Broken Windows, Joe Camel, & Airwalks
I've been obsessed with the book Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell and "how little things can make a big difference. I would love to carry on discussions about this, and to do so, would like to direct you to my friend's blog, so discussion might continue there under previously discussed items. The fact that almost any product, instance, experience, demographic, etc. could "tip" at any point given the right person thinking critically about it, is very interesting to me, and I'll put more examples and thoughts about it later. In the meantime, go here
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Snow Patrol
So Snow Patrol released their latest CD a couple months ago and I actually thought about buying it even though I haven't bought a CD in a really long time. I ended up not buying it and kind of forgot about it. Then Grey's Anatomy used "Chasing Cars" during the finale and it became an incredibly popular song. Normally when listening to music I don't think critically about it, meaning I don't analyze the song, I just either do or do not like the tune. But for some reason this song intrigued me. I watched the music video for the song and the very end of the video is interesting... watch it because I think there is this very Christian theme going on within this love song. Another song of theirs "Hands Open" talks about Sufjan Stevens, who is an incredible artist with an amazing voice and one of the most intuitive song writers who is a Christian but doesn't fall into that whole Christian artist category, kinda like U2. Anyways, I really like this song and think everyone should watch the video and tell me what you think. Plus I really like the lyrics "I need your grace, to remind me, to find my own."
So Snow Patrol released their latest CD a couple months ago and I actually thought about buying it even though I haven't bought a CD in a really long time. I ended up not buying it and kind of forgot about it. Then Grey's Anatomy used "Chasing Cars" during the finale and it became an incredibly popular song. Normally when listening to music I don't think critically about it, meaning I don't analyze the song, I just either do or do not like the tune. But for some reason this song intrigued me. I watched the music video for the song and the very end of the video is interesting... watch it because I think there is this very Christian theme going on within this love song. Another song of theirs "Hands Open" talks about Sufjan Stevens, who is an incredible artist with an amazing voice and one of the most intuitive song writers who is a Christian but doesn't fall into that whole Christian artist category, kinda like U2. Anyways, I really like this song and think everyone should watch the video and tell me what you think. Plus I really like the lyrics "I need your grace, to remind me, to find my own."
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
One of my favorite web sites to explore is Baseball Reference This site is to baseball what IMDB is to movies. You can check any player's stats, as well as how they match up with players similar to their age and stats. One of the best features to this site is the Hall of Fame index. Based on statistics in tons of categories the monitor shows whether a player is Hall of Fame worthy. I heard on the Big Show that Keith Olbermann thought the Yankees lineup (during the regular season) was possibly the best lineup ever in history. Quite a statement, because it's possible that it's not even the best lineup in Yankees history, but all-time.
Although there are many great teams and many great lineups, here are my top 5 lineups of all-time.
5. 2006 New York Yankees (After the Bobby Abreau trade) - This lineup was stacked before with possibly 5 Hall of Famers (Jeter, A-Rod, Sheffield, Abreu (if he stays on course, & Bernie, a long stretch for Giambi given allegations) in the lineup everyday. Jeter & Cano finish second and third in batting average, A-Rod drives in a sub-par 121 runs.. this is a fantasy team in the Bigs, with no pitching.
4. 1927 New York Yankees - I hate, let me repeat, HATE, having two Yankees lineups in the best 5 of all-time. However, how can you deny a lineup of Ruth (60 HR 164 RBI .356 avg) & Gehrig (47, 175, .373) along with Bob Meusel (8, 103, .337). Great Murders Row lineup.
3. 1976 Cincinnati Reds - The Big Red Machine as they were called. Perhaps the most dangerous 6 hitters in one lineup. Pete Rose, Ken Griffey, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, & George Foster. Rose batted .323 with a .404 OBP, Griffey .306, .364, Morgan .320, .444!!! followed by Bench who had an off year but was still dangerous, Perez 19HR 91 RBI, and Foster 29 HR, 121 RBI, .306 BA & .364 OBP as a #6 hitter. Unreal.
2. 1936 New York Yankees - I hated putting two Yankee lineups in this list, but 3, this is getting a little ridiculous. But the stats speak, this for many people is the all-time greatest lineup, but I can't put a Yankee team there, plus I don't think they are the greatest. This team scored 1065 runs led by four different players with more than 100 runs. 5 players (Bill Dickey, Lou Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri, Joe DiMaggio, & George Selkirk) had more than 100 RBIs. Gehrig led the team in avg. and OBP with .354 & an unprecidented .444 OBP. Plus you have DiMaggio, one of the purest hitters of all-time. Unbelievable team.
