On Barry Bonds, Again

Earlier in the season, I was hoping for Barry to retire after the season. He wasnt producing, and if he came back, the Giants were probably going to have to pay him money that he didnt deserve. And lets be honest, for the Giants to start "rebuilding" (harsh word), Barry can't be in the picture. He ties up money, and he's old, and if he's not producing, it sucks. But then September came around. On the 27th of this month, in Bonds' last 28 games, he's hitting .382, with 10 home runs and 26 RBI. He has proved he still has it. He just maybe doesnt have it all season long. But he knows when to turn it on. So now I want him to come back. I can wait one more year for the Giants to start "rebuilding."

He is 21 HRs behind Hank Aaron for the all time lead. Here's the thing people: he is probably going to come back, and he is probably going to break the record. The best thing for you Bonds haters to do is to just start accepting it. Know that it is going to happen. It will make it much easier for you when he does break it. You should also know that had he not been injured last year, the record would have already been broken by now. So while I wouldn't mind if he retires, I wouldn't mind having him back either. I don't think I want him to play for another team, though. Unless he wins a world series. He does deserve that. But I know the Giants don't want to see him break the record in another uniform, and I'm not sure how much other teams want him. So my prediction is that he comes back to the Giants for one more year. And that sounds alright.

Here's what's interesting though. Say he does break the record. And say (god forbid), he doesn't get into the Hall of Fame because the media sucks ass and hates him. Then you would have the all time home run leader, and the all time hits leader (Pete Rose) not in the Hall of Fame. How rediculous would that be. I think that would be an embarassment to the sport. Almost to the point that Major League Baseball would have to do something about it. Anyway, that's my story.

On the Giants, Again

Well, the time has arrived again. The "wait til next year" season started on like Monday or something. Let me tell you, it blows. This was a frustrating season for the Giants. Hovering around .500 the whole year, but remaining in the races, but having a number of glaring faults all the while. I have to say, in my heavily biased opinion, the Giants have got to be the most frustrating team to be a fan of in all of baseball. Until they win a World Series, I will never forgive them for blowing it in 2002. That being said, I will always unconditionally love the Giants. But let's take a trip down memory lane, shall we?
1989 - I was 5 years old. This is the first season I can remember. And a magical season at that. Brett Butler, Robby Thompson, Will the Thrill, Keving Mitchell, Dave Dravecky, etc. We go to the World Series, and then just absolutely get destroyed by the A's.
[by the way, I know some people are opposed to fans referring to their team as "we." I'm not. I can see why some people dont like it, but for all intensive purposes here, its just easier. So deal with it]
1993 - This was where I really became a diehard. Barry Bonds was signed in the offseason in what would become arguably the best free agent signing in all of sports...ever. Seriously. We win 103 games, and don't go to the playoffs. The last day of the season the Dodgers beat the shit out of us, and the Braves won their 104th game. It was a horrible, HORRIBLE, day.
1997 - Another magical season. Remember the Brian Johnson game? We beat the Dodgers for the division title, and promptly get swept by the Marlins in the first round. Devastating.
1998 - Lose to the Cubs in a one-game playoff for the Wild Card spot.
2000 - Move into a new ballpark, which happens to be the best in the league, make the playoffs, but lose to the Mets in the first round.
2001 - Barry Bonds becomes the new home run king, but we don't make the playoffs, rendering the acheivement pretty much nothing to celebrate.
2002 - we dont talk about.
2003 - There is not 1 day during the regular season in which the Giants are not in first place. Who does that? Anyway, we meet the Marlins again in the first round. Jose Cruz Jr. drops a routine flyball. JT Snow gets thrown out at the plate, which ends the series and the season.
2004 - Eliminated from playoff contention by a Dodger-blue clad Steve Finley grand slam. Come on. That was horse shit.
2005 - We get Moises Alou, hopes are extremely high at the beginning of the year. But Barry can't recover from 3 surgeries until September, only plays 14 games, and the Giants have their first losing season since 1996. However, due to the sad state of the NL West, they were actually in contention for a bit towards the end of the season. We were kidding ourselves though.
2006 - Expectations are just as high as in 2005 except for the fact that they were high in 2005. And in a better, but similar season, we drag along, waiting for something to happen, and it never does.
So that's what happened in my life for the better part of the last 2 decades. So I'm making the argument that this is the most frustrating baseball team to be a part of. Like I said though, the opinion is heavily biased. Whenever a team loses in the playoffs, its devastating to their fans. But I don't know. The Giants have had more than their share. I think you could make a case for the Cubs, just cuz they suck so bad and havent won in such a long time. But the Giants have not won a WS in over 50 years, so they have to be near the top of that list. What pisses me off is that the Marlins have been in existence for less than 15 years, and they've won 2. And they don't even have fans. It should be noted that in 1997, and 2003, when the Giants were eliminated by the Marlins, the Marlins went on to win the whole thing. So it is pretty clear that the Giants were the second best team in the Major Leagues those years. But that's neither here nor there. I think you could make a case for the Braves as the most frustrating team. 14 division titles in a row, and just 1 WS ring to show for it. But at least they got 1. My life will seriously feel much more complete when the Giants win one. Plus I hate the Braves.

