The Swamp

Saw Dan Gutman in the Livingston Mall walking with who I presume is his mother. For the almost all of you who don't know of Dan Gutman, he is my son's favorite author. He writes a series called My Weird School that little kids love, a baseball series my son is now into, where the main character travels back in time to save baseball legends. He tries to keep Shoeless Joe out of the Blacksox scandal, tries to prevent Roberto Clemente from getting on the plane.

Now that is a cool twist on time travel! Perhaps I'll get in touch and suggest that his protagonist try to get the Tigers to re-work that trade for Doyle Alexander so that John Smoltz remains with the Tigers.

The Sybian wrote:Saw Dan Gutman in the Livingston Mall walking with who I presume is his mother. For the almost all of you who don't know of Dan Gutman, he is my son's favorite author. He writes a series called My Weird School that little kids love, a baseball series my son is now into, where the main character travels back in time to save baseball legends. He tries to keep Shoeless Joe out of the Blacksox scandal, tries to prevent Roberto Clemente from getting on the plane.

He could do a whole "Give Me Your Keys, _______!" series for the St. Louis Cardinals.

DC47 wrote:When he was just getting started, Bill Watterson. I wonder how many know the origin of the title of his legendary comic strip?

I figured he had a stuffed tiger as a kid, whose natural state was nasty, brutish and short. (I'm a big fan of the Hobbsian view of man's nature.)

howard wrote:Yanis Varofakis, Greece Finance Minister. I'm on a roll.

I'm stretching it here. Only know him in cyberspace, been reading his blog for years, and have emailed back and forth a bit. About the same way I know you, dc. That counts, right? Speaking of a future that looks to be solitary, poor, nasty brutish and short, a war of every man against every other man…

ETA:

Thomas Hobbes, a guy who should've lightened up a bit wrote:"Whatsoever therefore is consequent to a time of Warre, where every man is Enemy to every man; the same is consequent to the time, wherein men live without other security, than what their own strength, and their own invention shall furnish them withall. In such condition, there is no place for Industry; because the fruit thereof is uncertain; and consequently no Culture of the Earth; no Navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by Sea; no commodious Building; no Instruments of moving, and removing such things as require much force; no Knowledge of the face of the Earth; no account of Time; no Arts; no Letters; no Society; and which is worst of all, continuall feare, and danger of violent death; And the life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short."

howard wrote:I'm stretching it here. Only know him in cyberspace, been reading his blog for years, and have emailed back and forth a bit. About the same way I know you, dc. That counts, right?

Sure it counts. And we're bros now. You can even call me Ange or Merk, like Barry does.

And confidentially, we're going to financially restructure your tall balding pal right back to the stone age. When we're done with them, they'll be leasing back the Parthenon from Deutsche Bank. Crete will become a residence for retired VW workers. And the residents of Sparta, Brought To You By Siemens will just have to learn to live with their slightly longer postal address. At least they'll get off easier in some ways than traditionalists who reside in AEGthens.

It will be just like we had won the war, as we would have if not for the meddling Americans. But they've learned to stay out of our business this time around.

One of the actors from the tv show bones is at my poker table right now and im giving him a lift back to his hotel in houston on my way to austin tonight

Overheard a sales guy on the phone mentioning that he used to play in the NFL. While he never actually played a down in the NFL, his name was well published, as he sued the Saints for their rookie hazing practices. He was a victim of the same beatdown gauntlet that nearly lost Cam Cleeland an eye, when one of the veterans took a swing at his face with a coin-filled sock. My coworker's arm went through a third floor window at the end of the hall. He had to sit out for part of the preseason, and was cut before making it back to the field from the injury.

Name excluded intentionally for Googling purposes.

Just swung into Wahoo's Fish Taco for a burrito and a beer and Carlos Santana is here.

This isn't really a brush. It's a brush with a lookalike. I'm staying at a Hampton inn in Ann Arbor and the desk clerk looks exactly like Jesse Pinkman. So, I ask the kid if he watched Breaking Bad, and he laughs and says, "yeah, everyone asks me that." He then tells me about a time in Cabo San Lucas when he got free drinks all night, because he didn't correct their misconception that he was Aaron Paul.

Bitch

HOFer Charley Taylor just borrowed my chair to take a rest as he walked through the concourse of the stadium. He's here making an appearance. Even dropped a buck in our donation jar.

The PGA Tour golfers in the Reno-Tahoe Open were staying in the same hotel as me over the weekend and I was even in the same bank of rooms somehow (in their "Spa Tower") so got to rub elbows with Retief Goosen, David Toms, Jhonnthan Vegas and those were just the guys I recognized. I'm sure there were quite a few others since they gave the golfers access to the room reserved for their elite card holders. At a certain point, it's hard to tell who's a pro golfer and who's just a guy wearing a logo-branded polo shirt and hat.

ETA: Amusingly enough I ate in the sushi restaurant each night I was there and the sushi chef asked me on the second night if I was one of the pro golfers. Was sorry to let him down.

Jerry Stackhouse is on my flight from Las Vegas to Detroit.

brian wrote:Just swung into Wahoo's Fish Taco for a burrito and a beer and Carlos Santana is here.

Still cant believe Coletti traded him for Casey Blake straight up.

It looks like I might miss out on my daughter's first teenie-bopper moment. My wife sponsor's the concert venue at Great Adventure, and the backstage passes for tomorrow's concert went unclaimed, so we were planning on using them. Austin Mahone concert. I never heard of him either, but my 6 yo daughter was impressed with his videos and excited to meet him. A client asked for some tickets, leaving us with only 3. I volunteered to take one for the team, and will not get to go backstage and meet the latest teenage heartthrob in person before the show. Crushed.

Fuck, dude. So sorry to hear that.

mister d wrote:Fuck, dude. So sorry to hear that.

Yea, I'm just...deflated. :(

My ass.

Just spotted the Admiral in Hartsfield-Jackson. He's still tall. Had a Duke t shirt on, and a USA Basketball backpack.

govmentchedda wrote:Just spotted the Admiral in Hartsfield-Jackson. He's still tall. Had a Duke t shirt on, and a USA Basketball backpack.

Yeah, his son is going to play at Duke this year. Pretty sure he's not quite as good as his dad was.

My neighbor and I are pretty sure this guy rolled past us as he climbed the hill during the local Tuesday night bike shop ride.

I wonder, why the long face?

Good lord, I had no idea who that was until clicking the picture.

howard wrote:I wonder, why the long face?

I hope his teammates nicknamed him "Ketchup".

Liam McHugh on Wednesday. His television voice is not one fabricated just for television.

DSafetyGuy wrote:Liam McHugh on Wednesday. His television voice is not one fabricated just for television.

I think he's really good on the NHL Network.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Hoooooooo!

Took the family to one of the most bizarre festivals ever. Food Truck and Rock Festival. 4 stages, with a ridiculous list of 80s and 90's metal and hair bands like Anthrax, Skid Row, Lita Ford, Faster Pussy Cat,LA Guns and a bunch of others. Then you had your Godsmack, Stone Temple Pilots, Puddle of Mudd, Slash... we skipped the tickets for the concert section, but you could hear a lot more than you wanted to. Then you had 40 food trucks, a craft beer garden with 20+ breweries, many great ones, amusement rides that were much better than the typical carni fare, a comedy stage including Jim Florentine, Rich Vos, Big Jay Oakerson and some guys I don't know. Some scattered shit like a BMX stunt show, other crappy shows, but the pro wrestling matches were the greatest. I missed Hacksaw and Jake the Snake fight, but saw a three-way battle for the GCW belt. Cheesey as fuck, horrible acting, but entertaining in a hilarious way. Some of the moves on, off and through the ropes were incredibly impressive. My daughter loved it.

The mix of people at this place was so strange. Majority was metal heads and bikers in their 50s and 60s, some real fucking dregs of society who actually seemed to be there for the wrestling, and a fair amount of middle class families with young kids. I saw Hacksaw at the wrestling tent. We sat in there to eat lunch in the shade, and there were no seats, as people settled in more than an hour before the wrestling started. My buddy went yesterday and texted a picture of Hacksaw smashing a guy with his 2x4. Sad that The Snake and Hacksaw need to wrestle at a ring in the middle of a bunch of food trucks with no admission. They are 61 and 60 years old. Hacksaw looks exactly the same. You'd expect these guys wouldn't age well.

If anyone else will admit to watching Next Food Network Star, finalist Dom was there working his truck. I bought my daughter mac n cheese from Dom. She kept saying it was Dom, and I had no idea wtf she was talking about for a while. I kept telling her there was no way, but he had a newspaper writeup taped to the truck, and sure enough it was Dom. This is the third time she recognized a less-than-D-List celebrity when I kept telling her she was wrong.

No shit you went, I was curious what kind of debacle that would be. Saddest part of the band flyer was stone temple pilots somehow not being the top billing.

mister d wrote:No shit you went, I was curious what kind of debacle that would be. Saddest part of the band flyer was stone temple pilots somehow not being the top billing.

Probably the 75% likelihood Scott Weiland would nod out from the heroin before getting on stage. It was the greatest event. You gotta go if they do it again. Garden State Brewfest next week?

Not sure if Syb remembers this, but back in the 00s when Union County was flush with cash, the county MusicFest was a free event, taking place all weekend long. It was in Nomahegan Park in Cranford before it moved to Oak Ridge Park in Clark (where that thing was this weekend). Go ahead and google the 2009 or 2010 lineups. They had some pretty good bands appear. Of course, I never really did much other than see some of the day time kiddie acts, though I did see a little of Chuck Berry and The Smithereens one year. Then it got shutdown because it cost too much and there were investigations of misuse of funds, that kind of stuff.

4th birthday party this weekend so no beerfest for me.

dammit.
i forgot about this.. wanted to go. instead went off and got glasses (my first pair).gettin old.
then my fb feed was full of folks at the shows.
dagnabit.

Was refereeing some box lacrosse games today. My first game I look over and see someone who looks very familiar but out of place. Then I see the hair and know exactly who it is (the unique off-center streak of grey gave it away). I called a game with Mark Turgeon's son. After the game as he was waiting for his son's coach to finish talking to the team I chatted with him. You can tell he is just excited for the season.

He also was not a psycho parent. Quietly cheered.

damn I'm old. I remember him playing at Kansas not that long ago, or I guess it was that long.

Learned about this over the weekend. I don't have HBO so John Oliver is not on my rotation (Despite being easy to find on youtube).

So here is the connection
At the 9:15 mark there is a clip.
Year behind me in college, fraternity brother, and lax locker room neighbor for 3 year (he was #7)

He did a great job breaking down the stereotype of lacrosse playing frat boys for all those out there.

duff wrote:He did a great job breaking down the stereotype of lacrosse playing frat boys for all those out there.

Not me, but a friend of mine had a brush of interest for a Swamper.

Howard, I'll let you know when the episode of "Liv and Maddie" that was shot yesterday (my friend is a co-creator) airs because it includes two things of interest to you - white girls and Brandon Crawford.

DSafetyGuy wrote:…white girls and Brandon Crawford.

I'm not sure which is more arousing.

howard wrote:

DSafetyGuy wrote:…white girls and Brandon Crawford.

I'm not sure which is more arousing.

She plays twins.