Thought Trough

Side 3 Track 6

2007-05-06T12:18:00.000-05:00

Here and Now.

Michelle Softich recently asked, "I got to thinking about your 'Jackson Pollack' creation at your previous apartment, and I am curious as to whether or not you had to, let's say, 'retouch' the paint in your old place?"

Here's pics...

The answer is YES. When I originally painted this mess I used some type of paint that was odor-riffic and kept me high on the fumes for about a month. And it now has several coats of some green-ish beige paint over it. Well at least it did when I moved out 2 years ago.
My current apartment has found me using actual framed pictures to adorn the walls. There is something to be said for conventional forms of decoration. Mostly a lack of airborne toxins.

Here's a review of what's been up with me lately.

On June 16th I'll be moving to a new apartment that is 7 minutes away from work. Since my current commute has me in the car for 1 1/2 to 2 hours a day, this is a vast improvement. It will also save me lots of $$$ on gas.

My job is terrific! (Really) I spend all day doing spreadsheets and bookkeeping and pouring over P&L reports and General Ledger reports and using my 4 color pen and 5 different highlighters and 3 different types of white-out and feeling more important than is actually the case. I used to want to be a rock star, but it's hard when you look like this...

Not really. This picture is about 10 years old and I'm much fatter now.

Here are some pictures from a couple months ago.

These last two also have my buddy Kelly in them. You'll see other pictures of her throughout this blog. She's my best friend and I love her because she's pretty and is willing to be seen in public with me (though she lives 1300 miles away). That's all it takes to be my best friend. (Of course, I am a dork that spends 8 to 10 hours a day doing spreadsheets and then goes home to spend countless more hours in front of the computer. Ahh, yes indeed friends, I am livin' the dream. Unfortunately it's not my own.)

Aside from work and being a full-time dork I still go to Florida every March for our "Family Gathering and Spring Training Baseball Uber Weekend Mass Hysteria Glee Club Picnic and Stamp Collectors Trading Post". Um... no. Just the first part.

Uh, still a Cardinals fan. Still a Colts fan. Still an F1 fan.
Matt sends me a DVD of each race and then we spend hours on the phone talking about it. He's a dork too.

Lastly, I spent inordinate amounts of time making compilation CD's. A couple of bands that I've recently become enamored with are...
The Fratelli's
The Apples In Stereo
Elliot Smith
Of Montreal
Combustible Edison
The Shins
Apollo Sunshine
Peter Bjorn And John
And a big HELL YEAH to the cover of "My Generation" by,
The Zimmers

It's seems odd to me that likable, melodic, pop songs are now "Underground" and mainstream music is dull as dishwater. I understand that "emo" is the big thing now (I first learned about "emo" 10 years ago from my friend Kyl3 M. Beach [that's really how he spells it] and back then I quickly figured out it was an excruciatingly limiting musical form and predicted it to be a fad that would never amount to much. I was wrong.) but the songs that supposedly "Rock" are still lackluster. To find music that has a spark of energy and life to it, you really have to do a little digging.

Lastly, I am still a big fan of ELO and have been constantly listening to the 30th anniversary reissue of "Out Of The Blue". The 1977 album that is now "Cool" but got me beat up for liking it back in the day. Yeah, well, who's cool now? Oh, yeah, still not me. (Dammit!)

Okay, that's the end of the blog entry for this year. Obviously that contradicts what "Blogging" is about, but what are you gunna do about it, sue me?

All Hail Brak!

(once a dork, always a dork)

Phil

2007 Spring Training

2007-04-01T17:18:00.000-05:00

Saw the redbirds play a couple games this spring. They'll be a .500 team.

I got Tagged - 5 Things you don't know about me.

2007-01-16T21:56:00.000-06:00

From Matt:
Now, I get to tag a couple of people to blog their 5 things. So, I am reaching out and tagging my nephew, John Softich and my good friend Phil Maxted to perpetuate this.

From Me:

Okay... here goes...

1) Though I like to believe I'm a fun person, I'm also a fairly cranky person.
2) My whole life I figured I would be dead by age 30. I spent a good chunk of my early 30's completely at a loss as to what to do. It honestly didn't occur to me that I'd still be around. (Therapy anyone?)
3) I don't like compliments, I perceive it as mockery. Oddly, I don't mind being mocked. I'm used to it. (Seriously... about that therapy)
4) I wish that I was a concert violist. (I'm a dork)
5) Several years ago, as a party game, through process of elimination it was determined that the one thing I would not want to do without was milk. Yes, even more than that. Now I'm having problems with dairy. (That whole cranky thing isn't so hard to believe now, is it?)

There you go.

Now I'm supposed to pass this along to another blogger but, other than Matt, I don't know any.

Tired of Baseball? Okay, how 'bout a pretty girl?

2006-10-29T14:21:00.000-06:00

Shucks.

2006-10-28T00:57:00.000-05:00

Well, I asked for it. St. Louis Cardinals are the 2006 World Series Champions.

DAMN

2006-10-21T22:25:00.000-05:00

COME ON TIGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stupid Cardinals won game one. The only way this is good, is if it makes the Cardinals look worse by collapsing and losing the series again. I feel like I'm the only one that sees Tony LaRussa for the crappy manager that he is. If the Tigers lose this thing and the Redbirds are World Champs, no one will see how awful he is. Please Walt Jockety, fire Tony and give the team to Jose Oquendo. That's a team I'd like to see. As long as Jose was in charge I don't care if they win 20 games a year, it'd be the type of team that I would like to see play the game.

World Series Game One is 11 hours away.

