"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do, I stare out the window and wait for spring." - Rogers Hornsby

:: Saturday, June 28, 2003 ::

Unsolicited Advice

You know what I'd do if I were Dusty Baker?

I'd give Sammy Sosa tomorrow off. In fact, I'd tell him to stay home or better yet, get on a plane for Philadelphia, where the Cubs will play Monday night. Don't be anywhere near the ballpark, don't think about the game, just prepare for the next series.

Dusty used to give Barry Bonds "routine days off" and it really helped recharge his batteries. Sammy is obviously so affected by the hostility he's seen the last two days, and I think it's beginning to get into his psyche. Sure, that means Tom Goodwin probably playing right field, but how could Goodwin, bad as he is, do much worse than Sammy has in the first two games of the series (1-for-8 with four strikeouts)?

Anyway, that's what I would do if I were managing the Cubs. With Kerry Wood going, and Wood does usually put up his "A" game for big events like this, the scoring tomorrow is likely to be low.

The Cubs lost another depressing one-run heartbreaker, 7-6 to the White Sox today, this time the bullpen implosion included another home run (by Aaron Rowand, who came into the game hitting .200, and then D'Angelo Jimenez, who didn't even start, drove in the winning run with a seeing-eye single in the long-delayed bottom of the ninth; the first inning of this dragged-out affair took 45 minutes, and then there was a 30-minute rain delay in the 7th inning, making it twilight when the game finally ended. Again, the Cubs couldn't capitalize on many opportunities, leaving nine men on base; eight hits and eight walks ought to result in more than six runs.

Most of the Wrigley Field ground crew was in the LF bleachers at the Ballmall, near my seat, celebrating the birthday of Red, the ground crew guy who helps us out when management makes them drag the hoses out there. Red had, well, let's say he was feeling pretty good, but he thanked me for the e-mail that I had sent complimenting him on his work out there helping us out. It's nice to have someone on the crew on your side. I also ran into Ron and Trish, two Wrigley bleacher friends who got tickets from their buddies on the ground crew and decided to brave the wilds of the South Side for the first time this year.

There was the makings of a pretty large fight in the LCF bleachers late in the game; security decided to leave them alone, and just when they were all making friends, about 10 white-shirted Sox Security showed up and stood in the aisle, seemingly puzzled about what was going on. Once again, the stereotype of the Cub bleacher fan as being the big drinker among Chicago sports fans is put to rest by the Sox fans I saw out there drinking today, and they managed to soak up even more suds during the rain delay. I will say, that many of them are very passionate about the game, and about their team, even if half their words are "Cubs suck". That and "Corky", are pretty lame. They definitely need some new material.

I'm stating the obvious here, but the Cubs really must win tomorrow; the losing streak, now four, is the longest of the year, and with the Astros already winning today and the Cardinals beating the Royals, still in progress at this writing, the Cubs could wake up tomorrow morning in third place.

Before the game, I decided, at Mike's advice, to head over to Grandstand, at 35th & Normal, to buy some All-Star souvenirs. I bought a cap, an official ball and a commemorative ball; total was $50 with tax. The same three items at the Ballmall would have come to $59. So, if you're going to the ASG and looking for souvenirs, I'd patronize Grandstand; you could save quite a bit of money.

:: posted by Al at 8:38 PM [+] ::
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Movie Review: "Whale Rider"

It has been a very long time since I have heard applause at the end of a movie. People just don't do that anymore.

But loud applause was heard, and deserved, for this wonderful film.

The basic story, and I won't go beyond it because there are so many wonderful surprises, is set in New Zealand, among a group of Maori people, trying to preserve their history and culture (even though they have such modern problems as trying to quit smoking, and all the modest homes have satellite dishes), and the tradition of having their chief descend only through the male line.

When the son of the chief is expecting twins, they are all thrilled -- until the mother, and the male baby, die in childbirth, and the only heir is a girl, because the chief's son runs off to Europe to be a sculptor, rejecting his birthright.

