Everywhere we turn we are bombarded by The Cat In the Hat paraphenalia; but in all the displays, I am yet to see the book. I haven't heard anything good about the movie yet, so I had to see what Steven Greydanus thought of the show. I found his review insightful and funny and entirely in Seuss-verse.
I thought Duane would appreciate this selection from the News Star:
Smithfield, NC - A high school teacher was suspended for a classroom experiment that caused several students to vomit after drinking large amounts of milk. Jeff Ferguson, a chemistry and physics teacher at Smithfield-Selma High School, organized the experiment last week to test the body's ability to neutralize acids in milk. It was intended to show the body can handle only so much before a natural reaction occurs and the person vomits.
Several times I've seen and even written pieces on what events are actual sports and what events are not. I've recently ammended my position. I used to argue that things like figure skating and diving were in fact sports, but I now don't feel that they are. Among other things, sport should have defined rules, require physical and mental discipline, require skill and coordination, and be competative. Figure skating and diving both meet all of those standards. I ammended my position recently because of a discussion I had with Amy, in which she was arguing for ballet as a sport. I immediately objected that it was not, however she pointed out that ballet meets all of the standards listed above. As I thought about this more, I came to believe that a sport also needs to have a concrete and objective scoring system in addition to the other things listed above. That means that things like baseball, football, basketball, hockey, rugby, soccer, tennis, golf, volleyball, and track (I'm sure there are more) are full-fledged sports, while figure skating, diving, gymnastics, most "extreme sports", cheerleading, and ballet are not.
Perhaps I'm throwing out to much here. Perhaps those things are sports and the term "sport" should be broken into categories of objective sports and subjective sports. What do you think?
That leads me to another point in this discussion: why is it that cheerleaders, ballet dancers, and skate boarders all feel that they must argue that their activity is in fact a sport? Why is their activity receiving a place in that category so important to them? Ballet certainly requires a great deal of physical and mental discipline as well as a great deal of skill and ability. I've also been informed that there are ballet competitions. What I don't get though, is why a ballet dancer wants to grouped into a category with a football player.
Several times I have had a discussion with Matt Greydanus about the nature of the Rookie of the Year Award. He would like to argue that recent winners like Hideo Nomo (1995), Kazuhiro Sasaki (2000), and Ichiro (2001) should not be eligible because the Japanese league they came from is a higher level of play than American AAA or AA minor leagues. I have argued that a rookie is a player playing his first season at the Major League level, regardless of where he played last year. In the wake of George Steinbrenner's disappointment at Hideki Matsui falling short the American League Rookie of the Year to the Royal's Angel Berroa, he had this to say:
"While I have great respect for the Baseball Writers' Association of America and all of its contributions to our national game throughout the years, I firmly believe that a great injustice has been done to Hideki Matsui. Two misguided writers -- Bill Ballou from the Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette and Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune -- in voting for American League Rookie of the Year, clearly made up their own rules to determine who was and was not eligible for the award and disqualified an eligible candidate who could have won.
One of the writers in question, Mr. Ballou, actually said, 'While he [Matsui] is technically a rookie by the rules of Major League Baseball, he is not a rookie in the spirit of the award.' Spirit of the award? The award was renamed by the Baseball Writers' Association to honor Jackie Robinson, its first recipient. Jackie Robinson came to the Major Leagues after playing in the Negro Leagues, a league whose high level of play is unquestioned.
This year's voting farce, where the appropriate qualifications for the award were blatantly ignored, clearly demonstrates unfairness to first-year players from Japan. And that must be stopped."
I actually agree with King George, in this case, although I had never tought to argue it that way.
Back in the mid-90's the Coca-Cola company experimented with a new soda called OK Soda. They only tested it in big-city markets, so it wasn't readily available in Texarkana, although Dad got us some from Dallas or Little Rock. The soda was average (dare I say OK?) at best. But they had one of the most remarkable marketing features ever. The had an 800 number. It was 1-800-I-FEEL-OK. Christin and I spent hours calling this number, over and over again, just going through all the different features. There was the OKness quize, OK Coincidences, The OK Soda Personality inventory, The OK Manifesto, OK Poems. . . it was great.
So I decided to do a search on it and found that there are still some people out there that really loved the OK Legacy. I even found a few empty cans and bottles being bought and sold on ebay.This page has some good links and pictures of OK products. The best site is right here; it includes downloadable sound clips from the phone line.
Other than Christin and me, I really don't know many people that even know about OK Soda. Did you? Did you call the number? Check out the extended entry for the OK Manifesto.