2006-10-21T08:27:00.000-05:00

Let the humiliation begin. The Stain Louie Carbules don't stand a chance. This 2006 team isn't good. In my opinion they are the worst Cardinal team I've seen since the mid 90's. Great core group of guys and then just a bunch of guys that wear a uniform. And without going on and on I can tell you that it's the fault of Tony LaRussa. The environment that he demands around the club house does not allow for role players to feel like anything other than extras. This year many of the "starters" fell into that catigory also, which doesn't sound like a team to me. Sounds more like half a dozen favorites and a bunch of guys unsure of what their job is or if they have one. Who wants that for a World Series Champion. Not me. I'd love to see Placido Polanco lead the charge to bring Jim Leyland another Championship. That would be a much better baseball story.

WORLD CHAMPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-10-20T20:17:00.000-05:00

TIGERS SWEEP THE CARDINALS TO WIN 2006 WORLD SERIES! (Oops. Too Soon. Darn it. Rule #1 in comedy....timing.)

Damn you Matt Softich!

2006-10-19T22:51:00.000-05:00

Cards are going to the World Series. Let's cross our fingers and hope they can look even more hapless than that 2004 collapse.

Matt is WRONG!

2006-10-10T21:43:00.000-05:00

Matt Softich should stick to football. That's a subject in which he knows more than all of us combined. But getting his opinions about baseball is like asking me about hair care or weight loss.

He thinks the Cardinals will beat the Mets and go to the World Series. WRONG!

The Redbirds STINK!

FYI

2006-08-01T22:05:00.000-05:00

I have not watched a Cardinals game since the All-Star break. I can't stand to see these fine professionals so horrifically mis-managed. I hope they win the World Series and I can say that it was the year I finally gave up on them. It would serve me right.

I Just Want To Scream

2006-07-10T19:24:00.000-05:00

The Cardinals sent Sidney Ponson down to the minors. So, what do they do to fill the hole? They trade an outfield prospect for Jeff Weaver. Um, let us look at this. The Cardinal outfield is currently Jim Edmonds and a mixed bag of knuckleheads. The last couple of years it's been Jim Edmonds and a couple of fine players past thier prime. Now it looks as though Jimmy is too. The Redbirds cannot afford to burn up outfield prospects. They just did. And they replaced a guy that is 4-4 with a 5.24 ERA with a guy that's 3-10 with a 6.29 ERA and a 8+ Million Dollar Contract. (For 8 Million Dollars I want Steve Austin AND Oscar Goldman, dammit!) I soooo want to be wrong about this. I'm not in love with Sidney, but he's been okay on the mound. Maybe Dave Duncan knows something I don't. Okay, yeah, there's lots of things he knows that I don't. If DD thought that Sidney was going to bounce back he may have told Walt Jocketty to not pull the trigger on this one. So, maybe they're done with the "Ponson Experiment". Maybe the scouting staff told ol' Walt that some of those studs down in the minors that we keep hearing about are more like geldings, but ... WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY THINKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If they're willing to take on that much more payroll, why the F are they spending it on this guy???? Did we do a back room deal to pay the price for giving them Woody Williams for Jim Edmonds? (A previous deal with the Angles of California/Anahiem/Los Angles) OR for getting David Eckstien for Edgar Reteria (Essentially)? (Another deal involving the California Angels of Aniheim featuring Los Angles and Getty Lee with special guest Wayne Gretsky and his All Girl Orchestra.) Honestly. I just don't get it. Lord, I want to be wrong. Seriously. I've never had problems in that area before. I'm wrong all the time. Just ask my boss. I tested him just today. Gave him some advice that was contrary to what I really wanted to tell him. And just because he never does what I recommend, he went against my advice and did exactly what I wanted. Bosses are easy.

Oh yeah, this spring I told you that Izzy and Brad Thompson would be solid in the bullpen this year. I was wrong.

Cardinals Report Card

2006-06-27T18:56:00.000-05:00

I'm just too tired to do a full report. So here's a quick opinion.

Starting Pitching:

Mark Mulder is on the DL. He looked flat in the Spring Training game I saw, and he never has looked dominent. Maybe a rest will do him good.

Sidney Ponson had been sent to the bullpen, then brought back to the rotation due to Mulder going on the DL. I thought he looked pretty solid up to this point. He's not the ace of the staff, but he knows how to pitch and I'm happy with him as a #5.

Jeff Suppan is okay.

Chris Carpenter has dropped off quite a bit from last year. But he's okay.

Jason Marquis is okay, too.

There's this kid named Anthony Reyes that looks like he's ready for the big time. He pitched a one hitter the other night, the only hit he gave up was a 4-bagger and he got an "L" hung next to his name due to a lack of offensive support.

Bullpen:

Boy, lately they've been bad. Up 'til mid-June they were teriffic. Except Izzy. He may have to step down from the closer role.

Adam Wainwright is another young guy that's ready to stay in the bigs.

Pretty much everybody on the staff is good. I just think the management style of TLR/DD is not one that lets bullpen guys flurish. DD is a great instructor, but his abilities stop right there. TLR is just a knucklehead. The front office desirves as much credit as TLR.

Catchers:

Both Yadier Molina and Gary Bennett have solid defensive skills, good arms, call a good game, communicate well with the staff and can't hit thier own weight.

Infield:

Albert Pujols was injured right in time. He was starting to try too hard. I could see him looking to yank the ball into the bleachers with every swing. Up to this season he was okay with poking it to the opposite field if that's what the pitcher was giving him. So he sat down for 2 weeks. He's been back for about a week now and he has that easy swing again.

David Eckstien is still the pulse of this team. He's not gunna carry the team, but if he hits a slump, the whole team hits a slump. This guys important. And more important, he's a professional.