The rest of the story is how this girl, played with incredible depth by newcomer Keisha Castle-Hughes, tries to overcome the ancient prejudices against women becoming anything other than mothers and homemakers, and take what we clearly see to be her birthright.

The last half hour of this movie is filled with scenes of such incredible power and emotion that you will not fail to cry. Trust me on this one. There is danger, and potential sadness, but also great happiness and truths. It can be, and probably will be, viewed by some as a feminist film, and indeed, the director and screenwriter, Niki Caro, is a woman.

But this story transcends everything. It shows how human beings can grow and learn from their experiences, no matter how young or old they are; I'd even recommend this film for kids (maybe over the age of 8 or 9), since they can easily understand the story and the message, which is soaring and uplifting.

In an age when Hollywood filmmakers think the way to make money is just to stage more explosions, this film (the first I think I've ever seen that was made by, and with, New Zealanders) tells a story that's universal, that's touching, that's meaningful. It ought to win, at the very least, the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, but I wouldn't stop there: I hope the producers submit it for Best Picture.

It's only in limited release now so it may not be playing where you are, but even if you have to wait for the DVD, do not miss this film.

The guy who sold the movie tickets had black nail polish on. This isn't a big deal -- I guess lots of younger guys do this -- but the polish was chipped and he didn't do a very good job. I mean, if you're gonna do it, do it right!

AYRating: ****

:: posted by Al at 9:26 AM [+] ::
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Notes...

I keep forgetting stuff, so here's a couple of notes from yesterday and earlier this week:

1) The Sox no longer tear tickets; they scan the barcodes on them (as the Cubs do in the bleachers, but then they tear the stub off anyway) and then just give them back to you. This is the same thing I experienced in Baltimore and Toronto; I know they also do this in Cleveland and Detroit. This isn't a big deal, but it will kill the market for "unused tickets" for historic events, milestones, etc. in such ballparks because it's impossible to distinguish any more between an unused and a used ticket.

2) The park never did quite fill up yesterday; at game time it was only about half full (I suppose due to traffic jams) and there appeared to be about 3000-5000 unused seats, mostly in the upper deck. Since the Sox no longer allow you into the lower deck without a lower deck ticket, these must have been no-shows.

3) On the way home I spotted a Cadillac with the license plate "DE PAUL"... yes, sitting in the front seat was Coach Ray Meyer, who I must say looked great. Not sure of his exact age, but he must be near or maybe over 90. His son Joe, the former DePaul coach, was in the back seat.

4) On Wednesday, one of the ballhawks who try to catch BP home runs came up to us and showed us what the Brewers were using for BP balls -- 2002 All-Star baseballs. Gosh, and I thought the Cubs were cheap.

:: posted by Al at 9:09 AM [+] ::
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(censored)

It's been said here in Chicago that Sox fans hate the Cubs, while Cub fans hate the Sox fans.

That's a cliche and a truism, but today I was reminded why people say that. Sox fans are filled with such hatred for the Cubs; some of the loudmouths sitting near me in the LF bleachers at the Park Formerly Known As Comiskey, were trying to incite their heroes to hit every one of the Cubs in the head with balls or bats. "It'd be worth a loss just to do that." I mean, come ON! Then there are those who complain that people in the Wrigley Field bleachers do nothing but drink and don't watch the game. OK, so we have more than our share of those. But there were plenty of people sitting around me who were doing just that, even though the game was tense and exciting.

This was my first visit this year to the Ballmall, which has a fancy corporate name that I'm simply not going to give any PR to here -- not unless they want to give me a cut of the $68 million or so they're giving the White Sox -- and they have used some of that money to make some physical changes in the plant.

First, they painted the facades and the outside ramps a very dark gray, and the underside of the half-roof over the upper deck black. This makes the place look even more dark and forbidding than it did before. The scoreboards have been changed; there is no longer any score or stat information on the board in CF; it's just a DiamondVision board. All the scores, stats, etc. are on the board in LF, and sitting in LF as I was, that board is almost impossible to see -- even if you stand up, the linescore is on the bottom, so it's almost unreadable.

