Category Archives: Sports

April 4, 2016 · 22:59

Opening Day

It’s opening day for my two favorite baseball teams – the bad news is that they were playing each other. I guess the good news is that I had to be at least half happy with the result.

Baseball has a special place in my heart, having played the game as a kid and having coached my kids in it as an adult. I have many happy memories from my childhood of games seen in Kansas City’s old Municipal Stadium. The A’s weren’t very good, but it was always fun, and there were a lot of weekend double headers.

As an adult, I’ve had a lot of fun going to games in Anaheim (and occasionally in Chavez Ravine) with wives, kids, family, and friends. We still do – do a search for the “LA Angels” tag and you can find plenty of posts. When we travel we try to hit major and minor league parks for a game, and if the Angels are playing against the locals, so much the better. Fenway, Comisky, Safeco – we’ve followed them from one side of the country to the other.

If we need some background noise while working on something, there’s nothing better than a baseball game. There’s a rhythm, a cadence to a baseball broadcast, something that also harkens back to childhood. In the early 1960’s we didn’t have every game on television like we do today. We were lucky to get one game a week, and it rarely was our team. There was no such thing as a local broadcast station or network. If you weren’t there, you listened on the radio. I did a LOT of listening on the radio.

Even now, on a long cross-country trip in the summer, there’s nothing better at night than to pull in some far away broadcast on a clear-channel station. On a good night in the desert you can hear games from San Francisco, Phoenix, Seattle, Denver, Houston. When my family first moved to Vermont and I was missing my friends, my music, and my Cubbies, on a good night I could pull in the broadcast for a few minutes before it faded out.

Not every game’s a gem. It truly is a long season. But that’s part of it all.

I grew up with the game and my kids did as well. I may have screwed up a few things as a parent, but that wouldn’t be one of them. The Youngest Daughter was at opening night in Anaheim tonight with her boyfriend. We’ve been to a lot of home openers, but it was not to be for me tonight. But it’s great to have spring training over, the games counting, and hope springing eternal.

Losing 9-0 in the bottom of the ninth? We’ve got ’em right where we want ’em! It’s hero time!

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Filed under Family, LA Angels, Sports

March 25, 2016 · 22:14

What I Learned At The Gym Today

First, I need to go more than once every eight or nine months. This “duh!” observation is brought to you tonight by Captain Obvious!

Secondly, I always overdo it on my first return visit. Actually, this isn’t something I learned today, it’s something I’ve always known. I guess what I learned today is that I’m never going get any smarter about not doing it again.

Third, understand that I truly am blind as a bat from arms’ length inward. However, with my “cheater” reading glasses on I’m equally blind as a bat from arms’ length outward to the Andromeda Galaxy. This is why I always wear shirts or clothing with pockets, to facilitate putting the glasses on and taking them off a hundred times a day. Gym shirts and shorts don’t have pockets, or if they do, anything in them tends to get mashed during the course of a workout. Even without the glasses I can make do with reading stuff on my phone since I have the “Zoom” feature activated for just such a situation. But I learned today there is no “zoom” function on my combination lock to get back into my locker.

Fourth, it’s bad enough to have forgotten a pair of headphones so I couldn’t listen to music whilst I tortured myself. But that leaves little else for the brain to do during thirty minutes on the bike or treadmill other than watch all of the damn televisions on every wall and every piece of equipment. While a couple are showing basketball or spring training baseball, some are on CNN and some on Faux – and we’re going through this idiotic political circus. Remember the scene in “The Fifth Element” where Leeloo is learning about humans by reading the entire computer encyclopedia and gets to the section on “War”?

Finally, I learned that after watching an hour of CNN and Faux and Trump and Cruz and Brussels and ISIS and North Carolina and Vaxxed, I would consider a two trillion ton nickle-iron asteroid on a direct collision course with the Earth at 0.1c to be a perfectly acceptable alternative.

Fortunately, I returned to the “normal” world, The Long-Suffering Wife, and Vin Scully broadcasting the first game of his 67th (and final) season with the Los Angeles Dodgers. If all of that wasn’t enough, I’m listening to Frank and Moon Zappa’s “Valley Girl” so I’m feeling much better about things.

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Filed under Health, Paul, Sports

March 20, 2016 · 23:08

It’s Almost Baseball Season

The language doesn’t necessarily matter. Two balls, two strikes, two out makes it “Deuces Wild!”

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Filed under Photography, Sports, Travel

February 21, 2016 · 21:52

Almost Time

As a kid living in places where they actually had winter, spring, summer, and fall (Los Angeles has wind, fires, drought, and earthquakes) my favorite season was always spring. Yeah, winter could be fun with snowmen and snowball fights and sledding, and fall in Vermont is spectacular, but for me it was always the way things turned green and the birds came back that made spring special.

Plus, you know – baseball!

Pitchers and catchers reported last week, position players tomorrow for most teams, and the first first spring training games will start next weekend.

