I just read that Hank Aaron died. Hammerin’ Hank. He might not have had a problem with a steroid user breaking his home run record, but I do. Hank is still the king in my book.
He played in the south in the early 70’s and he was chasing after a revered record that belonged to a revered white guy. Racist America made his life pretty miserable but he stood tall and did his job like the hero he was. Our world is a lesser place without him in it.
I did a book report on him when I was in elementary school. The only thing I remember from that kids book I read 40 some odd years ago was a story from when he was in his first season in the minor leagues. He was running the bases and his helmet fell off… so he stopped to pick it up and put it back on. How his coach was able to find the self control to not tear his head from his neck, I’ll never know. I was still playing youth baseball at that time. Needless to say I never stopped running (as slow as I was) when my helmet came off. Hank got in huge trouble when he did it, I wasn’t going to fall into the same trap. No way.
These are the coins I’m using for my baseball playoff predictions. A Rays win tonight means one of my two current picks was right. Well… the coin’s pick was right. The Dodgers are down 2-1. They’ve got some work to do for the second pick.
Poison Ivy… like… what the hell, dude. It’s a global freakin’ pandemic and you stumble on some Poison flippin’ Ivy and smear it all over yourself like some kind of low IQ lab rat? Could you be any dumber? You were a Boy Scout for crying out loud, you should know better.
Jen bought some over the counter anti-itch spray. It’s helping a little, but I think I put it on a little too heavy. It got into my nose and into my throat and it’s icky. Ugh, if icky is the price of less itchy, then I think I can live.
There may be an upside to all of this though. As I mentioned in my random post yesterday, the Boston Red Sox are monumentally bad. Just… atrociously bad. Seemingly unrelated, but maybe very much related, the doc at the urgent care sent me home with a prescription to fight the Poison Ivy I was dumb enough to rub all over myself. The prescription is for a steroid cream. Isn’t that what Barry Bonds used? The Clear and The Cream?
Could it be? Could it be that I am going to take the same thing Barry Bonds took (no, it’s not) when he cheated his way to the title of Major League Baseball Home Run King? Do you think that the Boston Red Sox might be calling me soon? I used to pitch in youth baseball when I was like 14 and I can’t be any worse than the pitchers they are getting slaughtered with now, right? Steroids worked for Roger Clemens. I mean, yeah his skill level without the steroids was higher than mine (a little) to begin with, but if I take steroids too…. I could win 20 games AND hit 40 home runs for them.
Give me a minute to goop this stuff on and then give me a call, Red Sox!
It’s Sunday. My thumb hurts, and the rash on my arm is bigger than it was yesterday. I’m falling apart completely. Quarantine is finally breaking me, it seems. So what’s a red head to do? How about some reflection on the state of his world? Also known as a post full of random stuff? Sounds good to me!
Today is kind of a big day. Symbolically, if not literally. Today is the last weekend day that the kids are at our house before Bellana goes back to school. We’re going all out. Jen is making her favorite dinner tonight. Harry is making her favorite dessert right now. I’m so worried about the future. I want her to go and have a great second year at college, but I don’t want her to go and be at risk of catching the plague. I want her to stay here and be safe. Basically all the same arguments I made last August, with a few pandemical twists. Mostly I just don’t want to miss her again. Selfish, yes, but it’s still true. At the same time, if they can keep the Covid bubble closed and stop her and the rest of the students from being exposed, then I want her to have a great semester. I want her to have a ball. She doesn’t leave for a little over a week, but her last weekend is a dad weekend so we’re giving her a send off a little early.
I feel a little better about my step son’s school plans now that I know he’s only going in person half of the time instead of all the time. I guess you could say I feel half better than full bad? Get it? I would feel full better if he was going full remote, but that’s probably going to require an outbreak in the high school and I don’t want that either. I want him home and safe.
Sports: The Bruins won their first Tuukka Rask free game. They are up two games to one in their first round series against the Whale. I have confidence in Jaroslav Halak, that’s not the issue. I just had more confidence in Rask. A Cup win seems less likely with Halak carrying them, but really given the way they played in the first few games into the return to play, I had lost most of my Cup confidence anyway. We’ll see how far they can go. I’d like to at least beat the friggin’ Whale.