On the 1B and 3B facades, there is a mini-video board which is mostly for advertising; the linescore boards that used to be there have been moved to the LF and RF corners, not within normal line-of-sight; i.e. if you are looking at the action, you have to then glance to the corners to find the count. And, the Sox retired numbers, which used to be on the facade of the club-level seats, have been removed, replaced with representations of the scoreboard pinwheels.

A big thumbs-down, then, to the cosmetic changes.

I got a look at the seats I'll have for the All-Star Game; they are indeed "partially obstructed" by the huge patio the Sox have built in CF; you can't see about 1/3 of the right field corner. But otherwise, I'm much happier to be there than to be 25 rows up in the upper deck in the corners, which was where the other tickets they offered me were.

And Sox security is at it again. I wanted to say hi to some friends seated down the 3B line. Nope, can't go down those stairs. What do they think -- some idiot is gonna run on the field or somethin...

Oh. Never mind.

So, I had to go down into my own section, then walk back ten sections through the seats to say hello. And after the game, they had security standing blocking anyone trying to walk back toward 3B and gate 5 to leave, trying to force everyone out onto the south side of 35th Street. Well, I was parked north of 35th, so once again, it was back down to the seats, then over past the security cordon, so I could leave from the gate I wanted to leave from.

If you're thinking, Al's avoiding talking about the game, you're right. The Sox beat the Cubs 4-3 on a Jose Valentin home run in the bottom of the 9th, after the Cubs had mounted a stirring comeback off Sox closer Billy Koch in the top of the inning, scoring two runs after loading the bases with none out.

Honestly, there was a fair amount of good today. Matt Clement threw very well; now if he could only do this consistently, the Cubs would again have four very good starters. Mark Grudzielanek had four hits; in fact, the Cubs hit Danny Wright, Tom Gordon and Koch pretty well, having nine hits and five walks, and therein lies the problem -- they couldn't get them home, stranding 12. This can't continue; someone is going to have to step up and carry this team.

As expected, the absolute hatred Sox fans have for Sammy Sosa spilled over today; I've never heard the booing that loud. And though professional athletes say it doesn't bother them, I could see it getting to Sammy today, as he struck out three times, including twice with the bases loaded. When he came up for the third time with the bases jammed in the 9th, at least he managed a sac fly. The cork thing has got to go, Sox fans -- it's yesterday's news. He did it; he admitted it; he was assessed a penalty and paid it. Now think about it. What if you, the Sox fan, had served your jail term and...

Oh. Never mind.

Somewhere, somehow, Jim Hendry is going to have to get this team some offensive help. There's a black hole at catcher, and the bench seems weaker than ever.

Sign seen: A Sox fan had a sign that read "Cubs may have Wood, but Sox have a bigger Koch".

Clever, actually.

:: posted by Al at 5:28 PM [+] ::
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You Can't Tell The Players Without A...

... scorecard.

Darnitall, I score every single game, and have for more than 30 years. Today, thanks to the incompetence of the Cubs publication department, who didn't order enough cards for what turned out to be, oddly, the largest-attended 3-game series of the year so far, they ran out of cards before I got to the ballpark. Usually, Walter the scorecard guy who I buy from, will warn me a day ahead of time that they're running out, and I'll get an extra. But I guess he didn't realize how many they'd sell.

Luckily, I always keep blank scoresheets in my backpark, for long extra-inning games, so I had one to score on.

And for eight innings, I thought I had a masterpiece worth keeping.

The Cubs lost to the Brewers 5-3 this afternoon, on an absolutely gorgeous day, thanks to the second consecutive catastrophic bullpen failure, this time by the only guy who threw well yesterday, Joe Borowski. It was clear that Joe had nothing when he came in and Scott Podsednik, one of those real pesty guys who you love if he's on your team and hate if he isn't, smacked a single right away; that rattled Joe and he walked Keith Ginter, who had homered earlier, and you could have predicted the Geoff Jenkins game-winner.

Jeff had written on his hand after the Cubs scored first: "1 run will be enough". Then he had to change it to 3, and then to 5, and it turned out he was right, just for the wrong team.

