Tag Archives: Toronto

Loosely Connected Thoughts From This Past Weekends’ Baseball Games

18 Oct

Some of you may have noticed that there was no ALCS ADHD Playoff Preview this past weekend on Fullsass.com. It is not because I think American League ball is inferior (even though I do), and it is not because I think that Cleveland is racist for their dismissive attitude in demeaning depictions of Indigenous Peoples (although I do).

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We had a post lined up, but we experienced some site difficulties and the series was already 2-0, in favor of Cleveland by the time we got things right (as of 1:30 pm today, Cleveland is up 3-0 and have yet another game in an hour and a half). For what it is worth, I had Cleveland winning in 7 games, but that is a moot point, because that organization is wack, and their fans are wack for perpetuating something so blatantly disrespectful as Chief Wahoo.

 

Anyway, here are some thoughts that I had over the weekend while watching America’s favorite past time:

 

  • A Cleveland-Chicago World Series would be a great storyline for both franchises and the MLB as a whole; all but guaranteeing that one city’s team would be breaking a curse that has spanned multiple decades and generations of fanbases. That alone could carry the World Series, and it would matter little how competitive the games were.
  • This is not the Cito Gaston/Pat Gillick lovable 90’s Blue Jays we’re seeing right now. Eff these Jays, and eff their Drake and Danny Gladden look-alikes. It is too bad I don’t watch much A.L. ball (outside of the Rangers) because I feel like I  should be enjoying this Toronto beat down more. I miss the Devon White, Joe Carter, John Olerud, Juan Guzman, David Cone, Roberto Alomar, Jack Morris, Dave Stewart, Dave Winfield led squads. NOW THOSE GUYS WERE FUN TO WATCH PLAY BASEBALL!!!!
  • How am I just now finding out that Eddie Vedder is a Cubs fan? How did he avoid being a fan of the number of teams strung along the west coast that were winning when he was a child? I can see why Mariners fever somehow missed him, but Oakland was a good franchise up until the mid 90’s, and the Dodgers were easy to like back in the day. I wonder if Eddie was like the rest of us during summer vacation, watching Harry Caray on WGN, doing the play-by-play for those Ryne Sandberg, Shawon Dunston, Andre Dawson, and Mark Grace teams. I actually always liked the Cubs. It is Cubs fans that make you want to root against them. I’ve been to quite a few baseball stadiums in the 25 years I’ve been a baseball fan, and Chicago Cubs fans are some of the least knowledgeable, frontrunning fans north of Cowboys stadium. I’ve been to Wrigley Field, and although the field is nice, the fans make you want to avoid any establishment that serves Budweiser products for the rest of your life.
  • National League baseball is incredible to watch during the month of October. Those formative years I spent living in Houston molded my love for the game. As much as I loved watching the Rangers with my grandmother, I never found A.L. games as stimulating as I did watching those late 80’s early 90’s Dodgers,Giants,Cubs, and Mets play. I still get giddy whenever I see a pitcher hit a homerun. I think the reason Joe Maddon was underrated all those years in the American League (other than coaching for Tampa Bay) is that he wasn’t able to utilize the full extent of his baseball genius. Those wacky moves he pulled at Tropicana Field (how do they still have a team down there again?) don’t seem so crazy now that he has to master using that number 9 spot in the lineup. Seriously, the difference between the two leagues is like checkers vs. chess. I’m happy to see Maddon get his due finally. I think he is the best manager in the game right now.
  • Lastly, as much shit as I’ve talked about Cubs fans, I have to say the playoff games at Wrigley have been electric. I could feel the energy from the crowd when Miguel Montero came out for his curtain call after that 8th inning grand slam. It gave me chills. This is what postseason baseball is all about. Well that and this here.

 

Enjoy the rest of the LCS series.
BM

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Eve of Departure XVII (Spilled Milk)

14 Aug

If it's going to be that type of party I'm sticking my dick in the mashed potatoes.

If it's going to be that type of party I'm sticking my dick in the mashed potatoes.