The Red Sox are utterly atrocious. They are very close to being on pace for the lowest win/loss percentage in franchise history, and the franchise has been around for about 120 years or so…. that means they are really, really bad. We all knew it was coming though. They have one major league starter in their pitching rotation and he’s probably a #4 on a real staff. Maybe a #3. Chris Sale, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Nathan Eovaldi together is a nice start for a rotation, but with Sale out getting Tommy John surgery, and E-Rod out with Covid-19 related heart issues, that just leaves Eovaldi and a bunch of minor leaguers and that is a recipe for complete disaster. Add a few hitters having epically bad seasons so far and you have a team that has a good shot at the #1 overall draft pick next year.
Music… 50/90 is 42% complete. I just added songs #20 and 21. I’ve got seven songs with rhythm guitars down that are waiting for lyrics and vocals. That’s it. 28 songs total so far. I need to get to 34 by the end of the month (50/90 takes place over three months and 50/3=16.67). I also want to have a 10 song (at least) album in a month for August. Five of the completed songs were started and finished this month, and three of the unfinished songs were started this month too. Those three are the top of the priority list right now, and I have to keep the new stuff coming so I don’t fall behind. I feel like I am way behind on things, even though I’m really just at the halfway point.
A bird just flew into the window, about two feet away from me. I hope he’s okay. It looked like it might have been a glancing blow. More like he bounced off than crashed.
We applied for vote by mail ballots recently, and our 9/1 Primary election ballots were delivered a couple of days ago. Will there still be a functioning USPS for us to mail them back? The shit stain of a president admitted publicly that he’s hamstringing the post office to tamper with the November election, and the response from those who stand as a check and balance against him? They went on vacation. Also, there is a global pandemic that is killing a thousand Americans a day so they went on vacation. If you still think your government represents you, then that should show you the truth.
That’s kinda a bummer note to end on. Here, let me make it worse by adding a couple of new songs. That should push us all off the ledge, right?
What passes for the Major League Baseball season this year opened on Thursday. Four days ago.
Today the Miami Marlins had to cancel their next game because 14 of their players and coaches have tested positive for COVID-19.
14.
Forteen.
Now I knew the chances of making it through a 60 game season and a 16 team playoff were pretty much nil, but I really thought it would take a couple of weeks before the system started to collapse. I thought it would last for more than four days.
Yesterday I posted a little blurb about Major League Baseball coming back. All players were tested for COVID-19 on the report day. We got the results of those tests yesterday. 31 players and 7 staff members are already positive. That’s 1.2% of the reporting players and it’s only day one.
What will the percentage of infections be after a week? After two weeks?
Like I said yesterday, I am really glad to have baseball back. Unfortunately, I know it’s not going to be back for long.
Baseball is back, sort of. Players who agreed to make themselves available for a 60 game season reported to their team’s facilities on July 1st. They were all tested for the coronavirus. They then got yesterday off for some reason which I assume had to do with getting all the testing results. Now today is the first day of the second attempt at Spring Training only it happens during the Summer so it’s not exactly Spring Training anymore, is it.
I’m wearing a Red Sox t-shirt to celebrate.
I think it’s probably a safe bet that 2-3 weeks from now the whole righteous endeavor will come crashing to a halt as about 70% of the players on every team are out sick with COVID-19. I applaud baseball for making something happen and taking their shot, but let’s be real. Once the players start dropping like flies this is all going to come to an inglorious, yet fitting end.
I hope you prove me wrong, MLB, but I don’t think you will.
I’m sitting at my desk at work, eating lunch. Patiently I wait for 2:05 PM Eastern Daylight Savings Time for that is the scheduled start time of the Boston Red Sox 2017 season opener.
My bologna sandwich is good, but the first win on the road to another world series championship for the Sox would be better.
We start the season at home this year which, given the fact we had a nor’easter two days ago, seems risky. It’s supposed to be a nice day though so we have that going for us. The reining Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello is our opening day starting pitcher. Last year I jokingly referred to him as Cy Young Porcello when he won his first game. Much to my surprise he just kept winning which kinda made me feel like I called it… even though I was trying to make fun of him after his crappy 2015 season. Sorry about that, Rick.
Opening day is an interleague game. I find that a little annoying. I never liked interleague play. It was a gimmick before and now it’s making me feel like a grumpy old man. Hey Pittsburgh Pirates! Get off my Fenway lawn! I’m hoping that the work stars will align to let me listen to the game on the radio. I don’t know. It’s been busy today. Lunch time has been a lull. That sometimes means that everyone is saving up the hurt for just after lunch. Does that happen at other companies too? Probably.
Anyway, good luck to my home town team, the Boston Red Sox. They surprised us all last season by winning their division and making it to the playoffs. Here’s hoping they can top that this year.
