gurs and s came into town saturday, driving three hours here to spend about eight hours in the qca and then four additional hours with yours truly before a nine a.m. departure sunday morning. troopers, they are.

while a dbnacol or a em-dub appearance would have been nice, it's clear that the dynamic duo was the ideal company. mac's was fine (and cheap) as always, although it was much louder than usual. we were also below a speaker. mac's is incredible in that one of those six or so booths at the front is always available, no matter the time. fantastic.

and then it hit about 215, and we were home, and i didn't shut up for the next 90 minutes. such is the excitement level, i guess. looking forward to fall/winter opportunities.

- - - - - -

on a somewhat related note, intern's parents were in town for the weekend, in what was a presumably not-spontaneous visit. today at about 1 in the afternoon, i was very kindly and very thoughtfully invited to join them for dinner. i thought about it and, about an hour later (head slightly pulsing but, more importantly, me simply being pretty tired), i declined.

i felt a bit rude about it but, being that the visit was presumably not-spontaneous, wouldn't it have been preferable for him to ask a few days in advance? i think that would have made sense.

what's odder is that i've now been invited to join them for dinner when i'm back in the 'burbs. but, really, after a cats game or something? doubtful, but a tentative 'down the road' date has been made. the plan is to at least stay in some contact with the intern, so i'd jump at the free meal.

(in related news, s mentioned that the interns parents said fantastic and gracious things about me. i think i gave her a 'genuinely happy' smile when i was told this.)



i guess there's not really much going on. back-to-back off days to start the week, a rainout on thursday, a single game on friday during which i was not on air, a doubleheader on saturday, a standard game today. my total pxp over the last seven days: 23 innings. (wednesday was a 3-3-3 intern split, friday was 0 [by choice] for me, saturday was a pair of 2-3-2 splits, today was a 3-3-3 split.) wow. i've never had a 23-inning day, but i've certainly have 23-inning 24-hour periods. odd.

looking forward to the final week, and sort of looking forward to the possible playoff run. more looking forward to cats-bobcats at some bar in michigan on saturday, i think.

fantasy football analysis, as promised:

year three or four of a keeper league. this year, we kept four players. in a 14-team league that starts QB, 2 RB, 2 WR, TE, DEF, PK, RB/WR, i kept the following:
RB: Ahman Green (on the way down)
QB: Trent Green (still strong, it seems, although not having any WRs can hurt you)
RB: Domanick Davis (incredibly consistent first two seasons, a longtime destroyer, i hope)
RB: Michael Bennett (major question mark, played well late last year)

Bennett was the last choice of the four. The thinking being that I could get the equivalent to the other guys I considered keeping - WRs Eric Moulds, Ashley Lelie, and Roy Williams - in the draft. Bennett, being a starting RB (still, a questionable but, indirectly, Whizzinator-aided one), is much more difficult to come up with. (Looking back, Williams went 6th in the draft and Lelie 14th, perhaps higher than Bennett would have gone.)

[Also, I drafted Bennett in the third round two years ago, not realizing he was quite injured. Failing to operate on the oft-repeated "sunk costs are sunk" mantra, I kept him for last season. Again, frequently injured. In theory, he's okay this year.)

We contracted from 16 to 14 teams, with only one true impact player - the fantastic Marvin Harrison - thrown into the draft pool. This meant the draft featured slim pickings: several faceless WRs, Matt Hasseleck and Carson Palmer [probably tops among the available QBs], plus starting RBs Lamont Jordan, Tiki Barber, maybe another one or two, JJ Arrington, and all the rookies. Again, not much talent in the draft.

I made a scam of a deal before the draft, proposed not by me but by a friend. My first-round pick (2nd overall) for Tony Gonzalez. Normally one to avoid the QB-WR combination, I couldn't afford not to take this deal. (My pal thought Harrison would slip to second because the guy with the top pick didn't have any running game; he was wrong, and settled for Ronnie Brown. I win the deal big, I think.)

So I got Gonzalez, probably a second- or third-rounder in most leagues of this size, for essentially an early-fifth round pick. Again, happy with it, although he may be starting his downard spiral soon.

With my roster makeup, I needed to draft WRs. My first pick of the day was the second-to-last of the second round. Ugh.

Just missed on Drew Bennett, sadly.

I chose to adopt the "avoid WRs with crappy QBs" theory in advance of the draft. In practice, not quite.

