i sure like my parents.

that's about all. they drove the two [extended to three due to chicago traffic] trip to indiana today to catch a ballgame and take their second son to lunch and then take in a game and perhaps get a beer afterward.

lunch was fantastic...snappy conversation as always. and then the intern returned to the bus and i returned to the parents' hotel room and we went and laid by the pool for a few hours. and then we went to the game - i did some prep work, kept score in the stands for the first three, dropped by to call the game for the fourth and fifth innings [at my dad's suggestion - he, wisely, didn't want me to skip out on the game and then give my boss grounds for firing, or something] - then returned to the stands for the final four. i bought a round for the final four innings, and that was nice.

postgame we waited for the intern to finish the work, then went to an old haunt of my dad's. mom was tired, i was preoccupied by the white sox [some kid named walker had a great battle to get a popup with the bases loaded and the game tied, and then missed badly in walking nick swisher], service was slow, and the food wasn't up to snuff. then, after a walk around the restaurant [and its accompanying nd timeline], we prepared to exit.

over the hostess stand, there's a photo of the irish celebration following the outstanding florida state-notre dame [charlie ward v. kevin mcdougal!] game of 1993. the museum-style placard below it says something like: "Game of the Century - Lou Holtz and the Irish faithful celebrate after No. 2 Notre Dame topples No. 1 Florida State." I make a snide remark: "Hey mom, isn't that you on the goalposts?" [M and D were at the game...I was watching in Glenview with a not-college-football-fan friend...sigh.] Intern says: "Why was it the Game of the Century?" I answer: "Number 1 vs. Number 2." He says: "But was there something significant?" I say: "Number 1 vs. Number 2." He says: "So it wasn't really a big upset then..."

I think: This is annoying. One versus two doesn't happen. That's why it's notable and memorable and was fantastic. I choose not to respond, but instead say to my mom, "Badgering the witness!" She says, "Huh?" I'll explain in the morning, when we're at breakfast. [Which reminds me, I should sleep soon...]

[Earlier I had expressed my frustration, as I previously have here, with the intern. Perhaps too entitled. Perhaps too ungrateful. Perhaps just a confrontational person. [Ding!] Plus, his conversational voice is pleasant enough but, because it's a higher-pitched voice [not high-pitched, like a castrato, but higher-pitched] than most radio guys, when he turns on the 'announcer voice,' it gets squeaky. nemo's beaten that, but i think it's tough to do.]

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adjective usage gone too far: in the current sports illustrated, albert chen describes the repertoire of a cardinals pitcher - i believe chris carpenter.

he describes two pitches, both inaccurately or, better said, inefficiently:

example 1
how it reads: "[armed with]...his four-seam, mid-90's fastball..."
what rubs me wrong: there are two types of basic fastball: the four-seamer and the two-seamer. [there's also the cut fastball or the split-fingered fastball, but i think that these are now more commonly called the cutter and the splitter or the split-fingered pitch.] the pitch can be accurately called the four-seam fastball, with 'four-seam' not a descriptor but rather part of the noun 'four-seam fastball,' or even simply 'four-seamer'.'
therefore, how it should read, in order to be more efficient: "[armed with]...his mid-90's four-seam fastball," or, alternately "[armed with]...his mid-90's four-seamer..."
why i think my version is better: one less comma=better

example 2
how it reads: "...and a parabolic curveball..."
what rubs me wrong: basic physics. every pitch is parabolic. [perhaps the air-on-seams force is working on the pitch harder on the curve, but it's still a projectile and, therefore, still travels a parabolic path...]
therefore, how it should read: "...and a motherfucker of a curveball..."
why my version is better: how cool would it be to see "motherfucker of a curveball" in sports illustrated?

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i got a brief chance to talk to gurs this evening, returning, i think, three calls. didi and coach and rico are on the list next - i'm hoping to accomplish saturday and sunday pre-bus. i'd also like to talk to nemo soon, to see how his 'tasting' went.

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i think this tv on the radio stuff is destined for rud-novelty-hit status, but it is pretty trippy and pretty catchy-ish and pretty cool. i think, if i ever see it in a jukebox, and i'm drunk enough to consider the jukebox a good investment, i'll play the song "dreams." very cool and very suitable for hipster bars. i bet unstadt's played it somewhere.