Shania

Apologies for posting twice in one day. Seems lame. But I've got the time I felt I needed to share. Shania Twain has always been at or near the top of my best-looking-in-the-world list. I had never seen this video all the way through though. Watch it and try and tell me that she is not the most beautiful woman ever created.

Going out

So this weekend was slightly interesting in that both Friday and Saturday nights I went out at 1:00 am. Is that weird? Back in Tacoma or Burlingame, 1 am was usually around the time we came home from the bars. But I guess that's just the way things work in NYC. It's rare that you would go out before 11, and the bars close at 4 I think. Personally, I think it's a bit of a shame. I'd much rather start drinking earlier, go out eariler, and come home earlier. Then you can wake up earlier the next day and get more out of it. But I guess New York City is just too cool.

meh

So I don't know how much you people follow sports, but the other night in LA, the Dodgers beat the Padres in what had to be one of the best finishes of all time. I can appreciate it, but since it was the Dodgers who won, I cannot enjoy it, which sucks. What happened was this: Dodgers were down by 4 in the bottom of the ninth. Then they hit back to back to back to BACK home runs to tie the game. 4 home runs in a row has happened like 4 times before this or something. And this was in the bottom of the ninth inning, to tie the game, in a battle for first place, in September. It's quite nuts. Then in the 10th inning the Padres went ahead again by a run. But in the bottom of the tenth inning, Nomar Garciapara hits a walk-off 2-run home run. Had this happened at AT&T Park in San Francisco, with the Giants on the winning end, I probably would have cried of happiness if I was there to witness it. So while I do not like Dodger fans, and I do not respect them, I am jealous of what they experienced the other night. It's not like I've never attended a dramatic Giants victory, but I have to say, this was beyond dramatic. I fucking hate the Dodgers though. Soooo much.

4 Questions

1) If you could be really good at one musical instrument, what would it be? Not necessarily the best in the world, but good enough so that people would be like "Wow. He/She is fucking good." Mine would be the piano. Then the violin. Then the drums. Maybe drums before violin. I just wish I could play the violin. But I wish I could play the piano most.

2) If you could win a gold medal in any olympic sport (winter or summer), what would it be? I think would choose beach volleyball.

3, and most importantly) If you could do one thing that some human being has done before, what would it be? Remember, someone has to have done it before, so answering something like "Stop 9/11 from happening" is not a valid answer. For me, I think I've narrowed it down to two things, but cannot decide which I would want more: to walk on the moon, or to hit a walk-off home run to win the World Series.

4, and even more most importantly) What would you do? (click on "videos", then "what would you do?"

I would appreciate your thoughts.

Where were you?

