Historical Fiction

Just finished reading an interesting historical fiction novel: “Double Play” by Robert B Parker, about Jackie Robinson’s bodyguard, a former wounded Marine veteran.

At Camp SPdL, I somehow wrangled being able to perform Top Ten Lists in front of the campers into kinda hosting the after supper / before worship time, handing off to the camp president for his time.

Then on my kids Living Science retreats which lasted the better part of a week, I was able to perform similar comedy duties there before the evening worship time, so much so that the very stodgy school leaders would come to me and ask for a particular skit to be performed – and giving me only an hour or so to come up with it. A lot of fun.

Was just reminded of a time just after college (1983?) when my GT BSU friend Dave Travis was youth director at FBC Lithonia, and he had me help him with a junior high retreat. When it was time for me to speak, I introduced myself as “I am Dave Murphy, and I am loads o’fun”. For the rest of the weekend the kids called me “Loads” – like “Hey Loads!”

My Sunday School class is big into foreign missions. It would be good at some point to visit the sent ones that we support and know so well, in Pakistan, India, Cambodia, Spain, Morocco, and other places. But I would be more interested in mission trips inside the US, to New York City or Alaska or wherever the Olympics are held.

Was thinking about how we have so many countries represented here in our little office of 32 people. Of our little 5 person team, two are from South America. Daniel and Dany are Korean and Karolina is from Turkey, and Danny is also from South America. That’s 6 out of 32. Plus Crystal is from north of Buford, Alex is from Moultrie, Brad from Missouri, Lauren from Wisconsin, Ben from Gainesville, and Steve from Dawsonville. Not to mention Shane from West Virginia.

Ceil originally only moved to Atlanta for one year, though I had already met her while visiting Glenn Cowart after he moved to Columbia SC, where Glenn and Ceil went to church together

Tonight the Braves celebrated the 30th anniversary of the 1995 World Championship team. Smoltz, Maddux, and Glavine threw out the first pitch. Their catchers were Schwellenbach, Sean Murphy, and rookie phenom Hudson Waldtrep.

St. Augustine famously prayed, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

Raheem Morris made the 'emotional' decision to keep young Younghoe Koo as the Falcons’ kicker, beating out a rookie who’s gone 14-14 at the scouting combine, and who nailed a 73 yard field goal in practice. Then tonight Koo missed his first field goal attempt, pulling a 51 yarder to the left.

Supernatural dreams are fueling Christian Revival in Uzbekistan: 'I saw the nail-pierced' hands of Jesus’.

Nick Saban Endorses the Georgia Quarterback Everyone Else Seems to Doubt: Gunner Stockton. Saban had recruited Stockton before Nick had retired.

US Representative Anna Paulina Luna claims lawmakers have evidence of ‘interdimensional beings’. Lang shared this UFO story that just dropped.

More than two dozen people linked to Epstein scandal have died under "Mysterious Circumstances".

 

Braves Win Again

Braves remained hot, winning again. Fans on social media are already reaching: “if we sweep the Mets this weekend we’ll only be 6.5 game out with 5 weeks remaining”. Totally forgetting that we have like one starting pitcher, and he’s a rookie who has pitched 4 games. Then they’ll be mad at the team when the miracle doesn’t happen.

Our friends the Hongs have a son that just transferred from Liberty University to UGA. He played on the Liberty volleyball team, which was a minor club sport there. He just made the UGA club volleyball team. Might have to go see him play sometime.

Lunch at Marlow’s today. I got the wagu burger. Didn’t look very impressive but tasted real good.

I had a meeting from 10 -11 am and then the lunch and I will be off tomorrow, so I am not getting as much done as I need to. Busy busy busy. So I don’t feel too bad about crashing on the couch at night after supper.

Question of the Day: best scene in a golf movie? I went off topic to answer the golf scene in Space Jam, with Larry Bird, Bill Murray, Michael Jordan, and Wayne Knight.

DAVID ORTIZ [SABR Bio] was a top 5 vote getter for AL MVP for five consecutive seasons. From 2003-2007 he finished 5^th, 4^th, 2^nd, 3^rd & 4^th. But Ortiz was 2004 ALCS MVP when Boston came back from an 0-3 deficit against the Yankees to capture the AL flag. He was also the 2013 World Series MVP. After Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle, Ortiz was the next American League player to hit 40 home runs and knock in 100 RBIs in his team's first 110 games of a season: Ortiz (110 g in 2006), Maris (106 g in 1961), Mantle (109 games in 1961).

