Old Yankee Stadium

Yankee Stadium, the House that Ruth Built (Babe Ruth, not some muscular construction worker babe), is reaching the end of its life. Again and finally. Come next spring, the Yankees will get a new playpen. Facts and figures on that tomorrow. Today, the (mostly) original Yankee Stadium.

The park opened in 1923 and was closed in 1973 for remodeling. The 1923 building cost $2.5 million. The remodeling cost $48 million, maybe more, a lot more, with interest expense. With reconfigurations over the years, seating capacity has ranged from 54,000 to nearly 72,000. No telling if bathroom counts went up and down with seating counts.

The field dimensions have changed like crazy, fences in, fences out, fences high, fences low, it's a jumble of numbers. They're proudly saying that the new park will have the same dimensions as the old. They mean the old measurements from right now, I think.
The city of New York has owned the place since 1973.

Some of the baseball legends who performed here include the Babe (Mr. Baseball), Lou Gehrig (Mr. Endurance), Joe DiMaggio (Mr. Coffee), Yogi Berra (Mr. AFLAC), Mickey Mantle (maybe the best baseball player ever) and Roger Maris (Mr. Asterisk).

The Yankees have won 26 championships while frolic-ing in Yankee Stadium. I inserted the hyphen there because I don't like the look of the word "frolicing". Just looks weird...

There's plenty of monuments in and around Yankee Stadium, honoring Yankee greats...and 2 Cardinals. Who are the Cardinals? Stick around.

The All Star game was played in Yankee Stadium in 1939, 1960, 1977 and this year. Smallest crowd to ever watch a Yankee game was September 25, 1966, when 413 people saw the White Sox beat the Yankees 4-1.

The stadium has been the site of some historic boxing matches: Joe Louis v. Max Schmeling in 1938, Tony Zale v. Rocky Graziano in 1945, and Muhammed Ali v. Ken Norton in 1976. Many famed college football games were held here, and the NY football Giants played in Yankee Stadium from 1956 to 1973. They played pro soccer here, too, but I don't care and neither do you.

In 1950, the stadium began as the site of conventions of the Jehovah's Witnesses, with nearly 124,000 people showing up at the inaugural event. I still don't know about the bathroom count, but I don't think they guzzled a lot of beer at this event, so maybe it wasn't an issue.

Two popes celebrated mass in Yankee Stadium, and those are the Cardinals that are memorialized in Monument Park with the Yankees. Yeah, trick question.

There is a 138 foot tall baseball bat out in front; you've seen it on Seinfeld reruns.

The curtain came down Sunday, reruns are the only place to see this American monument.

Tomorrow, New Yankee $tadium.

Time in a Bottle, 35 Years Later

September 20th was the 35th anniversary of the death of Jim Croce, the singer/songwriter who did a bunch of hits, most notably "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" (which, for years, every crappy wedding band seemed bound and determined to perform, crappily) and "Operator" (which I don't think anybody has covered, thank heaven, 'cause it was done about perfect the first time) and "Time in a Bottle" (ditto the "Operator"). Croce and his performing partner were killed in a small plane crash after performing in Natchitoches, Louisiana.

I have steadfastly avoided listening to Jim Croce recordings for pretty much all of this time, since his death.

When Croce died, he was 30 years old and just beginning to taste commercial success. He and his wife, Ingrid, who was his co-writer and former performing partner, had an infant son named A.J., who is now a musician. Jim and Ingrid had worked for a few years in the late 60's touring , driving their VW bus across the USA, playing small clubs, colleges and coffee houses. They moved to NYC for a while, tired of it and then moved to Pennsylvania, where Croce worked ordinary, real jobs to pay the bills.

In 1970, Croce teamed with Terry Muehleisen, a classical guitar player who also sang background. Croce's career began to get some traction. He signed a deal with ABC in 1972 for three records. Those records would eventually make a pile of money.

Then Jim got dead.

After her husband's death, Ingrid Croce took her young son and headed south, eventually ending up Costa Rica, where she stayed for several years. She had to launch extended litigation to obtain the music royalties owed to her late husband--Jim and Ingrid were broke at the time of his death. When her young son was 4, he faced a life threatening medical situation, which , though he survived, compromised his eyesight.

In 1985 Ingrid opened the first Croce's, a restaurant/club in what was then rundown downtown San Diego. There are now 5 very successful Croce's locations. Ingrid is an author and motivational speaker, too.

And I listened to some Jim Croce songs again, and they're really pretty good. I had some very acceptable excuses for avoiding his music, but the truth of the matter is that I had a problem with a good guy getting dead early. Some people, bigger, more impactful talents, disappeared, but that wasn't a problem.

Case in point, Jim Morrison of The Doors, legendary performer, Morrison annihilated himself; I was OK with that. Janis Joplin, same, she was a train wreck just waiting for her turn. There were others like that, over time, e.g. John Belushi, broke my heart when I heard he'd croaked, but when I read his story, well, still sad, but ultimately unavoidable and therefore something to be accepted.

But this Croce guy, just a guitar player from Jersey with a wife and a kid and chasing his dream when bam, hegone! Not supposed to happen this way. So I partitioned it off, and left if there, where it stayed for a really long time. Not that hard, really; the songs aren't earth shattering in their importance or impact. They're nice music, just nice.

So, why the epiphany now? Best I can come up with is that you eventually need to conquer your fears. No matter how irrational ,or minor, or how long they've had the upper hand.

Week IV Roundup

Week IV (I think the Roman numeral classes it up a little, eh?) pretty much sucked (so much for classing it up).

