DLD 8/1/08: Apricot Peeks Out of the Killfile
by Apricot on Aug 1, 2008 11:54 AM PDT
Email
Printhi folks. I've been reading a blog by Joe Posnanski and I think he's fantastic. In fact, he is the only sports writer I'm reading regularly now. He wrote an article about Ziggy which is worth a read, but in some ways is the least enlightening thing I've read by him so far, simply because AN hashes things out so thoroughly. I really like the pieces he wrote about Stan Musial, both the first one and the follow-up where he debunks the story he told in the first one.
There's your link. Dump away.
I have some personal ramblings after the jump in easy-to-ignore form.
This is the part you skip. You can scroll down to the funny comments.
Okay, I've been part of AN long enough that I think I can have one self-indulgent post a year.
My name is Apricot. You may know me from such films as "Moneybutt: The Art of Winning a Sexy Game" and "Killfile VIII: Jason Filters Manhattan". Anyway, I haven't been posting much on the site recently and I wanted you all to know that it's not because I don't love you (although that Sal guy...).
I've had a lot on my plate this summer. In May, Hopey became a big sister.
That's Wyatt looking a little uncertain of his safety.
I've been thinking a little about why I haven't been on AN as much this year. Certainly there are the obvious reasons, like the sleep deficit and general loss of free time. But I realized, there were deeper reasons.
I'm just not as obsessed about baseball this year. I still follow it, don't get me wrong, and I still read AN regularly. It's not because the A's have traded/released literally all of our favorite players this year (at least until Ellis goes). I'm pretty excited to see how Beane blows up a team. He doesn't leave much rubble, does he? It's not because the A's have been mediocre... it's fun to see the new kids and I think we will kick ass in 2010.
To get at the real reason, we have to go back a little bit. In the 70s and early 80s I was a diehard baseball fan. Played Little League, got in trouble at school for writing all my assignments about baseball. I grew up in the middle of NYC with not many other Asian kids and we neighborhood kids all had our conflicts and prejudices and had my share of being called names and challenged to kung fu fights, but when you're on the baseball field, a single is a single, a catch is a catch and we could all talk the language of baseball.
I particularly loved the Expos who were historically terrible in the mid 70s when I first glommed onto them and became a near-success in the 80s until that was shot down by drugs and the baseball strike. Good old 1981. That was the Expos' year, but the strike blew it. They still beat the Phils in the playoff with my favorite player Steve Rogers outdueling Steve Carlton twice. And then they go to the brink of the World Series when the manager pulled what might be called a "reverse Grady" and put in Rogers on 2 days rest in the ninth of Game 5 and Rick Monday hit his famous homer off of him. What a comedown.
Time passed and my enthusiasm continued to wane as my team became more and more of a financial joke, and each strike made me more jaded. I moved to the East Bay in 1991 and started following the A's. I have always preferred the NL game and so my attachment to the A's was casual at first. I could never stand the Bash Brothers (sorry) but Dave Stewart rocked. I would attend games through the 90s. I left the Bay Area for a couple of years and came back in 2001, and that's when my enthusiasm was re-ignited. First, it was embarrassingly easy to get playoff tickets, which was great personally (not for the team). Second, my new partner was a baseball fan (hold on to those, gentlemen). Third, 9-11 happened and the nation became a frightening, insane place. It seems unreal now as we regain our collective sanity, but we really did lose our minds. Baseball was a great distraction from that. Then Moneyball hipped me to the idea that you could use your brain while being a baseball fan. Wow, and our hometeam was the standard bearer for that! Finally, I discovered AN.
AN was a sweet size then, around 2004, when things were getting off the ground. I don't mean AN was better. But you could literally recognize almost everyone who posted, and you could welcome those you didn't recognize. And as that community grew, I felt like I could contribute something to its environment. Nico and I could go on idiotic pun-offs. Sal and I could get rather technical and sabernerdy. I could validate fans who loved the game AND thought the players were hot, with absurdities like Moneybutt. I could post cartoons to general support. It felt nice to help the site grow and help create some critical mass to legitimate all these aspects of the site.
