JSngry

The Yankee wealth has almost always been dominant factor in baseball. "Home Run" Baker (back when hitting a dozen earned you the nickname) sat out the 1915 season over a pay dispute. The Yanks came in and paid the A's $25k for the rights to the big shot power hitter, then paid him the staggering amount $24k for 3 years. In other words, they've done the ARod thing before. The Red Sox couldn't afford Babe Ruth's salary demands (he wanted 20k, double what he had been earning) and the Yankees offered 125K, some interest bearing notes and a 300k loan for him. No other club offered anything in that ballpark. While player movement wasn't the same back then, the resources of the Yankees made it possible for them to sign young talent and buy talent from poorer teams 80 years ago much like they do today. After all, the Broadway play isn't called Damn Those Recently Rich & Powerful Yankees. Btw, as noted before, I am not a Yankee hater (sorry Matthew & Dan). I have far more admiration for an organization that tries to field a winner than whatever they've been doing in Pittsburgh, KC and so on. Also, so the M's spent around $860k per loss. Well yeah, I remember when the KC Athletics were essentially a Yankee farm team... I'm just saying that there's a difference between buying talent that you know you can essentially keep without worry and getting into a "my dick is bigger than yours" economic climate and then leading the way, no, reveling in it. It may be what you "have to do", but there's just something fundamentally...repugnant about that line of reasoning to me after it reaches a certain point. And that point, in and out of sports, has long ago been reached and passed for me. Anyway, that's my problem, and it's really not about baseball proper, so...no more about it from me. Play ball!

It all depends which staff shows up....Colby Lewis showed cojones the size of Gil Hodges' head last night (and in Game 2), but for the year? 12-13 C.J. Wilson, equally schizo. Tommy Hunter looked none too collected in Game 4, but 13-4 for the year. So...who knows? Other than Lee, no real steady performers here. Could go either way. Gotta love the Rangers/Giants catching matchup here, if that's what it comes to (and it's kinda weird how the two series have been running "parallel" so far) Molina vs Posey...the proven vet vs the most impressive youngster...you want to talk about an unsung hero for the Rangers this series...as great as Pudge Rodriguez was, he never really developed a reputation for being a great handler of a staff...otoh, I still kinda feel that if Game 5 would have been a night game, and Molina was catching, that Wilson would have calmed down, we'd have gotten to Sabbathia, and Game 6 would have proven unnecessary. But that would have really sucked!

No. Just to piss off Yankee fans. Seriously, it's not the Yankees per se, really, it's not, it's the economic pathology that they have perfected. They certainly didn't invent it, nor are they the sole practitioners of it, nor is it confined to sports. But hell dude, if you've been a fan since '54, you're exempt from all of this. However, please be advised that the image of box seats full of obviously well-to-do movers and shakers of The American Way Of Live all sitting there in those Yankee jackets on top of their grand three-pieces feeling entitled to a pennant becuase of the money spent - and everything that flows from that - creates a negative resonance in many parts of America that extends far beyond the borders of sports.

Still not really sure what a "deeper jazz self" really is, but... I can see how this poses any number of "critical problems" but I can also just as easily, at least, see how it also offers at least one pretty basic musical "solution" - it is what it is and really has no reason (to need/want) to be anything else. Go 'head on, then!

Know it well, actually. Like it just fine.

I cheered because I like to see people who were down get back up. simple as that. That, and the fact that I was younger and more naive The Ruth/Gehrig payroll was high, no doubt, but there was no free agency then, was there. No problem with high payrolls or high salaries per se. It's the American way. No problems with investing in proven talent. It's the smart thing to do. Big problems, though, with the arrogance & decadence that comes when "addressing some issues" devolves into simply "buying somebody better". It's certainly not just the Yankees, but they certainly embody it more blatantly, more brazenly, (and not coincidentally, more successfully) than any other franchise than, maybe, the Dallas Cowboys, who, thank god, are sucking royally and hopefully fatally these days. It's not a question of process nearly as much as it is one of degree, of "pendulum swing". Really, really can't go any further w/o getting political, if I haven't already, and if I have, apologies. FWIW, Harold Reynolds did a great demo on MLBN last night of how a breaking ball routinely & naturally bounces in the other direction upon hitting the ground. But not to the extent that that one did... Kinda my point, in a way..."follow the leader" too often devolves into "swallowing the big lie"...