Aaron Miles aint' an All Star. He ain't a Hall of Famer. But he is a gamer and, just like Eckstien, he's a pro. I'm glad he's a Redbird. I wish his average was a little higher, but not everybody's a .300 hitter.

Scott Rolen. I wish everybody would shut up about his power numbers being down. His defense is as good as ever and he's hitting .340 So SHUT THE HELL UP!

(Oh yeah, watch Rolen and Pujol run the bases. They could put on a clinic. Watching most big leaguers run the bases makes me cringe. Even some of the Cardinals are clueless [Hector Luna] but these two guys will not cost you one single game making baserunning errors.)

Scott Spiezio is as good guy. Just what you want in a utility guy. My early opinion of him was wrong. Scott filled in well while Rolen and Albert were out.

Hector Luna. I'm not sure why TLR is in love with this guy, but he's alright. TLR plays him in the outfield as much as the infield. Dunno why.

Outfield:

Jim Edmonds is struggling. He's banged up. He's playing too shallow. He still believes that he can get to every ball hit to any part of the ball park, well those days are gone. I've seen more balls get past him in the first 3 month of this year that the last two years combined. And I'm getting tired of all the strikeouts. It's like he's not even trying to improve on that part of his game. Look at Ozzie Smith. Dude just got better and better with the bat. He knew that he needed to get better, and so he did something about it. Now, Jimmy has this laid back attitude that gives folks the wrong impression sometimes, but being a windmill year in and year out just shows me that you ain't trying. Still, I want to see him retire as a Cardinal. I stand by my earlier statement. Even with diminished skills he's the best in the Busch Stadium outfield, and he'd be the best in just about any outfield.

So Taguchi. Whatever. I'm tired of this guy.

Juan Encarnacion. He's fine. He has a strong arm and he knows it. That's a bad thing. He's lazy defensively. He seems to have the attitude that positioning isn't important, because whenever he eventually makes his way to the ball, all he has to do is throw it really hard. His offense is streaky. He wants to be a power hitter. He sacrafices average and smart hitting for is pursuit of the highlight reel. You know what? He's really the type of ball player I don't like.

John Rodriguez is not impressing me. He's just another guy. Hey, feel that breeze? I think he just struck out again.

Timo Perez is the latest addition to the outfield. So far he's okay.

A few words about the outfield situation.

TLR is really getting on my nerves with this one. If you asked me who were the members of the starting line up in the outfield, I would not be able to give you an answer. There isn't one. Between the revolving door of guys going to and from AAA and having the utility infielders play as much as the backup outfielders, and they're playing as much as the "starters". There's been like 558,000 guys play in left field this week alone. Frankly I'm sick of it. TLR needs to pick three guys, look them in the eye and tell them "your my guys, now get it done." How freakin' hard is that? If my boss micro-managed as much as TLR, I'd go crazy. (BTW, I have an awesome boss. No, really.) I've looked at the stats on some of the guys they have in the minors, it's not that bad. I'd dump everybody but Jimmy and bring up John Gall, Skip Schumaker, Chris Duncan and Brian Daubach. Send Brian back down when Larry Bigbie comes off the DL. And let some of these youngsters play. The rest of the team are veterans. And, not to mention, talented. You have the perfect moment to let a couple of young guys mature in a protected environment. They can't be any worse than what's out there now. I bet you 35 cents that as long as TLR is calling the shots, the Cardinals will have a winning record. They'll make the playoffs more often than not. And they will never win a World Series. I know I'm right. You know I'm right. We both wish I weren't. We'll both keep watching.

And that concludes my short report.

Phil

thinking

2006-06-25T01:31:00.000-05:00

Another old pic

2006-06-14T02:42:00.000-05:00

Raptors end regular season with a win

2006-06-04T10:25:00.000-05:00

Final Score: 33-12
Final W/L record, regular season: 6-2
Conference Champions

The Raptors will have a bye next week, then they will begin post season play.

GO RAPTORS!

I Found A New Filter On Micrografx Picture Publisher

2006-05-29T23:03:00.000-05:00

I blacked out the naughty bits. There may be children around.

Baseball Cards

2006-05-28T18:14:00.000-05:00

Craig McMurtry
I'm guessing he rarely gets mistaken for Bob Gibson.

Todd Zeile
How bad do you have to be to have a snapshot of you giving a dugout interview to qualify for your baseball card picture?

This is what Kelly saw

2006-05-10T19:18:00.000-05:00

Lucky girl got to go to the game the other day. AND she had great seats.

Now... another picture

2006-05-09T18:56:00.000-05:00

RMFL Standings after 5 weeks

2006-05-09T18:45:00.000-05:00

Northern Conference
......................................W...L....GB....PS...PA
1. Missouls Raptors....4......1........-.......138...50
2. Great Falls...............3......2.......1.........68...66
3. Bitterroot.................3......2.......1........101...48
4. Helena......................2......2......1.5........86...80
5. Glacier......................0......5 .......4.........32...179

This stupid blog is a real pain to format.

YAY Raptors! Keep it up!

