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Riaño is a former small municipality located along the Esla River in the mountains of the province of León, in the autonomous community of Castile and León, northern Spain. The village was across the river from Peak Gilbo. Located 3650 feet above sea level, it is in the Cantabrian mountains near the foothills of the Picos de Europa.
My mom speaks Mandarin to me and I can speak some back so not super fluent but I could survive in China or Taiwan. Have forgotten most of the 6 years of Spanish from Jr high/HS.
Some limited Spanish, 3 years of Latin in high school, a smattering of Arabic from my travels, hieroglyphics/hieratic which I studied at Cal. Reading knowledge of French.
I'd say about 80-85% fluent in both Cantonese and Mandarin. Stronger in retail marketing talk for Mandarin (and other work stuff), stronger in "stuff a parent would yell at their kid about" in Cantonese.
Took 4 years of high school French, and was handy enough in it to travel around France for a month after high school. It's almost all the way gone now.
Didn't think I knew Spanish (and I really don't) but 20 years of California and 5 years of Texas have given me "I can order food and greet people" level of Spanish that I have used in Spain, Costa Rica and Mexico.
My parents are native Cantonese speakers. My language use at work in China depended on what office and what company. NBA - 50/50. Nike in Shanghai - 60% English, 30% Mandarin, 10% Cantonese. Nike in Beijing 95% Mandarin. Nike when opening stores - 100% Mandarin. Local events agency - 95% Mandarin, but the most important 5% English when dealing with the foreign clients. Disney - 95% Mandarin, 5% English in the weekly meeting with the VP
I have about 30 phrases in Thai and Japanese that I use when traveling to both places - aside from places I have lived or have had to work - Bangkok and Tokyo are my most travelled to cities - about 20 times each.
The crab sandwich at Oracle Park is always tasty. In 2021 when the ballpark was socially distanced and you had to order your food via app for pickup, the burger and fries were outstanding. Normally, they are fine but not great because they've been sitting around, but when made to order my brother and I turned to each other and were all "why are these SO GOOD?"
I keep seeing that and opting for hot dogs instead . . .because ballpark. But I'll make it a priority this season. Despite the home team, I really love the fan and viewing experience at Oracle Park. Just an A-1 baseball park. (I haven't been to Dodger Stadium since the renovations. . . but it's a very different sort of eternally 1950s experience that I like, but sometimes you want a modern food item. It may very well have been upgraded - I think my last home Dodger game was in 1997.)
The Ichi-roll in Seattle was a fun novelty. So was Ben's Chili Bowl at Nat's ballpark.
But I'm old school - I love a good wiener and a salty sack of nuts. Fenway Franks and Dodger Dogs are good. Detroit has a particularly good hot dog grill in the outfield. Safeco had a spectacular collection of, like, 20 Sierra Nevada mustards to choose from.
The Giants Dog at spring training this year was outstanding. Seemed like it was better than the one in SF, but maybe I was just super happy to be watching baseball again.
I do that also at Pac Bell Park. Sometimes we'll go to Genova Deli and bring in a sandwich or there is a Poke place in Oakland we've done before. The only time I get food at a ballpark is when I go during a business trip since I can expense. Even then, many places don't have good food.
I went to Chase field for a couple WBC games and it was just regular ballpark food. The US/Mexico game was sold out and it was like the concession stands weren't ready for a sold out game. They ran out of lots of food by around the 5th when I went looking for food. I ended up getting Brat and Italian Sausages because the line was shorter and moving.
I'm lucky in that a good 15% of the Astros staff are people that I worked with at the Rockets so I've been able to see games from suites and the food there is good. .. but also standard suite stuff.
Thing is, Little League food varies considerably. Some of the eats you'll find at Little Leagues are quite good as I can attest. As for Albany LL, it was *very* good when Mrs Slug ran the Snack Shack at Memorial Park (for Juniors games). She made a Tortilla Soup that folks from visiting teams lined up to get.
There was one little league park in Louisville that had the best tater tots. Another had amazing chicken strips. And a 3rd had amazing slushies. Made me look forward to going to different fields during all-star tournaments.
I forgot one other small field that closed down soon after No 1 played there had the best homemade burgers. Not the frozen patties but handmade patties.
I once managed to sneak into Olympic without paying. Not sure how, exactly. I was really drunk at the time. I think it was just a service door was ajar, maybe.