Denison: parents are spending $50,000 for genetic-testing services that promises to screen embryos for high IQ. A Chinese scientist created the world’s first gene-edited babies has now set up a company in the US to produce high-IQ babies. His former wife is also creating a company to create gene-edited babies. Everyone involved considered these embryos to be human beings.

Below: the number of 95 degree days has been trending down over the past 128 years. 

How successful people stay calm, by Travis Bradberry:

1. Be thankful for what you have.

2. Avoid asking “what if?”

3. Remain positive.

4. Disconnect

5. Limit caffeine intake.

6. Get enough sleep.

7. Squash negative self-talk.

8. Reframe your perspective.

9. Breathe.

10. Lean on your support system.

Bunting With the Bases Loaded?

Braves came back to win last night, despite Michael Harris (the hottest hitter in baseball) inexplicably bunting with no out and the bases loaded. Snitker was aghast.

For the first half of the season, Braves CF Michael Harris was statistically the worst offensive player in baseball. For a while he was hitting like 0.070. Swinging at every first pitch. Just read that the Braves coaches had been trying to get him to pull his hands back and use the stance and approach he’d used in previous years with much greater success. They had tried to get him to do this ever since spring training. But Harris refused the help – and he continued to be unsuccessful. With Profar suspended and Acuna injured the Braves couldn’t send Harris to the minors. At the all star break Harris finally changed his stance back – and has become the hottest hitter in baseball. Fans blame the coaches, but if a player isn’t coachable, it is the player who is really to blame.

Anna and Caleb went to the game and stayed for the postgame concert – the Braves had given away a record of one of Anna’s coworker’s songs.

Bunting – didn’t teams use to bunt a lot more back in the 1950’s? Seems like they did back in the 1920’s. Players from that era had tons more sacrifices than any player today. But since your friend Bobby Cox liked his pitchers to sacrifice bunt so much, Glavine, Maddux, Smoltz, and Niekro are at or near the top of the list for pitchers with the most sacrifice bunts in history.

Up early to golf this morning. Played like I had taken off 4 months. Kept hitting bad shot after bad shot. One of those days.At least my putting was good.

1. Mulligan was better than tee shot. Same with my fairway shot and chip.

2. Mulligan better than tee shot. Chip better than mulligan.

3. Mulligan better than tee shot.

4. Tee shot better than mulligan. One good chip out of three.

5. Didn’t hit a good shot the entire hole, out of like 9 shots on the hole.

6. Three bad tee shots. As I looked for my ball I realized that I was tired, and decided to relax and take it easy the rest of the round. It only helped a little. Hit a great 5 iron from the fairway, and a decent 7 iron. One good chip out of three.

7. Popped up my mulligan, but at least it went straight. Hit a good 5 iron, an okay 7 iron, then a good chip onto the green. Sad that it took me 4 shots to get to the green, though it is one of the longer holes. Then a good 2 putt.

8. Mulligan better than my tee shot. Flubbed three approach shots and flubbed about 4 chips. At least a walker on the adjacent bike path had tossed a couple of lost balls back on the green for me.

9. Poor tee shot. Three flubbed approaches. Four poor chips. All that and not one ball made it to the green. I picked up and went to work.

Two other coworkers were also running late, so Angie goaded Eric into letting me pick up Chickfila biscuits for the team. Got me a delicious bacon egg cheese chicken biscuit, that really hit the spot. And my cold Coke Zero was also extra satisfying. At lunch I ran out to run my car through the car wash, and hit up Wendys for a BOGO sandwich.

After work yesterday I picked up $1 nachos from Taco Bell plus ten free boneless wings from Hooters. Came home and watched Mad About You. Supporting character Richard Kind steals the show. He was also courting Meemaw in Young Sheldon, and wore an eyepatch in Only Murders in the Building.

Question of the day: what was the first radio show you listened to? My first in Atlanta was Gary McKee, with Yetta Levitt and Willis the Guard.

Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me. - Jeremiah 9:23–24.

JOE JACKSON hit .408, .395, and .373 in successive seasons, but never led the league. Babe Ruth said, “He was the most natural and graceful hitter who ever lived,” and modeled his own swing like Joe’s. Ruth gave praise like this to no other player. Jackson is the only player with 25+ tiples and 225+ hits in the same season. In 1912, Jackson had 26 3B & 226* H. 

1911 Joe hit .408, Ty Cobb hit .419

1912 Joe hit .395, Ty Cobb hit .409

1913 Joe hit .373, Ty Cobb hit .389

Jackson ranked 9th, 2^nd, and 5th in the MVP voting. 

1911 behind Ty Cobb, who won the Triple Crown that year;

1912 behind Tris Speaker & his tremendous output on offense;

1913 behind Walter Johnson who had a career best 15.2 WAR.

