I feel pretty lonely tonight. If you look to the right on the blog, I attached the little blog map from feedmap.net. Cute idea. But apparently I'm the ONLY blogger here?
Actually, I know that there's another one around that I read regularly called Duvafiles. It's kind of the flip side to our paper, the Daily Times. But I suppose he doesn't want to map his out. I just figured it shows the bonafides, yes I do live on the Eastern Shore. (The Crossroads of Delmarva.)
Did start looking into a couple changes for the site, hopefully the Feedmap will carry over when I do make them.
I have a quick take on something I read on the Daily Times website. Actually it goes with a companion article as well. I have no problems with people coming to this country to work if it's done in a legal fashion.
Apparently, immigrants are victims of crime out of proportion to their numbers. And I can vouch for them carrying a lot of cash - many's the time I'm behind them in line at Wal-Mart and they'll roll out a large wad of bills to pay. And they shop in groups, so there's generally a large order in front of me.
Guess the problem is that the police will neither crack down on the criminals who steal from these folks or the fact that the victims may also be here illegally. We need a little of both. If someone wants to come here and work, let them do it the right way. Might make employment a little tight around here for a short time, but a free market will make the necessary corrections.
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Saturday, July 30, 2005
Caveat emptor
Being a person who owned a home and owns a few credit cards, I get a bunch of junk mail on a weekly basis. Most of it gets shredded. But I kept a piece of one out to serve as a reminder for this post. Warning: my memory will have to serve on some of the details. That's not always a reliable source.
A few days ago, I got a credit card solicitation from an outfit called "Upfront Rewards." In this case, the reward was a Dell desktop computer. Not top of the line, but upgrades were available for an additional price. When I get all these offers, I like to look at the fine print. Here's how this particular offer works.
Let's say you want this computer as a reward. What you have to do is transfer a balance of at least $3,500 to their credit card account. That seems like a reasonable request. But here's where it gets interesting. In the next year, you cannot let the balance on your account fall below a certain threshold (which I seem to recall was $2,500.) Otherwise, they will place a $600 charge on your account!
So you get the computer, but this bank will either stick it to you on interest or stick you with a fee - either of which is sufficient to pay for the "free" computer. I think through Dell a comparable computer would run you about $500. Obviously this bank gets a volume discount, so their price is likely closer to $350. Seem to recall the lowest interest rate (it was variable based on creditworthiness) was 13.9%. So 13.9% of $2,500 = $347.50.
Ain't that just a ripoff? Ok, it's an innovative way to make a profit. This bank has got to be laughing all the way to the...oh, you know.
Needless to say, my 4 month old Dell (actually similar to the one they're "giving away") isn't going to be replaced. I actually got mad reading that, thus the germ of a blog post was born and I put it in my back pocket for future use (I'm sure there's still people getting that mailing.)
I find junk mail rather funny. Most of them still think I own my own home, but that was the last state. I get credit card solicitations and I laugh at either a) the annual fee they want me to pay or b) the interest rate they want to charge me. Or both.
Guess everyone wants to make money. I know I do, although I'd be happy with enough to retire on before I become a drooling idiot. (I'm sure some readers swear I'm already there.) But the key to me has always been to try and live within your means.
Wish the feds would figure that out! Then I could have an easier time keeping MY money.
Late edits and updates: In last Sunday's post, "Vive le Lance", I talked about the smoking hulk the baseball card industry has become. Well, last night at the Toledo-Norfolk game, my seat was front row, just past the Toledo dugout. When I went to my seat, there were no fewer than four men waiting with multiple cards to sign. At least they don't send the kids out anymore. As soon as they players retreated to their dugouts, *poof* they were gone. But I got some good pics, and there were a few kids, like this:
The signer is Mud Hen pitcher Rob Henkel. Somehow I don't think the kids will sell their gloves on E-Bay.
In "Growing into a RINO" from July 21, I noted that I thought the abortive London bombings, part 2, were possibly the work of copycats. Hey, how was I to know that al-Qaeda can mess up too? (Of course, shoe bomber Richard Reid was a Brit too.) But I am glad that it appears they are catching the scum that made this attempt at mayhem. Ship them to Club Gitmo!
A few days ago, I got a credit card solicitation from an outfit called "Upfront Rewards." In this case, the reward was a Dell desktop computer. Not top of the line, but upgrades were available for an additional price. When I get all these offers, I like to look at the fine print. Here's how this particular offer works.
Let's say you want this computer as a reward. What you have to do is transfer a balance of at least $3,500 to their credit card account. That seems like a reasonable request. But here's where it gets interesting. In the next year, you cannot let the balance on your account fall below a certain threshold (which I seem to recall was $2,500.) Otherwise, they will place a $600 charge on your account!
So you get the computer, but this bank will either stick it to you on interest or stick you with a fee - either of which is sufficient to pay for the "free" computer. I think through Dell a comparable computer would run you about $500. Obviously this bank gets a volume discount, so their price is likely closer to $350. Seem to recall the lowest interest rate (it was variable based on creditworthiness) was 13.9%. So 13.9% of $2,500 = $347.50.
Ain't that just a ripoff? Ok, it's an innovative way to make a profit. This bank has got to be laughing all the way to the...oh, you know.
Needless to say, my 4 month old Dell (actually similar to the one they're "giving away") isn't going to be replaced. I actually got mad reading that, thus the germ of a blog post was born and I put it in my back pocket for future use (I'm sure there's still people getting that mailing.)
I find junk mail rather funny. Most of them still think I own my own home, but that was the last state. I get credit card solicitations and I laugh at either a) the annual fee they want me to pay or b) the interest rate they want to charge me. Or both.
Guess everyone wants to make money. I know I do, although I'd be happy with enough to retire on before I become a drooling idiot. (I'm sure some readers swear I'm already there.) But the key to me has always been to try and live within your means.
Wish the feds would figure that out! Then I could have an easier time keeping MY money.
Late edits and updates: In last Sunday's post, "Vive le Lance", I talked about the smoking hulk the baseball card industry has become. Well, last night at the Toledo-Norfolk game, my seat was front row, just past the Toledo dugout. When I went to my seat, there were no fewer than four men waiting with multiple cards to sign. At least they don't send the kids out anymore. As soon as they players retreated to their dugouts, *poof* they were gone. But I got some good pics, and there were a few kids, like this:
The signer is Mud Hen pitcher Rob Henkel. Somehow I don't think the kids will sell their gloves on E-Bay.
In "Growing into a RINO" from July 21, I noted that I thought the abortive London bombings, part 2, were possibly the work of copycats. Hey, how was I to know that al-Qaeda can mess up too? (Of course, shoe bomber Richard Reid was a Brit too.) But I am glad that it appears they are catching the scum that made this attempt at mayhem. Ship them to Club Gitmo!
Friday, July 29, 2005
Fallout
Doing some cleanup this morning...finish the week strong. Took the day off work today and I'm going down to Norfolk tonight to see my Mud Hens there (hope the weather holds!)
First of all, I've gotten good comments on my last post so far (from those who've said stuff.) Made them think, that's the idea. This one may not have quite the same effect, but I'm likely taking the weekend off. Supposed to be a rainy weekend here and I do have to catch up on some reading (not to mention mundane stuff like cleaning my place.)
One thing I follow fairly closely is the union movement. My dad was a Teamster for almost 40 years and his comment (or parting shot, if you will) was that "unions are for the lazy man." To an extent it's true. I negotiate my own wage or at least accept a job where I think the pay and benefits are fair, rather than let someone else dictate my wage.
So the split of the AFL-CIO piqued my interest. I'm a bit confused though. On the Change to Win Coalition website they list 7 member unions, but so far I've only seen confirmation of a couple (Teamsters and SEIU) dropping out of the AFL-CIO. All in good time, I guess. I don't see the United Food and Commercial Workers in there yet, but they've threatened to join. They're my favorites, since I saw their propaganda for several years when my first ex worked at a grocery store.
A few days ago I commented on a fundraiser by Karl Rove for Lt. Gov. Michael Steele's possible Senate campaign. (He needs a campaign website!) Here's a story from the Baltimore Sun. I did see that the number of protestors changed from 40 to 30. Maybe the National Park Service did the count.
I did notice the Sun reporter spent a few words describing Rove's car, "a blue-gray Jaguar," and noting Steele arrived in a state vehicle. A state vehicle? Fodder for later controversy? For Rove's car - code message for "someone please run Rove off the road, he's killing us"? Naaaah. Wouldn't do them much good anyway, I'm sure the number of blue-gray Jaguars per capita is pretty high in D.C.
Finally, nice to see some ink on the Captain's Cove project on Virginia's Eastern Shore, a little history included. Actually, I do have a vested interest in that one, as my employer worked on the clubhouse project, including a few details by yours truly. It should be a cool thing for the area once they finish.
Speaking of Virginia, a drive south awaits, so enough for now.
First of all, I've gotten good comments on my last post so far (from those who've said stuff.) Made them think, that's the idea. This one may not have quite the same effect, but I'm likely taking the weekend off. Supposed to be a rainy weekend here and I do have to catch up on some reading (not to mention mundane stuff like cleaning my place.)
