Quincy

Hiccups can happen along the way. I like his latest more than that album (faint praise I guess), though I can understand the desire to add a new instrument to the mix, even if I didn't care much for the results. Congrats to Mr. Moran.

Ah yes, the Big Red Machine had to contend with the Dodgers, and the Pirates & the Phils knocked each other around in the '70s. Just to illustrate how good some of these teams were from that time, consider the following. From '72-'76 the Reds played better than .600 ball, so it's safe to say with wild cards they would have made it 4 straight years. Though it's difficult to make up a 3 division system for the time between the expansion waves of the early '70s until the early '90s that makes absolute sense (not that sensible geography is necessary in sports), it's possible that the Reds might have made the playoffs every year from '72-'81. Note they did not make the playoffs in the split season strike year of '81 despite having the best record. The Dodgers from '70 thru '78 probably would have made the playoffs throughout that run, which gives you an idea how much the Reds & Dodgers beat up on each other back then. Finally the Pirates from '74-'77 would have won in a wild card world. As would the Phils from '75-'78. Penn. state ruled baseball in those years (and before & after, as the above is just the "streak.") Of course such a playoff environment would have changed everything (meaning roster & trades, how the games were played with playoff spots on the line), and I'm not trying to detract from the Phils accomplishment one bit, just pointing out how adding playoff spots might have looked in the '70s. I'll leave it to the AL East crowd to figure out the AL "what if".

Song title, thread title...

Saw the Criterion a couple of weeks ago. It does a great job of capturing seedy Boston of the early '70s. I'd see the noir recs above first, but El Dorado is a fun western w/ John Wayne and James Caan. As for a later, one of his last was Dead Man. He's not in it for long but it's memorable, and then there's Iggy Pop in a dress...

Let's see, if they went with 6 teams it could look something like this, though I don't know if they'd avoid having teams within a division face each other in this round or not. Wild Card round (3 WC plus worst division winner): White Sox Rangers Red Sox Yankees Switch the Soxes if you think the above is wrong. Winners go on to play Twins & Rays Rockies Reds Braves Padres Winners go on to play Phillies & Giants Too much dreck. Not much of a race in the AL as the ChiSox have a 3 g lead over the Tigers & Blue Jays. Colorado has a 3 game lead over the Cards. Yawn. It would put more pressure on teams to get a bye, but with unbalanced schedules (especially with inter-league rivals) it would expand upon unfairness. Guess we can have the World Series be played at the old Hawaii Pro Bowl site, finishing up a week or so before Thanksgiving. Brilliant, I can't wait!

Oops, I thought this was going to be a war stories thread.

That's really cool! Wonder if it will make it to the Classic Sports channel. It's all there in the article.

The Giants staff would be a fine match up vs. the Phils. Cain has been excellent all year and Lincecum has been top notch in September. Sanchez is probably their 3 now, though he'd be higher in the rotation for most clubs. He too is having a great September. Zito is pitching better too, and if he's the 4 he's better than most.

20 sure is harder to do nowadays. It seems you're a wee bit happier about Oswalt now too. Haap pitched great for Houston vs. the Nats tonight, though he got screwed over by the bullpen. The things you notice thanks to playing fantasy, as otherwise who would notice such a matchup? Other than our friend It Should Be You.

Maybe La Russa can scoot over there.

I hadn't made the "40 year" connection, but for the past couple of nights I've been revisiting the purple box set with the booklet by my side to read about the mix differences and who's playing. Usually that behavior (when I'm in the mood for that kind of thing) is only practiced with jazz sets. I too continually find myself drawn to what he was doing post-Electric Ladyland. Not that there's anything wrong with what came before of course.

Ah, so the marketing department came across another study involving eye-tracking and the way we read online? Red's above example reminded of a Slate article.

A few years ago in the Jazz In Paris thread Brownie recommended the 54 Various: Clarinettes A Saint Germain-Des-Prés (jewel case) release which I otherwise would have missed. It is very nice. I did not realize some of these releases came in jewel cases.

Instant replay sure worked great at the Bears-Lions game last Sunday. I still think there are many instances where it won't do a darn bit of good, such as was the ball trapped or caught in the OF, and the base running that happens following the outcome. I see no "justice" in the NFL limited chances to toss a red flag. Far better to have a system that uses common sense, which failed last Sunday for the NFL. A more elegant solution for some HBP situations would be to make players wear shoes that require polish again.

A fun read. The NFL's Next Evolution by Matt Taibbi

Thanks for the notice as I likely would have missed that. I've had the beat up LP on London for...oh, 30+ years that doesn't get played much, so what the hell, the Deluxe for less money inflation-adjusted than I spent back then, with mono & extra stuff! Yay! Something to tide me over till the Steve Wilson DVD comes out.

Happy birthday - FB told me though I realize you're AWOL there. ;-) Just a month ago I was in your old stomping ground on Delmar Blvd in University City, MO. Not sure if you know it, but it has been heavily gentrified over the past several years. Quite a shock for me who used to take 100+ mile road trips there in the early '80s for Vintage Vinyl visits! VV is of course still there (you knew that), though the location from circa '80 has changed. Actually I've visited that area twice this year, and lemme tell ya, no surprise but April is much more pleasant than August for walking around.

No matter how it goes down, it is interesting how 2 pennants in a row (duh, plus a title) along with being dangerous the following year makes the legacy of the past 30+ years look all the more impressive. Before last season (or perhaps the season before that) the Phils were kind of a one-off, with the World Series title of '80 and that old-timer Reds cast off (Rose, Morgan, Perez) ugly WS team of '83, followed by the ultra fun crazy scrappy goofball losers in dramatic fashion of '93. (There were of course some excellent teams in the '70s - where Dick Allen became Richie again- that had tough luck vs. the Dodgers.) But now with a title and pennant of the past 2 years followed by yet another contender this year, the whole legacy is looking a lot more badass than any suffering experienced by the faithful probably was. Hang in there J.H.

Meanwhile in the NW, wait till next year! Mariners' 2011 schedule announced

I finally got around to getting it a couple of months ago. Why I waited...? As others said fine show, and Jim's comment is spot on about Alan Grant. It has a great "you are there" feel to it.

November 2nd. (My PriceLink browser extension says Best Buy has it as a pre-order for $96 + 1.90 shipping.)

I ran into that too, though now I'm able to download them. Not sure if there's a daily limit, or what. Link that's working as of Friday.

An email from Borders Rewards saying they'll still email coupons, amongst other "features" of free membership.

The free membership includes (their email copy, I added helpful #s): 1) Receive coupons for in-store and online savings. 2) EARN $5 IN BORDERS BUCKS when you achieve $150 in annual qualifying purchases 3) FREE SHIPPING ON ONLINE ORDERS OF $25 OR MORE 4) 30% OFF Hardcover Bestsellers list-price (in-store) So if the store survives there will still be coupons.

No details like that, but he comes across a sweet guy in an old Musicians/Jerks thread. See Alexander and RainyDay's (45 & 46) posts.