Morning, all.
I'm looking around right now, and there just flat-out isn't much in the way of new ground to cover. Jake Westbrook's contract is the same as it was a week ago. There still is no Albert Pujols deal, though you would think as much as both sides want to get it done (at least, that's what they keep telling us, and they'd never lie to us, right?), it would have been taken care of already. The posting on Tsuyoshi Nishioka is closed, and as much as I would like to believe the Cardinals made an interesting, creative move here I'll lay my next paycheck on the line they did not, choosing instead to rehash the same tired formula that failed to get it done last year. There were some interesting 40-man roster moves, which proved encouraging for a few hours, but then reality kicked in and I realised those empty spaces on the roster will almost certainly be filled by Aaron MIles and similar detritus in the coming months. Plus, Dan already covered it. Joey Votto won the NL MVP, and that's fine. It would have been okay if Albert had won it, too, but you certainly can't get angry about either option. Josh Hamilton won the AL MVP award. Cool for him. The whole comeback from junkiedom story is all kinds of inspirational, and I would give my eye teeth to never hear about it again.
Hmm. Let's see, how about on the non-baseball front? North Korea: still dicks. Steve Jobs is now selling the Beatles. (By the way, does anyone else think it would have been really funny if McCartney and Yoko had authorised Beatles For Sale and none of the other records? No? Just me? Fine. Sigh.) Some girl who can't dance lost a dance competition after staying around surprisingly long. Actually, I do have a question about that one: can someone who watches Dancing With the Stars tell me if they had Jennifer Grey do any of the songs from Dirty Dancing? 'Cause if they didn't I'm going to burn down ABC's studios. And stop staring at me like that. I know perfectly well I'm not the only person on here to ever recreate the Mickey and Sylvia call-and-response scene with his girlfriend in high school.
The dude who sculpted Kryptos, the puzzle at CIA headquarters, dropped a new clue the other day. That seems kind of cool. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just Google Kryptos. Or don't and be glad you have better things to worry about. Either way. In the good news department they're giving out handjobs for free at the airport now. So that's pretty cool.
It's the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and there really isn't much going on in the baseball world. So here's an open sort of thread for everyone. You can talk about how much you love/hate the manager or the team or the enigmatic and possibly lazy Colby Rasmus. Or the enigmatic and possibly lazy Felipe Lopez, who was offered arbitration by the Red Sox. Good move by them to pick him up just for the purpose of trying to milk an extra draft pick out of the situation. Or you can do that whole thing where you talk about what you're thankful for in life. That's always nice. Healthy, too. Taking time to reflect on what's good in life is a very good thing in and of itself. Me? Nah, I'm too bitter and cranky this morning to go through all that. I'll feel better tomorrow, though, choking down my mother's Saharan turkey. (Wonderful cook, my mother, on nearly all fronts. Has never met a turkey she couldn't convert into hemp rope, though. It's just bizarre.) It's almost enough to make me want to grab a sword and my bible and -- what, too soon? Oh, fine. I suppose the Tragedy+Time= Comedy formula does require time as an ingredient.
All of you, have a very happy Thanksgiving, and a very happy Wednesday, and a very happy Black Friday if you choose to partake. I'll see you all next week, when hopefully something cool will happen the evening before I write. It makes the job ever so much easier, you know.
The Baron's Playlist for the 24th of November, 2010
"Love is Strange" - Mickey and Sylvia
"In the Still Of the Night" - the Five Satins
"Band of Gold" - the Afghan Whigs
"Let's Build a Campfire There" - Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti
"Anne Elephant" - Someone Still Love You, Boris Yeltsin (The pride of Springfield, Missouri)
"Where Did the Naughty Little Girl Go?" - Gary U.S. Bonds
"Without You" - Sylvain Sylvain
"Always on My Mind" - Elvis Presley