One thing I follow fairly closely is the union movement. My dad was a Teamster for almost 40 years and his comment (or parting shot, if you will) was that "unions are for the lazy man." To an extent it's true. I negotiate my own wage or at least accept a job where I think the pay and benefits are fair, rather than let someone else dictate my wage.
So the split of the AFL-CIO piqued my interest. I'm a bit confused though. On the Change to Win Coalition website they list 7 member unions, but so far I've only seen confirmation of a couple (Teamsters and SEIU) dropping out of the AFL-CIO. All in good time, I guess. I don't see the United Food and Commercial Workers in there yet, but they've threatened to join. They're my favorites, since I saw their propaganda for several years when my first ex worked at a grocery store.
A few days ago I commented on a fundraiser by Karl Rove for Lt. Gov. Michael Steele's possible Senate campaign. (He needs a campaign website!) Here's a story from the Baltimore Sun. I did see that the number of protestors changed from 40 to 30. Maybe the National Park Service did the count.
I did notice the Sun reporter spent a few words describing Rove's car, "a blue-gray Jaguar," and noting Steele arrived in a state vehicle. A state vehicle? Fodder for later controversy? For Rove's car - code message for "someone please run Rove off the road, he's killing us"? Naaaah. Wouldn't do them much good anyway, I'm sure the number of blue-gray Jaguars per capita is pretty high in D.C.
Finally, nice to see some ink on the Captain's Cove project on Virginia's Eastern Shore, a little history included. Actually, I do have a vested interest in that one, as my employer worked on the clubhouse project, including a few details by yours truly. It should be a cool thing for the area once they finish.
Speaking of Virginia, a drive south awaits, so enough for now.
Thursday, July 28, 2005
For a few dollars more...
After a lot of research and sitting at my computer for hours, this is the post I promised. Actually, I enjoyed looking into this and I think my point will be proven correct.
But first, I have quite a few people to thank. Part of my research was contacting over 40 blogs affiliated with mine via GOPBloggers.org. I ended up getting responses from almost half, and it provided me a good sample to work from as well as some quotable tidbits.
For those of you who didn’t get contacted by me and are reading this, I looked into blog advertising, in particular the "Ads by Goooogle" that reside on a lot of blogsites. What I did was track down affiliated bloggers that use this advertising tool and ask them three simple questions, as follows:
1. On a monthly basis, do you earn any revenue form Google ads?
2. How long have you carried these ads?
3. Are you aware that some of these advertisements may be for products you may not endorse or agree with?
I learned a lot about this portion of the blogging business from the replies I received. I’ll admit, I was pretty ignorant about how the blogging business worked (as far as a business. I know how to write.) I had idle thoughts that someday this could be a minor income producer but making money sounds like tough sledding. Luckily, it’s also fun for me because I just plain like getting my point of view out and the papers here won’t print my letters to the editor daily!
So some of the reason for questions #1 and #2 was curiosity, but also I needed some kind of baseline to start from and see if my assumptions were correct. I suspected people weren’t making a ton off their blog ads, but I was surprised it was so little.
Question #3 occurred to me as I was going through a lot of the blogs and seeing a plethora of anti-Bush items for sale. It occurred to me that, like happens when you use Google the search engine, the keywords in the blog trigger what items are advertised. This was borne out in a response sent to me by Barry at Palmetto Pundit:
"A good example (of triggering keywords) is that around the middle of June I had one post that dealt with a faulty washing machine. I was trying to write something funny...They posted washing machine service and parts ads for about two weeks afterward. It was completely absurd. I had been posting about politics for 3 months prior and one post about washing machines caused them to think I had a washing machine blog. Go figure!"
So what did I find out? That if we took all the money that was being made from Google ads in a month from my subjects, maybe after a year we can buy one share of Google. Or, in the words of J.E. Park at the JEP Report, "I would expect that crack addiction would probably be more profitable." Most of my subjects haven’t made the threshold for getting a check from Google, even if they’ve carried the ads for awhile (the average time was 6-12 months as participants.)
The other question, number 3, was more varied in its response. Some people took the view that having liberal ads wasn’t such a bad thing. As Timmer White of Righting America wrote: "...I try to maintain a venue that attracts political discourse from all sides (so) I don’t mind that some ads are not in keeping with my own conservatism...(I)t fits my blogging philosophy to include them, as I have also included links to some other blogs that I definitely do not agree with."
On the other hand, Dawn at WriteWingBlog commented, "I am aware that some of the ads (in her instance, pro-abortion) I may not endorse or agree with...I always immediately go into my account and put those ads I dislike into the filter."
As I said, I had a lot of responses, and in truth, it was pretty much as I figured. But the reason I titled this post, "For A Few Dollars More..." was because the pittance we receive is nothing compared to what Google makes. Anyone familiar with their $290 a share (after being under $100 in its IPO) stock price knows this. (On $3.40 earnings per share, that’s one hell of a P/E ratio! Waiting for that bubble to burst.) And bless their heart, they’re exploiting capitalism in all its glory, by having a product that they can sell.
So what do Google employees do with their newly created wealth? This is where the other part of my research comes in. Opensecrets.org (aka The Center for Responsive Politics) is one wonderful website. I’ll try not to make your eyes glaze over with numbers, but here goes:
There are 207 records of people listing their employer as "Google". Of these 207, a total of $296,694 was given. Here are some of the top recipients:
1. DNC Services $106,625
2. Sen. John Kerry (D- MA) $41,000
2. DCCC (House Democrats) $41,000
4. Various state/local Democrat parties $23,750
5. Various state/local Democrat candidates $14,150
6. Moveon.org $13,665
7. Various PAC’s $8,929
8. Americans Coming Together (PAC) $8,050
9. Emily’s List (PAC) $6,525
10. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D - CA 14) $6,000
11. Act Blue (PAC) $5,000
12. Citizen Soldier Fund (PAC) $5,000
13. Howard Dean $4,200
14. Rep. Edward J. Markey (D - MA 7) $4,000
15. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D- WA) $3,100
Green Party and independents got $450 as well.
Let me point out there were three brave souls at Google who donated to President Bush, for a total of $3,250, plus one donation (by a member of this trio) for $2,000 to Rep. Dennis Hastert. But a staggering 98.2% of donations went to Democrats - that’s approaching the AFSCME union’s partisan territory.
While I am aware that Google plays host to some of these fine blogsites and has services that they use (for example, many of my blogger subjects have Gmail addresses), I wonder if we as conservatives really want to play in what is likely unfriendly territory. I even looked up Yahoo! as a donator, and their small corporate donations were strictly divided 50/50 between Republicans and Democrats. Another heavy advertiser, Amazon.com, had no recorded corporate donations.
Personally, I rarely use Google as a search engine, I prefer Yahoo’s partially because I already have a Yahoo Messenger account I use at times and their toolbar is on my screen. But in the back of my mind I was aware that their founder was quite the donor to liberal causes (borne out by the research.) It’s the same reason I would never insure myself through Progressive Insurance, since Peter Lewis is a huge liberal 527 donor.
Obviously, sometimes one has to make a deal with the devil, and in this case some of my fellow bloggers do. While Google allows you to filter out ads you don’t like, you can’t filter where their individual employees send their money; nor should we, it’s still a free country despite their best efforts.
As conservatives and bloggers who are at the forefront of this "new media" - or ones who just want to make their opinion heard, like me - isn’t it time we put our collective heads together and figure out a way to both make our blogs more profitable and support those who support our beliefs? In the near future, I’ll be looking for a website host (yes, I’m making the leap off Blogspot sometime soon), and I can guarantee you that despite their services, it won’t be hosted by Google. Not to be a shill for the company, but Amazon.com’s Associate program has some interest to me as a revenue supplier because I can select the items I advertise. It may be a further outlet for those so inclined to have money makers for their blog. As noted by Matt Lewis (Matt Lewis and the News) in his response, "A lot of people don’t like ads. Ironically, I put them up because it made my site (which is new) look more full and professional."
I know having a professional feel is one of my goals in blogging. Part of achieving that aim is maintaining a blog that is relatively serious and well-researched (but with its share of fun.)
As my tagline says, "I’m just a guy trying to push this country in the ‘right’ direction." To me, using Ads by Google pulls us the wrong way.
Postscript: there were some bloggers out there who also allowed me to quote them but they just didn’t happen to fit into today's post. So here’s the hat tips to Darnell at Hidden Nook, Adam at Government Cheese, Brian at Radio Equalizer, J. at Americans for Freedom, Aaron at Pardon My English, and the person at Slant Point whose name I didn’t get. Fine folks all!
But first, I have quite a few people to thank. Part of my research was contacting over 40 blogs affiliated with mine via GOPBloggers.org. I ended up getting responses from almost half, and it provided me a good sample to work from as well as some quotable tidbits.
For those of you who didn’t get contacted by me and are reading this, I looked into blog advertising, in particular the "Ads by Goooogle" that reside on a lot of blogsites. What I did was track down affiliated bloggers that use this advertising tool and ask them three simple questions, as follows:
1. On a monthly basis, do you earn any revenue form Google ads?
2. How long have you carried these ads?
3. Are you aware that some of these advertisements may be for products you may not endorse or agree with?
I learned a lot about this portion of the blogging business from the replies I received. I’ll admit, I was pretty ignorant about how the blogging business worked (as far as a business. I know how to write.) I had idle thoughts that someday this could be a minor income producer but making money sounds like tough sledding. Luckily, it’s also fun for me because I just plain like getting my point of view out and the papers here won’t print my letters to the editor daily!
