Crooked Hat As A Metaphor For A Baseball Season

When I was up in Charlotte for some training at the end of March, while my compatriots were shopping in the Bass Pro Shop, I stepped out into the Concord Mills Mall proper to buy something different.

The 2012 baseball season had yet to begin and in spite of their somewhat lackluster spring training record, I was optimistic for a nice run to the playoffs for the FRS.

It was time to replace my old Red Sox hat, it had several jagged white lines of dried sweat rings in the cap area* and the brim was getting kind of floppy.

* Sweat rings in a ball cap are only acceptable for superstitious pro baseball players and old school farmers.

My last hat had the big B on the front, but the Sox had a new manager this year and hopefully a new attitude, so this time I wanted a new look. Ducking into a Lids store nearby the Bass Pro Shop, I picked out my hat, tried it on to make sure it fit and paid the man. I opted for the dangling socks logo – Style 20000459.

I wore my new cap proudly in April even though they got off to a rocky start, showing that my fandom for the Red Sox was sincere and I was not just some bandwagon hopper. But the deeper in the month we went, the less likely this was that it was only a slow start, but more an indication that I was in for a long losing summer.

I had the hat on this weekend and when I looked in the Purple Whale’s rear view mirror, noticed that dangling socks were not exactly centered** over the brim. Hmmm. Probably off by only a half a degree and noticeable by only me, but it kind of soured my wanting to continue to wear the hat.

**Should have checked myself in a mirror when I tried on the hat.

Monday morning when I read The Soxaholix web comic, it captured my feelings exactly: The Glass Is Completely Vacated

I guess I will wear the hat one more time, it will be on a cloudy day when Donna and I go out to eat somewhere in Augusta, so I can “accidentally” leave it in the booth and not really “notice” it until it is too late to go back for it.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Tran?si?tions since 10/24/08: 1134

My Cookies Have Names

I get some cookies for a morning snack. The quantity varies depending on how many total are in the package and dividing that number by five and I try and mix it up by getting something different each week. Nutter Butter, Oreos* (regular and reverse), Fig Newtons and several Keebler varieties (Deluxe Grahams, Fudge Sticks or Fudge Stripes.) This week, a Keebler cookie I hadn’t tried, E.L Fudge(R) Originals, were on sale for $2, so I picked up a pack.

Two vanilla cookies with a layer of fudge in the middle, but they’re not as tasty to me as the other Keebler offerings or the reverse Oreos. They are shaped like the little elves that live in that hollow tree and even have names, Ernie, Elwood, Buckets & Fast Eddie. They are a little disconcerting to eat, espscecially because I usually start by bitting off their heads.**

*Did you know that along with the Titanic and Fenway Park***, Oreos are also celebrating their 100th Anniversry?

**Does it make me a zombie because I eat the brains first? Or am just being zombie safe by killing the brain?

***There is definitely a joke in that pairing somewhere.

Critisism

I love some Mad Men. At first I was just sucked into its pitch perfect take on the early 60’s, but the more you watch, the more you realize that this is one of the most nuanced things on TV. The trouble with that nuance thing is that while I still enjoy watching the show, following the characters and their story arcs, the big picture if you will, I now need help with recognizing all the small brush strokes that create the total piece of art.

For that I have to turn to various reviews and recaps, plus their ever entertaining and sometimes informative comments. Usual reads are HitFix, Vulture, PressPlay and my favorite, the AV Club.

Tonight’s homework assignment kiddies is to watch this past Sunday’s episode, Lady Lazarus, then go read the AV Club review and see what you missed. If you can’t be bothered with watching the show, just go read the AV Club piece.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Tran?si?tions since 10/24/08: 1133

May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor

Donna, I and 20 of our closest strangers saw The Hunger Games this morning. Went for a bike ride to DD for breakfast and when we got home there was enough time to shower, change and drive to Augusta to catch the 10:30 showing in some stadium seating.

