The Gray Pages

Senate predictions

2008-06-17T14:40:00.002-04:00

Guaranteed pick-ups
- Virginia
- New Hampshire
- New Mexico

Likely pick-ups
- Colorado
- Oregon

Possible pick-ups
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Alaska

I wish I could put this on one of the above lists
- Maine

Possible shockers
- North Carolina
- Kansas
- Texas

What I'm saying is this: a 60-seat majority is possible, but I don't think there's a good chance it will happen. I predict a 5-seat gain, and a Joe Lieberman addition-through-subtraction.

The Sara Chronicles

2008-04-28T11:26:00.002-04:00

We keep the radio on the oldies station fairly often -- happy music, happy baby, no Wiggles or Yanni or KidzBop or Barney the Purple Dinosaur or whatever.

Typically, when I sing along with the radio and to Sara, I insert her name somewhere in the song or somehow make it about her. This works pretty well. First of all, the word "baby" is already in about 90 percent of the songs ever recorded. Second of all, she doesn't understand what the lyrics are about (thus making it not-at-all weird when I sing "Brown-Eyed Girl" to her). ("Makin' love in the green grass behind the stadium with you, my brown-eyed girl.")

Yesterday, KC & the Sunshine Band messed me up. "Shake-shake-shake! Shake-shake-shake! Shake your baby!" This is not recommended by the Academy of Pediatrics.

Step One to the Cleveland Pennant

2008-04-15T14:34:00.003-04:00

Back on March 25, I said Cleveland would win the AL Central -- but that depended on Joe Borowski getting hurt so that his idiot manager, Eric ("The") Wedge, wouldn't use him.

Today, my dreams moved a step closer to reality, as Joe Blowoutski (get it?) was placed on the DL.

Farewell, No. 6

2008-04-08T15:39:00.001-04:00

A tired story, put to rest. Buckner is forgiven, again.

Buckner: 'It was about as emotional as it could get'

BY ART MARTONE
Journal Sports Editor

BOSTON -- Those tears he wiped away were real. Bill Buckner admitted that his suprise appearance today at Fenway Park touched him deeply, and that he was indeed teary-eyed as the fans cheered while he made his way in from left field to throw out the ceremonial first pitch.

"It was about as emotional as it could get," Buckner told a group of reporters in the Fenway Park interview room immediately after the ceremony. "A lot of things were going through my mind" as he walked in from left field. "Just good things . . . which is a good thing.

"I appreciate all the thought behind [the invitation from the Red Sox organization]. It was hard to do for me."

The emotions stemmed from the ordeal he's beeen through since committing the error in Game Six in the 1986 World Series that came, rightly or wrongly, to symbolize nearly nine decades of frustration for the Boston organization.

"I had to . . . " he began, and then he stopped for a few moments, choking up again. "I had to forgive, not the fans of Boston. In my heart, I had to forgive the media for what they put me and my family through. I've done that, gotten over that, and just thought of the positives, the happy things."

One of the reasons he views the media differently now: His daughter Christen is a television reporter, and was at Fenway covering the event herself.

"It's helped me accept you guys back into the family," he joked.

He said he understood the criticism he received for the error.

"As athletes, we know . . . going in [that failure is part of the package]," he said. "But what message do we want to send our kids? If you don't succeed, don't try?"

But he felt that the criticism, at time, was unjust.

"Some of it was over the line," he said. "The hard part was how it affected my family, my kids."

Buckner said the Red Sox contacted him about a month-and-a-half ago, asking him to part of today's ceremonies, and at first he declined.

"But I prayed about it a little bit," he said, "and now I'm glad I'm came.

"They're such a class organization," he said of the Red Sox. "They do things right, and the players appreciate it."

Nor was he really surprised at the rousing ovation he received.

"I did my best while I was here, played hard, and I know the fans appreciated that," he said. "The fans have been great. It was tough for me at first to understand the mentality of New England sports, but I did after a while and I like it. I love the passion. I don't like apathy, like in Los Angeles where the fans all leave in the seventh inning.

"My two best memories were 1990" -- when the fans gave him an ovation similar to today's when he returned to the Red Sox after 2 1/2 years away -- "and today."

He threw out the first pitch to former teammate Dwight Evans, who was delighted to see Buckner return.

"To see him walk out, I was so happy for him," said Evans. "It was emotional for me, too."

My favorite DL status

2008-04-04T13:27:00.001-04:00

"Day-to-day."

Entirely thanks to Vin Scully: "Andre Dawson has a bruised knee and is listed as day-to-day (pause). Aren't we all?"

