this is a Panda-at-Bat story, so 10 years ago? But the tix that I get from a friend with season tix are in Section 117 (a few rows in front of the press box, a section to the left of home plate).
Panda – batting left-handed – fouls one off. A bit to the left of us, guy in front row of 2nd deck catches it. Good on him!
Next pitch: fouled off...same dude, but bounces off his hands.
So it's happened at least twice in the last 10~12 years. (The two chances, if not the two catches.)
Italian Pro tennis player Camila Georgi announced her retirement from pro tennis at age 31 to pursue being a lingerie model and absolutely not because her and her family have fled Italy for tax evasion
The Houston Astros have struggled mightily in 2024 as a pitching unit, but thankfully today they played the A’s who don’t quite hit consistently. Ross Stripling turned in one of his better outings of the 2024 season thus far and gave the A’s a competitive chance to win but unfortunately for him, his offense couldn’t reciprocate the effort despite only being outhit 10-9.
It’s not something that any San Francisco Giants fan wants to hear said, and it’s certainly not anything being stated in the locker room, even with muted tones when the cameras aren’t looking. But there’s no shame in losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers as things currently stand. Not when the Giants are missing five of their Opening Day starters and two of those starters’ backups, all courtesy of a string of malady misfortune that even the Dodgers broadcast labeled as “historic.” Not when the Giants are playing their 14th game in as many nights, against a team that has had two off days during that span and hasn’t left the West Coast. Not when reeling from the devastating news that their lead hitter, spark plug, and infectious ball of hat-dropping joy could potentially miss the entire season.
The Dodgers bounced back from their series loss against the Padres by taking the first of three games in extras against the San Francisco Giants by a final score of 6-4.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto made his ninth start of the season, having posted a 1.76 ERA since his disastrous debut entering Monday’s contest. Jordan Hicks started the game for San Francisco, entering having lead the Giants in ERA and ERA+.
NYT/Siena poll shows Trump leading in five of six swing states of PA (+3), AZ (+7), MI (+7), GA (+10), and NV (+12). The poll shows that Biden has given up 10 points to the young (18-29) and Hispanic voters - because of the economy, Gaza, and ironically blaming Biden for losing Roe v Wade.
Guys, I am a natural optimist but I must admit that it is possible that year’s end we are living in a world where:
1) Trump has won the election
2) Russia has won in Ukraine
3) The Israel-Hamas War continues to drag on and divide the West
It is not even a remote possibility; it is arguably the base case!
In this world, is there any reason why China doesn’t invade Taiwan? People like to analogize China/Taiwan to Russia/Ukraine but Taiwan is much smaller and more isolated than Ukraine is, and China IMO is a much more formidable/thoughtful/competent foe than Russia is.
I am an optimistic and was feeling really optimistic about Biden beating Trump but these polls have me really worrried. I could see Trump with a slight lead in a few of these states but to see him leading in them all and in a somewhat commanding lead in a few really concerns me.
On Russia, I don’t see them taking Ukraine by the end of the year, too much military aid should be in Ukraine for that to happen. However if Trump wins, I could see Russia defeating Ukraine by the summer of 2025.
It would be SO HELPFUL at this point in history to have a dynamic/magnetic leader in the Oval Office that could rally the West together and avoid the collapse of the post WW2 global order. Unfortunately both Trump and Biden couldn’t be further from that type of leader…
Yeah and plus when you hear stories about Chinese domestic strife (college kids not getting jobs, people upset with pandemic era lockdowns, etc) you wonder if Xi will follow the traditional strongman playbook of starting a winnable confrontation with an external foe as a distraction away from internal issues. Taiwan seems just perfect for that
Michael Cohen absolutely smoked Trump in his testimony - dispassionately describing how he was Trump's fixer to go commit crimes as he connected TFG over and over again via written, verbal, and audio-recorded evidence to election fraud conspiracy. And Cohen was rewarded for his loyalty by getting his bonus cut by two-thirds by Trump, disbarred for his crime spree, and jailed for lying about it.
Crazy old man tilts at windmills, citing environmentalism for whales, fish, and bird and absolutely not because he's trying to get bribes from the oil industry
i might have been a Classics major at Cal because of a crush on someone. i still had to do the work. but at one pivotal point it made a difference.
i had taken Greek 1 my junior year and didnt quite have enough time to do anything more that just a minor. this one woman in my class needed to take Greek 2 over the summer to be able to finish their major requirements but it wasnt offered as part of summer school.
she asked me if we could split the cost of a grad student tutor to teach us the material we needed to enroll in upper division Greek courses. that allowed me to take the 3 Greek classes i needed to finish up the major requirements my senior year.
I know a couple of guys who came to my Math 104 class because of one woman. It made the class a bit awkward, but the professor powered through everything.
My wife demanded that I get lowboy socks, because she didn't like me walking around with ankle-length black socks and shorts. This screwed up the well-known DBD system of having only one type/brand of sock in a drawer. I am not happy with this development.
