“Red Skies” – The Fixx. This is all I have right now.
Month: November 2016 (Page 2 of 2)
Well, here we are, the day before the end of the world. Perhaps.
As I shared sometime last year, I just don’t have the stomach for politics the way I used to. I had largely disengaged before this fall, sick of how our political process had become a system not of checks and balances, give and take, discussion and compromise, but rather a zero sum, destroy your opponent, repeat lies until they become truths, never ever compromise, slash-and-burn mess. While both parties have some responsibility for this, most of it lies with Republicans, who have spent the past eight years more intent on destruction than doing anything constructive that would move the country forward.
Because of my disengagement, I just didn’t feel the desire to write about political matters anymore. A few times over the past couple months I’ve thought about putting some thoughts together. But the mental drafting process always causes my blood pressure to increase and I find it’s not worth the effort or trouble.
Over the weekend, again, I thought perhaps I should put some kind of pre-election day post together. But, again, emotions turned dark and I chose to spend my time on other things.
And then I read this piece by Will Leitch this morning. I think he largely captures my feelings on the travesty this year has been and the true choice that we face. And I think he does it far better than I could have done if I had stuck with my weak effort over the weekend.
I think Tuesday night is going to be a(n) historic night in many, many ways. Hopefully most of that history is good, regardless of who wins the presidency, the senate, and so on. Despite the lack of attention I’ve given to the presidential race this year, I’m going to sit in front of my TV and soak a lot of it in. No matter what happens tomorrow, and moving forward after, I think it’s going to be right up there with 2000 as an Election Night none of us will ever forget.
November. You know what that means? Yep, Wednesday morning I heard one of the SiriusXM DJs talking about the Christmas music channel being up and running. A quick run through the stations and, sure enough, the Holly station was blasting holiday tunes. Apparently the other Christmas music station won’t fire up until December 5, which is almost as weird as starting on November 2. It was even weirder to be hearing songs about crisp, cold days when it was 75 and I was wearing shorts. This must be what the holiday season feels like in San Diego.
Anyway, I went ahead and plugged the station into my favorites, but down at the end that I don’t get to very often. I’ll bump it up in three weeks when it is acceptable and appropriate to listen.
Ahhhh, but there is a huge gift from the music gods in today’s playlist. Perhaps Christmas has come early…
“Committed To The Cause” – The Radio Dept. Doing what they do best, totally danceable, highly political music.
“Coming of Age” – Julia Jacklin. Jackson’s debut is a wonderful collection of songs that bely her age. They sound like they came from someone much older. I love this little rave-up about becoming an adult.
“Summer Breeze” – Las Kellies. It’s still felt like summer most of this week. No complaints.
“Near To The Wild Heart Of Life” – Japandroids. HOLY SHIT!!! NEW JAPANDROIDS MUSIC!!!! It’s been three years since they ended their tour for the epic Celebration Rock, one of the finest albums of the decade. They don’t do social media, didn’t release any updates on their status. They just disappeared. But they started playing shows about a month ago. This is their new single. And a new album is set to drop in late January. The world rejoices.
“Dance The Night Away” – Van Halen. I caught part of Argo the other day. Great movie, great soundtrack. The five or so minutes I watched featured one of the trips to Hollywood, and this was the background music. Perfectly picked. If I had a time machine, going to a late 70s VH show would be high on the list of things I’d have to hit.
Now that’s what people are talking about when they get all giddy about a game seven finale for a championship series! It wasn’t the prettiest game ever played in the World Series. It wasn’t without its head-scratching moments. But, man, was it entertaining. Especially if you weren’t committed to either team. I can’t imagine what that game was like for Cubs and Indians fans.
First off, props to MLB for starting the game on time. How many major sporting events list an 8:00 start time actually begin closer to 8:20? I flipped over to the game at 8:03 and had already missed the first two pitches of the game. Fortunately, I was just in time to see Dexter Fowler’s home run. The first of many crazy moments in this game.
Second, and this may get lost in history, I think the overall mood of the game was greatly enhanced by all the Cubs fans in attendance. It gave the game more the feel of an event between high school rivals than a traditional World Series game. There were several thousand Royals fans in New York last year for game five. Same with Giants fans in Kansas City for game seven the year before. But in each case they were the distinct minority, and the final outs of each game were played to mostly silence. But last night had a wonderful ebb-and-flow between the delirious Cubs and Indians fans. I’m guessing it was 60/40 Indians fans. Whatever the true ratio, it made for a great viewing experience.
Third, the swings in this game! Fowler’s home run. Cleveland ties it and ignites/settles the home crowd. Cubs stretch out a lead. The pitching changes. Cleveland scores two on a wild-freaking-pitch. David Ross and Javy Baez’s home runs. Indians score three in the 8th – all with two outs – including Rajai Davis’ home run that sent the crowd into a frenzy and will go down as one of the great home runs that, ultimately, didn’t matter. Extra innings! A MOTHERFUCKING RAIN DELAY!!!!! Cubs score two in the tenth. Indians answer with one but can’t get the tying run home. Cubs win, Cubs win, Cubs win.
It was exhausting and totally fantastic.
After Davis’ home run, I was 90% sure the Cubs would lose. It was clear Joe Maddon didn’t trust anyone in his bullpen, so the advantage swung to the Indians, who still had fresh arms. And I kept thinking, what an epic, cruel, crushing way to lose. Four outs away, up three runs, and they piss it away. Again. Curses are dumb media fabrications, but maybe they do exist.
