Those foul homers

I am wondering if the fix is in, or the United League's umpires are just incompetent.

Last year, Alexandria won when a San Angelo home run was called foul. Would have been a walk off, sending the Colts to the playoffs. The ball was fair, several observers said, by fifteen feet. Umpire Jerrod Higdon made that call.

Last night, San Angelo hit a walk-off homer in a scoreless game to win against Coastal Bend. Except that several observers said the ball was foul by fifteen feet. Woodie Belle made that call. Make up call? From a year ago?

Would the ULB make more money if San Angelo was in the playoffs instead of Coastal Bend? Sure. It was already assumed if Rio made the playoffs, they would not even get a home game, because it would cost too much to send the team home to play. Screw the Rio Grande Valley fans, we're talking about money here.

Now, this is independent league baseball. We don't expect every call to be spot on. Twice I have seen a base umpire call a runner safe because a tag wasn't applied... with the bases loaded. I have not been able to detect any pattern in lousy calls; that is to say, it swings both ways. That being said, during an altercation at a bar in Amarillo between ex-chief umpire Woodie Belle and Dillas catcher Brian Bueno, Belle told Bueno 'You can forget the playoffs', or words to that effect. This was heard by several people. How is this man allowed to officiate a game after saying this?

Never know who'll show up at the ballpark

Tonight, before the game, as we waited to see if we were going to be rained out, Mark came up to the pressbox with a guest.


Stephen Collins, who played Eric Camden on Seventh Heaven, was apparently just driving through Amarillo, and needed a minor league baseball fix and dropped in to catch a game. He was extremely gracious and posed for pix with everyone in the pressbox and then went down and signed autographs and posed for more pix for quite a while.

And we did get rained out.

Gonna be a quiet baseball season

You just never know when those close to you are going to leave.

Monday, our PA Announcer, Joe Frank Wheeler, was working on the sound system at the ballpark. Upon reaching the roof, where the broadcast booth and press box is, he collapsed. He apparently had a heart attack. He was 53.


Joe Frank made it fun to work at the ballpark. He had a gift for really bad puns, and also for out and out humor. Sorry, but right now I just can't think of the examples that I am sure will flood my memory as this soaks in. Except, maybe, his comment whenever our opponent managed to load the bases - he optimistically called it 'force at any base.'

Tonight was our opening night. This is my fourth year working for the team, and I think this was the third game I worked where Joe Frank wasn't there.

The trip up to the roof isn't for the faint of heart. I often worry about the older guys who come up to the press box, but I didn't worry about Joe. He had had a heart attack a few years back, I found out tonight. But he didn't ever show it. He had more energy than some of the players.

Joe worked every game like it was a career maker - no matter how tired he was, how small the crowd, or how bad we were getting beat. He absolutely loved his job. He also did PA for the hockey team, but he told me baseball was a lot more fun.

He had a gift for sports trivia. Every home stand, and sometimes more often, he would hit us with some obscure question about college football or the NBA or high school football, and he'd let everyone twist for a few innings until they came up with a guess. Then he'd give them the answer, complete with dates and everything, and I'd wonder, how the hell does he know all this, and why isn't he doing color broadcasting somewhere. This man knew sports, backward and forward.

We won the game tonight, but we lost so much more.

'Would you like fries with that?' moment of the year

Wednesday someone proved just how smart you have to be to work at a Holiday Inn Express.

An unknown caller called the desk, claiming to be a representative of the Hotel's fire alarm company. The caller told the desk clerk, Christina Bergmann, to pull the fire alarm, to reset the system.

Christina did.

The caller told the her to reset the alarm, but it would not reset.

Here is the good part.

The caller told the clerk that in order to prevent the fire sprinklers from activating, she had to break all the exterior windows.

The clerk did just that, with the help of a guest.

There's more.

The caller then advised the desk clerk that also in order to avoid setting off the sprinklers, they needed to break a sprinkler head.

Done.

But wait, there's more.

The caller then finished up by having the clerk and assistant shut down power to the hotel, which they did.


This is a pretty nasty prank, costing the hotel about $50k. There is a lesson here, too; hire stupid people to work for you, and whatever wages you save, you'll spend cleaning up after them.

There are some people calling this domestic terrorism, which I think is a stretch. It surely scared the hell out of the folks in the hotel, and did major economic damage. But to me it is just a giant 'Prince Albert in a can' prank. Someone could have been pretty seriously hurt, and they need to prosecute the folks that did this. But take the lesson, too; social engineering works best on the stupid.


