Sunday, November 21, 2021

More Photos

 

A Chiefs running back was penalized for taunting today after pointing at an opposing player.

Why I don't need to be on Twitter...


Yesterday morning at the carwash there were three white Rav-4's getting ready at the same time. I didn't want to get into the wrong one. I already did that one time too many, back when I was driving that silver Honda Civic.

Below: yesterday's eggy boy sandwich.
Never saw one of these before. Wish I had.

Why I deleted my response to that know it all tweets above...

Anna's good fried from high school had worked in the White House, and recently landed a new job. In a related note, Anna wore a black #34 UGA jersey to the Vanderbilt game, but chose not to wear it in Athens due to "politcal reasons."
Not sure why Notre Dame messed with their classic uniform.
These monstrosities didn't help when they played Wisconsin.
Not a fan of blue over blue, but taken by themselves I'm liking the Bills' pants stripes, striped stockings, and grey facemasks.
Ceil's mother and her brother Lennie
used to pick cotton when they were young.
Sammy Baugh
Teresa and Beau had never heard of one of the greatest alternative rock & roll bands in history. Back in the day a band knew they had made it when their picture was on the cover of Rolling Stone. REM was featured on the cover at least twelve times.

Saturday, November 20, 2021

Same Story: Dawgs Win, Jackets Lose

The Dawgs eased by Charleston Southern.
Tech's drubbing at the hands of Notre Dame was reminiscent of their 69-14 loss in 1977 - the Rudy game.   

Bama QB Bryce Young had his Heisman moment against Arkansas, passing for well over 500 yards. Yet some Bama fans thing the freshman is dropping in the minds of Heisman voters. Besides Kenny Pickett, who else is in the running?
Two legends.
W&MC took Shivonne to Bellwood Quarry. 
Actor Art LaFleur passed away. He was a familiar face in several of my favorite movies, like Field of Dreams, Sandlot, The Replacements, and The Santa Clause.



Clemson QB  DJ Ukulele has yet to iron out his quarterbacking form, but the Tigers were able to get past Wake Forest, keeping their scant ACC championship hopes alive for another week.  

Friday, November 19, 2021

Qui Plussait, Plus Se Tait

Reading the book "A Wrinkle in Time". Just okay. I did like a quote from one of the first chapters.

Just realized Stetson Bennett could return to UGA in 2022. Why wouldn’t he? Yet the experts on the 680 morning show think he will move on. Really? Why? Where would he go? By staying it would create a most crowded QB room at UGA, meaning someone could most likely transfer: redshirt senior Bennett, redshirt junior JT Daniels, redshirt freshman Carson Beck, true freshman Brock Vandagriff, and incoming freshman Gunnar Stockton.

Still not much to report here. Getting caught up at work, but my coworker is taking off 13 of the next 22 work days. Plenty to do, but it would be nice to play golf this afternoon, tomorrow morning, and maybe next Wednesday.

Got plans for the weekend? Just kidding. Not sure about tonight, but I’ll golf tomorrow morning in the cold. Need to get the oil changed in Ceil’s car. Need to dig out more winter clothes. Need to rake leaves. Again.

0700 golf

1000 oil change

1200 Charleston Southern @ UGA

1200 Wake Forest @ Clemson

0200 Georgia Tech @ Notre Dame 

Thursday night supper: meatloaf, mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, carrot cake.

DANSBY SWANSON  [B-R Bio] his first name is his mother’s maiden name. His parents are Cooter and Nancy (née Dansby) Swanson. He was chosen the Most Outstanding Player in the 2014 College World Series. “Dansby" is actually Swanson’s middle name. In his second season in the majors, although he only started 135 games, he led all National League shortstops in errors with 20 in 2017. Three seasons later he ranked second in Defensive W.A.R., in the Covid-shortened season of 2020. His 1.3 was second only to the 1.4 of Nolan Arenado.