My first set of picks (13th of round 2, 2nd of round 3):
Rod Smith (the terrible Jake Plummer is his QB)
Derrick Mason (awful-er Kyle Boller)

Second set:
RB Najeh Davenport (a great pick, for when Green gets hurt)
WR Eric Moulds (considered a keeper, nice to get him here, his QB is rookie JP Losman)

I just missed out on Tyrone Calico at this point, but later in the draft landed such talents as TJ Houshmandzadeh, who should hit 1,000 yards opposite Chad Johnson and with Carson Palmer throwing to him, touchdown machine TE Chris Cooley as my backup TE, fun-because-he's-a-college-quarterback-and-a-first-round-pick WR Matt Jones, plus ultra-accurate [last year] kicker Shayne Graham and the generally weak defenses of San Diego and the Packers. I originally drafted former-Brown and current-Patriot Andre Davis, but dropped him post-draft to grab RB Chris Perry, who was so impressive at Michigan but was apparently hurt after being a first-round pick of the Bengals. Could have a big year.

Fact is, I'm happy with how I fared. Although I wish I hadn't missed Reche Caldwell by three picks. He's tremendous.

- - - - - - - - - -

I did accomplish cleaning today. Place looks presentable for visitors [now anyway], and I'm looking forward to the possibility of visitors.

I also accomplished going to the "going-away party." recruited two coworkers. when we arrived at 7:32, the boss was leaving. we said hello. other boss was there as well. as were a just-married couple of the to be departed. as was in my sales pitch when recruiting two coworkers, we made it fun. little drinkee and little johan on the tube. johan's fantastic.

- - - - - - - - - -

I also made not one, but two, CD purchases.

New Pornographers - Twin Cinema
Not nearly as infectious as I anticipated. Still nice, though. I always fear terms like "more mature" and "expanding the scope of his sounds" or similar phrases, especially when it refers to something like Newman's mile-a-minute pop songs, but those seem to be apt descriptors here. I'm sure I'll like it more on repeat listens, but my initial impressions were more positive for Mass Romantic and Electric Version, as well as The Slow Wonder.

So, Twin Cinema was on the "New Releases" sale rack at Borders (there's one local indie 'chain' of two; their employees are unhelpful and ignorant idiots, and their selection isn't that good; it's Borders or Best Buy or amazon for me, although generally Borders). And it was next to...

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Howl
A band I first heard on a Sunday night in Austin, Texas, as the first of three bands at a three-dollar show in mid-May 2001. Centro-matic was the headliner. The suddenly-hip Greenhornes were the support act. BRMC was along for the ride. Less than 100 people were there. I wasn't blown away by BRMC that night (I was there to see Centro-matic), although I was fascinated by their drowsy pop and, more importantly, by their use of smoke machines and floor strobes in front of a crowd of 30 (again, Sunday night, 7:00.)

Three weeks later - no exaggeration - they were signed to Virgin and performing on Craig Kilborn. They were poised to take over the world, although they didn't, although "Love Burns" made it into rotation on MTV2.

Anwyay, BRMC (2001) was an immediate and fantastic record, and is in my top 50, I think. The follow-up, Take Them On, On Your Own (2003) was sort of disappointing, although I really enjoyed it last month while walking around a cemetary in Dayton. (Bad hotel location. And, neat headstones and the like.)

This record is very much nothing like either of those two albums. It's not smoke-and-strobes friendly. (Although the singers both maintain their smoke-and-strobes friendly voices.) It's Americana. Countryish. "Still Suspension Holds You Tight" sounds downright Dylan-like. I think the best comparison I can think of is Califone's Roomsound, a similarly raspy, country, frontporch indie blues by white guys record. [Oddly, the title track calls to mind Radiohead's "No Surprises."]

It's also very Jesus-y, although I think only in homage to the genre that's being aped (trubutized?).

I just think it's fantastic. I'd recommend it strongly.

off day today. oddly, off day tuesday as well. who makes this schedule? (not me.)

what was accomplished:

(not as much as planned, but that was expected. i should therefore adjust my planning.)

walked over the mississippi river and back
bought various meats and vegetables
bought various toiletries (i thought i had completely run out of soap and shampoo sunday morning. turns out, i had one bar of soap left.)
bought vitamins
did dishes
made a fine dinner
spoke briefly with my about-to-go-back-to-school brother
spoke less-briefly with former-intern cookie
watched the cubs at times, along with the davenport little leaguers and preseason football


you'll notice that, in compiling this list, i've combined one grocery stop into three accomplishments. i've also listed mundane things to make myself look like i accomplished more. it happens.