I haven't mentioned how dominant Mark Prior was; if you watched the game you could see how terrific both his fastball and breaking ball were, and he struck out the last six he faced. 126 pitches -- well, you really can't argue with that, though Prior has gone farther than that, and I'd bet he would have dispatched the three who hit, in less than ten pitches. Even so, I can understand why Dusty doesn't want to risk his prize 22-year-old by extending him too far, especially with no days off before the All-Star break.

Oh, and did I mention that Lenny Harris truly sucks? Seriously, why does this guy still have a major league job? He came up to pinch-hit in a situation, two runs down in the last of the ninth, when you really need baserunners, and he swings weakly at the first pitch and hits a comebacker to the mound. Horrid.

It rained really hard this morning for about two hours but by game time it was bright and sunny and about 15 degrees cooler than yesterday, though you could still see where the runoff from the tarp had been dumped behind second base.

I invited my friend Stacey Baca, our ABC-7 Sunday anchor, who along with her husband are big baseball fans, and the Cubs had won last year when she came out to the bleachers, so I figured it would be good luck. No such luck, unfortunately.

Otherwise, it was a quiet day in the bleachers, with just Jeff, me, Howard and Brian in attendance. Very few of our group, or the other bleacher regulars, will make the trek down to the South Side on the weekend. The Sox, and their fans, I'm sure, will be out for blood this weekend. In normal circumstances they give Sammy Sosa tremendous grief. With the corked-bat incident, it'll be worse than ever.

Three wins by the Cubs would shut their fans up good. I like all three pitching matchups, and Sunday (Loaiza vs. Wood) could be historic.

:: posted by Al at 4:42 PM [+] ::
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Found It!



Meanwhile, Kyle's suspension was reduced to two games, and he started serving it today against the Brewers.

Which is too bad, because they could have used him. More in my game report above.

:: posted by Al at 4:29 PM [+] ::
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Farnsworth Appeals

Contrary to what was indicated yesterday, the Tribune reported today that Kyle Farnsworth will appeal his 3-game suspension for his part in last week's brawl with the Reds.

Usually, in situations like this the player gets a small reduction, so most likely he'll get it cut to two games. What this actually accomplishes is to have him available for the White Sox series, and maybe serve the suspension while the Cubs are in Philadelphia next week.

I checked around the Sports Illustrated website to see if I could find a link to the great photo of Kyle lacing into Paul Wilson, but apparently it's only in the magazine. Still worth the price; go find a copy.

:: posted by Al at 10:54 AM [+] ::
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Hosed

First of all, an apology for any of you who are regular readers here -- I wanted to post this yesterday, but the Blogger site I use to create this blog was down for several hours while they migrated all the blogs to an "upgraded" site. It looks different and kind of weird, so I hope this post looks OK!

Anyway, "Hosed" describes perfectly Wednesday in the bleachers.

The ground crew once again decided that the bleachers should become a waterpark, and showed up with the ground crew hoses.

Fortunately, an e-mail I had sent earlier this year had some effect, as one of the ground crew chiefs came over and told us that we wouldn't get wet, which was the whole idea. I mean really, if you want to get wet on a hot day, go to the beach or a waterpark or a pool. Don't come to a baseball game! Besides, it wasn't that hot to begin with.

Then the Cubs got hosed themselves, as the bullpen completely imploded in a really disgusting 12-6, 10-inning loss to the Brewers. God, I hate the Brewers. They really have only two good players, yet somehow they come here and play like champions.

Only Joe Borowski threw well for the pen today; everyone else was awful, especially Todd Wellemeyer, who gave up two long home runs, one to of all people, ex-Cub #1 draft pic Brooks Kieschnick, who is trying to resurrect his career (with some success) as a pinch-hitter/slash/relief pitcher with Milwaukee.

Shawn Estes also threw well. I think this is because I wrote the wrong name on my scorecard, and didn't notice till the sixth inning -- I had written "55P", his number and position, but below it I wrote "PRIOR". Maybe I should try this more often.

