October 26, 2004
The World According to Google
Imagine my suprise to find, upon opening google news that the year is, in fact, 1958 and the New York Yankees have just defeated the Milwaukee Braves 4 games to 3!
I should check the 4,418 related stories to see what I missed:
October 22, 2004
A little late, but I've been busy
UPDATE:
A comment from an ESPN.com Page 2 chat with the sports guy. This about sums up how I felt last thursday.
"I've gained 10 pounds in seven days (steady diet of pizza, McDonald's, and beer). I haven't slept more than 4 hours a night in a week. I can't form a rational thought in my head. I have ridiculously large bags under my eyes. I'm emotionally spent. I've listened to Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" on my iPod 87 times in a row since Sunday with no interruptions. I have no voice. My immune system is as sturdy as balsa-wood. My thumbs hurt from the 673 text messages I've sent in the last 5 days. I haven't exercised in three weeks. My body is ready to crumble.
... AND I COULDN'T FEEL BETTER!
To the Yanks fans ... I'll refrain from the taunting I've endured from your end for years. All I have to say is welcome to 24 years of my life so far. The scene at the end of Shawshank Redemption when the warden looks in the lock box when the police are streaming down the road and he finally realizes Dufresne screwed him ... I'd like to think that's how Yankee Nation felt last night.
October 19, 2004
Ick, ick, ick, ick
Ick, ick, ick, ick.
Ick.
I feel disgusting.
I thought I knew what nasty was. And then I read this. That's right, it's Andrea Mackris's sexual harassment complaint against Bill O'Reilly, courtesy of the smoking gun.
If you really just wanted to skip to the nasty stuff, go here (beware), or here (seriously, beware I may never read again).
October 18, 2004
11:28
Hot damn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go SOX!
I'm not sure...
...if I can keep this up. I've been a Red Sox fan my entire life, or at least as long as I can remember. Last year's debacle was heartbreaking enough, a game seven that was just excessively brutal to endure. This year seemed like "our year" (although to a Sox fan, every year seems like "our year"). However, as of yesterday evening, prior to 7:30, it seemed fate (or the curse, or divine providence, or the vast right-wing conspiracy) had other ideas. Prior to last night, we seemed on the verge of abject humiliation, the unthinkable was ready to happen, we were nine innings away from being swept by the Yankees in the ALCS.
But it was not to be, the baseball gods felt it prudent (or just plain amusing) to subject Red Sox fans to at least another day of hypertension, anxiety, and self doubt.
Not that I'd have preferred if the Sox lost last night. On the contrary, I'm thrilled; a come-from-behind, 12th inning walk-off home run win is a beautiful thing, it propelled me into my day with an optimistic outlook and a smile on my face. But I'm not sure that I can deal with it again. There is just something about the Red Sox facing elimination at the hands of the Yankees. Yes, we avoided a year of broom taunts at the hands of NY fans with the extra-innings win last night, but now we possess that most dangerous of feelings--especially when in the hearts of Red Sox fans--a glimmer of hope.
So I'll root for my team tonight, projecting my will for victory to a team nearly 500 miles away. For an evening, pinning all of my hopes to a fairly meaningless contest between two groups of multi-millionaires, I'll feel as if my fate is tied to that of a baseball team. And I'll allow the result of the game to dictate my mood for the rest of today, tomorrow, and probably the entire week.
That's what the glimmer of hope does to a fan. It is what propels them out of the bar or their living room and onto the street for a walk after a devastating loss. It is also responsible for that utterly blank look that appears on the faces of many sports fans after such a loss; that's what a person looks like when the glimmer is extinguished. I've always been interested in the powerful emotion we tie to relatively meaningless contests among strangers. A couple of hours after the game, maybe the next day, the blank expression (or triumphant smile) recedes as the real, material world again appears--the bills, relationships, personal woes, mortality-- replacing the fantasy of sport. Because that’s what it is, really, a sort of fantasy. The idea that which team hits the ball harder, or kicks it farther, or runs faster, has any measurable effect on our lives is absurd, it’s fantastical. I’m not a proponent of the idea of sports as a metaphor for life, not even baseball. At best it offers an alternative, a brief respite, allowing fans to link their fates and fortunes to something simpler. A group of idols--a team--with a clearly defined adversary, decisions that can be scrutinized, and an binary outcome--win or lose—offers a perspective that is unambiguous and straightforward, something completely lacking in the material world.
In short, go Sox, beat the Yankees.
October 07, 2004
Slice of Life
At the bar last night watching the Sox game:
Chris: Oh, I talked to [the mutual friend] "Jane" yesterday, since we didn't check out the corn maze last weekend she and some friends want to check it out on Saturday.
Housemate: Oh... [silence] Yeah.
Chris: I think they wanted to make an afternoon out of it. Get some pumpkins, perhaps pick some apples, and then do the corn maze after dark.
[silence]
Housemate: I don't know, that's an awful long time with no drinking involved. [pause] ... Yeah, I said it... Don't get judgmental, you were fucking thinking it.
October 06, 2004
Fucked Company
Good morning from XXX Corp!!!! I strolled in today, a couple of hours early, to find a message from the company President waiting in my inbox. We've been eagerly anticipating this letter for the past couple of weeks and, as expected, it outlined the "refocusing of resources" and some strategic "redeployments."
Among the highlights:
They folks here at XXX Corp are doing this to "fuel the growth engine." (I, for one, think that sounds dirty...)
October 05, 2004
October 04, 2004
Go See Live Music
I was looking in the city paper this weekend and came across a couple of shows this month that I'd like to see. While I normally leave the concert/event news to more knowledgeable folks, their recommendations are sometimes a bit too "hipster" for my tastes. So, here's Santulli's concert planner for Oct '04: