Quincy

Oh if a pitcher has to pitch a perfect game he is most deserving. I am a fan of the guy and he's not one of those guys who tosses one and disappears. Cain has been so consistent in his ability to improve upon his consistency it's ridiculous. At age 21 he started 31 games and he's started 33 +/-1 for the past 6 years. Over time there's the workhorse increasing innings, fewer hits allowed than innings (this seems obvious from a high quality pitcher but Pettitte has failed there often), good K count, and ever improving control. I like that he has a bit of heft to him too as he's 230. Do you realize he hasn't allowed an earned run in playoff pitching (21 innings worth). Sure it's just one playoff run, but still, another check on the plus side of the ledger. Aside from the points you make I would add that steroid testing is another factor as it's safer to pitch to hitters now compared to a few years earlier. Also big is that all teams position fielders based on hitter tendencies. 20-40 years ago Earl Weaver and Tony La Russa were freaks with colored pens & charts or (wee!) computers that charted where hitters hit the ball against this pitcher or that pitch. Now even the stupid managers use shifts. And there are many more hitters who would strike out 200 times (or close) compared to just a 15-20 years ago, never mind earlier. Anyway, sorry about the timing and congrats to Matt Cain. But if this keeps up, Bud is going to lower the mound.

I'm in the same boat. It reminds of when between 4th and almost 6th grade I watched wrestling thinking it might be real, but I can't help myself. I'm oddly relieved LeBron made the shot following that if-you-don't-make-it (and he didn't) shot at the top of key it's a dumb shot and also he made all of his free throws tonight, including the 2 at the end. It just would have been too easy & too much tearing him apart had he failed in either instance as that's all we'd hear about for the next few days. Other guys do it too, but it drives me nuts how often he'll jump and then pass as he's coming down. I know, this makes me sound old. I'm stumped to think of other players who play point guard and power forward in the same game, so he's right about having "talents." Oh hell, despite some questionable calls (what else is new) it's shaping up to be a hell of a series. And it's big fun to see Durant and the rest of the Thunder during the (west coast) dinner hour.

The 2nd perfect game calling balls & strikes for umpire Ted Barrett. He was also there for David Cone's. I don't wish to detract from Matt Cain's accomplishment as he is a one fine pitcher, and is proving to be the better investment than The Freak. But there have been so many perfect games in recent years it's getting to be silly. It's like we've swung the other from cheap home runs from steroids to now no hitters and perfect games every other week it seems like. Maybe someone will go through the strike zone maps and calls and see if there is a tendency to to favor the pitcher with a no hitter from the 6th or 7th on (though the Galarraga game sure goes against this happening in one game at least). It seems like something ideal for a magazine to tackle since we don't read them for timely news anymore. Again, my timing is rotten here, sort of like posting something slightly negative in a R.I.P. thread. I don't mean to pee on the Giants' fans thrill and I have high respect for Matt Cain. But we've now had 5 + * perfect games in 3 years. I suppose the 13 year period of no perfect games between Hunter & Barker wasn't normal, but damn. 10 from Cy Young to Tom Browning, the next 10 from Dennis Martinez to Matt Cain. Maybe it's a testament to modern fielding gloves.

Christian Laettner was on the Dream Team (he beat out Shaq!) as the token college player, but something's up with that photo as he's 6'11". If he wasn't pasted in maybe they dug a trench for him to stand in as part of the hazing process. If you examine the picture, you can see that they are all standing on a stair step setup. Karl Malone also looks short because of this. After posting I figured it out. So Karl Malone is a 6'3" guard eh? What a strange stair step photo arrangement. A memory of the team I'll never shake was Jordan with the 'stache and abusing Angola with his defense. It was just cruel. That and Barkley being the man.

Christian Laettner was on the Dream Team (he beat out Shaq!) as the token college player, but something's up with that photo as he's 6'11". If he wasn't pasted in maybe they dug a trench for him to stand in as part of the hazing process.

I treat it almost like an iTunes track, but one late Dead song I go to is the rehearsal of "Whiskey In The Jar" on the last disc of the So Many Roads box. Part of my joy is hearing Jerry say "he just remembered it" which is a fib since he was playing it with Grisman earlier in the week, but it's just fun to hear them talk, goof around and play it. I have to be extremely careful with that disc as the most dangerous track in the world is on it, aka "Way To Go Home." Guh! Those post-Touch kids are in their mid-to-late 30s and older now and maybe have some money, so I do expect them to target them for some sales at some point, though I think they have enough feedback through sales by now that they know what sells. I would think the Hampton Warlocks set moved a few units.

Exactly. An exception that made complete sense to me was when Joakim Noah decided to stay another year at Florida. He came from a privileged background so he had the luxury of valuing another attempt at winning a college title along with all of the fun possible from living the college life more than an extra year of earning a salary (along with the risk of injury at Florida).