Olympic was/is a dump. But it's foreign so felt kind of exotic and it's hard not to enjoy yourself in Montreal, my favorite city in the hemisphere.
Only been to Montreal once, but yes, it definitely feels exotic and I love it.
I once snuck into Pac Bell back when it was Pac Bell. I think Griffey Jr. was in town and we couldn't even get tickets from a scalper. So we climbed over the fence behind the bleachers. A security guard confronted me and asked if I just climbed over the wall and I told him "no" and walked away. Before he could decide what to do I had blended in with the crowd. I was absolutely drunk.
Jimmy C is referring to my extremely inappropriate heckling of Bonilla from the Olympic Stadium stands. He had done nothing to deserve it.
I like to believe that each year on July 1 (Bobby Bonilla Day), when the Mets give him $1.19 million, it's partially to compensate him for what that asshole in Montreal subjected him to, way back in the 90s.
I think it's incredible when a team drops billions to build a replacement ballpark that's worse than the old one. By my count, five current parks fit into that category.
ChiSox is the best example of this. The closest second deck seat at the new park is further from home plate than the second deck of the old park. Detroit is another. I really, really like Comerica, but Tiger Stadium looked perfect.
New Yankee Stadium is basically the old one without the history. Atlanta's new stadium is fine, but they gave up the vitality of downtown for a suburban hellscape. The Rangers gave up a pretty good ballpark for a more blah version of Houston's dome.
All five were downgrades. But don't worry, the taxpayers got fleeced, too!
Miller Park's retractable dome is omni-present, even when it's open. It just looms over the field and the whole experience. This is unlike the other domes where the roof rolls completely out of the stadium. Seattle is the best of them - it's more an umbrella than a dome.
One other thing about Miller Park: I originally criticized it for being out in a parking lot like it was still the 70s, but then I visited and realized that you could no sooner take away those fans' tailgating then you could take away the air they breathe. It had to be in a parking lot.
Yep, Petco was unintentionally omitted. Fixed. The Jake was special when it opened and they sold out whole seasons. But it isn't aging as well as one would hope, especially with those ridiculous shipping containers above right field.
Giants fans hate Dodger Stadium but yes, that's just bias. It's objectively a really great ballpark.
The two best I've been to are Oracle Park in San Francisco and Fenway Park in Boston (full disclosure: they're home to my two favorite teams). Worst by far is whatever they call that dump in Oakland.
I only pay attention to NL West (Dodgers/Giants). And a little bit of AL West (Oakland and Shotani/Trout)
I am a Dodger fan. I'll watch almost an NBA game, but if it's not a Dodger game, the playoffs or a game that impacts the Dodgers standings, I won't watch. Exceptions are Oakland A's live games, or a live game anywhere.
Finally got around to looking through the sports page of the paper. The Digest has a few paragraphs about the Madsen hire. Had it right and kept the two schools right until the last paragraph where they finally get it wrong and say he takes over a Stanford program that went 3-29.
the village was flooded due to the construction on a dam and the residents were relocated to New Riaño, built as a replacement higher above the reservoir waters. In 2010 the village had 532 residents.
Spain seems to have more than its fair share of autonomous communities and provinces. I have not been to the Basque region, but Catalunya is beautiful and amazing.
Other foreign languages
My mom speaks Mandarin to me and I can speak some back so not super fluent but I could survive in China or Taiwan. Have forgotten most of the 6 years of Spanish from Jr high/HS.
HAG and I had many of the same Spanish teachers and classes over the years. we might have done a lot of skits together!
I was mostly Carlos and HAG was Eugenio.
Bengali - bilingual
Spanish - 6 years in jr high and HS, and can still mostly get by
ancient Greek and Sanskrit. - in translation only, but that knowledge has faded ..
Fluent in Finnish and can get by in Italian and Spanish.
Fluent in Japanese.
English is my foreign language.
Took 3 years of Spanish in middle school and another 3 years in high school. Still remember some.
Some limited Spanish, 3 years of Latin in high school, a smattering of Arabic from my travels, hieroglyphics/hieratic which I studied at Cal. Reading knowledge of French.
I'd say about 80-85% fluent in both Cantonese and Mandarin. Stronger in retail marketing talk for Mandarin (and other work stuff), stronger in "stuff a parent would yell at their kid about" in Cantonese.
Took 4 years of high school French, and was handy enough in it to travel around France for a month after high school. It's almost all the way gone now.