Ideas for taglines on Twitter and Instagram, you know, how I describe myself. My Instagram simply reads "artist" and Twitter: 1968 Cub Scout Pack 34 fishing champion. Both are true statements. Possible alternatives include "community organizer" and "domestic terrorist".

Got nothing in the can yet for this weekend's blog posts. Better get creative. Gonna be hard to come up with content for the next nine days, considering I'm only working three of them (and driving on two others). Can I do it? Tune in and see.

Thursday, November 18, 2021

All I Want for Christmas

Monday night I saw the church Christmas tree was up. Lights are popping up in the neighborhood. At Lenox tonight they're lighting "The Great Tree". I’m scared to think what Winnie would do to a Christmas tree. Time to make my list, and check it twice.

Braves knit caps for Christmas, from Academy Sports. 10% off code = EM10V3Y18D. Like Brian Snitker, I don’t look good in stocking caps, but I’m a sucker for them.

New Era Braves 2021 World Series Champs Locker Room Knit Hat 29.99 grey black (not the all grey hats with the patch). This was the hat worn by the Braves in the parade. Accept no substitutes. Already sold out. Don’t pay $200,00 on eBay. 

There are two acceptable substitutes:

New Era man’s Braves cheer knit Beanie 19.99 navy red grey

’47 Braves Calgary cuff knit cap 24.99 royal red 


Or ’47 adults Braves raised cuff knit cap 14.99 solid navy (black?)

A pair of FootJoy cold weather golf gloves, black. 

I have plenty of socks, but wear a size 12 sneaker. I don’t need them, but these Space Hippies look cool. And my Apple Watch broke. I’m fine with a series three. 

I saw one of the caps the Braves gave away for sale. Sold during the World Series.

My boss (my age) recently took his wife to Nashville and recommended two things. “Third & Lindsley” is a bar located on the corner of those streets, a few blocks away from the main drag. Every Monday night the session musicians for Vince Gill have a jam session there. Sometimes Vince shows up when he’s not on tour. Others who have stopped in to jam include Bonnie Raitt, Jimmy Buffett, and Reba somebody. $20 cover charge and reservations are needed. They ate at an expensive old steakhouse called Jimmy Kelly’s.

Denison interviewed Ben Carson, who explained his stance on abortion: Originally Carson did not agree with abortion personally, but also believed he had no right to force his belief on women (a common pro-choice explanation). But Carson came to understand that abortion, which treats an unborn child as less than fully human, is very similar to slavery, which treats a person of a different race as less than fully human. Carson asked himself: “What if abolitionists had taken the same position on slavery that I am taking on abortion? What if they had said, ‘I don’t believe in slavery personally, but I don’t want to force my beliefs on slaveholders?’ Where would I be today?  

JEFF BURROUGHS [SABR Bio] was the first #1 overall draft selection to win an RBI title in the majors. Drafted #1 in 1969, his 118 RBI in 1974 led the AL. Burroughs was drafted just ahead of J.R. Richard. Richard was #2 in the 1969 Draft. Jeff later played right field for the Mariners in 1981. He was the first league MVP from an expansion team, in 1974.

Wednesday, November 17, 2021

The Legend of Lou

There is a legend going around that the practice of skipping the first baseman when a team throws the ball around the infield after a strikeout is due to the Yankees skipping Lou Gehrig when he was weak from ALS. Then other teams did the same thing, in honor of Gehrig. True? Probably not.

This week’s ESPN Total QB Rating. Stetson now qualifies for the list. We’re guessing that Kirby was waiting until these last two games against much weaker opponents to rest his defense and play QB JT Daniels, to get him ready for the postseason. Still Stetson has a lock on the starting job.