5 years ago today, at 7:30 in the morning, I was driving to school. It was a perfectly normal day, except for the fact that I was going to school early for a Service Commission meeting (a group that you join to boost your college application). I walked into the building, and immediately noticed a group of people in the doorway of a classroom, watching television. As I approached the door, a friend asked, "Meado, did you see the news?" "No. What's up?" I replied. All he could say was "You better take a look at this."

And I did. And my mouth literally dropped wide open.

We proceeded with our brief and trivial meeting. I couldn't believe what had happened, but I also did not realize the enormity of the situation. All I could think about was how just a couple months ago, I was in New York, staring up at the seemingly endless Twin Towers. And now they were just gone.
It didn't take long for it to start sinking in. Everyone, including myself, was just sad. You said hello to your friends, but it by no means pleasant. Just somber "hey"s. In classes, we just watched the news. By the time I got home, I had decided that the death toll was going to be 10,000. At least I was way off. Still though, five years later, it's pretty shocking. We've gotten used to it, but if you actually stop and think about what actually happened, it's pretty much unbelievable.

I'm interested in what other peoples' September 11ths were like. That's why I think there should be a book called "Where Were You?" And it would just be different people writing about where they were and what happened for them that day. I guess for the book to sell, it might have to be just celebrities or people of importance, but I think regular people would be just as interesting. So maybe comment if you want.
They could also do other "Where Were You"s. Like when different records were broken, or other big news events. 9/11 would probably constitute its own book, but others they could probably lump together.

There has been surprisingly little fanfare here in NYC that I've seen. I suppose I live in the wrong part of town. Ground Zero is probably a pretty big deal right now.

Also, if you haven't seen it, I highly recommend the movie "United 93." It is by no means a pleasant experience--I could never sit still. My stomach was always turning because the whole time I knew what was gonna happen--but it is a powerful movie. It seems very realistic and made for reasons other than profit. A lot of the air traffic control guys are playing themselves, which is also cool.

We suck

So that TIME article that I linked in my last post - you may have noticed that it described the backlash against Facebook as "what may be Gen Y's first official revolution." How disappointing is that? When I first read it, it sort of bounced off of me. I noticed it, but didn't really think about it. But the more I thought about it, the more disgusted I got. Plus I heard there was a NY Times article about the same thing, even more focused on this being our "revolution."

How embarrassing it is to be in this generation. Knowing all the shit that's going on in this country and around the world, and this is what really upsets us--a trivial and superficial part of our social lives. And I'm as much to blame as anyone. Probably more - I wrote 2 blog posts about the facebook thing.

But let's take a look at some numbers. I assumed that Iraq is probably the "biggest" political issue at this point (i.e. the most likely issue for facebook users to create groups about). A global search for "Iraq" returned 404 groups. Not too unimpressive. But out of the ones I looked at, the highest membership was at just over 1500. Sensing that I was wrong in my assumption of Iraq being the most facebook-group-worthy issue, I realized it might be gay rights. "Equal rights for gays" has just over 11,000 members. Not too bad. But the facebook group the TIME article talked about had like 13,000 in just a few hours. And it now has hundreds of thousands of members. A bit depressing, no? And yes, I know, Facebook is not meant to be a forum for political discussion, but perhaps that's the problem right there. What if our parents had had facebook when they were in college? I imagine they would joined groups opposing the war in Vietnam and supporting civil rights by the hundreds of thousands. Even if facebook is not necessarily meant to be a place for political action, it still shows what we care about. And in this case, it's somewhat depressing.

A few months ago I was having a discussion with a few friends on whether we would have rather lived back then (our parents' generation), or now. I think the answer is pretty clear.

And isn't it ironic, don't you think?

Ha! I'm not crazy. Just minutes after reading this TIME article on the backlash against Facebook, I logged into facebook to find the following at the top of my very own "news feed": "Updated: 10 of your friends joined the group Students against Facebook News Feed (Official Petition to Facebook)."

You heard it from me first, folks.

