My dad and I tried to go to the Sox Yankees game tonight but the game was rained out. That didn’t stop the executives in baseball land from getting about 30,000 people to come to Fenway park to sit under the rafters and consume $8.00 beers and $9.50 steak tip subs. Unfortunately we couldn’t pay Manny’s salary on the concessions because the lines were far too long even during an hour and a half pre-game rain delay. So we gave up on the Hill Top Steakhouse line and instead moseyed on over to Abe and Louie’s for a quality steak at not too much more than what it would have cost to snack at Fenway. My recollection from last year is that it rains all the time in May. With the new global warming climate changes I think we are in for a lot of reschedule games to August. Those games will seem to mean more if there is a pennant race.

The whole story of how they flew out Doug Mirabelli yesterday to catch Wakefield for the win was right out of Greek mythology (The Odyssey). Apparently he traveled on a jet plane and changed in a car led by the Mass State troopers in order to suit-up for the game and start catching upon arrival after being traded the morning before.

Posted by Dan Housman at 12:07 AM | Permalink

I learned that despite my watching seven hours of the Boston marathon for runners that Brad Feld actually ran the marathon last Monday. Had I known I would have made a sign for him or something and tried to spot him based on a time estimate of his arrival. He probably would have appreciated our "move that beaver" chant.... or maybe not?

Posted by Dan Housman at 09:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In an odd twist of fate Joe Adler from my AEPi fraternity days wrote a book on Baseball hacks. I have a copy of it near Madeline's crib but thus far reading from it has not been satisfactory for putting Madeline to sleep. She is a fan of the page with Chernoff faces on it (pg. 188) although I believe that Joe made a special effort to make the Boston Redsox look more evil than the New York Yankees bassed on his personal bias. At a minimum that page could be used for creating a new cartoon series about each baseball team. Toronto and Tampa Bay both look like worried midgets, Anaheim looks like a chinese coolie, and Cleveland is the only team that really looks like a human but looks mostly like A Rod. The book is quite good not just for baseball fans but also for some fun exercises in statistics that could be used to help president Bush to get kids more interested in math and science through the guise of baseball and gambling.

Joe was interviewed about his book on NPR and it can be found temporarily at Future Tense and should be archived at the February 13th episode page.

Posted by Dan Housman at 12:00 PM | Permalink

Nothing keeps me from sleeping like one of those dreams where a giant cockroach the size of a large rat tries to climb-up my pant leg and then refuses to die even after it is split in half while still inside of my pants. The smell was something like bean dip. The dream was likely spurred on by the return of our unwanted guests in the kitchen. The mice are back and partying harder than ever. We are in dire need of another cat and I intend to use the promised Christmas gift from Nick, Sarah’s sister’s husband, which was to use his household tools and knowledge to block the open mouse holes in the kitchen. We also will be investigating our options with regards to borrowing cats again in case anyone is going on vacation and needs a cat sitter for a month.

On Monday I took care of Madeline by myself for the day for the second Monday since Sarah has returned to work. When Yuval told me that they hired a nanny to watch Gabriel when he worked from home I had at first thought that I would not have a problem multi-tasking between my work and a sleeping, quiet, and easily distracted by shiny objects young being. I was very wrong about this. Wrong enough to eat my computer screen. It is not just difficult to get work done while watching a baby it is nearly impossible. At least it is nearly impossible to design a web site including graphics, text, and messaging. I was working on a new site to talk about the healthcare data warehousing that we are doing and made some progress but about as much as had I been working during hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. I don't think it would be frustrating to just watch Madeline but to try to work and watch Madeline is a constant challenge. So I will need to concede that watching a baby for a day is a full time job and try not to get frustrated if I don't get as much work done while I am spending the day with her. I also want to avoid singing that Harry Chapin Cats in the Cradle song.

I did get some good quality smiles out of Madeline during the day. The smiles are almost impossible for me to get snapshots of. They happen mainly when I do things like talk in the language of Jabba the Hut and then swing my tongue around wildly. Then when I get the camera out to take a picture her eyes roll up into her head when the red focus thing fires and she looks like a shocked mammal rather than a smiling baby. It is my new goal in photographing Madeline to capture more smiles. I have enough non-smiling pictures now and am willing to go on a smile photo safari with her.

