Saturday, October 31, 2020

College Football: Two Amazing Predictions

The Dawgs beat the Cats today in Lexington.
The Jackets looked good in their throwbacks, but their effort to confuse the Irish by wearing similar looking uniforms failed miserably. Uniform grade: B. The TV numbers were too small. And why bother with throwback unis if you don't wear the right color socks and shoes?
New rumors: instead of being drafted by the jets, might Trevor Lawrence stay in school another year? Would be cool if he could win two Heismans, but...see my predictions below.
Florida donned throwback uniforms as well. So did Boston College.

Sparty upset mighty #13 Michigan. Perhaps the Big 10 is a wee bit overrated.

Boston College thought they were going to upset #1 Clemson, who was without the face of college football Trevor Lawrence, as well as three defensive starters. The Tigers started a true freshman QB. Everything went the Eagles way in the first half, including a 97 yard fumble return TD. In the second half the officials started calling all the obvious BC penalties (& a few against Clemson) and the Tigers quietly rolled to a close victory. After the game Dabo announced Lawrence will miss next week's game in South Bend. Now for the next week all the so called experts will blather on about how Notre Dame will beat Clemson. Well you've heard it hear first - Clemson will beat the Irish. I'm afraid young Mr Lawrence may go the way of Peyton Manning, missing out on the Heisman Trophy because of the two games he's missing. Should Clemson beat the Irish, Travis Etienne becomes your Heisman leader.

Clemson scored more than twice as many points against Tech than Notre Dame, and gave up half as many to the Jackets as the Irish did.

Dawgs defense shut down Kentucky. Hopefully they can keep it up next week in Jacksonville against Florida's potent offense. As everyone says, it's obvious Georgia needs to find more offense. Many want JT Daniels to play, but as I've said before Daniels obviously hasn't impressed the coaches or he would've gotten playing time before now. I may have watched football my entire life, and I'm not sure about everyone else on social media, but I'd say the UGA coaches probably know just a little more about the situation, considering they've seen Daniels and Bennett in every practice and meeting.

ESPN sure built up the Ohio State / Penn State game. Penn State is not that good. Yet a blowout win by the Buckeyes will just inflate the national media's opinion of them. They'll probably sneak past UGA into the top four. Clemson's top spot may be in jeopardy as well. Well, the playoff will settle things in the end.

Friday, October 30, 2020

Strike Two




We got our power back around 2:30 am this morning. Yesterday I left work at five and without thinking drove my usual way home. At the river Roswell Road was shut down headed up the hill into historic Roswell – and Azealia was closed west of Roswell, so I had to backtrack and go a different route. Got home and raked the driveway and street in front of the house before it got dark. I’ll have to deal with the yard this weekend.
 
With no power we went to Stockyard at The Avenue East Cobb to eat. I called to make sure they were open. It rang and rand and was about to hang up when they finally answered. I should’ve taken that as an omen. The restaurant seating area is shaped like a block C with only seven tables in two thirds of the C, so there was plenty of spacing – plus a tall plexiglass divider between our table and the one next to us.

After being seated at 7:25, it took a couple of minutes for our waiter to come greet us. He admitted they were short-handed and service would be slow. In addition to waiting on several tables he was having to cover the bar, which was out of our view. We didn’t mind, because we were in no hurry to get back to our dark house. He took our drink order and went away. I thought that maybe we should’ve ordered our food as well, but sometimes that messes things up, and besides, we were in no hurry anyway.

It took a while to get our drinks. The restaurant wasn’t that crowded and I saw several other employees hovering around tables. When our drinks came we were sure to give our waiter our order. The food finally arrived at 8:07. The BBQ pork sandwich was good, with sauce and slaw and fried onions. The french-fries were hot. When I had ordered the fries the waiter asked what dipping sauce I wanted, but none arrived with my food and there were no ketchup bottles on the table.

Ceil’s salad had the chicken and fried onions around the side of the bowl, but the middle looked like plain lettuce. Only when eating it did she find some of the other promised ingredients at the bottom of the bowl. We ate and finished and waited. At 8:25 the waiter finally returned to check on us. We’d never been offered refills on our drinks. We asked for the check. All that took another 15 minutes to complete. It was 8:45 before we left the place.  

The bad thing is that we have to go back to use up the gift card. Gonna be hard to get Ceil to go back. While we were there I was thinking how Reid and Edie always get good service. 

