Saturday started with an 8:13am alarm clock, NIN's "Discipline" was the song of choice, as it is most days. Some days, it's The Gaslight Anthem's "Boomboxes and Dictionaries", both solid choices to ease me into my day.
Let's start with the backbone of this blog - sports.
1. Strasburg was dominant again, although he did walk as many guys (5) as he had in his previous 5 starts (1 MLB, 4 AAA). He improved to 2-0 (Pirates and Indians) but let up his 2nd HR in as many starts, both to lefties, and both on a change up. Either way, he's got 22 K in 12.1 IP. The Nationals may make some noise after all.
2. The Yankees completed a sweep of the Astros and in the process, moved into a tie atop the AL Beast with the Rays. There's a World Series rematch series, beginning tonight in the Bronx, as CC Sabathia takes on Roy Halladay. The Phillies are looking to regain their mo-jo (4-6 in their last 10 games) and crawl back into the NL Least race (3.5 behind 1st place Atlanta) while the Yanks look to distance themselves from the rest of baseball. I hope I get a good pitching match up Thursday when I go with Lindsay and our fathers - I think it's looking like Moyer vs. Pettitte.
3. Ted Lilly had a no-hit bid into the 9th against the White Sox, but settled for a 1-hitter and a 1-0 Cubs win. We were in a bar here in Dallas, and there were a few Chicago fans - one guy, who everyone else refused to give pounds to regardless of how many times he tried - was the epitome of what a White Sox fan is (as told to me by another patron from Chicago). Obnoxious. A total jackass. He was whining when they pinch-hit Juan Pierre to lead off the ninth, then after he broke up the no-no, he said he knew he was going to get a hit - douche. This guy was shouting all night, almost fell off his stool several times, and was almost forcing his girlfriend (so it seemed) into making out with him - sloppy.
On Saturday, I was up at Blind Brook HS for a game after a showcase at Pace. BBHS has quite possibly the nicest facilities for a high school I've ever seen. Field turf abounds - football field, baseball field, soccer field, softball field - they might even have field turf in the hallways. Almost like VCP. Anyway, the thing that stuck out was a parent who was chirping the whole game. Similar to a major league game, every pop up was a HR (or so he reacted), every ground ball was "just missed", and every strikeout looking was outside. Anyway, same game, same guy - the 7 hitter snuck a dribbler between the first- and second-baseman, to which Super-Dad blurted out, "He squecked that one through there!" Now, I'm no English major, but "squeaked" is a word. Squecked, not a word. #1 Dad.
Sunday was filled with air travel and ground transportation. LaGuardia to Charlotte, Charlotte to Dallas-Ft. Worth. The tail end of the trip was turbulent, to put it lightly. I started getting sick from bouncing around in my seat. Once we got below the clouds (all 3 minutes of it) and landed, it was great. The landing was the smoothest part of the flights. Got off the plane, went to find some "Shared Transportation" and got in. There were 5 others in there, all going to right near where we were going. The van was full, but the driver was convinced he may be able to pick up another passenger, so he drove around the airport (to every terminal) trying to find someone else to cram in. Once he realized he had wasted over 25 minutes worth of gas, he decided to take to the roads, and eventually dropped us off at the hotel. It was like riding on a wooden roller coaster with no seat belt - pretty scary. Not quite sure if he was legal.
We strolled around Downtown Dallas a little, I of course snapped some photos, and then we went into CVS - the biggest CVS I have ever seen (I guess everything really is bigger in Texas). While meandering through the aisles, Lindsay saw a guy and said "He looks like the guy from Jurassic Park" so I looked. Wasn't sure who she meant, I mean it has been over ten years since I've seen the movie. We were looking through the "Trial Size" stuff, and I saw the man again - NEWMAN!! I wanted to be sure, so creepily stared at him for a few seconds. Then I went up and asked if he was Wayne Knight, and that I was a huge fan (which is an exaggeration) but he is freakin' NEWMAN. If you've never seen Seinfeld and are reading this, welcome to Earth. Turns out he's in town shooting a show for FOX, The Good Guys. I got him to take a picture with me - CVS was empty, so I didn't care. Had it been full of patrons, I probably would have just taken a sneaky photo of him. I will publish the photo when I get back to the BX. How cool is that?
Passed out several times after getting back from lunch, but managed to stay awake long enough to grab a bite at Press Box Grill. That's where we were blessed with the Chicago fans. Ate, had a drink, left as soon as Lilly let up the lone hit in the game, and came back to the hotel to pass out.
Today I will venture out and try to find a place to eat some breakfast. Lindsay is at the conference so I will explore, maybe I'll bump into another celeb. Probably not, but I can care less. NEWMAN!
Hello Big D!