The Superbowl is this Sunday. Here is my prediction. Steelers 24-Seahawks 17. Go AFC. I am a Steelers fan and if the Patriots were to be carted off to another city then I would be a Steelers fan over any other random team. I like the teams that wear black and seem mean. That is what a football team should be. I like the old style Madden Raiders. The Steelers have some of that hard hitting style. I also always love the irresistible force running back and not just some tall guy but a man like Jerome Bettis who charges right into a stack of people and moves them backwards or at least they think to themselves – this is really going to hurt when he hits us. Bettis is the guy who would win at Red Rover-Red Rover and he is a nice guy too. This is in contrast to a team like the Colts who showcase a quarterback who gets paid more than anyone else in the league and waves his hands in the air to change plays at the line of scrimmage. I wouldn’t be a Colts fan even if I lived in Indianapolis. I don’t have a big problem with the Seahawks and they even have the son of Mosi Tatupu playing for them but I am rooting hard for the Steelers on Sunday and despite seeming not to care about the game because the Patriots aren’t in it I’ll still be able to pay a lot of attention to the game.

Posted by Dan Housman at 05:59 AM | Permalink

The game changed from what I had expected to see, Michael Vick and Warrick Dunn running around in all directions, when Vick showed-up at the game unable to play due to an injury. That was among the predictions for why the Pats would face a different team from the one that beat the Eagles on the opening Monday night game. Basically the superstar running back style quarterback has a fatal flaw. They get pummeled as they run and don’t make it to half of the games each season. We were without last years defense adding Richard Seymour to the list of lost defensive superstars reporting out for an injury too so it looked like the injury toll evened the game.

The game was being watched from Bedford because we had a 4PM wedding to attend at the Lutheran Church in Bedford. So Sarah and I got dressed in the fourth quarter for the wedding only to see the Pats slowly losing their nice sturdy 15 point lead. I did my tie while watching the Pats give-up a freak interception. As the Pats had been whittled down to an 8 point lead we drove to the church listening to the game in the car for a few minutes.

The wedding ceremony was beautiful. During it I was saved the heartache of the Pats getting tied with a touchdown and a two point conversion. I only had my cell phone tell me about the touchdown, but because Sprint and web browsing on cell phones is slower than using morse code to get the score of the game all I could learn was that it was 28-26 Pats near the end of the fourth quarter. So I was imagining that the Pats had stopped a two point conversion as I prayed that what God had brought together today nothing could cast asunder. My marriage to the Patriots was unlikely to reach any rift or any asunder casts unless they suddenly started on a terrible losing streak and rescinded our season tickets. If the 80’s didn’t scare me off what would?

Upon leaving the wedding and heading for the reception I learned that the Adam V. had punched in a last minute field goal and based on the callers into talk radio, Belichick had gotten emotional about the win. A little tear of relief came to my eye as I heard this.

Posted by Melody at 03:38 PM | Permalink

My dad and I watched most of the first Pats loss in Foxboro stadium in three years. The last one we watched was a Jets game that Philip and Hattie came to where we were tailgating on a camping stove that we picked-up at EMS on the way to the game. It wasn’t the kind of stove you grill on but instead the kind you put a frying pan over. So we had pan fried sausages on a cold winter’s day and watched the Jets ruin the playoff hopes for the Pats in that one out of four year that not only did the Pats not win the Superbowl but they didn’t even make it to the wildcard. That’s one of the reason why I hate those J-E-T-S fans yelling at Foxboro. One day one of them is going to fall out of the rafters and they’ll never figure out why they jumped.

The loss to the Chargers was reminiscent of the other home loss we watched that 2002 season. It was a loss to, you guessed it, the Chargers. The game was similar with Ladamian Tomlinson running through the Swiss cheese Pats run defense. Tomlinson wasn’t the only running back to do it that year. Edgerrin James, Ricky Williams, Corey Dillon, and Curtis Martin all shredded the run defense. Watching the past two years with the run defense looking like it had clotted and sealed an open wound I thought that bringing the big fat guy (BFG) was the solution to all of these problems with the running game. They basically plugged a hole in the middle with a 350 lb guy who looked like a mountain and then had a strong safety and linebacker contain runs to the outside. The BFG in 2003 was Ted Washington who was then replaced by Vince Wilfork last year when someone else was willing to pay a ton of cash for a BFG after the Pats won the Superbowl. From what we saw yesterday the BFG strategy only works when combined with a big mean guy (BMG) safety like Rodney Harrison who crunches bones when he hits and a little smart guy (LSG) like Tedy Bruschi. So given that the Pats only have one of these three items in their arsenal with Wilfork I wonder what will happen for the rest of the season.

My sunburn from the 80 degree fall day may be my scar marking the end of an era for the Pats but I am hoping that Belichik has something up his sleeve. I also might be jumping too fast to a conclusion about the viability of the Pats because they have a very tough first six weeks followed by an easier schedule for the rest of the season. But I never thought the offense for the Pats was that great the past few years because you could see that the defense was causing turnovers that could be converted into points and holding back the best players on every team they played, like Ladamian Tomlinson. Now with the defense hurting from injuries everywhere they have a ton of work to do. Don’t get me started on the offensive line with Matt Light out!