1. 1894 Baltimore Orioles - The who? The who? That's right! Listen to this lineup: (I don't know how the lineup went some I'll go from position: C- W. Robinson .353 BA, .421 OBP, 98 RBI, 4 triples (watch the triples for this team), 1B- D. Brouthers .347, .425, 128, 23, 2B- H. Reitz .303 (lowest avg. on team!), .372, 105, 31(31 triples, think about it!) 3B- J. McGraw .340, .451, 92, 14. SS- H. Jennings .335, .411, 109, 16. OF- S. Brodie .366, .399, 109, 11. OF- J. Kelley .393, .502 (SAY WHAT!!! .502) 111, 20. OF- W. Keeler - .371, .427, 94, 22. UNREAL!! 1171 runs scored, lowest RBI man had 92. Oh yeah, I forgot about stolen bases, McGraw had 78, two men in the 40's and 3 in the 30's. This team was nuts... best lineup ever in my opinion.
Although there are many great teams and many great lineups, here are my top 5 lineups of all-time.
5. 2006 New York Yankees (After the Bobby Abreau trade) - This lineup was stacked before with possibly 5 Hall of Famers (Jeter, A-Rod, Sheffield, Abreu (if he stays on course, & Bernie, a long stretch for Giambi given allegations) in the lineup everyday. Jeter & Cano finish second and third in batting average, A-Rod drives in a sub-par 121 runs.. this is a fantasy team in the Bigs, with no pitching.
4. 1927 New York Yankees - I hate, let me repeat, HATE, having two Yankees lineups in the best 5 of all-time. However, how can you deny a lineup of Ruth (60 HR 164 RBI .356 avg) & Gehrig (47, 175, .373) along with Bob Meusel (8, 103, .337). Great Murders Row lineup.
3. 1976 Cincinnati Reds - The Big Red Machine as they were called. Perhaps the most dangerous 6 hitters in one lineup. Pete Rose, Ken Griffey, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, & George Foster. Rose batted .323 with a .404 OBP, Griffey .306, .364, Morgan .320, .444!!! followed by Bench who had an off year but was still dangerous, Perez 19HR 91 RBI, and Foster 29 HR, 121 RBI, .306 BA & .364 OBP as a #6 hitter. Unreal.
2. 1936 New York Yankees - I hated putting two Yankee lineups in this list, but 3, this is getting a little ridiculous. But the stats speak, this for many people is the all-time greatest lineup, but I can't put a Yankee team there, plus I don't think they are the greatest. This team scored 1065 runs led by four different players with more than 100 runs. 5 players (Bill Dickey, Lou Gehrig, Tony Lazzeri, Joe DiMaggio, & George Selkirk) had more than 100 RBIs. Gehrig led the team in avg. and OBP with .354 & an unprecidented .444 OBP. Plus you have DiMaggio, one of the purest hitters of all-time. Unbelievable team.
1. 1894 Baltimore Orioles - The who? The who? That's right! Listen to this lineup: (I don't know how the lineup went some I'll go from position: C- W. Robinson .353 BA, .421 OBP, 98 RBI, 4 triples (watch the triples for this team), 1B- D. Brouthers .347, .425, 128, 23, 2B- H. Reitz .303 (lowest avg. on team!), .372, 105, 31(31 triples, think about it!) 3B- J. McGraw .340, .451, 92, 14. SS- H. Jennings .335, .411, 109, 16. OF- S. Brodie .366, .399, 109, 11. OF- J. Kelley .393, .502 (SAY WHAT!!! .502) 111, 20. OF- W. Keeler - .371, .427, 94, 22. UNREAL!! 1171 runs scored, lowest RBI man had 92. Oh yeah, I forgot about stolen bases, McGraw had 78, two men in the 40's and 3 in the 30's. This team was nuts... best lineup ever in my opinion.