And now AN is sprawling and thriving and has a lot of great people in it who have taken each of those threads in a wonderful direction. And our nation is slowly regaining its sanity (just in time to be broke), so I don't need as much escapism. And I've got my hands full. Which all adds up to: I still love you guys, just not as visibly.
The Link Dump is now open...
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It appears that Wyatt may think
you owe him money.
And he’s probably not wrong. Babies have a keen intuition for book making.
Can Magic Sprinkles Now!!! @('.')@
Nice post, and your kids are adorable.
The other day I looked at my photobucket account for the first time in a year or two and saw all these random pictures that I had uploaded to add to Moneybutt. Good times. Bring back Moneybutt! (“Absurdity”? I think not!)
be careful what you wish for
To be honest, it wouldn’t be that hard technically. It’s more a fear that my server will be annihilated by the traffic.
I think the speculation is
barton coming off the DL
Let's have our Piazza and eat the Cust too - SPWC
Rec'ed, and not merely for the DLD-ness of it
Greed and fear cause over-reactions in both directions. @('.')@
Awwww...
Fess up…it was the powder blue Expos uniforms, wasn’t it?
They want to steal the land papers which is why they have tried to break in. But they had to give up after being bitten by Chhotu.
by FreeSeatUpgrade on Aug 1, 2008 12:07 PM PDT reply actions
Those are hawt!
I keep seeing The Hawk and Gary Carter…
Can Magic Sprinkles Now!!! @('.')@
by Leopold Bloom on Aug 1, 2008 1:15 PM PDT up reply actions
I've missed you.
Group hug!
And congrats on the cute little guy!
Mark Ellis: sent down from Heaven to rob Evil of hits and hand out rainbows
Sonic has C-I-A-B-A-double T-A bread now.
I think of you whenever I have ciabatta bread or a frozen custard. :(
Mark Ellis: sent down from Heaven to rob Evil of hits and hand out rainbows
concrete in tha house
Hey, I got to return to Austin last summer and I went to Sandy’s Frozen Custard. Ooooh, it was still good. It was 100 degrees and it just felt right. I took a few friends there. They liked it but clearly had not fully embraced the cult.
It was a memorable night. A friend of ours had died in an accident and this was the first time we’d all been together since then. We took our Sandy’s down to the Congress Avenue bridge and watched the bats come out. We talked about our friend in the dusk and just shared stories and laughed. IT is pretty cool to just chill out and philosophize with a million bats surrounding you. You feel small next to nature, big next to bats and wary of falling guano.
Good to see you around.
Two kiddies? Now you’re the poopyhead. Wyatt and salb918 jr should play together sometime.
I’ll be at the game tonight, look for me and a guy who looks like me but 30 years older along the first base line about seven rows back. Erstwhile ANer jasonkb will be there as well.
Children, until we have taught them better, will be perfectly happy with a seasonal round of games in which conkers succeeds hopscotch.
where are you living?
I thought you were still out East…? I hope the little one is healthy and loud.
Yeah, we're still out east.
But that shouldn’t stop the kiddies. We can put ‘em on a flight and they can meet halfway in Nebraska. Or Missouri. Maybe Jennifer can babysit.
The little guy is healthy, if a little small – genetically shocking, I know – and isn’t too creeped out by the Glen Kuiper voice coming from my computer.
Your kids are seriously adorable. I can’t believe how big Hopey is. Stay sane.
Children, until we have taught them better, will be perfectly happy with a seasonal round of games in which conkers succeeds hopscotch.
That's fine.
sal jr, wyatt, and hopey are three of the most adorable children in the entire universe.
Mark Ellis: sent down from Heaven to rob Evil of hits and hand out rainbows
Welcome back!
We’ve missed you around here, man. Yes, we have new folks here, but we miss you round these parts. This is an awesome FanShot.
And congrats on number two!!! What’s it like with two? Crazy?
by Tyler Bleszinski on Aug 1, 2008 12:58 PM PDT reply actions
Hey!
I make #2 all the time, and you never congratulate me for it!
Greed and fear cause over-reactions in both directions. @('.')@
Oooooohh...