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I’m ready!

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Filed under LA Angels, Sports

October 4, 2015 · 17:03

New Growth

Not that I thought that anyone was lying awake nights worrying about my stressed and leaf-dropping ficus trees, but when I went out into the back yard with the mighty mighty dog beast today, I found all of the trees in question to be popping out with new leaves and sprouts!

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I know that this is a new development because I remember checking yesterday to see if anything was happening and I saw absolutely nothing new, which was disappointing.

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Today, however, probably a third of the barren branches have at least a handful of new leaves sprouting. Perhaps the trees noticed me checking yesterday and figured it was time to put it in gear.

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They also seem to be sprouting right out of the primary trunks as well, so I’m guessing new branches? I didn’t think these things could get bushier, but considering how little I know about them (and what I’m doing here), the odds are good that I’m wrong about that as well.

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Hooray, the trees aren’t dead!

Yet.

I just hope they haven’t been talking to the philodendrons (pothos plants?) out on the front porch. (Which I still haven’t killed, despite my best efforts.)

On a day when my favorite baseball team comes up one game short in getting to the playoffs (pitchers and catchers report to Tempe Diablo when?) and my favorite NFL team, which had been a favorite to win their division, dropped to 1-4 and can’t do anything right to save their lives, having non-dead trees is a big deal!

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Filed under Castle Willett, KC Chiefs, LA Angels, Photography, Sports

September 7, 2015 · 14:23

Single-A Baseball

For those of you not familiar with the American baseball system, under the “major leagues” (New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, etc) are the “minor leagues.” These leagues have teams that are generally affiliated with one of the thirty major league teams. They’re usually (but not always) in smaller cities and towns and they serve as developmental leagues for their “parent” teams.

Within the minor leagues, the Triple-A teams are for the players just below the major league level – many players in Triple-A have been up in the majors for at least a short period here or there, perhaps to fill in for a week or two when one of the major league players got hurt. The Double-A players are in need of a bit more seasoning before they’re ready to move up, and the Single-A clubs are filled with rookies and “prospects” who are learning what being a professional baseball player involves.

Being in Fort Wayne, Indiana, we had an opportunity today to go to the final regular season game for the Fort Wayne Tin Caps. The Tin Caps are the Single-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. They have a beautiful stadium right in the heart of Downtown Fort Wayne, just two blocks from our hotel.

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We had bought our tickets online a couple months ago, so we got what turned out to be the best seats I’ve ever had for a ballgame, except for when my kids were a playing at the neighborhood ball park. Better yet, we got them for $10 each. For reference, at a major league game, $10 might barely get you nosebleed seats. Seats like this at a major league game are typically $100 or more. Someplace like Yankee Stadium it might be much, MUCH more.

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Of course we got souveniers. I got a normal baseball cap, while The Long-Suffering Wife went a different route.

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The “Tin Cap” nickname and the “apple wearing a pot” logo apparently come from the legend of Johnny Appleseed. Who knew?

While it was quite warm at our seats-with-the-best-view-in-the-universe (92°F with 50% humidity) there was no beating our view of the action.

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Minor league baseball is a LOT of fun, with gimmicks and entertainment in between every half inning. Our favorite was Jake the Diamond Dog, a very well trained Golden Retriever. Jake carried baskets of bottled water out to the umpires, ran out onto the field to fetch foul balls, and was acting Bat Boy two or three innings, playing “fetch” with the biggest sticks around.

It was a great day for the home nine (not so much for the visiting Bowling Green Hot Rods) with the Tin Caps winning 17-0. (And it wasn’t as close as it sounds.) But for a fun day in the sun, watching kids that might be major league stars in a few years, it was a great, fun experience!

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Filed under Photography, Ronnie, Sports, Travel

August 31, 2015 · 23:07

Odds & Sods For Monday, August 31st

Item The First: This is odd:

Site Stats

Normally this site percolates along with a handful of hits per hour. It’s not bad, but it’s not going to get any buyouts from Google or Medium any time soon. Three weeks ago there was a spike where it went up to 31 views in one hour, which I think was a record for WLTSTF. I may know what and/or who caused that one.

Then last week there was a one-hour long spike up to 47 views in an hour. No clue.

And today this. Again, no clue as to who or what.

Note, this is not a bad thing. I put this out there in order for it to be read and shared after all. But it just is odd that it’s happening and I’m curious. I’m also hoping that it’s a “good odd” as opposed to a “disastrous odd.” Since I’m pretty sure I know what the first one was, I’m also pretty sure (not certain) that it was a good thing and got good (if limited) results. I can hope for the best.

Cryptic? It’s that “elephant” thing again.

Item The Second: Good thing that football season is about to start and hockey training camps are about to open. I guess I’ll just have to live with the Chiefs taking the Super Bowl and the Kings winning the Stanley Cup this year. It doesn’t look like the Angels are going to even make the playoffs, let alone win the World Series.