Got home and with the wind still whipping around I parked both vehicles in the garage. Normally even if I didn’t watch TV I would play on my laptop or phone, but with no Wi-Fi that was out as well. Plus I didn’t want to drain my phone battery with no way to recharge until I got to work. Since I hadn’t got much sleep Wednesday night, I went to bed early. 

At least there was one positive from the evening with no TV - I didn’t have to watch the Falcons. The Birds beat the Panthers. So much for finishing last and drafting Trevor Lawrence. Had the Falcons hung on to win the three games they’d had a 95% or greater probability – Dallas, Chicago, and Detroit – their record would be 5-3 and they’d be near the top of their division.  

Power was still out in our plant on Friday. That’s a bad thing for the last two days of the month, especially in October, as sales traditionally drop off in November and especially December. The plant will have to work this weekend to catch up. 

Remember the Gilligan’s Island episode when the professor was turned into a zombie? With all the zombie shows on TV nowadays, Gilligan’s Island was ahead of their time. 

UGA made an impression of Barney’s paw in clay and sent it to us. At some point we have to go and pick up his ashes. 

Sad news one of Anna’s UGA classmates died Wednesday night when a tree fell on their home in Decatur. I haven’t seen anything about it yet in the AJC. 

NOMAR GARCIAPARRA  [SABR Bio] a one-time, Chicago Cub player won the first rookie home run derby, held before the 1997 All-Star game. Garciaparra hit 3 HR to win the rookie contest, defeating Scott Spiezio and Jose Guillen, who each hit two.  By winning the rookie contest, Garciaparra earned a spot in the regular All-Star HR derby.  He was eliminated in the 1st round after he failed to hit a home run. Played for CHC 2004-05. He was voted Rookie of the Year unanimously, only the second unanimous vote among his franchise’s six rookies so honored. ROY in 1997. He swept the Rookie of the Year balloting, becoming only the second unanimous selection among his franchise’s six rookies so honored.  Carlton Fisk was the other ROY unanimously for BOS in 1972. He hit the 10,000th home run in his franchise’s history. Hit BOS 10,000th HR 17-Jul-2000

Thursday, October 29, 2020

R.I.P. Jimmy Orr

Former Baltimore Colt wide receiver Jimmy Orr passed away. Did you ever go to his restaurant in Peachtree Battle, The End Zone? I remember seeing ads for the place in Falcon programs. Pretty sure Orr worked for the Falcons back after he retired.

Big news - Ceil applied for a dog, and her application was approved. Still the process will take months she says. Not sure about details or what type of dog. A smaller labradoodle I think. We’ll see about what the dog will look like. Maybe brown instead of Barney’s white. Still haven’t moved Barney’s food container.

Johnson Ferry meets but you have to have an appointment. We haven’t been to a service. Just on line. In a few weeks our Sunday School class is going to meet outside again, barring the rain. Might be the week we are in Virginia.

You guys survive the storm? I have no idea the extent of the damage. Our power went out at 4 am. I was standing beside the bed trying to decide whether I wanted to go downstairs and turn on the TV. Not long after that C and I went downstairs to “sleep”. No power or Wi-Fi so my phone wasn’t working, so I couldn’t get any updates.

Around 10:35 last night I realized I’d better clean out the garage and put the Jeep inside. Our previously clean driveway was littered with debris this morning. I had to move several branches before leaving. Delayed my morning about 40 minutes, so that’s how late I was arriving at work. Our office has a backup generator but most of our plant does not.

Left work not long at five yesterday. Stopped by Dollar Tree for more Halloween candy. Ceil baked breaded chicken tenders and small potatoes, and tossed a salad. Later she re-watched a Hallmark movie.

Saw where John and Margaret Condra ate dinner with David and Jim Watterson Jr up in Charlotte, in a restaurant. Not sure of the details. 

I did sleep late on Saturday and Sunday. This morning I slept until 6:40. I shouldn’t have stopped for gas, which caused me to not get clocked in this morning until 8:05. Trying to wear that cpap mask all night and not take it off.

Kinda blue with all the craziness going on in the country right now.

Did not watch one pitch of the World Series. Only saw one replay – of the crazy ending when the Dodgers let in the winning run. Wanted the Rays to win. Glad some other manager other than Snit is under fire for a bad managerial decision. Of course none of the critics had managed a team to game six of the World Series.

Only three pitchers have won the Cy Young, Gold Glove, and Silver Slugger: Orel Hershiser, Fernando Valenzuela, and Zach Greinke. Former Braves Smoltz, Glavine, Maddux, and Mike Hampton have each won two of the three.

