Rock Block weekends

I like classic rock, actually prefer it. Call me old, call me names, whatever. One of the stations I flip between in the car does rock block weekends every weekend. Their promo states: "2, 3 or even 4 in a row from your favorite artists".

Ok, so sometimes it isn't my favorite artist and I flip. There are a few groups/artists I flip before the first song is 3 seconds in. Two of them were played today while I was on the way to the lake:

ZZ Top - never ever have understood the appeal. The sound is chalkboard scratching at best. Didn't find out if it was 2,3 or 4 in a row.

Bob Seger - Incredibly irritating songs. True story - at our wedding we skimped a little bit on the DJ, he seemed like a good enough guy. When asked about special songs, you know first dance etc. we gave him that. I also told him under no circumstances was Bob Seger to be played. It was a given that DJ's at weddings would play either Turn the Page for a slow song, Night Moves to speed things a little bit, or gasp, Old time rock and roll to get the 80's loving crowd going. What did I hear during the reception? Old Time Rock and Roll. Took a little bit out of the tip envelope. Serves him right.

Anyway, both zz and Seger were played on rock block weekend? Certainly not two groups/artists on my favorites list.

Rant over, go back to your lives.

RedSox - World Series bound? I dunno...

The RedSox were rolling. They came back from the well documented failure in April and have been in-out of first place for a couple months. They appeared to have begun to reach their potential and things were great.

This week, David Ortiz develops a heel/foot issue. He has been out of the lineup for the doubleheader yesterday with Tampa and the game this afternoon too. One man doesn't make a lineup, Kevin Youkilis also has missed the games. The issue? In the three games in two days against division rival Tampa the Sox have put a total of 15 runners on base (or HR). Nine hits in three games, five walks and a HBP.

The team went comatose all together. For the season, these RedSox have averaged 13.79 baserunners per contest. 9.8 hits, 3.7 walks and .3 HBP. Amazing that they won a game this week so far.

They will get hot again, maybe when Ortiz and Youk get back in the lineup, maybe before then. If and when they head into the playoffs they need to be ready to hit. While this team has good pitching, it isn't their strength, their ability to hit in spots 1-9 is.

So...we are supposed to be sad, right?

Having a hard time with the overwhelming sentiment that Tiger Woods missing the cut today at the PGA is a bad thing. Really? I'm hoping the timing of this picture of Tiger was when a bug of some sort flew into him and caused that pained look on his face. Maybe he was taking an eye exam during his round, you know, "cover your right eye and read the bottom row".

I like superstars, I think superstars can transcend sports and be role models if careful. Tiger wasn't exactly careful was he? I don't really wish ill will on people and don't with Tiger either but him playing horribly and missing the cut isn't something I'll spend any more time than this blog post worrying about. The media is waiting for, praying for, the return of dominant Tiger. I don't get it. Why? The game was predictable and boring. Yeah, he still has plenty of time to catch Jack's record for Major Championships. Will it be as satisfying? I don't know.

Lets look at some great records broken and the participants:

Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb's all time hit record; Pete Rose and Ty Cobb (reportedly) are both slim balls.

Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron's all time HR record; Hank Aaron is revered and went through troubling and racist times to break Babe Ruth's previous mark. Bonds...yeah.

Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig's consecutive game streak; Both are/were considered relatively squeaky clean, one for the good guys

Tiger Woods one day breaking Jack's record; quite possible, far from squeaky for Tiger.


Truth is, Tiger is also aging, might not have the time to overcome the injuries and the damage done to his reputation. Maybe that is what everybody is sad about?

cool

Somebody posted this picture on the hydrofoiling site I frequent.

Love this picture,his quote : "Last Shuttle "ENDEAVOR" flight from KSC - 5-16-2011. A seriously nifty photo of Monday's shuttle launch from the best seat in the house.....an F-15E Strike Eagle at 26 thousand feet over the east coast.......the protective combat air patrol for the launch......"

So Wrong...but ok with that

The other day I posted that Jacoby Ellsbury would be named July AL player of the month. Boy was I off. Seems his 5'8 ish teammate Dustin Pedroia walked off with the monthly award. Seems like a good thing if you are a Sox fan. Top two guys in the batting order fighting it out for the top player of the month award. Oh yeah, btw -last month (June) Adrian Gonzalez was the player of the month...

P.S. Sox win tonight on walkoff HR by Ellsbury, maybe August will be his month?

PPS. Back in June, when at a Sox game in the Bronx with a Yankee friend and Pedroia was hitting .230 I made a gentleman's bet that Pedey would end the year over .300 - Love this game!

The End

For as long as I can remember I have a fear (or dreading) the end of things. Nope, not talking about the BIG end of things but much smaller and on a more frequent scale. The end of a round of golf, end of a day on the lake, end of a vacation, things like that.

I can tell you that in every round of golf I play (not that many lately, lol), somewhere around the 13th or 14th hole I get a sense of sadness that it will be over in x number of holes.

About Thursday on a standard weeks' vacation I start to wonder where the time went and why does it have to end in a few days. Everybody probably wonders that one but it is deeper than just whimsically wondering "where did the time go?".

The dread that hits me actually does sometimes prevent me from fully enjoying the moment and balance of the event.

I looked it up online hoping to find some cool sounding phobia but the list of phobias is too long to go through. I clearly have a phobia about going through that list...

Maybe it's rooted in the whole death thing, or more likely in aging. After all, not too many people want to age. I don't generally feel as old as I am. Maybe I'm holding on or wanting to.

Paul McCartney wrote a song about dieing called "End of the End", brief excerpt:

At the end of the end
It's the start of a journey
To a much better place
And this wasn't bad
So a much better place
Would have to be special
No need to be sad

A blogger I read by former SI writer and author Jeff Perlman often speaks of his fear on death.

I don't think that is where my head is at. It is about how fast life is moving. My post here last week about the constant "rush" in life is related...I think. If you enjoy things, shouldn't you fear them ending? Ending sooner than you hope?

Do you long for things to last?