Grand Slams!

The record for grand slams in a game by a pitcher is 2, by former Red Sox pitching coach Tony Cloninger.

Jim Lonborg, then with the Phillies, was the pitcher who hit the most recent grand slam, back in 1974.


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David Leisure lives on

Richard Mulligan, who played Harry Weston on Empty Nest, died September 26, 2000.








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Fruity

I wouldn't have been able to identify an apricot in the wild.




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Is this thing on?

So technology rendered my notebook gimmick obsolete - everyone has a phone with the Internet, so information is always available. But not everyone is going to put it out there in a stupid blog. But I will.

Naturally, this is going to be a disaster because 1) I do this mostly while drinking and 2) have Jimmy Dean sausage fingers.

Since I should close with something I looked up, you should know that the Asian guy in The Green Hornet isn't Harold from Harold and Kumar. He's wearing a mask in the commercial, so this isn't a racist mistake.


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New Year, new post!

Storming into 2007... without much to say. But we're going to say it, goddammit. Cleaning out the old notebook. (I'm procrastinating, obviously.)

Brad Halsey was traded by the Yankees to the Diamondbacks in January, 2005 as part of the package the Yanks gave up for Randy Johnson. Halsey was then traded to Oakland for Juan Cruz in March, 2006. On May 20, 2006, Halsey gave up a home run to Barry Bonds. The home run was the 714th of Bonds' career, tying him with Babe Ruth for second on the all time list. (Bonds, obviously, has since passed Ruth.) The question I wrote was, "How did Brad Halsey end up with the A's?" and the date is May 20. Presumably, that's why we were talking about it.

Next up, MC Hammer! MC Hammer dropped the MC before he released "Too Legit to Quit" in 1991. The video is another reason to thank youtube. (You'll also notice that the tag in the corner for the video says "Hammer", not MC Hammer.

Rudy Seanez pitched for the Red Sox in 2003, before returning in 2006.

I'm not going to watch the video over and over again trying to figure out what the hook is, but for some reason (presumably at the Harpoon Fest in the Spring), we tried to figure out what the hook to Coolio's seminal "Sumpin' New (1, 2, 3, 4)" was. All I know is that Coolio sucks.

Finally, more from youtube. Goddamn that Britney is funny. Watch her talk about time travel, her sore jaw and more! This has made the rounds on the internet already, but shoot I love it. "Stop looking through the peephole!"

That's all for now. We'll try and do the more frequently this year.

Support your local hippies!

Not that anyone sees this anymore, because I never update, but here's a little promotion for Mepos, the band. Mepos is a rock/roll/jam band based out of Rhode Island, and features my good friend (and shortest resident of 59 Green) on the drums. I hate hippies and jam bands and all that nonsense, but I actually enjoy watching these guys. Maybe it's because I know them, but whatever...

Anyway, enough rambling. Mepos is playing Wednesday, May 3rd at Harper's Ferry, on Cambridge Street in Allston. Mepos will be headlining, which is good, but they also won't be going on until around 11:45. I know it's a school night and all, but the more people that make it out, the better nights Mepos will get down the road. (Oh, and Harper's features Moosehead drafts for like $2.50 or something like that.)

I promised Mario I'd pimp them, so here it is. Hope to see you Wednesday.

How white?

We're trying to figure out what the whitest song out there is, but there are a few rules. It can't be cowboy or country (no John Denver or "Thank God I'm a Country Boy"), it can't be heavy metal / hair band (no "Cum on Feel the Noize" or Def Leppard songs), and it can't be "ethnic" music, because everyone knows Irish drinking songs are white. We're talking WASP-y white music. The leader, so far, is Christoper Cross' "Sailing". I've never heard the song, so I can't say, but is there a whiter song out there?

Erroneous!

Did you know that there was no such thing as the Brontosaurus? Turns out some jackass paleontologist took one dinosaur head and put it on the wrong dinosaur body and thought he had created a new kind of dinosaur. Not so much. (The USPS didn't care, and actually put it on a stamp. That made all kinds of "scientists" mad.)

