Scott Dolan

Yeah, the initial reports do not look promising. Ken Rosenthal tweets: Asked a baseball executive if Hamilton’s discipline was for PEDs. His response: “Worse.” The executive declined to elaborate.

Yeah, the Big Three had a rather historic run last year. You pretty much had to have a lead on us after six, or it was game over. And we're getting Hochevar back this season, which makes that pen even more dangerous. As hard as that is to believe...

In the moment I thought to myself, "man, they should have just sent him". It had the look of an inside-the-parker, and Gordon does have some decent enough wheels. But, once I saw the replay from multiple angles I was completely convinced it was the right call. The Giants are a class organization, and it was an honor to play them for all the marbles. And after a 26 year playoff drought, to then go down to the last out of Game 7 against a team that can be truthfully called a dynasty…eh, I had no complaints. Panda winking into the camera as he was on deck may be one of the most classic moments in MLB history. And players like Pence, Panik, Panda and the Bummer made me an overnight Giants fan. There were no "bad guys" in that series. It was two good guys delivering haymakers, and one of them had to lose. I'm just glad we went down giving you cats everything we had.

Buddy of mine who was in the Pirates organization back in the 60's (made it all the way to AA) was at the game with his wife, and they were seated just behind the third base dugout. He said Usain Bolt wouldn't have made it home on that play. All the replays bear that out as well. The Giants defense was just as airtight as the Royals, and that would have been an incredible embarrassing way to lose Game 7.

If the "Twins" had sent Gordon he'd have been out by 8-10ft. As a Royals fan, I'm VERY glad the "Twins" didn't send him.

Hahaha... I remember my uncle struggling with that one forever! And then one day my aunt finally figured it out and told him, and he looked at her as if to say, "have you lost your mind?!" Very hilarious memory!

Hard to believe The Simpsons is still on. What is that show, 30 years old at this point?!

I'm actually still hung over from our World Series run. I'm actually not all that fired up for the new season yet.

Just mentioning the added bonus is all.

Shit! Who wouldn't have traded Wilma for Bettie?! It's like trading Ginger for Mary Anne. Yes, please!

I don't doubt that one bit, Steve. And you know I take your word very seriously concerning the subject. I need to explore this circle more closely.

yummy I've already stated before that I find Mary dreamy. I'm only familiar with her studio work, and highly recommend it all. She's either as talented as she is beautiful, or verse vica... ​I guess it can argued that she is the best modern Jazz artist? I'll gladly take up that cause…

Happy birthday, brother!

Not going to lie and say I was some kind of huge Leslie Gore fan, but she certainly was talented. And died WAY too young.

I feel really bad for all of you cats in the northeastern U.S., as our winter here in the midwest has been insanely mild. We got about 4 inches of snow this morning, which brings our total accumulation this winter to about…5 inches. That's about a fifth of our average. Temps haven't been bad, either. I think our lowest temp so far is 6 degrees. We're going to eventually pay for it, I'm sure. Probably have a brutal drought this summer. Or a tornado season that's off the charts... But, I did get to finally to go out and play in my new 4x4 for the first time. Never was a truck person, but my conversion was completed today.

Discovered the Alt. Country group Blackberry Smoke the other day, and picked up their album Whippoorwill. A truly fantastic outing. Kind of a cross between The Cash Brothers and Drive-by Truckers. One of my best discoveries in years.

I've heard a few Bad Plus tunes, and just found them completely uncompelling.

Jim, I'd like to make a few points here. 1. I really wasn't looking to argue the point. I mean, I know that's what we're supposed to do per Intertubes Rules Of Engagement on a message board (a subsection that has since been archived). I guess that when I read that statement Miles made in his "autobiography" it forever altered the way I scrutinized and approached the subject. That's a mea culpa/fair enough two-fer, if you'll allow. 2. My opinion is naturally based on what I have heard/experienced. Granted, you have probably forgotten more Jazz than I've even heard. Which is saying quite a bit, since I've heard a healthy helping. But, the examples you've presented here have done nothing to change my mind. They've all been "nice", or "good", or "cool". Those are all peak adjectives at this point. 3. Monk's changes vs comping. OK, but even you have to admit that there is a lot of connective tissue there. For example, the Cootie Williams you posted above. Not to disparage Mr. Williams and his accomplished and capable band, but it struck me as a Hooked On Classics rendition of a Monk tune. Not that I'm above simplification. It's awesome! But, it does devolve into an apple vs oranges conversation. 4. As for "higher ceiling"? Did anyone ever get accused of playing "sheets of sound" on trumpet? OK, now I'm just getting silly. But hey, I'm quite the minimalist these days. Why fill up space with unneeded clutter just because you can?

Both of those sounded "nice" And that's really the point. there's nothing "wrong", but much better material exists. And it always has a sax player attached to it. Though I will admit that first solo Monk played on the opening track from the Clark Terry outing was off the fucking charts sideways!

Blues Alley, House of Tribes, and Village Vanguard are all top shelf albums. Perhaps Wynton is simply more at home on the stage, as I've never heard a bad live album from him.

His comping.

Miles? Not really. Even he admitted that his style didn't fit well with Monk. And he was the one who I first saw talk about the wealth of space Monk left in his tunes. I believe it's in his "autobiography". I forget his exact words, but when he explained it, it made perfect sense. Please explain? Space is space, not sure if there is intrinsic "trumpet space" to be filled vs "tenor space". Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the notion? Either way, Ray Copeland & Thad Jones both handled the spaces they were given just dandily...I'd add Joe Gordon too, but slightly less dandily. And from a different instrumental approach, Don Cherry played him some Monk too. I never heard any trumpet player that interpreted Monk come close to Rollins/Coltrane/Griffin/Rouse/Lacy. But, that may just be me...

I'm just not sure how you successfully play Monk as a trumpeter. I always figured that why he almost always used a speed merchant sax player in his groups. Rouse being the exception, but he solo'd exact the same way as Monk, so it worked well. Monk leaves too much space for most trumpeters to fill, IMO.

Ugh... The Jelly Roll album may be his all time worst. That's really the biggest issue with Marsalis. He has put out some real gems. Even Mr. Reynolds, who holds a rather profound hatred of all things Wynton Marsalis, gave a fairly enthusiastic thumbs up to the Village Vanguard box. But, he has also lined his catalog with some truly epic turds. His catalog is a minefield.