So I guess this is where we, the middle aged balding guys who need cover to prevent skin damage or are trying to hide the whole going bald thing, announce their current hat rotation. I go with the Rays black on black, the A's yellow with the elephant logo, the Brooklyn Dodgers B, the Golden Knights gold hat with the crossed sword alternate logo and Herta from the Bundesliga.
The US Census considers middle aged to be 55 to 65, so Craig is still 8 years short by that definition. And I'm supposed to rotate my hats and not wear the same one every day? Damn, I've been doing it wrong. I wait for a hat to wear out (or, more likely, get left behind somewhere) before moving on to the next one. Which causes problems because I acquire new hats far more frequently than I lose my old ones, so I've got a big backlog of hats I'll probably never get to.
Oh, and my current hat says "Santanoni", a former Adirondack Great Camp turned state-owned hiking destination. I'm sure you all care. But if you live in the region, it makes a nice day. 5 miles on a road in and 5 miles back out, with a tour of an old great camp on a beautiful lake in the middle. They even have some kayaks you can take out on the lake for free.
I strongly dislike caps. If I wear one, I will take it off inside or in a car or what not. But then again, I still have all my hair, and at 50 I have detected two that are gray
Yeah, I guess technically Craig could’ve written that one either way and been correct...but then he flip-flopped what he meant by “trailing” in the next section about the Royals/Tigers “race”
Not sure what the difference is between the 3rd or 4th pick in the draft so I’m good with the Sox losing out or winning and ending up in 3rd place for the AL East. It’s been a crap season for them either way.
Yea, it’s just that while I hate purposely taking, if you’re at the end of a terrible season and are in line for a high draft pick, don’t screw it up at all by going on a meaningless end-of-season winning streak. I don’t know how the draft order works, but there are a number of teams throughout the league near that pitiful win total.
Hats of all types are mandatory to us old bald guys. they also have to come down a certain amount on large craniums. Not always easy to find a good one. Don't drink 'N' horse, Craig. Allison will not be happy.
Please folks, this is getting scary. Vote "anything but Republican" across the ballot in November and let common sense prevail. If you are a conservative, please ask yourself if your party still reflects your values. Is the death of Democracy really what you stand for?
Well...the sad thing is that for some reason, many Republicans align their sense of personal worth with being a part of the Republican party, and those that think this way do not have the either the courage or the wherewithal to actually look deep at what they believe.
Most of these hard-core Trump backers would be absolutely losing their minds if Trump had run as a Democrat and done the exact same things. And really, that scenario wasn't all that far-fetched as Trump was not exactly known for being either Dem or Repub prior to seeing the opportunity to take over the Republican party.
Just imagine the furor if Obama had been caught sleeping with hookers while his wife was pregnant, or bribing foreign countries to dig up dirt on John McCain, or flat-out lying about this pandemic. Or really, just imagine the hypocritical reaction from the right if any democrat ever had done the things Trump has done to undermine this country.
In keeping with so much Padres content here - Alderson had a stint as CEO of the Padres from 2005 to 2009, where he started the precipitous 14 year decline that they are finally crawling out of. He also ran Trevor Hoffman out of town. He sucks.
Not to be dense, but why would drinking whiskey last night make you hungry this morning? If anything, I'd think if you drank too much you'd be nauseous with a hangover this morning, not hungry.
A real hangover, sure, makes you sick, but in between "no effect" and "hangover" is the weird middle ground of "hmm, I definitely had a lot to drink last night and, though I'm not truly hung over, I could definitely use a big-ass fatty and greasy breakfast to kinda soak it all up." It's how brunch was invented, basically
I love 1990s BritPop as well, even though I’m old enough to remember the original British Invasion (the one in 1964, not the one in 1776). My favorite ‘90s BritPop song was the one where Justine Frishmann sang about Damon Albarn’s impotence. If you can unpack that, then you, too, are a ‘90s BritPop fan.
- I saw the weirdest thing about Cohen bringing back Alderson. Apparently some owners are afraid if Cohen is let into the club, he is going to ruin everything by spending more money to win! Imagine that! And by bringing back Sandy, Cohen is saying "don't worry, we will use Moneyball tactics and not do whatever we can to win." Which I suspect is not actually true. Still, this really sums up where we are now with the stewardship, or lack thereof, of too many of the owners.