So some of the reason for questions #1 and #2 was curiosity, but also I needed some kind of baseline to start from and see if my assumptions were correct. I suspected people weren’t making a ton off their blog ads, but I was surprised it was so little.
Question #3 occurred to me as I was going through a lot of the blogs and seeing a plethora of anti-Bush items for sale. It occurred to me that, like happens when you use Google the search engine, the keywords in the blog trigger what items are advertised. This was borne out in a response sent to me by Barry at Palmetto Pundit:
"A good example (of triggering keywords) is that around the middle of June I had one post that dealt with a faulty washing machine. I was trying to write something funny...They posted washing machine service and parts ads for about two weeks afterward. It was completely absurd. I had been posting about politics for 3 months prior and one post about washing machines caused them to think I had a washing machine blog. Go figure!"
So what did I find out? That if we took all the money that was being made from Google ads in a month from my subjects, maybe after a year we can buy one share of Google. Or, in the words of J.E. Park at the JEP Report, "I would expect that crack addiction would probably be more profitable." Most of my subjects haven’t made the threshold for getting a check from Google, even if they’ve carried the ads for awhile (the average time was 6-12 months as participants.)
The other question, number 3, was more varied in its response. Some people took the view that having liberal ads wasn’t such a bad thing. As Timmer White of Righting America wrote: "...I try to maintain a venue that attracts political discourse from all sides (so) I don’t mind that some ads are not in keeping with my own conservatism...(I)t fits my blogging philosophy to include them, as I have also included links to some other blogs that I definitely do not agree with."
On the other hand, Dawn at WriteWingBlog commented, "I am aware that some of the ads (in her instance, pro-abortion) I may not endorse or agree with...I always immediately go into my account and put those ads I dislike into the filter."
As I said, I had a lot of responses, and in truth, it was pretty much as I figured. But the reason I titled this post, "For A Few Dollars More..." was because the pittance we receive is nothing compared to what Google makes. Anyone familiar with their $290 a share (after being under $100 in its IPO) stock price knows this. (On $3.40 earnings per share, that’s one hell of a P/E ratio! Waiting for that bubble to burst.) And bless their heart, they’re exploiting capitalism in all its glory, by having a product that they can sell.
So what do Google employees do with their newly created wealth? This is where the other part of my research comes in. Opensecrets.org (aka The Center for Responsive Politics) is one wonderful website. I’ll try not to make your eyes glaze over with numbers, but here goes:
There are 207 records of people listing their employer as "Google". Of these 207, a total of $296,694 was given. Here are some of the top recipients:
1. DNC Services $106,625
2. Sen. John Kerry (D- MA) $41,000
2. DCCC (House Democrats) $41,000
4. Various state/local Democrat parties $23,750
5. Various state/local Democrat candidates $14,150
6. Moveon.org $13,665
7. Various PAC’s $8,929
8. Americans Coming Together (PAC) $8,050
9. Emily’s List (PAC) $6,525
10. Rep. Anna Eshoo (D - CA 14) $6,000
11. Act Blue (PAC) $5,000
12. Citizen Soldier Fund (PAC) $5,000
13. Howard Dean $4,200
14. Rep. Edward J. Markey (D - MA 7) $4,000
15. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D- WA) $3,100
Green Party and independents got $450 as well.
Let me point out there were three brave souls at Google who donated to President Bush, for a total of $3,250, plus one donation (by a member of this trio) for $2,000 to Rep. Dennis Hastert. But a staggering 98.2% of donations went to Democrats - that’s approaching the AFSCME union’s partisan territory.
While I am aware that Google plays host to some of these fine blogsites and has services that they use (for example, many of my blogger subjects have Gmail addresses), I wonder if we as conservatives really want to play in what is likely unfriendly territory. I even looked up Yahoo! as a donator, and their small corporate donations were strictly divided 50/50 between Republicans and Democrats. Another heavy advertiser, Amazon.com, had no recorded corporate donations.
Personally, I rarely use Google as a search engine, I prefer Yahoo’s partially because I already have a Yahoo Messenger account I use at times and their toolbar is on my screen. But in the back of my mind I was aware that their founder was quite the donor to liberal causes (borne out by the research.) It’s the same reason I would never insure myself through Progressive Insurance, since Peter Lewis is a huge liberal 527 donor.
Obviously, sometimes one has to make a deal with the devil, and in this case some of my fellow bloggers do. While Google allows you to filter out ads you don’t like, you can’t filter where their individual employees send their money; nor should we, it’s still a free country despite their best efforts.
As conservatives and bloggers who are at the forefront of this "new media" - or ones who just want to make their opinion heard, like me - isn’t it time we put our collective heads together and figure out a way to both make our blogs more profitable and support those who support our beliefs? In the near future, I’ll be looking for a website host (yes, I’m making the leap off Blogspot sometime soon), and I can guarantee you that despite their services, it won’t be hosted by Google. Not to be a shill for the company, but Amazon.com’s Associate program has some interest to me as a revenue supplier because I can select the items I advertise. It may be a further outlet for those so inclined to have money makers for their blog. As noted by Matt Lewis (Matt Lewis and the News) in his response, "A lot of people don’t like ads. Ironically, I put them up because it made my site (which is new) look more full and professional."
I know having a professional feel is one of my goals in blogging. Part of achieving that aim is maintaining a blog that is relatively serious and well-researched (but with its share of fun.)
As my tagline says, "I’m just a guy trying to push this country in the ‘right’ direction." To me, using Ads by Google pulls us the wrong way.
Postscript: there were some bloggers out there who also allowed me to quote them but they just didn’t happen to fit into today's post. So here’s the hat tips to Darnell at Hidden Nook, Adam at Government Cheese, Brian at Radio Equalizer, J. at Americans for Freedom, Aaron at Pardon My English, and the person at Slant Point whose name I didn’t get. Fine folks all!
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Vive le Lance
Lance Armstrong makes it seven straight. Great job! And the best part is that now the Tour de France can go back to its rightful place in obscurity.
I won't argue that Lance Armstrong isn't a superb athlete and a role model as a cancer survivor. And he has decided to retire on top, which should be an example for pro athletes (are you listening, Jerry Rice?)
But really, it's a bike race. Talk about not spectator-friendly. You see them go by and that's it for the most part. At least with NASCAR, yeah, they go fast, but they go by 100 to 200 times.
Doing some reading while I was looking for a link to Lance, and found this article on the woeful state of the baseball card industry. It's not surprising to me, that "industry" saw its day 15 years ago. I know I sold my cards about 2 or 3 years too late and the value tanked in the interim. Anymore you can find all the baseball stats you'd ever want on the Internet.
But I recall the first packs of baseball cards I ever bought, back in 1973 (think the top cards in the packs were Phillies pitcher Dick Selma and White Sox pitcher Jim Geddes.) I want to say they were 15 cents for 12, not $3 for 6 like they are now. That's what killed the industry.
I used to buy the sets in the late 1980's and take those cards of players who were in the IL to Mud Hen games to get the cards signed. But I got tired of kids getting 2 and 3 cards of each player signed so they could give them to dad for him to sell. Now I just go to the Shorebirds games with my digital camera and take my own action shots.
And, as for my topic of last night, I continue to get responses and I appreciate the insight. The information is really helpful and I think it's going to prove my point. Think I'll sit down Thursday night and write the blog post in question.
Also thinking about some changes to the blog, but that's more medium-term. Things will remain as they are at least until my vacation in August.
I won't argue that Lance Armstrong isn't a superb athlete and a role model as a cancer survivor. And he has decided to retire on top, which should be an example for pro athletes (are you listening, Jerry Rice?)
But really, it's a bike race. Talk about not spectator-friendly. You see them go by and that's it for the most part. At least with NASCAR, yeah, they go fast, but they go by 100 to 200 times.
Doing some reading while I was looking for a link to Lance, and found this article on the woeful state of the baseball card industry. It's not surprising to me, that "industry" saw its day 15 years ago. I know I sold my cards about 2 or 3 years too late and the value tanked in the interim. Anymore you can find all the baseball stats you'd ever want on the Internet.
But I recall the first packs of baseball cards I ever bought, back in 1973 (think the top cards in the packs were Phillies pitcher Dick Selma and White Sox pitcher Jim Geddes.) I want to say they were 15 cents for 12, not $3 for 6 like they are now. That's what killed the industry.
I used to buy the sets in the late 1980's and take those cards of players who were in the IL to Mud Hen games to get the cards signed. But I got tired of kids getting 2 and 3 cards of each player signed so they could give them to dad for him to sell. Now I just go to the Shorebirds games with my digital camera and take my own action shots.
And, as for my topic of last night, I continue to get responses and I appreciate the insight. The information is really helpful and I think it's going to prove my point. Think I'll sit down Thursday night and write the blog post in question.
Also thinking about some changes to the blog, but that's more medium-term. Things will remain as they are at least until my vacation in August.
