Drought Contest
I mentioned in a recent post that I had received two Honorable Mention awards from the state for my ideas on how to save water. I was informed recently by a blog member that everyone who submitted an idea got an award. In other words I got one of those feel good participation awards. Good things the two picture frames I bought a Aaron Brothers were on sale. In case you might have forgotten my one idea was to cut back on the amount of ice cubes used in drink and the second was to use a lighter bourbon so not as much water would needed for a bourbon and water cocktail. The winning idea was to pray for rain which was thrown out because of the separation of church and state regulations. So the second place finisher idea to build more reservoirs won the gold. The idea to build a water tube in the middle of Highway 5 from the state of Washington to California was awarded second place. The bronze medal went to the idea not to allow water to be bottled in California for public sale.
Curry Knows His Golf
Earlier this summer Steph Curry the Warrior great participated in a celebrity golf tournament at Lake Tahoe. One of our blog memebers was in atteandance and saw Curry hit a ball into Lake Tahoe. Because of laws against polluting the Lake that was an automatic three stroke penalty. Curry complained saying that the rules had changed and took his case to Judge Newsom. Curry's attorney pointed out that there is no longer be a penalty stroke for hitting a ball out of bounds or into the water such as Lake Tahoe. The PGA, the LPGA, the USGA, the R&A after a private meeting with FBI Director Comey, have recommended that your opponent must prove that you intended to hit the ball in the hazard in order for there to be a penalty. The Judge ruled for Curry meaning he had no intent to hit the ball in the Lake and later the judge received a thank you note from Curry and Charles Barkley plus two season tickets to the Warriors games estimated to be worth over $50,000 and over 2 million on the secondary market.
The NBA
The Warriors recently announced their home schedule for the upcoming year. The excitement out of Oakland was tremendous when it was learned that the Warriors will open at home against the Spurs. This is a big game and we will really see how Durant plays with Curry and Thompson. I am sure the secondary market will bring over $2,000 a ticket. That's Warriors PR or is BS a better description. The game means absolutely nothing. Its one of 84 games and just as long as the Warriors win about 43 of them there is no worry they are in the playoffs then the season begins. The Warriors peaked in November last year and they got home court advantage. A lot of good it did them.
Blog member Pat O complains about Sacramento giving the Kings 385 parcels of land "not worth much anyway" to the Kings for their new arena. Parking fees will play for 385 million over the next fifty years. The new ownership of the Warriors announced years ago that they would be moving to San Francisco. Why Oakland didn't offer the Kings Oracle Arena on the spot is a mystery to me. The Warriors could have used Kezar Pavilion or the Cow Palace while the new Mission Bay arena is being built.
It was announced that the Warriors will be leaving KNBR after 40 years of basketball announcing through both lean and good years. An FM station that doesn't reach San Jose will carry the games. The new ownership gets a lot of credit for the success of the organization. One thing they are not is loyal to their fans in the East Bay or their radio station. Looks like they are great back stabbers although you can't argue with their success. Oh, they wanted more publicity between seasons. I heard so much about the Warriors during the summer that with the new season approaching I am already sick and tired of them.
49ers Impressive
I was impressed with the 49ers in their first pre season game against Houston. I overlooked the second half because they ran plays just to evaluate personnel. If you over look a couple crucial fumbles the team looked like they could win a couple game this year especially early in the season before the injuries mount up. All the team needed was a distraction like the National Anthem controversy and now their chances of winning at all are slim. #7 gets his revenge.!
College Football
I have lost my contact with USC football so I cannot provide any inside information. All I know is that they are preparing the Trojan faithful for a letdown and a 7-5 season First they let them know that the Trojans have the toughest football schedule in America since all but one team was in a bowl game last year. Actually its hard to schedule any team that wasn't in a bowl. Then they have a choice of quarterbacks. Once a coach shows he can't make up his mind it means that both are mediocre at best. The team does have some great athletes who could break any game open but their defensive line has not played one college down. If they keep the loss to Alabama this Saturday to under 20 points they should be thrilled and encouraged about the season.
Swearing
I might have lost my contacts with the Trojans but still have a few in Santa Clara observing the 49ers. It was reported to me that one of my contacts was walking by York 's office and all he could hear was why didn't we get rid of that s o b ba.....d when we had the opportunity. I have no idea who they were talking about.
