Intro Music

One of the things we talked about on the radio show (you know about that, right?) a few weeks ago was the lack of intro music on our show, and the fun intro music that ballplayers have when they come to bat each game.  That's gotta be something fun to pick out, right?

Well, check out Curtis Granderson of the NY Yankees and the agonizing effort it takes to pick your own intro music.  Hey, he has Tom Waits, Pete Townshend and the Foo Fighters in his iTunes library. Already cool in my book. Now even cooler for making this video.

So right before his first AB during the Yankees home opener on Thursday afternoon, some enterprising person in the Yankees' organization decided to play "Friday" as his intro music. According the man himself on Twitter, it was a prank someone pulled on him and he is ready for a prank war. AWESOME!!!

One more reason to love the Yankees.  Curtis Granderson.

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In related news, here are a few things that were overheard on last night's Very Special Episode of Just Talking to the Cornfield. 

• My cat is a serious asshole.
• My asshole had some serious problems.
• I used the term "full-blown retard" more than once.
• We may have offended Cubans and Panamanians.  
• I'm a little gay for Jim Thome.  Just a little.

You should check it out.  Either on Talkshoe or on iTunes.  If you didn't hate/love us before, you certainly will after listening to this Very Special Episode.

Tune in on Talkshoe this Sunday at 9PM EST to see who else we can offend.  The world is our oyster.  Hehehe.

Making the dough

click for full effect

clicken to biggen

See that big handsome fella up there messing with the dough? That's Gia's father, during his time in the Army in 1965. The reason for the baseball glove is that he was signed with the NY Yankees at the time and some Army reporter was doing a piece on him and his stint at Fort Gordon. It may have just been the photo and a quick blurb.  You can read the blurb on the back of the photo over there on the right.

That was something that the Yankees did during the Vietnam War. They would arrange a safe assignment for their players who found themselves draft eligible so that they wouldn't get hurt fighting in the war. Gia's father wound up in the kitchen, a learning experience that helped him out later on in life when he and his family opened up a restaurant that they ran for 15 years or so. 

Unfortunately, he still got injured during his time in the Army.  Every day they had to exercise and train and during the drills one morning he tore something in his shoulder.  So at 22, his pitching career was basically over without ever making it to the big leagues.  But he had some great times with the Yankees in the minors and during Spring Training. Got to hang out and play ball with Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Whitey Ford.  Threw batting practice to Joe DiMaggio (I can't even imagine...).  Pitched an exhibition game at Yankee Stadium.  Went 24-11 with a 2.60 ERA while in the minors in places like Fort Lauderdale, FL, Idaho Falls, ID and Columbus, GA.  Was proud to call Roy White, Bobby Murcer, Mel Stottlemyre and a bunch of others friends.  Beat future Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins just about every time he faced him.  Good times.

Next week, he and Gia's mother are moving away to South Carolina.  We are gonna miss both of them.

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Note: Remember to play the Badgerdaddy Trivia Challenge every day. Seriously...Joe DiMaggio walked up to him after practice one day and said "Hey Bob, throw me a few".  I would have crapped myself.

Live-Blogging* the Rivalry

Tonight Gia is feeling a little ill, so I am gonna sit here in front of the computer and the TV watching the first game of the Boson/New York four-game series at the Stadium in the Bronx. Let's see how this goes, shall we?

7:11 PM EST (Top of the 1st) - Here we go. Joba Chamberlain pitching for the Yankees against a stacked lineup for Boston tonight. Kevin Youkilis in left field? Only for a big series like this. Fucking Dustin Pedroia! That little rat fink seems to constantly be on base for the Sawx. But Joba settles down and after walking Victor Martinez, he gets Youk and Big Papi to fly out. Phew! No score.

7:26 PM EST (Bottom of the 1st) - John Smoltz is pitching for the Sawx. I don't think I'll ever get used to that. I'll be back and forth for a little while here. Cooking vegetable risotto in the kitchen as I type this and it requires attention. What's in the risotto, you say? Some red peppers, baby carrots, onions, green chilis and lemon round out the mix. Be right back! No score.