ICHIRO SUZUKI [B-R Bio] is the only player to collect 200 hits in each of his first ten major league seasons - 200+ hits in each year 2001-2010, with seven of those leading the majors. In his rookie season, he compiled three separate fifteen game hitting streaks - 15-G hitting streaks in 2001 => 15 G streak: 04-Apr thru 20-Apr.,

                                                     23 G: 22-Apr thru 18-May and

                                                     21 G: 03-Aug thru 24-Aug.

Only Ty Cobb, George Sisler and he own a season with 240+ hits and 50+ stolen bases. Cobb in 1911 = 248 H, 83 SB; Sisler in 1922 = 246 H, 51 SB; Ichiro in 2001 = 242 H, 56 SB

Indicators that you are smarter than the average person:   

1. You don’t believe you are that smart (check).

2. You understand the power of questions (not me). From staying curious to continuously questioning your own biases and not taking the status quo for granted.

3. You have a dirty mouth (just a little). This could mean you are more open, imaginative, curious, and have a better vocabulary.

4. You are a night owl (not me).

5. You are pretty tall (maybe?).

6. You have a great sense of humor (well there we go – I knew I was smart). Actually studies show the converse is true: smart people have a better sense of humor. Notes there is a difference between having a great sense of humor and telling a lot of jokes.

https://www.theladders.com/career-advice/6-surprising-indicators-youre-smarter-than-the-average-person?ltm=WuRmP90mJi9NGSQy6v9eRdfmuSj/5dYE8r8XDKIAdQb3xwnTT7hcB3efSWqMF77O&subscriber_type=member&utm_swu=6280&utm_source=member&utm_term=dnl-10-27-20&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily-newsletter&utm_content=dnl-10-27-20 

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

The Black Watch




Was reading the fan reaction to the Black Watch uniforms Tech will be wearing Saturday against Notre Dame. First off I’m happy they’ll be wearing the throwbacks. They’ll be the best-looking uniforms Tech will wear this year. One self-decreed Tech uniform “expert” quickly called them Tech’s greatest-ever throwbacks, obviously forgetting the mustard jerseys the Jackets wore back in Calvin Johnson’s day. Looks like adidas is rolling out throwbacks for several of their schools, including Arizona State (good) and Indiana (bad).

 

Many fans pointed out the Black Watch GT logo and helmet stripe had to be earned. A defense-only award. Now the whole team will wear the uni. Back in the day that GT defense gave up an average of ten points per game, only 132 points all year. In the last two games Tech game up 121 points, This year Tech’s defense is giving up ten points per quarter. Not sure this is the best time to be honoring a great defense. Kinda like in Brian’s Song when Brian Piccolo was in the hospital with cancer. The Bears dedicated the game ball to Piccolo. When Gale Sayers presented the ball to Piccolo, the ailing running back reminded Sayers that when you do something like that, you’re supposed to win the game.

 

I was never a big fan of the Black Watch uniforms. That year the team wore plain gold helmets with no logo. Black face masks and jerseys. Gold pants. Kinda a dark look. Too much like Wake Forest, Vandy, Purdue, Army, Navy, Notre Dame, and Central Florida. Tech’s signature white jersey and gold pants used to be unique. Back then Tech wore high white socks pulled up to their knees, and white shoes. We’ll see if Tech copies that look. These days players wear their pants pulled up high, with their bare knees exposed, and the tail of their undershirt untucked, hanging down low for an opponent to grab (smart, huh?).

 

Still say Tech should’ve waited to wear these throwbacks against another school, since the gold helmets, dark jerseys, and gold pants will look just like Notre Dame. Better to wear white helmets so freshman QB Jeff Sims can spot his receiver easier. It will be a good-looking game to watch, with both teams wearing old-school unis. Bet the Irish will still look better. Pretty sure NotreDame@GT will be on ABC, so you should be able to see it.

 

Week 7 ESPN Total QB Rating

1. 97.0 Justin Fields Ohio State (one game) 

2. 96.6 Mac Jones Alabama

6. 92.7 Kyle Trask Florida

8. 86.6 Trevor Lawrence Clemson junior

9. 86.5 Stetson Bennett IV Georgia junior

 

33. 73.1 Bo Nix Auburn

38. 66.6 Sam Howell UNC

51. 61.9 Cornelious Brown Georgia State

59. 57.9 Jarrett Guarantano Tennessee

73. 47.6 Chase Brice Duke senior

80. 43.3 Shai Werts Georgia Southern

85. 39.6 Jeff Sims GT 85th out of 99 QB’s.