Defense Wins Championships
I'm not sure if John Wooden was the first to use this phrase but he popularized it with 10 national college basketball championships. After posting a couple days ago that the Bears would go 16-0 and possibly 19-0, I thought all was lost with 5:00 left to go last night. I was ready to post this morning about how I apologize for how wrong I could be with a loss to the Arizona Cardinals. I was also going to post how the only loss for the 1985 Bears was on Monday night and there was no need to worry, we'd just go 15-1 in the regular season and breeze through to the Super Bowl as long as the Cardinals didn't make it to the playoffs. Well, thank you Brian Urlacher. You saved me from embarrassment and save the perfect season for your team. What a play... you know the officials missed lots of important plays in this game. Punt out of bounds at the 1 maybe 2 yard line, a def. pass interference call on an endzone try to Berrian. Perhaps they missed this one too, because at full speed it looks like James may have stopped his progress but Urlacher has the awareness to rip as hard as possible and Charles "Peanut" Tillman ran really really fast to the end zone. According to a couple people the other day they wanted to cut Devin Harris.... let's just say I'm glad they weren't running the front office, because Harris' return was phenominal and at one point I thought he was going to fall down at the 30 or so and couldn't see Grossman leading a game-winning drive. Thank you Defense and Special Teams!
I'm not sure if John Wooden was the first to use this phrase but he popularized it with 10 national college basketball championships. After posting a couple days ago that the Bears would go 16-0 and possibly 19-0, I thought all was lost with 5:00 left to go last night. I was ready to post this morning about how I apologize for how wrong I could be with a loss to the Arizona Cardinals. I was also going to post how the only loss for the 1985 Bears was on Monday night and there was no need to worry, we'd just go 15-1 in the regular season and breeze through to the Super Bowl as long as the Cardinals didn't make it to the playoffs. Well, thank you Brian Urlacher. You saved me from embarrassment and save the perfect season for your team. What a play... you know the officials missed lots of important plays in this game. Punt out of bounds at the 1 maybe 2 yard line, a def. pass interference call on an endzone try to Berrian. Perhaps they missed this one too, because at full speed it looks like James may have stopped his progress but Urlacher has the awareness to rip as hard as possible and Charles "Peanut" Tillman ran really really fast to the end zone. According to a couple people the other day they wanted to cut Devin Harris.... let's just say I'm glad they weren't running the front office, because Harris' return was phenominal and at one point I thought he was going to fall down at the 30 or so and couldn't see Grossman leading a game-winning drive. Thank you Defense and Special Teams!
Monday, October 16, 2006
Carlos Betran: The Anti-Rodriguez
Carlos Beltran hit two homeruns against the St. Louis Cardinals last night. He is batting .333 in this year's NLCS with and in just three games has 3 home runs. If you remember the 2004 Houston Astros, Beltran tied Barry Bonds's single season postseason record with 8 home runs. And had one in each of the first four games of the NLCS against the guess who: St. Louis Cardinals. Talk about a Cardinal killer, Beltran will continue to lead the Mets past the Cardinals this year. But back to the point, is Carlos Beltran the anti-Alex Rodriguez. Although Beltran had a supurb regular season, he accelerates his performance when it really matters. However as we've seen with A-Rod since he's been in NY he decelerates his perfomance when it really matters.
Carlos Beltran hit two homeruns against the St. Louis Cardinals last night. He is batting .333 in this year's NLCS with and in just three games has 3 home runs. If you remember the 2004 Houston Astros, Beltran tied Barry Bonds's single season postseason record with 8 home runs. And had one in each of the first four games of the NLCS against the guess who: St. Louis Cardinals. Talk about a Cardinal killer, Beltran will continue to lead the Mets past the Cardinals this year. But back to the point, is Carlos Beltran the anti-Alex Rodriguez. Although Beltran had a supurb regular season, he accelerates his performance when it really matters. However as we've seen with A-Rod since he's been in NY he decelerates his perfomance when it really matters.
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Why the Bears will go 16-0
The Bears are unreal at home this year and I believe they will absolutely go 8-0 at home. Given this fact they'll go at least 10-6, even if they lose the rest of their road games. Regardless, Arizona next week is a win, especially with Larry Fitzgerald out. That offensive line plus Matt Leinart's second game as a rookie means the bears will win. San Fran and Miami are basically push-over games (both at home, both against bad teams), except that you can expect the 1972 Dolphin team in attendance for that game. The East coast trip scares me as we play three straight road games. The Giants game will be close I expect, however with Robbie Gould kicking the way he is, I think they'll get by here. I'm glad the Jets game comes before the New England game, if the bears had to play the Pats after the Giants I think they'd lose, however they get a game where they can sure up their D again and post another possible shutout. The Pats game may be their toughest, but in typical bear fashion this year, it's a game that won't really be a game... meaning blowout win at New England. That leaves just two road games left, St. Louis and Detroit. Need I say more. THis makes the Bears 16-0 and with home-field advantage where they don't lose. Miami bound for sure!