Game Summary/Box Score May 6, 2006 Missoula Raptors at Glacier Knights @ Columbia Falls High School

2006-05-09T18:42:00.000-05:00

May 6, 2006 Missoula Raptors at Glacier Knights @ Columbia Falls High School

MISSOULA 32 GLACIER 14

COLUMBIA FALLS – The Glacier Knights played perhaps their best game in franchise history. They lead, they battled, however, eventually still came up short to the defending Montana Champion, Missoula Raptors as the Raptors recorded two defensive scores and received another solid game from tailback, Gavin Johnson in securing the victory and retaining sole possession of first place in the Northern division of the AA.
Johnson rushed for 89 yards on 16 carries and a touchdown; Johnson’s touchdown turned a 7-6 game into a 13-6 game temporarily… as the Knights all-star and reining Montana MVP, Jason Zielanski blocked the extra point and returned it 93 yards for a rare conversion return score, making the game 13-8 at that time.
The Knights actually drew first blood when Zielanski capped a Knight drive running in for a touchdown from 5 yards out and the Knights lead the game from midway through the first quarter until early in the second quarter.
Two big defensive plays turned out to be the difference for the Raptors as Max McCracken covered an errant punt snap for the teams first touchdown and Brian Hughes intercepted Zielanski and returned it 65-yards for a score to put the game out of reach at that time by the 32-8 margin. Sandwiched in between the two defensive scores were two Shane Jurasek to Tyler Boaz touchdown passes, however, the Knights defense held the top-rated Jurasek to only 34-yards passing on the day.
A new star seemed to emerge for the Knights with the addition to the team of Mike Kuehne. Kuehne rushed 15 times for 83 yards and helped out on defense. However, his contribution to what has been an anemic Knight rushing attack may help make the Knights a serious threat to play spoiler for the remainder of the season.

Game Summary/Box Score April 29, 2006 Missoula Raptors at Helena Titans @ Jefferson High School

2006-05-09T18:40:00.000-05:00

Game Summary/Box Score April 29, 2006 Missoula Raptors at Helena Titans @ Jefferson High School
MISSOULA 34 HELENA 11
BOULDER – In 2005, when the Missoula Raptors emerged onto the scene as an expansion team in Montana, their games with the Helena Titans were the tightest, coming-down-to-the-last-minutest games in the RMFL. Thanks to a smothering Raptor defense and Shane Jurasek and his 5 touchdown passes, the first meeting in 2006 turned into a laugher as the Raptors ran away to a 34-11 victory in Boulder, Montana.
Jurasek had a near perfect day also passing for 279 yards and no interceptions against a Helena defense that was hampered as well by the teams offensive ineffectiveness.
Helena tailback, Keith Deboo, was fairly strong for 94 yards rushing on 20 attempts to keep the team moving, however, the Titans could complete only 5 of 15 passes for 59 yards and just could not get their explosiveness back.
Ironically, the Titans of 2005, lead the RMFL in offense with Shane Jurasek at the helm. With Jurasek in Missoula, the Titans were ranked 7th… of the AA teams, and will likely drop lower.
For the Raptors offense, Gavin Johnson also had a big day, accounting for more than 100 yards from scrimmage and hauling in 2 of the 5 touchdown tosses, including the final two of the second quarter that extended a narrow 7-3 lead to an insurmountable 21-3 halftime lead for the visiting Raptors.

Fixing MLB

2006-04-22T12:47:00.000-05:00

Get rid of teams.

The product is watered down. It should be played by only the best. Too many marginal players are on the field now. Folks are watching a great game that's being played poorly. (Look at some of the terrible baserunning so far in this weekends games between the Cubs & Cards. Most noteable was Michael Barrett's blunder to make the last out of the game last night, but I guarantee everyone only cares about the 3 run homer he hit in the fourth inning.) No wonder fans are unimpressed. Plus, there are 750 players on active rosters at the moment. I have no idea who is the best player for the Arizona Diamondbacks. I've also been given no reason to care. If you get rid of all the marginal players and worthless teams, fans interest in teams/players will intensify. All those old timers knew who to watch out for on the opposing teams. Now, only about 1/50th of fans can tell you who's the best double-play combination in the NL West.

So, good-bye to ...

Florida Marlins - People in the south don't care about baseball.

Atlanta Braves - They've been great for ages. No one in the ATL cares, why should anyone else.

Tampa Bay Devil Rays - no comment

Texas Rangers - These guys were stupid enough to have G.W. Bush as an executive...(oh.)

Houston Astros - They're an okay team, but would you really miss them?

Washington Nationals - Too many teams in one area.

Baltimore Orioles - I like the team, but it's being run/ruined by idiots.

Arizona Diamondbacks - That clears out the south.

Colorado Rockies - Baseball just shouldn't be played at that altitude.

California/Anahiem/L.A./Whatever Angels - Just go away.

Oakland A's - I've been to Oakland. It's a nasty place. It's worth the 2 hour traffic jam to cross the bridge to San Fran.

Toronto Blue Jays - Joe Carter is gone. Toronto is not a baseball town.

Milwakee Brewers - Maybe they can switch to the Independent League.

New York Mets - Other than having Casey Stengal as the manager about 45 years ago, has anything good ever happened with this organization?

That takes us from 30 teams down to 16. That puts 8 teams in the NL & 8 teams in the AL. No Divisions in either league and you have interleague play all year long.

Next you replace Bud Selig with a coffee mug full of seamonkeys and you're 95% better off than you are right now.

Mercy

2006-04-22T12:12:00.000-05:00

If you want to sit in front of your computer and cry your eyes out, go to Operation Kindness ( http://www.operationkindness.org/ ) and read about Mercy. Then donate.

Was Brian Jordan correct?