have you ever been in the vitamin aisle? it's scary. i found the brand-name 'one a day - men's,' and then chose the generic knockoff. i bought two containers, i believe because there was a buy one get one free offer involved.

what is scheduled for tuesday:
9 a.m. wakeup goal, followed by immediate walk to illinois and back. musical accompaniment: TBD

10 a.m., or so: go to post office, in order to drop off a package for my sister. then, go to local mega chain, so as to purchase the new pornographers' twin cinema. it should be noted that, although i don't even own a single zumpano (his primary band) record, nor have i ever heard anything from zumpano, carl newman is probably my favorite working songwriter. the slow wonder by a.c. newman is absolutely fantastic, as is everything the new pornos have done. highly anticipated.

my next "appointment" occurs sometime between the times of 6 and 10, probably in the 7:30 range. between my purchase, and the "appointment," the list includes:

check work-related email, so as to make sure that i'll be able to broadcast on friday. also, i may have to check work voice mail and make one related follow-up call.

most importantly, do major cleaning. i did minor cleaning (and also broke thre bobbleheads in the process) today. i'd like to involve a vacuum, although, most importantly, i'd like to include several garbage bags.

make lunch at some point. perhaps make dinner at some point.

i've got a buildup of about 8 months worth of aluminum cans to be recycled for a nickel apiece. (should have gotten ten cents in michigan when i was there, dammit. lack of forethought.) maybe i'll bring them over.

go through unopened envelopes / bills from the last two weeks or so.

about the "appointment": there's a highly-socially-awkward coworker who is departing for a new job after work on friday. four days ago, she sent out a mass email, subject line "going away party." it read, roughly, as follows: "i'm having a going away party / open house at [local establishment] on tuesday from six until 10 or so. i'm planning to eat dinner and watch the cubs. if you would like to wish me well as i head to [new location], please do so. i have other friends coming as well."

it's pretty sad, in a way, right? i figure i'll stop by, and try to recruit others. beer's fairly cheap in the quad, anyway.

- - - - -

i love watching the little league world series, mostly because it's clear that the coaches are completely insane baseball dads who try - and sometimes fail - to tune down the insane baseball dad routine for the tv cameras. when the davenport kid was allowed a leadoff home run then walked a guy, the coach came out to the ump. coach asks, "did that miss high?" "inside." "inside?" "a few inches off the plate." [to the catcher, sternly]: "are you setting up inside?"

previous to that, an injured player was in the broadcast booth for the top half of the first. his dad's the head coach. "who's that," gary thorne asks, when his dad shows up on camera. "my dad," the kid answers. "and he's your coach, right?" "yup." "how's he?" "he was pretty tough during the qualifying, but he's trying to be more laid-back now."

- - - - - - - -

i've made my sister some pretty nice cds for her prague semester, beginning early in september. unthemed. although i included some songs i know she likes. the first one included a more-conscious effort to include more-recent music i've purchase. this is because i sent her a cd for her birthday in march.

tracklists (included because i haven't added a 'heavy rotation' list at left yet. another 'to be accomplished tomorrow, i guess, for rico's benefit):

1) I Saw Her Standing There – The Beatles
2) My Doorbell – The White Stripes
3) Most of Us Prizefighters – A.C. Newman
4) Dance Music – The Mountain Goats
5) Float On – Modest Mouse
6) (Intermission)
7) Helicopter – Bloc Party
8) I Summon You – Spoon
9) Make You Feel That Way – Blackalicious
10) Freeze the Saints – Stephen Malkmus
11/12) Wonderful/Song For Children – Brian Wilson
13) Life Is Born Today – East River Pipe
14) (Intermission II)
15) Roller Skating Child – The Beach Boys
16) Sunday Under Glass – Beulah
17) The Engine Driver – The Decemberists
18) You Are Invited – The Dismemberment Plan
19) Promises of Eternity – The Magnetic Fields
20) (Intermission III)
21) She Belongs To Me – Bob Dylan
22/23) Yours to Keep / Echos Myron – Guided by Voices
24) My Dog Was Lost But Now He’s Found – The Fiery Furnaces
25) Her Majesty – The Beatles