I met Miles from the Cubs NG today; he lives in Georgia but is here for the week, and we had an interesting time dissecting the ballclub, especially as the bullpen gave up hit after hit. Even after all of that, a well-placed single by Sammy Sosa in the bottom of the 9th would have won the game, but he struck out.

We also, along with Jeff, happened to notice (it was hard not to) a woman with very large breasts and a very skimpy top. OK, OK, we were just looking. After much debate over whether they were real or purchased, we decided on real. She also had an
impossibly dark tan, which Miles said must have come from a bottle. I said, don't those things turn your skin orange?

Apparently not; there are new kinds of self-tanners, according to Miles, which turn your skin dark more naturally instead of just staining your skin. See, you learn stuff every day out in the bleachers. And this from a guy who makes me look tan.

I'm glad Mark Prior is (for real) starting tomorrow; this gives the Cubs a good shot at winning the series, and with Houston's loss to Arizona yesterday, the Cubs retain first place in what is rapidly becoming the 2003 version of the NL "Comedy Central".

Finally, Kyle Farnsworth was suspended for 3 games for his part in the Reds brawl last week. The ESPN article linked above hints that Farnsworth might not appeal; I still hope he does. But all of you should pick up a copy of Sports Illustrated this week, because it has a photo that makes pretty clear why Paul Wilson walked off the field with a bloody face.

:: posted by Al at 4:04 AM [+] ::
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More Blogs

I'll add these to the sidebar later, but I wanted to give a plug to a couple of Cub blogs I like to read:

Let's Play Two

The Clark & Addison Chronicle

And thanks to Jason & Derek for linking my blog on theirs.

:: posted by Al at 11:19 AM [+] ::
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Cubhenge

OK, you're thinking I've gone totally nuts. What's Cubhenge, you're asking?

Mike & I figured this out a few years ago. Last night was the night game closest to the summer solstice. And on that night, one hour before sunset, from the view from our bleacher bench, the setting sun rests precisely on the ball of the flagpole above the left field foul pole.

Looking at that rationally, yes, we are nuts. But that's Cubhenge, our version of Stonehenge. Yes, we did a little druid dance.

I'm not saying I'm superstitious, but... the Cubs won on Sunday. So I picked the same type cup and same spigot when I got my Super Big Gulp at the 7-11. They won last night. So I'm wearing the same cap today that I wore yesterday.

Superstition or no, strange things seem to happen any time the Cubs play the Brewers. Three years ago they played what was then the longest 9-inning game in ML history (4:22, since broken). Just last month I saw them play 17 innings in Milwaukee. And seven weeks ago to the day, on May 6, there was a power surge in the neighborhood causing a delay while the lights came back on.

Guess what? It happened again last night in the bottom of the first of what turned out to be a laugher, for once, a 9-1 win over the Brewers. It was 7:35, still plenty of daylight left when the lights went out, but they held up the game anyway for 16 minutes. The traffic signals at Addison & Sheffield were also out, as was much of the surrounding area. Obviously, this is the Brewers' fault. Fortunately, there are no more night games scheduled between the two teams here in Chicago this year.

Balls were flying out of the yard during BP and when Geoff Jenkins homered in the first, I said to Mike that wouldn't be the last HR hit. Good thing the Brewers ran themselves out of a couple baserunners with a 1-6-5-3-4-3 DP just before the HR, or the Cubs would have been down 3-0. Instead it was only 1-0 with two out.

The wind was blowing out pretty strong, but the moonshot that Sammy Sosa hit in the fifth didn't need any help. It disappeared down Kenmore St. (the street perpendicular to Waveland behind LF); measured at 520 feet, it might have been longer. Mike & I agreed it's probably the longest one that Sammy's ever hit. And Mike had earlier mentioned that usually if Sosa's in a slump, the Milwaukee pitching staff will help cure it. When he has a game like this, he often goes on a tear when he could hit ten home runs in a week. It was also his 59th multi-homer game; the record of 72 such games is held by Mark McGwire. The six Cub homers was one short of the club record. And, in the sixth, the Cubs hit three consecutive HR for the 9th time in club history.

