Current Champ
Surprised The joke we're still going?
CardinalsWeek Nineteen Cliffs: The Padres hit the road with their newly won title, taking it to Saint Louis...where the Original Champs won the first and third games of the four game series to lead two games to one.
Then they called up Lord Ankiel.
Thursday night Rick Ankiel homered to help the Cardinals win game four and take the championship from San Diego three games to one, regaining the title for the first time since June 24 and for the third time overall this season. The next day Los Angeles came to town and won a pitchers duel 2-1, only to lose the next two 6-1 and 12-2 as Ankiel hit two homers on Saturday.
The Cardinals now have a guaranteed thirteen games cumulative with the title, tied with Oakland and San Francisco for second behind Atlanta (29 games.) This is the third title reign for the Redbirds, while the A's and Giants each held the title for 13 games in a single reign; St. Louis' average title reign this season is just four and one-thirds games.
St. Louis goes to Milwaukee for three games with the NL Central-leading Brewers, who they took three out of four from at Busch Stadium III just two weeks ago. If the Cards retain, they travel to Chicago for the first wraparound (Friday through Monday) weekend series in trophy play, while a Milwaukee victory keeps the title in Wisconsin for a date with the Reds.
Heat Stroke? I Walk Right Past the Hospital...
One of the reasons that Emily and I settled with the apartment that we did is because of the neighborhood. Our desire to walk compelled us to live in the smaller (800 sq. ft.) upstairs dwelling right next to a beautiful set of houses with myriad sidewalks rather than the larger (1200 sq. ft.) downstairs apartment stuck in back of an old hotel by the interstate with no decent way to walk into town.
(We also have a better mobile signal here - five bars for the win - but that's besides the point.)
Since we have such easy access to town, I've been trying to get back into running, especially with all this free time before school starts. Obstacles keep popping up, however. The latest came this weekend when Emily and I headed north for fun with friends: a picnic on Saturday featuring all day sports which almost robbed me of the ability to walk the next day. Baseball and kickball and ladder golf are certainly worth the pain, but it's Wednesday and my thighs still hurt a little. Such is the price of free sex cams fun.
My pain has coupled with the weather to keep me grounded this week. If I had actually felt the desire to step out for awhile and at least walk a spell I would have been greeted with 96 degrees and pea soup-thick humidity. It ain't pretty out there, but tomorrow rain should cool things down enough for me to finally get some exercise. We'll see.
A tip to staying in shape while having your treats: Emily and I found a great ice cream/custard/yogurt stand that's quite popular with the residents of the Giant Truck Stop, and several times a week we head there for creamy taste bud fun. It's nice that we walk there, but it's even nicer that it's a two and a half mile walk. One way. We work hard for our calories.
Week Eighteen Cliffs
Barry went to Los Angeles, got booed to hell, and left homerless. Huzzah! The Giants, meanwhile, took the bookends in the series and kept the title, extending their stay with the Championship of the World to 13 games, tying the Athletics for second place this season behind Atlanta. Then it was off to San Diego, where Bonds failure became complete when he connected for #755 on Saturday...in a loss that handed the title over to the Padres, who promptly completed the three game sweep of San Fran the next day. This is San Diego's first time holding the title; in their only prior try they lost three of four to Atlanta.
San Francisco played .500 ball gaining and keeping the title, and counting a three game sweep earlier this season at the hands of then-champ Oakland, they now carry a record of 8-11. San Diego takes a 4-3 record into Saint Louis for four game series with the 5-7 Cardinals. St. Louis has a five game winning streak, but taking three in the series will give them their third title; they, Atlanta, Philly and the Mets each have two title reigns this season.
The 10:30 Curse
With the Cubs now in first place, let me tell you how they got there.
10:30 CurseOn Monday, June 11, 2007, the second day of our honeymoon, my new bride and I awoke in Milwaukee, planning to head up the western coast of Lake Michigan as part of the Circle Tour. Later in the day we planned on touring Lambeau Field in Green Bay, since I figured we wouldn't be in that neighborhood for a while. First, though, we would stop by Miller Park, home of the Brewers, and take their tour that included a trip through the clubhouse, dugouts and press box. This was, to me, to be one of the highlights of our trip.
Buying our tickets on the internet in advance, we arrived about a half-hour before the tour's start time of 10:30. Killing time, we looked around the jasminlive team and wandered into the seats for a minute, as they failed to close off that part of the concourse. A few minutes before tour time, we made our way to the starting point along with five or six other people.