Item The Third: I mentioned back at the end of April how great that month had been. The road has gotten decidedly rockier since then. This isn’t to say that there haven’t been some great things in the last four months (New Horizons, Vermont, our airshow, and so on) but there have definitely been some significant disappointments and issues to go along with them.

All in all, August? Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, okay? September? You and I need to talk and set some boundaries and goals, right here and now.

Item The Fourth: Tomorrow night (US time) there will be another crew going to ISS on a Russian Soyuz. Launch time for the “Expedition 45/Visiting Crew” TMA-18M is scheduled for 00:37 Thursday morning EDT, which will be 21:37 Wednesday night PDT. As usual, you can watch live on NASA-TV or on your computer using any of the free apps that bring NASA-TV over your internet connection.

For a few days the ISS crew will be back up to nine, before dropping back to its usual six. Remember the good old days when the Shuttle was flying and we routinely had thirteen up there for a couple weeks at a time?

Item The Fifth: Finally, there will be a full lunar eclipse on the night of September 28th (evening of September 27th in the US). Here in LA and on the US West Coast we’ll only see partial phases, but this eclipse will be perfectly positioned for all of Western Europe, Western Africa, the US east of the Mississippi River, and 100% of South America. I’m sure I’ll be reminding you of it later and giving more exact times, but if you want to see it, now’s a good time to stick it on your calendar.

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Filed under Astronomy, KC Chiefs, LA Angels, LA Kings, Odds & Sods, Space, Sports, Writing

July 4, 2015 · 16:52

Fourth Of July Adventure!

I hope you and yours are having a fun (and safe) Fourth of July if you’re in the United States – if not, Happy Saturday!

I’m at the Dodgers game with The Younger Daughter, looking forward to baseball, hot dogs, and fireworks. At the moment the big question is, “Who starts a Fourth of July fireworks game at 4:15??!” We shall see.

But in the search for adventure beyond the norm, we decided to see if we could get to Dodger Stadium using public transportation. Yes, LA does have public transit!

   

In theory we could have caught a bus a block from home and then switched to the Orange Line bus to get to the North Hollywood station, which is the closest subway station to our house. This would have taken an hour or more.

In practice, we drove to the North Hollywood station in twenty minutes. (In rush hour, it would have been well over an hour.)

 

The North Hollywood station is at the end of the Red Line subway. A train was just pulling in. We rode with many Dodger fans.

Mind you, this was not like riding the train to a Yankees or Cardinals or Nationals game, where 95% of the passengers are going to the game. For us it was maybe 10%. But that’s 10% in the land of the automobile and freeway obsessed. It’s progress.

We got off where the Red Line ends at Union Station. From there the Dodgers and LA Metro have a free bus shuttle up to Dodger Stadium.

 

So it’s actually a piece ofcake to get here using public transit. The bus makes a stop outside of center field and also at the top of the stadium behind home plate. 

Downtown Los Angeles looks like a postcard today.
 

The stadium is ready and has been upgraded a little bit each year, but as always with Dodgers fans, it’s a late arriving crowd. (A 4:15 game? Really?)
 

The big flag is out, it’s time to play ball! Let’s hope it’s as easy getting home tonight as it was getting here! (If not, maybe we’ll try Uber or Lyftfor the first time.)

Enjoy your holiday!

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Filed under Fireworks, Los Angeles, Photography, Sports

June 15, 2015 · 19:16

At The Ballgame Again

Talk amongst yourselves, both Daughters are in town & we’re at the Angels game tonight.

 

Yes, I am a fashion nightmare.

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Filed under Family, LA Angels, Sports

May 23, 2015 · 22:00

Baseball Tense(ion)

Listening to the Angels game on the radio this afternoon, I heard something that sounded like incorrect grammar, but it took me a while to figure out why it sounded wrong. I’m still not 100% sure that it was wrong.

The phrase in question was something like, “Back in the third inning, Jones pinched hit for Smith.”

OK, “pinched” is the past tense for “pinch,” as in “Now I’m going to pinch you” as opposed to “Yesterday she pinched me.”

At the same time, “hit” is the same for both present and past tense, as in “Come on, hit it!” as opposed to “It was great the way she hit it.”

But in this case, “pinch” in “pinch hit” isn’t a verb, it’s a adverb, a modifier of the verb “hit.” So shouldn’t the past tense of “pinch hit” be “pinch hit”?

A Google search brings up no definitive answer, but does offer some interesting avenues for a wild goose chase off into a classic Web surfing session. A Bing search brings up no definitive answer, but does make you wonder why in hell you bothered to waste time using Bing.

Asking Siri is useless, but entertaining if you waste time trying to figure out if you can ask a question that will get her upset enough to stop talking to you. So far, no joy.

I’m going to go with my gut on this one. “Pinched hit” – nice try, but wrong. “Pinch hit” – gets my vote as correct.

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Filed under LA Angels, Paul, Sports