 

GEORGE BRETT  [SABR Bio] was the first Hall of Famer to spend his entire major league career with an American League expansion team. Played for KCR 1973-93  (Robin Yount [MIL 1974-93] also qualified by going into the Hall that same year, 1999, but with 103 fewer votes than Brett, so Brett was first. Edgar Martinez also qualified later [SEA 1987-2004]). Brett holds the career records for that team in hits, doubles, triples, home runs, RBI, total bases and bases-on-balls as well as at least twenty (20!) additional offensive categories. Baseball-Reference shows him as the career KCR leader in 28 different offensive categories. The cherry on top was the Gold Glove he won.

 

Brett and a certain switch-hitting, All-Star pitcher were teammates in high school. Brett attended El Segundo High School in the suburbs of Los Angeles with Orioles pitcher Scott McGregor. His brother still holds an impressive postseason record. Ken was the youngest pitcher to appear in a World Series game at 19 years 20 days old for BOS in the 1967 WS G# 4 08-Oct-1967. That’s nearly 14 months younger than Don Drysdale was when he appeared for BRO in the 1956 WS G#4 07-Oct-1956.

 

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Falcon Unis: Not the Worst





I may be getting soft in my old age, but maybe the Falcons uniforms aren’t the worst in the history of sports. I say they’re an improvement over the previous Falcon uniforms. The all black home outfits looked better than the dated Carolina Panther unis, and yesterday’s gradient jerseys weren’t as bad as the Lions all grey togs. Better than the Seahawks head to toe lime green monstrosities. Aside from the barely noticeable red side stripe, the Falcon unis are pretty plain. I like the big numbers, a rarity in football these days. I like the silver masks.

While I’d rather the Falcons wear white pants with the black home jerseys, we’ll probably only see that when they wear their throwbacks. I’d rather they wear white over white on the road, but I’m sure we’ll see red pants at some point (this Thursday night?), and probably black pants with the white jerseys at some point. Perhaps the new coach will come in and calm things down, uniform wise. Before it’s over we could see ten different jersey / pant combos.

Black black

White white

Gradient black

Throwback

White red

White black

Black white

Black red

Gradient white

Gradient red  

In the first quarter on third and goal the Falcon defender was called for unnecessary roughness on Lion QB Matt Stafford, but the Fox replay official agreed it was a bad call. Instead of fourth and goal field goal the Lions had a first and goal, and former Bulldog D’Andre Swift scored a touchdown.

They say good teams make their own luck. The Falcons are unlucky. Third game this season they had a 95% chance to win late in the game, and lost. That’s never happened before. If I were owner Arthur Blank, I wouldn’t come down to the sidelines in the fourth quarter, Seems like every time he is seen on the field the Falcons lose. Maybe not all in one year, but mark my word they’ll get to them all at some point.

Next Saturday’s games:

12:00 #4 GA@KY

12:00 BC@#1 Clemson

04:00 #3 NotreDame@GT ABC

06:00 MissState@#2 Alabama

07:20 Falcons@Panthers Oct 29 Thursday night

Tom Brady tied Drew Brees for the most TD passes in NFL history. Cam Newton threw three interceptions and was removed from the game, a blowout loss to the 49ers. Dallas Cowboy backup QB Andy Dalton was knocked out of the game yesterday by an obvious illegal hit. If the NFL wants to cut down on injuries, why don’t they make a rule where when this happens the player hitting illegally has to sit out the same amount of time the injured player misses? 

There’s something calming about looking out over water. Just being able to look out our back windows and being able to see the sunlight reflecting off the creek is one of the favorite things about our house. 

When we moved into our house back in the 90’s there was one fallen tree trunk lying across the creek. Last week I saw where one end of the tree has finally fallen down onto the bank of the creek, and smaller sticks and branches have gotten stuck under the tree. This has created a little backup of water, making the creek deeper. That might make for a better view (since we can’t really see the fallen tree from our house) but something tells me I need to go down and clear all that mess up. Gonna be cold, dirty, and wet. 

Have a good weekend? Ours was on the low key side. Spaghetti and meatballs for supper Friday evening.

Cleaned upstairs Saturday morning. Took Ceil’s car for an oil change. Quesadillas for lunch. Watched Syracuse@Clemson and GT@BC. I’ve been saying Syracuse is a good team. They kept it close but the Tigers put up 47 on them. The Jackets made BC look as good as Clemson. Mexican for supper. 