After about fifteen minutes of waiting, those five or six other people marched over to the ticket window and wondered what was going on.
Another fifteen minutes.
And another ten.
Finally, thirty-five minutes after our tour was set to begin, we were informed that there would be no 10:30 tour. Nor one at noon. No, if we wanted to see the secrets that Miller Park held for us, we would have to wait until 1:30. The Mrs. and I had fancy plans and could not wait that long, meaning we would be denied our fun in Milwaukee.
Your author was (slightly kinda) heartbroken (well, almost,) and his wife could tell. Together, they decided to place a curse upon the Brewers, that they would not stay in the comfy first place position they currently favored in the NL Central Division.
On Monday, June 11, 2007, the second day of our honeymoon, the Brewers were playing .539 ball, with a record of 34 and 29. Since then, they have played .533 ball, going 24 and 21.
Not much of a difference. Some curse, huh?
Actually, this is a Curse that works in Reverse.
On Monday, June 11, 2007, the second day of our honeymoon, the Chicago Cubs were playing .451 ball, with a record of 28 and 34. They trailed Milwaukee by five and a half games in the NL Central.
Since then, they have played .667 ball, with a record of 30 and 15. They are in first place in the NL Central. Milwaukee has company.
There's still two months to go; the Brewers haven't blown it yet. But they will. The Cubs will win the Central Division, all because our curse, the 10:30 Curse, is far more powerful than any once laid down upon the North Siders. Our curse is powered by Love, and Love beats a billy goat any day of the week.
Coming soon...
The (not so) incredible story about how two Cardinal fans got stiffed by the Brewers and cursed them out of first place!
Until then, it is time for the weekly update of my little time-waster, the 2007 MLB Traveling Trophy. Again, the reminder of what the heck this thing is:
What fun it would be if the World Series trophy (officially the Commissioner's Trophy) was on the line in every series prsented on https://www.jasminelive.online/? Take two out of three, three out of four or sweep a two-game series and you're the new champ!
Barry sucks.
GiantsWeek Seventeen Cliffs: The most dominant champs of the year so far, the Braves, won the first two of four against the Giants but couldn't get the job done, splitting the series and allowing San Francisco to retain the title. San Fran then welcomed Florida to town and won the first two, carrying their championship into their three-game series this week in Los Angeles where if Bonds hits 755 the fans will know how to act accordingly.
San Francisco (6-7 in trophy play in 2007) will have at least ten games with the title, the third longest of the year after Atlanta (29 games, reigns of 15 and 14) and Oakland (13 games, one reign.)
Again, the trophy will remain in the National League for the remainder of the season since there are no more Interleague games to be played in 2007. The only way for a Junior Circuit team to gain the title again this season is to win it in the World Series, assuming that the NL team holding it at the end of the regular season goes to the playoffs (since the postseason is an elimination bracket, if the title makes it into postseason play it will be won by the World Series winner at the end of that series.)
The Simpsons' Top Ten Episodes
With the release of The Simpsons Movie on Friday, I was finally compelled to finish my long-forgotten Top Ten list of Simpsons episodes. Of course, the series continues to crank out new episodes, but given nothing worthy of such a list has appeared since season eight or nine, it's easy to cast aside the latter half of the show's episodes and focus on the glory days.
Honorable Mention: Cape Feare, Grade School Confidential, Homer the Great, Homer the Vigilante, Kamp Krusty, Lisa The Vegetarian, Lisa's Wedding
While Cape Feare arguably sets the template for Sideshow Bob's appearances, complete with the epic rake gag that is the epitome of Simpsons' gags that shouldn't be funny but is, Sideshow Bob Roberts raises the bar with the best collection of gags in any of Kelsey Grammar's many worthwhile appearances. Bob's out of prison, released after local Rush Limbaugh clone Birch Barlow uses his radio show to drive up Republican ire, and he's gunning for Quimby's job - and subsequent revenge against Bart. From the Matlock Expressway to the campaign ad skewing the revolving door prison under Mayor Quimby, the episode, like many to come on this list, is a rapid fire machine gun of priceless and witty jokes, culminating in Bob's final courtroom outburst that apes "A Few Good Men" in a similar fashion as the rake gag: it goes just too far to be funny, then keeps going and re-enters the realm of hilarity. A highlight, as Homer debates voting for Bob candidates: "Hmm. I don't agree with his Bart-killing policy, but I do approve of his Selma-killing policy."