Richie Sexson, who normally torments the Cubs, went 0-for-4, and the message board had another of its now frequent errors when it said that his 21 HR "leads the NL". Well, only if 21 is more than 22, which Adam Dunn has, or 23, which Javy Lopez and Mike Lowell have.

OK, end of history and stat lesson.

We picked a good day to play home run derby. If you don't know how that's played, a few of us choose two-digit numbers, then someone pulls out a dollar bill and we pick either the first or last two digits without looking to decide who picks in what order. Then you pick two hitters, and get $1 for each homer hit; $2 if it's a pitcher and $5 for a grand slam.

Well, I wound up picking last, so as a lark, I chose Kerry Wood. Good choice, as it turned out; he hit his second HR of the season, so I won $8, but with all the other HR hit (yes, someone even chose Mark Grudzielanek), I think I didn't do much better than make a dollar or two. Anyway, it's fun to play along, especially on what was really the first warm night of the year.

Howard and Carole both spent about 20 minutes in line; we looked down at 10 minutes to game time and the line was still down the block. That was odd, because it seemed much less crowded among people standing along the fence than almost any game this year. And explain to me how yesterday's crowd could be the largest of the year (40,389) against an opponent like the Brewers. The only possible explanation is that there were fewer freebies asked for by players & employees, so they wound up selling more tickets. The average attendance is now 35,103, 89% of capacity, and if the club continues to contend and there are no more rainouts, there's an outside chance they could draw 3 million this year, which would require an average of just over 37,000.

Sue decided it was too hot to wear her straw hat, so she went hatless and exposed her newly-growing hair, now that she's mostly done with radiation & chemo. So then she, Jeff & I decided to make comparisons as to who has less hair. I think she won, but I wasn't too far behind.

Postscript to the brawl on Sunday: in talking to Jeannie, one of the security guards, she mentioned she had wound up at the bottom of the scrum and got pretty bruised up. Frankly, the Cubs simply don't have enough security, and not enough people who are out in the bleachers on a regular basis, who know the territory, especially on days like Sunday, with the White Sox here, when you know trouble could be brewing. It took nearly every security person in the bleachers to break up that fight. Once again, there are two possible solutions: increased security, or decreased beer sales, or both.

The Cubs needed this easy win and the offensive surge, especially with the tough series just completed, and the tough ones coming up against the White Sox, Cardinals and Braves before the All-Star break.

:: posted by Al at 7:53 AM [+] ::
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Rotation Hijinks

I note that Dusty has changed around the rotation so that Prior is not going to follow Wood tomorrow; instead Estes will pitch Wednesday against the Brewers. He can do this because Estes threw only 52 pitches on Saturday, and this way, looking ahead -- Prior throws against the Cardinals and Braves before the break, and then -- oh, gee, here's a surprise -- would be right on target to throw in the All-Star Game, and then the Cubs could get back to Wood and Prior afterwards, since they have the Thursday after the ASG off.

Just thinking out loud.

:: posted by Al at 2:46 PM [+] ::
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Eschew Obfuscation

Which means, of course, be clear!

Evidently, I was unclear on a couple of things in yesterday's posts.

First of all, the link to the RedEye article where I was quoted, was kind of buried in the copy of last night's post.

So, click here for that article!

Second, I wasn't too clear on how I stood on the Supreme Court's ruling on library porn filters. Here's how I stand: any restriction on the way the Internet operates is chilling on free speech. The filters don't even work that well, as has been well documented -- there are filters on porn that supposedly will also screen out sites on breast cancer treatments, etc.

Fortunately, even something like this won't censor what people want to write on the web. It sure doesn't stop me from saying that the justices were idiots to rule this way. If people don't like the filters that libraries are now legally allowed to apply -- well, they can just vote with their feet down to a different library.

That's what living in a free society is all about.

Do I need a ballgame or what?

:: posted by Al at 8:34 AM [+] ::
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Hey Look, I'm In The Paper!