Didn't think I knew Spanish (and I really don't) but 20 years of California and 5 years of Texas have given me "I can order food and greet people" level of Spanish that I have used in Spain, Costa Rica and Mexico.
Do your parents speak cantonese? And is white collar work in China mainly in Mandarin? Or does it depend on the industry?
My parents are native Cantonese speakers. My language use at work in China depended on what office and what company. NBA - 50/50. Nike in Shanghai - 60% English, 30% Mandarin, 10% Cantonese. Nike in Beijing 95% Mandarin. Nike when opening stores - 100% Mandarin. Local events agency - 95% Mandarin, but the most important 5% English when dealing with the foreign clients. Disney - 95% Mandarin, 5% English in the weekly meeting with the VP
I have about 30 phrases in Thai and Japanese that I use when traveling to both places - aside from places I have lived or have had to work - Bangkok and Tokyo are my most travelled to cities - about 20 times each.
Spanish
Frank : Spanish! Do you trust that we have provided you with enough slack so that your block will land safely on the lawn?
Spanish : Sir, yes, sir.
Best/worst ballpark food/drinks
only commenting on places i go regularly and would even know ..
Yankee stadium - the steak sandwich is really good, but there is not a lot of other good variety
Citi field - great variety, but pretty long lines
i generally dont mind a regular hot dog and a Bud, despite how overpriced it might be.
The Terence Mann special from Field of Dreams…dog and a beer.
That reminds me of the 24" dogs they sell at Rangers games. Has anyone tried one?
The crab sandwich at Oracle Park is always tasty. In 2021 when the ballpark was socially distanced and you had to order your food via app for pickup, the burger and fries were outstanding. Normally, they are fine but not great because they've been sitting around, but when made to order my brother and I turned to each other and were all "why are these SO GOOD?"
I keep seeing that and opting for hot dogs instead . . .because ballpark. But I'll make it a priority this season. Despite the home team, I really love the fan and viewing experience at Oracle Park. Just an A-1 baseball park. (I haven't been to Dodger Stadium since the renovations. . . but it's a very different sort of eternally 1950s experience that I like, but sometimes you want a modern food item. It may very well have been upgraded - I think my last home Dodger game was in 1997.)
Best:
The Ichi-roll in Seattle was a fun novelty. So was Ben's Chili Bowl at Nat's ballpark.
But I'm old school - I love a good wiener and a salty sack of nuts. Fenway Franks and Dodger Dogs are good. Detroit has a particularly good hot dog grill in the outfield. Safeco had a spectacular collection of, like, 20 Sierra Nevada mustards to choose from.
That's what she said...
I was expecting the first comment to be "PHRASING!"
or "DBD Late Nite starting early"
Sorry. I had an instantaneous flashback to an...earlier era. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
The Giants Dog at spring training this year was outstanding. Seemed like it was better than the one in SF, but maybe I was just super happy to be watching baseball again.
We bring in food to the coliseum, usually burritos from Talavera, bc the coliseum food all sucks and is ridiculously expensive.
I do that also at Pac Bell Park. Sometimes we'll go to Genova Deli and bring in a sandwich or there is a Poke place in Oakland we've done before. The only time I get food at a ballpark is when I go during a business trip since I can expense. Even then, many places don't have good food.
I went to Chase field for a couple WBC games and it was just regular ballpark food. The US/Mexico game was sold out and it was like the concession stands weren't ready for a sold out game. They ran out of lots of food by around the 5th when I went looking for food. I ended up getting Brat and Italian Sausages because the line was shorter and moving.
Best: Dodger Dog, nachos and a Cool-a-Coo (think It's It) at Dodger Stadium.
Tony's pizza at Oracle Park (or whatever they're calling it these days).
The chicken strips & fries are surprisingly strong at Memorial.
I had a Philly cheesesteak at the Coliseum which was pretty good. $12 for a tall Bud Light was kind of rough.
Never touch the stuff.
Worst:
Houston. it's the same food that's served at a little league game, just more expensive.
Ah yes . . . Aramark.
I'm lucky in that a good 15% of the Astros staff are people that I worked with at the Rockets so I've been able to see games from suites and the food there is good. .. but also standard suite stuff.
