Halloween Night

So I've been by the door, handing out the candy to the ghost, goblins, pirates and other assorted trick or treaters making their round. I think we had more this year then last year. Then again it's a nice night with a clear sky and a half moon in the sky. In other words a perfect night for the gathering of goodies.

While waiting I had my laptop fired up and waited. During the wait, I watched an episode of Torchwood, the spin off from Doctor Who. More on that for a different time. Also I decided to listen to the local University Radio Station CJAM, it is the local access radio station that serves the university population and the communities of Windsor and Detroit. With children at various post secondary centres of education I decided to listen to the various college stations and other alternative radio stations. It's the annual pledge drive for CJAM and so if anyone wants to send them a few dollars, the information is on the website.

I thought about other alternative stations I listened to for example when we lived in Vancouver, I used to listen to Co-Op Radio. It was a great station, they had every Wednesday night, for example a show dedicated to science fiction. This was all sorts of sci-fi, fantasy and other forms of speculative fiction- it was great. There was also a lot of various programming that was not featured in any other media outlet. That was not the only station, I also listened to CiTR, which was UBC's radio station. They were also involved with Discorder Magazine, which had a fantastic number of articles. The great thing about Vancouver was it's alternative press, plus the great free outdoor recreation magazine. Plus the computer magazines, especially the computer magazines. You could get a eclectic mix of reading just grabbing all the free magazines that were available around Commercial Drive. Hey I just checked, Magpie Magazine Gallery is still in operation, now that was a fun store. Lots of great magazines and a good place to check out the alternative works. Of course another fascinating bookstore is People's Coop Bookstore.

Quite a blog, from handing out candy to college radio stations to alternative literature in Vancouver. By the way, Coop Radio is also having a pledge drive, so there you go, two radio stations that can use your support.

Peace

Thank You Tigers

Okay, it's over. The Tigers lost in 5. Their pitching staff made five errors and the Cardinals scored 8 unearned runs. The Tigers batted a huge .108.

Now, that's the bad news. Indeed there will be enough discussion over those numbers for the next few weeks. All those nay sayers will show how this proved the Tigers did not deserve to be in the World Series and other such nonsense.

Yes, they were 19-31 over the last 50 and they blew 3 games at home against the KC Royals. There, it's all been said, for all those clowns at ESPN who are still crabbing about the lack of a New York based team in the World Series, it has been duly noted. Now consider this:

1) The Tigers improved 24 games over last year.
2) The humbled the much vaulted New York Yankees in four games, even though after game one everyone was saying what frauds the Tigers were.
3) They swept the Oakland A's.
4) They led the majors in pitching throughout the year.
5) They have a lot of young players who will only get better
Can you imagine what this series will do for; Bonderman, Verlander, Zumaya, Rodney, Granderson, Munroe and all the others. How about Inge and the few who remember the 119 loss season. This will be a team that will want nothing more then to repeat. Remember 2 years ago the Cardinals were swept by the RedSoxs.

Oh yes, congratulations Cardinals, you played hard and in the end deserved this win.

One more thing, pitchers and catchers report on February 15, 2007, and you want to believe there will be a lot of fielding practice for the pitchers that week.

In a Couple of Hours



In a Couple of Hours we will either be cheering on the Tigers as they go to Game Six back in the friendly confines of Comerica Park, or congratulating the Cardinals on their championship.

It's baseball, any thing can happen.

It ain't over, 'til its over

It ain't over 'til the Fat Lady Sings.

You Gotta Believe.

Why does orange juice taste so bad after brushing your teeth? :: ABC Gold & Tweed Coasts

This is an interesting answer to a question that does pass through out mind but we never think about finding the answer.

The Weekend in Sports

The weekend started with a football game at University of Windsor stadium. The Lancers were hosting the 2005 Vanier Cup champion Laurier Golden Hawks. We plucked our $8.00 dollars a ticket down to sit in the gold section of the stadium and waited for the game to start. There was a good contingent from WLU, in fact there was quite a number of them in our section.

The game was won by Windsor 39-29, and while Windsor jumped out to an early first half lead it became very interesting in the third and fourth quarter. However the defence for Windsor stiffened up and forced four turnovers (2 fumbles and 2 interceptions) to ensure the lead stayed with Windsor. It was both an exciting game and a great day for football, especially when the sun came out in the second half.