- The Mets had luck in 1969 - the black cat game - and 1973. So it has happened.
- FWIW, Trump's comments were the lead on NPR yesterday, and the Times made them the lead by the end of the day. From what I can tell, both these outlets are not ignoring Trump's endless stream of comments. But at the end of the day, far too many outlets just cannot break decades of treating whoever is in the White House with respect. As if Nixon shouldn't have killed that forever.
I'll give a shout-out to my local rag, the STL Post-Dispatch. Big ol' headline on the front page this morning about Trump's comments. Way to go, P-D.
As for "World Gone Wrong" liner notes, I read them in '93, and they were way over my 14 year old head. I've definitely re-read them since (not lately), and I thought they were great. Not Chronicles great, necessarily, but a pretty good breakdown of Stackalee and all the rest. Sounds like a good excuse to read them again. (Love the podcast, BTW. And I love "Empire Burlesque" and "Disease of Conceit", so there.)
I guess I'm in the minority, but I actually wear fewer hats since I went fully bald. I guess I'm not "hiding anything" anymore, and I've actually found them to be less comfortable on my shaved head.
See, this is me, too, unfortunately. I know I *should* wear more caps since in live in San Diego and our 350 days of temperate sunshine each year is glorious, but I started shaving my head 18 months ago and black guys like me are objectively more handsome with a shaved head, so...here we are.
I once self-trimmed my horseshoe hair a bit too close so it came fairly close to approximating what I'd look like with a totally shaved head. Except I looked like an escapee from 19th century lunatic asylum. Just a horrible, horrible look for pasty white guys like me.
My lord, when will my Black friends STOP getting all of the advantages over white people like me!
Trump says a lot of crazy stuff. When he can’t commit to a peaceful transfer of power, I wouldn’t expect anything else. It is almost more notable when he speaks with sincere tones such as when he was informed RBG passed.
Thank you for finally explaining in depth your affinity for your Dodgers cap. Doesn’t everyone Midwesterner dream about coming to LA to make it famous or date a chick that knows a guy that was once in a pilot episode of a show that never aired that starred Matthew Perry when he was only know as Matt and the role was “3rd waiter” in a show about talking donkeys that were into ballroom dancing? I don’t know.
Sitting here, drinking my coffee, wearing a long sleeve thermal shirt (Old Navy, not Eddie Bauer) and an old t-shirt over top of it. It's not a Sub Pop shirt, but it easily could have been.
Maybe Sub Pop and Eddie Bauer both know who their audiences are in 2020.
I think that's right. Sub Pop is still a going concern. But they know people who are now in their mid-40s/early 50s butter most of their bread. And they know that's EB's demographic. Win/win.
With regards to coups, there's One Simple Way To Fight It That People Don't Want You To Know!
Vote IN PERSON.
You may think it's "cool" to vote by mail, but what's even cooler is to have your vote counted on Election Night. The nightmare scenarios everyone is fretting over involve an election contested because the GOP has a narrow lead in the count as Nov. 3 becomes Nov. 4, but there are so many mail-in ballots that have yet to be counted that the Electoral Vote is still uncertain.
Because you KNOW the GOP is going to do their damnedest to find a way to toss out any vote for Biden, and keep any vote for El Presidente.
With so many people voting by mail for the first time, there are far too many opportunities for voters to screw it up by not following the directions - as we are already seeing with "naked ballots" in Pennsylvania.
It's nice that everyone is making it so easy to vote by mail - but do your country a favor and vote in person. Put on your mask, take the day off from work if you have to, bring a snack if you think there will be a line, keep a safe distance from others, and VOTE IN PERSON.
This is far too important to the future of our country. Suck it up and VOTE IN PERSON.
I will be doing the same thing I did for the primaries: getting a mail-in ballot, filling it out, putting it in the secrecy envelope and then sealing that in the outer envelope with my signature, and then dropping it off in person at the early voting site. No need to get the USPS involved. And I would expect that votes received early would be counted and released in the initial numbers reported as soon as polling closes on election day.