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Researchees please note!
If I were you I'd be checking out my site too.
A couple things I didn't post in my short note. One is that I apologize for making it sound like a form letter - but I wrote to 46 bloggers and I'm not writing each note individually. I do like sleeping occasionally! Hopefully most will be cooperative in answering my questions. Unless you specifically give me permission, you're all anonymous.
Secondly, I did actually read some of the blogs as I was there but couldn't peruse them all. One thing I'll have to do on my site is sign up for Blogroll. I've been doing links the old-fashioned way, but with hundreds of good blogs out there, we have one heckuva conservative community going!
So if you are new and checking me out because you heard from me, welcome aboard!
I do have an item of import tonight. As always on Saturdays, I got my e-mail update from the Maryland GOP. Now, since I've only been here a short time, I'm not familiar with the Glendening administration, but the claim in this e-mail was that Governor Ehrlich turned a $4 billion shortfall when he took office to a $1 billion surplus. Me, I think a lot of it had to do with a great economy in general. Hard to push through a lot of spending cuts with Dems controlling the General Assembly. But we'll take the surplus. In fact - $1 billion divided by 5 million is $200 a person. I've been here 9 months, I'll just take $150.
This also from the GOP e-mail:
The Maryland Business Climate Survey, prepared quarterly by the University’s Jacob France Institute, reported that 65 percent of the 250 Maryland businesses surveyed view the State as business-friendly, compared to 53 percent of businesses surveyed in the first quarter of 2005. “The Ehrlich Administration has made it a top priority to improve Maryland’s business climate. This survey is further validation that we are accomplishing our mission of listening to businesses and giving them the tools and resources they need to grow and succeed,” said Secretary Aris Melissaratos. “Maryland has tremendous strengths – our world-class workforce, our diverse knowledge economy and our low unemployment – and we will continue to build on those and other strengths to make Maryland the most business friendly state to locate a business.” In spite of anti-business, anti-job creation measures proposed by liberal Democrats (read: the Fair Share Health Care Act), the Ehrlich/Steele Administration continues to give the business community confidence in the state.
In all seriousness, the reason I'm in Maryland is because it's ran a whole lot better than Ohio is right now (at least the Eastern Shore is.) Imagine what it would be like if the GOP controlled the General Assembly too. The Eastern Shore would be Florida north.
Oh, as far as the "enemy" (that being the Maryland Democrats,) they're just so happy that they've raised over $700,000 in the first six months of 2005. They better lock and load up, because the national GOP's going to be gunning for the Sarbanes seat. I'm ready to kick ass and take names.
A couple things I didn't post in my short note. One is that I apologize for making it sound like a form letter - but I wrote to 46 bloggers and I'm not writing each note individually. I do like sleeping occasionally! Hopefully most will be cooperative in answering my questions. Unless you specifically give me permission, you're all anonymous.
Secondly, I did actually read some of the blogs as I was there but couldn't peruse them all. One thing I'll have to do on my site is sign up for Blogroll. I've been doing links the old-fashioned way, but with hundreds of good blogs out there, we have one heckuva conservative community going!
So if you are new and checking me out because you heard from me, welcome aboard!
I do have an item of import tonight. As always on Saturdays, I got my e-mail update from the Maryland GOP. Now, since I've only been here a short time, I'm not familiar with the Glendening administration, but the claim in this e-mail was that Governor Ehrlich turned a $4 billion shortfall when he took office to a $1 billion surplus. Me, I think a lot of it had to do with a great economy in general. Hard to push through a lot of spending cuts with Dems controlling the General Assembly. But we'll take the surplus. In fact - $1 billion divided by 5 million is $200 a person. I've been here 9 months, I'll just take $150.
This also from the GOP e-mail:
The Maryland Business Climate Survey, prepared quarterly by the University’s Jacob France Institute, reported that 65 percent of the 250 Maryland businesses surveyed view the State as business-friendly, compared to 53 percent of businesses surveyed in the first quarter of 2005. “The Ehrlich Administration has made it a top priority to improve Maryland’s business climate. This survey is further validation that we are accomplishing our mission of listening to businesses and giving them the tools and resources they need to grow and succeed,” said Secretary Aris Melissaratos. “Maryland has tremendous strengths – our world-class workforce, our diverse knowledge economy and our low unemployment – and we will continue to build on those and other strengths to make Maryland the most business friendly state to locate a business.” In spite of anti-business, anti-job creation measures proposed by liberal Democrats (read: the Fair Share Health Care Act), the Ehrlich/Steele Administration continues to give the business community confidence in the state.
In all seriousness, the reason I'm in Maryland is because it's ran a whole lot better than Ohio is right now (at least the Eastern Shore is.) Imagine what it would be like if the GOP controlled the General Assembly too. The Eastern Shore would be Florida north.
Oh, as far as the "enemy" (that being the Maryland Democrats,) they're just so happy that they've raised over $700,000 in the first six months of 2005. They better lock and load up, because the national GOP's going to be gunning for the Sarbanes seat. I'm ready to kick ass and take names.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
"Growing" into a RINO
Saw an interesting article in the Daily Times today regarding Congressman Gilchrest's growth. No, nothing medical, but I'm sure in the liberal punditry opinion, he's "grown" because he's become a "maverick" against his party by supporting the joint resolution (H. J. Res. 55) for pulling our troops out of Iraq on a date certain. Now he's in with the likes of Rep. Dennis Kucinich (he of the "Department of Peace") and Rep. Barbara Lee of California (lone vote against defending ourselves after 9-11 - more on her here.)
While he's been re-elected pretty easily here, I haven't seen much to recommend Gilchrest to the rank-and-file GOP member on the Eastern Shore. This announcement comes right after his support for repealing "don't ask, don't tell" in the military. Two controversies in two months, not good for a guy from what probably isn't the safest GOP district.
Also noticed that the big Crisfield Crab and Clam Bake drew politicians like flies, with two large omissions: Governor Ehrlich and Lt. Governor Steele. I hope that this is just because it's an off-year and they don't want to burn their people out arranging a trip.
One thing I find interesting about some events down here: they do a lot of these events on weekday afternoons. Logically, if Crisfield wanted to draw a crowd, to me this would be a Saturday event. But, if you want it to not be as "touristy" I suppose a Wednesday makes sense. Guess it's my background being from an area not as tourist-dependent (good or bad.)
Now, to toss my two cents in about John Roberts (the judge, not the CBS News anchor.) He sounds like a good choice - must be because the Dems are already trying to fry him. The pollitorial is already out - Americans "say" he should answer on whether he'd overturn Roe v. Wade. (Ok, the poll question was "state his position on abortion", but we know that code word.) This will be fun, because the same poll had a plurality of 36% strongly agreeing the Senate should confirm him, basically sight unseen.
And yet another attempted bombing in London. No major injuries, but a shaken city gets more nervous. Wouldn't be surprised if this were a copycat myself, but one has to wonder about how much Londoners can take. It's going to have an impact on tourism if these bus bombings continue. Not that I'll be doing it in the near future, but London always seemed like it would be a cool city to visit for me...I'm sure millions of Americans feel the same. But why take a chance?
While he's been re-elected pretty easily here, I haven't seen much to recommend Gilchrest to the rank-and-file GOP member on the Eastern Shore. This announcement comes right after his support for repealing "don't ask, don't tell" in the military. Two controversies in two months, not good for a guy from what probably isn't the safest GOP district.
Also noticed that the big Crisfield Crab and Clam Bake drew politicians like flies, with two large omissions: Governor Ehrlich and Lt. Governor Steele. I hope that this is just because it's an off-year and they don't want to burn their people out arranging a trip.
One thing I find interesting about some events down here: they do a lot of these events on weekday afternoons. Logically, if Crisfield wanted to draw a crowd, to me this would be a Saturday event. But, if you want it to not be as "touristy" I suppose a Wednesday makes sense. Guess it's my background being from an area not as tourist-dependent (good or bad.)
Now, to toss my two cents in about John Roberts (the judge, not the CBS News anchor.) He sounds like a good choice - must be because the Dems are already trying to fry him. The pollitorial is already out - Americans "say" he should answer on whether he'd overturn Roe v. Wade. (Ok, the poll question was "state his position on abortion", but we know that code word.) This will be fun, because the same poll had a plurality of 36% strongly agreeing the Senate should confirm him, basically sight unseen.
And yet another attempted bombing in London. No major injuries, but a shaken city gets more nervous. Wouldn't be surprised if this were a copycat myself, but one has to wonder about how much Londoners can take. It's going to have an impact on tourism if these bus bombings continue. Not that I'll be doing it in the near future, but London always seemed like it would be a cool city to visit for me...I'm sure millions of Americans feel the same. But why take a chance?
Thursday, July 14, 2005
I needed a good laugh, here it is
Out trolling the Web tonight, and checked in on what the "enemy" (the Maryland Democrats) was up to. I liked this letter regarding suspending Karl Rove's security clearance, particularly the part about, "The American people must not tolerate anyone who plays politics with vital national security secrets." Have you heard of a guy named Sandy Berger, aka "Sandy Burglar"?
This case has had three stages:
1. "Karl Rove should be sent to jail". But he's done nothing illegal.