Hey, I used to be a Yankee fan. Loved'em in the 70s, the whole Martin-Steinbrenner-Reggie thing. The post-65 era was mentioned earlier...that was right around the time I started getting into baseball, and it was really sad - es[pecially for a kid - to see a virtually crippled Mickey Mantle & a suddenly old Whitey Ford and an increasingly irrelevant Elston Howard playing for a team that was so bad. When the Yankees came back, I cheered loudly and longly. But then, as time went by...look at these numbers: http://espn.go.com/m...ew-york-yankees Team Salaries (US$) 01 New York Yankees 206,738,389 02 Boston Red Sox 160,913,333 03 Chicago Cubs 146,609,000 04 Philadelphia Phillies 142,728,379 05 New York Mets 136,022,942 06 Detroit Tigers 122,864,928 07 Chicago White Sox 105,530,000 08 Los Angeles Angels 104,161,666 09 San Francisco Giants 98,586,333 10 Los Angeles Dodgers 95,358,016 11 St. Louis Cardinals 93,940,751 12 Houston Astros 92,355,500 13 Minnesota Twins 90,309,166 14 Seattle Mariners 86,910,000 15 Atlanta Braves 84,423,666 16 Colorado Rockies 83,172,000 17 Baltimore Orioles 81,202,500 18 Milwaukee Brewers 81,108,278 19 Tampa Bay Rays 72,323,471 20 Kansas City Royals 71,405,210 21 Cincinnati Reds 68,200,542 22 Washington Nationals 62,349,000 23 Toronto Blue Jays 61,484,400 24 Cleveland Indians 60,778,966 25 Florida Marlins 55,239,500 26 Texas Rangers 55,168,114 27 Oakland Athletics 50,839,900 28 Arizona Diamondbacks 48,452,166 29 San Diego Padres 38,199,300 30 Pittsburgh Pirates 34,933,000 This is the "natural order of things" the way that the Wal-Mart-ization of America is the "natural order of things"..maybe at first, but at some point it becomes... I can't go on without getting into politics, and this is a baseball thread, and thank god for baseball, truly the greatest, noblest, and truest invention of the American athletic psyche.But like the rest of the American psyche, much has gotten battered, bruised, and broken and a fundamental healing is sorely needed. The destruction of, or at least a period of recession from the notion that geography & money = entitled perpetual destiny = the "natural order of things" would be a healthy first step towards that healing.

Not this one.

No, it is about the money. Entirely. And you know what else can go fuck itself? The "natural order of things".

Damn near perfect.

Even if it happens again (and since most things in life have a price, it might well not), it'll never happen again like it did this time. Most of these guys are so fresh (or hard body-checked by life) that their lack of (and lack of interest in) "show biz" (did you see the post-games? These guys have so NOT been coached in Media 101!) and instead just playing the game as a team becuase it's so damn fun has been a true thing of joy to watch. I'll admit it - I didn't watch them much until mid-August (been working lots of late hours). My son (24 now!) called me up and asked me if I had been watching the Rangers much. No, not really, why should I? Because they've got something special going on this year he told me. My son knows sports like some people I know know music - when they use the word "special", I pay attention. Well, I caught the tail end of a few games shortly thereafter and was hooked. I've had enough "professional sports" to last into the next several lifetimes, ya' know? But these guys... it was like Little League all over again, only...very, very much better. I wasn't around in 1950 for the Phillies Whiz Kids, but from what I've read, this might have been a lot like that... As for the Yankees, hey, I used to be a fan, really I did, and I mean no offense to any of their fans (at least not here...), but really...fuck the Yankees. Not the individuals (other than A-Rod, and for real, Joe Giradi seems to still be as nice of a guy as he seemed to be when he caught for the Cubs), or even the organization per se, but just the notion that one entity can, with no compunction whatsoever, assume that the rest of baseball ultimately exists to serve its own needs. Already "the media" are flocking to Cashman, Jeter, everybody, "what's next?" "Well, we need to look at some things, assess our needs, blah blah blah". "How does it feel to lose?" "Oh it feels horrible, blah blah blah" Look motherfuckers - What's next is the World Series. And I for one need to look at it. If you want to know how it really feels to lose, I can think of a helluva lot of people better qualified - even in sports - to give a helluva lot deeper answer than a fucking New York Yankee. If this was not a world gone so horribly wrong, the real "Tea Party" would be taking place in the world of professional sports & the New York Yankees would be Target Number One. (Target Number Two might well be the Dallas Cowboys) Yeah it's "business", it's "the hard reality" and all that, but so is a lot of shit in life that some people just deep down know to be wrong. Life goes on nevertheless. But sometimes, every once in a while, something in life comes along that you know to be right, and by god, it makes it. It survives long enough to let you know that even though The Powers That Be have ruled and will rule again because it really is their world that it's not necessarily automatic, and that if you fight the good fight with the right people for the right reasons that yeah, sometimes it does pay off, that "the hard reality" is not automatically a forgone conclusion. I've been a Texas baseball fan (Astros as a kid, the Rangers later on) for 46 years. I never thought I'd see the Texas Rangers in a World Series. Other teams were always - always - better, flashier, richer, just had their shit more together at every level, and it showed. Don't even dare to dream about it, just enjoy the regular season and then...linger on the outer perimeter at somebody else's party. Even if it happens again (and since most things in life have a price, it might well not), it'll never happen again like it did this time.