Posted by Melody at 03:56 PM | Permalink

The Pats had as much business winning this week as they did last week with tons of mistakes that usually cost the game. They turned the ball over twice inside of the five yard line after long offensive attacks. It looked like both teams wanted to give the game away because some Vegas gambler had paid them off to play terribly. But the gambler wanting to bank on a Steelers win must have paid the Pats less than the guys paying off the Steelers. So somehow despite an ugly game the Pats beat one of the other great teams in football in their home stadium. Rothlesberger didn't appear to have a clue how to mount an attack against the Patriots defense.

Unfortunately the Pats had two key injuries including defensive superman and bone breaker Rodney Harrison plus the key to the offensive line but frequent committer of false start penalties - Matt Light. Neither of these positions were the ones failing today -- ahem Kevin Falk: Hold onto the ball. We only won the game because Randal El had a brain fart and tried to lateral but hit a Wilson when he had just gotten a massive yard gaining play. Duh! Don't they teach you not to do that in pop warner? I don't mind though. Their pain today was our gain and now Bill Cowher's big chin is scraping around on the ground and he has to face the press.

Posted by Melody at 04:04 PM | Permalink

After 15 minutes of watching the game I had declared that the Patriots were a much better team than the Panthers. A few hours later the Panthers had made the Pats look terrible. Poor Bill Belichick had to suffer through a press conference and after not having lost in a long time he looked like he was going to cry. Brady didn’t do enough to move the ball. They should have thrown a bean-bag on an early touchdown by the Panthers that looked like a fumble. They couldn’t figure out how to avoid false start calls and didn’t get anything to go their way. It was a low point for the Patriots but it wasn’t as painful as the Washington game two years ago since they weren’t in a position to win. It was more like the Miami game last year; a stupid and bad performance to show how crappy the team could play when it made every mistake in the book. The Pats have to play three division winners in the next three weeks so the games are bound to be intense. Hopefully this game was a good wake-up call and the special teams can start tackling on punt returns and the offense can keep from losing yards before the snap.

Posted by Melody at 04:10 PM | Permalink

Things started slow at the Pats game last night but kept getting better as the game progressed. Dad and I drove together in the Volvo through the back route leaving from Wellesley at 5:45. The whole route was carefully timed based on last years tailgating debacle on opening night when we got aced out of the easy lots, then couldn’t get the stove working, and missed some parts of the free concert. This time we had ample time to stop in Norwood center for coffee and ice cream although dad spilled his latte on himself and the seat due to a faulty match between the coffee lid and his cup.

It was great to see a win for the Pats but I had nearly lost my voice from screaming when Ozzie Osbourne popped out of a metal helmet when the Patriots took the field to sing Crazy Train live.

Posted by Dan Housman at 09:15 PM | Permalink

I had nightmares that I was smoking in front of my mother last night.

I think they were a result of my odd experience people watching yesterday. I was sitting looking out the window of Perks, a coffee shop in Norwood Center, waiting for my dad to meet me so we could carpool our way to the Patriots pre-season game and save $30. I could watch the world outside the window from the high perch of my stool and the article in the Globe about kayaking wasn't holding my interest very well. A man was sitting outside with a cigarette in his mouth and a tattoo on his arm. He had thinning blond hair and his left arm was painted with fading tattoos that had been aging for at least ten years. I wouldn't have paid him any mind but a pair of young looking girls walked-up to him and sat down with him. They were dressed in Delores, Lola, Lolita, fashion with the blond one looking more confident than most. She was smoking a cigarette along with mr. Tattoo. I have trouble telling the precise ages of young girls, especially ones wearing mascara, mini-skirts, and smoking. I was willing for a minute to convince myself that they were actually short women and he was their friend or lover. Then came the transaction. The smoking blond opened her wallet and pulled out some crumpled dollars and handed them to mr. tattoo. He then walked with the money into the next door convenience store. He popped back out to bark out a question about what the girl really wanted. When he returned looking mildly guilty and secretive he handed the blond smoking girl three packs of cigarettes. She flashed them in her hands, did a jumping jack of excitement, and worked to get the more timid brunette sitting in the seat excited as well at their lucky conquest. All three of them sat together, smoking girls and mr. tatoo chatting and enjoying each others company.

I was thinking to myself. Could my daughter become that smoking Lolita? Yikes. I was turning paler by the minute. Then a man stood hunched over a runners sipping bottle who either had CP or DT. He was shaking his hands enough to spill half of the two cans of Pepsi onto the ground as he was coached by a friend to pour the contents into the sipping cup. He came inside Perks and sat down shaking to drink his beverage.

Posted by Dan Housman at 07:36 AM | Permalink