1) What's the point of OK? Well, what's the point of anything?
2) OK Soda emphatically rejects anything that is not OK, and fully supports anything that is.
3) The better you understand something, the more OK it turns out to be.
4) OK Soda says, "Don't be fooled into thinking there has to be a reason for everything."
5) OK Soda reveals the surprising truth about people and situations.
6) OK Soda does not subscribe to any religion, or endorse any political party, or do anything other than feel OK.
7) There is no real secret to feeling OK.
8) OK Soda may be the preferred drink of other people such as yourself.
9) Never overestimate the remarkable abilities of "OK" brand soda.
10) Please wake up every morning knowing that things are going to be OK.
Check out the Facts on George Sisler.
We have here another installment of our less well known Hall of Famers with a tribute to George Sisler. Sisler is borderline for this series, since in my opinion he's a well known legend of the game, but he's not really one of the first 20 guys you might name amongst baseball greats, and his accomplishments are worth recounting.
George Harold Sisler was born March 24, 1893 in Manchester, Ohio. Sisler made his debut for the St. Louis Browns in 1915, and like Babe Ruth, he did it as a pitcher. He made 8 starts that year, going 4/4 before being moved to first base in 1916. He was a promising left-handed prospect as a pitcher, but his bat was too good to have a pitchers limited at bats, and his glove was too good at first base to use in any other way. In the field he was fast and graceful; he still holds the record for assists by a first baseman (1,528).
As a hitter, he was even better, batting over .300 in 13 out of his 15 seasons. He batted over .400 twice, and not surprisingly, won batting titles both times (.407 in 1920 and .420 in 1922). He won the American League MVP Award in 1922 for his .420, along with a league-leading 246 hits (18 triples), 51 steals, and 105 RBI's average. In my opinion, his 1920 season was even better, when he hit .407, scored 137 times, stole 42 bases, set a record that still stands today with 257 hits, and career highs in home runs (19) and RBI's (122), he even had a save in one pitching appearance, striking out two of the three batters he faced. For his career, he had 2,812 hits with a .340 average and 1,175 career RBI's. In addition, he only struck out 327 times in 8,739 plate appearances; that's 1 strike out for every 23.5 plate appearances (Barry Bonds, who is quite disciplined at the plate himself, strikes out about once every 8 plate appearances).
In 1923 severe sinusitis infected his optic nerves and for a time he saw double. He missed the entire 1923 season. Sisler returned in 1924 with a $25,000 contract as player-manager. He hit .305 in 151 games and moved the Browns to third. In 1925 he was back on track with 224 hits and a .345 average. In fact, he only had one sub-.300 season in seven after the illness. They were seasons most players would have been proud of, but he was not really himself. His eyes never regained their former acuity.
In the winter of 1927 the Browns traded Sisler to Washington, who then sent him to Boston (Braves), where he played with his rival, Rogers Hornsby.
After 1930 he drifted into the minors, ran a Sisler printing company in St. Louis, then a Sisler sporting-goods firm. Branch Rickey brought him back to baseball in the 1940s as a scout and special hitting instructor at Brooklyn and Pittsburgh. He died at the age of 80, on March 26, 1973.
This may become a series, and it may not. Many times I've noticed how many Hall of Famers there are that I know nothing about, so in an effort to correct that, I'm going to tell about one of them right here. I plan, at least for now, to limit the series to players only. Maybe I'll deal with executives and such later.
For a little background, the Hall of Fame began in 1936. In that year, the Baseball Writers elected five players: Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Matthewson, and Walter Johnson. All of these guys are well known, as is the case with the class of 1937: Nap Lajoie, Tris Speaker, and Cy Young. Only one player was elected in 1938, Pete (Grover Cleveland) Alexander. 1939 is the first group in which some of the Hall of Famers have slipped from the forefront of baseball legends.
So to kick this thing off, let me introduce you to Cap Anson. Born Adrian Constantine Anson on April 17th, 1852 in Marshalltown, Iowa, Anson began his career in 1871, at the age of 19, with the Rockford Forest Citys of the National Association, the forerunnerof the National League. In 1872, he moved to the Philadelpia Athletics, also of the National Association, where he played until 1875. He spent most of his time at first and third base, but between 1871 and 1875 he played at least five games at every other field position. He batted over .325 in each of those years, with a high of .415 in 1872 over the course of of a 46 game full schedule. He also managed to finish in the top 10 of almost every statistical category in that time frame, but it wasn't until he moved to the Chicago White Stockings (later the Cubs) of the National League in 1876 that he became a true superstar.
