My Final Four

It's been a while since I've last blogged. You see, due to my unequivocal commitment to putting out a quality product, I refuse to blog unless I have something profound and moving to say out of respect for my readers (both of you - even though I know I just lost Robin by posting a sports-related blog).

Well, I'm still very much alive in my March madness pool. I'm feeling confident because we're headed into the Sweet 16 and my Final Four are are still intact. I thought I'd give a quick run down before one of them is eliminated tomorrow.



North Carolina (not surprisingly). I'm feeling pretty good about this pick since I don't think anyone's been within 20 points of them in the second half so far ... the road's about to get a lot tougher in the days ahead. Looking forward to a potential Tennessee-UNC matchup in the next round.







I have a well-documented Big 10 bias. That's the only way I can justify picking Wisconsin to upset Kansas next round. On the plus side, I think I'm the only one on the pool to pick them to make it as far as the Sweet 16, so every win from here on out is gravy. Seriously folks; WI has had one of the elite NCAA programs in the last five years. Where's the love?






Go, Cardinal! My other blackhorse Final Four pick, Stanford, is dependent on their inside game, anchored by the Lopez twins. Who both, incidentally, have girls names (Brook and Robin). Nothing spells tournament success like a duo of androgynous centers banging the boards. In other news, I'm probably going to lose...







Yes - I picked a Final Four matchup between Stanford and UCLA. And I have UCLA beating them for a fourth time this season. In other news, I'm a sadistic jerk. UCLA over UNC in the final - 76-72.

10 books that have changed my life

I've been reading quite a bit lately, which has caused me to contemplate the transformative power of the written word even more than I usually do. Which has made me think about which particular books have been most influential in the development of my worldview. Which made me decide to post a blog on the subject. Here they are in no particular order:

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. Simply the best novel I've ever read. Profound and moving on many levels.

An American Requiem by James Carroll. James and I aren't all that different. Except that I didn't become a young and idealistic Catholic priest active in the peace movement in the 60's. And I'm not Irish. And I don't write columns for the Boston Globe. On second thought, strike that: James and I aren't very similar.

Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky. Noam Chomsky is smart. More people should listen to him.

1491 by Charles Mann. An apt subtitle might be, "Chances are, anything anyone ever told you about early American history is wrong." That can be a little disorienting for a history major.

Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut. My first introduction to the humanistic, Jesus-loving agnosticism of Vonnegut - a force that continues to be a bit persuasive to me still.

A General Theory of Love, by Lewis, Amini, and Lannon. 3 Psychiatrists get together to write a book about the physiology of emotion. Sounds like the setup of a really lame joke or a really boring book. But it's not the case at all. I didn't think that anything could make me interested in neuropsychology. I was wrong.

Engaging the Powers by Walter Wink. Walter Wink's another guy that people should listen to. I doubt he's as smart as Noam Chomsky, though.

God and Empire by John Dominic Crossan. Engaging and powerful. Highly recommended. Unless you're a closed-minded fundamentalist. You're not a closed-minded fundamentalist, are you?

The Heart of Christianity by Marcus Borg. This, along with the previous two have done a lot to shape my faith into its present form.

Love's Executioner by Irvin Yalom. This made me start wondering if I, too, could do that psychology thing. Let's hope that I can.

Honorable mentions go to Night by Elie Wiesel and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

Until next time...

Me And Julio Down By The School Yard

Well, it sounds like Julio Franco is finally going to be retiring - too bad it's against his will. Nobody seems to be very interested in a first baseman who will be 50 at the end of the season (DOB 8/23/1958).

Franco had his MLB debut on April 23, 1982 for the Phillies. At the time I was 4 months and 9 days old.

His (presumably) last at bat was on September 17, 2007. 25 years 4 months and 25 days elapsed in between. That's just stunning. He's been playing ball with people who are significantly younger than his career. I can picture him at his 30 year high school reunion. All of his classmates are showing pictures of grandchildren taking first steps, talking about recent vacations and so forth, while he reeks of pine tar, is preoccupied with an impending 14 game west coast road trip starting next week and won't shut up about situational lefties. Stupid, stupid situational lefties.

What are some possible explanations for this behavior? I would like to advance two theories: 1) He owes some bookie somewhere a lot of money. 2) He's waiting for social security to kick in. (Too bad he's Dominican. Don't say anything to him, though.)

Feel free to contribute your own hypothesis.

Happy Valentines Day

One of the homeless guys that hangs out in front of the now defunct Amy's (fast food with a flair) just asked if I would be his Valentine. I told him I would. He got very excited. I kept right on walking. I might have even quickened my pace a bit.

Just in case anyone was wondering what was going on in my life at the moment.

Blessings.

Oscar Picks

Since it's the season to be talking movies, here are my Oscar picks. Please note that while I enjoy films quite a bit I have not seen several of the major movies of 2007 since I have other hobbies as well.

Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There (It really was quite a remarkable performance.)
Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men (Creepy. And evil.)
Lead Actress: Ellen Page, Juno (This is actually the only one of the Best-Actress-Nominated films I've seen. Am I a closet misogynist? Do I secretly despise Edith Piaf? The world may never know.)
Lead Actor: Clooney was very good in Michael Clayton, but I've got to give the edge to Viggo Mortensen and his tattoos in Eastern Promises (This is where my disclaimer comes in; see, I haven't seen Daniel Day-Lewis and his ridiculously hyped performance in There Will Be Blood. Nor have I seen Johnny Depp sing as Sweeney Todd. Cut me some stinkin' slack already.)
Picture and Director go to No Country For Old Men and the Coens. They're good.
Random gripe: I already admitted to not having seen There Will Be Blood, but by all accounts Johnny Greenwood got screwed. Seriously, Ratatouille was nominated for best score at the expense of my boy Greenwood? What gives? I'm just going to go ahead and say it: Ratatouille sucked. The human main character was annoying. The rat was a little better but occasionally boring. All in all it was a very underwhelming viewing experience for me after I went into it with high hopes predicated on an insane amount of positive reviews. And then it goes and disrespects Johnny Greenwood like that. Ratatouille and I are about to have it out.

Music in 2007

How about a (somewhat belated) top ten albums of 2007 list? I thought so.

Honorable Mention: Neon Bible, The Arcade. Enjoyable, but I found it to be a little over-hyped. Like when people said the AF is the best band ever (presumably with a straight face) after their second album. Favorite tracks: Windowsill, Intervention, Antichrist Television Blues.

10) The Reminder, Feist. Bought it for Darcy, but enjoyed it for myself. Favorite tracks: Brandy Alexander, 1234 (the ipod song).

9) The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter, Josh Ritter. Not as good as the Animal Years. Still quite good. Favorite tracks: The Temptation of Adam, Right Moves, Rumors.

8) Icky Thump, The White Stripes. I docked them a couple of spots for canceling their fall tour on me. We put our refund toward tickets to see the Decemberists in November. They canceled their tour too. Still a little bitter about that sequence of events. Favorite tracks: You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do as You're Told), Effect and Cause, Icky Thump.

7) Snow Angels, Over the Rhine. This is a Christmas album I haven't stopped listening to yet. It's the end of January. And I hate Christmas music. Favorite tracks: New Redemption Song, All I Ever Get for Christmas is Blue.

6) Instant Karma, Various Artists. Great songs redone (with varying degrees of aptitude) by some big names. All to support Amnesty International (full disclosure: I am a member and supporter of this awesome organization. additional disclosure: I have their sticker on my car). Favorite tracks: (Green Day's) Working Class Hero, (Jack Johnson's) Imagine.

5) Wincing the Night Away, The Shins. Solid album, listenable from start to finish. First Shins disc I've purchased. Favorite tracks: Turn on Me, Phantom Limb.

4) Cassadaga, Bright Eyes. Some truly amazing songs, a little long overall though. A song or two could have been cut and released as a B-side and it wouldn't have hurt the album. Favorite tracks: Soul Singer in a Session Band, If the Brakeman Turns My Way, Classic Cars.

3) Boxer, The National. The ranking may be a little inflated since this is the last album I've purchased and it's what I'm listening to right now, but I'm liking it a lot. Not a bad song on here. Favorite tracks: Fake Empire, Start a War, Mistaken for Strangers.

2) The Shepherd's Dog, Iron and Wine. To quote Andrew again: "He's a metaphorical genius but I can't understand what he's talking about." True. Luckily if you get tired of thinking about his lyrics you can sit back and enjoy his beautiful melodies. Favorite tracks: Boy With a Coin, Flightless Bird American Mouth, House by the Sea, Resurrection Fern.

1) In Rainbows, Radiohead. To paraphrase Rolling Stone's review: This album serves as a reminder that every other band owes us a collective apology for the crap they keep shoveling in our direction. It's awesome. And you've missed your chance to get it for free. Favorite tracks: Videotape, Faust Arp, Weird Fishes, House of Cards.

Who's ready for baseball?

It may only be January, but I just ordered my Dodgers mini-plan (12 games, $48 + processing fee). I'm also pretty excited that for the second time ever the Indians are playing a series against the Dodgers. In LA. Over a weekend (Fri-Sat-Sun). June 20, 21, 22. Naturally I'm going to pick up all three games. Anyone care to join us on any of those days? Darcy's already announced her intentions to cheer for the Dodgers - which threatens to tear me apart inside every time I hear it. I mean, as much as I love the Dodgers they'll always just be the next best thing to the Indians for me. Darcy doesn't have the 26 years invested in the team that I do. She just knows she's seen more Dodgers games than Indians games - a cumulative effect of the cheaper tickets and the shorter stadium commute time (15 minutes vs. an hour from Akron or about 2 from Mt. Vernon). I'm interested to see what she'll do when we move somewhere else and start seeing games at another new stadium.

In other baseball news, I floated a proposal around the office this week for a Building Services departmental Dodgers game and got 3 affirmative responses and 3 of what I would call enthusiastic affirmative responses. Fun times! My tactic for sealing the deal was to propose an April date when they play the Pirates (the boss is from Pittsburgh and has been following the Pirates since before they were terrible, i.e. before Barry Bonds left). I like having good ideas.