1. 89.4 CJ Stroud Oklahoma State

3. 87.0 Stetson Bennett UGA

4. 86.9 Bryce Young Alabama

6. 84.0 Kenny Pickett Pitt

9. 81.2 Matt Corral Ole Miss

38 70.9 Bo Nix Auburn

50 66.6 Taulia Taguvailoa

81 54.0 Jeff Sims GT

94 44.7 Darren Grainger Georgia State

99 41.3 DJ Uiagalelei Clemson

With Ukulele floundering so at Clemson, has Dabo just been lucky that Trevor Lawrence and Deshaun Watson turned out as good as they did? At this point even turncoat Kelly Bryant outperformed DJ. The Tigers have five QB’s on the roster, including the Taison Pomegranate who hasn’t exactly exploded onto the scene. No sure if any of the other three QB’s were highly recruited. Only Billy Wiles is from out of state. Might have a true freshman starting next season.

Interesting story (aren’t they all?): Monday night I left work and headed to small group. Got there early and checked my phone. Replied to a tweet about Cubs catcher Randy Hundley, saying the stern taskmaster surrounded himself with jovial types at fantasy camp – and listed some of the ex-ballplayers at the camp: Pepitone, Piersall, Santo, Glenn Beckert, Moe Drabowsky, and Jose Cardinal. Then I went into small group.

When I got home I checked Twitter, and was surprised to see almost 8000 had seen my post. Turned out ex-pitcher / ESPN analyst Rick Sutcliffe had replied to my post, asking why he’d been left off my list. I replied that we sure would’ve liked to have had him at our camp in 1995.

China’s successful test of a hypersonic missile that can circumnavigate the planet at supersonic speeds is being hailed as the most important technological achievement by a rival superpower since Sputnik was launched. The missile travels down close to the ground, making it almost impossible for radar to detect. So far the US has not reacted with alarm. The US is still years away from developing this technology.

Top military official discloses new details about China's hypersonic test (msn.com) 

Tuesday: worked until almost six. Watched several YouTube videos of Leno and Letterman.

Denison: if Christians seek to share their faith in public, a rising tide of opposition brands us as intolerant, discriminatory, and dangerous. It is conventional wisdom to say that all truth is personal and subjective. As a result, sharing Christ in public is viewed as the imposition of our beliefs on others. I have no right to tell you that you should like classical music, any more than you have the right to impose your love for ballet on me. This view of truth extends to the claim that non-Christians need to trust Christ to escape hell for heaven (Acts 4:12). Such a claim is increasingly seen as intolerant, Remember that eternity is in the balance here. Every person you meet will live forever in God's presence in heaven, or separated from Him in hell.

LUIS APARICIO [SABR Bio] is the only player native to South America to be elected to the Hall of Fame. Born: 29-Apr-1934 in Maracaibo, Venezuela.  Inducted to the Hall of Fame as player in 1984. In 1959, Little Louie finished second in AL MVP. Double-play partner Nellie Fox took home the award and Cy-Young-Award-winning teammate Early Wynn was third. Three additional White Sox players also received votes that pennant-winning season. Aparicio’s first manager in 1956 was Marty Marion who had been the NL MVP in 1944 for STL.

Tuesday, November 16, 2021

State of Fear

With all the newfounded concerns about “space debris” how long before the government tells us that space debris is causing global warming?

Just read Kristin Hannah’s The Four Winds, about the Dust Bowl, the Great Depression, and subsequent migration to California. Why do the climate change bozos never mention the numerous weather calamities recorded throughout history, like in the 1700’s, 1800’s, and early 1900’s? Doesn’t fit their narrative.

And let it be known that I’m no science denier because of something I heard on Twitter or Fox News. I’ve sat through plenty of science based presentations on climate change and evolution at my kid’s science-based high school, aptly named Living Science, presented by accredited scientists who are experts in the field, who work at scientific organizations writing papers and doing research. Indeed, it is the actual science that offers proof of a Creator as well as scant human impact on the Earth’s atmosphere and ecosystem.

The late Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton was an early prophet in the scientific based debunking of "extreme climate change" with his novel "State of Fear" - required reading about the subject.

No shame in Freddie turning down the Braves first qualifying offer. Even if the Braves first offer had been the richest in sports history, in contract negotiations the first offer is usually turned down.

