All that debate on OA.com recently by Rick, House, and myself, followed by Jared Smith's Bleacher Report article, has made me post this article.
The gist of it is I just can't understand why people insist on bashing a Canadian icon. A legend.
The Hockey Farmer / Showing Their Scales
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
Hope no postseason for The Kid
People are going to bash me for this but I'll say it anyway.
I don't want to see the White Sox make the postseason for the simple fact I don't like Ken Griffey Jr. At the time when they picked him up, they didn't really need him, and honestly, Griffey is washed up and yet is liked by the media. I say it's better they miss the playoffs.
(Don't remind me of the Ray Bourque-to-Colorado fiasco; I could go on and on about that silly deal.)
Glad to see the White Sox getting swept in Minnesota this week as the Twins have now moved past Chicago in the AL Central race.
Wow - the Red Sox lost 19-8 at Fenway tonight to the Yankees, and Boston's defeat meant Tampa Bay won the AL East. Yes, 19-8. The same score as Game Three of the 2004 ALCS...
Today's Random Sports Links:
Jared Smith's take on the Twins and White Sox
Thigpen 1st HR & Richmond 1st victory as Jays win
Denver + Oakland = Love!
Today's Random Links:
Canada's fertility rate
Grandpa told he's pregnant! LOL
Stop people from spying on your company e-mail!
I don't want to see the White Sox make the postseason for the simple fact I don't like Ken Griffey Jr. At the time when they picked him up, they didn't really need him, and honestly, Griffey is washed up and yet is liked by the media. I say it's better they miss the playoffs.
(Don't remind me of the Ray Bourque-to-Colorado fiasco; I could go on and on about that silly deal.)
Glad to see the White Sox getting swept in Minnesota this week as the Twins have now moved past Chicago in the AL Central race.
Wow - the Red Sox lost 19-8 at Fenway tonight to the Yankees, and Boston's defeat meant Tampa Bay won the AL East. Yes, 19-8. The same score as Game Three of the 2004 ALCS...
Today's Random Sports Links:
Jared Smith's take on the Twins and White Sox
Thigpen 1st HR & Richmond 1st victory as Jays win
Denver + Oakland = Love!
Today's Random Links:
Canada's fertility rate
Grandpa told he's pregnant! LOL
Stop people from spying on your company e-mail!
Just for House: NYY praising
More love for the Bombers, just for resident Zonker (and leader) House; enjoy!
Thursday, September 25, 2008
What does failure mean?
I received correspondence from one of the kids' magazines I'd submitted to, notifying me the 700-word story "Saving Trout" will not be published. (Trout was right!!)
I wasn't at all disappointed about it; after all, if I'm getting my manuscript "Replacement Pitcher" pub
lished by a book publisher, why would I fret about a short story not being accepted by a children's magazine?
But what constitutes a failure? Surely the fact the article didn't get accepted doesn't mean that.
I mean, think about it. I've had students before who have gotten perfect scores on one of my weekly tests, and yet at the end of the program hadn't done well enough to receive a diploma. Some have scored very low marks on tests but have gotten that piece of paper.
So, one bad performance doesn't mean anything. One good one doesn't either.
Virgil Trucks threw two 1-0 no-hitters in the same season once, but went 5-19 that year.
Ron Tugnutt once made 70 saves in a single game at Boston Garden, but was 17 games under .500 that year. For his career, the Tugger was 53 games on the negative side.
Brian Boucher made modern-day history with five straight shutouts but faded later in the year.
The Blue Jays' Chris Michalak started the 2001 season 3-0 with two victories against the powerful Yankees, but didn't even finish the season with Toronto.
I wouldn't call Trucks or Tugnutt's careers failures by any stretch of the imagination, despite some struggles along the way. Others made not see it that way. Whatever.
I'd say one could have his or her moment of glory, but it doesn't necessarily mean it would last. On the other hand, one failure doesn't mean that person is doomed for life.
Either way, doesn't matter. I have "Replacement Pitcher"; that's all I care about right now. :-)
I wasn't at all disappointed about it; after all, if I'm getting my manuscript "Replacement Pitcher" pub
lished by a book publisher, why would I fret about a short story not being accepted by a children's magazine?But what constitutes a failure? Surely the fact the article didn't get accepted doesn't mean that.
I mean, think about it. I've had students before who have gotten perfect scores on one of my weekly tests, and yet at the end of the program hadn't done well enough to receive a diploma. Some have scored very low marks on tests but have gotten that piece of paper.
So, one bad performance doesn't mean anything. One good one doesn't either.
Virgil Trucks threw two 1-0 no-hitters in the same season once, but went 5-19 that year.
Ron Tugnutt once made 70 saves in a single game at Boston Garden, but was 17 games under .500 that year. For his career, the Tugger was 53 games on the negative side.
Brian Boucher made modern-day history with five straight shutouts but faded later in the year.
The Blue Jays' Chris Michalak started the 2001 season 3-0 with two victories against the powerful Yankees, but didn't even finish the season with Toronto.