Ohio +11@ Northwestern
NU 16, Ohio 8
The 'Cats go to 4-0 and I got it right, but this was not a happy win. NU star running back Tyrell Sutton got hurt, so did WR Andrew Brewer, QB CJ Bacher threw 4 interceptions and they didn't score in the second half. Yuck. But they still go to 4-0.
"W"
Wyoming @ BYU -28.5
Brigham Young 44, Wyoming -0-
BYU has a winning streak that dates back to the last game of the '06 season. Wyoming has a sore spot from the whippin' they took
"W"
Rutgers @ Navy +6
Navy 23, Rutgers 21
A field goal by the Middies put them ahead with 2 minutes to go. Then a Middie linebacker stepped up and intercepted a pass to seal the deal for the Navy...and still, no one sheds a tear for dear old Rutgers.
"W"
Iowa +1 @ Pittsburgh
Pitt 21, Iowa 20.
This is a kiss-yer-sister tie. Great handicapping by the oddsmakers, no blood.
"T"
Boise State @ Oregon Ducks -11
Boise State 37, Oregon 32
The highlight clips looked like they were looping the same play : TD passes by Boise while the Ducks watched in amazement. It wasn't the lack of a quarterback for the Ducks. It was "no D in ucks".
"L"
Central Michigan @ Purdue -10.5
Purdue 32, CMU 25
Purdue couldn't shake the Chippewas, who had this game won when they went for and made a 2 point conversion with a minute to go, taking a 25-24 lead. Purdue then shook loose a 50 yard TD run and made a 2 pointer of their own, but no cover here, and a loss for me.
"L"
South Florida -28 @ Florida International
South Florida 17, FIU 9
Say goodbye to that #12 rating, SoFL. FIU gave a big FU to SFU and in the process, handed yours truly another loser.
"L"

Craptacular week. Started 10-13, now 13-16-1. I'm depressed

Football Picks, Week 4

I'm starting out this week with a record of 10-13. If I were a big league pitcher, a 10-13 record right now would mean that I could shop for a multi-million dollar long term contract for my meager skills. Since I work for a living and this is a hobby, I need to get cookin'. Here goes.
Ohio +11@ Northwestern
Ohio comes to Evanston with an 0-3 record and a highly aggravated state of mind, having lost to Wyoming by a single point, then giving powerhouse Ohio State a run for its money before knuckling under 26-14 and then losing a tough one to Central Michigan, 31-28. My beloved Wildcats are 3-0 and on an upswing, but they haven't really looked like they've put everything together yet. Forgive me, 'Cat Nation, I'm taking the points.
Wyoming @ BYU -28.5
Lots of points to give, but the Mormons beat the daylights out of UCLA last weekend, 59-0. Wyoming hasn't played this caliber of opponent yet. They're going to get clobbered.
Rutgers @ Navy +6
Rutgers, without graduated star running back Ray Rice, has been whupped by Fresno State and double whupped by NC State so far this year. The Middies have beaten cupcake Towson and lost to Ball State and Duke. With the points, it's Navy...and no one ever shed a tear for dear old Rutgers.
Iowa +1 @ Pittsburgh
Dave Wannstedt, the stammering former Chicago Bears coach, leads Pitt, who has lost to Bowling Green and beaten the Buffalo Bulls. The Hawkeyes have rolled over Maine, Florida International and screwed me with the last minute safety en route to a victory over intrastate rival Iowa State. I think Iowa's for real, so they're my pick.
Boise State @ Oregon Ducks -11
Boise State, 2-0, has wins over Idaho State and Bowling Green. The Ducks beat Washington 44-10 in game 1, beat Utah State 66-24 in week 2, and beat Purdue in OT, 32-26. The Ducks also have their #1 and #2 QB's on the injured list. I think that QB3 will have enough resources to cover the points.
Central Michigan @ Purdue -10.5
I was schooled last week by the Boilermakers. They are a good team, they're angry about last week, they're at home and that's enough to cover the points here.
South Florida -28 @ Florida International
The Bulls of South Florida are mui bien. Florida International is mui crappy. The Bulls also have a pretty cool logo on their helmets, though it just doesn't say "Flahriddah" to me. They're gonna kick the snot out of FLint'l, who is, by the way, the Golden Panthers.

Visualization Exercises

There was a short story the other day in the newspaper that made me laugh, and I think it's worth sharing. Gary Coleman, the diminutive former child TV star who has had a rather unspectacular adult life, was the subject. Gary (who is 4'8" according to the chap who looked it up for me) was arrested after he got into an argument at a bowling alley. The topic of the argument wasn't disclosed in what I read, so I'm taking submissions for what you think would have been a likely topic. Anyway, the argument appears to have continued on into the parking lot (bad sign for any argument, going long enough to end up in the parking lot, even worse arguing with a 4'8" guy outside a bowling alley) where Gary got in his car (pause here for visualization #1) and backed over the foot of the other guy.

Now, it's unfortunate enough that the other guy, who wasn't named, but I will call him, um, let's see, let's say "Willis", was incensed enough to keep going at it with Gary, but then to get his foot under Gary's Goodyears, well, that just stinks for him. And probably for Gary. But not for us.

When your day starts to suck, later today or tomorrow, or the next day, go to visualization #2:

Gary Coleman bowling.

You can't help but smile.
**********
Topic 2 for today comes from Mrs. PFOS. She went to the McDonalds in our town the other day for coffee. The power was out at McD's, so you had to drive up and order at the window.

The real problem was that los empleados, having no pictures of hamburgers or fries or apples pies to push on their cash registers, were having a devil of a time processing orders. They had no idea how much to charge, so they were asking customers how much the items should be.

Then they had to ask how much change to give. Then they had to figure out how to count it.

The rest of the details about who they were/are, I will leave up to you to infer, and to shake your head, and then go back and visualize Gary Coleman bowling.