I'm a Braves fan, but now living in Minnesota (1986 to 2010, 2016 to current). I had lived in Atlanta from 1977 to 1986 and then Austin TX from 2010 to 2016. I visited family in LA and realized i forgot my hat when we went to Knotts Berry Farm. So i grabbed a Diamondbacks hat at a souvenir shop. i don't have any fan interest in Arizona, but it was just a nice looking hat. And boy howdy, did i ever get a rash of crap from friends back in MN and Austin friends, where i was living at the time.
West coast friends told me i should have picked up an LA, SD or SF hat.
MN friends asked me why not a Twins hat? Duh, do you even know me?
Austin friends told me i should have represented TX, but i hadn't really latched on to any TX team by then. I did go to a bunch of Round Rock games, but just because i wanted to see some baseball nearby.
Who knew there would be a backlash caused by a picture of me wearing a Diamondbacks hat while hanging out with my dog.
Almost my entire work wardrobe is Eddie Bauer pleated khakis, EB wool pants, and EB button down oxfords. Comfort, durability, cost all the time (except for the rare occasions a suit is required).
So I guess this is where we, the middle aged balding guys who need cover to prevent skin damage or are trying to hide the whole going bald thing, announce their current hat rotation. I go with the Rays black on black, the A's yellow with the elephant logo, the Brooklyn Dodgers B, the Golden Knights gold hat with the crossed sword alternate logo and Herta from the Bundesliga.
The US Census considers middle aged to be 55 to 65, so Craig is still 8 years short by that definition. And I'm supposed to rotate my hats and not wear the same one every day? Damn, I've been doing it wrong. I wait for a hat to wear out (or, more likely, get left behind somewhere) before moving on to the next one. Which causes problems because I acquire new hats far more frequently than I lose my old ones, so I've got a big backlog of hats I'll probably never get to.
Oh, and my current hat says "Santanoni", a former Adirondack Great Camp turned state-owned hiking destination. I'm sure you all care. But if you live in the region, it makes a nice day. 5 miles on a road in and 5 miles back out, with a tour of an old great camp on a beautiful lake in the middle. They even have some kayaks you can take out on the lake for free.
I strongly dislike caps. If I wear one, I will take it off inside or in a car or what not. But then again, I still have all my hair, and at 50 I have detected two that are gray
It’s the Orioles who are actually trailing the 2018 World Series champions for ineptitude. Boston’s currently still in last place
Yeah, I guess technically Craig could’ve written that one either way and been correct...but then he flip-flopped what he meant by “trailing” in the next section about the Royals/Tigers “race”
Not sure what the difference is between the 3rd or 4th pick in the draft so I’m good with the Sox losing out or winning and ending up in 3rd place for the AL East. It’s been a crap season for them either way.
Yea, it’s just that while I hate purposely taking, if you’re at the end of a terrible season and are in line for a high draft pick, don’t screw it up at all by going on a meaningless end-of-season winning streak. I don’t know how the draft order works, but there are a number of teams throughout the league near that pitiful win total.
Hats of all types are mandatory to us old bald guys. they also have to come down a certain amount on large craniums. Not always easy to find a good one. Don't drink 'N' horse, Craig. Allison will not be happy.
Please folks, this is getting scary. Vote "anything but Republican" across the ballot in November and let common sense prevail. If you are a conservative, please ask yourself if your party still reflects your values. Is the death of Democracy really what you stand for?
Well...the sad thing is that for some reason, many Republicans align their sense of personal worth with being a part of the Republican party, and those that think this way do not have the either the courage or the wherewithal to actually look deep at what they believe.
Most of these hard-core Trump backers would be absolutely losing their minds if Trump had run as a Democrat and done the exact same things. And really, that scenario wasn't all that far-fetched as Trump was not exactly known for being either Dem or Repub prior to seeing the opportunity to take over the Republican party.
Just imagine the furor if Obama had been caught sleeping with hookers while his wife was pregnant, or bribing foreign countries to dig up dirt on John McCain, or flat-out lying about this pandemic. Or really, just imagine the hypocritical reaction from the right if any democrat ever had done the things Trump has done to undermine this country.
