Showing posts with label Palin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Palin. Show all posts

9.10.2008

112. Talkin' Baseball

OK, this time we mean it. The baseball team that shall remain nameless is in St. Louis this week for three games and the Cardinals really need this series to stay alive in the playoff hunt. The Cards have not had much success against the @*!$ this season. But it is time for St. Louis to fish or cut bait. And I had feared that a bait-cutting festival would ensue.

However, results are mixed so far, with St. Louis winning Tuesday night in dramatic fashion, but tonight's Cardinal rally fell short. We gotta win tomorrow, that's all.

Incidentally, there will be no logos from the team that shall not be named posted on this blog. Granted, the logo has a classic look and, under different circumstances, it would be displayed.

But you gotta draw the line some where.

On a baseball related note, one writer is proposing two wild card teams in each league for the playoffs and I actually like the idea.

Basically, I hate the Wild Card. I will not spill a lot a ink over why, but it boils down to a couple of things. Briefly, I think you should actually win something to advance. There's a reason they play 162 games and a season that long usually grinds things pretty fine. You know who the first place teams are and who they are not. The other thing is that any team can win 4 games in 9 days in October and this is borne out by that fact that one third of the World Series Champs since inception of the Wild Card have been, in fact, teams that could not win their division during the year. Wild Cards.

But, get a load of this idea. ". . . there is a way to restore full meaning to the 162-game schedule, and give teams a significant incentive to win their division rather than be happy just to make the playoffs. Tom Hirdt of the Elias Sports Bureau has suggested that instead of one wild-card team in each league, there should be two – and that these two teams should face each other in a one-game playoff to determine who moves on to the divisional series."

There's more - "Under this new structure, winning your division is of paramount importance. You’ll do anything you can to stay out of that one-game win-or-go-home situation. Late-season games against your division rivals become vital and electric." (emphasis mine)

I like it. I hope it comes about. Write your congressman.

Better yet, call Sarah Palin.

How can you measure the effect of Palin on the election?

The other day my wife, who typically would ask me, "OK, who are we voting for?" on the day before an election day, is all fired up to go pull the lever for McCain/Palin. My wife is very intelligent, but generally uninterested in politics.

But that was then and this is now.

And after watching and hearing the relentless, uninformed, mindless, partisan and biased attacks lobbed Palin's way and enabled by mainstream media that has abandoned all pretense concerning fairness, my bride remarked, "I miss Tim Russert."

We all do.

9.07.2008

111. Sunday Afternoon

Here comes McCain-Palin. Polls out today show McCain-Palin leading Obama-Biden by 3 or 4 points depending on the poll, one shows it essentially even. More good news - the data does not include results from the entirety of the RNC.

McCain is the real deal, a man of accomplishment and courage. Obama is a pretender, a man of two memoirs at age 47 and adept at reading a telepromter. John McCain is a classic, old book you love to read over and over. Obama is a Blackberry with your favorite chapter from the story. The Blackberry you carry in your briefcase. The book is carried in your heart.

It's not going to be close.

Incidentally, Democrats, I don't think you'll be too pleased with what happens to your Congress this fall, either. Just sayin'.

Enough politics for today.

I'm reading Ezekiel right now and I am really struck by the language God uses to describe Israel. He says they've been an unfaithful wife and have gone whoring. God says they learned all this in Egypt.

When they got to the promised land, they took up with the Assyrians and the Chaldeans (Babylonians). Israel, north and south, lusted after the gods of these lands and worshipped them, despising the one true God whose mighty acts on their behalf they saw.

And God judges them and look who the instruments of His wrath are. The Assyrians and the Babylonians. Yes, the ones Samaria and Judah desired, betrayed God for, became their conquerors. What a striking image!

Friends, let's always watch our hearts and never esteem any thing or any one above God our Treasure.

8.30.2008

110. Your Comments

I thought I would cull the comments here at Central Standard and write about them. We are an interactive blog!

Cousin Bob from Poppy's Front Porch comments on Politics. Concerning McCain's VP selection. He said, "I hope you're right, (about Romney) and we should know today. I also wonder if it might be some "dark horse" that we haven't heard discussed yet."

Well! It was a Dark Horse selection and perhaps the cousin had some inside info from his neck of the woods in KC? After all, Obama was there the other day. Or was it St. Louis?

Friend Ryan wrote about the veep selection also. He said, "I love the fact that the McCain camp is floating these ads during the commercial breaks at the democrats' conclave. That's being proactive...hopefully he'll pick a decent VP. I hope he stays away from an unknown figure and goes with Huckabee (my personal choice) or Romney. I think Romney could be a negative over the next couple of months in the campaign...they'll exploit his wealth."

Sorry, Ryan, this didn't go at all like you preferred regarding an unknown or Huckabee.

One of the things Ryan sort of got at in his comment was the potential for someone dragging down the ticket. Frankly, even though I prefered Romney in the process, none of the known names provided much 'juice' to the ticket, in my mind. But Sarah Palin does. I think McCain hit it out of the park by choosing her.

Bob also opined on the Mo governor's race, saying he'll vote Hulsoff, but fears it's an uphill battle. I agree. I think "uphill battle" is the BEST Hulsoff could hope for against Jay Nixon.

Finally, Bob again on the Logo Farming that graces the right side of the blog. "So, who are / were the Whalers, anyway? Neat logo, I saw the W shaped like a tail fin...and it took me a while to notice the negative white space could be an H. My favorite might be the Brooklyn Dodgers with the bat at an angle, causing the words around the circular logo to be displaced a bit."

Right on, Bob! The Hartford (the white space is indeed an 'H') Whalers were in the old World Hockey Association and joined the NHL in 1979, along with a few others from the WHA. In 1997 the Whalers moved to North Carolina and became the Hurricanes. They later won a Stanley Cup there. The Whalers have a nearly cult-like following of fans longing, much like Brooklyn baseball fans, for the days when "the Whale" still skated in Hartford. Check out the earliest Whalers Logo.

And that Brooklyn logo is also one of my favorites. I like the same things you do, but the feature I like best is the Bridge.

'Til next time.

8.29.2008

108. My Guess Was Wrong

Barring a Tom Eagleton-like breakdown, Mitt Romney will not be Vice President of the United States any time soon. My guess was wrong.

The next vice president with either be Joe Biden or Sarah Palin. I will bet dollars to donuts it will be Palin. I don't bet, of course.

I saw the announcement today from Dayton, Ohio and Palin is terrific. That seems to be the consensus of the blog world also or, at least, the portion of it that I bother with. Conseratives are stoked, by and large.

I think poll-watching will be fun over the next two weeks or so. By Sunday we should have all the Obama convention results in the poll. Whatever bounce he's going to get will be there. After that, it's all about how much the GOP can chip away. I am optimistic.

The Cardinals Toast Quotient is approaching critical levels. They are competing, they're playing hard, but they don't have the horses. The Cubs are beginning to pull away and St. Louis just can't seem to pick up ground on Milwaukee in the Wild Card race.

But, don't quit looking at them. Prince Albert is leading the National League in batting and may just bring home a batting title. He'll get lots of votes for MVP, but being out of the playoffs will depress his vote total.

I have to say that I thought we'd see more from the Royals this year, though they had a nice early portion of the season. I don't know what to say as I don't follow as closely there. I think the GM and the manager are solid. Probably a lack of horsepower in KC, too.

Mizzou starts tomorrow. I can hardly wait to see how good they will be. The National Title is the goal. Oh my! Are these the Missouri Tigers we are talking about?