I have this amazing friend named Joe. He and his brother love baseball and invented their own “game.” Its played with dice and numbers and statistics and they play whole seasons and have kept records that would make your fantasy rotisserie league look like crap. its absolutely insanely cool. I’ve known Joe for years and we spent several years in college hangin out and I always begged him into explaining it and he would say..”Uhm its very complicated and its really involved…It would take too long.” But I persist and finally he starts explaining…
And suddenly my mind starts doing the JD-from-scrubs-homer-simpson
-fantasy-cloud-over-my-head-thingy
…And I’m lost. So I say all that to say this. Joe is just an amazing person and even though we see each other rarely now, I know he reads my blog and checks in. I miss him. So this blog is for him because tonight my mind is rolling with this question that I KNOW he would know.
OK Heres the scenario. Your watching a game and a guy makes an amazing play to end the inning. His team then comes up to bat, and as a baseball fan, we always note that, sure enough, the guy who just made the great play is now the first one up. And sure enough, he hits a home run. “It figures”
Well the other night I’m listening to the red sox game on the radio. Guy makes a great play. Sure enough he leads off the next inning…But the announcers say the following
Joe: “How many times have we seen it, The guy that makes the great catch leads off the next inning”
Dave: “Yup. Really what are the odds?”
Joe: “Well…One in Nine.”
My Question is. Is that correct? And if not, What ARE the odds?
I suck at math…and I know that our announcer Joe Castiglione was just talkin…But I wanna know. I mean its 1 in 9 that the ball is hit to you but its also 1 in 9 that you’d be at bat…But the odds that both happen back to back are…
Well like I said I went to summer school for math.
Please help in the comment section so we can all learn.
BTW if you are reading this and you are NOT joe…feel free to enlighten us. Its a free for all.
The Narrator in The Big Lebowski once said “Every once in a while, there is a man who is the right man for his time”. I say every once in a while there is a man who stops time, slaps it, subdues it, and floats in and out if it. A man who laughs at time to its face ’cause he knows he doesnt need it or care about it. Yes, dude, everyone once in a while…There is a man…
Yesterday I read an article about Atlanta Falcon’s quarterback Michael Vick that shocked and upset me. I had heard that there was some kind of “incident” on ESPN but never read more about it until yesterday. I read an editorial by James Pinkerton and a USA Today article. It was enlightening and sad. It seems that this superstar had his home raided by police and they found, along with all kinds of drug paraphernalia, over 60 dogs that were being used for fighting. Chains. Blood. Traps. Cages. Medieval horrific stuff. And as of yet he has not been disciplined, his fellow NFL stars support him, and he is still selling stuff for Nike. I felt the need to respond on my blog. I chose an unorthodox way for me…Pictures. I have always been fascinated with the idea that you can communicate so much by saying something so short. A haiku…A picture. No words…Just pictures.
So I figured I would respond by posting some “telling” pictures from the web in a dada type collage that would shock and show people how horrific and hypocritical these crimes against dogs are in our supposedly enlightened judeo-christian society. I contrasted these images with pictures of “glamorous” sports stars and football fans. No words just pictures. Interesting….But it did not communicate. A caring good soul from one of the schools I have visited saw this blog and felt it was inappropriate. They also didn’t think it was me that did it…Because my show and my message is not one of shock or sarcasm…at all. So not only did they not think it was me…They didnt think it was like me. After considering the email from a friend I decided that this blog was an inappropriate forum for that kind of expression. I am not one to “sell out” or censor myself …but I felt that sometimes when things are taken out of context or when no context is provided…There is no communication.
Communications 101 teaches us that Communication is sending a message->receiving feedback->Sending a message->etc. We alter our message when it does not communicate and when we are not understood. My goal is above all else communication. Communication that breeds Understanding. Discussion. Enlightenment. Respect. My show “dirt” does that…and I am proud of it. Yesterday this blog did not. I am a dog lover and animal rights advocate and my emotion got the worst of me. I apologize. Let this be a teachable moment and I do hope that you will click on the links below to read for yourself the stories that originally “inspired” me. Thanks.
As a teenage metal-head and someone who once sneaked into the back of a record store to meet Quiet Riot I was PSYCHED to hear Barack Obama discuss them today.
FROM THE AP NEWS COURTESY OF THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Tuesday that the Bush administration has done nothing to defuse a “quiet riot” among blacks that threatens to erupt just as riots in Los Angeles did 15 years ago…”Those ‘quiet riots’ that take place every day are born from the same place as the fires and the destruction and the police decked out in riot gear and the deaths,” Obama said. “They happen when a sense of disconnect settles in and hope dissipates. Despair takes hold and young people all across this country look at the way the world is and believe that things are never going to get any better.”
I think I might vote for him. Right now I think the only one with %100 honesty and the only one who I am totally in agreement with on everything is Dennis Kucinich. But Barak’s speech touched on some great stuff and if you don’t believe that what he says is true. Take a walk into your nearby “black” neighborhood and talk to some people…Or hey just watch the experts at Fox News. I know that all of the TV news people are far from being journalists or unbiased. But it seems Fox News’ offenses are the most egregious. What we need more of are journalists to investigate the journalists. There are some great blogs that do this. Media matters, Crooks & Liars, and todays best Talking Points Memo
Today they spotted a HUUUGE mistake on Fox. A mistake that reveals a teachable moment about the state of Race in America. Watch the clip below.
All for now. For those of you out there that have no idea what that weird straight jacket picture above is from…Well, allow me to educate you. Play the file below. Let me show you what people like myself and my pal Mykee were listening too when we were 13. The sad part is that Mykee STILL listens to this song…DAILY!