Anson is generally viewed as the first true big-name player in the history of the game. He continued with Chicago for 21 years, retiring in 1897 for a 27 year career with 3,418 hits with a .333 career batting average, and 2,076 RBI's. He won batting titles in 1881 (.399) and 1888 (.344), batting over .300 in 24 of his 27 seasons. He led the league in RBI's 8 times, with a career high of 147 in 1886. He was named manager of the Chicago club in 1879, managing and playing for 18 years. Under his leadership the team won five championships with a record of 1,283/932 (.579).
When he became playing manager in 1879, he put himself permanently at first base. The stocky six-footer was no artist in the field. He holds the all-time record for most errors committed by a first baseman, but he played at a time when gloves were not used and errors were common. Longevity also helped account for his error record. A true baseball innovator, he encouraged basestealing, devised hit-and-run plays, and was one of the first to rotate pitchers. he was the first manager to institutionalize preseason training, laying down strict training rules for his players and enforcing them with his fists if necessary. He had an explosive temper and could be a cruel bench jockey and umpire baiter.
Anson was an excellent representative of the dirty style of baseball played in this era. Generally regarded as strict and principled on one hand, on the other he was also known to go from first to third, skipping second, when the umpires back was turned.
Anson became part-owner of the White Stockings in 1888, but he sold his stock when he left the team in 1897. The team was so linked with his image that when he finally left, they were known for a while as the "Orphans." He managed the Giants for 22 games in 1898, then left baseball. When he later had financial problems, the NL attempted to establish a pension for him, but he rejected it. He died in 1922, three days short of his 70th birthday.
This may seem like common knowledge, but believe me, it's not. Having worked in the industry for many years, at several different national establishments, I was amazed at just how few of you know how to do this. Following the steps below will not gaurantee a successful visit every time (obviously there are plenty of FF employees that don't know what they're doing either), but it will help.
1) That big sign over the counter is called a menu. It is strictly for your benefit. It lists all the things that a particular place sells. If it's not on the menu (or at least a "special" sign), they don't have it. A brilliant development at FF places and an important feature of the menu is the combo meal system. This is a system that gives the customer an entree sandwich, a side (usually fries) and a drink. That's it. When you say, "I want a #3," that means you want that sandwich, those fries, and a drink. If you say, "I want a #3, but I don't want the fries, and I just want a small drink," then you really don't want a #3 - just order it straight off the menu. Only use the combo meals if you actually want the items on the picture beside the appropriate number.
2) Special orders don't upset us, but they do slow us down. In cases where you need mayo, mustard, ketchup, or some other liquid condiment left off, then it's okay to special order. But you should refrain from special ordering for the removal of an item you could just as easily remove yourself. The people in the back that make these sandwiches are used to a certain routine when the make a particular item, and special orders break that routine and slow down the whole system. When possible, you should not special order.
3) When you do make an order for multiple people, especially in the drive through, and you absolutely must special order, do it in order. For instance: "I want a #3 with no pickles or mayo, and a Diet Coke, supersized, a #1 with Dr. Pepper, a #4 with no onions and Coke, and 1 cheeseburger." Do not go up there and say, "I want a #3, #1, and #4 and a cheeseburger. Now on that #4, cut the onions, and on the #3 hold the pickles and mayo." You're only asking for a wrong order when you do stuff like that.
4) Many times your order will not be as fast as you would like it, and many times there is a good reason for that. At slower times of the day, it is not uncommon for you to have a wait for your order because they are cooking part or all of it. This is actually good. They can have all the stuff ready and waiting for 30 minutes under a heat lamp, or they can make it when you come up. Sandwiches generally hold well for 10 to 15 minutes, and fries hold well for 5 to 7, and unless they're in a postion to know they will sell enough items to keep a supply, you're better off waiting the 5 or 6 minutes to get your order, that way it will be hot and fresh. You wouldn't want to have old food.
As I said before, following these tips will not make every FF visit great, but they will make many of them better.
Many times in the real world and the blog world, we find ourselves complaining, or hearing others complain about their elders and pastors. Sometimes it's a discipline issue and sometimes it's a doctrinal issue. I'd like to make a few comments about both cases.
In discipline issues, it is very important that we as church members remember that the elders in almost all cases have information about situations that we do not. Many times, they have an overwhelming amount of information that they cannot give out to the general public because doing so would be a violation of pastoral confidence. What this means is that we need to be extremely careful when it comes to criticizing their decisions in disciplinary matters, since they are making such decisions with more information than we have. Perhaps if we had all the information they do, we would come to the same conclusions. But we don't, and we won't, and we shouldn't. The elders are men chosen by God to deal with these situations and make these decisions, and we are not. The Church is not a democratic institution. This is not to say that elders and pastors are infallable, it is simply that we should be extremely careful to make judgements about them and their actions when we do not have the whole story.