In keeping with so much Padres content here - Alderson had a stint as CEO of the Padres from 2005 to 2009, where he started the precipitous 14 year decline that they are finally crawling out of. He also ran Trevor Hoffman out of town. He sucks.
Not to be dense, but why would drinking whiskey last night make you hungry this morning? If anything, I'd think if you drank too much you'd be nauseous with a hangover this morning, not hungry.
Too much vodka for me does what you say, but for some reason too much Bourbon does make me somewhat hungrier the next day.
A real hangover, sure, makes you sick, but in between "no effect" and "hangover" is the weird middle ground of "hmm, I definitely had a lot to drink last night and, though I'm not truly hung over, I could definitely use a big-ass fatty and greasy breakfast to kinda soak it all up." It's how brunch was invented, basically
I love 1990s BritPop as well, even though I’m old enough to remember the original British Invasion (the one in 1964, not the one in 1776). My favorite ‘90s BritPop song was the one where Justine Frishmann sang about Damon Albarn’s impotence. If you can unpack that, then you, too, are a ‘90s BritPop fan.
Elastica's "Stutter"
Precisely.
Mildly disappointed not to have seen a random Travis reference for the third straight day.
Heroin is is hell of a drug.
And a few years later, Albarn wrote the greatest breakup song ever (Tender, on 13) about Frishmann.
- I saw the weirdest thing about Cohen bringing back Alderson. Apparently some owners are afraid if Cohen is let into the club, he is going to ruin everything by spending more money to win! Imagine that! And by bringing back Sandy, Cohen is saying "don't worry, we will use Moneyball tactics and not do whatever we can to win." Which I suspect is not actually true. Still, this really sums up where we are now with the stewardship, or lack thereof, of too many of the owners.
- The Mets had luck in 1969 - the black cat game - and 1973. So it has happened.
- FWIW, Trump's comments were the lead on NPR yesterday, and the Times made them the lead by the end of the day. From what I can tell, both these outlets are not ignoring Trump's endless stream of comments. But at the end of the day, far too many outlets just cannot break decades of treating whoever is in the White House with respect. As if Nixon shouldn't have killed that forever.
I'll give a shout-out to my local rag, the STL Post-Dispatch. Big ol' headline on the front page this morning about Trump's comments. Way to go, P-D.
As for "World Gone Wrong" liner notes, I read them in '93, and they were way over my 14 year old head. I've definitely re-read them since (not lately), and I thought they were great. Not Chronicles great, necessarily, but a pretty good breakdown of Stackalee and all the rest. Sounds like a good excuse to read them again. (Love the podcast, BTW. And I love "Empire Burlesque" and "Disease of Conceit", so there.)
I guess I'm in the minority, but I actually wear fewer hats since I went fully bald. I guess I'm not "hiding anything" anymore, and I've actually found them to be less comfortable on my shaved head.
See, this is me, too, unfortunately. I know I *should* wear more caps since in live in San Diego and our 350 days of temperate sunshine each year is glorious, but I started shaving my head 18 months ago and black guys like me are objectively more handsome with a shaved head, so...here we are.
I once self-trimmed my horseshoe hair a bit too close so it came fairly close to approximating what I'd look like with a totally shaved head. Except I looked like an escapee from 19th century lunatic asylum. Just a horrible, horrible look for pasty white guys like me.
My lord, when will my Black friends STOP getting all of the advantages over white people like me!
Currently rocking that pasty pale scalp of a fresh self shave.
Look upon my works and suffer!
Masha Gessn wasn’t wrong when she wrote “Autocracy: Rules for Survival” right after the 2016 election.
https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2016/11/10/trump-election-autocracy-rules-for-survival/
It’s Masha Gessen, you tool.
Are you gonna let you talk to you that way?
Trying to not feed the trolls, tbh.
Couple thoughts:
Trump says a lot of crazy stuff. When he can’t commit to a peaceful transfer of power, I wouldn’t expect anything else. It is almost more notable when he speaks with sincere tones such as when he was informed RBG passed.
Thank you for finally explaining in depth your affinity for your Dodgers cap. Doesn’t everyone Midwesterner dream about coming to LA to make it famous or date a chick that knows a guy that was once in a pilot episode of a show that never aired that starred Matthew Perry when he was only know as Matt and the role was “3rd waiter” in a show about talking donkeys that were into ballroom dancing? I don’t know.
