Baseball

Dad sent me a couple family items as he was going through his Grandfather's scrap book. As usual, please click on the picture for a larger version.



My Great Grandfather is the last person seated on the right as you are looking at this picture. Clark Griffith, the Senators Owner is next to my Great Grandfather as the first ball is thrown out at a Senators exhibition commemorating the Bicentennial of George Washington's Birthday during the 1932 season. The game matched up members of the World Champion Senators of 1924 vs the 1932 Senators. I don't know much about this game but I plan to e-mail Phil Wood, WTEM Radio broadcaster who knows a lot about the Senators and baseball history in Washington DC.

Apparently Clark Griffith and my Great Grandfather were good pals. Mr. Griffith was kind enough to give this pass for the 1933 season to my Great Grandfather, who would take his son (my Grandfather) to games. The 1933 Senators won the American League Championship that year.



So I get the crazy idea to attach a copy of the above season pass in an e-mail to Stan Kasten, President of the Washington Nationals. In the e-mail I asked if I could put this pass to use 75 years later so I could take my Dad, Benjamin and myself to a baseball game next season in the Nationals new ball park. If that happens, five generations of us will get to a game on this pass, which I would donate to the Nationals if they had a place in the new park displaying items related to baseball in Washington DC. Stay tuned to see where this goes....

More Vacation Pictures

Get Ready For College Football!

Press guide that will take me all season to read--check
Terrapin Club Membership---check
Maryland Gridiron Network Membership---check
Tickets in Section 19---check
Binoculars---check
Tailgate grill---check

Possible road trip to Chapel Hill in November? Well, I'm working on that...

Let's go Terps!!!!!!

2007 University of Maryland Football Schedule
09/01/07 VILLANOVA
09/08/07 at Florida International
09/13/07 WEST VIRGINIA
09/22/07 at Wake Forest
09/29/07 at Rutgers
10/06/07 GEORGIA TECH
10/20/07 VIRGINIA
10/27/07 CLEMSON
11/03/07 at North Carolina
11/10/07 BOSTON COLLEGE
11/17/07 at Florida State
11/24/07 at North Carolina State

Preview of the 2007 Terps here

This Must Be Archived

My friend John wrote this as he was at the massacre at Camden Yards last night. Think Animal House here, the scene where the Dean calls in the Delta House crew and tells them it's all over for them....

The Scene: Dave Trembley's office following O's doubleheader sweep to lowly Rangers.

In walk Daniel Cabrera, Rob Bell, Brian Burres, Garrett Olson and Paul Shuey.

Trembley: Where are the others Hoey, Baez and Walker?

Cabrera: We looked everywhere for them Dean Trembley.

Trembley: Have you boys seen your ERAs?

Cabrera: They're not posted yet, sir.

Trembley: I have them right here. Mr. Cabrera, five innings, 9 hits, six runs, 1 walk, four strikeouts, two HRs given up. A 5.10 ERA for the season. A fine example you set. Mr. Bell, 1 -1/3 innings pitched 5 hits, seven runs, 3 walks, 1 strikeout, 2 HRs given up. Congratulations Mr. Bell, you're at the top of the Orioles bullpen. Mr. Burres, 2/3 inning pitched, 8 runs, 8 hits, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, 1 HR given up. Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son.

Mr. Olson, has no ERA. All games incomplete. Too many walks .... Mr. Shuey (with pencils in nose) ... 9.49 ERA ...

Now I want you to tell Mr. Hoey, Walker and Baez exactly what I'm about to tell you

Cabrera: What's that, sir?

Trembley: You're OUT!! Finished with the Baltimore Orioles. I want you out of Camden Yards by 9 a.m. Monday morning .... And I'm sure you'll all be glad to know that I've informed your agents that you are all now eligible for Independent League service.

Burres face begins to bubble ...

Trembley: You have something to say ... Well? ... Out with it!

Splat....

The Orioles lost a doubleheader to the Texas Rangers last night. They took a 3-0 lead in game one and the Rangers scored 30 unanswered runs to win 30-3. Then the Rangers took the second game, 9-7. For me, last night's mess ranks right there with the Orioles 0-21 start in 1988.



Yet I was fascinated with this game as I tuned it when the score was 24-3. D.C. United was playing New York, their main rival a couple channels down but I kept the tv tuned to the O's game. Why? I can't really explain it. The Rangers batted around three times in this game. That feat was last accomplished in 1990.

Since winning the World Series in 1983, this once proud franchise has turned into the laughing stock of baseball. Don't worry though, the two losses to the Rangers won't hurt the O's bid for their tenth straight fourth place finish in the American League East.

"Unbelievable. A new low. I'm so ashamed." - Otter, Animal House

Day Care Drop Off Blues

Benjamin was clingy today as I dropped him off at his day care. He likes to bring a toy or two for the ride over but today he didn't want to give these up. I didn't want him losing them at day care so I ended up distracting him and stashing those toys away in the car. When he realized what happened, he started to cry a little so I immediately talked to him about the school busses in the parking lot. This stopped the crying as he loves seeing those busses (See The Wheels On The Bus post I made here a couple weeks ago) and we went over there for a bit.