7:36 PM EST (Top of the 2nd) - Crap! Leadoff double to JD Drew. Guy's having a shit season so of course he is gonna step it up against the Yankees. Now Lowell works a walk. C'mon Joba! Bruce Willis is at the game. Yawn. Joba slows down so much with runners on base. Painful to watch. But he rallies to get a fly out and two strikeouts to escape the jam.  He needs to stop letting these guys on base, though.  No score.

7:47 PM EST (Bottom of the 2nd) - Having a few ice-cold Red Stripes to go along with the game tonight.  Didn't think about the "Red" problem until right now.  Damn.  OK, this will be my last Red Stripe of the evening.  Yanks need to start smacking this old man around.  How old is Smoltz? 53?  Seems like he has been around forever.  Posada mans up and dinks a hit to the opposite field.  Gotta start somewhere.  Let's see what Swisher can do with men on 1st and 2nd.  He was swinging the bat well on the recent road trip.   There's a base hit, but Jorge is thrown out at the plate!  He didn't even try to slide, just walked into the fucking tag!!! I really don't understand that play at all.  There's a mental error from someone who should know better.  No score.

7:59 PM EST (Top of the 3rd) - I'm still fuming over Posada jogging it in to home plate. Cost the Yankees at least one run there.  Mother fucker!  And there goes Pedroia with a home run to right field.  Wonderful.  I have a feeling I'm gonna regret this live-blogging post. Red Sox 1, Yankees 0.

INTERLUDE - Gia is up and about and we are gonna watch an episode of Friday Night Lights.  She is impossible to watch a Yankees/Red Sox game with.  So I'm not even gonna try.  Be back soon.

8:59 PM EST (Bottom of the 4th)  - OK, I'm back for a few minutes, and a lot has happened in the last hour.  Yanks are leading 6-3 and they have runners on 1st and 3rd with two outs.   Smoltz is out of the game after giving up 6 earned runs and both teams are pouring on the offense.  And look at that!  Jorge Posada making up for his baserunning gaffe earlier in the game with a 3-run homer!  Yankes up by 6 runs now.  Woo!  That finishes Smoltz' line for the evening.  3.1 innings with 7 ER on 9 hits and 4 walks.  Old man looks done to me.  Boston finally gets out of the inning.  Yankees 9, Red Sawx 3.

INTERLUDE pt II - Gia is a bit superstitious, me too.  So we are gonna watch another episode of Friday Night Lights and come back in an hour or so.  Fingers crossed! 


9:55 PM EST (Bottom of the 6th) - Our strategy of not watching the game is working.  Yanks are up 11-4 and they look like they are cruising.  Not one to mess with a good thing, we are gonna keep with our winning strategy, so...

INTERLUDE pt III - back to Friday Night Lights.  Back in an hour.

10:58 PM EST (Top of the 9th) -  OK, I really never went anywhere.  Sure, we watched a few episodes of our current favorite TV show.  But I was right here. "Watching" the game on the CBS Sports website.  It was kinda fun, actually.  Sorta like listening to the game on the radio, but with graphics.  I'm superstitious, yeah...but this game was too much fun and too important for me to ignore.  The Yankees are up 13-6 and they are one strike away from beating the Sox for the first time this year.  They really needed this game, and it puts Boston in a serious hole.  3 and 1/2 games back in the standings.  Hopefully this game set the tone for the rest of the series this weekend.

11:01 PM EST  - There it is.  Game over.  Final score 13-6.  Huge sigh of relief.  I'm going to bed!

*OK...I wasn't even really "live-blogging" the game.  I just was writing shit down here in the Blogger Editor while watching the game and Friday Night Lights.  Sue me.

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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. Lamest post ever? Yeah...lamest post ever.

When all else fails...

...post a pic of one of the cats. Here is Syd looking quite fuzzy and, dare I say, leonine. Huh?