The result will be Windsor will host a semi-final game this Saturday. Their opponent will be the University of Western Ontario Mustangs. If I have one concern its this, Windsor has got to play a full game and not just 3 out of the four quarters. Western is their nemisis and this is a chance for the Lancers to stomp all over this rival. Still you have to believe.

Now the rest of the weekend, Saturday was to witness a rare Tiger loss. It was upsetting but then again, one has to realize this is the World Series and these two are the best teams in baseball. The St. Louis Cardinals are a great team and must not be forgotten. Now what TigerNation should do is find that idiot reporter with USAToday who said the Tigers win in three and slap him silly.

Then Sunday, Kenny Rogers pitched a gem of the game and the Tigers tied up the series. Now right now, much is being made of the alledged "substance" on the hand of the Gambler. The question is why didn't LaRussa come out and challenge the umpires to check him out. There's a couple of reasons and here are some given, 1) he didn't see it, like someone didn't phone the dugout from St. Louis and tell him all about it; 2) he has so much respect for Jim Leyland, he didn't want to confront the best pitcher in the playoffs or 3) he has this in his back pocket for game 6.

Consider this, you see something and you confront Rogers, if the umpires decide it was intentional and Rogers is tossed out. The potential is that Tigers lose game two and now the Cardinals return home for three games with the potential to win at home.
Did Rogers have something? Who knows, was it pine tar, or chew? By the way, Rogers worst inning was the first, so perhaps the Cardinals should demand Kenny have the substance on his hand for game 6.

Whatever, it doesn't matter. The Tigers are tied and it's still good.

Mag's Home Run



This is never going to get old. This video is from YouTube and shows not only the home run, but the reaction of the crowd. What a magic night. Magglio Ordonez's walk on home run in the bottom of the nineth with two men on base put the Tigers into the World Serious and took the bad taste of that 119 loss season out of everybody's mouth.

The Tigers are going to the WORLD SERIES. Oh I just said that didn't I. Who cares say it again and again and again.

Bankers for poor win peace Nobel - CNN.com

This is exciting news. Bangladeshi microcredit pioneer Muhammad Yunus has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in the area of microcredit and microbanking. If you're not familiar with the concept, microcredit is a small loan that is provided to poor families in third world countries so that the recipient of the loan can start a small business and allow them the chance to bring themselves up from poverty.

The loans are used by the person to buy some chickens or a cow, or as the article points out a mobile phone. The idea of the latter is that the person becomes a small telephone company and charges people to make phone calls. The loans tend to be small and for a short period of time, such as a year.

What is amazing is that it is working, people are buying chickens, selling the eggs and then buying more chicken and then hiring people to collect and market the eggs. Eventually not only does the family benefit but friends and neighbours benefit from a fresh supply of food and the opportunity to work. Others have purchased sewing machines and material and become a clothes manufacturer. I recall watching a video in which this was shown, the woman made childrens clothing and sold it to others. She made a good living and was able to start quite a nice business.

One of the concepts of the loan is that the loans are usually given to women, the idea is to allow them financial freedom and to become independent. Probably another reason is that since the woman watches the children she will be more interested in the long term viability of the business and the family, the husband would take the money and buy beer.

By the way, the return on investment is amazing with almost all the loans repaid in time and in full.

It's a success story that will have a tremendous impact on poverty levels in the third and fourth world.

And Thomas Carlyle called economics the Dismal Science.

MLB - Detroit Tigers/Oakland Athletics Box Score Wednesday October 11, 2006 - Yahoo! Sports

Phew!

Now this was a wild game. The Tigers pulled out a win in a game that featured a lot of home runs (3 by Oakland, 2 by the Tigers) and strikeouts ( 13 by the Tigers, 7 by Oakland). I guess you could say that batters were either walking slowly back to the dugout or trotting slowly around the base paths. With the possible exception of Milton Bradley who sprinted from third to home on his home run. He was pumped and excited.

