Boviosity!

Ois of October

If it's October, it must be time for the Atlanta Braves to blow another World Series bid. I'd enjoy another run at the championship, but there's another factor at play this year: da Cubs. I've been sold on the romance of the Cubs' wistful pursuit of baseball greatness most of my life, and now that they're in the post-season, I wouldn't mind too much if they went through the Braves to achieve it. I can't quite bring myself to root for them in the upcoming series, but I won't be devastated if they take it.

So, you heard it here first: Cubs in 4.

Speaking of the post-season, here are a couple of bitter, bitter baseball memories. I'm amazed that, as a non-sports-fan, I even have these. But I do. I guess that's baseball for you.

1. Hitting into a triple play in little league. OK, that's easy. We all had sports humiliations as kids.

2. Lonnie Smith pulling up instead of scoring against the Twins in game 7 of the 1991 World Series. The Twins went on to win the game, and to this day, when I see Lonnie Smith, I say (as I yelled during the wild Braves' parade that year,) "Lonnie come home!"

For those who have forgotten this dark day, here is a little story on it.

"I play [the tape] occasionally to remember it more accurately than most people do. I listen to what the announcers said and I play it back in my head. What the camera shows and what I play in my head are two different angles. I try to put those angles together."

Me too, Lonnie. Me, too.

Where On Lenox Road?

Two Atlanta Thrasher hockey team members were injured, one critically, in an accident on Atlanta's Lenox Rd.

I'm surprised to note that this was NOT on the section of Lenox Rd. between Highland Ave. & Cheshire Bridge Road. When I lived in the area, that was one of my favorite drives: twisty, narrow, long, not much traffic...lots of fun to drive too fast on. And the place where the accident occurred - you'd have to be crazy to drive too fast there. Not much fun to drive on at all, really. And at 10:30PM there would surely have been enough other traffic there to prevent that. What gives?

It Must Be Said

So, naturally, Lileks said it:

[T]he same people who chide America for its short-attention span think we should have stopped military operations after the Taliban was routed. (And they quite probably opposed that, for the usual reasons.) The people who think it’s all about oil like to snark that we should go after Saudi Arabia. The people who complain that the current administration is unable to act with nuance and diplomacy cannot admit that we have completely different approaches for Iraq, for Iran, for North Korea. The same people who insist we need the UN deride the Administration when it gives the UN a chance to do something other than throw rotten fruit.

The same people who accuse America of coddling dictators are sputtering with bilious fury because we actually deposed one.

Sometimes I feel as if the only reason to write is if I disagree with Lileks. It's happened, of course, and I could've taken the opportunity. Otherwise, all I can do is point and patiently wait while everybody reads him.

Absolute Perfection

From talkingpointsmemo.com:

Department of Homeland Security.

36 billion dollars ...

Current Projected Cost of War-fighting and Reconstruction in Iraq.

241 billion dollars ...

Having a president who's got a friggin' clue.

Priceless ...

Isn't that perfect?

If you've seen the movie "A New Leaf" starring Walter Matthau and Elaine May, you'll know the tone of weary resignation and naturalist awe with which I speak the word "perfect." In the movie, Walter Matthau, a daffy heir who has squandered his inheritance, goes to his bank as usual to get some money and is refused. He goes to the manager and in implacable tones demands the money. The manager explains that there is no longer any money in the account, and that therefore he cannot give Matthau any.

In implacable tones, Matthau again demands money.

It goes on like this for awhile, the bank manager explaining, Matthau ignoring him, until the manager sits back, a sad recognition in his eyes.

"You're perfect," he says, finally.

And Marshall's entry perfectly demonstrates the philosophy that as long as a satiric piece contains a barb pointed at George W. Bush, it need not be funny in any way in order to send your audience into gales of appreciative, eye-wiping laughter.

Laugh it up, Josh. Things are only going to get funnier and funnier from here on out.

9/11 Insipidity watch

Gag me with a spoon!

If there's a more insipid reference to 9/11/01 than this

Please let me know. As an Atlantan, I'd like to apologize to the world for this.

UL Blog

The folks at snopes.com have started The Daily Snopes, which I'm going to go out on a limb and call a weblog. Check it out!

Swear by God I'll change

Yes, it was expected. Yes, it's terribly sad. I'm going to learn a Warren Zevon song tonight. I should've done so long ago. I recommend you do the same.

I saw Warren Zevon in concert twice. The first time was an unannounced gig opening for Jackson Brown at Atlanta's Chastain Park. Just him & his guitar. It was one of the coolest concert experiences of my life: waiting for Jackson, hearing a guitar, thinking it was a roadie doing a last-minute sound check. Suddenly HEY THAT'S WARREN F*CKING ZEVON!!!

The second time was at the old Moonshadow Saloon, a place that I closed many times and which closed before its time. He told the women that he would consider their requests but that for him to play them, they would have to do "...certain things..." with a foreboding leer.

Foreboding leer? Yeah, that's Warren Zevon all right. He came down through the crowd that night, on his way to the bar, I guess, and I shook his hand. RIP, man.

Atlanta Blogs

I'm considering joining the Atlanta Blogs Webring, if only to get a few more hits. There are some really nice blogs out there.

Don't know what I'd do with more hits, though, frankly.

Sounds like a good trade-off to me

Sounds like a good trade-off to me:

organizers of a Guinness Book of Records attempt at the world's largest group hug fell short Sunday. They needed more than 4,703 people to participate in the communal clasp to break the current record. They got 69.

Sorry, I couldn't resist.