Better Than Being There

img_mlbtv_smWhen I went to check out the start time for last night Red Sox game on their home page I noticed a news item that said get the rest of the season of MLB.TV Premium for $19.95. I’m in, no more watching badly pixelated streams off of European servers…. The HD picture is awesome. Why bother paying all that money to actually go to a game?

Watched part of last night’s loss, but today and tomorrow I will not be able to use it the watch the FRS, seems that when the game is selected to be carried by FOX on Saturday it is unavailable for watching on MLB.TV. Even if the game you want is not being shown by your local FOX station. Sunday’s night game belongs of ESPN and the same deal applies. Luckily today’s Red Sox/Dodgers game was on my local FOX channel so I could watch it.

It seems like this thing is really geared for the fan of a team who he lives nowhere near, because there blackout restrictions to protect sports cable networks monetary interests. Fortunately I’m a fan of of a team that is a thousand miles away, because if I was an Atlanta Braves fan I’d be blacked out.

Draft Day

The Real Thing
Rnd# Pick# Player Pos
1 (5) Marshawn Lynch RB
2 (20) Dez Bryant WR
3 (29) Cam Newton QB
4 (44) David Wilson RB
5 (53) Marques Colston WR
6 (68) Pierre Garcon WR
7 (77) Owen Daniels TE
8 (92) Jacquizz Rodgers RB
9 (101) Sidney Rice WR
10 (116) Phil Dawson K
11 (125) Fred Jackson RB
12 (140) Kendall Hunter RB
13 (149) Jermaine Gresham TE
14 (164) Malcom Floyd WR
15 (173) Cowboys D/ST
16 (188) Phillip Rivers QB

Spoiled?

Orphan Black is coming back for a second set of shows next spring, but they are already casting for filming…and as such I can now be spoiled as to what may or may not happen next season.

Here is one from this morning:

[spoiler]In casting sides for Orphan Black season 2 (episode(s) not specified), Sarah and Kira are hiding at Cal’s cabin in the woods (Cal is a new recurring role being cast). A policeman who is a friend of Cal’s stops by asking about shoplifters he’s looking for (a little girl, her mother, and a man) but Cal says he hasn’t seen them. Cal and Sarah become lovers. Later, Cal kills someone in order to protect Sarah and Kira, and the three of them go on the run. Paul wasn’t specifically mentioned in these scenes involving Cal/Sarah/Kira, and neither was Mrs. S. (Sarah’s foster mother Siobhan) or Felix, so I don’t know whether the “man” seen with Sarah when she was shoplifting was either Felix or Paul. The casting sides also didn’t reveal how Sarah gets Kira back.[/spoiler]

I used to devour spoilers for TDTVS back in the day, but I’m not too sure if I want to be spoiled for this show. Lost was such purposely deeply layered show so that if you were spoiled in one area it still wouldn’t affect the other 90% of an episode. Part of the excitement of watching OB was you never knew where the heck it was going to take you. But because I do read the Morning Spoilers section of io9 and I know I can’t be trusted to not read an Orphan Black spoiler if it is there, so I might have to live with ’em.

Right beneath this spoiler io9 cited their source, Spolier TV. For grins I clicked on the link and in place of where the spoiler used to be was – Info removed at the request of Temple Street Productions. I’m betting that means the spoiler was too right on the money. Of course they might be taking a ploy from TDTVS’s producers by leaking something that is false as a misdirection and then denying it to add authenticity.

Well I hope the Queen of the Clone Club, Tatiana Maslany, doesn’t get spoiled by all the attention she is getting. I see where she has booked a two-episode arc on NBC’s Parks & Recreation as Tom Haverford’s love interest for next season of that show. And she also signed up to do an unspecified voicing role in the five-episode Captain Canuck animated web series about the iconic Canadian superhero.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1248

Voter Apathy?

There were some concerns about a couple of rules that were in effect for last year’s season of the End Zone Entourage Fantasy Football League. I’m the League manager, but not its dictator, so I let everyone know that there would be a poll on the League’s home page and that they should go there and make their opinions known.

Last year I instituted a tie breaker because the year before a few people didn’t like having ties. If a 2012 game ended in a tie the home team was awarded the victory. Needless to say in the two games that did end in a tie last year, the owner of the Home Team was happy, but the owner of the Visitor Team was displeased. League Manager’s Poll #1 read, “Should a tie-breaker by used to settle tie games?” There are 12 owners and 4 voted Yes and 4 voted No. Four didn’t bother to vote.

The first year of the league only 4 teams made the playoffs and the other 8 played in “consolation games.” When I took over as League Manager in year two the previous administration let me know he wanted all 12 teams to make the playoffs the year before, but didn’t know how to do it. I figured out how to do it, so last year all 12 teams got in the playoffs. Of course the top 4 teams in last year’s regular season were bounced out of the playoffs by week 2 and the final game pitted the #10 & #12 teams, with the regular season’s losing-est team taking home the trophy. League Manager’s Poll #2 read, “How many teams should make into the playoffs: 2, 4, 8 or 12?” Of the 12 owners a whopping 3 voted, one for 4 teams, one for 8 teams and 1 for all 12 teams. Seventy-five percent of the owners didn’t vote!

I sent out an email after the poll closed to lament the lack of participation and got a whopping 3 more votes before I closed the poll this morning. There was one more vote for 8 teams and 2 more for 12 teams, so once again everyone makes the playoffs…

I have posted one more League Manager’s Poll on the League’s front page:
League Managers Poll

The first selection is an actual answer from an actual owner.

Track 01 – These Are Days

Just love Natalie Merchant. I had almost every CD that 10,000 Maniacs put out and her first two solo albums. She has released a few more CDs since then, but I’ve stopped buying physical and downloadable music, so the only exposure to her music I get now is when I catch a tune on RadioParadise. The latest one is something called Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience which not only has Natalie singing, but the cello opening reminds me of the theme music for the TV show Firefly.

Breakfast at Betsy’s

We had 4 Miatas and a Bug-Eyed Kia Soul meet Donna and I at Greg’s Gas+ in North Augusta this morning. Dennis & Karol Mason were waiting with John Haff for us to arrive and then not too much later Rudy rolled in followed by a Kia Soul containing ex-members Jim & Judy Creer who were visiting Augusta from their current home in Florida. The lure of seeing Jim & Judy even brought founding member Anita Wylds out to join us at the start too.

It was kind of like old times as everyone stood around in the parking area chatting to well past the scheduled departure time. The only thing missing was Jim Creer’s hood up. When we finally got going, luck was on my side as we made the 20 mile drive with all six cars together in spite of having to navigate 10 traffic signals, arriving at Betsy’s on the Corner only about 10 minutes late.

The entire Aiken Wing of the Club (the Woomers, the Dyers, the Ormerods and Tom Varallo) were inside waiting on us at the traditional Master’s Miata Club long table consisting of several separate units all pulled together. Whoever did the joining, the Club members or the restaurant staff, they were very in tune psychically as there were exactly as many chairs needed to seat both groups.

We then spent the next 1-1/2 hours talking, drinking coffee, ordering breakfast, talking drinking coffee, talking waiting, redirecting mis-delivered meals, correcting the oversights of our ordered meals, eating, talking, drinking coffee, eating, waiting of the waitress to figure out all the separate checks, talking, waiting, talking and then paying our checks.

The above photo was taken by a random patron, who volunteered to take a shot of our whole group and promised that it would come out great, as she was the daughter of a professional photographer. I was a little worried at first as I had to show her which button was the shutter on my camera, but by golly she did pretty darn good.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1245