Kirby is getting grief for playing his defensive starters late in the fourth quarter in games already decided. A few defenders have suffered injuries. Not sure where I stand on this. In the SEC Championship and playoff games the defense may very well have to play more snaps, all the way to the final buzzer (if not overtimes).

Lately I’ve been reminded of the Rob Schneider character on Seinfeld, a coworker of Elaine’s.

Man it has been go go go for me. Worked past 6:30 Thursday night.

Left out at 7 am on Friday. Took 400 north then cut over to 985, then north to NC and over to Ashville. Then back mountain roads to visit several artist studios tucked away in the small towns about an hour north of Ashville. We took Winnie so I was on dog duty most of the day.

Stopped in tiny downtown Burnsville for a hearty meal as the sun was setting. There was a line waiting to get into a deli, so we joined the que. Spoke to several of the locals, who were about our age. From the description on the menu the chicken tenders were to die for, so I didn’t order the BBQ sandwich. The tenders were okay, nice and crunchy. Drove home and got back around 11 pm. A long day.

Golf at sunrise. I sprang for the annual pass. A young British exec joined our threesome. As usual I hit some good shots, and plenty of bad ones. Afterwards I stopped by Wendy’s for a biscuit, and got my oil changed. Cleaned up downstairs and especially upstairs. The first time in a few weeks.

C drove down to visit the granddaughter. Sounded like they had a crowd there at the house. I finally got to rest, and watched GA@Tenn. When C came home we ate a late supper.

I had scored a late ticket to Sunday’s A-List Play Day. Drove to the ballpark and battled the traffic and crowds. Too long of a line to get my picture with the World Series trophy, but the food lines were worth the wait: BBQ, chicken tenders, slaw, beans, hot dog, and cokes. Could’ve run the bases but left instead. Back home for a quick rest, then I raked leaves.

At 4 pm we headed to a Sunday School gathering outside at a member’s wooded meadow, with 25 in attendance. Chili, soups, cornbreads, cheese tray, cakes, brownies, and other desserts. A time of devotionals and singing around a campfire. Afterwards we were exhausted, and went to bed early.

Satan works in very subtle ways. Now more than ever I need to consider the information I am being bombarded with. Goes hand in hand with the whole climate change malarkey.

https://modernreformation.org/resource-library/web-exclusive-articles/how-to-resist-indoctrination/?fbclid=IwAR11sLoUYTezaKGuvx0VdTcbO_qrm_DgtQFznk6ZPiM6wrTd0Fy77WjXhJk

Denison: In Romans 2:1, Paul states: "In passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things." He means that we commit our own versions of the same sins we condemn in others.

ROY CAMPANELLA  [SABR Bio] played in five World Series, but only once with the winning team. The Dodgers won pennants in 1949, 1952-1953, and 1955-1956, but won the Series only in 1955. He was elected captain of every sports team he played on in high school. Attended Simon Gratz High School in Philadelphia, Campy enjoyed all sports, but his passion for baseball never wavered. He hit .323 in his eight seasons with the Giants. Also played for the Washington and Baltimore Elite Giants 1937-1942 with breaks.

Monday, November 15, 2021

Klay Thompson: Top 75?

Who is Klay Thompson? He’s complaining he didn’t make the NBA’s list of top 75 players. Or maybe he mentioned it one time, and everyone else took it and ran with it. You never know these days. All the members 50th anniversary team were on the list. Who does Thompson think he’s better than?

I am not much of a student of NBA history. I hadn’t heard much about one name on the 75th list: Damian Lillard, but he’s a six time all-star, six time all NBA, and a rookie of the year. Plays for Portland. Thompson is a five time all-star and two time all NBA, not quite as accomplished statistically as Lillard. That settles it.

Dwight Howard was also mentioned. 8xAll Star. 5xRebound Champ. 2xBlocked shot champ. 8xAll NBA. 5xAll Defense.  Also more accomplished that Thompson.