Neither one of us has read any of the books, we both had a sketchy idea of the plot from media immersion, but the real reason we went to see it was that it was filmed mostly in our favorite part of the country, western North Carolina. Not a bad little movie. I enjoyed it more than Donna, but neither of us will be waiting with breathless anticipation for the second installment.

After doing all the prep work the last couple weeks, re-watching Iron Man 2, watching Thor, watching Captain America, and seeing the trailer in the theater today, I can now say, “I think I’ll be waiting for the DVD of The Avengers.” I almost hate to admit it, but I buy a dystopian future where teenagers battle to the death on television before I swallow the premise of an Asgardian villain attacking Earth and to the rescue come this group of “superheroes.”

The next movie I see in a movie theater will be sometime after June 8th:

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UEv03g51kU&start=8

If baseball success and fan satisfaction were measured in innings played, this weekend’s three game set with Baltimore Orioles, totaling 39 innings (more than 4 complete games worth) would mean great things. Unfortunately they don’t, winning does.

The odds certainly are not in the favor of the Red Sox.

A little less than a month into the 2012 season the FRS are 11 and 16 leaving them in last place, 7-1/2 games out of the division lead. After today’s loss they are on pace for a 66 win, 96 loss season. Maybe if they try a little less harder they can get an even 100 losses to honor this 100th year anniversary of Fenway Park.

Super Moon Other Way

We went out driving in the Miata looking for tonight’s Super Moon. Once we got heading east we could see we were in trouble because we could see the tops of thunder clouds on the horizon. It was still in the upper 80’s, but the sun was down and it seemed pleasant enough, so we kept on driving. Followed one road til it T’d at a dirt road, flipped a mental coin and went left. A little less than a mile we came to a paved road with a recognizable name, so we took it and headed back into town for some ice cream.

Part way back, as we drove along a smooth, two-lane back road there was the moon off to the left. Found a place to stop and take some photos, but by that time it was too high in the sky to look anything different that a plain ol’ full moon. Fooled around snapping photos, but nothing came out worth anything except maybe this picture of The Emperor with a car passing in the background taken facing away from the Super Moon.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Tran?si?tions since 10/24/08: 1132

Well That Explains That

For lack of anything worth watching on the tube this evening, I had the first Iron Man movie on. It was playing on FX, so it was chock block full of commercials, but it was better than Entertainment Tonight, Wheel of Fortune or the 38th viewing of a Two And A Half Men repeat episode. One of the best sequences of the movie is Tony busting out of that cave with his cobbled together original Iron Man suit. Just after crashing into a sand dune in the middle of the desert, miles from who knows where, we go to some commercials.

What comes next in the movie I saw in the theaters 4 years ago, and what is on the DVD I got for Christmas later in 2008, is we see Mr. Stark walking around in the sand and then within a couple minutes Colonel Rhodes shows up with some helicopters to rescue him. I always thought this a little odd because, how did they get to the middle east and the scene of hundreds of Stark Industries exploding in flames so fast.

What came next on TV was a scene of a bunch of soldiers loading into some big helicopters. Tony’s friend “Rhodey” Rhodes is there and gets stopped by some General who teasingly chides him that heading off to find Stark is a fools errand as no one has any way of knowing where he might be. This explains away that quick find.

Pretty coincidental timing on the search mission and Tony completing his escape in the newly finished Iron Man suit. Then again it is a “comic book” movie, so you really can’t dig too deep on anything going on without finding incongruities.

Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom? Mom?

We had dinner with the MMC tonight at a Mexican restaurant in Augusta. Throughout the entire meal there was a baby crying/vocalizing loud enough to be sort of annoying. From where I was sitting I could see the mother rocking the car seat that the baby was in. The mother was doing this in an absent-minded way while staring at her smartphone.

Maybe, just maybe, if she picked up the baby it might have quieted down.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Tran?si?tions since 10/24/08: 1132