2006-04-22T11:27:00.000-05:00

Several years ago Brian Jordan accused TLR of racism. If you look at the Cardinal roster you will see they currently have zero, and in recent years have had very few, African-American players. Makes you go ... hmm? (This may be out of line.)(Possibly GM Walt Jocketty should be scrutinized?)
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Maybe I'm just looking for reasons not to like TLR. All I know is that I don't like his managing style, I don't like his results, and the section about him in the 1990 George Will book "Men At Work" really solidified my dislike for the guy. It could be George Will's fault. I don't much like him either. Definitely his writing style is one I don't care for. He can make any subject boring and uninteresting. He makes Marvin the Paranoid Android seem like Eddie the shipboard computer. (My second Douglas Adams reference of the day.) Since this is real life and not a one-dimentional fictional character, TLR must certainly have numerous positive attributes. I hear tell that he's a swell person. But, at the end of the day, I don't like the guy as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Bistro Math*

2006-04-22T11:10:00.000-05:00

(This is the kind of stuff that got Enron/Tyco/WorldCom et al. into trouble. Double counting revenue and thinking that everyone benefits. Maybe it's not as bad as that, but sure reeks of money grubbing greediness.)
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Red-hot tickets at Busch
By Derrick Goold
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
04/20/2006
The financial nature of the Prime Seat Club is such that the Cardinals essentially buy tickets from the season-ticket holder and sell them at gate value, a higher price than what the season-ticket holder paid. Unlike some other clubs, the Cardinals are restricted by state law and cannot sell tickets for above face value. For example, a third-base field box ticket that cost a season-ticket holder $38 (on average) for Friday's game will be resold on the Prime Seat Club for a premium-ticket price of $88. Fans who want to purchase from the Prime Seat Club must pay a one-time $35 membership fee and then a 20 percent fee on top of the ticket price for each ticket. The club splits both of those fees three ways with the program's operator, Tickets.com, and the Web site operator, Major League Baseball Advanced Media.Season-ticket holders are repaid the cost of their ticket or tickets.The Prime Seat Club acts as an alternate route for tickets, and a revenue stream.
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(And this...)
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TALK OF THE DAY
Is the new Busch Stadium too money-hungry?
By Kurt Greenbaum
04/19/2006 5:22 pm
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In a story on the site today, we learn more about how the Cardinals wring revenue from the stadium through the use of the Prime Seat Club. How’s it work? Roughly, it’s like this:

Season ticket holders can sell their seats back to the Cardinals for whatever discounted amount they paid for them.
The Cardinals can turn around and resell the ticket for a marked up “actual cost” of the seat. Example: One of my colleagues has season tickets that cost him $38 each. The Cardinals, however, say those are $78 tickets. That’s what Prime Seat Club members would pay.
Non-season ticket holders must pay an annual $35 fee in order to purchase tickets that are available in the Prime Seat Club.
Plus, they pay a processing fee every time they buy tickets.

Some have suggested that it sounds like the Cards are scalping their own tickets. On the other hand, the Cardinals are the toughest ticket in town right now. They’re darned near sold out — every game.

(Admittedly this is a novel way of making more tickets available, but something seems fishy to me.)

(Other $ related news.)

TALK OF THE DAY Is the new Busch Stadium too money-hungry? By Kurt Greenbaum 04/19/2006 5:22 pm

We’ve also heard quite a bit about the price of food ($6 beer, anyone?) and the high price of tickets (”Cards have third-highest ticket prices in baseball” — here).

*Bistro Math - A term coined by Douglas Adams referring to complex accounting practices.

Armchair Managing

2006-04-22T10:55:00.000-05:00

TLR (Cardinals manager, Tony LaRussa) needs to trim the number of guys in the bullpen, NOW! He'd probably carry 700 guys on the roster if he could, then be annoyed that some of them seem a little rusty. Next, figure out who's playing in the outfield. The combined batting average of all five outfielders is .204! That sucks. Here's what I'd do. Pick the three starters and stick with them. Tell the other two guys they will play sparingly (pinch-hit, cover for days off) and the starters just better be ready to do it every damn day. It's got to be hard to show up every day not knowing if or where you'll be playing. Sometimes the best way to manage is to stop fooling with stuff and let the guys doing the job settle into their work routine. These guys are professionals by the way, by now they should know what to do, TLR needs to let them do it.
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That's it for now. I'll have more as the season goes on.
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BTW, Albert Pujols is a really good baseball player. I wonder if he'd join my company softball team. He's good enough to be one of the top guys in the Thursday night beer league. And that's saying something.

Missoula Raptors 7 - Bitterroot Blaze 16

2006-04-22T10:01:00.000-05:00

Blaze of glory: Nixon scorches former team for two TDs, RMFL record 259 yards

By FRITZ NEIGHBOR of the Missoulian

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Despite a dominating performance from expatriated Raptor Justin Nixon, it took a “jailbreak” for the Bitterroot Blaze to break loose for a 16-7 Rocky Mountain Football League victory over Missoula Friday.An errant punt snap by the host Raptors ended with a safety, breaking a 7-7 tie with 5:58 left in the game at Rollin Field. One play later, Nixon went around left end for 59 yards and the clinching touchdown.

[and on and on]

(It looks like last night Bitterroot was the better team. Coach Softich believes his team has tremendous potential. I have no reason not to believe him. The Raptors are still the team to beat in the Montana Division.)

(and this update re: Scott Wik from the same article as above)

The Raptors retired the No. 57 jersey worn by injured linebacker (Scott) Wik at halftime. Wik was injured in a preseason game at Yakima, Wash., on March 25. He spent two days in ICU for bleeding in the brain. “That was the uniform I was wearing (when I was hurt),” he said of the shirt. “They had to cut it up the middle. I'm going to look how good a sewing job they did.” Wik collapsed after a Yakima scoring play, and Softich credited lineman Eric Wright's wife, an EMT, for stabilizing Wik until an ambulance arrived. “The doctor said the stars had to be aligned for me to be here,” Wik said.

Happy Easter

2006-04-16T16:27:00.000-05:00

Let me get this straight..

2006-04-16T15:54:00.000-05:00

By STEPHANIE REITZ Associated Press Writer Friday, April 14, 2006

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- Conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on Wednesday called his 2004 decision not to recuse himself from a case involving his friend Vice President Dick Cheney the "proudest thing" he's done on the court.