The Giants
My time has been very limited due primarily to my wife's illness so I am not able to comment on the Giants more regularly. About two weeks ago the Giants blew a 7th inning lead of 7-1 lead to the Orioles. Usually when a team loses a lead there are bloop hits, errors, umpire mistakes that keep the rally going. I know most of my readers were settling in their seats at Levi Stadium anxiously awaiting the 49er game so they missed an explosive rally by Baltimore. Krukow commented on television that the first hit was the hardest he had seen in years. This is no surprise because the Giants don't have hitters with too much sock in their bats. Then Trumbo hits a monstrous home run. I read that he is leading the AL in home runs. I remember when Trout and Trumbo were in the Angels outfield and I thought the team from south of Los Angeles had it made for years.
During the series the Giants wore orange jerseys on Friday night and black on Saturday. The Orioles did just the opposite wearing black on Friday and orange on Saturday. I thought for sure the National Association for People Who Can't Read would have sued the teams for trying to confuse their members. So far a law suit has not been filed.
The Dodgers took two out of three from the Cubs last weekend. That was bad news for the Giants because I thought the Dodgers won the West with that series victory. Then the Dodgers go to Colorado and lose 2 of 3. That's September baseball. Records mean nothing.The Giants can only hope that the Cubs play as sloppy in Chicago this weekend during their four game series as they did last weekend in Los Angeles. The Giants should be thrilled with a split. The Giants are 2 games behind the Dodgers starting the final stretch drive. There will be a lot of swearing and mashing of teeth during the month. But Bochy will have over 36 players at his disposal and that's when he manages best. I wouldn't be surprise if he uses 18 pitchers in one game. The Giants are far from a perfect team but their rivals aren't flawless either.
Windows 10
One of our newer blog members KB of Irvine complained to me that her computer is now all loused up since she switched to Windows 10. I might remind our blog member that we warned everyone about Windows 10 in our July 15th post.
Monday Night Pool
A number of you participated in the Monday Night Football Pool last year. You should have received the information for this coming year. If you wish to participate I will attempt to forward the information from Mike Willis in a separate email.
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
Wednesday, August 10, 2016
Eight Games . . .The Distant Past
The Olympics
I really don't have much interest in the Olympics but since I was in Dublin on Friday night I watched the opening ceremonies. I was bored. Turned it off after the American team enter the stadium. Wanted to make sure they showed up. The global warning section was typical NBC and all I can say is that 'they don't have a clue'. As far as I am concerned the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics is tops for creativity at the opening ceremonies. Who can ever forget all those white pianos in the Coliseum. Have to admit I never heard of some of the countries that strolled in the parade. Some of the countries weren't as big as the state of Delaware. Perhaps to make it fare and balanced which is the battle cry today, the USA team should be broken into fifty smaller states. Hey, come to think of it, that's not a bad idea!
Sunday night I was in my motel room in the middle of the San Joaquin Valley on my way home and turned on the games. NBC wanted to draw a big audience so it was easy to understand why they featured Women Diving Springboard Synchronized as the lead in sport. What was shocking to me is that the USA could not qualify a team for the sport. I thought it over for a moment and everything became clearer. Many of you are probably not old enough to remember motels with pools had diving boards. Diving boards were also common in many back yard pools. The cost of insurance eliminated them and it also destroyed diving and you wonder why the USA could not qualify a team. So you can blame insurance if the USA doesn't win the medal count.
Congratulations to the women's gymnastics team for winning the gold. It takes years of hard work and the honor is well deserved. Could only observe that the competition looked very weak. What ever happen to those great Eastern European gymnasts? Guess Muslins girls aren't that interested.
Michael Phelps keeps winning the gold one Olympics after another. Great achievement. When you can make millions swimming the Olympics every four why go to work. He is a prime example of why I lost interest in the games. Back many decades it was fun to see all new amateurs appear on the scene which I though made the games interesting and exciting. . . The USA basketball team is having it harder then one might expect. I saw the other day that they were tied after the first quarter. Things are really tough. . . My wife Barbara can hardly wait until golf starts.
NFL
I read while I was on the road that the NFL had to cancel the Hall of Fame Game because they used the wrong paint on the field. I pointed out last year the many mistakes the NFL made only proving you don't have to be smart to make it in this world. The NFL is proof that many dummies do!
To appease the people who get too hot at the 49er games that this Sundays opening pre season game will start at 4 o'clock probably the hottest part of the day. But it will cool off if they are lucky. I am assuming that the bathrooms at Levi will be open to either sex to appease York. Jed better be careful he is not caught going into a women's marked restroom. The security cameras will be watching.
