Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Braves

Diaz back to the Braves. Saw him play in Pittsburgh recently. He wasn't swinging well, but still got on in that game.

Hump day music

Springsteen does Galveston Bay.

Friday, August 26, 2011

New Duvall picture

I don't care for golf, but America's best actor is in it.

Flair's follies

To be the man ... Ric Flair's pathetic life outside the ring. From Grantland, via Chris Beckham.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Ron Paul

Jon Stewart asks, Why is he ignored? Answer: Because he's not a Demopublican and really would shake up the game. From The Atlantic.

The environment

Green favorite deep in the red. Mayve they should have made those shitty little light bulbs.

Monday, August 15, 2011

NFL

From Grantland, the worst players in the NFL. What, no Craig Dahl?

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Movies II

My Dalton buddy Jeff Burr interviewed about his career in horror films. Here is the TRUE story about getting Vincent Price in his first movie.

Movies

How did this sneak up on me? Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is a new movie with Gary Oldman as Smiley. The novel is one of my all time favorites.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Bourn Again

The Braves nabbed a speedy baserunner and smooth fielder when they traded Jordan Schafer and three minor leaguers to the Astros for Michael Bourn. Bourn is having a career year, hitting .303 for a bad team. He's stolen 39 bases in 46 attempts, the kind of numbers Braves haven't seen in a long time. Bourn can play defense and throws well enough.
There are a lot of reasons to be optimistic that he can give the Braves a major boost, but I'd feel better if he were a more pateint hitter and drew more walks. His OBP of .363 is OK by today's standards, but nothing special. If he had the eye to match his feet, that OBP wouldbe more like .400.
He will make about $4 a year this season and hits his first arbitration season in 2012. The year after will likely end in free agency and with Scott Boras for an agent it's hard to see him sticking in Atlanta unless he really stands out.
I would have preferred a big thumper but if Heyward can pull his act together and everyone stay healty for the stretch run, this should be a pretty scary offensive collection.

A shortage of kitchen help

In his fine first book Anthony Bourdain made a strong point that even in the toniest restaurants in the country, the ones with the "world class" chefs, there was a very good chance the food was actually being prepared by an illegal alien from El Salvador or some other South of the Border country. Apparently that's true in a lot of other restaurants as well. Here's an interesting story from the AJC. Thanks to Charles Oliver for first posting this one.