Well, it’s not really news when a monkey poos.
by Tyler Bleszinski on Aug 1, 2008 1:37 PM PDT up reply actions
That's a sig line if I've ever seen one
Well, it's not really news when a monkey poos. Blogfather Blez to @'.'@
by Leopold Bloom on Aug 1, 2008 1:40 PM PDT up reply actions
Sorry, forgot the side
of your monkey head.
Well, it's not really news when a monkey poos. Blogfather Blez to @('.')@
by Leopold Bloom on Aug 1, 2008 1:41 PM PDT up reply actions
not crazy, but not sane either
It’s twice as busy and you don’t see your partner very much (divide and conquer). But you don’t walk around in a daze thinking What the hell am I doing? cause you got that out of the way with #1.
I think it’s #3 that really looses the dogs of war, when they outnumber you and outnumber your hands.
Good to know
I don’t think I could do more than two.
by Tyler Bleszinski on Aug 1, 2008 1:37 PM PDT up reply actions
with three
you have to switch from man-to-man to zone….
"...in baseball you wear a cap." -- george carlin
merciful heavens
does the blogfather himself not know the difference between a “FanShot” and a “FaNPoSt” ;)
"Don't be an ass!" --Bill King
Well, with the older ones,
this new technology kind of passes them by…
Can Magic Sprinkles Now!!! @('.')@
by Leopold Bloom on Aug 1, 2008 1:32 PM PDT up reply actions
LOL
Sometimes I type too fast for my own good.
by Tyler Bleszinski on Aug 1, 2008 1:36 PM PDT up reply actions
I was thinking that too
Blez: FanShots are the ones everyone always ignores. FanPosts are where you call out Cust for his “strickouts”
"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want" -Bill Watterson
Community
You’re right about the size of the community. It really does change things. I remember when you could feel like you know pretty much everyone and you could read pretty much every thread. It’s not like that now.
I’m not saying it’s better or worst, just different. Before it was like a large neighborhood. Now it’s like a city, and there are large parts of the city I don’t really know.
"Dispatch knuckleheadedness with Bond-like aplomb." –74mk
Just stay out of Monkeytown
It’s excessively dirty over there.
by Tyler Bleszinski on Aug 1, 2008 1:38 PM PDT up reply actions
It's the poo, mainly.
and the porn.
Well, it's not really news when a monkey poos. Blogfather Blez to @('.')@
by Leopold Bloom on Aug 1, 2008 1:43 PM PDT up reply actions
they're not booing, they're chanting poo-orn
Greed and fear cause over-reactions in both directions. @('.')@
Damn.
If I hadn’t just changed my sigline.
Well, it's not really news when a monkey poos. Blogfather Blez to @('.')@
by Leopold Bloom on Aug 1, 2008 1:57 PM PDT up reply actions
P.S.
+1 to this:
I could never stand the Bash Brothers (sorry) but Dave Stewart rocked.
I didn’t become a serious baseball fan until 1999, but I had been living in Oakland since the mid 1980s, so I had a vague sense of the team even before then, and that’s how I felt about them during the championship years.
"Dispatch knuckleheadedness with Bond-like aplomb." –74mk
Fun with Baby WinExp
Our prodigal Prunus may enjoy this:
Fangraphs now tracks win advancement and loss advancement separately. tangotiger posted a formula yesterday for converting this into an individual win-loss record for each player, essentially splitting credit for the team’s record based on WinExp.
Using this formula, Brad Ziegler gets credit for about 1.7 wins, and negative .3 losses, for a win percentage of 122%.
"May a nit suck Cajun geese?" wonders Red. No, we see gnu Jack Cust in a yam.
So,
if I’m understanding you, every time Ziggy get five wins, we get a free win?
....is there a punch card or something?
Can Magic Sprinkles Now!!! @('.')@
by Leopold Bloom on Aug 1, 2008 1:23 PM PDT up reply actions
cool image
I was looking in GIS to grab a team photo to see how fast I could photoshop 25 ziggys, but I got distracted, because here is the 2007 poster:
Out of 13 players pictured, I count FOUR players that are still on the team. Oh the carnage.
Current roster doesn't shave yet.
