Dan Gould

Well obviously I was wrong. Now I'll hear Yankee fans tell me how by all rights it should have been a sweep. Well, I concede nothing, least of all the division. Obviously we'll need a little help, but with three to play at Fenway and three other series, including the Yanks having to face Minnesota as they line up their starters for the playoffs, anything can still happen. Enjoy it for now, Harold.

Hold onto that limb... you're off to a bad start today, my friend. Jesus Christ, you aren't kidding. Lowe is a flipping moron. But I'll still take 2 of three ...

Marcus, If you don't mind my asking, who is the "plus three"? Is Hazeltine one of them, by chance?

OUCH! That one HAD to hurt. 2-1 lead, Rivera on the mound, its over, right? Wrong. In fact, when you talk about Aura and Mystique, those famous strip club dancers, Rivera really doesn't have it against the Sox, I'd wager. Since the start of the 2002 season, Rivera has now blown five out of 13 save chances against the Sox. He's still a great closer, but the Sox won't lay down against him, not since Mueller in July and Damon yesterday. BTW, my two of three prediction was predicated on the Yanks winning last night, so I guess I'll have to go out on a limb and predict a sweep now. 2.5, 2 in the loss column, 16 to play.

When I first moved to south Florida, we had Floyd bearing down on us before it decided to move north. At that point the collection wasn't half what it is today, and considering how close to the ocean my apartment was (not half a mile from the boundary of the evacuation zone) I spent maybe two hours boxing up the CDs and getting them in the car, which turned out to be the same two hours that Floyd started his big turn away from us, and I spent another two hours getting them out of the car and back in the racks. Since then, having expanded the collection and changed storage mediums to a binder system, I am secure in the knowledge that should a hurricane be on its way, I wouldn't have to make the agonizing choice of which babies to save.

Curtis Fuller: Imagination Jazz, Its Magic Soul Trombone Fire and Filigree with Red Garland South American Cookin' (Just noticed that my Japanese pressing actually says Japanese Cockin' ) Curtis Fuller Jazztette Blues-ette Blues-ette Part II Larry Gales: A Message From Monk Red Garland: Private recording Red's Good Groove The P.C. Blues Revisited! Dig It! All Mornin' Long So Long Blues Giacomo Gates: Blue Skies fly rite Herb Geller: Plays Stax of Sax Fire in the West Rick Germanson: heights Stan Getz: The Silver Collection (with OP) Giants '58 (Getz/Mulligan/Edison) Live at the Glasgow International Jazz Festival 1989 More West Coast Jazz The Dolphin Spring is Here Dizzy Gillespie: Sonny Side Up (Diz/Stitt/Rollins) Dizzy in South America volume 1 Big 7 Jazz Recital Ebullient Mr. Gillespie Complete RCA Victor Recordings

Except of course that both teams are virtually assured of the playoffs. Can I lay it out for you? Sox take two of three this weekend. The deficit is 2.5 Pick up a game next week when Lilly beats the Yanks. That's 1.5 Sweep at Fenway. That's a 1.5 game lead. Minnesota helps out by taking two of three from the Yanks following the Massacre at the Fens. Sox clinch the AL East and home field advantage throughout the playoffs on the last Friday of the season in Baltimore. Sounds pretty reasonable, doesn't it?

OK, my mistake. But you have to admit, it looks strange when a first post is an announcement of an AOTW.

Am I missing something here? Did someone give Reynolds the so-called "shoulder tap", or has he made his first post here the rather preseumptive announcement of the next AOTW?

'Fraid not.

Brad, this is the way I see it: People can say whatever the hell they want. Players are free to give it back to them, as nasty as they want. But no one physically threatened the ball player. Whatever was said, there are no circumstances where assault, let alone a violent outburst which is likely to injure other people, is called for. Sticks and stones. Any ballplayer should be able to take any amount of verbal abuse. There is no excuse, no circumstance, and no explanation for heaving a chair into the stands. And no, this isn't hockey either. Hockey has a tradition of fighting and its not surprising that players have gone into stands and attacked fans. This has never happened in major league baseball before and this clown needs to be made an example for any other high strung idiots who think that verbal abuse should be met with physical violence in the middle of the game.

Can't say that I'm 100% overwhelmed, as several of these have seen CD reissue, or vinyl copies aren't hard to find. But there are enough that I haven't heard that I'll want this one eventually. Anyone know if the Ben and Sweets album has alternates or unissued material?

I saw a Japanese reissue of this obscure 1971 date. Here're the details: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:7ad5vwrua9rk Anyone familiar with this one? Worth the import price?

I voted other and would like to see a one year suspension, to be served after his jail sentence.

The tenor triangle dates are both excellent and easily recommended, though the focus is understandably mostly on the three tenors. But good stuff, I think I dig the tunes on the second one (Aztec Blues?) a bit more. All of the Mel Criss Cross's are solid.

Last Florida participant reporting in. Won't hear em before the weekend, but I gots 'em! Thanks, Tom!