If I'm wearing sneaks, my feet are bare in them. There are few things I hate as much as people wearing "no show" socks that show. Please make sure your socks don't show if you're doing this.
Makes me look down at my shoes. They do show a little, like less than 1/2" on the right and almost nil on the left. I guess I pulled one side higher than the other. Now I'll have to check to see if I really did by no show socks. I am wearing Ultraboosts so I guess they're regular height.
I also have 2 brands of no show socks, Nike and UA. I also hate it when I have to get new UA socks (same type) and mix the old and the new. The newer ones are a little thicker with less wear so everytime I do laundry I have to feel them to pair them correctly.
PRO
Fan catches a foul ball near the foul pole. He catches another [checks notes]... on the next pitch.
https://www.mlb.com/news/fan-gets-two-foul-balls-on-consecutive-pitches
this is a Panda-at-Bat story, so 10 years ago? But the tix that I get from a friend with season tix are in Section 117 (a few rows in front of the press box, a section to the left of home plate).
Panda – batting left-handed – fouls one off. A bit to the left of us, guy in front row of 2nd deck catches it. Good on him!
Next pitch: fouled off...same dude, but bounces off his hands.
So it's happened at least twice in the last 10~12 years. (The two chances, if not the two catches.)
Seems like crazy "against" odds to me!
Chief's kicker rails against Biden in commencement speech at private Catholic college in Kansas
https://www.mediaite.com/sports/kansas-city-chiefs-kicker-rails-against-biden-dangerous-gender-ideologies-in-college-graduation-speech/
Yet another reason to hate the Chiefs.
Guarantee you he's a convert.
You can't stop someone from being willfully obtuse.
Italian Pro tennis player Camila Georgi announced her retirement from pro tennis at age 31 to pursue being a lingerie model and absolutely not because her and her family have fled Italy for tax evasion
https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/40138235/camila-giorgi-confirms-retirement-won-four-wta-titles
A’s drop first game in Houston 9-2
https://www.athleticsnation.com/2024/5/13/24156058/as-drop-first-game-in-houston-9-2
The Houston Astros have struggled mightily in 2024 as a pitching unit, but thankfully today they played the A’s who don’t quite hit consistently. Ross Stripling turned in one of his better outings of the 2024 season thus far and gave the A’s a competitive chance to win but unfortunately for him, his offense couldn’t reciprocate the effort despite only being outhit 10-9.
Giants try hard to win, try harder to lose
https://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2024/5/13/24156077/giants-dodgers-recap-luis-matos-heliot-ramos-mookie-betts-shohei-ohtani
It’s not something that any San Francisco Giants fan wants to hear said, and it’s certainly not anything being stated in the locker room, even with muted tones when the cameras aren’t looking. But there’s no shame in losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers as things currently stand. Not when the Giants are missing five of their Opening Day starters and two of those starters’ backups, all courtesy of a string of malady misfortune that even the Dodgers broadcast labeled as “historic.” Not when the Giants are playing their 14th game in as many nights, against a team that has had two off days during that span and hasn’t left the West Coast. Not when reeling from the devastating news that their lead hitter, spark plug, and infectious ball of hat-dropping joy could potentially miss the entire season.
Will Smith lifts Dodgers to victory in extras over Giants
https://www.truebluela.com/2024/5/13/24156073/dodgers-giants-game-recap
The Dodgers bounced back from their series loss against the Padres by taking the first of three games in extras against the San Francisco Giants by a final score of 6-4.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto made his ninth start of the season, having posted a 1.76 ERA since his disastrous debut entering Monday’s contest. Jordan Hicks started the game for San Francisco, entering having lead the Giants in ERA and ERA+.
Goff signs big contract .. seems like a lot of $$ for someone who is good but not great (yet)
Lions signing QB Jared Goff to 4-year, $212M extension
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/40140300/sources-lions-signing-qb-jared-goff-4-year-212m-extension
That Goff-Stafford trade may haunt LA for a while given how long QBs play nowadays
Between this, our pro golfers having good years, and Jason Kidd signing an extension recently we should be rolling in NIL money.
OUR CRUMBLING DEMOCRACY
Water is wet
https://apnews.com/article/deadly-police-encounters-guidelines-broken-investigation-e79c708e9123aac2e40dcefd64cce08f
Trump may owe over $100m vis-a-vis a tax audit
https://apnews.com/article/trump-tax-losses-audit-election-chicago-skyscraper-47729a0758e6b54aa06c075fc49c5c53
Biden administration slaps a bunch of tariffs on Chinese goods. Since the Chinese can't lose face, this will probably escalate.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/05/14/fact-sheet-president-biden-takes-action-to-protect-american-workers-and-businesses-from-chinas-unfair-trade-practices/
NYT/Siena poll shows Trump leading in five of six swing states of PA (+3), AZ (+7), MI (+7), GA (+10), and NV (+12). The poll shows that Biden has given up 10 points to the young (18-29) and Hispanic voters - because of the economy, Gaza, and ironically blaming Biden for losing Roe v Wade.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/13/trump-narrow-lead-battleground-00157541
Guys, I am a natural optimist but I must admit that it is possible that year’s end we are living in a world where:
1) Trump has won the election
2) Russia has won in Ukraine
3) The Israel-Hamas War continues to drag on and divide the West
It is not even a remote possibility; it is arguably the base case!