I leave tomorrow to go back home to Dallas, Texas for the weekend.

I’m excited. I love Texas even more now that I don’t live there. Its a weird thing. I never really got any state pride until I left. Its a great place to be from.

I’ve been thinking long and hard about getting the state tattoed on my body somewhere……maybe my right pectoral or something, with a little blue star where Dallas is……

Anyway, I’ll be there just enough to soak it up and leave right before I get sick of it. Dallas sucks. As far as cities go…..my favorites are
Portland, San Francisco bay, NYC, Austin, Eugene, and Toronto.

I’d prefer Denton to Dallas anyday but I guess there’d be no Denton withotu Dallas would there???

As a city it just isn’t sustainable. Public transit should be way better for the amount of people who live in the metroplex. And the education system has never recovered from when the DAllas Independent School System shut down for a bit, rather than integrate during the sixties.

But I still love it. Its home. Its where my family is. Anyway I’m going back so my family can finally throw the party they’ve been waiting for the past 12 years to throw, my graduation party.

When I finished high school in 1997, I had no idea my life would take the crazy turns it did. Hell the last five years of my life has been a crazy ride in itself, but that’s for another time isn’t it?

I’m loooking forward to seeing the folks, hanging out, seeing a couple of old friends, and maybe even watching a little cable. If I’m lucky, I’ll have time to drink some whiskey with some old school fools ya know?

I feel good. Best I’ve felt in a couple of weeks. I’ve been mildly depressed dealing with the Toronto saga. But i’m okay now. A little drink and a lotta country music does wonders for the spirit.

When you go that deeply with someone and have nothing to show for it, it sucks. Something I always try to avoid when entering into any relationship, but you can only control what you do.

When friends turn out to not be friends, its a special kind of hurt and takes time to digest. Hard not to turn to cyniscm and distrust. My defense mechanism is humor of course, and so I tried to turn this negative into a positive; attempting a humorous spin on these events.

I hope I succeeded. I didn’t want it to be a whiny rant, but I also wanted to honest about the situation. Everyone has gotta paly the fool sometimes. At least that’s what I heard.

Also I only wanted to talk about it in detail once, and not mention it again. So when people ask what happened with that I can just direct them to the blog post.

The female in question read it and wasn’t pleased and she wants me to take the post down……..I’m kind of torn….although the situation is fucked up, the post itself is something I’m proud of……..

I have the weekend to think it over, and hopefully there won’t be a lawsuit waiting for me when I get back to Tulsa.

I feel good though, just laughed my ass of watching Tropic Thunder, feeling good and confident about my future. I’ve got good family, good friends, I’m handsome, smart, and funny. So it certainly won’t be a problem getting what I want out of life will it?

Eventually I’ll meet other women (although I’m seriously considering being celibate for the rest of the year) and if I don’t meet any soon, that’s fine too.

I’ve got lots of books, music to listen to, and whiskey to drink. Perhaps a woman would just ruin it.

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Eve of Departure III

30 Jun

wow.

Feeling refreshed and recharged. Ready to take a giant bite out of the big apple tonight. I gotta get up for it, cuz I know the city will want to wipe that silly little smirk right off my face. I’ll have to practice my grimey face.

Nice little break here, much needed. The visit in Toronto cracked me open like an egg. I was feeling raw, emotional, and my seratonin was at an all time low by last night. What goes up must come down eh?

Let me explain. Last week was the best week of my life, and I wanted to hold on to that feeling. It was magical, and beautiful, and something out of Amelie, Bridges of Madison County and those Before Sunrise/Before Sunset movies by Linklater.

too much. So forgive me if i got a little emotional. More than anything it was a good indication of the kind of women I want in my life. Had I been more positive I would have enjoyed it for what it was and not lamented too much on having to leave. took me until yesterday to snap out of it.

But it was perfect, and that’s all I’m going to say about it. I left it all on the field and I have no regrets about that.