I don't have a whole lot, but thought I'd share this. It upset me to learn this...the Brontosaurus was pretty much my favorite dinosaur.

You just love my bloggy style.

I'm going to start this with some self-indulgence. If you're wondering how my genius operates, I'm laying in bed, listening to The Pogues and watching NASCAR. So there. One of these days I'll be listening to Morrissey and crying, I promise.

There seem to be quite a few hemp beers out there (you may need to register for that...sorry). The one I was thinking of was the 420 IPA from Stone Coast Brewing, but there is nothing to indicate that there is hemp in that one. It's just the name to get the hippies excited.

In looking up the history of the Ivy League, I came across this, and the only nice thing they could say about Yale is that they hosted the World Special Olympics in 1995. That's about right. Wikipedia has a pretty good history, but there isn't anything about Holy Cross or Rutgers ever being offered admission. But, back in the day, it seemed to be a much looser organization that really was formed for the safety of goalposts everywhere. Like these nerds had nothing better to do? Really? In 1935 the Associated Press said, "the athletic authorities of the so-called 'Ivy League' are considering drastic measures to curb the increasing tendency toward riotous attacks on goal posts and other encroachments by spectators on playing fields." It was 1935! The Depression had just ended, and Hitler was about to visit Poland! And the geeks wanted to keep the goalposts safe? Man.

Now I'm all worked up, so here.

At the B Side the Shlitz/green chartreuse frapp combo is called the Windsor Hi Low. If you're ever in Cambridge, give it a try.

I don't know what transit police can and can't do. They can give tickets, I think they have their own jails, but I don't know if they can shoot to kill or not. I wouldn't be surprised if they can.

Yes, The Bravery sing "Honest Mistake". Take a look at them. They look like girls. But they're obviously cool, because they all look like they have better things to do than have their pictures taken. I'm calling them lame, and I'm basing it on that one photo. This is the Internet - it was made for irrational snap judgments.

When playing 301/501, the real way to play involves ending with a double. If you have 20 left to go, you need to hit a double 10 to win. But, you can choose to play without that rule. Check it out here. Or maybe you just want to play annoying intarweb darts.

Yeah, if you owe people money, they garnish your wages. I guess I knew that, but it sounds funny, for some reason.

Jeff Hironaka is the Asian-American basketball coach of Seattle Pacific University, a Division II school. The Seattle Times wrote about him.

Here's a little experiment. Here's an old picture of Axl Rose. (Someone tell the guys from The Bravery that the "rock stars who look like girls" has been done before.) And here we have the new Axl. It doesn't even look like the same guy. Axl sucks, anyway. It's all about Dizzy Reed.

Computer Hacking Skills, Bow Hunting Skills

Here's an awful lot of information about The Golden Girls. And you can even listen to the theme song here, if you have RealPlayer.

Here's the Quadratic Formula, which the good people running the Boston Bar Sports Triathalon needed to figure out who won what events. Who would have guessed that a day of drinking and playing darts would end in such complex math nonsense.

Herve Villechaize played Tattoo on "Fantasy Island". He died in 1993, and was an uncredited midget in "Chappaqua". He was French, and he killed himself in Hollywood.

"The Other Half" was the man's answer to "The View". It was hosted by Dick Clark, Danny Bonaduce, Mario Lopez (who now works a lot on the animal channel - how the mighty have fallen!), and some guy named Dr. Jan. (No word on the kind of doctor he was, or even if he was some kind of real doctor.) Dr. Jan left the show before it was cancelled, and he was replaced by Dorian Gregory, who is a hall of fame guy for appearing as a guest in TV shows, such as "Hangin' With Mr. Cooper" and "The Steve Harvey Show". It should be noted that both Dr. Jan and Dorian Gregory were playing the Star Jones character on "The Other Half" (as the black one, not the fat one).

