Happy New Year’s Eve.
It’s been really cold lately in Sacramento this winter season. You can talk about global warming all you want, but the more logical reason is the lack of rain. There’s probably a scientific reason behind it (I haven’t had enough coffee to figure it out), but has anyone noticed that when it rains the air feels warmer?
I feel stupid not giving an explanation, but with drought happening all over the country, the lack of rain has deregulated the temperatures. So instead of cooler rain, we get cold dryness.
Can someone help a brother out?
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Here are a couple of baseball tidbits. Anyone else notice spring training is really only weeks away?
1. Quote from ESPN’s Michael Knisley on his decision to not vote for Andre Dawson in 2008 Hall of Fame balloting. Any married man can empathize.
“”And speaking of my wife … I didn’t want to have to play this card, but the time has come: She is opposed to Dawson as a Hall of Famer, as well. She tells me I shouldn’t vote for him. I for one, do not want to be responsible for the disturbance in the cosmos that surely will occur if I line up against her on this issue.”
2. After the Florida Marlins traded their two highest-paid players in Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis, that leaves probably the team with possibly an even lower payroll than their historic $15 million only a few years ago. The team’s three highest paid players will probably be P Andrew Miller, P Kevin Gregg, and IF Jose Castillo. The sad truths behind that news (other than the incredibly cheap owner) is that Miller’s salary is based on the major league contract he signed after he was drafted by the Detroit Tigers and that Gregg is a relief pitcher!
3. John McCain recalls meeting his boyhood idol Ted Williams. Here’s a cool quote:
In February 1953, [John] Glenn was in the air when he saw [Ted] Williams land his burning F-9F Panther. It skidded along the runway on its belly and stopped. “I looked over my shoulder and saw this big, tall figure scrambling out of that cockpit,” he wrote. ‘I never saw a guy move that fast in all my life.”
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Anyone notice that the Boston Celtics (26-3) are dominating the league despite their three top players performing below their career averages?
- Paul Pierce: 2007 AVG – 21.6 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 4.9 APG; Career AVG – 23.5 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 3.9 APG
- Kevin Garnett: 2007 AVG – 18.8 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 3.6 APG; Career AVG – 20.5 PPG, 11.4 RPG, 4.5 APG
- Ray Allen: 2007 AVG – 19.1 PPG, 4.1 RPG, 3.1 APG; Career AVG – 21.4 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 3.9 APG
Other than Pierce’s assists this year, every other statistical category is done for the Big 3. Of course there are other things to consider for the team’s success, but it is interesting to see nonetheless.
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Quick rant about the wisdom of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which I’ll probably rant in more detail later.
Depending on who you believe, the Washington Post reprots the RIAA is going after owners who have music files ripped from legally bought CDs with its latest round of lawsuits. And then there was the Engadget clarification that has the lawsuit really being about illegal filesharing.
And all this adds to the repeated and seemingly onstant negative publicity around the RIAA, which leads to questions about the organization’s future.
It’s frustrating to see a group try to manipulate the law for their advantage. Do they not understand what FAIR USE is? To a point, you can’t blame them for trying to interpret the convoluted nature of copyright law.
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Pieces of the world:
1. One-for-all shipping boxes. Wal-Mart joins the idiocy club.
2. John McCain for president.
3. Another thing to not do to a baby: pour hot coffee onto one. But the father should be the one at fault for trying to hold his child in one hand while trying to drink coffee in the other. Sure the Starbucks employee should have expressed more caution, but geez.
4. Jailing a man for stealing a $3 serloin steak isn’t uncommon. The travesty is punishing the man when he comes back to pay for it. My question is ‘why punish the man for stealing an item you wouldn’t have known he’d stolen if not for the fact he went back to the store and admitted to stealing it?’ Zero tolerance policy, my ass.