Greatest. Shot. Ever.

Scottie Scheffler’s pitch in on 17 to win the tournament, was that shot not the greatest golf shot in history? The GOAT? Even greater a clutch shot than Tiger’s pitch in on 16 at Augusta? One of the greatest shots ever. Who holed that Masters fairway shot so many years ago – Walter Hagan? Better than Tom Watson’s chip to win the British Open? Most young whippersnappers these days have never seen or heard of Watson or Hagan.

Every day the sports talk station has a question of the day. Yesterday was who is the greatest movie villain? The evil villain in the first Christopher Reeve Superman movie just passed away. He was evil. My worst villain was Lotso Huggin Bear from Toy Story 3 (above). Other great villains: Seinfeld’s Newman. iCarly’s Nevel Papperman.

Jabba the Hutt. 

Dr Maxwell Edison in Sgt Pepper. 

Syndrome, from The Incredibles.

Jack Frost in The Santa Claus 3: the Escape Clause.

The demon Gwi-Ma from KPop Demon Hunters. Many have tried to picture him in human form.

Today’s question: what is the hardest thing to do in sports? Is it not hitting a major league pitcher? Strider has always had so much velocity that he could blow the ball past hitter, throwing it right down the middle. He has yet to recover fully from surgery. Hopefully he’ll get the velocity back by next year, but still he needs to learn how to hit the corners like Maddux and Glavine used to. I don’t think making Strider a closer is the answer.

Even though I returned the two new pairs on sneakers that I had ordered, on Friday I ordered a cheap pair of Nike Huaraches that I had a $10 coupon for. I’ll wear them like house shoes, especially in winter. I’ll always remember seeing the revolutionary Huaraches when they first came out at the sporting goods Super Show at the World Congress Center, and I was one of the first to get a pair. Loved them. Wore them until they wore out. Tech basketball wore them back when Kenny Anderson led the Jackets to the Final Four. Christian Laettner wore the basketball version on the Dream Team.

On the way home from work yesterday I stopped by Steak & Shake. Parked and went inside because they always have a hard time with the app. So I was inside and ordered the milkshake, and they brought it out in a glass, so I had to sit down and eat it there. No problem.

Yesterday Ceil ate lunch at young Jimmy Ewing’s house. Jimmy, wife Tyler, Mary Hurt, Mary Hubert, and Myra. Leftovers last night. We had one of the double smash burgers left over that Will had made, so I turned it into two single smash burgers. C had some of the leftover Mexican food. Just yesterday at work we were talking about Mexican places and we discussed Taqueria. Then just now we started talking about food again. It is a topic often discussed at work. On Thursday a vendor is taking us out to lunch, and we might go to Marlows. Leo loves the “Royale” burger, made with wagu beef.

Matthew is moving out today, to a rental house in Smyrna just west of the Braves Stadium. Tonight C has a meeting, so I will probably cash in my deal for ten free wings.

NEWS: Amy Herndon’s father Tom Herndon passed away. He had been battling Alzheimer’s disease. Amy recently retired from teaching.

Rams' Sean McVay just made his stance on Stetson Bennett crystal clear. With Matt Stafford hurt, Stetson might be starting Week One. Stafford might not get his job back. You heard it here first.

Margaret Qualley tried to set up mom Andie MacDowell with Bill Murray. And failed.

“It is dangerous to be so busy that you have no time to wait on God.” — A. W. Tozer.

Billy Graham: “The problem is in our hearts—we are alienated from our Creator. Instead of giving God his rightful place at the center of our lives, we have substituted the “god” of Self. Only Christ can change our hearts—and through us begin to change our world."

Man we’ve been working hard today, training Leo. I think we are making good progress. But we went hard for well over an hour, and when I looked up I had 23 new emails. Then another session, and 20 more.

Not sure if it’s the mattress, but every morning for the past 3 weeks I wake up with lower back pain. Once I get moving I start to feel better. I need to stretch it out with the exercises I learned in physical therapy last year. I did make it back to the gym for the second day in a row.

Scottie Wins Again

A pretty busy weekend. Ate Mexican at the Rice’s house, with the Hongs and the Halls. We were there until after 10 pm.

Then up early Saturday to play golf. Back home I did a bunch of housework and laundry. Also picked up two free take out desserts from Cheesecake Factory and Hooters. The $6.99 chocolate cake from Hooters was better than the $11,95 cookie dough cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory. I think the secret is to order the plain cheesecake, it is probably fresher.

Mowed the grass just before supper. We ate the leftover Mexican food, which was good. Watched a Christian movie, that seemed to dwell more on the main character’s sins than his eventual repentance.