Back on June 3, I got interviewed by a correspondent from "RedEye", which is a small tabloid paper just created by the Tribune, aimed at Gen X'ers.

The article was supposed to be about the atmosphere in the bleachers and how it's changed over the years.

Well, you all know what happened on June 3. That was the date of the Sosa corked-bat incident. That, plus the Yankee series, obviously pushed this article to the back burner.

But today, as I found out from some of the regulars in the Cubs Usenet newsgroup, the article finally appeared.

I got quoted, along with at least two other longtime bleacher season ticket holders. I thought the article was pretty well done -- accurately portraying what goes on out there.

Check it out soon -- I have no idea how long RedEye articles stay up on the web.

:: posted by Al at 8:02 PM [+] ::
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Off-Day Musings

The Cubs are off today; so TV-wise, we have Oakland vs. Texas on ESPN2, or the College World Series on ESPN. And didn't it seem like any time you turned it on, Rice was playing Stanford? (They play again for the title tonight.) Were there even any other teams in the CWS? I'm not that fond of hearing that pinging sound from aluminum bats anyway. I think I'll watch the A's -- incidentally, if you haven't read "Moneyball", the book about how Billy Beane formed the A's with very little cash to work with, you ought to. Terrific read. One of these days I'll write a full review of it here.

Man, talk about digressing -- I've done it again. Here's what I intended to write about, today's Supreme Court decision giving colleges the right to use racial preferences in admission decisions.

Well, hem, haw, er...

This is a tough one, all right, and I was really surprised to see that Sandra O'Connor, formerly very conservative but now considered a "swing" vote, was the "swing" in this 5-4 decision.

Look, we all would love to have the USA be a colorblind society. But it's not. And there is prejudice every single day in our country, and yes, we have made tremendous progress in the last 50 years. O'Connor put it best in her opinion:

"We expect that 25 years from now, the use of racial preferences will no longer be necessary to further the interest approved today."

That's exactly right. Each generation being raised is, I think, successively more tolerant. I hope my kids will be the ones who will at long last find a generation totally prejudice-free. I also thought it was odd that the Court ruled the opposite way in the undergraduate case that was brought to them on the same issue. But at least our country has gone on record as saying equal opportunity must be given, and even if some help is needed to overcome hundreds of years of prejudice, that should be the law of the land.

Perhaps even more importantly today, the Court upheld the provisions of the 2000 Children's Internet Protection Act and said libraries could filter computers that could be accessed by children, if they want federal funds. This could have a chilling effect on free speech, though the court did note that any adult who asked, could have the filters disabled.

It won't stop anyone from saying what they want to say on the Internet. I wonder what words I could use here that could be filtered?

Nah, I think I'll keep this blog G-rated. Or at least PG-rated.

See what a day off from Cubs baseball does to you?

:: posted by Al at 6:04 PM [+] ::
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Restaurant Review: "Fogo de Chão"

I don't usually do this, but this place is so different, so unusual, that I wanted to write a bit about it; it'll give all of us a breather after a very intense Cub month. Incidentally, before I continue -- the Cubs are 10-10 this month so far with 7 games to go. If they can go 5-2 they'll match the records for April and May -- and going 15-12 each month for the season will win you 90 games, which in any measure is a success, but especially this year, 90 wins could win the NL Central.

Anyway, I digress.

Fogo de Chão is a Brazilian restaurant, with some branches in Brazil itself and now four in the USA (Chicago - been open about two years here now, Atlanta, Houston and Dallas), and its food and serving style are unique. When you walk in you see four huge slabs of meat grilling right in the window, over an open fire -- and among the hostess' duties are throwing more wood on the fire.

It's a prix fixe menu -- which can be off-putting when you see the prix (which is $43!), until you see how much food you get for this price.

You start with an enormous salad bar which has virtually everything you could imagine on a salad bar, including huge tomato slices (larger than I've ever seen at a restaurant), potato salads, cheeses, many different kinds of lettuce and other veggies. You could almost make a meal out of this.