In doctrinal matters, we as members of congregations feel that the church should be a democracy. That is, the congregation should take a vote on how we do things, like the worship service, what elements are to be included and excluded, and when to stand and when to sit. We also do not like for those issues to be "dictated" to us by our pastors and elders. We prefer instead to grumble about their decisions. Many times we act as though we intend to study whatever issue is at hand and find an answer for the teaching of the elders, or we make a cop-out argument, like "I don't have the time or the ability to study this issue, and then argue with a smart guy like him." Well, my advice is, stop it. Of course you don't have the time or the ability, that's why you're not the pastor. That doesn't mean that a pastor can never be questioned, but we as members of the church must be teachable and have confidence that the pastor, the man we're paying to study these matters and lead in the direction we should go, will be biblically faithful and academically astute. We do not have the right to sit in church and choose not to participate in the worship service based on our whims or personal feelings, under the guise of "searching for the answer." We as church members have submitted ourselves to pastors, teachers, and rulers who are ordained by God to lead us, and we are to submit to their authority and hear their teaching unless they ask us to sin or do anything contrary to the scriptures. In cases where we disagree or have questions, at the very least, we should ask honest questions to our pastors and elders with humilty, seeking understanding, not division.
Here's a few presidential facts you might not have known.
President Andrew Jackson dueled with Charles Dickinson after he insulted Jackson's marriage. Jackson let his opponent fire first, giving himself time to take aim. Jackson took a bullet in the chest and, without flinching, calmly killed his man.
President James Buchanan reportedly took great pride in his tiny feet, although he was a large robust man.
Both ambidextrous and multilingual President James Garfield could write Greek with one hand while writing Latin with the other.
There have been a lot of news items and awards thrown in the Mariner's deriection, so in case you missed it, here we go.
Gil Meche was named AL Comeback Player of the Year by the Sporting News. Meche, who missed the 2001 and '02 seasons because of surgery on his right shoulder, returned to the Mariners' rotation this season and posted a 15-13 record. He became the first pitcher since Whitey Ford in 1956 to win at least 15 games after missing the previous two seasons. The Sporting News also named Rafael Soriano the AL Rookie Pitcher of the Year.
Jamie Moyer received the Roberto Clemente Award. The Clemente Award is given to one major leaguer every year, and never given to the same player more than once. Each team nominates one player from their team based on their on-field performance and their involvement in the community. Moyer was honored with the Clemente Award for his work with the Moyer Foundation, which he and his wife established in 2000. The foundation offers encouragement, comfort and support to children and families who are enduring a time of profound distress, be it physical, emotional or financial. To my knowledge, Moyer is the second Mariner to receive this award, the other being Harold Reynolds in the late 80's.
Edgar Martinez and Brett Boone were given Silver Slugger awards. The Silver Sluggers are given to the best hitters at each position in both the NL and AL. This is Edgar's 4th Silver Slugger and Boone's 2nd.
Just today the AL Gold Glove team was announced, and as expected, the Mariners are well represented with four players on the team. Brett Boone and Mike Cameron earned their second Gold Glove Awards, while Ichiro and John Olerud earned their third.
As for other awards, the Cy Young Award and MVP are yet to be announced but both Jamie Moyer and Brett Boone figure to finish in the top five.
In other news, the Mariners became the first team to sign a native South African. I really don't know anything about it, but you read about it here.
We've also added soon-to-be Hall of Famer Paul Molitor as our new hitting coach. It's hard to say that he will make a tremendous impact, as many times great hitters fail as hitting caoches while average hitters make great hitting coaches. In any case, I'm happy to have such a classy player become part of our team.
Finally, the biggest and best news is that Edgar Martinez will return for another season in Seattle. He signed a one-year deal (terms were not disclosed). This will be his 18th major league season, all with the Mariners. Among active players, only Barry Larkin of the Reds has been with one team longer. I'm happy that I can wait one more year for a farewell to Edgar post. Deacon told me Martinez needs three home runs and nine doubles to become the sixth player in major league history to record 300 home runs, 500 doubles, 1,000 walks, a .300 batting average and a .400 on-base percentage. He would join Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig, Stan Musial and Rogers Hornsby as players to accomplish the feat.