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Okay, my thoughts...

20 years as a Supreme Court Justice, and this is what he is most proud of? I worked in retail customer service for a few years, and this one time I didn't punch some loud-mouthed jackass that really had it coming. People are still talking about it. There's an annual festival. We have t-shirts, a dunking booth, beauty pagent, bingo, raffle, barbeque, the whole works. People ask me all the time if it was my proudest moment. I smile and tell them about the time held the door for someone. It never fails to get the listener misty-eyed & my chest always swells a little.

Take that Antonin!

(Yes, my rebuttal was stupid. So was Scalia's original statement. That's the point.)

Reconsider

2006-04-16T00:26:00.000-05:00

I'm going to put up a couple of pictures I did a few years back for my buddy Stefan. I whipped them together so quickly that I don't remember how I did them. At the time they seemed okay, but now I like them much much more. Hungh?

Missoula 17 Great Falls 9

2006-04-15T23:48:00.000-05:00

As they used to say on Carson,

More To Come...

mmmmmmmmmm

2006-04-15T23:09:00.000-05:00

I have no thoughts today

2006-04-13T20:53:00.000-05:00

so how 'bout a picture...

Silly Whitsitt People

2006-04-11T21:05:00.000-05:00

I never did see the "Phil Formation", but I've always envisioned it as being something like this....

BTW, in my book "Silly" is very high praise. It's easy to be a grouch, but constant effort and dilligence (as well as creativity) goes into silliness. Plus, it's much more pleasant to be around.

Also, a little something about the Whitsitt's. They are extremely quiet in the mornings, they make up the BEST games and they have a very comfortable sofa which they gratiously let me sleep on. They are warm, open and know no strangers. If you are reading this, and you are not a Whitsitt, you should be.

MIISOULA 48 GLACIER 0

2006-04-11T20:43:00.000-05:00

Game Summary/Box Score
April 8, 2006 Glacier Knights at Missoula Raptors @ Loyola High School

Read about the game on the RMFL website.

http://www.rockymountainfootball.com/rockymtn/games/2006games/06knightsraptors.htm

Thoughts While Driving

2006-04-11T19:49:00.000-05:00

Firstly, my morning drive into work is 23 miles. It can take anywhere from 35 to 90+ minutes to cover that distance. Here are a couple of thoughts about those Dallas drivers on 635 between 6:45 am & 8:00 am. Stop acting like so many piglets trying to get to a limited number of teats. Some of you my be changing lanes because the voices in your head that tell you to check the front door knob 15 time before you leave the house in the morning are also telling you to obsessively swerve in and out of lanes. It must be something about germs. But the rest of you have no excuse. There is no magical lane that no one else knows about. Frantically searching is just an exercise in futility. STOP IT! Every morning I see countless cars cross over the right side solid white line thinking they have found a lane that only they know of, only to suffer the disappointment of landing themselves in the queue for the on ramp. Thus getting only further behind, stuck in line to get into the lane they just left. Ha-ha-ha..... jerks. Next, I wish I had a bull horn. I'd spend all morning yelling out of my window "Try using your turn sign, idiot". And my final observation today, just to play up stereotypes, I've noticed that while in a traffic jam the person tailgating you may be from any demographic but the most likely person to still be on your tail while all the other lanes are wide open (and they can easily just go around you) .... a woman. Why? Because they think they can change you. If you'd just notice that they want you to go faster, then you will change in order to please them. Me, I slow down. I guess their method works. I do change, just not in the way they want. By the way, I can't figure out why I don't have a girlfriend.

2006 Cardinal Spring Training Report

2006-04-05T21:05:00.000-05:00

First of all, the bullpen. It should be okay. Personnel changes always occur through the course of a season, and this one will be no different. Brad Thompson still looks like he's 13 years old and Jason Isrinhausen is still a top notch closer. These guys are fine. Tony LaRussa is carrying 12 pitchers to start the season, and I think that's too many. Guys won't get enough work, so they won't be sharp, so there will be movement between the majors and whoever is hot down in the minors. Big surprise. My next bold prediction will be that the sun will rise in the morning.

Line-up...
Randy Flores
Josh Hancock
Jason Isringhausen
Braden Looper
Ricardo Rincon
Brad Thompson
Adam Wainwright

Starting Pitching - No worries. At times you may want to make a change, but these guys will be solid over the long haul.

The Line-up...

Chris Carpenter
Jason Marquis
Mark Mulder
Sidney Ponson
Jeff Suppan

Catchers - Yadier Molina & Gary Bennett. Yadier is a stud. Look for his hitting to improve and his defense to be as solid as ever. I don't know how much the coaches let him call the game, but he looks pretty comfortable behind the plate. That confidence will carry over to his work with the pitchers. Gary is an unknown.

Infield -
David Eckstein (ss) - All Star
Hector Luna (utility) - Could be a starter
Aaron Miles (2b) - He looks really good. Junior Spivey didn't make it. He works hard, but just looked sloppy. He'll play for somebody this year and be good. I was sad to see Mark G. go after last year, but Aaron will fill in without missing a beat and he's 10 years younger.
Albert Pujols (1b) - It's a rare thing that the best player on the team is the same guy standing on the top of the stairs cheering on his teammates while they're at bat or the first in line to give a "high-five" as a player comes around to score. He's special. I wish time could stand still and Albert could be as he is right now, forever. That won't happen, but he'll be the best player in the league for many years to come.
Scott Rolen (3b) - All Star. He looks healthy.
Scott Spiezio (utility) - Unknown. Didn't look very impressive in Spring Training.

