Survivor
So the next survivor might be filmed in Guatemala, in Yaxha.

It would be a shame, especially when the people in charge - who have never seen the show - can't imagine "why it would be a problem". They claim it would only be a "few people living there and a cameraman."

Maybe they should see the show before they bribe them into it.

There has been a lot of talk lately about LeBron James leaving Cleveland eventually for a bigger market, better team situation. I never really thought much of it but look at the way LeBron to his roommates in this article:

Cleveland's 100-86 win over Boston kept alive the Cavs' hopes -- though just barely -- of making the postseason, something that seemed like a lock as February drew to an end. James put up the kind of eye-popping numbers that for him, at least, have become routine -- 32 points, eight rebounds and six assists -- but what made the difference Tuesday night was a career-high 22 points from Traylor off the bench and a season-high 13 assists from Eric Snow.

"They came to play," James said. "I brought my 'A' game in the first half, let it slide a little in the second half trying to get my teammates into the game and they did a great job."

"They" came to play? "They" did a great job? With an attitude like that, there's no way he's staying in Cleveland. It feels like he's playing against the other team and he has to deal with his own teammates too. I'm not criticizing James, it's perfectly understandable that this "they" feeling has developed when you put up huge numbers every game and lose a bunch of games.

I don't get it
The game the Cubs lost on Saturday to the Reds was a big deal because they should've won it. But the bullpen was overused, everyone says, so that meant that there was only one fresh arm left: Jon Leicester. He hadn't pitched in a week though. WHy was the bullpen overworked if this guy hadn't thrown in a week? He made the team right? But all the papers say that he was "pressed into service." What does that mean? He SHOULD be in there, he's on the roster, he made the team. No one made the team because coach didn't want to hurt his feelings. Of course he wasn't going to do well after not throwing for a week.

God, Baker exhausts me sometimes. He'll play Neifi Perez every day by making up shit excuses but he can't get his bullpen in order.

I swear if I don't see Hairston at second base today I'm going to freak. Oh and that means Nomar at short and ARam at third. NO NEIFI TODAY PLEASE!

DuBois Watch
He started last night and went 0-3 with a hit by pitch and 2 Ks. He did make a nice grab in left. He went after those low pitches from Claussen.

It's still a job
Nice to see at least one major leaguer with this point of view:

But when Hermanson moved to Montreal in 1997, manager Felipe Alou immediately turned the right-hander into a starter. Hermanson took his turn in the rotation 155 times for the Expos, giving the White Sox, or any other team that went after him this offseason, a variety of ways to use him.

"It's good to be versatile," Hermanson said. "I can come over to a team like this and go to the bullpen or maybe later if something happens to a starter, I can start for them too. It doesn't matter what I'm doing. They are paying my bills, and I'll do whatever they want."

Damn straight they're paying your bills, plus you get to make a living from playing baseball.

New Pope
So I don't really care who is the next pope and all this stuff, but I was having a conversation about old people and how some people believe they should have to re-take their driving exams after a certain age. It's just nature, they lose their facilities, their skills.

So now the new pope is 75 or something and will go until he dies. Is this wise? To have the leader of your religion in a position where he probably will become senile (if he isn't already)?

I don't know, think about that one.

Some things
Dusty Baker is obsessed with playing Neifi Perez. He is a BACKUP, not a starter. It's like he's playing a video game and wants to give the underdog a shot at the lineup every game. But this is reality, Dusty, so let's get Hairston AND Garciaparra in there please.

This guy on the bus today was the most annoying person ever. He was talking about why, if they can dye the river green for one day, they can't dye it blue for the rest of the year. He was also touting how much he knew about boston and the way they talk there - but not him. Also, his next apartment should definitely have more of a view than a brick wall (his words). he was loud and I wanted to "accidentally" bump him off the bus or just straight kick his ass. It was too early in the morning for that shit.

So there is a water stain under an overpass on a street I live right next to. People think it looks like the Virgin Mary and so there is all kinds of hoopla sorrounding it. Pathetic. It's a fucking water stain you morons!

Getting Better
It's interesting and also kind of frustrating that I've probably gotten better at playing baseball in the past 4-5 years than I ever did before. And I haven't even been on an year-round practice schedule during this time. I am more mature and I feel that I've finally "gotten" the feel for certain things (mostly hitting-related).

But it's just funny how it works. I guess I'm just a real late blossomer in this field.

Books
In an effort to save money I've been checking books out of the DePaul Library for this whole year. Or from the Interlibrary system, which gives me access to all the books in the Illinois University system. Which is pretty sweet. But I broke down and splurged on Friday, buying the following:

- Middlesex (Pulitzer and Andrew has touted it)
- Moby Dick (A classic, Nelson will be happy)
- Choke (From the guy that wrote Fight Club)
- Elementary Particles (Houellebecq - french guy, the book was mentioned in some DFW-related way. Or Infinite Jest-related, I'm not sure)

Any comments?

Jason DuBois Watch
He got to start on Friday and went 1-3 with 2RBIs and a run scored on his first HR of the season.

So that makes leaves him at 4-12 (.333) with a double and a homerun, 2 runs scored and 4 RBIs. K/BB ratio is at 1/5.

Hollandsworth? He's at 9-36 (.250), 1HR, 5RBIs, 3R, 5BB and 12Ks. So basically the same production in three times the at bats than DuBois.

One thing though, I was looking over Holly's numbers from last season and I was impressed. I didn't realize how well he was doing. He was on pace for around 25HRs and 70 RBIs. Not bad. But Jason can do that and then some. Cheaper. For longer.

Re: Earlier Entry
I was looking over that baseball defense entry I typed up before and it reminded me of the time I was at the lake and I came up with a whole new game.

I don't know what made me do it, probably a combination of daydreaming, boredom, and the nice view, but I totally wrote out a brand new baseball game. It was a sort of the baseball equivalent of "Ultima Online" - which was the first game to really bring online-ness to the forefront of gaming.

THe idea was to create a role-playing game, you are one guy that you create, modify, alter, customize, etc. Then you go and practice and try to work your way up from the minor leagues up to the bigs. The catch was that everyone is a human player. Everyone on your team is an actual player.

The one thing that really excited me was that the GMs were also human. Hell, why not the umpires too? You could get an email that was like "Yo playa', you just got traded to Memphis, sux 'cause they have a stud in the bigs that plays your position, looks like the minors for you again...sorry but we got some mad players in return."

That felt awesome to me.

Actually, it was a magazine competition for the best new game idea that I wrote all this out for. I wrote like 10 pages (diagrams and everything) even though the thing I sent was a paragraph long.

Nothing happened, I didn't win. I felt I should, what a great game! I would certainly buy it if it ever existed.

THen, maybe 4 months later, I hear of this game in production called "Ultimate Baseball Online" and I was like "whaoa." Since I was modeling my game after Ultima Online, I had called it Ultimate Baseball Online, so I was very suspicious.

Turns out the game isn't that great and it isn't the game I had in mind, but still- you never know.