You would think a game that was 8-5, it meant the Tigers had an easy time, but the bottom of the 9th was the classic, bases loaded and two out. Fortunately for the Tigers, Frank Thomas flied out to center to end the potential rally.

What is amazing is the Tigers find a new player to come to the fore and be the Man. In this game it was Alexis Gomez who hit a home run and drove in four of the eight Tiger runs.

Still it was nerve wracking at the very end, Todd Jones made it interesting. So now on to Detroit for three games. What will happen, can we use the "S" word? Have to wait for Friday night.

Let's Go Tigers

Buck O'Neil Was Voice for Negro Leagues - washingtonpost.com

I would be remiss if I didn't stop and say something about the passing of Buck O'Neil. As you can read in the article Buck O'Neil was a player in the Negro League who became a voice of the time when people were barred from playing baseball because of the colour of their skin.

He was featured in the Ken Burn's brilliant miniseries Baseball.
If you ever heard him speak, or listen to an interview he was always a great gentleman and a man who harboured no hatred. His telltale remark of 'uh huh', spoke of his folkiness and his humour. You can listen to him here.

Sadly he didn't make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame. This is what he said: "God's been good to me. They didn't think Buck was good enough to be in the Hall of Fame. That's the way they thought about it and that's the way it is, so we're going to live with that. Now, if I'm a Hall of Famer for you, that's all right with me. Just keep loving old Buck. Don't weep for Buck. No, man, be happy, be thankful. "

Good night Buck and Good bye.

ESPN.com - MLB - Box Score - Yankees at Tigers
Bring On Oakland

Now the real series starts.

The Tigers finished off the Yankees. The team that was supposed to be 'just a minor annoyance' finished the GREATEST TEAM IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND in relatively easy fashion. If we all thought Friday's game was one-sided this was worse. The Yankees were hitless in five innings and didn't even get a run until the 7th. The vaulted Yankee line-up was anemic at best.

If you are interested here are some numbers:

Yankees BA .246
Tigers BA .309

Yankees ERA 5.5
Tigers ERA 3.5

In the end it wasn't even close.

Now it starts for real on Tuesday. Game One in Oakland on Tuesday. Can the Tigers prevail, I suppose the question should be asked, which team has the most confidence? Plus, why not the Tigers. They just eliminated the Evil Empire.

You have to believe.

6-0

Consider this:

Kenny Rogers 7.2 5 0 0 2 8

Translation: Kenny Rogers schooled the vaulted Yankee batting order. He went almost 8 innings and let not one Yankee cross home plate. In fact he caused a whole lot of them to walk back to the dugout talking to themselves. The Gambler made them look very bad and that's something because this is supposed to be the "Greatest Team Ever". In fact the Tigers aren't supposed to be even in the same league as the Yankees. After all the Tigers are a fraud, they had a horrible last 50 games, they lost three in a row to the Royals. Yes the Tigers should simply give up now and allow the Yankees to face the A's because the Yankees were supposed to sweep the Tigers. The pity is, the Yankees are the frauds and the Tigers are, after tonight the real deal.

Now it's not over. The Yankees are still the best team in the history of the world after all. They are so good, they actually won tonight. Yes they won every place but, on the scoreboard.

Think it over, the fraudulent Tigers shutout the greatest team in human history.

It is a beautiful thing.

Major League Baseball : News : Major League Baseball News

The kids are all right.

Yes the kids are alright. The Tigers managed to pull out a win in the unfriendly confines of Yankee Stadium to tie the series 1-1. You don't need me to tell you that, I mean if you are a Tiger fan you know that already.

This was a good win but believe it or not, not a surprise. After the first game, which saw Derek Jeter go 5-5, you just felt the Tigers could play even with the Yankees.

This game was delayed from Wednesday and it obviously helped the Tigers more then the Yankees. The kids were able to rest and obviously remind themselves that they are fighting for the forces of good against the Evil Empire. And we know good always triumphs over evil.

There is a couple of concerns, namely Pudge's lack of offensives prowess so far this series, hopefully that will change. Then again, you have A-Rod for the Yankees not doing anything. Ahh yes, another stellar playoff year for the guy who's quickly becoming the most hated player in pinstripes, and that's from the Yankee faithful.

Two games in Comerica. You gotta believe.