I wouldn't call Trucks or Tugnutt's careers failures by any stretch of the imagination, despite some struggles along the way. Others made not see it that way. Whatever.
I'd say one could have his or her moment of glory, but it doesn't necessarily mean it would last. On the other hand, one failure doesn't mean that person is doomed for life.
Either way, doesn't matter. I have "Replacement Pitcher"; that's all I care about right now. :-)
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Vindication!
Trout will no doubt slam me for this, but I say it's vindication time.
Yesterday I came across
a link in which the second anonymous poster shared some crummy experience with some well-known bookstores (see Random Thoughts IV).
To me, that story was a classic, only because it shows that someone out there counted his or her chickens before they were hatched.
Reading that just made my day, as last year, I was criticized by many on Bleacher Report because I wrote negative things about people's favourite (and generally overrated/overpaid) athletes or teams. People called me names, wrote offensive comments, and generally called me a failure and a loser/wannabe, and whatever derogatory things you could imagine.
I could look up those articles again and post those dumb comments on here, but I couldn't be bothered to do that.
In the end, I'm not any of those things that I was labelled. I've now, with "Replacement Pitcher", had several books published. How can that be a failure?
You could call the second anon poster one, but certainly not me. :-) It cracks me up every single time I think about that person's plight. I certainly feel vindicated. I purposely chose a small publisher--because I want to get published. Others will feel those big, traditional ones are the true big leagues, in which case, I'll point to that aforementioned link again. HAHA!
I mean, I've come across many many negative people throughout my life, and all I can say is, whatever. I could care less what they think. You don't pay my bills, I don't care what you think.
So, this upcoming NHL season and the current NFL campaign, if I want to write any bashing articles on overpaid athletes, I really could care less about negative feedback from any reader.
The only regret I have? I was not able to find a photo of Dennis Eckersley and his finger-pointing/fist-pumping gestures, and had to settle for the Nelson "HAHA" picture above.
Vindication!
Yesterday I came across
a link in which the second anonymous poster shared some crummy experience with some well-known bookstores (see Random Thoughts IV).To me, that story was a classic, only because it shows that someone out there counted his or her chickens before they were hatched.
Reading that just made my day, as last year, I was criticized by many on Bleacher Report because I wrote negative things about people's favourite (and generally overrated/overpaid) athletes or teams. People called me names, wrote offensive comments, and generally called me a failure and a loser/wannabe, and whatever derogatory things you could imagine.
I could look up those articles again and post those dumb comments on here, but I couldn't be bothered to do that.
In the end, I'm not any of those things that I was labelled. I've now, with "Replacement Pitcher", had several books published. How can that be a failure?
You could call the second anon poster one, but certainly not me. :-) It cracks me up every single time I think about that person's plight. I certainly feel vindicated. I purposely chose a small publisher--because I want to get published. Others will feel those big, traditional ones are the true big leagues, in which case, I'll point to that aforementioned link again. HAHA!
I mean, I've come across many many negative people throughout my life, and all I can say is, whatever. I could care less what they think. You don't pay my bills, I don't care what you think.
So, this upcoming NHL season and the current NFL campaign, if I want to write any bashing articles on overpaid athletes, I really could care less about negative feedback from any reader.
The only regret I have? I was not able to find a photo of Dennis Eckersley and his finger-pointing/fist-pumping gestures, and had to settle for the Nelson "HAHA" picture above.
Vindication!
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Random (Baseball & Book) Thoughts IV
A bad night in baseball...
-Cliff Lee lost, dropping his record to 22-3 as the Indians fell to Boston 5-4, clinching the Red Sox's second straight postseason berth. (Had Lee not lost another ballgame, he would have surpassed Greg Maddux's record for highest winning percentage. Maddux was 19-2 in 1995--for a .905 WPct.)
-The Yankees, who were eliminated thanks to the Red Sox's win, gave Mike Mussina his 19th win of the season. The Moose still has a shot at No. 20... this weekend in Boston.
-The Dodgers won again, 10-1 against San Diego, while Arizona lost to the Cardinals (haha - odd saying that if you're an NFL fan). L.A. is almost guaranteed to win the NL West.
Anyway, just googling tonight for bookstore info, and, HAHA! it looks like I'm not that bad when it comes to my books. Even though I'm not with a big, traditional book publisher, I'm not in that bad of a situation. Read the first link below, in the random links section. HAHA! :-) And actually, a bigger HAHA in the second link too, with one of the posters in the comments section. :-) Some people actually set themselves up for big disappointments!
(And to be honest, and I've said this from day one, when it comes to publishing books, I'm like a home run hitter like Bonds or Ramirez. I want to see--read: admire--my name in print. That's more important than anything else. Just like how those sluggers want to just stand at home plate and admire their moon shots with a big smile on their faces and not run out of the box. That's me when it comes to seeing my name.)