The meaning of life is not so much 'found,' as it is 'made.' --Opus
by The Dogfather on Aug 1, 2008 4:24 PM PDT up reply actions
Wow
You can totally just scribble all over everyone’s face except Street, Crosby, Chavez and Ellis.
by Tyler Bleszinski on Aug 1, 2008 1:40 PM PDT up reply actions
It would be a super army of Ziggys!
We could take over the world! (if we could get past the ALCS)
Can Magic Sprinkles Now!!! @('.')@
by Leopold Bloom on Aug 1, 2008 1:32 PM PDT up reply actions
Scarier than I thought they'd be.
Well, it's not really news when a monkey poos. Blogfather Blez to @('.')@
by Leopold Bloom on Aug 1, 2008 1:42 PM PDT up reply actions
Thats how they win so many games
"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want" -Bill Watterson
awesome
Thanks for the link! I haven’t been able to stay up to date on that stuff. There is still some stuff that Baby Winexp does that Fangraphs doesn’t. I’ve been torn between wanting to make it web accessible and just waiting for Fangraphs to eventually do it. Laziness wins.
Seriously, this sucks.
The “reply” button still doesn’t work, and now I can’t log out of SBN either, so I don’t know if logging-out-logging-in will fix the problem.
I’ve had so many witticisms I had to sit on because the darn reply button doesn’t work!
Children, until we have taught them better, will be perfectly happy with a seasonal round of games in which conkers succeeds hopscotch.
Sal
if you think it’s Firefox, wipe it off your harddrive and reload it.
Can Magic Sprinkles Now!!! @('.')@
by Leopold Bloom on Aug 1, 2008 1:23 PM PDT up reply actions
Hm.
Maybe I can use IE, like I’m doing right now…
Children, until we have taught them better, will be perfectly happy with a seasonal round of games in which conkers succeeds hopscotch.
Have any of the witticisms hatched?
"May a nit suck Cajun geese?" wonders Red. No, we see gnu Jack Cust in a yam.
I got a witticism you can sit on right here ...
Greed and fear cause over-reactions in both directions. @('.')@
Can you send a bug report to bugreport@sbnation.com?
That shouldn’t be happening.
by Tyler Bleszinski on Aug 1, 2008 1:43 PM PDT up reply actions
It happens to me routinely at work
Reloading the page fixes it, but then all comments are marked read, so you have to be sure to read everything before you can reload and reply to any. Sort of annoying.
I always assumed it was because the software at my office isn’t entirely updated. It’s not the only browser problem I have there.
I can’t exactly complain about it. They’re nice enough to let me read AN at work, so long as I’m not billing anyone for it, but it would be pushing it too far to make them upgrade their software just for my AN-reading convenience.
"Dispatch knuckleheadedness with Bond-like aplomb." –74mk
Quite a difference
There’s quite a difference on AN back in its early days compared to now. Back then, it was obviously intimate and the atmosphere was friendly. Like an old small town feel, where everyone knew each other…or that sorta thing. Now, it has progressed, with better visuals and more informative reads. I guess the price of progress—there are more bashing and devouring on comments nowadays. Especially coming from the knowledgeable folks (reality or perceived)....who hate it when an opinion is contradictory to theirs and they’d ensure the idea is obliterated (or borderline ridiculed).
AN wasn't so friendly back in the day
I should know, I was one of the guys not being friendly!
The monster at the end of this blog.
Seriously.
Third, 9-11 happened and the nation became a frightening, insane place. It seems unreal now as we regain our collective sanity, but we really did lose our minds. Baseball was a great distraction from that. Then Moneyball hipped me to the idea that you could use your brain while being a baseball fan.
That’s how I started enjoying life again. Any kind of baseball first. Then our scrappy little A’s ran away my heart and never looked back.
AN was kind of like my crack dealer then. This place made sure I had my A’s fix and always left me needing more.
Mark Ellis: sent down from Heaven to rob Evil of hits and hand out rainbows
You still want a taste, don't you?
Oh yeah.
by Tyler Bleszinski on Aug 1, 2008 1:44 PM PDT up reply actions
That sounds really dirty.
I’m uncomfortable with this question.
