There are 27 outs in a nine inning baseball game. Twenty-seven is an important number. It’s the number of outs that pitcher needs to record to pitch a complete game. If a pitcher faces exactly 27 players and records 27 outs, he probably pitched a perfect game. (I say probably, because this is baseball and there are always exceptions.)
Last night the Chicago Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians in game 7 of the world series. Cubs pitchers needed 30 outs since the game went to extra innings. But, 27 was still a significant number to the two teams.
Here’s how the scoring went over the seven games:
0-6
5-1
0-1
2-7
3-2
9-3
8-7
If you add up the runs for each team, you can see that that over the course of ten days, seven games and 64 innings, each team scored exactly 27 runs. (Thanks to my friend and long time Cubs fan, David Rice for pointing that out.)
Even people who don’t like baseball will watch the World Series. And when you consider that this series was historic, there were more than usual tuning in. It’s pretty well known that Chicago Cubs hadn’t won a World Series in 108 years. They won it in 1907 and then again in 1908. They went back to the Series a few times, the last time in 1945, losing to the Detroit Tigers. That was the year they refused to allow a guy with a goat to attend the game. The goat had a ticket and everything. The owner of the goat cursed the Cubs and they never went back. . .until this year. Cleveland has been there as recently as 1997 when they lost to the Florida Marin’s.
Baseball is a game of coincidences. Twenty seven outs and twenty seven runs, for example. And baseball fans love to find those coincidences. For example, the Indians led this searies 3-1. The Cubs had to win the last 3 in a row. They did it with a combination of pitchers, starting their ace, Kyle Hendricks. After a few innings, manager Joe Maddon lifted him for Jon Lester who is normally a starting pitcher, but came out of the bullpen to pitch in relief last night.
There have been ten teams that been down 3-1 in a best of seven series and comeback. In fact, the most recent team to lose a series after being up 3-1 were these same Cleveland Indians. It was the 2007 American League Championship Series. They lost to the Boston Red Sox. The pitcher for the Red Sox in game seven? Jon Lester. Yes, the same guy who pitched middle relief last night.
Like I said, baseball loves coincidences.
The Cubs are erasing one of the longest droughts in the history of sports, certainly the longest in baseball. The president of Baseball Operations is a guy named Theo Epstein. He never set foot on the field in a uniform this season, but he was instrumental to this team winning and breaking the curse after more than a century. Epstein was the guy responsible for assembling the winning team. He recruited superstar manager, Joe Maddon. He made trades for the significant players on the team. It’s not an exaggeration to say that without Epstein, this season would never have happened.
Up until a few years ago, the team with the second longest World Series drought was the Boston Red Sox. The story was that because they traded Babe Ruth, the best player to ever play the game, to the New York Yankees, they were cursed to never win another World Series. Babe was sold to the Yankees in 1920. and Boston, who had won five World Series up to that point stopped winning. Meanwhile, the Yankees took off to become the most successful baseball team in history. The curse finally ended in 2004 after 86 years, when the Red Sox, overcame a 0-3 deficit to beat those same Yankees in the best of seven ALCS and went on to sweep the St. Louis Cardinals in four games to win the title.
The Red Sox General Manager was a young thirty year old guy named Theo Epstein. The Red Sox won the World Series two years after hiring him. So, the guy who was the GM that helped the Red Sox break an 86 year World Series drought was also the guy who helped the Cubs end a 108 year drought. He was part of the management team that erased 194 years of baseball angst. (Pretty sure he’ll be elected to the baseball hall of fame at the earliest opportunity.)
Like I said, baseball loves coincidences.
So, the loveable losers finally won it all. Steve Goodman, the songwriter who wrote “City of New Orleans” and “The Perfect Country and Western Song” was a Cubs fan. He wrote a song called “The Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request.” The chorus included the words
Do They still play the blues in Chicago
When baseball season rolls around?
When the snow melts away
Do the Cubbies still play
In their ivy-covered burial ground?
Steve Goodman, like many Cub fans, went to his grave waiting for Northside Nine to finally win it all. Somewhere he, and a whole host of baseball fans are smiling.
