entombed in the shrine of zeroes and ones

I'm not sure where Neal Stephenson was living during the time he wrote Snow Crash, but i note that it was published in 1992, and it was 1991 when Frank "The Big Hurt" Thomas started swinging a taped-up piece of rebar in the on-deck circle.  Redneck katana or "good gadget"?  Coincidence or conspiracy?

When my Secret PROTRADE Contact told me that Rob Neyer (whose work i've been reading since 1996) was coming to visit them, and that they'd be going to BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse, a mere hop and a skip from my workplace... well, i indulged my fannish side and dropped by.  There was even an empty seat for me at the table!  But i merely hung around long enough to say hi, chat for a couple of minutes, thank him and take off.  Whee!

"I don't believe that anybody should wish either way. Let him play and what he does, he does. But remember this: baseball is only as good and as strong as the records we break. That's what makes the game so strong."

-- Sparky Anderson, when asked if he would like to see Barry Bonds break Hank Aaron's home run record

The three largest countries in the world, by area, are Russia, Canada, and the space between Cliff Floyd and Shawn Green.

- Keith Law, on Carlos Beltrán's defensive prowess

Peter Gammons is back.

I have a new passport.

Thursday evening, Centavo defeated Jets 10-7.  I had a very good game in goal, winning a fair amount of one-on-ones and having some nice saves.

Last night, 2wanda and i went with most of my company to the Diamond Suite at Giants Stadium (i refuse to acknowledge the corporate moniker) to watch the Giants thump the Dodgers.  Baseball at the stadium is vastly better than baseball on TV, and baseball in a suite (with free food and booze) directly behind home plate beats baseball anywhere else in the stadium.  There were many good defensive plays and Jason Schmidt, after an iffy first inning, settled down to have a very good outing.

Tonight, Kim and i went to missionista's and dr_memory's housewarming party.  We had the fortune of being the first ones there, and thus were able to monopolize our hosts' time (and i also took the opportunity to install myself as wine tsar).  I was thoroughly amused by mangosteen's attempt to place my accent somewhere in the British Isles.  Besides him, i also met ladycalliope, and, well, probably a bunch of other LiveJournal-enabled people but whose usernames i neglected to inquire about.  A very fun time was had.

Brian Murphy gamely attempts to explain why San Francisco sticks by Barry Bonds.  It won't change your mind, but it's a very good piece nonetheless.

The vast majority of sports are, at their core, the same: you or your team want to score, and to deny your opponents in their own pursuit of a score.  The way to do that is to get possession of the ball.

Baseball (yes, and cricket) is different.  When your team "possesses" the ball, it's actually delivered by your opponents, and your job is to put the ball out of their reach while you try to score.  In baseball, you don't want the ball anywhere near you when you score.

There is no clock that ticks away; no time can be burnt or wasted in an effort to deny your opponent a chance to score again.  Each team has the same number of chances to score in the game, no matter what (yes, the home team foregoes its final 3 or fewer chances if it's ahead).

Another difference in baseball is that the teams don't face each other at full strength.  It's always the batter versus nine fielders, modulo any baserunners, whose impact is minimal (unless they're exceptional base-stealers).  In geekspeak, the game is asynchronous.

One thing i've read about baseball that i like a lot is, "You have to let the game come to you."  Patience is rewarded in baseball more than in any other sport.

My DunDraCon's all done, and i had a blast despite misplacing my dice (where were they, you ask?  in my backpack all along, in a pocket where i didn't think to look until i got home).

In the meantime, please delight yourself with two reports from alasdair and stu_n on visiting a gourmet chocolatier in London.

Also, baseball fans (and especially Red Sox fans) will enjoy thomascolthurst's parody of "Who's On First?"

In a New York Times article about how the Los Angeles Dodgers nearly hired an Asian-American woman as their general manager, this little tidbit sprang out and nearly assaulted me:

Since [Frank] McCourt took over as the Dodgers' owner two years ago, he has jeopardized the organization's genteel image, firing 10 vice presidents or directors of departments. The new vice chairman is McCourt's wife, Jamie. The marketing director is his son, Drew.

"To do my job and do it well, I need to tune out criticism," Frank McCourt said. "I can't be persuaded by being pulled and tugged in different directions."