Well, those last two games went better than I expected. Short recap (and funny shot of Indians GM Mark Shapiro and his wife) at Surving Grady: With All Due Respect to Ryan Garko, Champagne Tastes Much Sweeter at Home.

I've come across this video here and there, and it never ceases to crack me up.



Funny to see the original source clip from some Japanese TV show.

Daring Fireball has recently been on a tear singing (and linking to) the praises of the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens, and I couldn't agree more. For about $80 ("the best deal in photography") you get a great lens -- though with less-than-great construction -- that is a lot of fun to use and a great learning tool. I find it especially good for portrait photos (some of my shots with that lens are here). I recently convinced photo friend Hollister to get one, and she'll back me up on it.

About the only good thing I can say about last night's game ("The Gagne/Lopez Comedy Hour"), besides the fact that I was smart (or lucky) enough to call it a night at 1:30 when it was only 8-6, is that I don't have to watch Eric Gagne play again this year. True, Gagne can't be blamed 100% for the loss (how many hits on 0-2 counts did Schilling give up?) but I'm tired of seeing him come out of the bullpen. (He really had 84 consecutive saves? And has actually pitched 1-2-3 innings before?)

Sure, he might pitch a game for the Sox again, but it's going to be in one of three situations:

1. A Boston blowout. With Sox ahead by 6+ runs (gotta have enough of a lead to allow Gagne to give up a grand slam) it's "safe" for Gagne to pitch.
2. An opposition blowout. If the Sox are down by 6+ runs in the 9th, go ahead and bring in Gagne. He can't make it much worse.
3. A close game. Either the game is tied, or the Sox are up/down by a single run. If Gagne comes in, chalk up a couple for the bad guys.

Any way you look at it, it's time to turn off the game and go to bed.

I wasn't an English major but I am kind of a grammar snob, which is why I'm really enjoying the "blog" of "unnecessary" quotation marks. Unnecessary quotes really make me think twice before buying home made "soup".

And if you like that site, you may also enjoy Apostrophe Abuse.

15 Things Kurt Vonnegut Said Better Than Anyone Else Ever Has Or Will (Onion AV Club)

If you're a jerk, here's an ecard you can send to your Yankee fan friends:



(Hopefully this same ecard won't be needed for Sox fans...)

Recently there have been a couple nice articles about Red Sox: Terry Francona in Yahoo Sports and Jonathan Papelbon in Sports Illustrated.

See you at 6:30!

Uni Watch is a blog all about sports uniforms, and often has some interesting articles. (It's where I learned about baseball's "futuristic" uniforms...glad I missed those games.) Anyway, there's a pretty good one about hidden elements in sports logos (inspired by a discussion of the FedEx logo's negative space arrow). In it they mention the Hartford Whalers "HW" (a fantastic logo, IMO) and also schooled me about the "MB" in the old Milwaukee Brewers glove logo.

Speaking of logos, on a trip last week I noticed at the airport that Northwest Airlines has changed their logo, which I think is a shame. The old one combined the N and W into a simple, single element: what looks like an italicized N becomes a W with the arrow in the top left -- which, of course, is pointing northwest. The new logo just makes me think of this NWA...

The Sox (finally) win the AL East, I won't say anything to my Mets-following family and friends, and Jon in Philly watches a great comeback. Let the playoffs begin...