And finally, on the topic of baseball’s love of coincidences, with the Cubs and the Red Sox finally winning, there’s a new holder of the title of Longest Streak without wining a World Series. The team that now holds the distinction of losing the longest, at 68 years and counting?
The Cleveland Indians.
I wonder if they’ll try to hire Theo Epstein?
Chicago Cubs – 2016 World Series Champions.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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Not smart as in having a high IQ, although that helps.
My kids are excited about the prospect of getting done with high school. I have four juniors, a sophomore, a freshman and two eigth graders. The sixteen year-olds are looking at “one more year” and then being done. It’s been a while, but I can remember those days. When I started high school, my school was just transitioning out of an “open classroom” concept. The school was built around the concept that if you expose kids to knowledge, they will absorb it simply because they are interested in it.
It didn’t work. Kids don’t want to learn. They don’t want to take on research papers and learn about the parts of a cell. By my junior year, the experiment was pretty much over. What it really meant for those of us attending Timberline High School in Lacey, WA was that we suddenly were faced with “finals.”
After two years of having the school year sort of “end” with maybe a few missing assignments turned in on the last day to get your grades up just a little higher. We were now confronted by these final exams. Pass the final-pass the class. Fail the final and you might be back in Mr Kerrihard’s International Relations class again next semester.
It was tramatic. . .and we hated it. . .and it was one of the best preparations for business life that I got out of high school.
I took a test today. It started at 5:00am and I took it in my home office. It was on “Business of IT – Applications.” I had no idea when I started on a career in IT decades ago just what a role tests would play in my life. Several years ago I sat for the hardest exam I’d ever taken: The Project Manager Professional (PMP) exam. It was four hours and really hard. And it was tramatic. . .and I hated it. . .and it was one of the best things I could do for my career.
Since then, I’ve acquired CompTIA A+ certification, Network+ and Security+. I’m working on the CIW Web Design Specialist certification. I also plan on working on the JavaScript Specialist certification along with CompTIA Linux+ and the Amazon Web Services (AWS) certification.
Do I have to take these courses and certification exams? Nope. In fact, my company doesn’t have a training program. I not only am taking these courses myself, I’m paying for them myself. I’m a little disappointed that I cannot take more courses. But, I only have so much time and these are not particularly cheap.
Why subject myself to these? I’m done with school right? My kids think that once they’ve passed that final exam next year, they are done with tests. Some of them want to go on to college and they understand that there will be tests for college courses. But, I think most of them foresee a time when they are “done.”
I used to think that. Several years ago, I got a really good job with a company that I loved working for. I thought, “That’s it. I don’t have to keep working on adding certifications.” But, a funnny thing happened. I very quickly fell behind my peers. And when that company did layoffs a few years later, I found myself at a huge disadvantage. Sure, I lacked the certifications, but more importantly, I lacked the skills.
It was a real wake-up call that not only could I lose a job through no fault of my own, but that I needed to take responsibility for my continued education.
I intend to continue taking tests as long as I can. Hopefully, they’ll help me get smarter.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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It was a perfect setup. The kids got all the candy they wanted, and I got even more. Let’s forget for a moment that I was a grown man who had a bank account and money to buy enough candy to put me into a diabetic coma.
Money won is twice as sweet as money earned.
– Fast Eddie Felson “The Color of Money”
For years, we had a rule, my kids and I. On Halloween night, they could eat all the candy they wanted. But, like a pre-teen Cinderella, when the clock struck 9:00pm the party was over. Whatever wasn’t consumed by nine got confiscated. Don’t judge me too harshly. We had 13 kids at home. We were willing to deal with the sugar rush for one night, but not for a week on end.
And it worked out good for the kids too. If they knew that they only had a couple of hours to gorge themselves, they were going to focus on eating the good stuff, the Snickers and Butterfingers, the Reece’s and M&M’s. They were not going to eat the $0.50/lbs. wax chocolates. Or the doctors-office suckers.
After nine o’clock, we sent kids toward bed and sorted what was left. My lovely wife would bag the remaining sweets and set them aside to be doled out in lunches over the next few months. I would scoop up the remaining good stuff and enjoy candy, which if not exactly won, was also not exactly earned.
