Favorite Baseball Players

I don't mean to get too philosophical here, but since it's that time of the year I've been thinking about baseball. As I was doing yard work this morning, I thought about how maybe our favorite baseball players tell us something about ourselves--a fan-based Rorschach test of sorts.

So I invite you to list your favorite baseball players. 

And I'm asking for your favorite baseball players of your favorite team (one player you've actually seen play, another player that you never saw play), your favorite baseball players of your favorite team's arch rival (one you've actually seen play, another that you never saw play), and finally an honorable mention of your favorite baseball player on neither of those two clubs.

Here are mine, so analyze away, you pop psychologists:

Favorite Team: Cubs

Players: Andre Dawson and Ron Santo

Arch Rival Team: Cardinals

Players: Bob Gibson and Willie McGee

Honorable Mention: Robin Yount

The Case for Obama Dropping Out

In the link provided from Slate, the author makes a strangely alluring case for Obama dropping out.

His causal analysis is interesting in that he gives Hillary minimal chance of beating McCain if Obama were to bow out. Hell, I at least give her a fifty-fifty shot. 

I don't know if Obama could sustain the blowback from his supporters if this fantasy were to ever happen, but I find this entry interestingly specious.

Link: http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/trailhead/archive/2008/04/24/drop-out-obama.aspx

"Why Bother?"

One of my favorite authors, Michael Pollan, opines in the NY Times Magazine that the solution to global warming is a "both and" approach that works at the individual level and also makes sure governing bodies do something.

As is his disposition, Pollan implores us to grow our own food and become more environmentally conscious while invoking the thoughts of probably my favorite author, Wendell Berry.

Enjoy "Why Bother?":  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20wwin-lede-t.html?scp=2&sq=pollan&st=nyt

A Late Round Sleeper for the NFL Draft

While I'd love to see the Rams draft D.J. Hall from Alabama at wide receiver, a fella at EIU would be a nice pick late in the draft too.

He's 6-6, runs a 4.45, and has some hops too. The one game I saw this fall is one in which he dominated.

Link to article about Micah Rucker: http://www.jg-tc.com/articles/2008/04/24/sports/doc480ffc7438213996199558.txt

Rude Awakening

During the early morning hour today (4:30ish), Diana and I woke up because of house shakin' a bit and some things in our bathroom rattling.

Downstate Illinois had an earthquake today, and we felt some of it.

It wasn't as loud and as long as the one I was in when my parents and I visited my brother in the Bay Area years ago, but it was a rude awakening.

Back North with You, You Big Ten Punks

As can be read here (http://media.www.dennews.com/media/storage/paper309/news/2008/04/16/Sports/Baseball.Panthers.Show.Patience.At.Plate-3327325.shtml), the EIU baseball squad sent the "elite" public institution up north home with the parting gift of a 13-3 rout.

The fake Indians got a can opened on them, albeit mainly through plate discipline.

I don't see the same happening this fall though when the football team visits Champaign-Urbana. We have a running back who transferred from Florida, but that only helps so much.

Poll: Best TV Show Songs?

I'm undertaking a pseudo-scientific poll of the best tv show (opening credits) songs.

Name your top five, in order.

Capes and Fools

As I was walking out of the Student Union's food court today, I saw what is probably a familiar sight to some of us.

I saw a dude wearing a large black cape.

I wonder if every college campus has it requisite "cape guy" on it. What do you think? Have there been any other sightings?

The cape dude also reminded me of something Diana and I saw during the fall semester. We were driving past campus and noticed two fellows dressed up in faux battle gear and battling against one another with fake swords.

Diana asked, "Did you see that?"

My reply, "Probably English majors."