead and give it right back due to ineffective pitching. You can look at the times when teams like the Royals would be given chances to make it a tight game instead of just shutting them down and taking all the hope out of their life, which made everybody have to work harder to get the win That shit was going on a good long while before the last two weeks and erosive patterns like that eventually become manifest. The last week or two of the regular season was chickens coming home to roost, simple as that. So this is not shocking, this fade of the Rangers. Disappointing, yes, but not shocking. Even if the team gets "redemption" in the playoffs to whatever level they make it to, the talent is not balanced like it was in 010 & 011. And we all know that in the end, unbalanced talent can get you quite a way, but sooner or later it gets exposed. The 012 Rangers ended up unbalanced and they got exposed. Not a surprise, unfortunately, and it should make for an interesting off-season.

No, we have a wildcard game on Friday, against Baltimore. I suspect there will be drama.

No, not necessary. It will hopefully be a wakeup call to the players and the organization and the fans that magic should never be expected, and that if you want a dynasty, go rent some DVDs. Otherwise, you can play your ass off and still have some shit happen, some of which is under your control only until you realize that you need it to be under your control, at which point, hey, too late. That's baseball. Hell, that's life. Appreciate the hell out of it when it's good and don't lose faith when it's not.

Rationally, Scott Feldman + Roy Oswalt + Justin Grimm + Martin Perez < Neftali Feliz as a starter. Also, Ryan Dempster < Colby Lewis when push came to shove. Best option available, just not the best option, period. That would have been a healthy Colby Lewis Bottom line, Ranger's couldn't pitch, Oakland would not lose, and ther it was. Also, why you running these guys so hard Wash? Because Wash knows baseball, Wash saw the 012 A's looking and feeling like the 010 Rangers and Wash knows that if he don't keep his main guys in thee as much as humanly possible, there's a good chance that the As have the division title long before game 162. Hell, I started feeling it at least a month ago, and I know that Wash is more perceptive than I am. Oakland is the monster who you can't run away from because they're stuck on GO!!! At some point, there's no avoiding the inevitable. Emotionally, hey Josh Hamilton, FUCK YOU. It's been fun for everybody, but it's time to move on. Micahel Young, Nellie Cruz, you're both at the age where things change with your body. Make the adjustments of make the trip out of town. Rest of the team, hey, we love you because of your youthful energy and edge, but - don't ever think that magic is guaranteed. Use this season and learn that lesson very well. Don't get all old and jaded like "certain otehr teams", keep it fresh, but look over at the A's and you know EXACTLY how that felt. Now you know how THIS feels. Both feelings are always possible outcomes, so stop "expecting" them and bump it up another notch more to increase the odds of getting the favorable one. Exempt from all this- Adrian Beltre. Still a Superior Human Being. And Yu Darvish who IS going to be all that was hoped for. And Ron Washington, who...just knows the way baseball go, good and bad, and that all you can REALLY do is play the next game and platy it better than you did the day before. Oh, wait, we still have another game to play, against Baltimore. At home. And if we win that one, we get two more to play, against the Yankees. At home. But really, Jon Daniels is going to have an interesting winter, that's all I can say. And I would more more than OK with these barracuda buzzsaw A's just gnawing the legs off of everybody they play from here on out and just leaving blood and bone fragment everywhere.They seem to be very good at that, and unless you the one getting it done to you, it's pretty fun to watch. GO A'S!

I've seen that place. Ate at a Pakistani place in the same complex (not as good as I had hoped), We like Thai food quite a bit, already have a couple places in town we like, will have to give this one a shot. Thanks for the tip!