I see that the 49ers practiced at Kezar Stadium on Wednesday. I remember in 1946 attending the first 49er game at Kezar a pre-season game against the Chicago Rockets who were led by the great Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch who later became an NFL star. Kezar was a unique stadium because Mary Kezar donated the property to the city but insisted that the field run east and west instead of north and south which because of the wind direction led to many record punts. The 49ers played there until 1970 when they were forced out because of safety reasons caused by the hippies who took over the Height Ashbury District of San Francisco forcing the team to move to a baseball stadium at Candlestick Point
The Giants
Now they are tied! What ever happen to that 8 game lead? Listen and everybody has an opinion which includes, pitching, fielding and hitting. It's that simple!
For a long period this year the relief pitching was the culprit. Now it has come around with Law gaining more confidence and Strickland pitching well. Even Lopez is starting to get a few people out. They have to keep it up. Casilla continues to get criticized but he gets the job done most of the time. Remember a guy named Brian Wilson who took the Dodgers for 10 million made Giant fans sweat plenty!
Starting pitching has faltered a little. Bumgarner gives up one run and they keep losing The new lefthander Moore looks like he will help. Samardzija pitched well today for a change and lets hope it continues. Cueto always gives it everything and Cain has been looking much better. Give the starters a few runs and they will be okay. That's easier said then done!
Some experts on the Giants keep repeating that the Giants score enough runs. I don't buy it. Earlier in the season the team won 8 out of 9 and the batting average during those games was .190. That luck could not continue. Here is my thoughts on the players:
Sans - Have you ever seen a leadoff man ground to second to start a game so often
Pagan - Good season but lacks pop in his bat
Belt - it will be hard to reach 20 homeruns for the season
Posey - Has his little slumps but still hits but lacks the power he once had.
Crawford - best clutch hitter on the team
Pence - Currently looks horrible at the plate. If it continues the Giants have no chance
Panic - solid in the field but a big disappointment at the plate.
Duffy - traded for a pitcher. Injury hurt plus his .240 batting average. Great fielder gone.
Gillaspie - good potential hitter at the plate but a poor fielder.
Nunez - Great potential at the plate but currently a stupid hitter and poor fielder.
Blanco - He has gone 0 for the summer before but in those years he did the job in the World Series
Brown - a good solid backup catcher
Mac Williamson - improving with lots of potential but makes too many mistakes.
Parker - blew his chance.
The Giants promote good pitching and solid defense for their success. Is this still true?
A Gift win. Remember last week the Yankee manager gave us a game well in my opinion my old friend Mattingly now manager of the Marlins gave us a game. With two outs in the 14th inning Crawford was at the plate having already 6 hits in the game. He pitched to him and he gets his 7th hit of the game driving in the winning run. Why didn't he walk him with slump ridden Pence coming up. He had one hit on an inside pitch but anything over the plate or outside he missed by a mile. Sometimes I wonder if managers even watch the game. Maybe he was being interviewed for television which I think is bush league. But anyway Thank you!
Will the Giants make the playoffs? The odds are against them unless somebody like Pence picks up a bat.
Latest update: The Dodgers lost so the Giants are back on top by 1 game!
I really don't have much interest in the Olympics but since I was in Dublin on Friday night I watched the opening ceremonies. I was bored. Turned it off after the American team enter the stadium. Wanted to make sure they showed up. The global warning section was typical NBC and all I can say is that 'they don't have a clue'. As far as I am concerned the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics is tops for creativity at the opening ceremonies. Who can ever forget all those white pianos in the Coliseum. Have to admit I never heard of some of the countries that strolled in the parade. Some of the countries weren't as big as the state of Delaware. Perhaps to make it fare and balanced which is the battle cry today, the USA team should be broken into fifty smaller states. Hey, come to think of it, that's not a bad idea!
Sunday night I was in my motel room in the middle of the San Joaquin Valley on my way home and turned on the games. NBC wanted to draw a big audience so it was easy to understand why they featured Women Diving Springboard Synchronized as the lead in sport. What was shocking to me is that the USA could not qualify a team for the sport. I thought it over for a moment and everything became clearer. Many of you are probably not old enough to remember motels with pools had diving boards. Diving boards were also common in many back yard pools. The cost of insurance eliminated them and it also destroyed diving and you wonder why the USA could not qualify a team. So you can blame insurance if the USA doesn't win the medal count.