2. "Ok, Karl Rove should be fired." On what cause? The grand jury has not indicted him on anything.
3. "Well, then, get rid of his security clearance!" If anyone should lose a security clearance, it would be Joe Wilson.
I'm waiting on stage 4. "Well, Karl Rove deserves a stern lecture. And don't you dare send him to fundraise for Michael Steele." All right, the Stage 4 has already started.
Wonder how much extra they'll raise now? Thanks for the publicity guys, if you hadn't said anything about it, I would have never known. Not that I'll go, it's probably far too rich for my blood, but it's good to see Steele getting an early start on the millions needed to win the 2006 Senate race.
Honestly, the Democrats are making the leftmost 5% of the country ecstatic with all this, but I see them losing the middle 50% where elections are won. That demographic just sees Bush doing what he's said he would (on the rare occasions he gets help from Congress) and slowly drifts rightward. But that's ok, the farther right the "center" goes, the easier it is to make some of the drastic changes necessary to restore freedom to America.
This case has had three stages:
1. "Karl Rove should be sent to jail". But he's done nothing illegal.
2. "Ok, Karl Rove should be fired." On what cause? The grand jury has not indicted him on anything.
3. "Well, then, get rid of his security clearance!" If anyone should lose a security clearance, it would be Joe Wilson.
I'm waiting on stage 4. "Well, Karl Rove deserves a stern lecture. And don't you dare send him to fundraise for Michael Steele." All right, the Stage 4 has already started.
Wonder how much extra they'll raise now? Thanks for the publicity guys, if you hadn't said anything about it, I would have never known. Not that I'll go, it's probably far too rich for my blood, but it's good to see Steele getting an early start on the millions needed to win the 2006 Senate race.
Honestly, the Democrats are making the leftmost 5% of the country ecstatic with all this, but I see them losing the middle 50% where elections are won. That demographic just sees Bush doing what he's said he would (on the rare occasions he gets help from Congress) and slowly drifts rightward. But that's ok, the farther right the "center" goes, the easier it is to make some of the drastic changes necessary to restore freedom to America.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Standings report, part 2
I know, it ain't politics. But like I said before, baseball is my other passion.
In the second half South Atlantic League North Division standings, Delmarva is in the lead with a 13-6 record, up by 1 1/2 games over Hickory. Their 8 game overall and home winning streaks came to an end tonight when they lost a 1-0 pitchers duel to Lexington. It was a good game, met some nice folks. Just couldn't put together hits...still we've given up just one run in the series - although having Eric Bedard down from the Orioles on a rehab start really helped.
In the International League's West division, my old hometown Toledo Mud Hens are tearing it up with the best record in the IL. At their All-Star break, Toledo is 57-32 and leads the West by 4 1/2 over Indianapolis. They have the best record by the same margin, because Indianapolis would be leading either of the other divisions. Hopefully they avoid the August meltdown (5-24) that killed their 2004 playoff hopes.
And my All-Star host Detroit Tigers are 42-44 at the break, 15 back of Chicago in 4th place in the AL Central. But a 5-3 roadtrip before the break helped. They were one bad Troy Percival pitch from 6-2 on the trip and a .500 mark.
I did an analysis on the Detroit Tigers forum of AL schedules for the second half...who's easiest and who's got the toughest. Here's what I wrote.
This is an analysis of remaining schedules for the AL teams - who has an easy path to the playoffs and who’s really going to have to work. Teams are listed in standings order, as of Sunday night. That’s the order I list opponents as well.
A plus number (like +100) indicates aggregate games better than even .500, a minus indicates games under .500. Schedule rank is 1st place hardest, 14th place easiest.)
1. Chicago (57-29), 1st in AL Central by 9 over Minnesota.
Remaining games: 76 (40 away, 36 home.)
Opponents: Los Angeles 3, Boston 7, Minnesota 13, Baltimore 4, New York 6, Texas 4, Cleveland 10, Toronto 3, Detroit 11, Seattle 6, Kansas City 9.
Finished with: Oakland, Tampa Bay.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: +84 (8th)
September opponents: -24 (10th)
Final two weeks (Cle, Min, at Det, at Cle): +68 (5th)
Critical stretch: The White Sox finish with 13 games on the road with all other ALC opponents sandwiched around 7 home games with closest pursuers Cleveland and Minnesota.
2. Los Angeles (52-36), 1st in AL West by 5 over Texas.
Remaining games: 74 (38 away, 36 home.)
Opponents: Chicago 3, Boston 7, Minnesota 4, Baltimore 6, New York 7, Texas 6, Oakland 13, Toronto 6, Detroit 4, Seattle 9, Tampa Bay 9.
Finished with: Cleveland, Kansas City.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: -52 (11th)
September opponents: -4 (8th)
Final two weeks (Tex, TB, at Oak, at Tex): -59 (13th)
Critical stretch: September roadtrip to Boston, Chicago, and Seattle can win them the West with a successful run and give them a look at two possible postseason opponents.
3. Boston (49-38), 1st in AL East by 2 over Baltimore.
Remaining games: 75 (32 away, 43 home.)
Opponents: Chicago 7, Los Angeles 7, Minnesota 6, Baltimore 6, New York 10, Texas 3, Oakland 4, Toronto 7, Detroit 6, Kansas City 6, Tampa Bay 13.
Finished with: Cleveland, Seattle.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: -111 (12th)
September opponents: +31 (7th)
Final two weeks (at TB, at Bal, Tor, NY): -60 (14th)
Critical stretch: They can bury the rest of the East with a successful long August/September homestand featuring Detroit, Tampa Bay, Baltimore, and Los Angeles.
4. Minnesota (48-38), 2nd in AL Central by 2 over Cleveland, leads wild card by 1 ½ over Baltimore.
Remaining games: 76 (39 away, 37 home.)
Opponents: Chicago 13, Los Angeles 4, Boston 6, Baltimore 3, New York 3, Texas 6, Cleveland 6, Oakland 10, Detroit 11, Seattle 7, Kansas City 7.
Finished with: Toronto, Tampa Bay.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: +341 (3rd)
September opponents: +133 (6th)
Final two weeks (at Oak, at Chi, KC, Det): +1 (9th)
Critical stretch: If they are to challenge Chicago, they need to do well on a late July roadtrip to Detroit, New York, and Boston. Detroit’s series is a 5 game series due to an early snowout.
5. Baltimore (47-40), 2nd in AL East by ½ over New York.
Remaining games: 75 (41 away, 34 home.)
Opponents: Chicago 4, Los Angeles 6, Boston 6, Minnesota 3, New York 8, Texas 10, Cleveland 3, Oakland 7, Toronto 9, Seattle 7, Tampa Bay 12.
Finished with: Detroit, Kansas City.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: -22 (10th)
September opponents: -93 (13th)
Final two weeks (at NY, Bos, NY, at TB): -18 (10th)
Critical stretch: The Orioles have been in a freefall since June. They must do well on a post-All Star game cross-country trip to Seattle, Minnesota, and Tampa Bay. They have three other west coast trips in this half (LA/Tex, Oak/Cle, Sea/Tex). Less than .500 on these and Baltimore’s hopes are about done.
6. New York (46-40), 3rd in AL East by 3 over Toronto.
Remaining games: 76 (43 away, 33 home.)
Opponents: Chicago 6, Los Angeles 7, Boston 10, Minnesota 3, Baltimore 8, Texas 7, Cleveland 3, Oakland 3, Toronto 13, Seattle 4, Kansas City 3, Tampa Bay 9.
Finished with: Detroit.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: +125 (7th)
September opponents: -73 (12th)
Final two weeks (Bal, Tor, at Bal, at Bos): +89 (2nd)
Critical stretch: The Yankees play their last 26 games within their division. They also have a big trip west (to Texas and LA) after the Boston series at Fenway coming out of the All-Star break.
7. Texas (46-40), 2nd in AL West by 2 ½ over Oakland.
Remaining games: 76 (40 away, 36 home.)
Opponents: Chicago 4, Los Angeles 6, Boston 3, Minnesota 6, Baltimore 10, New York 7, Cleveland 3, Oakland 14, Toronto 3, Seattle 10, Kansas City 4, Tampa Bay 6.
Finished with: Detroit.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: +49 (9th)
September opponents: -18 (9th)
Final two weeks (at LA, at Oak, at Sea, LA): +72 (4th)
Critical stretch: Two - roadtrip in August to Boston, New York, Cleveland, and Tampa Bay; and the final roadtrip facing their other 3 AL West opponents. The August roadtrip is against several wild card competitors.
8. Cleveland (47-41), 3rd in AL Central by 4 over Detroit.
Remaining games: 74 (33 away, 41 home.)
Opponents: Chicago 10, Minnesota 6, Baltimore 3, New York 3, Texas 3, Oakland 6, Toronto 3, Detroit 9, Seattle 7, Kansas City 14, Tampa Bay 10.
Finished with: Los Angeles, Boston.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: -386 (14th)
September opponents: -63 (11th)
Final two weeks (at Chi, at KC, TB, Chi): -39 (11th)
Critical stretch: With 43 games remaining (of the 74) against the 5 teams with records .500 or below, the only critical thing is avoiding injuries.