Jimmie Foxx hit 50+ home runs twice, in 1932 (58 for the Philadelphia Athletics) and 1938 (50 for the Red Sox). I didn't think he had ever hit 50. I was wrong, which should come as no surprise.

Paul Gleason was the principal in "The Breakfast Club". He's been in a ton of other stuff. And the hasidic reggae guy is Matisyahu.

Men Without Hats sang Safety Dance. In France, their known as Men Sans Hats. "Men at Work" was the movie starring Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen, which was improbably written and directed by Emilio himself.

In 1998, the year Barry Bonds allegedly began using steroids (I only say allegedly so I don't get sued), Mark McGwire hit 70 home runs and Sammy Sosa hit 66. Bonds hit 37, which is still a ton.

Here's a really long article about clapping. I think it answers the question, "Why did people start clapping?", but I don't know. I didn't read it. It's too long, and I'm not sure I really care.

In 2004, a trademark suit was brought against "Macho Man" Randy Savage by the makers of Kool Aid, because of his use of the phrase "Oh yeah!" Now, here's the thing that bothers me. Randy Savage started wrestling in 1985 - why did it take Kool Aid 20 years to sue? Did it really take them 20 years to figure this out?

I can't find anything about a squirrel song from "There's Something About Mary".

As far as I can tell, the song "Mexican Radio" has been sung by no fewer than 7 different artists, including Lee Press-on and the Nails, Stan Ridgeway, Authority Zero (the version I just bought on iTunes) and El Vez. I don't know who did it first, or why it's such a popular song to cover.

McDonald's milkshakes do, indeed, contain milk, if you believe McDonald's. I can't find anything about the Shamrock shakes once being pistachio flavored (they're now mint, and delicious), but McDonald's used to have Uncle O'Grimacey, Grimace's Irish uncle. I love him.

Yes, trampolining is an Olympic event. Ballet skiing isn't...yet.

The University of Alabama is the big school in Huntsville, Alabama, but there are 11 others. Oregon State is in Corvallis. Go Beavers!

Pig organs, in terms of size and shape, are similar to humans. It seems like there's been an awful lot of talk about using pig organs in humans, but there isn't any evidence that it's safe. They may use tendons or muscles, but I don't think we'll be seeing any pig liver transplants any time soon.

That's all. Remember, click the ads. And tell your friends. And have your pets spayed or neutered.

Thank you, Captain German!

Hookers at the Point...5 years later. Really, am I supposed to be surprised that they're still hookers? For real? If you told me any of them were out of being prostitutes, I'd be more surprised. Anyway, remember to click the ads. I'll buy you a drink.

First. here's the link to the "Beat It" video. It doesn't work on my computer, but Basil tells me that in the knife fight, their hands are tied right hand to left. This seems unfair to me...if both combatants are right handed, one is at a disadvantage. But, as Basil said, "Knife fights, like life, are often not fair." Truer words have never been spoken.

The Union Oyster House is not only the oldest restaurant in Boston, but the oldest restaurant in continuous operation in the U.S. Also, the Oyster House was the first place in America where the toothpick was used. Seriously, though, how do you prove that? There is no way that someone thought this event was so significant that they needed to chronicle it, right?

The Hynes Convention Center/ICA stop was originally named Massachusetts, before being renamed Auditorium in 1965. In 1990, it took on its current name. I'm thinking ICA stands for Institute of Contemporary Art, based solely on the fact that the Hynes Convention Center is located at 900 Boylston and the ICA is at 955 Boylston, for now. They are currently building a new ICA on the waterfront in Southie...accessible by the Silver Line. which is considered a subway route, even though it's a bus. Go figure.

"Suum cuique", which is above the bar at Jacob Wirth's, is Latin for "To each his own". A good sentiment, if I do say so myself.