Mark Ellis: sent down from Heaven to rob Evil of hits and hand out rainbows
I meant that I was a creepy drug dealer, not a creepy sex guy. But I suppose that’s probably dirty either way.
by Tyler Bleszinski on Aug 1, 2008 1:47 PM PDT up reply actions
I want a list of the most used words in AN in the past yr.
Possibly just nouns.
I’m guessing Moneyball, DFA, and DL would all be in the Top 10.
The Stockton Ports pitching staff is better than the Orioles.
You forgot some
Unicorn
Goat
Poop
Trade
LaRoche
"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want" -Bill Watterson
In other words
CGV @ Blez.
"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want" -Bill Watterson
I've been wondering where you were!
Wyatt is suuuuuper cute! And Hopey continues to lead the league in adorable.
Great DLD!
"Don't be an ass!" --Bill King
All these Ziggy articles are annoying.
I spent all week writing a Ziggy article for THT. Talk about getting scooped.
Children, until we have taught them better, will be perfectly happy with a seasonal round of games in which conkers succeeds hopscotch.
Ice Cream, please report to the white courtesy phone
Greed and fear cause over-reactions in both directions. @('.')@
Reprising a favorite form of doggerel
We old guys point with perverse pride,
And chortle like a glutton,
When tech whiz kids like our sal-b
Can’t work the “reply” button.
The meaning of life is not so much 'found,' as it is 'made.' --Opus
Hi Apricot
Huge congratulations on kid #2! Wyatt looks adorable and Hopey looks so big! Of course that’s “big” relatively speaking – my daughter’s off to High School this fall…
It really is different around here now – it’s funny, I used to say I only lurked but now I really only lurk. Still here though.
See you round town…
D
wow
she’s off to HS…. it seems like it was just the other day that she was that little big girl chalk drawing with Hopey at the Coliseum…
I hate to go to lunch
for fear that the old-timers and the cool new-timers will disappear. But I’m starving. See you in a few minutes.
It’s so nice to see everyone here, I might start posting TWICE a season.
Roster moves
Conrad sent down.
Barton and Petit recalled.
"May a nit suck Cajun geese?" wonders Red. No, we see gnu Jack Cust in a yam.
why not leave barton in AAA considerin he has a .533 ops down there so far?
A's v Giants "is kind of like the difference between going to see the Ramones and going to see the Bee Gees. A's fans will go see the Ramones." -BB 07/27/05
Oh, because that's something I'd wanna eat,
“I don’t know if he swallowed it or if my dogs might have eaten it, I don’t know,” Osing said.
Photography Page | Flickr
real Manson mojo goin' on, what with that and the Canadian bus thing
Greed and fear cause over-reactions in both directions. @('.')@
yeah
what was that??? Never again will I go mass transit
by HRH on Aug 1, 2008 2:35 PM PDT up reply actions
I think that guy logs on to AN for day-game threads
Greed and fear cause over-reactions in both directions. @('.')@
I'll agree with everyone else here
Congratulations on the new Apricotlet! They are both adorable!!!
I hope we’ll see you on AN more often!
There's no crying in baseball!
More congratulations
Nice to see your posts again. I
"And sometimes, when it seems like all hope is gone, Life tosses you a special gift of a baseball game" . 7/10/08 BaseBallGirl headline
I
I wish we could edit if we post too fast. :(
"And sometimes, when it seems like all hope is gone, Life tosses you a special gift of a baseball game" . 7/10/08 BaseBallGirl headline
FYI
So you can be “In the Know”....I don’t know how valid it is, but the prevalent rumor here in SW Florida is that the reason the Rays did not stress too hard not landing a big deadline name was because they basically have a deal in place for the Human Bobblehead.
Like I said, I don’t know how true it is, but that’s what they’re saying here.
Well, it's not really news when a monkey poos. Blogfather Blez to @('.')@
aw crap
I was going to be a big bandwagon fan for the Rays in order for them to beat Boston and New York…..but if they get Bonds, I don’t know…...
There's no crying in baseball!
Interesting.
Any links to local articles? Zoinks, throw him in that lineup and it’s formidable indeed.
And Hi Apricot, great to have you back. Great shot of the kids, and I’ll echo the comments above re going to 3 from 2 is when the poo really hits the fan. From the great Martin Mull: “Having kids is like having a bowling alley installed in your brain.”