My kids have mostly outgrown trick-or-treating. The youngest are 13 years old now and are more interested in attending parties tonight than they are in going door to door to beg for free food. And it’s been several years since we were able to convince them to voluntarily yield their hordes of Almond Joys, and Baby Ruths.
But, even if they did, the joy has gone out of it for me. I grew up.
Several years ago I decided to change my lifestyle. I quit drinking soda. I started taking the stairs. I started eating breakfast. And I cut way back on my sugar intake. At the time, I thought, “If I’m not going to eat as much candy, I’m going to make sure I only eat the good stuff.” I adopted the Halloween philosophy that we had used with our kids. Cadbury and other high end confections became my go to vice. But, soon even the Ghirardelli chocolates lost their flavor for me. I cut out almost all candy. And invariably when I “treated” myself to a candy bar, or other sweet, I was disappointed. I lost my taste for it. I dropped candy completely several months ago.
Make no mistake, this is a good thing for my health. While I still occasionally have a piece of cake or indulge in an ice cream, my lifetime love of candy has come to an end. More than anything it feels like I’ve lost a piece of my childhood. It’s also not like I am denying myself. This isn’t some massive test of willpower where I staunchly turn away from the siren call of the candy aisle. This is a change of heart. I can hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters with impunity. I’m not even tempted. My taste changes are complete.
So, why do I still feel like I’m missing out on something? Happy Halloween.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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Go on, admit it. You don’t know a double-switch from a D.C. al Coda. A slider on the outside corner from the Red-Headed Stranger. Roy Campanella, Joe Garagiola and Tony La Russa: The three tenors or guys who patrolled the third baseline?
Face it, baseball is the Classical Music of sports.
Sure, everyone thinks Classical music is important. Who wouldn’t? But, do you ever listen to it? Do you compare Paganini to Pavarotti? (You shouldn’t. One is a composer, the other a tenor.) No. We attend our kids’ junior high concert and clap politiely as they stumble through an arrangement by a composer we’ve never heard of. At Christmas time we might enjoy Handel’s Messiah. . .at least the Hallajuah Chorus. I mean, is there even any more to it? Twenty-three songs? Really?
Baseball is often viewed the same way. The World Series is currently underway. You probably knew that. The Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians are tied at one game each. The next game is Saturday night in historic Wrigley Field. Tickets are going for insane amounts of money: $6000 per seat all the way up to $20,000. Even watching the game in nearby bars will cost you big bucks. Not having a championship in over 100 years will do that for you.
But, there are really two classes of baseball fans. I would expect that the World Series, especially given the historic nature of the teams involved, will have strong TV ratings. And baseball teams continue to enjoy strong fan support. But, there’s a division between the people who watch a baseball game because it’s the World Series, or because their company has tickets. And then there’s another group.
The group that will sit through a 3 hour rain delay on the last day of the season to watch the last place team take on the second to last place team. The group who will root for their team even when they are headed for a 100 loss season. The group that can name all the retired numbers for their team and who wore them. (Two for the Mariners; Ken Griffey Jr, #24 and Jackie Robinson’s league-wide retired #42.)
But, it seems wrong to compare those guys to classical music lovers. Perhaps a better comparison is Country music fans. Country music is one of the most popular genres of music. The fans are passionate. They have their version of the Yankees/Red Sox rivalries. (Blake Shelton/Miranda Lambert.) They have their heroes and their goats.
And they have some of the most virulent anti-fans in all of music.
I like all kinds of music. . .except country.
Country music fans are described as rednecks. . .by both their fans (Rebecca Wilson’s “Redneck Woman”) and their anti-fans. Country artists sell out huge arenas, but are viewed as a bunch of beer drinking, truck driving, good-ol-boys. Kind of like baseball fans.
I don’t mind that there are people who simply tolerate baseball, or that there are people who would rather listen to nails on a chalkboard than a Country song. That’s the thing about fans of both. It’s not a trendy sport to watch, nor to understand. And Country music is not considered culturally significant.
Most of the season, baseball is Country music. Loved by some, dismissed by others. During the World Series, it morphs into Classical music. Watched by the “important” people who don’t understand it, but watch because it’s the thing to do for two weeks in October.