A bizarre Australian guy named Rolf Harris wrote "Tie Me Kangaroo Down Spot", apparently because he was influenced by Harry Belafonte. Also, the line "Let me Abos go, Lou" was deemed offensive enough to have the song banned in Singapore. Apparently, nonsense is offensive. So offensive, in fact, that it causes censorship to run rampant in Singapore. Weird. (Upon further investigation, Abos may be a slur for Australian aborigines. Why this would offend the Singaporeans, I have no idea. But Wikipedia has at least a partial list of ethnic slurs. It's interesting, because they're not only slurs to be used by white Americans. One of the first ones is "48'ers", which is used by Alaskans to refer to people from the contiguous 48 states. I don't see this being a slur any more than people from Hawaii referring to folks from the contunuous 48 as "mainlanders".)

Jerry Seinfeld really is 51. He was born April 29, 1954.

Finally, here's a list of the most recent Constitutional amendments, courtesy Basil. His sources are here and here.

22nd Amendment (1951) - Presidential term limits

23rd Amendment (1961) - Presidential vote for District of Columbia: DC gets the vote!

24th Amendment (1964) - Poll tax barred: This was to keep Southern states from preventing black people from voting

25th Amendment (1967) - Presidential disability and succession: Prez dies or resigns, Veep becomes Prez. Prez then nominates new Veep, Congress approves. Prez can declare himself unable to perform duties, Veep takes over. Veep (plus posse) can declare Prez unable to perform, Veep takes over. Etc. (1967)

26th Amendment (1971) - Voting age set to 18 years: If you can die for your country, you get the vote. Side note: this became an amendment only because Oregon threw a hissy fit when Congress tried introducing this as a bill.

27th Amendment (1992) - Congressional pay increases: Any change in pay takes effect after the next election. Side note: this was originally proposed back in 1789, as part of the original Bill of Rights (!). But it took two hundred years to get ratified.

Cleaning up the weekend...at work.

I forget why I wrote down "UHF the movie", but I did. Actually, Eagle quoted it. That's why I wrote it down. I forget the quotation, though. Of course, I'm going to seriously doubt that Eagle remembers either. (Edited to add: Eagle did remember. It was: "You get to drink from the fire hose!")

I'm determined to figure out what hands were tied together in the Beat It video, but I'm at work, and I'm afraid to spend too much time Googling "Michael Jackson beat it knife fight" before the IT hacks show up at my desk to drag me out of here.

Quick notes...Eagle doesn't like Kevin Dillon's choice of music, and Sean wanted a reminder to buy some Billy Ocean. That, and developmentally challenged people love Huey Lewis.

I'll see your Billy Ocean, and I'll raise you a Funky Town.

Credit, Civics, Hockey...And Roz!

First things first...I don't know anything about "The Cosby Show" episode featuring some kind of challenge, said with a strange French inflection. Plus, there's a lot to get to, so grab a drink and get comfortable.

To start, we're turning the reins over to Basil for a minute. Here's some stuff he dug up on various things (I won't editorialize, as I'm not qualified to editorialize on anything).

The three credit bureaus all reported fairly consistent numbers, with Experian giving the highest score, Transunion a couple points behind, and Equifax 26 points back. Percentilewise, Equifax put me nine percent behind Experian (Transunion was 1% behind Experian).

As far as my credit report, Experian had the most information, including my employment history, which neither Transunion or Equifax had. Experian had not yet updated their records to show I'm back at a company I used to work for. Transunion missed a couple address changes, as it reported my parent's address as my third most recent address.

Transunion had more records of accounts, but only because it still has records of some accounts that have long been closed/inactive.

Of the three inquiries into my account, Equifax was used for two, Experian for one.

The difference between a charge card and a credit card is that a credit card allows you to carry a balance and a charge card doesn't .

Finally, here's the Passion of the Benny Hill. Horrific, but funny. (Editor's Note: This is bloody. Funny, but bloody.)

Big, big thanks to Basil. I couldn't really see myself looking any of that stuff up.