But then you get back to your table and you find a little card with one side red and one side green. When you turn it to the green side, almost instantly, waiters dressed like Brazilian gauchos descend on your table with one of fifteen different cuts of meat (beef, chicken, lamb or pork) on skewers and cut you whatever you want right there, however you want it done (the beef has varying types of "doneness" on one skewer.

They also had these little bread balls -- naturally, on low-carb I only ate one -- that were excellent.

The food was terrific and the staff was extremely nice -- almost too much so; you'd have to remember to turn your card to red to stop them from coming!

As I said, the price is a little high, and I don't know if I'd make this a regular thing. But for a special night out, it's fun, and the food is tasty and different than most local restaurant fare.

AYRating: *** 1/2

:: posted by Al at 8:35 AM [+] ::
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Surrounded

Today, despite our best efforts, a couple of really loud Sox fans sat down in the unoccupied seats in our row.

You know, these are the guys who, at the Cell, when the Sox are playing, say, Baltimore, and losing, they start yelling "Cubs suck!!" And you think, "Geez, you're playing the Orioles, not the Cubs." Serious inferiority complex; I really think their entire season is made if they beat the Cubs, better for them than even making the playoffs. And another thing -- if I yelled as loud as these guys for three hours, I wouldn't be able to talk for a week. By the 8th inning I wanted the Cubs to win just to shut these people up. They were doing stuff like continually yelling "Cheater!" at Sammy Sosa. Gosh, how original. And gee, as soon as the Sox lost the lead, they were out of there. Couldn't take the heat, I guess.

Fortunately, after the Cubs barely hit the ball out of the infield against Bartolo Colon, Jerry Manuel decided to move to lefty Damaso Marte and that cost them the game, as the Cubs roped three straight hits off Marte and won 2-1 to salvage the third game of the crosstown series. It also means that the Cubs still have not been swept this year, and the longest losing streak is still only three games. If Texas can somehow beat Houston tonight (click here for updated boxscore), the Cubs will move back into first place. And with the Brewers coming in, a team the Cubs have actually handled this year, with Wood and Prior going the next couple of days, it's a good time to pick up some ground. The Cubs will appreciate their first day off in two weeks, I'm sure. So will I, actually!

Carlos Zambrano threw his second really good game in a row; I'm glad he came out of this one with a win, rather than the no-decision he got in Cincinnati. Joe Borowski (who I just added to my fantasy-league team) got his 15th save, and this time he decided to go 1-2-3 rather than make it exciting. Jerry Manuel made the curious call to double-switch Tony Graffanino into the game, and then pinch-hit Brian Daubach for him; Daubach struck out. I think these AL managers don't really get the double switch.

Strategy was important again -- with the Cubs down 1-0 and two runners on and one out in the 7th, I told Mike that Damian Miller should bunt. Mike said no, not to give up the second out. Well, Miller ended the inning by hitting into a DP, just what we wanted to avoid. As it turned out things went fine -- and there was a nearly identical situation to yesterday, with Mark Grudzielanek on first and a double by Ramon Martinez into the gap, Wavin' Wendell waved around Grudzielanek. Very different situation, of course -- the tying run in the 8th, and the fact that Grudz is one of the better baserunners on the team, made this "wave-around" a no-brainer. It was still a close play at the plate.

There was a huge brawl in the RCF first row of the bleachers; ten people were ejected including two who walked out with blood streaming down their faces. What is with people, anyway? Is it just too much beer? Or are people just stupid? Or all of the above?

Brian was supposed to show up today but we all figured that he couldn't find parking after driving around, so he just went home. This is silly, when you have a $30 ticket on a beautiful day. But to each his own, I guess.

One note that I forgot from yesterday: there was a really weird mistake on the scoreboard. The team plates are actually in two pieces and someone mixed up the first half of the "OAKLAND" plate with the second half of the "CLEVELAND" plate. Therefore, San Francisco was listed as playing "OAKLALAND" yesterday. They figured it out before today's action.

:: posted by Al at 4:44 PM [+] ::
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