So, tune in tomorrow for a little chin music and long balls.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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I knew he was going to try to merge in. It was just a question of when. The freeway onramp was two blocks ahead on the right. The other driver had opted to pull up to the stop light in the left lane with a single car in front of him, rather than the right lane where I was currently number two in line for takeoff. Two blocks is plenty of time to merge. . .if you aren’t trying to squeeze in ahead of that one extra car.
The light turned green and we were off. The lead car in the inside lane got a good jump and I could tell that my victim was anticipating getting to cut off the car in front of me. But, my guy got up to speed quickly and the gap never materialized.
Now it was a waiting game. The onramp was approaching quickly. The other driver REALLY wanted that extra length. I shortened up my following distance as well. If he was coming in I was going to make him PAY!
And there it was, finally, at the last minute, a blinker and a swerve. . .okay, maybe not an ACTUAL swerve, but he shouldn’t have been so greedy. Let him in or totally force him out? I’m a nice guy, so of course I let him in. . .and I was annoyed that he tried to be selfish and was inconsiderate, so I flashed my brights to let him know how annoyed I was.
I’m slightly embarrassed to say that actually happened this morning. Why didn’t I just back off and give him plenty of space? Stupidity, mostly. Mine, not his. In fact, I’ve done the exact same thing as he did. It wasn’t malicious.
I felt way too pleased with myself for punishing him with my blinding headlights. Like I said, stupid. And honestly, I knew it.
As I sat on the train and thought about it, I pulled out my “commuting” book; “Crucial Conversations” and walked right into a chapter about my morning. I’ve enjoyed Crucial Conversations and other titles by VitalSmarts for years. My favorite of their books is Influencer. But, Crucial Conversations is their most popular. I reread it every five years or so. It describes how to deal with high stress conversations. I’ve had a few of those in my life recently.
The section that I read this morning, with some chagrin, was about the stories we tell ourselves. We make decisions and then, because we are not crazy people, we figure out a story that makes our actions okay. Sometimes we consciously tell these stories, more often than not, we don’t even realize we are doing it. I was busy telling myself a “villain” story during my drive to the train this morning.
He is trying to take advantage of me. He’s greedy. He’s rude.
And then, I quickly switched to a “victim” story.
I’m in a hurry, too. Why should I have to wait? What makes his commute more important than mine?
And for good measure, I rounded it out with a “helpless” story.
I had to punish him. I couldn’t let him get away with it. There wasn’t really anything I could do. He’s lucky I didn’t use my horn too!
All of those stories were false, of course.
- I had plenty of time to get to the train.
- Even if I was late, a single car length at 40 MPH is less than the blink of an eye.
- He probably didn’t even consider my POV. Why would he? I’m just one more car on the road.
The truth is, that I could have told myself another story and been just fine. I’ve read Crucial Conversations at least two or three times and I’ve even applied the teachings. No one likes to get cut off in traffic. Sometimes, we don’t even like the idea of another car getting in front of us. We think of it like some huge Grand Prix race and we have to fight for every car length because somewhere at the end, there’s going to be a checkered flag and a trophy. As a result, we become aggressive “us against them” drivers.
It’s stupid.
A long time ago I started telling myself a story when I got cut off. Because, let’s face it, while this driver this morning wasn’t trying to be rude, there are rude drivers on the road. (Like the people who flash their brights simply because you are trying to merge!) In those cases where someone cut in front of me, I told myself to stop and think. And If I stop and think, I can then make up any story I want for that other driver. Sure, I can think they are rude and greedy. But, I can just as easily think they are rushing to the hospital to deliver a baby. I can tell myself that they are possibly hurrying home to help one of their children who has fallen and broken her arm. I can literally tell myself anything. I don’t have to pick the worst stories. I can pick the best. When I do, I say them out loud to make them more true to me. And a funny thing happens. Hearing myself say them, I tend to believe them. Believing them means I don’t have to be angry.
Often, I won’t tell an entire story. I’ll limit it to “They are probably in a hurry.” Just the simple act of saying that makes it true. . .for me. Then I no longer have to be angry, or annoyed, or feel the need to punish them. It doesn’t even matter that it’s a story I’m telling myself. If I am going to let them merge in, my mind cries out for a justification. Any justification will do.