Worst at-bat songs

2008-04-01T21:13:00.002-04:00

Top Five, Courtesy of Paste Magazine:

“Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” – Culture Club

“Songbird” – Kenny G

“The Girl From Ipanema” – Astrud Gilberto

“Tonight, I Celebrate My Love” – Peabo Bryson

“4’33’’” – John Cage

(Dis)honorable Mentions:

“Black Velvet” - Alannah Myles

“Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” - Frankie Valli

"Come Sail Away" - Styx

“Dancing Queen” - Abba

"Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" - Rupert Holmes

"Fields of Gold" - Sting

“Fishheads” - Barnes & Barnes

“Please Don’t Go Girl” - New Kids on the Block

“Puttin’ On The Ritz” - Taco

“Theme From A Summer Place” - Percy Faith & his Orchestra

...

I'd like to nominate "Me and Mrs. Jones" as the worst song, unless Todd Jones is pitching, in which case, it's the best.

Poor kid

2008-04-01T18:32:00.001-04:00

"You know what the funny thing is? I wouldn't have caught it, anyway." -- Moises Alou

Ah, baseball

2008-04-01T09:40:00.002-04:00

- The Giants' offense is absolutely pathetic. What was that terrible Tigers' team? 2003? This team might score fewer runs than even they did.

- Welcome back, Gas Can Gagne!

- Speaking of Tigers, now THERE'S a lineup that can score some runs. Ditto Cleveland.

Early season thoughts

2008-03-31T13:17:00.002-04:00

- I think I'm going to enjoy watching the Nationals' offense. Ryan Zimmerman and Nick Johnson, batting 3-4, are a nice combo. And while I'm not all that fond of Lastings Milledge, lots of people are, and I'm hoping to be wrong about him. (I saw Milledge play horrendously against the Sox a year or two ago. Not a good fielder. And he doesn't appear to be a patient hitter. Again, I hope I'm wrong.) The starting pitching, on the other hand will probably be quite ugly.

- The shots of the Nationals' new stadium, on TV (and photos in today's Post) make it look pretty nice to me. I think the seats are a little too expensive, regardless of the quality of the team. They'll sell plenty of tickets this year though -- new ballparks always do well -- so I have no right to complain. If the ticket sells, it is not too expensive. (Hello, Fenway!)

- Will we ever reach a point in this country at which we say, "That scoreboard in center field is too big"?

- Seeing Trot Nixon accept a demotion to Arizona's AAA team made me sad. I remember Tom and I, back in college, saying that we were tired of waiting for Nixon, and if he were any good, he'd surely be in the majors by now. (Now= fall of 1996.) He turned out to be a pretty good player, remembered most for owning Roger Clemens in a couple big games and a clutch homer against Oakland in the 2003 playoffs. His Jesus-thanking position after that particular homer made me cool on him (yeah, 'cuz G-d was hoping -- and could foresee -- that the Red Sox would lose much more painfully to the Yankees a couple weeks later), as was the fact that he never did learn to hit lefties. As he bulked up, I had my suspicions about his steroid use (though he wasn't named in the Mitchell Report). Yet Nixon was the first Red Sox draft pick I can remember rooting for from his time in the minors who actually panned out into a useful Red Sox player, unlike, say, Carl Pavano or Brian Rose or Kevin Morton or Phil Plantier. So it's sad watching his career fade away, as all careers do.

- ESPN's Baseball Tonight truly sucks. I can't believe I'm supposed to listen to John Kruk, Eric Young, Steve Phillips, and that Latino guy -- Estrada? Destrada? -- and think, "He's got a point." Why the ESPN folks are so fond of the White Sox -- who, by the way, lost 90 games last year -- is utterly beyond me.

NL Predictions

2008-03-26T15:52:00.003-04:00

NL East
- Mets, Phillies, Braves, Nationals, Marlins

NL Central
- Cubs, Brewers, space, AstrosCardinalsPiratesReds

NL West
- Rockies, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Padres, Giants

NL Wild Card
- Phillies

2008 Predictions - AL

2008-03-25T14:52:00.002-04:00

AL East:
Boston: Better pitching
New York: Built to win regular season games
Tampa: Fun, fun, fun
Toronto: Meh
Baltimore: Bor-ring

AL Central:
Cleveland: Assumes Borowski gets hurt, saving them from their manager
Detroit: Is it me, or is Dontrelle Willis overrated?
KC: Because everyone can't finish 4th
Minnesota: Because I really hate the White Sox
Chicago: Probably aren't so bad. But I'll be rooting against them.

AL West:
Anaheim: But it won't be because of Torii Hunter
Seattle: An otherwise nice team with Jose Vidro as DH deserves to be punished
Oakland: Because they have pitchers
Texas: Because they have no pitchers

AL Wild Card: Detroit

What I do, sort of

2008-03-21T11:39:00.000-04:00

Anti-Smoking Advocates Say 'Fun' Cigarettes Target Teens by WJLA.