1) A Salty Salute – Guided By Voices
2) 12:51 – The Strokes
3) Positive Vibrations – The Soft Boys
4) You Can Have It All – Yo La Tengo
5) You Want New Wave or Do You Want the Truth? – The Minutemen
6) I’m the Man Who Murdered Love – XTC
7) Le Temps Du Tempo – The United States Three
8) The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us! – Sufjan Stevens
9) The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite – R.E.M.
10) Hotcha Girls – Ugly Casanova
11) Stay Human (All The Freaky People) – Michael Franti and Spearhead
12) Intermission –The Webb Brothers
13) Anne Marie – Kleenex Girl Wonder
14) Father To A Sister Of Thought - Pavement
15) Favorite Thing – The Replacements
16) D. Boon – Uncle Tupelo
17) 16 Days – Whiskeytown
18) Horseleg Swastikas – Silver Jews
19) And I Don’t (So Now I Do) – Robert Pollard
20) Theologians – Wilco
21) Red Hot Halos – Go Back Snowball
22) Say Yes – Elliott Smith

I'm highly anticipating the next Silver Jews album, as well.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

fantasy football draft analysis comes tomororw. as usual, i'm happy, excited, and expecting a championship.

highlight of the little league world series broadcast playing as i woke up:

"[kid's name]'s dream was to meet president bush. but he met him when he threw out a ceremonial first pitch at the southwest region final last week. now his dream is to meet jason giambi."

awesome.

a forgotten wedding highlight, circa 915 p.m. on saturday night.

rud, to c, who had just over-aggressively caught the bouquet: "c! that was awesome!"
c: "my parents dancing? it was disgusting!"

that's all.

the pennant race is getting to the coaching staff.

club got two-hit tonight. struck out 12 times. got helped out by a one-out error in the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate, but the cleanup guy and a pinch hitter struck out to end it.

rather than send the bus home after the game (usually about 40 minutes post game), the staff made us wait for them to get a few beers in them, eat some food, and shower, thereby ensuring that the bus probably wouldn't get to applebee's before they closed. this is a great annoyance to the players, who don't get free food after the game like the coaches do. so we waited an extra 25 minutes for them.

then we drove by applebee's. bus driver: "do you want me to stop at applebee's?" skipper: "fuck. they don't deserve to eat."

then, two minutes later, we pulled into the hotel. to nobody in particular, the skipper: "what the fuck do you guys have to talk about after that performance? why don't you fucking talk about the game?" hitting coach: "you'll never get the big leagues like that. you gotta care." manager: "there's not one fucking big leaguer on this team."

then, as leaving the bus. "three [o'clock] and four [o'clock time for the bus to depart the hotel] again tomorrow?" "fuck. five. i don't want to throw to these guys." [the first bus is for guys who want extra work, players who need injury treatment, and guys who are bored. usually all but five or so take it. the starting pitcher goes on the late bus, along with some slackers.]

consider...we're two games up with 21 to play. it's not time to panic, even if you've lost three of four. previous to this stretch, the team had just swept a four-game series. but panic is setting in. should be interesting.

on the bright side. i get to watch part of pti tomorrow. i hope tony and mike are both there, but i doubt it.

on the brighter side...mr. t has just been brought out to do "in the year 2000." woof!

what a frustrating offseason for the cats. i'm away for three days and, while i'm gone, howard's done for the year, then transferring for one season, which just strikes me as ridiculous.

i'll always fondly remember brandon horn for some reverse [actually, end around] touchdown he scored against penn state, as a sophomore, i think. they probably don't need him, of course, as philmore's such a talent and herbert and fields and thompson probably fill all the roles. but i've had a soft spot for horn for a long time.

cory dious is a talented player. more talented than henderson-the-corner or cole or deante battle, i think. it's only one game, but you'd rather not have players 'suspended for violations of team rules,' or whatever.

also, terrell jordan hadn't shown anything like the promise shown by noah herron as a junior (during what is nostalgically referred to as "the motor city bowl season"), but i thought he was shaping up for a good season. based on one fumble last season, i don't like roberson. but it looks like that's the way we're going. i'm always optimistic, of course.

it's tough, however, to be overly excited. basanez is probably no better than 'just okay,' although he was better than that at times last year.

plus, i won the conference on playstation, finishing 9-2 (losses to asu and niu) and earning a new year's date with, georgia, i think.