9. Oakland (44-43), 3rd in AL West by 5 over Seattle.
Remaining games: 75 (37 away, 38 home.)
Opponents: Los Angeles 13, Boston 4, Minnesota 10, Baltimore 7, New York 3, Texas 14, Cleveland 6, Detroit 6, Seattle 6, Kansas City 6.
Finished with: Chicago, Toronto, Tampa Bay.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: +311 (5th)
September opponents: +156 (5th)
Final two weeks (Min, Tex, LA, at Sea): +85 (3rd)
Critical stretch: 33 games against division opponents and two long eastern swings (Detroit, Baltimore, and Los Angeles in August; and Texas, Cleveland, and Boston in September.)
10. Toronto (44-44), 4th in AL East by 16 ½ over Tampa Bay.
Remaining games: 74 (32 away, 42 home.)
Opponents: Chicago 3, Los Angeles 6, Boston 7, Baltimore 9, New York 13, Texas 3, Cleveland 3, Detroit 7, Seattle 7, Kansas City 6, Tampa Bay 10.
Finished with: Minnesota, Oakland.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: -135 (13th)
September opponents: -181 (14th)
Final two weeks (Sea, at NY, at Bos, KC): -55 (12th)
Critical stretch: They need to put the hammer down with 20 of 26 games coming out of the All-Star break at home. If not, they have to survive a fearsome travel trip in August to Baltimore, Los Angeles, back east to Detroit, then New York. But they get cake in September.
11. DETROIT (41-44), 4th in AL Central by 12 ½ over Kansas City.
Remaining games: 76 (36 away, 40 home.)
Opponents: Chicago 11, Los Angeles 4, Boston 6, Minnesota 11, Cleveland 9, Oakland 6, Toronto 7, Seattle 9, Kansas City 13.
Finished with: Baltimore, New York, Texas, Tampa Bay.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: +186 (6th)
September opponents: +177 (T - 2nd)
Final two weeks (at KC, Sea, Chi, at Min): +34 (7th)
Critical stretch: I dunno, seems like we’re chugging uphill the whole way. No chances to make up ground directly with Baltimore, New York, or Texas anymore.
12. Seattle (39-48), 4th in AL West.
Remaining games: 75 (36 away, 39 home.)
Opponents: Chicago 6, Los Angeles 9, Minnesota 7, Baltimore 7, New York 4, Texas 10, Cleveland 7, Oakland 6, Toronto 7, Detroit 9, Kansas City 3.
Finished with: Boston, Tampa Bay.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: +464 (1st)
September opponents: +159 (4th)
Final two weeks (at Tor, at Det, Tex, Oak): +15 (8th)
Critical stretch: All but the last 2 ½ weeks, when they finally get some mediocre teams to play.
13. Kansas City (30-57), 5th in AL Central.
Remaining games: 75 (40 away, 35 home.)
Opponents: Chicago 9, Boston 6, Minnesota 7, New York 3, Texas 4, Cleveland 14, Oakland 6, Toronto 6, Detroit 13, Seattle 3, Tampa Bay 4.
Finished with: Los Angeles, Baltimore.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: +335 (4th)
September opponents: +262 (1st)
Final two weeks (Det, Cle, at Min, at Tor) +58 (6th)
Critical stretch: To avoid 100 losses, being close to .500 in the 21 games after the All-Star break would be a help. 2-4 against Chicago and Boston is acceptable, the other opponents being Cleveland, Detroit, Toronto, and Tampa Bay.
14. Tampa Bay (28-61), 5th in AL East. Worst record in baseball, 3 games behind Kansas City.
Remaining games: 73 (38 away, 35 home.)
Opponents: Los Angeles 9, Boston 13, Baltimore 12, New York 9, Texas 6, Cleveland 10, Toronto 10, Kansas City 4.
Finished with: Chicago, Minnesota, Oakland, Detroit, Seattle.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: +440 (2nd)
September opponents: +177 (T- 2nd)
Final two weeks: (Bos, at LA, at Cle, Bal) +120 (1st)
Critical stretch: Pity the poor Devil Rays. After August 1, when Kansas City leaves town, they don’t see another team currently under .500 the rest of the season. In fact, that 4 game series with Kansas City is all they see of bottom-feeders. An 11-62 finish isn’t so unlikely.
To be fair to the NL readers, I also did a quick run on their reamining games. In order from most difficult to easiest NL schedules:
1. Florida: 76 games, +149 (aggregate games from .500)
2. New York: 74 games, +94
3. Houston: 75 games, +61
4. Philadelphia: 73 games, +10
5. Washington: 74 games, -22
6. Cincinnati: 74 games, -32
7. Milwaukee: 74 games, -49
8. Atlanta: 73 games, -88
9. Chicago: 75 games, -91
10. Colorado: 75 games, -150
11. San Francisco: 75 games, -159
12. St. Louis: 74 games, -176
13. Pittsburgh: 75 games, -199
14. Arizona: 72 games, -234
15. Los Angeles: 74 games, -298
16. San Diego: 73 games, -310
Easy to see that playing a lot of games against the pitiful NL West buries your schedule ranking. One would have to say that the schedule favors Atlanta to reel in Washington in the NL East, St. Louis in an NL Central cakewalk, and San Diego maintaining the NL West lead. And the wild card may come from out there if a second team can manhandle that division - it appears the NL East and Central will beat each other up quite a bit.
Now, next time, it's back to the right-wing conspiracy. Needed a break but there's issues out there to address. It was my little All-Star break, now it'll be back to "work."
In the second half South Atlantic League North Division standings, Delmarva is in the lead with a 13-6 record, up by 1 1/2 games over Hickory. Their 8 game overall and home winning streaks came to an end tonight when they lost a 1-0 pitchers duel to Lexington. It was a good game, met some nice folks. Just couldn't put together hits...still we've given up just one run in the series - although having Eric Bedard down from the Orioles on a rehab start really helped.
In the International League's West division, my old hometown Toledo Mud Hens are tearing it up with the best record in the IL. At their All-Star break, Toledo is 57-32 and leads the West by 4 1/2 over Indianapolis. They have the best record by the same margin, because Indianapolis would be leading either of the other divisions. Hopefully they avoid the August meltdown (5-24) that killed their 2004 playoff hopes.
And my All-Star host Detroit Tigers are 42-44 at the break, 15 back of Chicago in 4th place in the AL Central. But a 5-3 roadtrip before the break helped. They were one bad Troy Percival pitch from 6-2 on the trip and a .500 mark.
I did an analysis on the Detroit Tigers forum of AL schedules for the second half...who's easiest and who's got the toughest. Here's what I wrote.
This is an analysis of remaining schedules for the AL teams - who has an easy path to the playoffs and who’s really going to have to work. Teams are listed in standings order, as of Sunday night. That’s the order I list opponents as well.
A plus number (like +100) indicates aggregate games better than even .500, a minus indicates games under .500. Schedule rank is 1st place hardest, 14th place easiest.)
1. Chicago (57-29), 1st in AL Central by 9 over Minnesota.
Remaining games: 76 (40 away, 36 home.)
Opponents: Los Angeles 3, Boston 7, Minnesota 13, Baltimore 4, New York 6, Texas 4, Cleveland 10, Toronto 3, Detroit 11, Seattle 6, Kansas City 9.
Finished with: Oakland, Tampa Bay.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: +84 (8th)
September opponents: -24 (10th)
Final two weeks (Cle, Min, at Det, at Cle): +68 (5th)
Critical stretch: The White Sox finish with 13 games on the road with all other ALC opponents sandwiched around 7 home games with closest pursuers Cleveland and Minnesota.
2. Los Angeles (52-36), 1st in AL West by 5 over Texas.
Remaining games: 74 (38 away, 36 home.)
Opponents: Chicago 3, Boston 7, Minnesota 4, Baltimore 6, New York 7, Texas 6, Oakland 13, Toronto 6, Detroit 4, Seattle 9, Tampa Bay 9.
Finished with: Cleveland, Kansas City.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: -52 (11th)
September opponents: -4 (8th)
Final two weeks (Tex, TB, at Oak, at Tex): -59 (13th)
Critical stretch: September roadtrip to Boston, Chicago, and Seattle can win them the West with a successful run and give them a look at two possible postseason opponents.
3. Boston (49-38), 1st in AL East by 2 over Baltimore.
Remaining games: 75 (32 away, 43 home.)
Opponents: Chicago 7, Los Angeles 7, Minnesota 6, Baltimore 6, New York 10, Texas 3, Oakland 4, Toronto 7, Detroit 6, Kansas City 6, Tampa Bay 13.
Finished with: Cleveland, Seattle.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: -111 (12th)
September opponents: +31 (7th)
Final two weeks (at TB, at Bal, Tor, NY): -60 (14th)
Critical stretch: They can bury the rest of the East with a successful long August/September homestand featuring Detroit, Tampa Bay, Baltimore, and Los Angeles.
4. Minnesota (48-38), 2nd in AL Central by 2 over Cleveland, leads wild card by 1 ½ over Baltimore.
Remaining games: 76 (39 away, 37 home.)