Then we went inside and stopped off at a bench at the front desk area and we looked at a drawing of a school bus, people and a model of the school and he said his ABC's while I took his jacket off.

We went into his classroom and then he didn't want me to leave. He kept saying "Uppy Daddy!", which means he wants me to pick him up and then he kept hugging me. That was sweet but I was running late. He still wouldn't let me go. Finally the teacher was able to get him to go to the window and across the street there were some Verizon workers doing some construction so that kept him occupied as he watched. I left the room, signed him in at the front desk log and then checked on him one last time. He was being held by his teacher and pointing outside to the workers. He was fine.

It was hard letting him go. I guess since we were all bonding together during our vacation last week both of us didn't want to say goodbye. I thought leaving the house while he was still asleep at 5:30 AM each day to go to my old job was rough but this is tougher. There are some days when I get emotional when I drop him off but that's who I am. I love my little guy very much and occasionally it's just hard to say goodbye.

I told this to Weena in an e-mail when I got to work and she replied as follows:

It’s tough especially we just got back from vacation and he is so used to having us around. He will eventually adjust to school again. His way of taking toys from home is part of his security and he feels better if he has something that he knows he owns and so he clings to them. And so when you take them away, he feels lost or alone.

It’s the stage where they get very clingy, but as time goes forward he’ll feel more confident and more independent.

A Week At Emerald Isle, NC

In case you were wondering what happened here since D.C. United's victory over LA on August 9th, we've been away on vacation. I'll do my best to recap the week we had. Here goes:

Friday August 10th: We arrive at Jacksonville, NC to see Weena's brother, his wife and son. Weena's folks are also staying there until October. This was a nice reunion for all of us and a chance to see Weena's brother before he had his back surgery Thursday the 16th. He is recovering fine and will be home from the hospital later today.

Saturday August 11th: We arrive at our purple beach house. It was pretty cool. The top floor had the kitchen, dining and living rooms. Plus a big screen TV made watching golf and baseball fun. The middle section was the bedrooms. There were three. Plenty of room.



It's location was the primary reason we booked there. We were within walking distance to the beach and very close to the inlet as you can see here.



Sunday August 12th: Mom came up and spent three days with us. This was a great time for all of us and Benjamin really enjoyed spending time with his Grandma.

Monday and Tuesday August 13th & 14th. These days were spent reading, relaxing and playing on the beach. Nothing more, nothing less.

Cool Beach Dude


Benjamin and Weena during our evening stroll


Wednesday, August 15th: We went to the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores. We had a blast there and Benjamin learned a lot and had fun as you can see.







Thursday and Friday August 16th & 17th. We spent a lot of Thursday on the beach but Friday was very windy and cloudy, so we drove around and just shopped. We had a nice dinner out for our last evening there. Saturday morning it was a downer to drive by the rental agency, drop off the keys and head home.

Overall it was a wonderful and relaxing time. The weather cooperated and we caught up on our reading, sleeping and had some quality family time! We can't wait until next year when we go back.

D.C. United Comes Through!

In front of a packed house of almost 47,000 at R.F.K. Stadium, D.C. United beat the evil L.A. Galaxy 1-0 on (League MVP?) Luciano Emilio's 13th goal of the season in the 27th minute. David Beckham made his Major League Soccer debut in the 72nd minute just after the Galaxy went down to ten men after Kyle Martino's gutless and idiotic challenge on Fred that drew a red card in the 67th minute. Martino should get an extra game or two tacked on to his red card suspension. Fred was lucky he didn't break a leg.

Back to Beckham though. When he put on his game shirt, the sellout crowd cheered and the camera flashes went off every time he touched the ball. However, he wasn't able to make much of an impact for a struggling Galaxy squad that was shut out for the second straight game. For the record, he had 14 touches and 2 free kicks.

This is a huge win for D.C. United, who pulled within three points of the New England Revolution and F.C. Dallas in the overall league standings. Both teams have played one more game than United.

Notes:
Best sign of the night came from the Screaming Eagles "We Sing Better Than Your Wife" in reference to Beckham's wife Victoria, a member of the Spice Girls.

Jaime Moreno is still one goal away from setting the all-time MLS goals record. Moreno has 108 goals in his MLS career, tied with Jason Kreis.

After the game, D.C. United's Ben Olsen was the recipient of Beckham's jersey.

Box score here

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756!

Barry Bonds hit his 756th homer last night. He is the new All Time Home Run King. I tried to stay up for this but I dozed off after his first at bat and missed it. I'm bummed about that as I was front and center for Hank Aaron's 715th homer back in April 1974 and I wanted to see this live. With 24/7 sports everywhere I will see this homer countless times but nothing beats the thrill of watching it happen at the moment.

So congrats to Barry Bonds. I do believe that Alex Rodriguez, should he stay healthy, will break this before his career is over. He's 32 and became the youngest player ever to hit his 500th home run.

Bonds Sets Baseball's Home Run Record by Dave Sheinin

Pitcher of Record by Barry Svrluga