Mr. Free - as a trombonist, do you feel that the "Kenton Trombone Style" (a very real thing, individually & sectionally, and imo the most ongoingly musically valid about the organization) influenced the sound of "salsa" trombonists?

Cost of tonight's pizza: $25.00 Texas Rangers' 2010 payroll: $55.168.114 http://espn.go.com/m...x/texas-rangers Texas Rangers getting to the World Series on a called Strike 3 to A-Rod: Priceless Most things in life have a price ( http://espn.go.com/m...ew-york-yankees ). For everything else (the really good stuff), there's Cosmic Justice. Every now and then.

Hey man, cell phone audio! That was from earlier this year. Here we go, from 2005: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMprn3uDAVI I love this shit, the timing, the float...it's almost like the Meters if they played in the clouds instead of from the earth (and that's a really horrid description, i know, but hey....maybe The Meters are like Jamal...or maybe they're both unique & so are you, and I'm full of shit. But I still love this... ).

81 tracks is ok, but I don't know if I need LP & CD in a single package?

Only that I don't think that "minor" in this case is referring to key...

Uhhh....

Same concepts only greatly expanded, different vocabulary. The trio with Jamil Nasser & Frank Gant got pretty damn "abstract". Again, it ain't all "great", but there's more than enough "food for thought" there to keep you busy for a good while.

Shearing's "group architecture" was basically about changing the color of the paint on the walls. Jamal's was about changing where those walls were, at what angle they stood, and whether they actually needed to be walls all the time, or whether they could sometimes be doors. Or floors. Or ceilings. Or free-floating structures. The fuller impact of Jamal's realizations can be felt, not in jazz, but in various forms of "advanced" contemporary dance music, where seemingly "static" elements morph into new signifiers of new time, space, and color while at the same time staying the same. And wtf is a "deeper jazz self"? Sounds like Wynton talk to me....

Don't know how down I can get with the >>>>>>> mere part of that equation, but there is something to be said for recognizing a fundamental difference of intent, namely that it behoove one to do so if one wishes to make an intelligent/informed evaluation. Let's not forget to triangulate that, since it is a trio...Jamal's music is damn near always built from the bass up (and people who don't remember/know Mile's comment ca. 72 about building music from the bass up might want to refresh/familiarize. None of which is to stake a claim for immunity from prosecution for Mr. Jamal. Not everything has been (note)worthy. But there is plenty there that is, and looking for it within the usual paradigm of "piano soloing" is neither where you will find it nor where it is meant to be placed.

From what I saw of the attitude of our offense today, it doesn't matter who the Yankee start, all that matters is that we get a quality start on our end. I'm watching Saggatha pitch and I'm thinking. "we can get to this motherfucker, he ain't all that today", and I know we could have, but before the chiseling could begin in earnest, here come Wilson with ,"WHOOOOAAAAH THERE, NOW....watch me not throw ANYBODY any strikes, YIPPEEEE!!! And if he wasn't Josh's partner in straightedge, I'd have aimed for a two-fer and blown him and Arrod up with the same shot. So, so much for the getting to Sammatha when your own guy is opening up room at the wrong end of the spectrum. Oh FUCKING well. But I could see that they were not particularly intimidated by any of this, that they knew that it was just not a good day, and that they knew that the next time would be better. Cats was fucking w/Mo in bottom 9 making him work to 4 hitters just to show him that it wasn't going to ba an auto-3 and then kind of smirking about it. Gotta love that, that smirk of defeat when you know that you came up short today but by no means do you expect that to happen again. So I hope that they know the difference between "know" and "expect" and what you gotta do to get them to come to dinner and stay for dessert, brandy, cigars, and friendly games with indecent names involving body parts real and imagined.

What would you do if Nolan Ryan looked you in the eyes and more or less said, "Son, we need a hero around here besides me. I like your style, and I'd like for you to be the new hero for the Ranger family of fans, and I will do anything I can to help do that, if it's what you want. Can we do business?" This is Nolan Ryan looking you in the eyes and being as serious and honest as any baseball ownership figure is ever going to be with you. Now if you're a player, a player with a soul, a pitcher with a soul, some blabberjabber coming from a suited dwerb with a pinky ring and a cell phone and a big office and endorsement this and marquis that, well, what kind of a man are you anyway, that's what the question then becomes. Just a dream, I know, but what a sweet one it is.

Uh, duh...maybe the "gestures" are actually structural devices and maybe Jamal's trios are primarily about group architecture instead of piano solos, huh, what, ya' THINK? That Martin Williams was a prissy bitch at times, I must say, and sometimes he had ears to match.

Why all the broken bats? Never used to be this many, no? Them Giants look like a fun bunch. How about we declare pinstripes "20th Century Passe" in general and move on? And yeah, "Buster Posey", great talent, but even greater name!