Congratulations to the women's gymnastics team for winning the gold. It takes years of hard work and the honor is well deserved. Could only observe that the competition looked very weak. What ever happen to those great Eastern European gymnasts? Guess Muslins girls aren't that interested.
Michael Phelps keeps winning the gold one Olympics after another. Great achievement. When you can make millions swimming the Olympics every four why go to work. He is a prime example of why I lost interest in the games. Back many decades it was fun to see all new amateurs appear on the scene which I though made the games interesting and exciting. . . The USA basketball team is having it harder then one might expect. I saw the other day that they were tied after the first quarter. Things are really tough. . . My wife Barbara can hardly wait until golf starts.
NFL
I read while I was on the road that the NFL had to cancel the Hall of Fame Game because they used the wrong paint on the field. I pointed out last year the many mistakes the NFL made only proving you don't have to be smart to make it in this world. The NFL is proof that many dummies do!
To appease the people who get too hot at the 49er games that this Sundays opening pre season game will start at 4 o'clock probably the hottest part of the day. But it will cool off if they are lucky. I am assuming that the bathrooms at Levi will be open to either sex to appease York. Jed better be careful he is not caught going into a women's marked restroom. The security cameras will be watching.
I see that the 49ers practiced at Kezar Stadium on Wednesday. I remember in 1946 attending the first 49er game at Kezar a pre-season game against the Chicago Rockets who were led by the great Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch who later became an NFL star. Kezar was a unique stadium because Mary Kezar donated the property to the city but insisted that the field run east and west instead of north and south which because of the wind direction led to many record punts. The 49ers played there until 1970 when they were forced out because of safety reasons caused by the hippies who took over the Height Ashbury District of San Francisco forcing the team to move to a baseball stadium at Candlestick Point
The Giants
Now they are tied! What ever happen to that 8 game lead? Listen and everybody has an opinion which includes, pitching, fielding and hitting. It's that simple!
For a long period this year the relief pitching was the culprit. Now it has come around with Law gaining more confidence and Strickland pitching well. Even Lopez is starting to get a few people out. They have to keep it up. Casilla continues to get criticized but he gets the job done most of the time. Remember a guy named Brian Wilson who took the Dodgers for 10 million made Giant fans sweat plenty!
Starting pitching has faltered a little. Bumgarner gives up one run and they keep losing The new lefthander Moore looks like he will help. Samardzija pitched well today for a change and lets hope it continues. Cueto always gives it everything and Cain has been looking much better. Give the starters a few runs and they will be okay. That's easier said then done!
Some experts on the Giants keep repeating that the Giants score enough runs. I don't buy it. Earlier in the season the team won 8 out of 9 and the batting average during those games was .190. That luck could not continue. Here is my thoughts on the players:
Sans - Have you ever seen a leadoff man ground to second to start a game so often
Pagan - Good season but lacks pop in his bat
Belt - it will be hard to reach 20 homeruns for the season
Posey - Has his little slumps but still hits but lacks the power he once had.
Crawford - best clutch hitter on the team
Pence - Currently looks horrible at the plate. If it continues the Giants have no chance
Panic - solid in the field but a big disappointment at the plate.
Duffy - traded for a pitcher. Injury hurt plus his .240 batting average. Great fielder gone.
Gillaspie - good potential hitter at the plate but a poor fielder.
Nunez - Great potential at the plate but currently a stupid hitter and poor fielder.
Blanco - He has gone 0 for the summer before but in those years he did the job in the World Series
Brown - a good solid backup catcher
Mac Williamson - improving with lots of potential but makes too many mistakes.
Parker - blew his chance.
The Giants promote good pitching and solid defense for their success. Is this still true?
A Gift win. Remember last week the Yankee manager gave us a game well in my opinion my old friend Mattingly now manager of the Marlins gave us a game. With two outs in the 14th inning Crawford was at the plate having already 6 hits in the game. He pitched to him and he gets his 7th hit of the game driving in the winning run. Why didn't he walk him with slump ridden Pence coming up. He had one hit on an inside pitch but anything over the plate or outside he missed by a mile. Sometimes I wonder if managers even watch the game. Maybe he was being interviewed for television which I think is bush league. But anyway Thank you!
Will the Giants make the playoffs? The odds are against them unless somebody like Pence picks up a bat.
Latest update: The Dodgers lost so the Giants are back on top by 1 game!
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