.....

and how about brandon lee! following the doug gottlieb (credit card fraud, burglary) role to fame! go cats!

nobody on the 'friends of nemo' list of blogs has mentioned their experiences this weekend, and, thus, the onus is on me.

the wedding was fantastic. absolutely fantastic. i think i screwed up twice, but only the groom and myself noticed. or perhaps a few others, but nothing major. and, of course, no amount of rud screw-ups could possibly put a damper on the experience.

it's well-documented that they're perfect for each other, and it's well-documented that this has been a foregone conclusion for several years.

treem made a fantastic observation this morning...as he watched the festivities unfold, he observed seemingly-unrelated people speaking with each other. a mother of bride and random student. a sibling of bride and a friend of groom. a 'cat and an illini. trying to make the connection...no connection. but they clearly knew each other - not a first-chance meeting. the point? these people have been together for so long, and are such strong presences in each other's lives, that there's no 'his friend' and 'her friend' any more...all of their friends know all of their other friends, or something. makes no sense, but perhaps you understand.

rough summary of what happened:
thursday - left peoria before the game. determined this wouldn't be a problem. home by 1030, saw annie and the boy, asleep by 130.

friday - out the door at 752. arrived at treem's at 845. waited for jenny and crew. waited longer. after detour, on the road by 934 or so. learned that i don't like caravaning, mostly because i'm incapable of maintaining the same speed for more than three straight minutes. jittery.

friday later - arrived in ypsi at 215 ish. wanted to sleep, but it was too late. down to the rehearsal at 415. i was overdressed. [d was in jeans!] but not that overdressed. got the itinerary. ate a fantastic dinner. choked when given the chance to make a speech. ["i like you better when she's here," is the highlight of the unsaid speech.] went to the bowling alley to purchase wedding-gift-related gift certificates for the couple. drank lots. played darts poorly. drank more. returned to the hotel. got a call from nemo. "can you be up by 9 or so tomorrow?" me (hesitating): "i guess."

saturday - actually up by 9 or so. downstairs by 915. introduced to the soundsystem and, therefore, the scope of my responsibilities. bought water at walmart and cables at radio shack. back by 11. thought about lunch. finally left for lunch with the whole crew at 1230, needing to be back (for treem's photo 'water boy' duties and so that i could give dave nemo his tie - i don't know how it actually wound up there, but nemo thought my tv was a good spot for the dave tie) by 128. we returned at 132, but didn't delay the proceedings much. wandered around for a time. went to the ballroom to start setting up equipment. soon, 240 came. i showered. changed. came back to see the soundsystem mostly set up. we tested. had some success. not much. is it possible that this is a mono cable? my question to alan, and the most important question of the night. but for a hum, the soundsystem was fine.

saturday night - we figured out the soundsystem at 428. ceremony at 430. got in with treem, found harper and the rest of the crew. sat. teared up early in the process, but not after. by 5 the ceremony was over, and by 512 i had my first of several, several 7-and-7's on the night. woof. at 552, nemo briefly joined me in the ballroom. nothing was working. "you know, this isn't really what i'd like to be thinking about right now." "yeah. sorry." eventually it was fixed, thankfully. "eye of the tiger" was the intro music, and i nailed - for the most part - the announcements. i sweated (sweat?) a bit during them, of course. [the wedding was in a 'climate-controlled' tent outside. i was pit-stained by the end of the ceremony. jacket remained on all night.] best man jeff slayed with his "the two most important people here...but the bartenders are busy" joke. and then, soon enough later, the party was on. "i have two important announcements. first, there's fruit now available. it's behind me, in the buffet room. enjoy. secondly, let's bring on the bride and groom." (their dance had a mistake at the end...but not my mistake...the mp3 clip was probably about 6 seconds too short, so the note just cut off. sigh.) at that point, my job was mostly done. ask if you have more questions.

the rest of the night was generally uneventful.

sunday - as expected, brunch. as not expected, paid for by mr. nemo. some goodbyes, some hugs, some cheek-kisses (i'm an overagressive cheek-kisser, it turns out). out by 1237 eastern, home by 6 central. and that was it.

it was all fantastic. absolutely fantastic. work begins now.

[the unmentioned highlight, of course, was seeing everybody. the entire e2 crew. posed e2 photo and everything. the nemo family. the nemo mom, who unnecessarily introduced herself to me, i'm hoping because she was really enjoying shaking hands and giving hugs and simply hadn't noticed who was next. mostly, all of e2.

a word on e2: tina came from seattle. jenny from chicago. i from iowa. didi from atlanta. ben from d.c. nemo from his house. i think that sort of speaks to the fantastic-ness of nemo and carrie. plus treem from l.a.)

that's all i've got...

out of obligation, i shall write a brief post. it shall quickly become longer than brief.

there's a wicked huge bug on my wall. i'll be leaving the house for the weekend at about 3:00 p.m. on thursday afternoon, so i figure i'll just leave it be. it's moved, however, so maybe i'll kill it instead. i'll keep you posted.