Ithaca was/is beautiful. A real palette cleanser. waterfallsand greenery as far as the eye can see. Peaceful, a real charming town in the vein of Athens, Eugene, and Lawrence. Nice people, my host has been real cool.

I had a bit of problems getting back for sure. Sunday morning I wondered if it was wise even to come. My friend T____ convinced me it was time and I’m glad she did.

Its been exactly what I needed, although there was a bit of madness with the bus situation.

Apparently the greyhound website has a few glitches, showing times that really aren’t there.
So imagine my surprise when I got there and they said I’d have to wait til 12:30 to catch a ride, no worries.

We’ll just get breakfast. but when i crossed the border there were problems. Got to Buffalo to find out there wasn’t a bus going to Ithaca. Freak out!!!! for sure, especially when the news hit me the same time as i was geting bitched out by the ex-gf about my Toronto affairs.

So i hung up and went to the ticket counter and serendipitously met a Canadian who was meeting ehr sister in Syracuse and was going from there to Ithaca, a guy from Montreal tagged along and fittingly enough i’m riding in a van full of Canucks back into Vonnegut’s old stomping grounds. Was it a coincidence that as soon as i hung up with the ex that good things happened? Who knows, who cares?

the point is I’m still meeting with the crazy loon Howling Mime and his pack of dogs and his beautiful wife for lunch here. Catching a ride back to Syracuse and will be brushing my shoulders off in Brooklyn, New York by nightfall. Ain’t that sumpthing?

perhaps the beautiful Robin Kay will be available tonight to get drinks, or maybe I’ll end up in some bar with the old gang from Denton, Texas. a lot of us out there in NYC.

I’m just excited to see old friends in new places, and tell new lies, and old truths.

30% chance you’ll make to see this world from sperm to conception to being born to being raised to being an adult. You’d think people would seem more happy to be alive. Life is a miracle and magical if you make the right decisions. People in places like Toronto, San Francisco, even Portland at times are so even keel, so cool that they forget just how awesome the places they inhabit are.

That is why its important for travelers like us to remind them that it could be a lot worse. No matter where you are the chain of events have unfolded already to eventually lead to death. Might as well enjoy the trip.

If there is something you need to say say it. If there is something you need to do, then do it. You only live once, unless of course you’re a Buddhist, but i’m not ready to take that gamble either.

BM

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Eve of Departure pt. II

24 Jun
Does this look like the face of someone ready to leave?

Does this look like the face of someone ready to leave?

“What is this, are you some kind of hypnotist?” ~Flaming Lips

“When love comes to town I’m gonna catch that train, when love comes to town I’m gonna catch that plane.” ~U2 and B.B. King

Life is quite strange, and memory even stranger. When I think of how strongly I felt for the red head I dated in college and how I ached and pined for her love, I’m almost embarrassed at the lack of feeling I have when her image arises in my consciousness.

On the flip side, how does a person go from being a complete stranger, waiting in the line at the bar to someone you’re sitting at a park on a beautiful evening, talking and looking at the stars on a park bench?

Yesterday i went to her job and we sat on the roof of the office building, where I could see all of Toronto’s downtown, the museums and baseball park, and beyond.

interesting side note here, they have this green roof where they plant a lot of wildflowers and stuff to sop up the extra rain water from the sky. It soaks it up and in the summer and winter it provides insulation and cooling. Toronto is progressive like that, which is why i was surprised that no one is talking about the no flush urinal, rumored to save over 40,000 gallons of water a year.

Speaking of waste, this city wide strike is an interesting thing to observe. It makes you really cognizant of everybody’s individual waste. Crazy seeing the receptacles taped up, overflowing, I can’t even tell you what the demands are……maybe they are just fed up.

Kid Dracula was a failure. You could sense what was on everyone’s mind when people were leaving when it ended. i wanted my money back.I always wondered what gave this old man the idea to link these two things up, the Kid A part worked, although they may have been 2 seconds off, but the Ok Computer did not work. Too distracting from the movie.