Today's Random Links
It doesn't always pay to publish with traditional companies! :-)
Where's my book? :-)
Today was certainly a good day too. I did get that Costco membership card, bring my class to the warehouse store, and got no hassles (unlike at Superstore two months ago, an experience which I'd posted about before but now too lazy to look it up and link it here). Go Costco!!
-Cliff Lee lost, dropping his record to 22-3 as the Indians fell to Boston 5-4, clinching the Red Sox's second straight postseason berth. (Had Lee not lost another ballgame, he would have surpassed Greg Maddux's record for highest winning percentage. Maddux was 19-2 in 1995--for a .905 WPct.)
-The Yankees, who were eliminated thanks to the Red Sox's win, gave Mike Mussina his 19th win of the season. The Moose still has a shot at No. 20... this weekend in Boston.
-The Dodgers won again, 10-1 against San Diego, while Arizona lost to the Cardinals (haha - odd saying that if you're an NFL fan). L.A. is almost guaranteed to win the NL West.
Anyway, just googling tonight for bookstore info, and, HAHA! it looks like I'm not that bad when it comes to my books. Even though I'm not with a big, traditional book publisher, I'm not in that bad of a situation. Read the first link below, in the random links section. HAHA! :-) And actually, a bigger HAHA in the second link too, with one of the posters in the comments section. :-) Some people actually set themselves up for big disappointments!
(And to be honest, and I've said this from day one, when it comes to publishing books, I'm like a home run hitter like Bonds or Ramirez. I want to see--read: admire--my name in print. That's more important than anything else. Just like how those sluggers want to just stand at home plate and admire their moon shots with a big smile on their faces and not run out of the box. That's me when it comes to seeing my name.)
Today's Random Links
It doesn't always pay to publish with traditional companies! :-)
Where's my book? :-)
Today was certainly a good day too. I did get that Costco membership card, bring my class to the warehouse store, and got no hassles (unlike at Superstore two months ago, an experience which I'd posted about before but now too lazy to look it up and link it here). Go Costco!!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Update: "Replacement Pitcher" accepted for publication!
Hooray! "The Replacement Pitcher" has been accepted by Cacoethes Publishing House for publication, scheduled to be released June 2009.
That's a long ways away, but nonetheless, a day of celebration to be sure! Not as big as Sunday night's celebration for the closing of Yankee Stadium, but a great personal achievement for yours truly.
Celebrate!
Today's Random Link:
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Thoughts on Al Leiter?
Well, all this talk of Mike Mussina and 1993, and seeing "Deja Blue" on ESPN Classic (Canada) this weekend (the network re-aired the '93 Fall Classic again), I can't help but talk about Al Leiter again.
Leiter won Game One in relief, a game in which Curt Schilling couldn't hold on to three leads the Phillies had given him.
But I'm curious as to how House, Rick, Cliff, and the Trouts think about Leiter.
After all, th
e Blue Jays carried him for years while he was battling his blister problems. The lefty earned two World Series rings. And when he became a free agent at the conclusion of the 1995 season, Leiter bolted for the Florida Marlins.
e Blue Jays carried him for years while he was battling his blister problems. The lefty earned two World Series rings. And when he became a free agent at the conclusion of the 1995 season, Leiter bolted for the Florida Marlins.Yes, so did Devon White.
Yes, losing Robbie Alomar to division rival Baltimore was bad, too.
Leiter's case, however, was different.
There was no hard feelings in White's signing with Florida (he wanted to be closer to his father, who lived in Jamaica, and Miami would be a shorter trip), while Alomar left the Blue Jays on bad terms and was unhappy during the latter half of the '95 season.
With the relatively young Leiter (who was finally coming off a good season), the Jays were looking to rebuild, and looked at the lefty as the key in their rotation. They felt Leiter owed them, for not giving up on him throughout his injuries.
Leiter, however, had other ideas, and left.
There was certainly a lot of bitterness from the Blue Jays. Paul Beeston, President and CEO of the Jays, wanted Leiter to lose every game in a Marlins uniform.
Leiter did win another World Series ring with the '97 Marlins, and pitched in the postseason for the Mets in 1999 and 2000.
Leiter, however, would never win a postseason start in his career, and wouldn't win a game in playoff action again (aside from his aforementioned '93 relief win) until his final appearance, in the 2005 ALDS vs. the Angels while a member of the New York Yankees.
So, House, Rick, Cliff, and the others: how does Al Leiter rank in your books? Traitor? Winner? Legend? Please comment.
Stop the Moose
The Blue Jays were mathematically eliminated from postseason contention thanks to Sunday's 3-0 loss to Boston. (How about that Scott Richmond, now 0-3 in four starts, with the Jays losing all of them?)
Now, the attention turns to stopping Mike Mussina from getting 20 wins. The Moose has 18 so far, and will look for No. 19 on Tuesday at Rogers Centre.
If you remember what happened in the 1993 All-Star Game in Baltimore and how Cito Gaston was booed, you'd probably not want to see Mussina get his first ever 20-win campaign.
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