What can happen when you put oil men in the White House

2008-03-02T13:06:00.001-05:00

See, if you're in the business of selling oil, this is not a bad thing to happen.

Enough about Farakhan.

2008-02-27T16:32:00.001-05:00

This was enough for me.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/02/26/obamas_ohio_grilling.html

Obama:

I am member of the Unity Church of Christ, Trinity United Church of Christ, been there for 20 years. And although this is an improvement because you don't think I am Muslim, which is the other... [laughter] You know, so, slowly we are progressing here. It is a very conventional African American church. If you go to, if you were there at the church, you would be hearing gospel music and people preaching about Jesus. It is very conventional in that sense.

It is true that my pastor, Jeremiah Wright, who will be retiring this month, is somebody who on occasion can say controversial things. Most of them, by the way, are controversial directed at the African American community and calling on them [to] start reading books and turn off the TV set and engage in self-help. And he is very active in prison ministries and so forth. It is also true that he comes out of the '60s -- he is an older man. That is where he cut his teeth. That he has historically been interested in the African roots of the African American experience.

He was very active in the South Africa divestment movement, and you will recall that there was a tension that arose between the African American and the Jewish communities during that period when we were dealing with apartheid in South Africa, because Israel and South Africa had a relationship at that time. And that cause -- that was a source of tension. So there have been a couple of occasions where he made comments with relation, rooted in that. Not necessarily ones that I share. But that is the context within which he has made those comments.

He does not have a close relationship with Louis Farrakhan. Louis Farrakhan is a resident of Chicago, and as a consequence he has been active in a range of community activities, particularly around ex-offenders and dealing with them. I have been a consistent, before I go any further, a consistent denunciator of Louis Farrakhan, nobody challenges that. And what is true is that, recently this is probably, I guess last year. An award was given to Farrakhan for his work on behalf of ex-offenders completely unrelated to his controversial statements. And I believe that was a mistake and showed a lack of sensitivity to the Jewish community, and I said so. But I have never heard an anti-Semitic [remark] made inside of our church. I have never heard anything that would suggest anti-Semitism on part of the pastor.

He is like an old uncle who sometimes will say things that I don't agree with. And I suspect there are some of the people in this room who have heard relatives say some things that they don't agree with. Including, on occasion, directed at African Americans that maybe a possibility that's just -- I am not suggesting that's definitive. So the point I make is this, that I understand the concerns and the sensitivities, and one of my goals constantly in my public career has been to try to bridge what was a historically powerful bond between the African American and Jewish communities that has been frayed in recent years. For a whole variety of reasons. I think that I have served as an effective bridge, and that's the reason I have overwhelming support among the Jewish community that knows me best, which is the Jewish community in Chicago . And I think that anybody who has friends among the Jewish community in Chicago should check out those credentials.

But I do appreciate the opportunity to clarify those concerns. And as I said, that last point I would make is that you know my pastor is going to be retiring over the next month. So my general view, and the reason that I raise this, this is always a sensitive point, what you don't want to do is distance yourself or kick somebody away, because you are now running for president and you are worried about perceptions, particularly when someone is basically winding down their life and their career.

Douchebag

2008-02-26T14:30:00.000-05:00

Hal McCoy:
It was in the 1980s after Clemens, pitching for Boston, struck out 20 Seattle Mariners. My paper sent me to Boston to do a piece on Clemens, who, after all, was born in Dayton ... He told me to meet him in the dugout before he did his daily run around the park. The interview lasted 12 minutes and was conducted while he laced on his shoes.

And the only thing to come out of the interview worth anything was Clemens’ quote about his hometown: “The best thing about Dayton was seeing it in the rear-view mirror.”

Best Picture Winners: Seen and Unseen

2008-02-26T12:06:00.004-05:00

Apologies for the stupid format of this list -- it took me a little while to find a cut-and-paste-able list that listed only the winners.