Thing is, Little League food varies considerably. Some of the eats you'll find at Little Leagues are quite good as I can attest. As for Albany LL, it was *very* good when Mrs Slug ran the Snack Shack at Memorial Park (for Juniors games). She made a Tortilla Soup that folks from visiting teams lined up to get.
I also grilled burgers, dogs, and onions.
There was one little league park in Louisville that had the best tater tots. Another had amazing chicken strips. And a 3rd had amazing slushies. Made me look forward to going to different fields during all-star tournaments.
I forgot one other small field that closed down soon after No 1 played there had the best homemade burgers. Not the frozen patties but handmade patties.
Best/worst MLB stadiums
i like the OLD ones. Tiger Stadium in Detroit was my favorite.
Old Tiger was the best defunct stadium, Exhibition was the worst. My seat faced right field.
But I never made it to Olympic
I once managed to sneak into Olympic without paying. Not sure how, exactly. I was really drunk at the time. I think it was just a service door was ajar, maybe.
Olympic was/is a dump. But it's foreign so felt kind of exotic and it's hard not to enjoy yourself in Montreal, my favorite city in the hemisphere.
Only been to Montreal once, but yes, it definitely feels exotic and I love it.
I once snuck into Pac Bell back when it was Pac Bell. I think Griffey Jr. was in town and we couldn't even get tickets from a scalper. So we climbed over the fence behind the bleachers. A security guard confronted me and asked if I just climbed over the wall and I told him "no" and walked away. Before he could decide what to do I had blended in with the crowd. I was absolutely drunk.
Poor Bobby Bonilla.
Jimmy C is referring to my extremely inappropriate heckling of Bonilla from the Olympic Stadium stands. He had done nothing to deserve it.
I like to believe that each year on July 1 (Bobby Bonilla Day), when the Mets give him $1.19 million, it's partially to compensate him for what that asshole in Montreal subjected him to, way back in the 90s.
Old Tiger, Old Comiskey were fantastic.
I think it's incredible when a team drops billions to build a replacement ballpark that's worse than the old one. By my count, five current parks fit into that category.
ChiSox is the best example of this. The closest second deck seat at the new park is further from home plate than the second deck of the old park. Detroit is another. I really, really like Comerica, but Tiger Stadium looked perfect.
New Yankee Stadium is basically the old one without the history. Atlanta's new stadium is fine, but they gave up the vitality of downtown for a suburban hellscape. The Rangers gave up a pretty good ballpark for a more blah version of Houston's dome.
All five were downgrades. But don't worry, the taxpayers got fleeced, too!
Milwaukee County stadium was a dump but I really enjoyed it. Sat in the bleachers and had a blast.
Miller Park manages to be boring and obnoxious at the same time.
Miller Park's retractable dome is omni-present, even when it's open. It just looms over the field and the whole experience. This is unlike the other domes where the roof rolls completely out of the stadium. Seattle is the best of them - it's more an umbrella than a dome.
One other thing about Miller Park: I originally criticized it for being out in a parking lot like it was still the 70s, but then I visited and realized that you could no sooner take away those fans' tailgating then you could take away the air they breathe. It had to be in a parking lot.
The other thing about Miller Park that was fascinating is that it has an area in the parking lot that is designated for ticket scalpers.
Top 10: Wrigley, Fenway, PNC, PacBell, Petco, Camden, Detroit, Dodger, Busch, Target.
Middle 10: Seattle, Coors, Philly, Yankee, Citi, Jake, Kauffman, Marlins, DC, Atlanta.
Bottom 10: Miller, Cinci, Anaheim, Skydome, Houston, Texas, WSox, Arizona, Coli, Tampa.
Mostly agree but I still haven't been to 11 of those
I assume Petco goes in your top 10
I haven't been to the Jake in 25 years but I'd put that in my top 10 and drop Dodger (biased)
I'd put Enron in my middle 10 but don't know which I'd drop (I haven't been to 6 of your middle 10)
Yep, Petco was unintentionally omitted. Fixed. The Jake was special when it opened and they sold out whole seasons. But it isn't aging as well as one would hope, especially with those ridiculous shipping containers above right field.
Giants fans hate Dodger Stadium but yes, that's just bias. It's objectively a really great ballpark.
Yes, this.
The two best I've been to are Oracle Park in San Francisco and Fenway Park in Boston (full disclosure: they're home to my two favorite teams). Worst by far is whatever they call that dump in Oakland.