Sunday School with 34 in attendance. Went home to frantically clean before the kids came over. Lunch at home with Anna, Caleb, Will, and Millie. A&C were returning from a wedding in Raleigh. MC and Shivonne were at a 4H event at Rock Eagle. Will cooked the smash burgers, which were delicious. Also onion rings, French fries, and grilled vegetables. Afterward we crashed on the couch. I slept for almost 3 hours. Yesterday’s 13000 steps / 6 miles had gotten my allergies activated.

Missed Scottie winning the golf tournament. I slept through Scottie’s long chip on 17. On Saturday people were talking about how great it was that the leader MacIntyre responded with a clutch putt, then turned to some vocal razzers in the crowd as if to say “Take that!”. But then no one mentioned how on the next hole MacIntyre hit his tee shot into the rough, and then hit his next shot into a bunker. Perhaps he shouldn’t have gotten so cocky.

This year Scottie has won the PGA and the British Open, the Memorial and now this tournament. Back in March Phil Mickleson predicted that Scottie wouldn’t win before the Ryder Cup.

NEWS: on Friday Matthew will be in the clubhouse at the Tour Championship, cooking for 400 well connected folks with the other Kimball House chefs.

Up early to get back to the gym this morning.

FERGIE JENKINS [SABR Bio] is the most recent pitcher to win 25 games in a season and not win the Cy Young Award. In 1974, Jenkins & Catfish Hunter had 25 pitching victories in the AL. Jenkins had a better WAR, 7.7 to 6.9, but Hunter’s wins were for a first-place team, the WS champion Oakland A’s (plus WAR had yet to be invented as a statistic). He was the last American League pitcher to be included in a game’s batting order and get a hit. On 02-Oct-1974, Texas played the game without a DH, starting Jenkins in the 9th spot in the batting order. He was 1 for 3 with a single in the 6th. He also pitched 7 innings and was the winning pitcher. He is the only pitcher in the 20th century to retire with 3000+ strikeouts and fewer than 1000 walks. He pitched from 1965 to 1983 and ended with a record of 3,192 K & 997 BB. Since then six other pitchers achieved those numbers, finishing in the 21st century – including Greg Maddux.

Pitchers who are the statical leaders among their native countrymen in a modified pitching career Triple Crown: pitching wins, innings pitched, & strikeouts.

Pitcher                  Native of… MLB yrs OPSC

Bert Blyleven The Netherlands...22.............. 4

Moe Drabowski........... Poland....17............. 2

Eric Erickson............. Sweden..... 7............. 3

Liam Hendriks.......... Australia....14........... 23

Felix Hernandez.....Venezuela....15......... 255

Fergie Jenkins........... Canada....19......... 139

Charlie Lea................... France.... 7............. 1

Dennis Martinez...... Nicaragua...23........... 11

Justin Masterson....... Jamaica.... 8............. 2

Al McBean...U.S. Virgin Islands..10............. 3

Jim McCormick.................. UK...10........... 21

Tony Mullane............... Ireland....13........... 15

Chan Ho Park................ Korea....17........... 15

Marino Pieretti................. Italy..... 6.............. 5

Sidney Ponson............. Aruba.....12............. 2

Javier Vazquez.... Puerto Rico ....14........... 99

Frank Ulrich................. Austria...... 3............. 2

Wenty Ford.............. Bahamas.......1............. 0

Oelkers.......................... Spain...... 2............. 1

Andre Rienzo................. Brazil.......3............. 2

Jose Quintana.......... Colombia....14........... 14

Fernando Valenzuela.. Mexico.....17........... 95

Rube Schuer............... Ukraine..... 5............. 2

Candler Park: the "New" Greens

 
Teed off at 625 am on Saturday morning. Ceil wanted me to take pictures of the greens. I took the ugliest pictures I could. The grass is lusher due to the lack of play. Looks like the "strategy" was to kill off the fringe to let the grass on the greens expand. First hole below: still lots of sandy bald spots on the northern edge.

Second hole: the same sand trap on the southern edge of the green.

Third hole. the green is looking good.

Fourth hole was traditionally one of the worst green on the course.

The 6th green.

Ninth hole. The old 8th tee box overlooking the 7th hole is now the 1st tee, so I had an audience on my approached to seven. I made a couple of decent chips, but didn't take a picture of the green. Also had an audience on the 8th green - the greenskeeper was sweeping the dew.

Saturday night: Mexican leftovers.

Ceil's sourdough.

Saturday night movie, filmed in 2013. Endorsed by Mariano Riveria, RA Dickey, and other major leaguers.

Stetson had another big game last night.