For the birthday girl: The Happy Birthday Song, or the MP3 version. Happy Birthday!
But I’m also feeling kinda cranky this morning. Waking up to rain does that to me sometimes. If you’ve got a good mood going and don’t want to ruin it, perhaps you want to turn away about now.
- Last night, Dworken’s Homer Capped the Saints’ Come-From-Behind Win. It was a good game. The Saints got off to a rough start, as the starting pitching faltered again, but Kenny Holubec put in some quality innings, shutting down Fargo, and the Saints bats came alive once the sound guy started playing Shaft.
But, most of the new staff at the Saints just don’t seem to get it. While we finally managed to revive the "Shaft" tradition, the new sound guy tried to play it between every single pitch. I don’t know where they got him, but I was wondering if he’d ever actually watched a baseball game before. He certainly didn’t seem to have any feel at all for the rhythms of the game. Or perhaps, as Brian pointed out, it’s someone with a radio background, who was taught to fear “dead air”. Between that and the P.A. people who spend too much time trying tofire up the crowd
, and not enough doing the “little things” like announcing player changes, the games have felt more and more like the kind of thing I try to avoid at the Metrodome. The other issue is that the unceasing barrage of noise, along with a new speaker in front of the press-box that’s aimed right at us, takes us out of the game. The fans in section F who’ve spent ten years cheering the team, or jeering the opponents and the umpires are a lot more quiet now. What’s the point in yelling at the ump, if you’re going to be drowned out by the P.A. guy (or gal) exhorting you toMake some noise!
?
Then there’s the beer. There’s no Leinenkugel’s this year. Nor is there Pig’s Eye. Nor Schell’s. The most drinkable (cheap) beer I’ve been able to find is MGD. Why? Well, because Leinie and Schell’s won’t pay to have their beer sold by the Saints. Pig’s Eye still isn’t making a 3.2, so they can’t be there. And according to one vendor, the Saints are even thinking about dropping the Miller products. If they do that, I think I’ll probably end up walking out to the car every couple innings to drink a beer out there.
And no, I’m not just bitching into a vacuum here. I’m sending these comments to the Saints, too. - Joel Rosenberg talks about A death in Minneapolis and says that McManus is doing the right thing by having the department investigate itself. I couldn’t disagree more. With over a decade of an execrable record on beating the snot out of people and then doing nothing, this looks like another attempt to cover something up, even if the officers involved this time did nothing wrong. As Matt Payne says in the comments:
It is crucial — crucial — that the police have the trust of the public. And that means avoiding not only impropriety, but the mere appearance of impropriety.
- Kim DuToit pointed out that The Government People Have Won. Thanks for a nice little bit of morning depression, Kim. Yes, I know it’s true, but I still think there’s some value in standing up for smaller government, which means I won’t be voting for either Bush or Kerry this time around.