Outfield - First let me say that I'm glad to see some youth in the out field. The last couple years it was starting to look like an old age home out there. Don't get me wrong, I loved the "Parade of Geezers" but it's time to see what the farm system has been cooking up. What I'm happiest about is that Juan & Skip are not being brought in as guys that have to be stars, but just as players to help the team. I think they will. The Cardinals have had a habit over the last 10 years of putting a ton of pressure on their outfielders to be extra-super-great. Ray Lankford, Brian Jordan, Ron Gant, Larry Walker, Reggie Sanders, Roger Cedeno, J.D. Drew, Albert Pujols (oops, that one worked), Shawon Dunston, Eric Davis, Eduardo Perez, Darren Bragg and John Mabry (and others) were all brought in to be "The Next Big Thing". Maybe this year's approach will yield better results in the long run.

Jim Edmonds (CF) - I hope Jimmy feels better this year. He looks to me like his All-Star form is behind him, but he will still be the best player in the Cardinals outfield, and would be the best player in most outfields.
Juan Encarnacion (RF) - He will see a lot of good pitches hitting in front of Albert Pujols. He's not great, but he looks good.
John Rodriguez (OF) - Streaky hitter, sub-par defense, but a hard playing guy. He's going to come off the bench and make a difference a few times this year. Not good enough to be a starter.
Skip Schumaker (LF) - I love this guy. He's not going to be a superstar, but the fans are going to end up loving him.
So Taguchi (OF) - The oldest guy on the team. I've never been a fan and I'm still not. He filled in well last year seeing extended playing time due to other players being injured. Let's hope we don't have to see too much of him this year. Best used as a late game defensive replacement.

As for the guys that didn't make the team (Alan Benes, Carmen Cali, Deivi Cruz, Junior Spivey, Larry Bigbie, Chris Duncan and others), as far as I can tell, the right decision has been made.

Scott Wik

2006-04-05T20:28:00.000-05:00

This from the Raptor Web Site.

April 1st, 2006-- Scott Wik returned back to Missoula last week but is still feeling serious effects from his collision in the Yakima game. He is continuing his medical care here in Missoula and has not returned to work yet. Your thoughts and prayers for his quick recovery are welcome. As long as Scott is up for it, he will be our fifth captian as we take on Kalispell this weekend.

Skip (part 2)

2006-04-05T20:24:00.000-05:00

He hit his first major league home run tonight against the Phillies.

Skip

2006-04-05T20:22:00.000-05:00

Watch for this kid.

Keeping Score

2006-04-05T20:18:00.000-05:00

Here's how...

April 1, 2006 - Jupiter, FL

2006-04-05T20:13:00.000-05:00

2 beers, 2 hot dogs, 2 cokes, 1 cheeseburger, 7 cookies.
Lots of goodies in the gift shop.
CBC reunion.
Both teams played thier scrubs.
Mets won.
Skip hit a homer.

March 31, 2006 - Port St. Lucie

2006-04-05T20:03:00.000-05:00

Seated in the 5th row behind home plate I was in a perfect position to see just how much movement Pedro Martinez has on his pitches. A lot. Cardinals pitcher Mark Mulder has absolutely no movement on his pitches at all, and the Mets were able to rack up the hits. They were not, however, able to plate many runs. Albert Pujols hit 3 home runs and the Redbirds scored a total of 9 runs for the game. It appeared to be considerably more than they needed but then Alan Benes took the mound in the 9th. Poor Alan. He got shelled. Looks like he doesn't have it any more. Luckily Izzy came in to stop the bleeding and the Cards held on to win.

I drank a giant beer and had a hot dog and a brat. The Mets "Tradition Field" is nice, but Roger Dean Stadium is far better.

John Mabry

2006-04-05T19:53:00.000-05:00

John hit a homer today for the Cubs in a losing effort against the Reds.

It just doesn't look right seeing him in Cubby blue.

I'd much rather see him as he's pictured here. (After hitting a grand slam against the Royals.)

Now another picture...

2006-03-27T22:13:00.000-06:00

This one is many years old, but it's my very favorite.

Signs of Spring

2006-03-27T21:51:00.000-06:00

There are many reasons to deride the experience of living in Dallas, but one of the lovelier aspects of residing here is the proliferation of Wisteria. It's simply wonderful.

Precisely What You Don't Want To Hear

2006-03-26T16:22:00.000-06:00

I just received this message from Matt....

We lost last night to Yakima 26-7. We also lost four players during the game to injuries, the worst being to one of our linebackers, Scott Wik. In fact, he is in Critical Care in Pasco right now with some hemorrhaging on the brain. He is not in critical condition, they are just being very careful with him.

His injury occurred with 1:03 left in the 3rd and the game was called at that time.

Sports Weekend

2006-03-26T11:10:00.000-06:00

The Cardinals are looking pretty good this spring. It's still early and the games don't count yet, but the core of the team looks solid. Bullpen and bench, that's the weakness I see right now. That and outfield depth. They have a guy named Skip Schumacher who's trying to make it up to the next level. I think he'd be a better addition than John Rodriguez, but unfortunately we are in an era that values power. "Chicks dig the long-ball." John is OK, at best, on defense and is prone to poor baserunning, streaky hitting, and lots of strikeouts. Skip is a lesser know commodity, but is definitely a first class defensive player. Otherwise he is a solid baserunner and a consistent hitter. He'll not have a high batting average, but seems disciplined enough to avoid being streaky. But what I most like about him is that, just like Willie McGee, he's a slap hitter. Those are the guys that are "pesky" and seem to poke the ball into just where they ain't right when you least expect it. Let's hope we hear Skip's name more often in the future. (I'll be in Florida later this week to get a first hand account of the teams progress. So far, my info is based on watching several games on MLB.TV. More leagues and organizations should look into this type of presentation of their product. Like, maybe, F1.)