So, everyone is worked up about Bryant Gumble's comments on the Winter Olympics. Just because the Ancient Greeks didn't have ice (or snow) (or, for that matter, indoor plumbing, running water, or the intarweb) and the lack of black athletes "makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention". The whole thing is fairly ridiculous.

Ryan Miller, goalie for the Buffalo Sabres played his college hockey at Michigan State.

Speaking of hockey, Dave Poulin, former Bruin forward. He also played his college hockey at Notre Dame. For some reason, last Saturday (2/18/06) he was analyzing the Cornell v Harvard hockey game between periods.

There was, for whatever reason, a discussion about how Constitutional Amendments are ratified. I don't know how they do it, but 3/4ths of all states must approve them. There are two ways amendments get to the states, and the president never gets involved.

So, um, yeah. Apparently, Kid Rock and Scott Stapp have a sex tape together, with 4 women...supposedly. Kid, however, is suing to make sure the video is never released. We may never know if there really were four other women on there with them. I kind of hope we never find out.

Everyone remembers that all of the settlers in Roanoke mysteriously vanished. Only Basil came close to remembering what was carved on the post: "Croatan".

In 1990, Harvard hockey player, and the current head coach of the Crimson, Ted Donato appeared on everyone's favorite game show. I'd tell you more, but the article tells the whole story pretty well.

In August of 2004, New York Met pitcher Tom Glavine lost some teeth in a taxi accident near LaGuardia. The good news? He didn't go on the disabled list. And the Mets...won the World Series?

Two quick things from the Slam Dunk Contest last Saturday...Spud Webb (I don't even know if that's him on the right, but it's a funny picture nonetheless) was only 5'6" when he played. (Though he is the shortest player ever to win a dunk contest.) Dee Brown won the Slam Dunk contest in 1991. (This was the year he covered his eyes and pumped his pumps.)

Marsha Warfield was in the Mr. T classic D.C. Cab. It's unclear if she knows there's a shot named after her. I guess she'd be proud.

If you've made it this far, you may have noticed there were ads at the top. If you have nothing better to do, click one or two every now and again. I'm not looking for enough money to quit my job. Once you click the ads enough, I get a check for $100. When I get that check, I may buy a round or two of drinks.

Let's Go Curling!

The first indoor curling rink opened in Brookline in 1920. They actually do this at the Brookline Country Club - and the only website is 10 years old.

Here we have more beer pong rules and variations. I'm entirely too lazy to a) read them and b) summarize them.

Punch a Hydrant in the Face

Honestly, wasted blogging rules!

If Eagle were to dance with his rolled ankle, he'd be doing "The Sprain", one of the better episodes of SBTB, starring Casey Kasem. (Correct spelling is for jerks!)

Dick Stockton has been broadcasting since 1978, but he's older than that.

Magic Johnson announced that he was HIV positive in 1991. I was in 6th grade, if you care.

I'm not exactly thinking right about now, but...if a short, fat kid wants to fight you (and I'm a tall, fat kid, so screw) call him a fire hyhdrant.

If I get around to it, I will compile some sort of Beruit/Beer Pong rules...because we're too old to not know the rules.

Mine's the Sun!

At the B Side lounge in Cambridge, they serve the “Windsor Hi Low", which is a Green Chartreuse frapp served with a pounder can of Schlitz. This may seem like a good idea (and the bartenders will give you a really sexy description of Chartreuse), but it isn’t. It turns out Chartreuse tastes a lot like grass clippings that have been run through juicer.

In the state of Massachusetts, district attorneys are elected, not appointed. I can’t recall ever voting for one, but I also don't plan on being prosecuted by one, so I guess I shouldn’t really care.

The Publick House in Brookline offers Stump Team Trivia Sunday nights at 8:30 p.m. This is the same time trivia takes place at the White Horse Tavern, but I’m betting that the Publick House’s trivia jockey is nowhere near as cool as Will at the White Horse.

If the moon was made of barbecue spare ribs, would you eat it? I know I would. Turns out Harry Caray wasn’t such a nice guy, according to Milo Hamilton, Caray’s former broadcast partner.