Sunday School on line. Quesadillas for lunch and later for supper. Ceil wanted to get out of the house so we took something down to W&MC. Will was adding planters to the back deck. Anna was back home resting after a weekend trip to Tennessee. Later I watched some football, and after that Hallmark Channel. 

Monday: Left work shortly after five. Stopped by Taco Bell for a bite before small group at church. Rob was out so it was just me and John and Ron. Got home about 8:20.

Anna didn’t get the job she was interviewing for. 

Denison: Cal Thomas' new book, America's Expiration Date, is subtitled The Fall of Empires and Superpowers . . . and the Future of the United States. Thomas builds his narrative on an argument advanced by Sir John Glubb (1897–1986). Glubb "found patterns, or stages, in the rise and fall of great nations. He called them the age of pioneers, the age of conquests, the age of commerce, the age of affluence, the age of intellect, and finally the age of decadence." All begin their final slide when a sense of shared morality and common virtue is abandoned." Thomas warns: "If America doesn't learn from history—our own and the world's—we are likely to suffer the fate of other great nations, rotting from within before either being conquered from without by an invading army or collapsing under the weight of self-indulgence, decadence, debt, a sense of entitlement, greed, and envy." If we think this cannot be our future, our complacency makes it more likely. 

In Europe clergy who hold acts of public worship can go to prison under new Covid measures. But in Washington DC a judge upheld the lawsuit brought by two churches not allowed to hold worship services. 

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__ionainstitute.ie_clergy-2Dwho-2Dhold-2Dacts-2Dof-2Dpublic-2Dworship-2Dcan-2Dgo-2Dto-2Dprison-2Dunder-2Dnew-2Dcovid-2Dmeasures_&d=DwIFAg&c=UXihhqr7vvdA-hrKyTiC1Q&r=wMWwaEbn9nr4zXI4p6CDP7FGwn1DrBd77MJElrWsP6U&m=pLohIsGQje_LcIkitB3IqNiiWMV6BLQkCeOaTWV_lMA&s=6E0TCX-h4UFArceMWzMRt5rp9KEgYY8sLYqUSvhliIQ&e= 

FRANK THOMAS  [B-R Bio] a Hall of Famer, he was the first to win a league MVP in two straight seasons and to DH in each season - MVPs 1993 & 1994 for CHW. DH’ed 4 & 13 times respectively. Though he played for two other teams before retiring, he remains the career leader in twenty career categories for his original franchise, not to mention eleven single-season categories.- CHW career leader 20 times; season leader 11 times. . He currently appears in some cringe-worthy television ads for testosterone and body building products.- TV ads

Monday, October 26, 2020

Sac Fly Book Club

My friend just published a reading list of sports books. I’ve read some of them, and will make a point to read or reread others, including The Jordan Rules, Moneyball, These Guys have all the Fun, and Phil Knight Shoe Dog. The book Fever Pitch is about soccer, but I may have to read it as well. 

https://www.grindcitymedia.com/2020/10/26/langs-world-a-gcm-sports-reading-list-201026/  

Some of my favorite books about sports: 

Miracle on the 17th Green: A Novel about Life, Love, Family, Miracles…and Golf (Travis McKinley #1) by James Patterson and Peter de Jonge. Sports fiction can often be droll, but Patterson’s Travis McKinley series are fun reads. As are John Grisham’s sports novels: Calico Joe, Bleachers, and Playing for Pizza.

The Swinger, by Michael Bamberger. More fiction, this about the supposed wild double life of the world’s top golfer. Based on a true story?

Shoeless Joe, by WP Kinsella. The novel that spawned the movie Field of Dreams. The many differences from the film make it a fun read.

A Drive Into the Gap, by Kevin Guilfoile. Truth or fiction? Whatever happened to the bat Roberto Clemente used to collect his 3000th (and final) hit? Depends on which story you believe. Short but sweet.

Undefeated: Jim Thorpe and the Carlisle Indian School Football Team, by Steve Sheinkin. David versus Goliath..

The Punch: One Night, Two Lives, and the Fight that Forever Changed Basketball Forever, by John Feinstein. Anything by Feinstein is good, including this account of how one split second in time changed two lives forever.

Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig in his Time, by Ray Robinson. Besides his legendary consecutive games streak, Gehring put up numbers rarely matched in baseball history – while being a good guy in the shadow of his playboy teammate.   

Summer of 49, by David Halberstam. The American League MVP race between two icons: DiMaggio and Williams. Like Feinstein, anything by Halberstam is worth the time..