Link to The Smoking Gun story

You call this news?

Arlen Spectre is a Democrat. OK, tell me something I didn't know.

Good riddance. Next?

I want to live in Galt's Gulch

I finally read the book I have wanted to read for a long time, and current events have finally encouraged me to do it.

Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged wasn't the best book I ever read, but it has made me think more than any thing else I have ever read. The comparisons to current events are maybe a bit thin, but there are some striking similarities. Trying not to give anything away to those who have yet to read it, the present day sniveling whiners that we know as liberals are immediately obvious in the book as sniveling, whining looters. The insistance of the looters that logic is overridden by feelings and need, the hatred of success and the successful, and the greed of the government are very recognizable.

Go read it.

Cutting Spending with Spite

I am in Dallas this week for a training class. I noticed in the Ft. Worth paper this evening that one of the plans to help the city of Arlington make ends meet, they are going to turn off half of the streetlights. This will save $4.50 a month, per light.

To note which lights have been turned off, they are going to mark them with silver tape. So, you can tell the difference between burned out and turned out.

This is how cities and counties get to show how cheap they are. In the face of public demands for cost cutting, they start doing away with frivoloties like police patrols, and fire department funding. And streetlights. Can't afford to lay off the parking valet at the city commisioners court, or the second assistant to the principal's secretary at the middle school.

On the other side of cheapness and greed is D.C.'s idea to impose a new fee. A 'Streetlight User Fee.' $4.25 would be added to your electric bill to help pay for maintining and running the city streetlights.

Some cities are charging citizens for police response. Have a wreck, get a bill for the police showing up. In Amarillo, they don't even show up for some accidents; you do a report by phone, and for a fee, you can have a copy.

Last time I bought something, I paid tax on it. About eight percent. It has been my understanding that cities and states levy taxes on citizen's purchases to pay for infrastructure. There has been an arguement of late that we should replace taxes with user fees. It appears that governments like the idea of user fees. Like it so much, they are just going to add them to the taxes. And have both.

Texas Tea

Not being a malcontent leftie, and being employed, I am unaccustomed to the "Protest" scene. However, finally one came along that I could believe in - the "Tea Party". These are from the two in Amarillo, Texas.

I went to take pictures, and because I believe in the cause - I have a two year old with a mortgaged future, thanks to our current and past politicians. It was nice to see a lot of passionate people and know I am not the only one unhappy.











This lady walked up to me and asked who I was shooting for, and asked me to take her picture. I didn't read her button at first, and handed her a 'Bailout for the Constitution' button, which she put on. She then started laughing at the protesters, and that's when I read her button - "Hot Chicks Dig Obama"...
She told me this was Fox News organized, there were no blacks there, and Bush was to blame for everything. I asked her why it was the protesters fault why no blacks were there (there were), and she said they would be afraid to go because it was a Republican event, (Republicans hate black people, of course.) She then accused me of being a Republican. (Once more, never been one, thanks for asking). I asked her what was the logic of spending yourself out of debt, and she started with, 'Give it a chance...' or something. Not interested in arguing who really is to blame, (ALL OF THEM), she told me I listened to Limbaugh (some) and Hannity (nope) and watched Fox News. I asked her to tell me if she thought CNN was balanced, (She gives me an eyeroll) and accused her of reading Moveon.org. (She didn't deny it.) She wasn't nasty like a lot of people on the left are, and when it was clear we would not agree, she left, politely. And gave me my button back.



This one is my favorite.

















Another clever one.






















This girl made her own shirt.






















This is the most important sign I saw.















And this was the funniest.

A New Term

I found the perfect description for the ivy league league who are destroying my 401k.

Instapundit linked to this Belmont Club post discussing Jim Cramer's about face on his faith in President Obama. A comment on that post by a person called Thrasymachus says it all;

I have a name for the bright boys and girls who got us into this- “The Harvard Short Bus.”

Photo found at Michelle Malkin's blog.

Conservative's Declaration of Independance from the Republican Party

The Republican Party has long been the home for conservative minded citizens. In recent times, however, it has failed to support the issues important to conservatives, and even promoted issues wholehartedly opposed by conservatives. In the last few decades, the party has become more liberal, to the extent that the current GOP candidate was considered for the opposition party's vice presidential candidate in the election of 2004. The party that once fought the increase in the size of government has instead increased it faster than ever before. The party that once fought for business friendly practices in government has instead allowed more and more regulation of business. The party has allowed the federal government to force states to pay for programs the federal government created, on the threat of withholding money belonging to the citizens. You have allowed the commerce clause in the constitution to be used as a vehicle to force regulation in areas forbidden by the constitution.