YR…G….FG%. 3P%..FT%..RB.AST.STL.BLK.PTS

09 0684 .439 .374 .893 04.2 6.6  1.0  0.3 24.6 DL

08 0615 .459 .419 .848 03.5 2.3  0.9  0.5 19.5 KT

18 1185 .586 .159 .566 12.1 1.4  0.9  1.9 16.1 DH

50th anniversary team

Kareem Abdul Jabbar M

Nate Archibald 0

Paul Arizin 0

Charles Barkley M

Rick Barry 0

Elgin Baylor 0

Dave Bing 0

Larry Bird M

Wilt Chamberlain M

Bob Cousy M

Dave Cowens M

Billy Cunningham 0

Dave DeBusschere 0

Clyde Drexler 0

Julius Erving M

Patrick Ewing 0

Walt Frazier 0

George Gervin 0

Hal Greer 0

John Havlicek 0

Elvin Hayes 0

Magic Johnson M

Sam Jones 0

Michael Jordan M

Jerry Lucas 0

Karl Malone M

Moses Malone M

Pete Maravich 0

Kevin McHale 0

George Mikan 0

Earl Monroe 0

Hakeem Olajuwon M

Shaquille O’Neal M

Robert Parish 0

Bob Pettit M

Scottie Pippen 0

Willis Reed M

Oscar Robertson M

David Robinson M

Bill Russell M

Dolph Schayes 0

Bill Sharman 0

John Stockton 0

Isiah Thomas 0

Nate Thurmond 0

Wes Unseld M

Bill Walton M

Jerry West 0

Lenny Wilkens 0

James Worthy 0

Added to 75th anniversary team

Ray Allen X

Giannis Antetokounmpo M

Carmelo Anthony X

Kobe Bryant M

Steph Curry M

Anthony Davis X

Tim Duncan M

Kevin Durant M

Kevin Garnett M

James Harden M

Allen Iverson M

LeBron James M

Jason Kidd X

Kawhi Leonard X

Damian Lillard X

Bob McAdoo M

Reggie Miller X

Steve Nash M

Dirk Nowitzki M

Chris Paul X

Gary Payton X

Paul Pierce X

Dennis Rodman

Dwayne Wade

Russell Westbrook M

Dominique Wilkins

My omissions: Alex English, Bernard King, Calvin Murphy, , Nikola Jokic.

SB Nation’s omissions: Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, Chris Bosh, Grant Hill, Dwight Howard, Kyrie Irving, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker, Pau Gasol, Dikembe Mutombo.  No mention of Klay Thompson. Was Klay joking or something?

0 on 50th team but won no MVPs

M won MVP

X no MVP. Deserving perhaps, but not on my own short list.

https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2021/10/21/22739511/nba-75th-anniversary-team-full-list-snubs

Sports Illustrated wondered if Thompson and Dwight Howard were deserving.

https://www.si.com/nba/2021/10/22/dwight-howard-klay-thompson-snubbed-nba-75th-anniversary-team 

Of course I am more partial to this Maravich jersey.

MIKE TROUT  [B-R Bio] is the only player to never finish lower than fifth in MVP voting in every full season he played in the majors, nine straight years. From 2012-20 Trout finished 2nd, 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 1st, 4th, 2nd, 1st & 5th respectively. He is the only player to be named All-Star Game MVP in back-to-back years. Voted ASG MVP in 2014 & 2015. He joined the 30/30 Club in his rookie year. In 2012 he hit 30 HR and led the majors w/49 SB.

Denison: Satan tries to tempt us into self-reliance, using means that resonate with our secular culture and with our internal "will to power," which can be extremely deceptive. As an example, James Allen claims in his influential book As A Man Thinketh that by our thoughts, a person is "the maker of his character, the molder of his life, and the builder of his destiny." (For more, see my review of his important book ). Republican Glenn Youngkin defeated Democrat Terry McAuliffe in this week's Virginia governor's race. The Virginia contest was widely viewed as a referendum on Joe Biden's presidency. The Hill called it a "proxy war between Trump and Biden." National issues such as abortion and vaccine mandates have permeated the race.

Shivonne photo of the day: she reads!