Tommy was screaming when the ball went out…

Last night, I was exhausted so I went to bed at about 8pm and then woke up in time to see Bonds hit 756.  It wasn’t planned.  I just woke up and we were goofing with Tommy and his long arms and it happened.  So I saw it.  It was a far cry from 1974 when I was told to “…do my homework” and so I couldn’t watch it on the single color TV that we owned.  I was at the dining room table, sloooowly doing my homeword, and I could see the reflection of the homer in the glass front of the china closet.  Aaron hit it and then ran the bases in reverse: Home to third to second to first and home again.  And some scruffy dudes came out of NOwhere to pat him.  I’m sure that with all the death threats, he really must have enjoyed strange scruffy dudes running after him there.  And I preferred Ruth.  It wasn’t a racial thing, it’s just that I like the old timey guys more.  Hey, I’m still listening to the hot five recordings while I work in my attic.  Those are records that Ruth probably played on a Victrola at his frat house of a suite at the Ansonia Hotel in Manhattan.

Thoughts on last night?  Glad you asked.  First, Bonds’ son, Nikolai, made the old man quite mad when he didn’t let Bonds have the exaggerated pose on home plate, all by himself.  The kid came over to hug him RIGHT at that moment and the old man wasn’t having any of that whatsoever.  In fact, I think it annoyed the old man to the point where he kind of “froze” 17 year old Nikolai out of the rest of the proceedings after that.  You’d think that he’d have spoken to the Nikster before hand and said, “…Nik, let me do my thing until I signal you it’s ok, then you come over for a hug…”  Mrs. Pinetar and I were both laughing at that one.

And then we were (I was) excited that Willy Mays was there and they stopped the game and gave them a mike and Bonds spoke and then handed the microphone to Mays and I’m thinking, “…great, Mays will speak.  The say-hey kid himself.  Maybe he’ll tell us how they blew that call in the 1973 World Series…maybe he’ll…”  But there was nothing.  Mays never said anything.  In fact, it wasn’t clear just what the heck Mays was doing there at all.  Strange. 

Well, all in all, I’m sad to see it go and I’m happy to see it go.  Happy, because there was far too much hoopla for the sign changing at McDonald’s aspect of it.  You tuned in, when all was said and done, to see how it was covered, more than to see IT.  I’m sad to see it go because for a few days anyway, I’ve been able to watch two bad teams play when ordinarily, there’d be no baseball.  I mean, we got the Marlins vs Giants and then the Nats vs Giants.  Boy, oh boy, they’re shaking in the American League with that stuff.  –fog 

PS, Brent Bozell does a great piece on the New York Times just openly campaigning for Hillary.  Must read.

 

Pass the Pork Rinds

There really are no words…3 is Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s car number, right?  See, I knew that.   –fog

Cash Plays LaMaze

Mrs. Pinetar and I finished the LaMaze classes last night.  Near the end, the teacher spoke of when the baby’s head is crowning and stuff is stretching and she said that, “Midwives, might call this ‘the ring of fire’ but that’s not a medical term…”

And that was it.  For the rest of the night, all I could hear were the Spanish trumpets: pah-pah, pah, pah-pah-pah–paaah …..puh-puh, puh, puh-puh-puh–puuuuh…

And then Johnny Cash of course: “I fell in to a burning ring of fire….I went down,down,down….and the flames went higher.
And it burns,burns,burns…the ring of fire….the ring of fire.”

All night.

No exceptions.

And on the way home.

I don’t believe any song ever written can get into your head and STAY there, like the Ring of Fire.  And now you’re all hearing it.  Hearing the trumpets.  And  humming it.  Good luck.  –fog

The professor would build a studio out of a coconut

I have a great idea for a reality television show that is a sure fire hit if done correctly.  I’m throwing it out to the readers: How  do you go about pursuing your idea when you know almost zip about the biz?  Any thoughts on that one? –fog

House of Murtha

Gotta love this

Monty Hall Not Suing Deal Or No Deal

And as long as we’re calling out “American Idol”, let’s not stop there. The new hit show, “Deal or No Deal”, is really just a rehash of the Monty Hall classic, “Let’s Make A Deal”. They offer a chance at an unknown prize and then try to buy you out of it for some cash. Been there, done that. And re: Howie Mandel, may I paraphrase Sen Lloyd Benston (D): “Howie, you are no Monty Hall…”

Monty Hall was from Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada for you USA-educated folks). I did not know that. Monty AND Shatner…Canadians…wow.

Let’s Make a Deal was a quintessential 1970’s game show. I was always amazed at the stuff that the people could produce, on the spot, for Monty’s hundred dollar bills. I mean, there was no predicting it: hairdryers, radishes, crescent wrenches, pickles, lug nuts…these people, dressed in costumes would come up with it.

Remember the “zonks”? The bad prizes? Jay on a donkey? Who was Jay, anyway? And remember Carol Marol? She would sweep her arm in the air, just so, over the TV Set or Dishwasher…oooh.

Other 1970’s game shows? Well, Monty’s “other” show, “Split-Second” was pretty big. Match Game with Gene Rayburn (why would you NOT pick Richard Dawson to answer? Ever?), Joker’s wild, Concentration, Family Feud, Price is Right, Newlywed Game, Hollywood Squares.

And right now, everyone is humming the bass line to the Matchgame: boom, boom…bu-bu-bu– bu-bu-bu— bu-boom [repeat] and there was a wah-wah guitar in there somewhere. I can still taste the peanur butter and jelley sandwiches after school while watching that. –fog

Here’s the cheesey-looking set of Let’s Make A Deal. There they are: Those sevetnties icons, Door number one, Door number two and Door number three…As a kid, I always picked 3 in my mind.

Click: Here’s a related website that details a mathematical problem based on the 3-door, Monty Hall setup. I looked at it and with my sketchy, 12th grade + 1 yr of business calc ( no trig-whew!) mathematical education, I don’t get it. It should be a 50-50 deal after the first zonk is revealed. [JRV? You're my math idol--what gives with this?]