Sorry, but this time of the year my thoughts are all about the Yankees and March Madness/April Anxiety NCAA hoops. It's the "guy gene". I haven't found a way to suppress it yet, but there are a shitload of doctors working on a cure. I am getting a little better. I've made it almost a week without staying up for Baseball Tonight on ESPN

Thank God(dess) Gia is a Yankee fan too! Otherwise we might not speak for a weeks at a time at the beginning of baseball season. Phew!

BLOGGER.COM NOTES

• I see that they are working on another upgrade for Blogger. This one has scheduled post posting, new blogroll featuring Google Reader, Google gadget support and a bunch of other things. It's about time they upgraded around here. I was going to pick up my shit and move elsewhere. Not really...too lazy.
• I don't see it in the new features, but they really should make the comment editor/interface more user friendly. We've talked about this before...so let's move on.
• Maybe I am just stupid, but whenever I upload a picture to a post in the post editor Blogger always puts it at the top of the post and then I have to move it to where I want the picture to be. Why can't I just go to the spot in the post where I want the pic to be and drop it there? This annoys me. Either I'm doing something wrong or Blogger is just plain clunky with this feature. Aaarghhh.

That is all. Have a nice weekend! - Earl

But I digress...

Tune in tomorrow or Thursday for the continuing saga of Slyde and Moriarty.

Time for a baseball geek update:

• The Yankees are breaking my heart. They are still only two out of the Wild Card race, but they are beginning to damage my calm. Losing to the Tigers last night was bad. Losing 16-0 was utterly embarrassing. FUCK!
• Curtis Granderson has reached one of the goals I set out for him (yeah, that's right...do my bidding Bee-yatch). He has surpassed 20 triples for the year. Now he only needs 3 more home runs to join the rarefied air that I spoke about here.
• Even though the Yankees suck right now, it's awfully fun to watch the new kid, Joba Chamberlain, pitch. 15 K's in his first 9 innings pitched. Niiiiiice!
• Two years after reaching the World Series against the White Sox, the Houston Astros fired both their general manager and Phil Garner, manager. Considering the fall of the White Sox as well, could it be that the 2005 World Series was jinxed? How long will Ozzie Guillen last now that his counterpart is gone?
• Back to the Yankees (because that's all I really care about anyway), when oh when are they going to sit Mike Mussina so that they can slip Ian Kennedy into the rotation? Moose has been a good soldier for the past few years, but his last three starts have been horrendous!

update - Joba now has 17 K's in his first 10 innings. Thank you very much!
updated update - Yanks announced last night that Ian Kennedy would start in Mussina's place on Saturday. WTG!

Random Crap - July

As the title says, just some random crap folks.

• Finished the latest (and *sniff* final) Harry Potter book yesterday at lunchtime. I had about 50 pages or so to go on Monday night when Mr. Sandman came for a visit, so I decided to save it for when I was wide awake. Very, very good ending to the series. Turns out that Vader really was Luke's father. I was shocked!
• The Yankees continue to roll over the worst that the American League has to offer. Unfortunately, Boston keeps winning so the Yankees are no better off than they were last week with respect to the AL East. They are, however, moving on up in the Wild Card chase. Just like George and Weezy Jefferson.
• Gia and a girlfriend of hers went to see a Poison concert last night. Thanks God she has friends who support her 80's hair band fetish! I can't even imagine going to that show with her. It would be like me dragging her to a comic book convention. Oooh, did I mention that Ratt opened up for them? Round and round...
• I can't get enough of Lindsay Lohan and her recent troubles. Britney Spears makes me sad because there are kids involved, but I love the Lohan! Maybe because she grew up two towns away. Maybe because her dad was having drinks in my friend's bar the night he got his DWI. Maybe, just maybe because she was chasing down her assistant's mother while drunk and coked out down the streets of LA. Someone needs to make a movie about this she-Terminator. Now!
• Baseball Geek Alert - Curtis Granderson of the Detroit Tigers is having a season for the ages. He is on pace to hit 47 doubles, 26 triples and 24 home runs. If he stays on pace he would be only the 6th MLer with 20+ in each category. EVER. The other five are George Brett, Willie Mays, Jeff Heath, Jim Bottomley and the immortal Frank Schulte. It feels so good to let my inner baseball geek out to feed sometimes. Rowr!
• Did anyone out there even bother reading this? I'm not doing this for my health people!
  