The authors of Crucial Conversations explain the concept much better than I do. Until I reread chapter 6 this morning, I had forgetting where I learned that trick of telling myself a story. And if that guy lines up in lane two tomorrow morning, I hope I’ll tell myself a much better story than I chose this morning.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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Rodney, Bill isn’t here. Can you be Toastmaster today?
You mean for the meeting that was supposed to start 2 min ago? . . Sure.
I was sitting quietly minding my own business, waiting for the meeting to start. I enjoy Toastmasters. It’s a club dedicated to helping members become better speakers. In addition to speaking, Toastmasters gives members chances to learn how to provide constructive feedback, speak extemporaneously, and conduct meetings. It’s interesting to watch someone who might be accomplished at prepared speaking, make the transition to conducting a meeting. Or, watch someone who is completely comfortable providing feedback to someone else’s speech, be asked to speak for two minutes on. . .
Tell us about a time you had to travel more than 100 miles from home. . And GO!
Conducting a meeting can be especially intimidating. It seems simple enough. All you have to do is follow the agenda. Introduce the next thing on the agenda and try to not get in the way. It’s harder than it looks. I used to be a corporate trainer. Training looks easy. In fact, the better you are at it the easier it looks.
All you do is get up and tell them what’s in the book.
And yet, if you’ve ever attempted to teach a group, you probably had a different experience. It’s about gauging the class. Asking follow-up questions to test understanding. Rewording concepts that are at first confusing. There’s an art and a science to it. Conducting a meeting can be the same way.
I carry a knife. It’s not a big scary dangerous knife.
It is the most expensive knife I’ve owned. But, mostly I carry it because I might need it. I don’t live in a dangerous area and I cannot imagine needing it for self defense, although, it’s there if I do. Mostly I use it for the day-to-day things that come up where I need to cut something. A package in the mail? Need to apply packing tape? (Although, a ball point pen is superior. Honestly, try it sometimes. Just poke the pen through the tape to “cut” it.) But, need to cut a piece of string, or a sandwich?
A pocketknife is just something that I always have. My only complaint about this particular model, is that the tip isn’t strong enough to pry with. But, the point is that I consider it part of being prepared. Often, I’ve loaned it to a friend or coworker. Maybe they got a package in the mail. Or they needed to cut a paper in half. (But, if they are using packing tape, I show them that ball point pen trick.)
My friends know that I have my trusty little Kershaw. At times, they even expect it.
Hey Rodney, can I borrow your knife?
And that’s what went through my mind yesterday at my Toastmasters meeting.
Rodney, do you want to get up with zero prep time and try to conduct a meeting for 20 people, the contents of which you will see for the first time when you step to the podium?
Sure! Let’s do this.
It’s about preparation. I didn’t expect to conduct yesterday’s meeting. In fact, I had to stand there in front of the room and read the agenda out loud.
Danny is down for Word-of-the-Day. Is Danny here? No? Janet, would you mind providing a Word-of-the-Day for us? Great. Now, who do we have scheduled as speakers?
No prep time whatsoever. And yet, I’ve been preparing to lead that meeting for years. It started in elementary school giving a horrendous speech for fifth grade class president. It continued during a two year proselyting mission for my church. I was preparing during years of leading scout meetings, keeping a dozen boy scouts on task as we learned about knots or plants or snow camping. It was during years as a corporate trainer teaching adults how to use computers. I have been preparing to conduct that meeting for literally my entire life.
The meeting went great. It didn’t go exactly as planned, but that wasn’t the point. The speakers gave interesting, inspiring speeches. The first speaker, Sandra, is still new to the club. She talked about being pregnant and getting a interview at Google, her dream job, at the same time. The second speaker, James, is a past club president.
So, James, think you can follow that? Are YOU pregnant?
My introduction got a laugh. The evaluators provided encouragement and the extemporaneous speakers did a brilliant job addressing the day’s topic: Presidential Politics. Overall a great hour.