Great newsletter as always. Good job.
Actually, if it’s a battle *for* last place in the AL East, then the Sox are up by two games, not the O’s.
If it’s a battle for fourth, than yes, the O’s are up by two games.
I think it's like Craig's oft-offered "Cleveland vs. Cincinnati: The Battle For Ohio - loser has to keep Ohio" joke
Possibly!
Sitting here, drinking my coffee, wearing a long sleeve thermal shirt (Old Navy, not Eddie Bauer) and an old t-shirt over top of it. It's not a Sub Pop shirt, but it easily could have been.
Maybe Sub Pop and Eddie Bauer both know who their audiences are in 2020.
I think that's right. Sub Pop is still a going concern. But they know people who are now in their mid-40s/early 50s butter most of their bread. And they know that's EB's demographic. Win/win.
With regards to coups, there's One Simple Way To Fight It That People Don't Want You To Know!
Vote IN PERSON.
You may think it's "cool" to vote by mail, but what's even cooler is to have your vote counted on Election Night. The nightmare scenarios everyone is fretting over involve an election contested because the GOP has a narrow lead in the count as Nov. 3 becomes Nov. 4, but there are so many mail-in ballots that have yet to be counted that the Electoral Vote is still uncertain.
Because you KNOW the GOP is going to do their damnedest to find a way to toss out any vote for Biden, and keep any vote for El Presidente.
With so many people voting by mail for the first time, there are far too many opportunities for voters to screw it up by not following the directions - as we are already seeing with "naked ballots" in Pennsylvania.
It's nice that everyone is making it so easy to vote by mail - but do your country a favor and vote in person. Put on your mask, take the day off from work if you have to, bring a snack if you think there will be a line, keep a safe distance from others, and VOTE IN PERSON.
This is far too important to the future of our country. Suck it up and VOTE IN PERSON.
I will be doing the same thing I did for the primaries: getting a mail-in ballot, filling it out, putting it in the secrecy envelope and then sealing that in the outer envelope with my signature, and then dropping it off in person at the early voting site. No need to get the USPS involved. And I would expect that votes received early would be counted and released in the initial numbers reported as soon as polling closes on election day.
Doing that same thing today in Mn
While that would certainly make sense, the very fact that it does explains why it's not how every jurisdiction handles things.
Some of us live in civilized jurisdictions that count ballots received before election day first.
I'm a Braves fan, but now living in Minnesota (1986 to 2010, 2016 to current). I had lived in Atlanta from 1977 to 1986 and then Austin TX from 2010 to 2016. I visited family in LA and realized i forgot my hat when we went to Knotts Berry Farm. So i grabbed a Diamondbacks hat at a souvenir shop. i don't have any fan interest in Arizona, but it was just a nice looking hat. And boy howdy, did i ever get a rash of crap from friends back in MN and Austin friends, where i was living at the time.
West coast friends told me i should have picked up an LA, SD or SF hat.
MN friends asked me why not a Twins hat? Duh, do you even know me?
Austin friends told me i should have represented TX, but i hadn't really latched on to any TX team by then. I did go to a bunch of Round Rock games, but just because i wanted to see some baseball nearby.
Who knew there would be a backlash caused by a picture of me wearing a Diamondbacks hat while hanging out with my dog.
There are other teams in California than those three
Well yeah but none of my friends or family are Angels or Oakland fans.
Although my late grandpa was an Angels fan so I should have just bought one those hats. *shrug*
A couple of things:
1) Although it came out in 1989, the Stone Roses "I am the Resurrection" is my favorite Brit-Pop song of that era.
2) I've hit the point of baldness where I need to turn the overhead light off during Zoom calls due to the glare off of my head.
3) Has anyone seen any Never Trumpers go after Jim Baker, the king of the Reagan/GHW Bush administrations for his saying he is voting for Trump?
Great Cup of Coffee, as usual; now the long wait until Monday.
Forgot a fourth thing:
Almost my entire work wardrobe is Eddie Bauer pleated khakis, EB wool pants, and EB button down oxfords. Comfort, durability, cost all the time (except for the rare occasions a suit is required).