Odds n Sods

Just a few things on a Wednesday lunch-time:

• I realized a little late that Slyde is away in the Dominican Republic and he is recording all of his favorite shows while he is away. One of them being Survivor, which I revealed the winner in my previous post. Hopefully he is having way too much fun to putz around on the Internet while he is away. I did shoot him a text message saying as much. Don't know if he received it or not. Oops!
• Had a blast last night watching my friends play their third game in the inaugural season of JD's women's softball team. They won 29-8 for their first victory and they have some real good players. Next week, I'm bringing the lounge chair and a cooler of beers.
• Speaking of sports, the Yankees kinda suck right now. I'm hoping they start to turn things around with a sweep of the ChiSox starting with a double-header today. A-Rod need to find that April magic again, and Matsui, Cano and Abreu simply have to start hitting like they can.
• Had drinks at Besito again last night. We are really starting to love that place.
• Taking Gia away for a super-secret mini-vacation in two weeks. Don't even ask me where I'm taking her, because its super-secret (and she reads this shit). But I'm looking forward to it and it can't get here soon enough.
• Speaking of Gia, she is off for the full weekend coming up (whoooo-hoooo) and it's sorely needed. She has been filling in for the owner for the past few weeks while he has been recuperating from surgery. She needs the time off. Maybe we will head into NYC for some good times. Especially if the weather stays as nice as it has been the past few days. 70+ and sunny. Nice!
• Have to head out sometime today or tomorrow to buy birthday gifts for two of my nieces (Sarah - 5, and Audrey - 3) as well as one of my nephews (David - 4). Did I mention that there are 7 more? Big family. Big.

Am I bleeding?

Because I just got tagged. By Kat.

Really not a fan of these thingies, but what the hey...here goes:

A- Available or single? Um, how do I answer this since they mean the same thing. I am neither Available nor Single. Methinks there is something wrong with the question. C'mon people...think about it.

B- Best Friend? I've never really believed in the concept of a "Best Friend". I'm lucky enough to be blessed with many, many great friends so let's leave it at that.

C- Cake or Pie? Neither...no sweet tooth. How about potato chips?

D- Drink of Choice? Depends on the occassion. Arizona Green Tea is yummy for those daytime hours, and I drink an awful lot of water. Beer - Guinness. Whiskey - Red Breast Irish Whiskey. Wine - any Amarone (red) or Gewurztaminer (white). Tequila - the good stuff. Cocktail - a variation on the Vesper. Hendrick's Gin with Lillet Blanc and an orange peel. James Bond used a lemon peel and added vodka to his in Casino Royale. But he's a girly man.

E- Essential Item? Baseball cap.

F- Favorite Color? Green or NY Yankee pinstripe Blue.

G- Gummi Bears or Worms? Worms, I guess. If they are sour. I like-a the sour.

H- Hometown? Yeah, like I would tell you.

I- Indulgence? Good Whiskey and bad porn.

J- January or February? Ugh...neither.

K- Kids? Nope.

L- Life is incomplete without? Baseball and Gia.

M- Marriage Date? We'll get back to you. Probably sometime in the spring of 2008 (or Autumn).

N- Number of Siblings? 5. 4 Sisters and 1 Brother.

O- Oranges or apples? Apples, I hate peeling oranges.

P- Phobias/Fears? Swimming in the ocean. Rats.

Q- Favorite Quote? "In the wild, there is no health care. In the wild, health care is, "Ow, I hurt my leg. I can't run. A lion eats me and I'm dead." Well, I'm not dead. I'm the lion, you're dead!" - Dwight Shrute (Ok..ok. It's not really my favorite quote, because I don't have one. It was just something I cut and pasted from IMDB. I just thought it was funny. Sorry.)

R- Reason to Smile? Syd and Sammi. Two of the most awesome cats on the planet.

S- Season? Autumn, or Spring...or maybe Summer. Yeah. One of those.

T- Tag three people - let's not and pretend we did.

Um...was it supposed to end with "T"?