As for the Raptors, they went to Burbank, Washington to play a pre-season game against the Yakima Mavericks last night. I don't have any details about the game, but the final score was not good for the Raptors... 27 -7 is how it reads on the RMFL website. Rats!

And now, a couple of pictures. (These are both several years old.)

Raptor Time

2006-03-25T16:33:00.000-06:00

Today the Raptors take to the field in their first and only exhibition game of 2006. After this every game counts. Good luck to ya fellas.

Fishpockets

2006-03-22T06:06:00.000-06:00

I'd say that 3 out of 5 days, or 4 out of 7, that's better, it matches up with a week. So, like, 4 times a week I wake up with some bit of Brak related silliness going on in my head. When I first encountered Brak's brilliance, I wanted to spread the word. Bad Idea. Most folks don't seem to enjoy Brak. Now there's competition for which is my dirtiest little secret. That Brak is the funniest cat around or that I love almost every song ever recorded by the Electric Light Orchestra. With that One-Two combo working against me, all I need to do to become a complete outcast is quote way too much Monty Python and then claim that Roy Wood is an absolute genius.

Here's a little number I recently tossed off...

2006-03-20T22:33:00.000-06:00

Here's one I just did. Took about 10 minutes. You can tell. I have to go to bed now. Gotta get up at 5:30 and feed the elk.

I'm thinking of calling it "Madonna In Tears". Is that too pretentious?

Lilly

2006-03-20T21:43:00.000-06:00

It's the first day of spring. Here's one I call Lilly. (I was trying for a Georgia O'Keefe type of look. Once again, I've Failed.)

Look at this!

2006-03-20T21:12:00.000-06:00

Matt Softich is a very nice person.

This will probably be the only time the Orioles and Cardinals will ever meet in the World Series. And heck, at the time, the Orioles were the St. Louis Browns. My great-grandfather was a huge Browns fan and had the entire team sign a baseball. I now own that ball. Thanks to Matt, I've added to my collection of memorabilia affiliated with that 1944 Browns team.

p.s. - If the Orioles & Cardinals ever DO meet in the World Series, have Darrell Porter pinch-hit in the 9th and you'll win in six. (btw - do not be misled by Andy Van Slyke's low batting avg. his on-base percentage and speed will still get the job done at the top of the order.)

LOOK OUT!!!!!!!!!

2006-03-18T12:22:00.000-06:00

While looking for a picture of Matt & Sheila (see below) I ran across this picture of Michelle. She is a swell person with a warped sense of humor. This must be the last thing a dwarf sees before being tossed through the air.

Banner

2006-03-18T12:04:00.000-06:00

I'm testing a new blog banner for Matt. This is not Softich.com. Hi Sheila & Matt!

Update: Testing is done. I liked it so much, I decide to try it myself.

F1 is on NOW.

2006-03-18T11:16:00.000-06:00

DORK ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love the spring. Baseball, F1 & well... Spring! This looks to be a very interesting F1 season. Thanks to Matt, I'll be able to watch some races this year. Sadly, we'll no longer be able to watch the Minardi drivers enjoy thier role as "movable barriers", but Super Aguri looks to be a suitable replacement.

Aaron Go Blaaagghhhhh!

2006-03-17T15:15:00.000-06:00

Happy St. Patty's Day.

Enh?

2006-02-16T18:52:00.000-06:00

Not my best effort.

Happy Valentine's Day 2006

2006-02-16T18:49:00.000-06:00

Awwww......

(Sorry, I should have sounded the "Dork Alert")

Other new pics

2006-01-30T22:40:00.000-06:00

A laurel and hearty handshake to anyone that can guess what this is...

New Emma Pics

2006-01-30T22:15:00.000-06:00

Emma thought that the previous representation of her was less than flattering. Hopefully these are better recieved.

This last one is a combination of these two pictures. (w/added jiggery-pokery)

Pigs at the trough

2006-01-30T22:08:00.000-06:00

The following news story disturbs me in a vareity of ways. It also angers me to such a degree that I'm at a loss for words. All I can do is participate in the democratic process and hope to facilitate change.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), the world's largest publicly traded oil company, reported a quarterly profit of $10.7 billion on Monday, rounding out the most profitable year in U.S. corporate history.
The results pushed up Exxon's profit for the year to a staggering $36.13 billion -- bigger than the economies of 125 of the 184 countries ranked by the World Bank. Profit rose 42 percent from 2004, largely due to soaring oil and gas prices.

Enormma

2006-01-21T13:17:00.000-06:00

Emma, on a bad day.

This is a combination of this picture of Emma...

And this picture of Norman...

With a little jiggery-pokery tossed in.

Man Ray -ish

2006-01-19T20:57:00.000-06:00

I could be fooling myself, but this is kinda reminicent of Man Ray. Except his works were "dork-free". Why do I allow myself to be photographed?

Again!

2006-01-15T22:42:00.000-06:00

Some good stuff happened...

But then, so did this...

Why do my teams (Colts & Cardinals) do so well in the regular season and then ... well, you know.

After 15 months...

2006-01-15T22:36:00.000-06:00

It's not much, but it has been a while.

Happy New Year

2006-01-15T21:24:00.000-06:00

DORK ALERT

2005-12-27T08:14:00.000-06:00

I call these "Driank, Druank, Drunk".

How's this thing work?

BTW - At some point I went from having little body fat and lots of hair to little hair and lots of body fat. Obviously these beautiful women did not hear the "Dork Alert" until after these pictures were taken. (At least I no longer have those horrible glasses. My new ones are much more stylish. No pictures exist of me wearing them, even though it's been over a year now. I'm learning to stay away when pictures are being taken.)