Opponents: Chicago 13, Los Angeles 4, Boston 6, Baltimore 3, New York 3, Texas 6, Cleveland 6, Oakland 10, Detroit 11, Seattle 7, Kansas City 7.
Finished with: Toronto, Tampa Bay.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: +341 (3rd)
September opponents: +133 (6th)
Final two weeks (at Oak, at Chi, KC, Det): +1 (9th)
Critical stretch: If they are to challenge Chicago, they need to do well on a late July roadtrip to Detroit, New York, and Boston. Detroit’s series is a 5 game series due to an early snowout.
5. Baltimore (47-40), 2nd in AL East by ½ over New York.
Remaining games: 75 (41 away, 34 home.)
Opponents: Chicago 4, Los Angeles 6, Boston 6, Minnesota 3, New York 8, Texas 10, Cleveland 3, Oakland 7, Toronto 9, Seattle 7, Tampa Bay 12.
Finished with: Detroit, Kansas City.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: -22 (10th)
September opponents: -93 (13th)
Final two weeks (at NY, Bos, NY, at TB): -18 (10th)
Critical stretch: The Orioles have been in a freefall since June. They must do well on a post-All Star game cross-country trip to Seattle, Minnesota, and Tampa Bay. They have three other west coast trips in this half (LA/Tex, Oak/Cle, Sea/Tex). Less than .500 on these and Baltimore’s hopes are about done.
6. New York (46-40), 3rd in AL East by 3 over Toronto.
Remaining games: 76 (43 away, 33 home.)
Opponents: Chicago 6, Los Angeles 7, Boston 10, Minnesota 3, Baltimore 8, Texas 7, Cleveland 3, Oakland 3, Toronto 13, Seattle 4, Kansas City 3, Tampa Bay 9.
Finished with: Detroit.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: +125 (7th)
September opponents: -73 (12th)
Final two weeks (Bal, Tor, at Bal, at Bos): +89 (2nd)
Critical stretch: The Yankees play their last 26 games within their division. They also have a big trip west (to Texas and LA) after the Boston series at Fenway coming out of the All-Star break.
7. Texas (46-40), 2nd in AL West by 2 ½ over Oakland.
Remaining games: 76 (40 away, 36 home.)
Opponents: Chicago 4, Los Angeles 6, Boston 3, Minnesota 6, Baltimore 10, New York 7, Cleveland 3, Oakland 14, Toronto 3, Seattle 10, Kansas City 4, Tampa Bay 6.
Finished with: Detroit.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: +49 (9th)
September opponents: -18 (9th)
Final two weeks (at LA, at Oak, at Sea, LA): +72 (4th)
Critical stretch: Two - roadtrip in August to Boston, New York, Cleveland, and Tampa Bay; and the final roadtrip facing their other 3 AL West opponents. The August roadtrip is against several wild card competitors.
8. Cleveland (47-41), 3rd in AL Central by 4 over Detroit.
Remaining games: 74 (33 away, 41 home.)
Opponents: Chicago 10, Minnesota 6, Baltimore 3, New York 3, Texas 3, Oakland 6, Toronto 3, Detroit 9, Seattle 7, Kansas City 14, Tampa Bay 10.
Finished with: Los Angeles, Boston.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: -386 (14th)
September opponents: -63 (11th)
Final two weeks (at Chi, at KC, TB, Chi): -39 (11th)
Critical stretch: With 43 games remaining (of the 74) against the 5 teams with records .500 or below, the only critical thing is avoiding injuries.
9. Oakland (44-43), 3rd in AL West by 5 over Seattle.
Remaining games: 75 (37 away, 38 home.)
Opponents: Los Angeles 13, Boston 4, Minnesota 10, Baltimore 7, New York 3, Texas 14, Cleveland 6, Detroit 6, Seattle 6, Kansas City 6.
Finished with: Chicago, Toronto, Tampa Bay.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: +311 (5th)
September opponents: +156 (5th)
Final two weeks (Min, Tex, LA, at Sea): +85 (3rd)
Critical stretch: 33 games against division opponents and two long eastern swings (Detroit, Baltimore, and Los Angeles in August; and Texas, Cleveland, and Boston in September.)
10. Toronto (44-44), 4th in AL East by 16 ½ over Tampa Bay.
Remaining games: 74 (32 away, 42 home.)
Opponents: Chicago 3, Los Angeles 6, Boston 7, Baltimore 9, New York 13, Texas 3, Cleveland 3, Detroit 7, Seattle 7, Kansas City 6, Tampa Bay 10.
Finished with: Minnesota, Oakland.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: -135 (13th)
September opponents: -181 (14th)
Final two weeks (Sea, at NY, at Bos, KC): -55 (12th)
Critical stretch: They need to put the hammer down with 20 of 26 games coming out of the All-Star break at home. If not, they have to survive a fearsome travel trip in August to Baltimore, Los Angeles, back east to Detroit, then New York. But they get cake in September.
11. DETROIT (41-44), 4th in AL Central by 12 ½ over Kansas City.
Remaining games: 76 (36 away, 40 home.)
Opponents: Chicago 11, Los Angeles 4, Boston 6, Minnesota 11, Cleveland 9, Oakland 6, Toronto 7, Seattle 9, Kansas City 13.
Finished with: Baltimore, New York, Texas, Tampa Bay.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: +186 (6th)
September opponents: +177 (T - 2nd)
Final two weeks (at KC, Sea, Chi, at Min): +34 (7th)
Critical stretch: I dunno, seems like we’re chugging uphill the whole way. No chances to make up ground directly with Baltimore, New York, or Texas anymore.
12. Seattle (39-48), 4th in AL West.
Remaining games: 75 (36 away, 39 home.)
Opponents: Chicago 6, Los Angeles 9, Minnesota 7, Baltimore 7, New York 4, Texas 10, Cleveland 7, Oakland 6, Toronto 7, Detroit 9, Kansas City 3.
Finished with: Boston, Tampa Bay.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: +464 (1st)
September opponents: +159 (4th)
Final two weeks (at Tor, at Det, Tex, Oak): +15 (8th)
Critical stretch: All but the last 2 ½ weeks, when they finally get some mediocre teams to play.
13. Kansas City (30-57), 5th in AL Central.
Remaining games: 75 (40 away, 35 home.)
Opponents: Chicago 9, Boston 6, Minnesota 7, New York 3, Texas 4, Cleveland 14, Oakland 6, Toronto 6, Detroit 13, Seattle 3, Tampa Bay 4.
Finished with: Los Angeles, Baltimore.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: +335 (4th)
September opponents: +262 (1st)
Final two weeks (Det, Cle, at Min, at Tor) +58 (6th)
Critical stretch: To avoid 100 losses, being close to .500 in the 21 games after the All-Star break would be a help. 2-4 against Chicago and Boston is acceptable, the other opponents being Cleveland, Detroit, Toronto, and Tampa Bay.
14. Tampa Bay (28-61), 5th in AL East. Worst record in baseball, 3 games behind Kansas City.
Remaining games: 73 (38 away, 35 home.)
Opponents: Los Angeles 9, Boston 13, Baltimore 12, New York 9, Texas 6, Cleveland 10, Toronto 10, Kansas City 4.
Finished with: Chicago, Minnesota, Oakland, Detroit, Seattle.
Strength of schedule, all opponents: +440 (2nd)
September opponents: +177 (T- 2nd)
Final two weeks: (Bos, at LA, at Cle, Bal) +120 (1st)
Critical stretch: Pity the poor Devil Rays. After August 1, when Kansas City leaves town, they don’t see another team currently under .500 the rest of the season. In fact, that 4 game series with Kansas City is all they see of bottom-feeders. An 11-62 finish isn’t so unlikely.
To be fair to the NL readers, I also did a quick run on their reamining games. In order from most difficult to easiest NL schedules:
1. Florida: 76 games, +149 (aggregate games from .500)
2. New York: 74 games, +94
3. Houston: 75 games, +61
4. Philadelphia: 73 games, +10
5. Washington: 74 games, -22
6. Cincinnati: 74 games, -32
7. Milwaukee: 74 games, -49
8. Atlanta: 73 games, -88
9. Chicago: 75 games, -91
10. Colorado: 75 games, -150
11. San Francisco: 75 games, -159
12. St. Louis: 74 games, -176
13. Pittsburgh: 75 games, -199
14. Arizona: 72 games, -234
15. Los Angeles: 74 games, -298
16. San Diego: 73 games, -310
Easy to see that playing a lot of games against the pitiful NL West buries your schedule ranking. One would have to say that the schedule favors Atlanta to reel in Washington in the NL East, St. Louis in an NL Central cakewalk, and San Diego maintaining the NL West lead. And the wild card may come from out there if a second team can manhandle that division - it appears the NL East and Central will beat each other up quite a bit.
Now, next time, it's back to the right-wing conspiracy. Needed a break but there's issues out there to address. It was my little All-Star break, now it'll be back to "work."
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
I have a law suggestion
Today I was listening to the radio and they was a brief news item about an essay contest called "There Ought To Be A Law." The story was that the winning essay's subject was introduced in the state's legislature. What confuses me is that I thought the state this bill was introduced into was Pennsylvania but it appears the winning essay in question was from Ohio. Basically, this law was to require dogs be restrained in cars. The essay was written by a girl named Rachel Stevenson, a home-schooled student from Fairlawn, Ohio. Score one for non-public education.