Here are the ones I've seen:

Oscar Winners for Best Picture: 2000 - The Present
78th Annual Academy Awards - Crash
77th Annual Academy Awards - Million Dollar Baby
75th Annual Academy Awards - Chicago
73rd Annual Academy Awards - Gladiator
72nd Annual Academy Awards - American Beauty

Oscar Winners for Best Picture: 1990 - 1999
71st Annual Academy Awards - Shakespeare in Love
70th Annual Academy Awards - Titanic
68th Annual Academy Awards - Braveheart
67th Annual Academy Awards - Forrest Gump
66th Annual Academy Awards - Schindler's List
65th Annual Academy Awards - Unforgiven
63rd Annual Academy Awards - Dances With Wolves

Oscar Winners for Best Picture: 1980 - 1989
61st Annual Academy Awards - Rain Man
60th Annual Academy Awards - The Last Emperor
57th Annual Academy Awards - Amadeus*
55th Annual Academy Awards - Gandhi*
54th Annual Academy Awards - Chariots of Fire*

* I was really young, and these movies made no impression on me whatsoever. Well, other than a vague memory of Gandhi getting shot and the theme song to "Chariots," which -- along with "Music Box Dancer" -- was my favorite song when I was, like, 5. Sue me.

Oscar Winners for Best Picture: 1970 - 1979
50th Annual Academy Awards - Annie Hall
47th Annual Academy Awards - The Godfather, Part II
46th Annual Academy Awards - The Sting
45th Annual Academy Awards - The Godfather
43rd Annual Academy Awards - Patton

Oscar Winners for Best Picture: 1960 - 1969
41st Annual Academy Awards - Oliver!
40th Annual Academy Awards - In the Heat of the Night
38th Annual Academy Awards - The Sound of Music
34th Annual Academy Awards - West Side Story

Oscar Winners for Best Picture: 1950 - 1959
30th Annual Academy Awards - The Bridge on the River Kwai
27th Annual Academy Awards - On the Waterfront

What does this mean? Here are some of the movies that I've never seen, causing you to say, "Wait! You've never seen [blank]?! How is that even possible?"

A Beautiful Mind, The English Patient, The Silence of the Lambs, Driving Miss Daisy, Platoon, The Deer Hunter, Rocky, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Lawrence of Arabia, Ben-Hur, From Here to Eternity, All the King's Men, Casablanca, and Gone with the Wind.

G-d Bless You, Henry Waxman

2008-02-25T17:24:00.003-05:00

My fellow Americans: as a young boy, I dreamed of being a baseball. But tonight I say, we must move forward, not backward, upward, not forward. And always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom! -- Kodos

You know, my bitterness about baseball-related things has receded to a remarkable degree since 2004. (For those of you who doubt this, you may be surprised to hear I used to keep a lot of that bitterness to myself.) And so, you might think that I'd be ready to forgive and forget Roger Clemens for generally being a douchebag who could never beat Dave Stewart or win any other big games while with the Sox. But you'd be wrong.

Headlines like this one are good for my heart.

Patriotism

2008-02-17T09:21:00.002-05:00

The Globe reports that illegal immigrants are probably paying federal income taxes more than ever. Why?

"While typical American taxpayers are wary of the Internal Revenue Service, illegal immigrants see the IRS as a friendly agency that could help in their quest for legal residency."

10 percent

2008-02-14T14:13:00.002-05:00

How I voted.

And, yes, watching Roger Clemens's public humiliation is the best end to his career I can imagine other than 38,000 at Fenway pelting him with Marge Simpson's pretzels.

DC Grays: Endorsing the separation of church from me since 1975

2008-02-06T16:43:00.000-05:00

Posted without comment.

Plan B

2008-02-05T16:09:00.000-05:00

I was going to make a post mocking the NJ Giants for holding their victory parade 100 miles away in downtown Manhattan, but it turns out East Rutherford is actually pretty close to NYC. So, never mind. (It looks to me like East Rutherford is closer to NYC than Foxborough is to Boston.) (Incidentally, I think football stadiums should be in the suburbs, since they're only used a handful of days each year and would never support auxiliary businesses like bars and restaurants. Commuter parking? Yes. The Cask n' Flagon? For eight home games a year, ten if you're good? No. Urban land should benefit residents. But I digress.)

But can anyone figure out what was actually taking place at the Meadowlands when this satellite photo was taken? I mean, it's lined for soccer, I get that. But why were they letting so many people onto the field? And why are the stands empty?

What lying about a war looks like in graph form

2008-02-04T17:24:00.001-05:00

The view from the bandwagon

2008-02-04T09:54:00.000-05:00

Me: Todd Light is getting killed out there. He's just playing awful.
Stu: Matt Light.
Me: Who?
Stu: Matt Light. His name is Matt Light.
Me: Oh. Who's Todd Light, then?
Stu: I don't know.

And yet, I have to admit I'm pretty disappointed today.

Good move by Bob Kraft

2008-01-16T16:57:00.000-05:00

Patriots to honor young fan booed in Indianapolis

I was also excited to see that Andre Tippett is employed by the team. That guy was awesome.

Thank Wegman's

2008-01-16T13:36:00.000-05:00

For their great produce selection, for their terrific generic marinara sauce, and for this.