I carry a knife because there are times I might be asked to use it on a moment’s notice. I’m glad I had it sharp yesterday.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2016 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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You’re given a bucket and told to empty a pond. How do you respond? Your response shows whether you are insane or not.
I was listening to the banter between the radio DJ and the caller. While it was a country music station, the subject was money.
So tell me, Carl, are you a financial expert?
No. I just know how to spend money. Ha ha
Because, I’m trying to decide. I have some credit cards with really high interest rates. I’m wondering if I should take my savings and pay them off?
The caller wanted nothing to do with handing out financial advice to the DJ. As I listened, I thought about that insanity test. The answer to the DJ really depended on whether or not he was insane.
“If you always do what you’ve always done, you always get what you’ve always gotten.”
– Educator Jessie Potter
I thought a lot about the debt question. There was a time where I was $80,000 in debt. I’d just lost my job. My house was being foreclosed on. And I had 12 kids at home. It forced me to take a hard look at myself and decide what was really important to me. I watched my hungry children not ask for seconds because they knew there wasn’t more. Winter was coming and I had nothing to heat the house with. I stared into the abyss and it was terrifying.
I didn’t file bankruptcy, but just barely. With some help from my extended family and a lot of hard work I clawed my way back. I paid off my debt. I paid off my cars. I eventually was able to buy a house again. We restocked our pantry. And like the child that burned his hand, I had finally learned not to touch the stove. I cut up the credit cards, the few that weren’t canceled. And vowed to never put my family in that situation again.
So, what made the difference? What had convinced me to finally change my spending habits? I quit being insane. I quit doing what I’d always done because I no longer wanted to get what I’d always gotten. It was hard, but along the way, I learned a few things. I learned I can do hard things. I also learned this important definition of interest,
Those who don’t understand interest pay it. Those who do, earn it.
Should the DJ use his savings to pay off his high interest credit cards? It depends. Is he insane?
The test with the bucket and the pond goes like this.
If you take the bucket and attempt to start bailing out the pond, you are insane. If you first divert the stream feeding the pond, you are sane.
If you are insane about debt, no matter how many much money you have, no matter how often you pay down the balance, no matter how much you say you hate the high interest rates, you will continue to paying that interest. Because you are insane.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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1945 – The world was just exiting the horrors of World War Two. The Baby Boom generation was about to be born. Gas was $0.15 per gallon. And it was the last time the Chicago Cubs baseball team went to the World Series.
They lost.
But, then, that’s a theme with the Cubs. In fact, no team in history has made as much of a tradition out of losing as the Chicago Cubs.
2016 – We are entering our second decade of the War on Terror, with troops in the Middle East and attacks at home and abroad. Everyone is worried about the Millenial generation entering the workforce. Gas is $2.35 per gallon. And the Chicago Cubs are headed back to the World Series.
I came to become a baseball fan late in life. My dad used to make the drive from Olympia, WA up to Seattle to take me to games when I was a kid. Looking back, it was an odd thing for him to do. The Kingdome, despite an audacious name, was a terrible stadium. It was a dual-purpose stadium, home to both the Seattle Seahawks football team and the Seattle Mariners baseball team. Neither one of which was very good in the early 1980s. The stadium wasn’t very good either, especially for baseball. The sight lines were terrible. Some seats had no view of the right fielder, even when he wasn’t trying to dig a double out of the corner. My dad was both afraid of heights and claustrophobic. The Kingdome, ironically made him feel both at the same time. But, he wanted to attend baseball games with his son.
Later, I moved to Chicago for a couple of years. I lived not too far from Comisky Park, the home of the South-side Chicago White Sox, although I never attended a game. I did go to a Cubs game and when they made their run in 1984, I was one of those who suddenly discovered a love of this ancient game. . .They lost in 1984, and I went back to ignoring baseball.
It wasn’t until I moved back to Seattle in the 1990s that I really caught baseball fever. Those were the glory years for Mariners fans. Griffey, the only Mariners player in the Hall of Fame was hitting home runs out of a beautiful brand-new Safeco Field. Alex Rodriguez, was a hot young shortstop, as opposed to the jerk he became later in his career. Joey, Jay, Randy, Dan-the-man. Hall of Fame broadcaster Dave Niehaus was yelling for Grandma to get out the rye bread and mustard because it was “grand salami” time! I fell in love with this game and I fell hard.