my work computer crashed on tuesday afternoon. it had been giving me problems - operating slowly, sometimes just shutting itself down with no real sign - for a few weeks, and it had finally had it on tuesday. when it couldn't start up, i knew there was a problem...

so, i brought it into the contracted service company. they've got some tickets and things at the ballpark, and so we do our work through them. they sell us a lot of stuff and we just not in approval and move on, essentially. so i'm talking with this guy with a bad mustache, a guy i've had bad experiences with before (and i'm a pretty nice person). and we start it up, and it starts up, and we start outlook, and outlook gives me problems as it has been before. and then it turns out that the hard drive might have been dislodged, and ... "we just don't know. we'll have to check it out."

so i ask how long he thinks it will be. "no idea." "you've got no idea at all?" "nope." "like, by the end of the week? is that reasonable?" "no idea."

what the...

"can you give me a call so that i have an idea of what you'll be doing?" "sure." "when should i tell our office manager to expect a call?" "no idea." "do you have time to look at it today." "i don't know." "what's the normal time on something like this?" "i don't know right now."

so then, it devolves into him saying that he has to hear from a manager, and right now managers aren't returning his calls, and "quite frankly, i could give a rat's ass." contracts with computer companies and, more specifically, that guy, suck.

well, it's been two work days and he hasn't called.

and, by the way, that has led to me trying to use my personal computer as my computer at work... a slippery slope, no?

- - - - - - - -

finishing up on the saga of of the cable bill. i got my bill prorated by the mediacom people, then got two months worth of half-off. because it was the fault of the leasing company (i.e. they kept my switch off, the dummies), i felt that, as a matter of principle, they shouldn't get paid in full because they had cut off my service for a period of nine days. so i prorated my august rent...slicing off nine dollars from the $43 that i owed them for the cable service. under memo i wrote "rent plus prorated cable," with no further information. they knew they had screwed me over, and that it was their fault. four days later (today), i get a note under my door, requesting the additional nine dollars. i'll probably make an angry call to them sometime in the next day or so.

- - - - - - - - -

things to accomplish between now (3 AM) and my desired departure time:
1) pick up clothing at cleaners
2) figure out what to pack
3) pack (remember my shoes)
4) take two quality interns out to lunch - final day
5) curse myself for buying lunch for those snot-nosed bastards
6) just kidding


i'm wondering if i'm the only person to ever take the davenport to peoria to glenview to chicago to ypsi (plus ann arbor sidetrack) to davenport weekend road trip. probably not, but i like to wonder things like that. (for instance, in may of 2003, was i the first person to ever order grandaddy's sumday and marvin gaye's what's going on at the same time? gurs liked to try to make up sentences, but that was much more difficult. television pictures warm my bosom. maybe? this reminds me of a recent letter to spin in which somebody wrote "i bet i'm the only person in the world who loves elvis costello and the arcade fire and franz ferdinand," or something ridiculously stupid. i know the first two were in the list, i'm not sure who was her third.)

i know that rock and roll music will provide company on the first leg of the trip. i'm hoping that unstadt will provide company on the drive back to glenview after the game tomorrow. treem and, to an extent, jenny will be the company on the drive up. it'll be back to rock 'n roll music - or perhaps just pat and ron - on sunday on the drive home.

- - - - - - - - -

i've got a fairly not-minor role on saturday, that of the mc (or, emcee, if you prefer...i hope i'm not listed that way in teh program). i've labeled my role "dj'ing for free...or, rather, for booze." except that i don't choose the music (i will choose "ignition (remix)" at some point), because, you know, my taste sucks.

i've been told that the position has been designed so that it's easily perform-able while wasted. i'm nervous that won't be the case, and more nervous that a string of f-bombs (i.e. "and then the f'in, f-f, f'in said".... HA!) will really offend those in attendance. and i'm hopeful that those that have given me the position won't read this in advance because, you know, well...

woof.

completing the initial story of the post: the bug is no longer at location two. it is also not dead. i don't know where it is. sigh.

i've had a tremendously fun time in the broadcast booth the last two nights. as some of you know, or have inferred, i've been in a bit of a rut lately. tired of the season. questioning whether this is really the right job for me. wondering if the pay will ever be commensurate with the effort. lamenting the fact that i've committed myself to never having a normal summer, with things like vacations, time off, and barbeques. i've had a rough few weeks, in some way, and i'm not sure what got me in the rut. maybe it was the overnight trip to dayton a few weeks ago.