This is lame, I know, but the US women's hockey team just went to OT in the semi-final with Sweden, so I need to watch. And please try to remember, guns don't shoot their friends by accident...Dick Cheney shoots his friends by accident.

Disparaging the boot is a bootable offense!

The Pontiac Silverdome hosted Superbowl XVI between the Cincinnati Bengals and the San Francisco 49ers. Yeah, guess who won this one? Well, the final score was 26-21, and the MVP was Joe Montana.

Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd was arrested back in November for making phone threats on an ex-girlfriend. If anyone knows where he his, both the Brockton Rox and I would appreciate an update. They have a pitching rotation to fill, and I'm thinking about buying season tickets to the Rox.

Is there anything more confusing than the weight classes in boxing? There are no fewer than 15 different classes, according to the major boxing organizations. (By the way, is there anything more annoying than the fact that there are something like 457 different organizations that control boxing? Didn't the World Series start like this? The American and National leagues wanted no part of each other, until the owners realized they could make a more money by having the champion of each play one "championship" series. Wouldn't that work with boxing? Does that happen in boxing already?)

The constitutional amendments are pretty funny, especially between 18 and 21. (The proper way to denote that may be with Roman numerals, but whatever.) Amendment 18 started prohibition in 1920 (ratified in 1919), then a year and a half later, 19 gave women the right to vote. (And let's be honest. These two events are connected. Men couldn't run to the bar whenever their wives (or mistresses or daughters) started harping on them for equal rights. They had to listen, and had to make them happy.) Then, in 1933, everyone realized how crazy sobriety can be, and they got rid of prohibition with the 21st Amendment. (I, of course, am only partially kidding. I know the proper way to denote an amendment is with Roman numerals. I just don't care.)

Senator Edward M "Ted" Kennedy was born February 22, 1932, meaning he's almost 74. He was first elected to the senate in 1962, to finish the term of his brother, John (who, you may have heard, or even remember, was elected president in 1960, while serving as a senator from Massachusetts). Since then, he's been elected to seven full terms. He also swims laps in a pool with goggles, flippers and maybe even a snorkel. I may be inventing that last detail.

And remember, it's not one time monkey want wife.

SoupBowl Sundae, suckas!

There's a lot to get to, y'all, and I don't even know who the Super Bowl MVP was, though I think it should have been Jerome Bettis' mom, or the Rolling Stones' half-time androgyny.

Sandra Day O'Connor (or, as I call her, SDOC) tossed the coin at the 2006 Rose Bowl, where Texas upset USC. This, of course, is in response to Tom Brady tossing the coin at Super Bowl XL.

Hugh Hefner has 4 children, according to imdb.com (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005005/bio). Two with his first wife, Mildred, to whom he was married from 1949 to 1959, and two with Kimberly, who he was married to from 1989 to 1999. No idea how old they are - though we can do some math. The first two are old, the second two aren't old enough...yet.

Jonathan Davis, the singer from Korn, has a child he named Pirate. Johnny Depp's child is Lily-Rose. Johnny Depp, of course, is cooler than Jonathan Davis, BTW.

John Madden was born April 10, 1936, in Austin, Minnesota. This makes him 69 years old, as of tonight. Eagle was 100% correct. For posterity's sake, Katie guessed 74, Rich had 68 while Feds and I said 63.

Uncle Joey was Joseph Alvin Gladstone on "Full House", where he was Ranger Joe, with that annoying woodchuck thing (named Mr. Woodchuck).

On dictionary.com, cardigan is defined as "a knitted garment, such as a sweater or jacket, that opens down the full length of the front." Yes, it's a cardigan, even if it zips.

The only things I have to look up is Tom Brady's winning percentage with gloves on vs. without, but I may be too lazy to find it out. The other thing is, what the hell is the difference between a union and a player's association? I'll look that up later, because I'm curious. I'll let you know.