Dan Gould

+1. And I noticed this new release in the last JRM publication and was very curious about it. Looks like it goes on the list for when I have money again.

Great news! According to MLB.com, the ball is in the possession of the Hall of Fame. And now, the Hall can do what they said they would do: Feature the "record breaking" ball in a display discussing the steroid era. Sometime in 2009, they can update the display to include the result of Bonds' perjury trial. And then, Barroid can decide whether or not to do what he threatened: boycott any HoF induction ceremony if the ball is on display with the asterisk. Is that not a win-win for darn near everybody?

this game is just fucking killing me. Just like yesterday, whenever the Sox do something offensively, the Rays respond. One way or another, by a gift or otherwise, they respond.

This guy is an idiot. He said from the start that he would donate it, unless "blast it off into space" won the internet poll (or was it "blow it up"?). Now he only wants to "lend" it? WTF? And its even worse since Bonds said he would shun election if its on display. It was the perfect way to keep him out - or at least keep him from having his moment in the sun (with a mostly empty dais behind him).

Yeah, I didn't remember what you said either, but I wasn't sure either way. The thing is, in one sense, you need a plane to break up in order to give people a chance to escape, and the other thing is, unless you're equipped with pontoons, I don't think its very likely to ever ditch in the ocean without losing the structural integrity of the plane. I did think that it was a very cool design element of the plane that with no power, a little blade drops out of the wing and uses the speed of the plane to get some power to the cockpit and control surfaces, to give the pilot a shot at maintaining control.

Its time to give up the charade, because you are fooling no one, Brian-the-Brooklyn-Poet/Clementine/EDC. You're as female as and as transparent as

Do you know who the fourth member of the Cedar Walton group will be? I'd guess Vincent Herring, since he seemed to mostly replace Ralph Moore in that spot, but its been a while since I've seen who Cedar is gigging with.

See I don't actually agree with that. I've listened to KB pretty intently in the past. I'm quite sure that when Jim refers to the grit under the urbanity, he does after some pretty close listening. Saying that we should listen more critically to KB because Chauncey/Clem/Brian craps all over him is to say that we haven't listened that way in the past, or that there is a chance that if we listen closely, we'll hear what Kenny's detractors hear. I'm quite happy listening to KB the way I have in the past - with a smile on my face. I don't have any need to listen closer to see if I really ought to reconsider my opinion of him. There's little enough pleasure in my life to go looking for a reason to eliminate a small portion of it.

I'm sure many remember the video from several years back of the plane ditching in the ocean just off the coast of an island southeast of Africa? Amazing video shot by a tourist? Well at 11 AM is the episode of Air Emergency on that crash, which was the result of the actions of some moronic hijackers. The plane took off from, I think, Ethiopia. Their destination was close enough that of course, they did not depart with full fuel tanks. But the hijackers, believing that a 767 has enough fuel for 11 hours of flight, stormed the cockpit and insisted that the pilot fly to Australia. He argued and he argued but they wouldn't listen. And he knew that if he flew toward Australia, they'd run out of fuel and ditch in the middle of the ocean. So while the hijackers finally forced him to fly over water - they could see land so they knew he wasn't obeying them - he remembered this island and basically tried to fly in circles over it. He held out hope that if he could convince them that the fuel was insufficient, they'd allow him to land at the island's airport, and if not, at least he could try to ditch the plane close to the island, and maybe rescuers could respond quickly. You probably know the rest of the story - a not insignificant number of people survived, and it just so happened that a group of doctors were on the beach that day and so medical attention was literally 500 yards away. The sad thing is that there might have been many, many more survivors. The lesson is, if you are ever told to put on your life jacket, they also tell you not to inflate it until you escape the plane. But some people misunderstood what the Captain said, and pulled the cords. And when a group of people do that, and others aren't sure what they heard, they do it too. But when a life jacket hits the water, it wants to float - and it will pull you to the top of the cabin as the water fills. Other passengers died in their seats, the life jacket pulling them up with such force, they were caught in the seatbelt. I think that the pilot of this aircraft was every bit the hero, maybe even moreso, than the guy who brought the crippled jet in for the landing at that Iowa airport.

Fwiw, the Boston papers (well, the Globe) are speculating that with Buchholz improving and Masterson looking shaky, a switch might be made. Its obvious that they are thinking in those terms - Buchholz has been starting on the same days Masterson starts, so there won't be any alteration if they make that move. I'll say it again though - I don't want to see Masterson face Abreu, Giambi, Posada, Damon or Cano with that short porch in right field.

The only part of the night that was worth anything. I never would have guessed that Texas pitching would manage to protect a 2-1 lead from the fifth inning on. I don't know about the Sox right now. I think they are really missing Papi, who will be lucky to get back after the break, I think it will be at least a week beyond the start of the second half. And Elllsbury's hitting or lack thereof is killing them. They certainly have to win tomorrow; I'd hate to see them try to beat Kazmir to avoid a sweep. And tomorrow's Yankee game should be interesting - Joba facing his first real test, an AL team that happens to lead in scoring. If he gets through them and keeps them to three runs or less and goes seven, then I'll start giving him credit.

And the fucking walks. Five of them in six inning,s and an eye-popping four coming with two outs, and two of them scored. With Buchholz dominating at Pawtucket, they've got one choice: Send Masterson down at the break, and have him work as a reliever. Bring him up by the end of the month. Maybe he can succeed as a starter, maybe not. But right now, without a trade, they need him as a groundball machine reliever. That still needs them desperate for someone to face lefties unless Okajima fixes himself. But I'm a little tired of watching Masterson give up bombs, and I seriously fear his ability to beat the Yankees.