You have given us candidates, or allowed candidates to run with no conservative credentials or with no hopes of winning, because it was "Their Turn," and expect conservatives to accept the lesser of two evils, when there are conservative candidates available. For example, Bob Dole, Gerald Ford, John McCain.

You have increased the size of government at every turn, creating new entitlements when it is clear that there are not enough resources to keep the promises already made. For example, prescription drugs.

You continue to support liberal candidates in primaries when more conservative choices are available, even when these candidates refuse to show loyalty to the republican party. For example, Arlen Spectre.

You refuse to secure the border, and are party to the imprisonment of agents attempting to enforce the law, in the intrest of businesses who hire illegals for cheap labor. You refuse to protect citizens of the United States from hundreds of kidnappings and murders along the border. You attempt to give amnesty to people who came here illegally, and refuse to enforce laws punishing employers who employ illegals.

You refuse to uphold your 1994 promise of term limits, after making one attempt at legislation, prefering to maintain the situation where there are members of congress with over forty years in office, when the founding fathers intent was clearly opposed to this.

You refuse to allow energy exploration on our own soil, submitting to the environmental movement, and allow other countries to take resources that belong to the United States.

You take money from special interests and make decisions in their favor which are detrimental to the interests of US Citizens.

You allow membership in the Republican Party to members of congress who routinely vote against the party's wishes, even against major republican party platform issues, in order to maintain the number of 'Rs' in congress. For example, Chaffee, Snowe, Chenoweth, Jeffords, Spectre, McCain.

You refuse to use tools available to you, the same tools used by the opposition party routinely, because you consider their tactics unfair. For example, The gang of thirteen.

You take the attitude with constituents that disagree with you that 'they just don't understand the big picture.' For example, Amnesty, June 2007

You refuse to fight back when attacked by the left, preferring to cowardly "Take the high road".

You allow a system to exist that increases your pay automatically in a cowardly way where you have to vote against automatic increases. You give yourselves pensions and benefits far in excess of what is available in this country for ordinary taxpayers.





Demands for the party that should replace the Republican party as the home of Conservatism;

Adherence to the Constitution.
Term Limits.
Adherence to Major Party Platform Issues for Members.
Balanced Budget.
Defense of the Border.

Now What?

A few thoughts on the election; Although the outcome is far from what I wanted, there are some bright points to hang on to.

* We probably never need to hear the name McCain again. The Republicans will dig up a new fossil for 2012.

* All those idiots who want Democrats to win so that everyone can
see how bad democrat rule can be, well, here you go.

* I don't expect to ever hear again about how racist this country is.

* Another 'Moderate' Republican goes away. (Sununu)

* Biden. Pure Comedy.

* A Recession is good for Pawn-Shoppers.

* Liberals in control always go so far left they fall over.

* The 'Fairness Doctrine' may force Limbaugh to satellite radio
where I can listen to him on business trips easier.

* McCain is gone. Did I mention that?

* The coming fight between Hillary and Barry.

* The coming fight between Nancy and Barry.

Dillas Win ULB Championship

More Fun at the Dilla Villa

Alexandria Aces manager Ricky VanAsselberg had had enough of Umpire Woody Belle's Amazing Changing Strike Zone. Since a manager isn't really supposed to argue pitch calls, he simply went to the mound and waited for the ump to come break up the meeting.

Brady Bogart's Piniella Impersonation

I don't know if the call was right or wrong, but Brady has his opinion.

The Andromeda Strain

One of my favorite authors is Michael Crichton. In fact, one of the first books I ever read was The Andromeda Strain. The origonal movie was possibly in the class with Plan 9, maybe, but it was true to the book, pretty much.

This movie that A&E put out this week was crap. I don't think I have ever looked forward to something and been so utterly disappointed. A wormhole? And do they really feel the need to throw in all the environmental crap? This really stunk.

One year later

Abby is now a year old. Everyone told us that time would go into warp drive, and now I believe it.
She is walking like a pro, and can open cabinets and scatter whatever is inside to every corner of the house. She chases the dogs and runs from us. She has a mountain of clothes she has outgrown. She has three teeth and an addiction to french fries. More to come.