One More July: A Football Dialogue with Bill Curry, by George Plimpton. An unlikely lifetime friendship between player and scribe. 

Baseball is a Funny Game, by Joe Garagiola. As a kid I learned a ton about baseball by reading this book. 

Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season, by Stewart O’Nan and Stephen King. A season-long conversation between two Sox fans. All the ups and downs, and the miracles along the way. So good that I read it twice, a rarity for me. 

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster, by Jon Krakauer. Firsthand retelling of a tragedy very few knew about at the time.

Sunday, October 25, 2020

Two Sports in One Day?


It is often reported erroneously that Deion Sanders played in NFL and MLB games on the same day. The anniversary of this date recently passed. In fact after jetting from Miami where he played for the Falcons, he arrived at Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium shortly before game time, and sat on the bench for the entire Braves/Pirates playoff game. 

Deion did enter the previous night's Braves game as a late inning defensive replacement, so he did play in a NFL and MLB game in a 24 hour span. Sanders, who recently was named head football coach at FCS level Jackson State, says he is working to produce a documentary about that day. Says he will name the person who denied him the chance to play that night in Pittsburgh (manager Bobby Cox?).

The next Sunday Deion skipped his Falcons game, and played in that day's Braves playoff game. At FSU legend has it that Deion played in a baseball game and ran in a track meet at the same time. Sanders has a son on scholarship at South Carolina, a cornerback.

 

Speaking of multi-sport athletes: I recently came across a photo of Syracuse basketball player Jim Brown, who earned All-America status at Syracuse in both football and lacrosse. He also ran track and decathlon. Jackie Robinson played football, baseball, basketball, and ran track at Pasadena Junior College and UCLA.

At the Carlisle Indian School, Jim Thorpe ran track, played football, baseball, and lacrosse, and won the 1912 intercollegiate championship in ballroom dancing.

Deion and Bo Jackson played football and baseball and ran track in college. So did Red Grange. Herschel played football and ran track.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1992-10-12-1992286130-story.html

https://www.mlb.com/cut4/25-years-ago-deion-sanders-played-an-nfl-game-then-flew-to-join-the-braves-in-th

http://www.espn.com/30for30/film/_/page/deionsdoubleplay

https://www.google.com/amp/s/syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/2738003-the-day-deion-did-both-25-years-ago-prime-time-suited-up-for-2-sports-in-1-day.amp.html

Isaiah 55:6-13 Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Birthday and other deals I cashed in on in August and September. 

savings/date

06.00 8.01 CiCis Pizza buffet

99.99 8.15 FitBit

50.00 8.14 WalMart gift card

11.00 8.04 Ruby Tuesday burger & tots

16.00 8.10 Big Daddy's Burger & tots

02.00 8.11 Taco Bell Doritos taco

10.00 8.11 Firebirds burger & tots

30.00 8.13 Jackson Associates Focus Group

10.00 8.14 Zaxbys meal

20.00 8.14 Panera Bread sweepstakes gift card

01.00 8.15 RaceTrac free coke

10.00 8.18 Steak & Shake burger & fries

12.00 8.25 Red Robin burger

03.00 8.18 Taco Bell slushy

08.00 9.08 Moe's burrito

06.00 9.10 Chickfila sandwich and shake

05.00 9.00 Chickfila chicken biscuits

07.00 9.00 Cold Stone Creamery bogo

04.00 9.00 Steak & Shake milkshake

311.00 total

TY COBB [SABR Bio] his death inspired a New York University economics professor to drive 75,000 miles around the country and interview turn-of-the-century baseball players. In the preface to The Glory of Their Times, NYU's Lawrence Ritter wrote, "I first thought of this book back in 1961, when Ty Cobb died in Atlanta, Georgia, at the age of seventy-four. It seemed to me that someone should do something, and do it quickly, to record for the future the remembrances of a sport that has played such a significant role in American life." In his final season he lost a point off his career batting average. Years after his death, he lost another point. Through 1927, Cobb was hitting .368: 4,077 hits in 11,076 at-bats. His final-year .323 average dropped it to .367. Years later, baseball researchers calculated that Cobb's hit totals had been double counted for a 1910 game, among other anomalies, dropping his average to .366. (This also means that Pete Rose passed Cobb's hit count earlier than the date when it was celebrated). Years after retirement he confessed to "LIFE" magazine that his team had hired a spotter to pick up the opponents' catcher's signs and signal them back to their batters. The "spy" was used during the years when the Tigers' home field was Bennett Park.