Noj pretty much nailed how I feel about LeBron. A great player but there are plenty of documented cases where he loses on style. The Walter Iooss photo shoot story that he wrote about really made LeBron out to be King Of The Douches. As far as the fan bases the past 2 games have summed it up perfectly. In game 5 when the Heat were down by 4 with 40 seconds to play, people were filing out. A little later all you could hear was some kid yelling "Good effort" (and it wasn't sarcasm, he's a little kid whose coach said the same thing to his team in games) as the place was so silent. Last night the Celtics are being slaughtered and in the final minutes you could hear the fans chanting "Let's go Celtics" as a salute to the squad's efforts. Go Thunder!

The same place where the LeBron fans were when the team was down. Nowhere to be seen.

I'm supposed like the Peter Green era best but I never have, preferring Welch & Kirwan. For a time in my childhood it seemed like Bob Welch was everywhere, or at the least The Midnight Special a few times. R.I.P., and special thanks for Bare Trees.

Happy birthday. Play with some of those cool toys today!

I went through the same experience a few years ago. I'm fairly sure it was a mention here about the Gold Box being on sale that made me revisit it. I too hadn't seen it since it aired, and I had never seen most of the second season as I bailed on it thinking it was getting too silly. I ended up absolutely loving the the second season (and the 1st too of course). I agree with everything you say above, especially about the soap opera look at times. Which I suppose means I've had some experience with them to know what that looks like...

It's been that way since before the wheel. The verdict isn't in yet but many believe the widespread of cellphone cameras might be deterring crime.

I pre-ordered it last fall and ended up with #551. Just feeding the numerical conspiracy interests. *edit - My booklet is fine.

The beauty of it is can talk as little as you'd like. I'll go 2 months without posting my own content but I might comment in other peoples "threads" during that time. And when or if you're ever curious about what someone has chosen to share over time you can easily find out (if they're a friend). It's also not just people, but record labels, alcohol companies, artists and other such close friends will also let you know what's up or coming out. But to each his own. As far as the dangers of phone technology, having a listed landline nowadays is probably worse than anything a smartphone can throw up. Check out the "see neighbors" function on either the White Pages website or its app. It'll give approximate ages (they're wrong about me from my now defunct landline) though not of children. Ted Bundy would loved it.

The Padres are now the only team without a no-no. He threw a 1 hitter for them in 2010, allowing a hit in the 6th. 19 times in franchise history a Padre pitcher took a no hitter into the 8th. The closest one came in 1972 when Steve Arlin allowed a single to Denny Doyle with 2 outs in the 9th. While Googling Randy Jones (who in '75 threw 2 one hitters) I came across something rarer than a no hitter. An 89 minute game when Jones faced Jim Kaat in '77. Now that's fast work!

I don't like that I see so few albums per screen. If I shrink the font size I can get 9 rather than almost 7 in my standard set up, but I'd prefer to see more. On the other hand I see that on the Howlin' Wolf page they no longer have 3 entries for the latest Hip-O set. So if the makeover means they've tossed some redundant entries I'll give them that. I'm sure I'll adjust since I tend to visit it practically every day. *edit to add - You can now search by artist, album or song title and hit return without having to specify which you want. Hooray!

Congrats! I knew you'd get it before me, simply because it's tough for them to send it "ground" to the UK. I'm scheduled for June 4th since it's 3000 miles by truck(s). I can wait, though it'll be tougher once the reports of how dreamy it is.

Nice one, Q. Is that real, or did you make it up? MG Let's just say it's unaudited & very off the cuff since it doesn't include health spending, never mind other bills & such. (Why I've actually spent money on clothes recently. Shocking!) And thanks to the incoming Coleman Hawkins Mosaic CDs might be overstated. Maybe…It seemed like the thread would morph into "post a pie chart or photo of a pie" so I thought I'd do my part.

Funny how things change. What once was a pricey import is now tossed into a value package. I did a bit of a double take when I saw it was included.

I played the hell out of Talk Is Cheap when it came out. I even cranked it and sang along with the windows down on the Cassiar when the sun was going down hoping that it'd clear moose off of the gravel highway. I didn't hit any so I think it worked. I had been waiting a long time for him to do a solo album as I had bootleg vinyl & tapes of his tracks from the late '70s such as the country stuff like Merle Haggard's "Sing Me Back Home" and "Somewhere Over The Rainbow." So despite the high expectations Talk Is Cheap didn't disappoint.

R.I.P. Robin. At least he didn't go like brother Andy.

Reminds me of the 1977 finals when Maurice Lucas shook hands with Darryl Dawkins before game three of their series - they'd had a set to in game two. Lucas later said it was a con to throw Dawkins off his game. It worked, as the Blazers took the next four games after being down 0-2. I'm sure that BruceW remembers that. You're right Paul, Lucas was very very smart (and tough). He was the man in his day. The Enforcer I'm finally getting around to reading Halberstam's The Breaks Of The Game. It took a cross country flight for me to break it out. As an Oregonian it's required reading as it focuses on the Blazers's first season post-Walton (though there's tons of non-Blazer content), but seriously, it's one of the great basketball books, and it has a whole lotta Luke in it.

And tonight Humber gave up 8 in 2 1/3 vs. Cleveland. In 5 starts he has an ERA of 6.83 w/ the perfect game factored in. edit - the link didin't have tonight's game included at the time of the post.