Regular Season
Week Date Opponent Time/Result
1 Sun, Sep 10 at Green Bay W 26-0
2 Sun, Sep 17 Detroit W 34-7
3 Sun, Sep 24 at Minnesota W 19-16
4 Sun, Oct 1 Seattle W 37-6
5 Sun, Oct 8 Buffalo W 40-7
6 Mon, Oct 16 at Arizona W 24-23 (almost jinx this game with the post the week of)
7 -- bye --
8 Sun, Oct 29 San Francisco W 41-10
9 Sun, Nov 5 Miami 1:00 pm
10 Sun, Nov 12 at NY Giants 1:00 pm
11 Sun, Nov 19 at NY Jets 1:00 pm
12 Sun, Nov 26 at New England 1:00 pm
13 Sun, Dec 3 Minnesota 1:00 pm
14 Mon, Dec 11 at St. Louis 8:30 pm
15 Sun, Dec 17 Tampa Bay 1:00 pm
16 Sun, Dec 24 at Detroit 1:00 pm
17 Sun, Dec 31 Green Bay 1:00 pm
The Bears are unreal at home this year and I believe they will absolutely go 8-0 at home. Given this fact they'll go at least 10-6, even if they lose the rest of their road games. Regardless, Arizona next week is a win, especially with Larry Fitzgerald out. That offensive line plus Matt Leinart's second game as a rookie means the bears will win. San Fran and Miami are basically push-over games (both at home, both against bad teams), except that you can expect the 1972 Dolphin team in attendance for that game. The East coast trip scares me as we play three straight road games. The Giants game will be close I expect, however with Robbie Gould kicking the way he is, I think they'll get by here. I'm glad the Jets game comes before the New England game, if the bears had to play the Pats after the Giants I think they'd lose, however they get a game where they can sure up their D again and post another possible shutout. The Pats game may be their toughest, but in typical bear fashion this year, it's a game that won't really be a game... meaning blowout win at New England. That leaves just two road games left, St. Louis and Detroit. Need I say more. THis makes the Bears 16-0 and with home-field advantage where they don't lose. Miami bound for sure!
Regular Season
Week Date Opponent Time/Result
1 Sun, Sep 10 at Green Bay W 26-0
2 Sun, Sep 17 Detroit W 34-7
3 Sun, Sep 24 at Minnesota W 19-16
4 Sun, Oct 1 Seattle W 37-6
5 Sun, Oct 8 Buffalo W 40-7
6 Mon, Oct 16 at Arizona W 24-23 (almost jinx this game with the post the week of)
7 -- bye --
8 Sun, Oct 29 San Francisco W 41-10
9 Sun, Nov 5 Miami 1:00 pm
10 Sun, Nov 12 at NY Giants 1:00 pm
11 Sun, Nov 19 at NY Jets 1:00 pm
12 Sun, Nov 26 at New England 1:00 pm
13 Sun, Dec 3 Minnesota 1:00 pm
14 Mon, Dec 11 at St. Louis 8:30 pm
15 Sun, Dec 17 Tampa Bay 1:00 pm
16 Sun, Dec 24 at Detroit 1:00 pm
17 Sun, Dec 31 Green Bay 1:00 pm
There are plenty of reasons why the Cubs should hire Joe Girardi this year, but none more so than this fact: 6 teams made it to the post season this year: AL: Yankees, Tigers, A's, & Twins NL: Mets, Cardinals, Padres, & Dodgers. Of those 6 teams, 4 were managed by former catchers: Joe Torre (Yanks), Jim Leyland (Tigers), Bruce Bochy (Padres) & Grady Little (Dodgers). Two other former catchers had thier teams within reach of the playoffs Mike Scioscia (Angels) & of course, Joe Girardi. Catchers are such an important part of the game and they start learning how to manage batters and pitchers at 19, that they make such great managers. It would be a shame to hire anyone else for this job and let such a great "manager" of the game go to someone else. I'm not a Cubs fan but if the Tribune Company messes this one up...
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