Given that most kids are not wise in the ways of government, I'm sure Rachel thinks that a law like that is a good thing to make pets safer. And it would do just that. It's obvious she's seen the effect mandatory seat belt laws have on people.
But, here's my problem with the idea of the essay contest (sponsored, naturally, by the Ohio Bar Association.) I think there should be equal weight given to the proposition that an existing law should be repealed. For example, growing up in Ohio, I remember that all the time I was growing up the legal drinking age was 18 - until a month before my 18th birthday, when they raised it to 19. (No, I was not happy about that!) Now, my recollection on this is a bit hazy, but either there was a statewide vote for establishing 19 as the drinking age or against making it 21. Whichever way it worked, less than a year later the Ohio Legislature was forced by the federal government to raise the drinking age to 21 or lose their federal highway funds.
Those are the kind of laws that should be repealed, especially when they are contradictory to the expressed will of the people at the ballot box. Immediately they should repeal seat belt laws, motorcycle helmet laws, and and other laws granted solely to ensure continued receipt of federal funds (including No Child Left Behind.) Obviously a companion bill in Congress would have to put an end to mandates like these or it should be handled in the budget somehow.
Then if Maryland wants to continue being a nanny state after the withdrawal of the stick of losing federal funds, it's the fault of the liberals in Annapolis and they can't point to DC and tell us that the (so-called) Free State's hands were tied.
Much like Orwell's "Newspeak", I'd like to see the number of laws shrink as time goes on, devolving back to principles found in the Constitution. Fewer laws = greater individual freedom.
Given that most kids are not wise in the ways of government, I'm sure Rachel thinks that a law like that is a good thing to make pets safer. And it would do just that. It's obvious she's seen the effect mandatory seat belt laws have on people.
But, here's my problem with the idea of the essay contest (sponsored, naturally, by the Ohio Bar Association.) I think there should be equal weight given to the proposition that an existing law should be repealed. For example, growing up in Ohio, I remember that all the time I was growing up the legal drinking age was 18 - until a month before my 18th birthday, when they raised it to 19. (No, I was not happy about that!) Now, my recollection on this is a bit hazy, but either there was a statewide vote for establishing 19 as the drinking age or against making it 21. Whichever way it worked, less than a year later the Ohio Legislature was forced by the federal government to raise the drinking age to 21 or lose their federal highway funds.
Those are the kind of laws that should be repealed, especially when they are contradictory to the expressed will of the people at the ballot box. Immediately they should repeal seat belt laws, motorcycle helmet laws, and and other laws granted solely to ensure continued receipt of federal funds (including No Child Left Behind.) Obviously a companion bill in Congress would have to put an end to mandates like these or it should be handled in the budget somehow.
Then if Maryland wants to continue being a nanny state after the withdrawal of the stick of losing federal funds, it's the fault of the liberals in Annapolis and they can't point to DC and tell us that the (so-called) Free State's hands were tied.
Much like Orwell's "Newspeak", I'd like to see the number of laws shrink as time goes on, devolving back to principles found in the Constitution. Fewer laws = greater individual freedom.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
The "vacancy" sign goes up
After years of "no room at the inn", the VACANCY sign goes up at the Supreme Court as Justice Sandra Day O'Connor retires after 24 years. And people like Linda Chavez thought the actions of the "Sellout Seven" were a good thing. I can guarantee you that the no-filibuster agreement is as good as gone now. If it were Rehnquist retiring, maybe. But a supporter of Roe v. Wade leaves and the long knives come out.
I can also tell you that I'm certain to be real frustrated this summer about this. I know I'm going to wish I could see the day when some GOP senator gets fed up with Dick Durbin and slugs him in his traitorous mouth, dropping him like a bad habit. Then for good measure he can give Harry Reid a serious beatdown too. (For Ted Kennedy, just take away his Scotch.)
The GOP is going to have to take a stand here and ramrod their nominee through. And the measures to enforce party loyalty should really be more severe. It sickened me to see both President Bush and Senator Santorum campaign for Arlen Specter last year, when Patrick Toomey, a more true conservative, campaigned for the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat. Bush should have talked to his GOP senators like he does terrorist-supporting states: you're either with us or against us. If you don't support the nominees I send up, forget seeing me for a fundraiser - I just might support a primary opponent.
But he has another big chance now, don't blow it. President Bush, I want a Scalia, not a Souter like your dad picked. I want someone who throws precedent to the wind when it contradicts the ultimate precedent - the Constitution. A justice who looks at foreign law as interesting light reading, then takes his guide from a short, 27 amendment document; in particular interested in Amendments 2, 5, and 10, which have taken a real beating of late. A justice not afraid of letting the people decide things in the particular states when it's in their best interest.
In short, let the people run this representative republic, not nine unelected lifetime appointees. (In reality, it's five unelected appointees - Thomas, Scalia, and Rehnquist fall into the category of letting the people decide in most cases.)
And now for something completely different...
You know, I'm proud to say I didn't watch a moment of Live 8. Besides the major acts of McCartney, U2, and Elton John, who was there? Oh, I guess Green Day was in on that too, that's typical given their leftist drivel. The other song right now that annoys the piss out of me is "BYOB" by System of a Down. It's a nice riff but the lyrics are asinine. Try writing and singing that one someplace like Iran or China, guys, see how you do there!
Wish there'd come a group with patriotic lyrics like in a lot of country songs but playing hard rock. Closest to come to that would likely be Ted Nugent. Loved his comments at the NRA convention, wish I was there. I have seen him in concert 4 times and enjoyed them all.
Maybe he's free to be a Supreme Court judge, I think they aren't in session during part of hunting season. A no bullshit attitude would be nice in D.C.
I can also tell you that I'm certain to be real frustrated this summer about this. I know I'm going to wish I could see the day when some GOP senator gets fed up with Dick Durbin and slugs him in his traitorous mouth, dropping him like a bad habit. Then for good measure he can give Harry Reid a serious beatdown too. (For Ted Kennedy, just take away his Scotch.)
The GOP is going to have to take a stand here and ramrod their nominee through. And the measures to enforce party loyalty should really be more severe. It sickened me to see both President Bush and Senator Santorum campaign for Arlen Specter last year, when Patrick Toomey, a more true conservative, campaigned for the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat. Bush should have talked to his GOP senators like he does terrorist-supporting states: you're either with us or against us. If you don't support the nominees I send up, forget seeing me for a fundraiser - I just might support a primary opponent.
But he has another big chance now, don't blow it. President Bush, I want a Scalia, not a Souter like your dad picked. I want someone who throws precedent to the wind when it contradicts the ultimate precedent - the Constitution. A justice who looks at foreign law as interesting light reading, then takes his guide from a short, 27 amendment document; in particular interested in Amendments 2, 5, and 10, which have taken a real beating of late. A justice not afraid of letting the people decide things in the particular states when it's in their best interest.
In short, let the people run this representative republic, not nine unelected lifetime appointees. (In reality, it's five unelected appointees - Thomas, Scalia, and Rehnquist fall into the category of letting the people decide in most cases.)
And now for something completely different...
You know, I'm proud to say I didn't watch a moment of Live 8. Besides the major acts of McCartney, U2, and Elton John, who was there? Oh, I guess Green Day was in on that too, that's typical given their leftist drivel. The other song right now that annoys the piss out of me is "BYOB" by System of a Down. It's a nice riff but the lyrics are asinine. Try writing and singing that one someplace like Iran or China, guys, see how you do there!
Wish there'd come a group with patriotic lyrics like in a lot of country songs but playing hard rock. Closest to come to that would likely be Ted Nugent. Loved his comments at the NRA convention, wish I was there. I have seen him in concert 4 times and enjoyed them all.
Maybe he's free to be a Supreme Court judge, I think they aren't in session during part of hunting season. A no bullshit attitude would be nice in D.C.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Off the cuff message
I just visited americasupportsyou.mil for the first time. It's cool to know that we can do something with some immediacy to support our troops, if only a note of support. Here's mine:
Keep up the good fight. On our upcoming Independence Day, we think of you as you support fledgling causes for independence from the former tyrannies in Afghanistan and Iraq.
I know you don't get a lot of good news over there, but trust that America does support you more than you know. Some of us are trying to get the good news out about what's really happening there.
We hope and pray your job will be done sooner rather than later, but I know we intend to do the job right as Americans are known to do.
take care and best wishes,
M.S.
It's an excellent website. Truly something that I don't mind a few dollars of my tax money going to, as opposed to something like PBS. (Their whining makes me puke, at least figuratively.)
Keep up the good fight. On our upcoming Independence Day, we think of you as you support fledgling causes for independence from the former tyrannies in Afghanistan and Iraq.
I know you don't get a lot of good news over there, but trust that America does support you more than you know. Some of us are trying to get the good news out about what's really happening there.
We hope and pray your job will be done sooner rather than later, but I know we intend to do the job right as Americans are known to do.
take care and best wishes,
M.S.
It's an excellent website. Truly something that I don't mind a few dollars of my tax money going to, as opposed to something like PBS. (Their whining makes me puke, at least figuratively.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)