Although I must say that Kid A has survived the years better than OK in my opinion. I can’t bring myself to listen to OK Computer all the way through anymore, or even the Bends (unless I’m feeling particularly heartsick). But Kid A sounded even better than the first time I heard it. I wasn’t even sure i liked it the first time I heard it. maybe that is the mark of brilliance?

Anyway this cineforum thing was innaresting….he bought this house, put a movie theater in the parlor and we sat with 3-D glasses and watched 3 stooges until the main movies, for which he then asked for them back……(maybe they wouldn’t have worked for Nosferatu).

It did give me an idea for a movie, although I’d have to get a thumbs up from the JCC about it, called Nos Fairy JEw. Watching some of those scenes was comical and made me wonder how I could make this movie without being called racist and homophobic…….come on…. Vampires???? Lots of sexual innuendo eh?

So the question remains, what would Jerry do? What would Jay-Z do? What would Leonard Cohen do?

Jerry: “Don’t you let that deal go down.”

Thanks Jerry

Jay-Z “I’ve got 99 problems but a bitch ain’t mine.”

yeah you’re right money over bitches, but she ain’t a bitch, she’s actually really sweet and thoughtful, and besides you married Beyonce…… nuff said.

Leonard: “Stay the weekend, don’t leave Canada and write a song about the experience.” Trust me.

As tempting as that is, there is still the woman who may or may not be my girlfriend back home. I don’t want to eff things up with that, and if I stay with this girl, that will definitely come up, because sex would come up sooner or later this weekend.

As much I do want to stay and get to know this young lady, I don’t like making it a habit to rearrange my life around a woman. It doesn’t work. yeah i stayed an extra couple of days, but i was going to do that anyway.

But if I stay a full week, that throws everything off. My quality time with Howling Mime and my buddy in Brooklyn, and not to mention all the hiking i want to do in upstate NY.

But you’ll always wonder what if. Don’t you want to know how it’d turn out? Ithaca will always be there

Hell no. What if I do decide to chuck the rest of the trip and just stay, then what? Not a good idea, she could very well be a siren, put there to lure you off course. More things to see than buildings and food.

Besides if this thing will be over the minute I leave town then perhaps the connection really isn’t that strong. Distance shouldn’t affect the gravity of true love. And my long distant friends can tell you that no matter how much time passes, the minute we are within ear shot of each other, time goes out the window.

So. Now i must ride across town and drop her bike at her house, stop by her job and then say an awkward and abrupt goodbye to her. I’ve already said a tearful goodbye to the city (again) then I’ll hit the road later tonight under the upstate NY stars.

two transfers and then I’ll roll into Ithaca in the morning for a different kind of adventure.

the noise and energy of the city is starting to wear on me it’ll be nice to be away from all the power lines, moving vehicles, and metropolitan people.

I know I’m doing the right thing, but it doesn’t mean I feel good about it. Wish me luck.

BM

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Eve of Departure

18 Jun

Leaving behind an apartment, my landlord’s two dogs, a woman who may or may not be my girlfriend, and a dynasty on NCAA Football ’09.

East here I come. Excited. look forward to really kicking it in New York and seeing what the buzz is about coming from there. One of my best friends from college will be hosting me in Brooklyn.

Toronto :A big festival in NXNE with bands such as Experimental Dental School, Final Flash, MR. Lif will be there, so will the GZA.

gotta go home and pack and remember EVERYTHING!!!
Didn’t get my shipment of books so I’m mailing them to myself in Brooklyn,

Ithaca is supposed to have an interesting scene there as well…..from everything I heard it’s like the UC Davis of the East.

It’s already an adventure and I haven’t even left yet…….

and of course there is the big un in Elmer, New Jersey.

is he really retiring??????????

Well if you call what JAy-Z, MJ did, as retiring, then i’m retiring…..one last thing.

I can’t wait until Kobe’s daughters get old enough to date…..that would be a reality show worth watching………I might even send my sons after them just for comedic purposes…..I’m out this piece. I got a plane to catch, more
later……..
3 weeks on the road…..reporting what I see (well most of it)

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