I wasn’t going out on any great limbs when I said Terry Francona and Maddon were two of my favorite, and best, managers in the game. Most experts would agree. But I thought both guys had rough nights last night. Francona pulled a Ned Yost and left Cory Kluber in too long. Granted, it was Kluber, and I think it’s always tough to pull your ace, even in an all-hands game. But for a manager who has been extremely aggressive with his bullpen use in the postseason, Francona blinked at the wrong time.
That shouldn’t distract from what Francona did over the past month. The Indians grabbed home field from the Red Sox on the last day of the regular season, went 7–1 in the AL playoffs, and had a 3–1 lead in the World Series. All with a team that was in terrible shape because of injuries and really didn’t hit much for most of the postseason. He just gets guys to play well.
Maddon was kind of a mess this series. Getting Kyle Schwarber into the lineup, and putting him in the 2-hole, was a fantastic move. Schwarber’s hit to start the 10th last night turned into the go-ahead run, and I think his presence helped everyone around him in the games he played.
But Maddon’s handling of his pitchers was baffling. I thought he pulled Jake Arrieta too early in game six. And used Aroldis Chapman far too long in that game. Same last night. He pulled both Kyle Hendricks and Jon Lester too early. His overuse of Chapman left the closer a shell of himself, and it nearly cost the Cubs the series. It’s one thing to be aggressive. But Maddon’s moves often felt more like panic than unorthodox thinking.
The Cubs won, though, so I guess Maddon knew what he was doing.
Ben Zobrist hitting doubles in October/November. I approve. Funny how a guy who spent three months with the Royals is absolutely beloved by us KC fans, and probably always will be. If he had knocked the Royals out of the playoffs instead of Cleveland, I bet a lot of us would say, “Well hell. At least it was Ben who did it.”
The thing I kept thinking over the past three games, as the Cubs have sat on the verge of elimination, is how empty you would have to feel if you were a Cubs player and came all that way only to fall short. Getting to the NLCS last year and getting swept. Then starting this year with an improved roster, the pressure (both externally and internally) squarely on you to break the 108-year drought this year, and then delivering in every way…except reaching that final goal. Spring training, a long, grueling regular season where you won 103 games, winning two rounds of the playoffs, and then stumbling at the last step. I know the Cubs are loaded to be good for several years, but that would really suck to have to start over again next spring. That’s the beauty and the bitch of sports.
That was a great game. One for the ages. If my team can’t be winning the World Series, that’s the kind of game I want to watch. Thanks to the Cubs and Indians, and baseball itself, for giving us that gift to end the season.
And now we move on to the cold, bleak off season. A time when basketball can provide some comfort, but in which we are always looking forward to the day pitchers and catchers report, and to the next Opening Day.
Day late, dollar short I guess.
Had a last-minute schedule change yesterday that kept me from getting out the obligatory Halloween wrap-up post. So my apologies, as I know many of you spent your entire day refreshing the site, waiting for that post to appear.
It was, perhaps, our best Halloween ever. Temps were in the low 60s and it was dry, making it an ideal evening to be out. M went as a panda. C went as YouTube sensation Miranda Sings. And L went as a Ghostbuster. As has become our routine, we had a little dinner get-together with some neighbors before the kids headed out. With it being so nice, we set up camp in our driveways, lit a fire, and set up tables for the impromptu, four-way chili cook off that resulted from four different households bringing chili.[1]
After some consulting with a few of the neighbors, we decided to give the kids some freedom to wander the neighborhood on their own. They were given strict parameters on where they could and could not go, and one family supplied walkie talkies so we could check in at any time. The kids got to make a couple forays on their own and did quite well. That gave us adults more time to eat chili and drink beer around the fire. Win-win.
As much as I enjoyed that freedom, I realized later in the night, that this was our future on Halloween. I don’t think the older girls minded at all that we weren’t going around the neighborhood with them. We kept a closer eye on L; she got separated from the bigger group once – they had all stopped at home base and they took off without her – so she made a loop with her infant cousins and the moms. When it was time to hit the house that has a haunted garage kids walk through, all the parents went along. But I think our days of spending two-plus hours with them are done.
On one hand, it was nice to just hang out and socialize, especially since we hadn’t seen a few of the families since the middle of the summer. On the other, walking around and experiencing the excitement of the night and seeing how all the other kids are dressed is a huge part of the holiday for parents. We had a great evening, but I don’t know Halloween-y it really felt to me.
The girls loaded up on candy, which made them happy. We had fewer trick or treaters at our door than we’ve ever had. Although we were out in the driveway, we set a bowl at our front door with a sign to help yourself. When we closed things up for the night at 8:00, the bowl was still like 80% full. Of course, the year I finally stop buying so much is the year that our neighborhood gets a fresh wave of kids and we run out at 7:30.
Good weather, good food, and good gatherings for the girls. And this year I didn’t have to avoid a World Series score all night! A pretty solid way to kick off the holiday season. All the parents agreed we need to petition the neighborhood, though, to always have Trick or Treating on the last Friday or Saturday of October. This school-night stuff sucks!22
- Mine rocked. I did my usual adjustments to the recipe as I cooked and was a little worried about how it would turn out. But the end result may have been my best effort ever. Which is saying something. I make good chili. ↩