My Eyes Fastened To The Ground

The best-of-five Bristol Softball League finals has begun with each team taking a game, it stands 1-1.  The series is now coming down to a double-header on Friday night in which one team will have to sweep to win the crown.    We took it on the chin 24-8 last night (it was 9-5 after 4) and I was very off my game (including two walks with the bases juiced) and our team hitting continues to struggle.    

In Game1, we played just good enough and escaped with an 11-8 win.    We need to hit more to compete with these guys.   We’ve been joking about some new insults but must wait for the right time.   It’s been a little testy at times but hitting, not talking, is the bottom line.  There’s lots of history between the two rosters and the man who coached them all, JNorfork a.k.a. “headcase”, should be there tonight to witness this mess of a rivalry.  

The low numbered Nirvana Love Buzz 7” mentioned last week went for over $2,500, the highest price I have ever seen but makes sense considering the low number.   And the Sunn O))) Box Set continues to grow in value.  

Last night our team continued to hit, and we swept past the #2 seed, and have advanced to the Bristol Softball League best-of-five series finale.    We await the winner of the Jay’s Bar & Grille team of local guys  who are facing a winner-take-all game three against league monsters A1  (25-1).  

Lots of ball to close out the season including scheduled games this Sunday night in Barrington, Tuesday-Friday in Bristol, Saturday in Brandford (CT), Sunday in RI then pack for a road trip to Virginia (same trip as last year) with a legit chance at the ASA C's over Labor Day Weekend.    I’m pretty banged up right now and hope I can hold up for this grueling 2-week schedule that includes 3 days off but a chance to play over 25 games, which translates to over 100 AB’s.  

Today is also the start of a great Sox-Skankee weekend, and with a 1pm and 8pm game, the radio should be enjoyable all day.   Go Sox.  

Seattle’s Smoosh, sisters Asya & Chloe,  have their sophomore release out on barsuk records and recently performed on Jimmy Kimmel.   Nice to see talent being developed instead of put into the meat grinder.   If you prefer the music video, here it is.

The fish pond has turned into one of the best parts of the backyard porch project and the plants have exploded over the last few weeks.   With the enclosed turtle extension we can have separate wildlife areas without having the fish continually turning up with pieces missing.    The illusion of having the water go underneath the deck is even better this time of year.    Overall, it’s one of the better parts of the yard.

Two interesting Nirvana related auctions on ebay right now.   The first is Love Buzz #6/1000, an impossibly low number, and with a recent rise in prices should go for a pretty penny.   The second is being offered from my friend Terence in Singapore.    The over-stuffed lot of Nirvana goods has a bunch of solid items for the crazy collector.   This is the guy that set me up with the mis-pressed Molly’s Lips and introduced me to Of Montreal.  

One of my favorite bands, Of Montreal has confirmed they are singing the new jingle for Outback Steakhouse now being played on the radio.    I didn’t believe my wife when she called to tell me, but the band message board has been lighting up with complaints from “true fans” that consider it a sell out.   I say good for them and let’s go eat some great tasting steak.  

Polyvinyl Records is now shipping the bands’ new remix record and is limited to 2K copies.   In metal news, Southern Lord has released an incredible Sunn O))) Box Set that sold out in 4 days and now stands as a very cool collectible.  

As WPRO continues to mix and match their syndicated radio shows I have had the pleasure of catching Jay Severin, from Boston, and enjoying it tremendously.    Following the team of Dan Yorke and Bristol’s own Matt Allen I have become a local political junkie (do you even know who your reps are?) and try to catch the show daily.    

Long Beach legends Sublime s/t is getting the all-star treatment and their myspace: Sublime has a fantastic version of “I Love My Dog” and you should check it out.    And if you don’t own the self-titled, get the new deluxe version.   Mandatory listening.  

Yea, it's been about six weeks since I've posted. My computer hard drive went down, my back is feeling better so I’m now crushing the ball again, still haven't talked with my marxist brother and have stopped all work on the porch until Fall.     Final standings from the Bristol Softball League are posted and we finished third.   I ended up as one of the top hitters in spite of sucking in late may/early June with my sciatica pain.    An informal MVP voting is up and I’m chasing my friend TLePage.  

Let’s start again with a bang:  Political season is coming up and there lots of things that RI'ers need to be focused on.    First, is denying the "just trust us" General Assembly's back-room deal with Harrah's for a full fledged casino.   Second, is keeping Govenor Carceiri.  Lastly, getting Linc Chaffee thru the primary and then defeating Sheldon "I was born to be RI's Senator" Whitehouse.

The extreme left wing bloggers, who took credit for defeating Lieberman the other day, must be exhausted.    They smirked all the way up to the election saying they were going to trounce anyone who in any way supports fighting terrorism, yet could only muster a 4-point victory over “their own” kind.    They worked way too hard for so little gain, and considering most have the attention span of 2-year olds, they pray (oh wait, no they don’t) the drive-by media continues to tell them how important they are or will be moving on to something a little easier than winning elections.  

Here’s some great quotable stuff from Ann Coulter on what the previously mentioned primary results meant for the bloggers:  “  As some of us have been trying to tell you: Democrats don't oppose the war on terrorism because they hate Bush: They hate Bush because he is fighting the war on terrorism. They would hate him for fighting terrorists even if he had a "D" after his name.”   [They] dumped Joe Lieberman, an 18-year incumbent, because he supports the war on terrorism. This is the same Joe Lieberman who voted against all the Bush tax cuts, against banning same-sex marriage, against banning partial-birth abortion, against the confirmation of Judge Alito, against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and in favor of the Kyoto accords.”   Full opinion available here on her blog.