I have to take back what I've been saying about Masterson. The more I watch, the more I see him get hammered by lefties. I truly fear for what the Yankees will do to him next Saturday on national TV. Its a combination of leaving too many pitches belt high against lefties, and the fact that lefties get a nice long look at his pitches because of his delivery. And how the FUCK can a guy with a supposedly awesome sinker leave so many pitches where they can get hammered? Every single game he's given up bombs to lefties. The Yankees are going to fucking kill him. Mark my words. Three home runs - MINIMUM.

For those wondering, a little birdie has told me not to expect any audience recordings to pop up on a certain website. Apparently the staff at the Vanguard were shining flashlights at people's laps throughout the night, to make sure that no surreptitious recording was going on. Kinda sucks since a lot of LD shows have been captured at the Vanguard in the past, and I think this engagement was really something special if it could have been shared with people who don't live near NYC.

My father was a heavy smoker. Then one day at work, a presentation was made of a health program that was being syndicated. The debut episode was being shown to the salesman to get a feeling for whether they felt the show could be sold in syndication. The featured topic was the dangers of smoking. At the end of the screening, my father took his pack of cigarettes and threw them on the table. Everyone laughed, and at the end of the meeting, someone picked up the pack and tried to give it back to him. And he said, "No, I was serious. I'll never smoke again." And he didn't. (He's always been proud of his willpower, it was the same when he stopped drinking) And for those who have been heavy smokers in the past - the damage you've done never really heals itself. 25 years after my father quit smoking, he was hospitalized with pneumonia, and the doctors told him they could tell he had been a heavy smoker. And yet, the pernicious weed still exerts its control - my younger brother is a cancer survivor (lymphoma) who never completely quit smoking and returned to it afterwards, and my sister never quit either.

'Webster & Associates' disappointing? That's not a commonly held opinion around here.

That certainly is emblematic of the "jazz" fans who think Boney James is the shit. I am kind of disappointed that we didn't get a demographic report on his audience though. I was astounded and frankly sickened to see, years ago, the Bonester winning a "jazz" award on a BET broadcast.

How's this for non-Eastern baseball talk: Hey guys, the Tigers and the Twins made major moves in the last three weeks or so, the Twins with a ten game win streak and the Tigers with a very strong month that has seen them fall to a season-worst 12 games under .500 (iirc) to standing above. 500 today. Should their fans be concerned that this came in interleague play? Wait a sec, let me check the schedule ... Yup, the previously woeful Tigers went 10-2 against the NL West and six of the Twinkies ten successive wins came against San Diego and Arizona (there ya go, Goodie - Western Baseball talk). Interesting quirk of the schedule that after getting healthy against the NL, and predominantly the NL West, these two hot teams play each other starting tonight in Minnesota. Good time for a reality check now that they are finished with the AAAA league. Personally, I think that while Yankee fans may think of themselves as within striking distance of the East, the more realistic concern should be the wild card, and specifically the possibility that the Rays/Red Sox, Twins and yes, the Tigers, could be stiff competition for that spot. No team has started 0-7 and won but with the Tigers at .500 and climbing, they have a definite shot.

That's f-ing rich, pal. There's not a damn "factual basis" to any of your opinions. And if you are Brian-the-Brooklyn-Poet/Clem, let me direct you to this in the Forum Rules: 5) We do not encourage multiple memberships or aliases. We prefer one account per person. Anyone found to have multiple accounts will be contacted and asked to choose one of their aliases, at which time the other account(s) will be deleted.

But its not an official no-hitter because the Dodgers didn't bat in the ninth. so its more of a curiosity than a real feat. Dan, Elias be damned. I'm surprised you buy into that. When the game ends and one team doesn't have any hits, it's a no hitter, "official" or otherwise! There was a 28 year old minor league journeyman who threw a rain-shortened no-hitter against the O's at Fenway on the last day of the 2006 season. Should he really get credit for a no-hitter?

So let me get this straight - you are clinging to past glories (something that happened SEVEN years ago + a fluke run to a World Series sweep) as reasons why easterners should give a crap about the NL West??? Tell you what - no one is stopping YOU from talking about "western" baseball - so have at it. And we'll continue to talk about our concerns.

We also talk about midwestern baseball, specifically the Cubs. We might care about Western baseball when there is a team in the NL West when there is more than one team over .500.

My wife and I had to make a trek to Boston in 2005 to see the World Championship banner fly, and the seats for the second game we saw were atop the Monster. They are f-ing awesome! The fact that you have a counter in front of you and bar stool seats with backs make them easily the most comfortable in the park - remember that they never switched out seats that were designed for turn of the century heights and physiques. But as for the view, its perfect. Binoculars may help to really see if its a ball or a strike (I used the zoo lens on my 35mm camera) but its a great way to see a game. The only problem of course is that you have the blind spot of anything hit to the wall, as well as a blind spot for portions of centerfield. The only thing that made our trip less than a complete pleasure was not realizing how cold it could still get in mid-June in Boston. My wife spent more time in the line for Legal Seafood chowder than watching the games.

And we should be quite pleased (IMHO) that he chose to record people like Webster and Sweets and the others. These guys were not, to borrow that silly term from ESPN, "NOW" at that time, but because of Granz we have some mighty fine recordings (GA notwithstanding). In the same way, Carl Jefferson could be seen as a patron of the artists (and style of music) he loved, with his Concord label.

Perhaps you heard it from me, as I posted that date when I saw it on the Amazon listing.