RIP Steve Irwin

I, like the rest of humanity, was completely floored when I heard the Crocodile Hunter died. Death by sting ray, no less. Crazy. I think it's kind of neat that he died doing his crazy nature shit, but still sucks.

I'll always remember him for two things:
1) When South Park parodied him (in the ridiculous Aussie accent - "Now what I'm gonna do, is jam my thumb up his butthole. That should really piss 'im off.")
2) There's a SportsCenter commercial with him that you have to see. It's hilarious. Since you probably will never see it, I'll go ahead and ruin it for you: Steve a sportscenter guy are talking, waiting for the elevator. Steve is complaining about how he deserves more attention for the crazy stuff he does (something to the extent of, "when I compete, life is on the line every time. How many baseballers can say that?"). Then the elevator comes and the mascot for the Florida Gators comes out. Immediately Steve says excitedly, "Watch out, mate. Take a look at this beauty," and proceeds to tackly the mascot. Brilliant.

They do have a few SC commercials on itunes that you can watch and download for free. The Spelling Bee one is the best.

Stalkers...they lurk, they wait, they facebook

So as most people have probably noticed, facebook has expanded itself and "improved" once again. I was all for the photos, the wall, the education, work, and summer plans. I think the notes were a good addition, mainly b/c that's the reason most of the people who read this blog do so. [I realize the irony of saying "most" when there's probably not even enough people who read this to be a "most"]. But now I log in (by the way, I hate the fact that I log in. I'm ashamed of it. But I do it daily. Sometimes more. But that's neither here nor there). Now I log in and immediately I see who has just become friends with who (and when this happened), who just updated their profile (what and when included), who just wrote on who's wall (and when), etc. Pretty much any action within my network of friends--no matter how small--is shown to me. Someone told me that a friend of theirs changed their "relationship status" from "in a relationship" to "its complicated," and as soon as he walked in the door, everyone was asking him if he was ok. I think they should change it to invade-my-privacybook.

I suppose its up to the user how much they want to put into it, but it's just totally thrust in everyone's face now. Two of my friends have already wrote Notes about the new changes. Both were negative, and one was anouncing a move to MySpace. So at least I'm not the only one who thinks it's lame.

On a somewhat related note, when you go to a new school, not only do you meet a lot of new people, but you get a ton of facebook friend requests, which always makes you feel cool.

Did You Know...

That Robert Horry has made the playoffs in every one of the 13 seasons he has played in the NBA? And, he's never been knocked out in the first round. Plus he's got 6 NBA titles. What a carreer.

Also, for 10 years (from the '93-'94 season to the '02-'03 season), either Robert Horry or Steve Kerr was on the roster of every NBA championship team. During a similar 12 year stretch, the two had 11 out of 12. Cool, no?

You know what really grinds my gears?

The latest eyeware fashion. Girls - take off the oversized sunglasses. This is a fashion trend that needs to end. Being in New York City, I see a lot of good looking girls. But many times I'll see a girl who is potentially good looking, and I can't even tell because half of her face is covered by these ugly, attrociously big sunglasses. I'm going to have to start assuming that a girl wearing sunglasses that cover half of her face is doing it for a reason.

With that off my chest, here's a few other random things I want to mention:

-Add bats and eels to the list of scary/creepy animals.

-There hasn't been a good song with clapping in the background for a while. Let's get on that, pop music scene.

-It didn't take the T.O. virus that long to start attacking the Dallas Cowboys. Not only is there already tension b/t him and coach Bill Parsells, but he missed a team meeting and was fined $9500. He says he overslept. Even if you believe him, he still overslept a team meeting, which is a message in and of itself. Maybe cancer researchers should turn their attention to Terrell Owens.
That being said, TO was a central figure in two of my favorite 49er memories. 1)The game against the Cowboys, when after a touchdown he went out to the star on the 50-yard line to spike the ball...and he did that twice. And 2)The playoffs against the Packers when Steve Young threw an amazing pass and TO made an amazing catch to win the game. Take that, Brett (Stratton and Farve).