my problem is that i'm not talented or mature enough on air to fight through it and put up a good broadcast when either a) i'm not feeling well or b) it's a small, quiet crowd or c) the game's got a lot of walks. i feel like i had three straight awful broadcasts - sunday [a good game, although it wasn't close much of the way, but i was tired], monday [an smoking hot afternoon game with lots of walks and a 90 percent empty stadium by the end] and tuesday [a non-blowout with a small crowd that devolved into me making zooperstars names for players and front office staff members].

so anyway, i let ben the intern take much of wednesday's game, and i let ben the intern take all of thursday's game. i got to spend it on-air with my visiting counterpart, one of the people in the league with whom i'm closest. we had interesting, in-depth conversations about things like beanball wars, bench-clearing incidents, 'warnings' issued by umpires [all the same thing] and ryne sandberg's hall of fame speech. wednesday was good, interesting radio; thursday was sort of pretty good.

that said, i continue to find myself in a rut. pieces of conversation - things considered normal to people - really frustrate me at times. "you've got to put yellowstone on you list of things to see." (i work every day every summer.) "super-rud, we've got to go to vegas." (can't - don't have any money.) i just don't know, at times, but games are generally fun to watch. maybe partying will help. (minutemen reference!)

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i got $20 (or rather, i'm involved in a $6/hour oral contract) to be the pa announcer tuesday morning at the mississippi valley fair. i got to say things like...
"welcome to the great mississippi valley fair! it's tuesday, and that means it's special needs day! get ready, in 15 minutes the mutt comix dog show will get going again. you don't want to miss the fun! and be on the lookout for todd the stilt-walker! good afternoon, and we hope you enjoy your tuesday at the great mississippi valley fair!"

and

"welcome to the great mississippi valley fair! make sure to get a look at pat boyle the chainsaw artist, in the northwest corner of the fairgrounds. and, in just ten minutes, we'll have the alligator show in the reptile area. and don't miss the legendary leroy van dyke on the lodge stage, in only 25 minutes. and, as always, keep your eye out for michelle the statue lady! it's a great day to be at the great mississippi valley fair!"

i consider it a morning well-spent.

- - - - - -

i am behind in my reading. i'll have to return a new book - it's all right now, by first-time novelist charles chadwick. it got a fantastic newsweek review about ten weeks ago, and i really do enjoy his tone. but i haven't touched it in a week and a half.

i'm not playing video games tonight. but i do have to pay a few bills, so i won't get proper sleep again. dammit.

cool story: today, i received my first 'teacher's gift' as a broadcaster. a portland, maine, set of parents of a player brought me a portland sea dogs t-shirt. it probably won't get much use, but it was very nice. it was left for me at the ticket window - i haven't had the chance to stop by and thank them yet, but i'm looking forward to it.

okay, so i'm a weak-willed person, and the ps2's really got me. it's pathetic.

i'm without my memory card that i sent out to the guy who stocks the memory cards, so i've been 'practicing' since i returned from the road on monday. practicing until about 2 or 3 [later?] on monday, and the same until, well, now [that is, 2:15] tonight. pathetic.

what's happened:
i couldn't do a thing offensively in my first attempts last night. scoreless halves with the cats against both penn state [fantastic defense] and northern illinois [unacceptable!]. then i simulated a season, did some in-season recruiting, and guided the cats to a 2005 motor city bowl victory, then a top ten recruiting class.

that was last night.

tonight, i took on ohio university, at their place. it was a sloppy, sloppy game, i did some successful running, and i intercepted something like four or five or six passes. i managed to only beat them by two scores.

unsatisfied with my performance but satisfied that i was good enough to beat ohio, i played an exhibition with the cats against a better team. in evanston. the opponent became west virginia. i couldn't run on the mountaineers, but i had great, great success rolling out with basanez and making things happen on sprintouts and deep passes and things like that. after a crucial late game stop, i called a gutsy play-action deep ball, and hit shawn herbert deep to clinch a victory. 24-13 or something like that.

then, satisfied but confused by my inability to run, i took on the huskers. in lincoln. i guess they're not that good, really. but anyway, it was in lincoln. and i ran and ran and ran on them. and shut down their offense. [their only touchdown came on a 78 yard run or something...they were silent the rest of the way.] i earned a 13-10 victory, getting jumpy and going offsides on a potential game-tying chip shot field goal with 52 seconds left, then forcing a fumble two plays later. it was badass.

i'm a loser.