Rank 'em (personal preference/interest, not team quality): NL West, NL Central, NL East, AL West, AL Central, AL East
AL West
AL East
AL Central
Wait, there's a whole nuther league?
AL West
AL East (only because the Orioles are local, otherwise I couldn't care less about the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays)
NL West
NL East
NL Central
AL Central
I only pay attention to NL West (Dodgers/Giants). And a little bit of AL West (Oakland and Shotani/Trout)
I am a Dodger fan. I'll watch almost an NBA game, but if it's not a Dodger game, the playoffs or a game that impacts the Dodgers standings, I won't watch. Exceptions are Oakland A's live games, or a live game anywhere.
Elsewhere in college
Recent Cal MBB coaching candidate Amir Abdur-Rahim is the new coach at Univ South Florida
Good for him. Supposedly he had multiple offers. He may have used Cal to a certain extent as a negotiating chip.
Today in our stumbling, crumbling, bumbling democracy
IT'S HAPPENING
Pros
Sacramento Kings cruise to a 40-point blowout victory to secure their first playoff berth in 16 years
https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1641303438825775106
Light the beam is my favorite new sportsball tradition since The U's turnover chain.
I'm jumping around watching three games. Jesse Chavez in for the Braves against the Nats. He's still hanging around.
Judge homers in first AB. Dude's a stud.
Cole has 10 K's thru 4 innings .. not bad
missed it. was about to turn on TV!
Cristian Pache of the A's to the Phillies for a pitcher
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/03/athletics-trade-cristian-pache-phillies.html
He basically was given the center field job last season in Laureano's absence but couldn't breakthrough the major league pitching.
Dude was exciting out there, but not always in a good way.
Cal
Go Bears!!!
Now we can get excited about MBB again.
I actually am.
Should we get our 2024 Final Four tickets now or wait and see how the prices look on StubHub when it gets a little closer?
I do believe I'll make it to a game or two next year for the first time since Cuonzo's last season.
Finally got around to looking through the sports page of the paper. The Digest has a few paragraphs about the Madsen hire. Had it right and kept the two schools right until the last paragraph where they finally get it wrong and say he takes over a Stanford program that went 3-29.
Opening Day 2023
this is my favorite baseball poem
Pitcher by Robert Francis
His art is eccentricity, his aim
How not to hit the mark he seems to aim at,
His passion how to avoid the obvious,
His technique how to vary the avoidance.
The others throw to be comprehended. He
Throws to be a moment misunderstood.
Yet not too much. Not errant, arrant, wild,
But every seeming aberration willed.
Not to, yet still, still to communicate
Making the batter understand too late.
From Lawrence Ferlinghetti's Baseball Canto:
Watching baseball, sitting in the sun, eating popcorn,
reading Ezra Pound,
and wishing that Juan Marichal would hit a hole right through the
Anglo-Saxon tradition in the first Canto
and demolish the barbarian invaders.
When the San Francisco Giants take the field
and everybody stands up for the National Anthem,
with some Irish tenor's voice piped over the loudspeakers,
with all the players struck dead in their places
and the white umpires like Irish cops in their black suits and little
black caps pressed over their hearts,
Standing straight and still like at some funeral of a blarney bartender,
and all facing east,
as if expecting some Great White Hope or the Founding Fathers to
appear on the horizon like 1066 or 1776.
if it wasnt 30 deg out, i might have considered going to the Yankees home opener vs the Giants.
The A's are starting a rookie on the mound. On opening day. Against Ohtani.
the John Fisher era, folks.
I will be there. Will report back
No 3 is going with his GF as well. Got the cheapest seats on seatgeek.
I am sure it will work out well.
The game 2 starter will be chosen randomly from among the 2,500 fans in attendance
They are starting another rookie on game 2 actually
Riaño
the village was flooded due to the construction on a dam and the residents were relocated to New Riaño, built as a replacement higher above the reservoir waters. In 2010 the village had 532 residents.
Spain seems to have more than its fair share of autonomous communities and provinces. I have not been to the Basque region, but Catalunya is beautiful and amazing.
Well, golly gee whiz...it actually happened.
TRUMP INDICTED
https://www.washingtonpost.com/
Holy Crap. interested to see how this goes.
On this day in 1882 Oscar Wilde visited the Cal campus, perhaps to interview for a the then vacation head basketball coach position. https://twitter.com/CalBearsHistory/status/1641472606535815169?s=20