I’m one of those annoying fans who loves to talk about the game and the game around the game. For example, I can tell you that the 2001 Seattle Mariners hold the American League record for the most wins in a season at 116. That is the exact same number of wins as the National League champions hold. However, the National League record was set in 1906 when the season was 152 games long. Today’s season is 162 games long. So, you could say the NL record is actually a more impressive record than the Mariners’ mark. I could also tell you that neither the 2001 Seattle Mariners, nor the 1906 champions won the World Series that year.
The 1906 team that holds the tie-record for most wins in a season and holds the record for highest winning percentage in a season at .763 but didn’t win the World Series? The Chicago Cubs.
Saturday night, the Cubs, playing in Wrigley Field, the oldest stadium in baseball, at 102 years old, beat the Los Angles Dodgers. The last time the Cubs went to the Series, the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn. The Cubs will play the Cleveland Indians in the best of seven, Fall Classic this year. The Indians have their own run of bad luck they are trying to break. They haven’t won a World Series since 1948. But, while the Cubs haven’t been to the Championship series since 1945, you have to go all the way back to 1908 to find the last time the Cubs were World Champs.
Any team can have a bad century.
– Famous Cubs announcer Jack Brickhouse
There is lots of history that goes into any baseball game. Every time two teams take the field you might see something you’ve never seen before. Records seem to be made up on the spot.
This is baseball. We count everything.
– Kevin Costner in “For Love Of The Game”
So, Tuesday night, history will be made in Cleveland, as two teams who haven’t won a championship in a combined 166 years, line up to play a boy’s game. I’ll be glued to my 21st Century version of the old transistor radio; streaming the game online.
I’m rooting for the Cubs, but as a Mariners fan, I should point out that since the team’s founding in 1977, the Mariners have never attended the World Series. So, while the Cubs and Indians haven’t won in decades, the Mariners haven’t even ever been.
There’s always next year.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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The thing about going up, is that you have to then go down. Yesterday I showed you some pictures of our trip up Ding Canyon outside of Goblin Valley State Park in Southern Utah. What goes up has to come down and we went up Ding and came down Dang. Here are a few more pictures of pretty mountains and canyons and stuff.
Three of my sons went on this hike.
This is a Juniper tree. It kills off parts of itself during drought years.
With so little vegitation, it’s easy to see the different layers in the rock. This “white” structure is sitting on a bed of “red” rock.
As we headed into Ding, we walked along this “road.” It’s actually a dry streambed.
I’m pretty sure that’s stable.
This hole was our first big obstacle in Ding. There is normally a rope to repel down. The rope was gone so several of our boys searched until they found a way to climb down the crock face.
The second big obstacle was this section of canyon. You could wade through the pea soup water. . .
Or attempt to “walk it” bruising your back against one wall while bracing your feet against the other. The line from Emperor’s New Groove got said more than once.
Good think you’re not a big fat guy, or this would be really difficult.
After crawling across the water feature, the was the final section of canyon. The base was just wide enough for a single foot. The walls were so close that at one point I thought,
If I “fall” while walking through here, I’m not sure I would know. . .or move.
We do this hike every October on the weekend of the full moon.
A while year for the bruises on my back to clear up.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2016 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
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Last weekend we took the scouts to Southern Utah, Goblin Valley state park. Just outside the park are a pair of canyons, Ding and Dang. We went up Ding and tomorrow, I’ll share some pictures of coming down Dang.
The terrain was mild to aggressive. It started off pretty easy.
The Cliffs of Insanity.. . .sort. Of.
We could have walked through the water, but we weren’t sure if we might end up walking on the water. Pretty full of dirt and rocks.
We saw plenty of evidence of previous rains. The temperature was mild: mid-70s.
The scenery is beautifully brutal.
My Indiana Jones stance.
That tiny shadow in the lower right corner is me up on the opposite canyon wall.
Lunch was spent in the remains of a giant ant colony.
Finally, a picture of water because in the desert, water is life.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2016 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
