I think it's bad business for college football to start this weekend

It's the end of summer.  A holiday weekend.  Everyone gets out of town and heads to the beach one last time before fall.  Nobody wants to be sitting around watching football this weekend if they don't have to.  Why not wait one more week?  I'm curious to see the difference in nationwide TV ratings/attendance numbers from this week to next.

And that's "The Big House," Michigan Stadium.  Capacity 109,901, the largest in the country.

How long till we have technology that can stop natural disasters?

So I meant to write this earlier in the week right after Irene blew through, but other things (mainly baseball games) kept pushing it back.

On Sunday afternoon, during what was supposed to be the peak of the storm, the movie "Armageddon" was appropriately on TV (and it's still awesome, by the way).  And that got me thinking: the film came out 13 years ago (I know, wow), and at the time, the technology in it seemed reasonable.  Think about that.  There were no ipods then.  The Internet was just becoming mainstream.  Most people didn't even have cell phones.  So if 13 years ago, in the dark ages of technology, it seemed plausible that we could save the world by landing on an asteroid in space and blowing it up, shouldn't we be able to stop natural disasters in 2011?

I guess floods, tsunamis, and earthquakes might be tough.  I'm not really sure what to do with those.  But hurricanes, tornadoes, basically anything that fits into the "storm" category, I think we should be able to beat.  I'm drawing on technology used in "The Matrix" and one of the "Ocean's Eleven" movies, I think Ocean's Twelve actually.  Anyway, in each movie they use some sort of very powerful electro-magnetic wave/pulse to shut down the power in both the attacking machine spaceship, and the entire city of Las Vegas, respectively.  So I think it's about time somebody invents something along those lines used for hurricane and tornado protection. You just shoot it into the eye of the storm and watch it slowly disappear.  

I discovered two great things at Fenway last night

Since I'd had so much success getting Sox-Yanks tickets the night before, I decided to try my luck again last night.  This time when I strolled up to the ticket window they had $50 seats available in a section I'd never heard of, called the "right field roof box terrace."  I sat there a few years ago (for Jon Lester's no hitter actually) and it was several rows of metal bleachers.  Well now it's completely redone, and it is awesome.  It's basically the same thing as Monster seats for a fraction of the price.  You've got a swivel chair, a ledge in front of you for your food/beer, plenty of room, and easy access to bathrooms and concessions.  Plus a great view from high above.  The whole area kind of has the feel of a beachfront boardwalk, and it's not crowded at all because you get a stamp on your hand for that section only.

And the second great thing I discovered: the panoramic photo option on my cell phone.

Top secret inside information on how to get Sox-Yankees tickets

Yesterday I had the day off, and a buddy and I felt like going to the game.  He asked a few people he knew with ticket connections, but nothing really looked promising.  I checked Craiglist but didn't find any good options.  Stubhub had lots of tickets available, but everything was marked up well over face value, not to mention the additional fees.  I wasn't worried though, cause I had a plan.

A few minutes before game time we walked up to Gate E on Landsdowne St.  I asked the girl at the gate if they still had tickets, and she said "yes."  I walked up to the window and asked what the cheapest they had was, and the guy said $30 grandstands.  So I bought two.  There was no line.  The whole thing took less than a minute.

One quick thought on the game itself: it was about as frustrating as you can get from a Red Sox perspective, they left 16 men on base and only scored 2 runs.  The angry Sox fans will rant and rave and say "they can't hit in the clutch" blah blah blah.  But they're wrong.  It's an anomaly.  Over the course of a baseball season all kinds of ridiculous statistical things happen, and this was just one of them.

Oh, and I have lots of mixed emotions about writing this blog entry.  I think it will be pretty popular, but I kinda hope people don't read it.  I get tickets like that all the time, and I don't want it to end...

I must have been right about the Trader Joe's Flyer

Back in May I wrote a blog about how stupid I think the Trader Joe's Flyer is.  Well, it looks like I was on to something.  I didn't even get one in my mailbox for the past couple months, and then yesterday this came:

It's half the size, has fewer colors, and smaller graphics than the last one:

Clearly a lack of readership has led to severe budget cuts.  Me: 1, Trader Joe's Flyer writers: 0.

It's crazy what's happened in the N.L. Cental in the past month and a half

I'm guessing the average baseball fan doesn't pay much attention to what happens in the National League Central Division, especially here in Boston.  On July 15th, Pittsburgh and St. Louis were tied for 1st, and Milwaukee was half a game back at 49-45.  Since then the Brewers have been absolutely on fire, posting a 32-9 record.  The Pirates have dropped an absurd 18 games back, and even the Cardinals are now 10.5 games out of first.  A division race that was a three team dogfight six weeks ago is now all but over.  And how about this: for the season the Brewers are 50-16 at Miller Park.  50-16!!!  That's a .758 home win percentage!  That kind of thing happens in the NBA and the NFL, not in MLB.

Also, while I'm on the subject of the Milwaukee Brewers, their old logo may be my favorite one in the history of baseball.  I can't believe they changed it.  Back in the late 80's (when I collected baseball cards and they played in the A.L. East with Boston) I used to see it all the time.  I just thought it was a ball in a glove, and that made enough sense to me.  At some point along the way I realized it was also an "M" and a "B," and my mind was blown.  I mean how brilliant is that?!

Spaceballs, more examples of why "Wins" by a pitcher are dumb, and weird makeup on girls in bars

Justin Verlander got his 20th win last night.  Yeah, he's really good, but he's not 9 wins better than Josh Beckett.  They have almost the same WHIP (.90 to .97) and ERA (2.38 to 2.43).  As a team the Red Sox have 82 wins, second in the majors only to Philly's 83.  But they don't have any pitchers who rank in the top 7 in wins, and only Jon Lester (with 14 W's) is even in the top 17.  Also last night Sox middle reliever Alfredo Aceves vultured his 9th win of the season.  Yeah, I know I'm being redundant to my recent posts about how much I hate W's as a stat, my general dislike for middle relievers, and how surprisingly good Aceves has been.  But hardly anybody reads this on Sundays, and there is a hurricane coming.  Allegedly.

Also any time I use the word "dumb" I think of this:

Now here's something weird.  Before I went in to work last night I was already planning on writing this, and referencing Spaceballs.  Then when I was at work there was a girl at the bar with horrible shiny makeup on. She looked like she was going to "Carnival" on Bourbon St or something, I literally thought she must be joking.  But she wasn't, it was just her regular "night out" makeup.  For a few minutes I knew she reminded me of something, but I couldn't figure out what it was.  Then it hit me: "Yogurt" from Spaceballs.

Huh, now I'm thinking this blog is kinda good and I wish I hadn't wasted it on Irene Sunday.  And I also just realized it's very similar in style to what I wrote last Tuesday about Chinese Taipei and Baseball Stars.  I wonder if random stream of consciousness is my new thing?