Knuckle Balls

I'm reading Phil Niekro’s book Knuckle Balls, about his season with the Yankees. Yogi Berra started the season as manager, but George Steinbrenner fired him and brought back Billy Martin. But most of the Yogi-isms in the book come from Niekro. About the lights in Minnesota’s “Metrodump” – “without adequate eye protection you’re blinded until the next equinox” and “after a long home stand, I bet the Twins all look like albinos”. Speaking of the Twins: another reason to hate Kent Hrbek, the first baseman who famously pushed Ron Gant off the base in the 1991 World Series, something that would’ve never stood now in the days of instant replay. Now Hrbek is credited with the abolition of stirrups. He led the fight for the players union, making stirrups no longer mandatory. https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__uni-2Dwatch.com_2021_03_24_two-2Dlittle-2Dknown-2Dtales-2Dof-2Dmlb-2Dhosiery-2Dhistory_&d=DwIFAg&c=UXihhqr7vvdA-hrKyTiC1Q&r=wMWwaEbn9nr4zXI4p6CDP7FGwn1DrBd77MJElrWsP6U&m=ldSaw7Cd_Rup20sYGOG0hGwjOfdH4WeoLWlj1SVM7P4&s=vUjJem39MCA2UZ7aISGxA2sWe3OUgCRFbxpBKwhTaB0&e= Tuesday: worked from before 8 am past 6 pm. Stopped by Wendy’s on the way home for a free burger. Wendy’s is proud of their burgers, but I’m not so sure why. They keep getting smaller and smaller. Got home and watched more of Chuck. Ceil was at The Table on Delk. For some reason Ceil flipped on the movie The Great Buck Howard, produced by Tom Hanks. Stars John Malkovich as the washed up magician/entertainer, with Colin Hanks and Emily Blunt as his minions. Tom Hanks and other stars have bit parts: Hanks portrays Colin’s dad. Interesting movie, but I didn’t stay up for the end. At work young Ben was raving about the huge pancakes at the Destin Donut Hole. Do you like this new NCAA format, where the tourney stretches around to Monday and Tuesday? WHITEY FORD  [SABR Bio] has the highest winning percentage of road games of any pitcher in the Modern Era who has at least 100 road decisions, 69.5% (116-51). He has won more games than any other pitcher for his franchise: 236 wins. The Yankees first season was 1903. He twice finished in the top five in MVP voting and twice in the top five in Cy Young Award voting: 5th in MVP votes in 1961 & 3rd in 1963, both times finishing behind non-pitching teammates; 3rd in CYA voting in 1956 & first in 1961. How complaining rewires your brain toward negativity. When you repeat a behavior good or bad, your neurons branch out to each other to ease the flow of information. Over time a complainer will find it easier to be negative than to be positive, regardless of what’s happening around them. Complaining becomes the default behavior, which changes how people perceive you. Complaining damages other parts of your brain as well, shrinking the part critical to problem solving and intelligent thought. Complaining releases cortisol, which raises blood pressure and blood sugar. This impairs your immune system, making you susceptible to high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, strokes, and obesity. Our brains unconsciously mimic the moods and behaviors of those we spend the most time with, so be sure to distance yourself from people who complain about everything. When you feel like complaining, instead cultivate an attitude of gratitude, This reduces cortisol by 23%. Studies show thankful people experience improved moods, energy, and substantially less anxiety. In time, your brain will rewire itself, and a positive attitude will become a way of life. Engage in solution-oriented complaining: (1) have a clear purpose, (2) start with something positive, (3) be specific, (4) don’t go off topic or ramble, and (5) end with a positive. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-complaining-rewires-your-brain-negativity-dr-travis-bradberry-1f Syrian-born Ahmad Al Issa, the killer in the Boulder shootings, wasn’t stopped by (1) Colorado’s universal background check law, or (2) by Colorado’s red flag gun confiscation law, or (3) by Colorado’s hi-capacity magazine ban law, or (4) by Boulder’s city ban on assault weapons, or (5) by the passing grade from Gifford’s gun control group. When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. Today two United States senators announced on TV that they would not vote for a cabinet candidate if that candidate had the wrong skin color. This is a crime according to the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Few news outlets reported the story. No fellow senators called them out on the crime.   Article: Cruelty is apostasy. Apostasy is the abandonment of religious belief.  https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__frenchpress.thedispatch.com_p_cruelty-2Dis-2Dapostasy&d=DwIFaQ&c=UXihhqr7vvdA-hrKyTiC1Q&r=wMWwaEbn9nr4zXI4p6CDP7FGwn1DrBd77MJElrWsP6U&m=55cf8w_PXWaqj-xlnh6aZQyq5okuqE7ViE9Djup2SqE&s=zd7HKT7vKdvtr25FvY_mS57OBWkRTiR8IMZn6OZQIKU&e=