In this world, is there any reason why China doesn’t invade Taiwan? People like to analogize China/Taiwan to Russia/Ukraine but Taiwan is much smaller and more isolated than Ukraine is, and China IMO is a much more formidable/thoughtful/competent foe than Russia is.
I am an optimistic and was feeling really optimistic about Biden beating Trump but these polls have me really worrried. I could see Trump with a slight lead in a few of these states but to see him leading in them all and in a somewhat commanding lead in a few really concerns me.
On Russia, I don’t see them taking Ukraine by the end of the year, too much military aid should be in Ukraine for that to happen. However if Trump wins, I could see Russia defeating Ukraine by the summer of 2025.
It would be SO HELPFUL at this point in history to have a dynamic/magnetic leader in the Oval Office that could rally the West together and avoid the collapse of the post WW2 global order. Unfortunately both Trump and Biden couldn’t be further from that type of leader…
i am not an optimitst .. and i think all these things are semi-likely. 50-50 on all 3.
as for China/Taiwan it seems that it is just a matter of time before China does some takeover attempt.
you are right in that no one could truly oppose them if they really wanted to do it.
Yeah and plus when you hear stories about Chinese domestic strife (college kids not getting jobs, people upset with pandemic era lockdowns, etc) you wonder if Xi will follow the traditional strongman playbook of starting a winnable confrontation with an external foe as a distraction away from internal issues. Taiwan seems just perfect for that
Michael Cohen absolutely smoked Trump in his testimony - dispassionately describing how he was Trump's fixer to go commit crimes as he connected TFG over and over again via written, verbal, and audio-recorded evidence to election fraud conspiracy. And Cohen was rewarded for his loyalty by getting his bonus cut by two-thirds by Trump, disbarred for his crime spree, and jailed for lying about it.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/05/13/trump-hush-money-trial-michael-cohen-reinvention-00157753
Crazy old man tilts at windmills, citing environmentalism for whales, fish, and bird and absolutely not because he's trying to get bribes from the oil industry
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/13/trump-president-agenda-climate-policy-wind-power
CAL
Go Bears!!!
DBD AV CLUB
ELSEWHERE IN COLLEGE
An ASU tuba professor talks about how she got into the instrument because of a crush on a boy and other things
https://kjzz.org/content/1879795/instrument-often-known-holding-down-baseline-takes-center-stage
i might have been a Classics major at Cal because of a crush on someone. i still had to do the work. but at one pivotal point it made a difference.
i had taken Greek 1 my junior year and didnt quite have enough time to do anything more that just a minor. this one woman in my class needed to take Greek 2 over the summer to be able to finish their major requirements but it wasnt offered as part of summer school.
she asked me if we could split the cost of a grad student tutor to teach us the material we needed to enroll in upper division Greek courses. that allowed me to take the 3 Greek classes i needed to finish up the major requirements my senior year.
And that woman was Ana de Armas
I may have gone to Cal because of a boy I used to make out with the summer before my senior year of HS. I was UCLA bound until I met his magic lips.
I know a couple of guys who came to my Math 104 class because of one woman. It made the class a bit awkward, but the professor powered through everything.
SOCKS
My wife demanded that I get lowboy socks, because she didn't like me walking around with ankle-length black socks and shorts. This screwed up the well-known DBD system of having only one type/brand of sock in a drawer. I am not happy with this development.
If I'm wearing sneaks, my feet are bare in them. There are few things I hate as much as people wearing "no show" socks that show. Please make sure your socks don't show if you're doing this.
Makes me look down at my shoes. They do show a little, like less than 1/2" on the right and almost nil on the left. I guess I pulled one side higher than the other. Now I'll have to check to see if I really did by no show socks. I am wearing Ultraboosts so I guess they're regular height.
I also have 2 brands of no show socks, Nike and UA. I also hate it when I have to get new UA socks (same type) and mix the old and the new. The newer ones are a little thicker with less wear so everytime I do laundry I have to feel them to pair them correctly.
Feeling up your socks. That's a new one. ;-)
DBD After Dark Socks
bow chicka wow wow
As I recall, Oski doesn't wear socks.
i have transitioned to mostly merino wool socks. started w/ my cycling stuff. now it is almost everything.
i like to get bold a outrageous colored ones as my little spark of rebellion in my otherwise bland wardrobe choices.