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negatives about the ps2:

i'm losing sleep.
i've stopped reading.
i'm losing sleep.
i'll probably forget to pay rent.
i was supposed to get directions to the ymca that i'm bringing a player to tomorrow, but i've instead played video games. i'll get the directions in the morning.
i'm one full newsweek behind, and i don't know what to do. i mean, i would like to read about karl rove and find out about that story on 'the leak.' [related, right?]
i haven't seen conan since i've had it.
i haven't seen letterman since i've had it.

positives:
i'm more likely to drink water when playing video games.
i've been listening/getting to know a lot of tunes that i haven't fully absorbed. [i like the sufjan album a lot, and find myself partially singing along.]
it's making me really, really excited for the college football season. i really do have an unhealthy love for the cats [real] and, now, the cats [virtual]. but more for the cats, real.

like me, anybody who responds to this post is a loser. i'm serious. but comments are always welcome.

i am a sentimental man/boy, and i've come to grips with that. i'll tear up while reading sports illustrated articles, or at least start to, anyway. i'll choke up at various sentimental moments, whether in print or on the big or little screen. it's my nature.

it's also a bit embarrassing, of course, but that's my type. (i also get really really tense around violence to children and things like that...the drowning baby scene in a beautiful mind absolutely kills me...makes me shaky and all.)

the point is, i teared up reading the section's of ryne sandberg's hall of fame induction speech that i saw this morning. his sentiment, though overdone, was perfect. he was completely genuine, and i only admire him more now than i did when he was a player.

i wish that i had watched - really watched - him when i was younger. i don't think i necessarily understood the game at that point, outside of errors and home runs and game-winning doubles and strikeouts and things of that nature. (of course, if i were to be asked about guys who "respect the game," i'd just run through the laundry list of scrappy white guys, and then add juan pierre to show that i'm sort of paying attention.)

anyway, i thought his sentiment was admirable, and reflected things that should be said in this day and age.

now, his delivery was less stellar than my "reading it" delivery, but the words compensated for the lack of oratory skill.

i got teary-giggly when he talked about being together with grace (cut to gracie) and dunston for a full decade. i got giggly-giggly when he talked about dunston suffering 'pulled hamstrings' when nolan ryan was coming up.

i got teary-teary-giggly when he asked andre dawson to stand up, and called him the best he's ever seen. "the hawk did it the right way, the natural way..." what a statement. i think dawson will get in next year, and i think sutter will too. no reason for me to think that [outside of the hershiser/strawberry/gooden crop that becomes eligible], i just do.

what do i think about his 'more important things than the little red light on the dugout camera' comment? back and forth, is the answer. i do love sammy or, rather, i did love sammy when he was at his long ball-hittin', unnecessary-hoppin', kissing and tapping best. i knew [rather, i begrudgingly accepted], as time went on, that he cheated, probably during all of his great 1998-2001 run. and so my thoughts of him have gone down.

i'm happy ryno said what he said about sammy, and his ilk. it needed to be said, i guess.

- - - - - - -

as for rafael palmeiro...i think this confirmed that he's the stupidest man alive. (as my brother said, 'why didn't he just switch to human growth hormone this year?')

i hope - hope - this means that he won't get into the hall of fame. the fact is that he doesn't deserve it. i was insulted by tim kurkjian (sp?) when i heard him essentially say "we don't really know when he started or how long he's been taking steroids or anything, so we can't really hold it against him. he's still a hall of famer in my book."

the fact is - he's now a confirmed cheater. combine that with the fact that he was never regarded as the best player in his league, or probably even the top five, and combine that with the fact that he doesn't have a "signature" moment, and i think he should be out.

what of the other cheaters?

mcgwire - there's pretty strong proof (start with "let's talk about the future...[tears over kids]...i'm not here to talk about the past, or to answer your questions") that he was juiced when he was doing his great hitting.

bonds - yes, he cheated. and he cheated badly.

here's the overriding concern with both of them: they are awful, awful people for cheating. mcgwire wasn't a complete player, he probably began cheating in about 1997, and his great, great years were accomplished due to drugs. bonds was a great player, then had greater, greater years due to drugs. he won three (should have been four) mvp's in the early 1990's, before he was the big-headed, drug-addled, muscle-bound hulk that he is now.

so,
bonds: in
dawson: in
mcgwire: out
palmeiro: out

i don't know if this is well thought out (it's not), but you get my assertions, perhaps. later.

[ps - i bought ps2. i should have waited until the end of the season. i will not be getting proper sleep during homestands.]

scott van pelt just called the mid-american conference "one of the great underappreciated conferences," which really makes absolutely no sense.

and, furthermore, nemo and coach walker disagree. it's highly-appreciated, they think.