I'm very curious about this. Does the author say that Wes was gigging with Eddie Higgins in Chicago? Or was it in Indianapolis? Admittedly, Higgins did not tell me in our interview that he never left Chicago, and of course Indianapolis isn't too far, but I'm curious about the extent of his gigging with Eddie. Wish I'd known about it before I sat down with him!

Its really ironic that Almost Forgotten got brought up yesterday and today. The mention of the Dave Bailey track made me remember that it was almost exactly a year ago that I was down at Blue Note Records in Miami (I seem to make a pilgrimmage on my birthday lately) and I saw this album. Didn't get it then, but I did go back there today and decided to pick it up this time, for $5. Needs a cleaning but should play OK. Not to steal GoM's thunder, but looking at the liners, we have this, which seemingly contradicts what Chris says above:

I'm on a list for a dealer with set price LPs, and I just noticed he's got this Joe Daley RCA, M- for $15. Don't know if that's a good price or not but if anyone is looking for this and wants me to snag it from this dealer, let me know via PM.

Not that I don't want to catch the Yanks and win the division, there might actually be an advantage to getting matched up with Oakland in the playoffs rather than the Twins (assuming the A's hold on). Its clear that both the Sox and the Yanks have the A's number this year, while the Twins should have no trouble getting their rotation so that their ace, Santana(?), who is a very strong Cy Young candidate, would pitch twice in a five game series. So I guess the ideal situation would be for the Sox to win the East and the Twins to have the second best record of the division winners. Then it would be Sox vs A's and Yanks vs Twins. OR Sox win the wild card and A's have the second best record, then it would be the same matchups, except the Yanks would have the home field and the Sox wouldn't. Interestingly enough, the Twins will have something to say about how the East plays out, because the next to last series is at Minnesota, so Minnesota should be getting their rotation set and the Yanks will face their best starters getting their final tune ups.

What a charmless Christian you are. Guess that's why you referred to them as "camel jockies"-they're non-Christians, they're condemned to hell, who gives a shit, right? And exactly how do you know that Islam is a crock? HOW do you KNOW they aren't enjoying their 72 virgins at this very moment???? Oh, that's right, the King James Bible tells you so. You do more to keep people away from YOUR so-called "saviour" than you've ever done to bring them to "Him", preacher man.

I completely disagree with those who bemoan the lack of "personalities" on the men's side. If you're a serious fan, you should be watching for shotmaking skill and exciting competition. Tennis does not need modern day congenital assholes (Nastase), super brats (McEnroe) or petulant man-children (Connors). But then again, I guess that's why I rooted for Borg and Lendl against those obnoxious jerks. As for the issue of racquet technology: it is completely wrong to say that the size of the racquet is the cause of the problem of too much power in the men's game. Oversize racquets (110s) are designed for recreational players. NO professional or even semi-serious amatuer, uses an oversized racquet. They also don't use the ultra-stiff racquets that allow recreational powers to hit with greater pace. They don't need help with power, and they don't need an extra big "sweet spot" either. Professionals use midsize (90-95s) racquets which are only slightly larger than the old woodies. That is not to say that modern racquet technology has not created racquets that produce more powerful shots than wood models or the earliest composite frames. But I would argue that the greatest difference is that with the advent of modern racquet technology, tennis training changed and young players were taught to hit the ball as hard as they could, and because of that, over time, bassline pounders have been created at the expense of all-court players.

My memories are dominated by: 1. Before the first shots of the Pentagon were available, hearing, I think, Peter Jennings, say, "Oh my" and describing reports of smoke rising from the building. That really brought home the fear over what was happening and what might happen next. And of course at that point the towers stood so the full extent of the destruction wasn't yet realized. 2. Realizing that my sister worked a block and a half away from the WTC (I had known she worked downtown but not exactly where) and beginning to worry about her safety. She still cannot speak about what she saw that day and continues to have nightmares about it. 3. The worries about getting friends and family to our Wedding just eleven days later and the surrealness of sitting at the airport afterwards, US Army personnel at the security checkpoint and the place almost entirely empty. It was later that I realized how much our Wedding had meant to friends and family to see that life goes on and that there can be joy and happiness again. I was not prepared to watch the 9/11 film that CBS broadcast later, but a friend taped it for me, and I've been thinking that tonite might be the time to sit down and watch. Still not sure if I'm ready, but ...

A short work week. King Fleming: Weary Traveler Misty Night Stand By Chris Flory: Blues in my Heart Jimmy Forrest: All The Gin is Gone Ronnie Foster: Live at Montreaux Frank Foster: Manhattan Fever Basie is our Boss Herman Foster: Ready and Willing The Explosive Piano of/Have you Heard George Freeman: Introducing with Charlie Earland Sittin' In

Well, Harold, had to happen at some point. But Schilling goes tonite, and for Baltimore, I believe its the kid who shut out the Bombers last time. As for "Cowboy Up," Millar started using it last year as you remember. I didn't know what it meant either, but apparently its something that rodeo cowboys use when its time to suck it up and get the job done. Personally, I think he did a better job this year, borrowing the line from the film.