Huston on BART, redux
This version (on BARTtv) is a bit different from the NBC one posted a while back. There’s not a whole lot of change, but it’s an excuse to watch sleepy, scruffy, glasses-and-Mickey-mouse-wearing Huston for a couple minutes again, and that can’t be all bad.
ummmm..thank you.
If you click the link in the text, it takes you to another video that has interviews with Swooney and Barton. :-)
30 and counting...
He must have some super-incognito unibomber outfit
When leaving the coli on Bart after the last few blown saves and losses.
Green Hulk Fists
Joe Posnanski coins a 'Ziegler number'
Sorry if this has been posted:
(ground ball:flyball) x (strikeout:walks) x 10 = Ziegler number
Ziegler’s is 103.6, that’s apparently good.
apricot? apricot apricot..oh yeah, i remember
nice post. And Hopey is great name for A’s fan.
alaska A
not as good as Tradey
A's v Giants "is kind of like the difference between going to see the Ramones and going to see the Bee Gees. A's fans will go see the Ramones." -BB 07/27/05
oooh, time dependent SE. HAWT
Children, until we have taught them better, will be perfectly happy with a seasonal round of games in which conkers succeeds hopscotch.
ugh, I'm going to be doing that stuff this next semester
thanks for bringing the school year that much closer.
Congratulations on your new little one!
Nice to see you post here. We could use more people who bring the statistical heat in a consistently friendly way.
Since this is now a thread for baby ANers, I will shameless post pictures of Anna Elizabeth Jeepers, born last Thursday here in Sacramentucky. 7 lbs, 12 ozs, and at 22 inches long, destined to play for her hometown Monarchs:
Anna are serious baby. This are serious thread.
"PECOTA can pretty much kiss my ass."-Nico
She offered at the first nipple.
An A’s fan needs to have more patience than that.
"PECOTA can pretty much kiss my ass."-Nico
Seriously cute.
Congratulations, j.
Children, until we have taught them better, will be perfectly happy with a seasonal round of games in which conkers succeeds hopscotch.
isn’t that the orly baby?
A's v Giants "is kind of like the difference between going to see the Ramones and going to see the Bee Gees. A's fans will go see the Ramones." -BB 07/27/05
So he wasn't actually traded to us
He joined the team as a refugee.
"God doesn't pay attention to your cute little hypotheticals." -- Jeff from LL
Congrats on the newbie, Apricot
Raise him well.
Meaning, teach him to switch hit and throw left-handed.
The monster at the end of this blog.
I'm not a sig line guy
But if I was I think I’d use this one:
I’m pretty excited to see how Beane blows up a team. He doesn’t leave much rubble, does he?
Welcome back apricot(ter)
Asian Express
You & your spouse have got a couple of cute kids. It’s amazing how strong the Asian bloodlines carry on in our kids. My two kids have 25% Japanese blood / good genes in them. They look more Asian than Anglo. You want to hear a real shocker. They both are straight A Honor students. I happen to think its a combination of environment & heredity.
I would like to think that my better half didn’t have anything to do with this. The Best to You & your Family.
I happen to think its a combination of environment & heredity.
Thanks for the peek, Apricot.
Congrats to you and jeepers on the new arrivals.
Babies are awesome.
Strawberry
Congrats! Apricot!
I’m one of the newbees, but I recognize darling kids when I see ‘em.
Stomper is a badass!
group hug
thanks for popping by and saying hi, old timers, and the stories of your kids (Jeepers, congrats!!), and the kind newbie wishes.
ciabatta, peace out.
Waaaaaaaahh!!!
I missed this diary yesterday. :(
Congrats on the latest distraction in the ‘cot family! And I miss you hangin’ around here, being all smart and fun and stuff…
There's no textbook for how to treat a geriatric tapir.
Wow!
I guess they waited until after the trading deadline to announce that one,
by Englishmajor on Aug 3, 2008 10:13 AM PDT up reply actions
LOL!
Was it you that I was telling, “Watch, the freebie 00’s jersey will be Ellis… because I already have a custom one that I paid for…”?
There's no textbook for how to treat a geriatric tapir.
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