Singles and Doubles Vol 10
Politics, Music, Baseball, and Personal Stuff
1st INNING
I thought Kamala Harris kicked the Orange Baboon’s flabby ass in the recent debate, but after it was over, instead of being happy about her performance, I was left wishing she had hammered him even harder. However, as I wrote in a comment on another Substack,
“After I calmed down, I realized that addressing every one of his lies would use up all the time she had. His method is to overwhelm the world with his verbal diarrhea and make it impossible to refute everything in real time. He counts on the fact that some shit is going to leak through.”
The VP handled the shitstorm of lies very well. However, I think it was a mistake to call for another debate. Luckily, her felonious opponent was too stupid to accept. The only way for him to change the narrative that she kicked his ass in the debate, would be to debate again. He did terribly in the first one, why not let that be what sticks in the minds of voters? Maybe she stomps the hell out of him, just like she did before, but why give him another chance to do better? The bar for him is now at its lowest level. All he has to do is improve slightly, and people will say, “Oh, he did better than before.” And, that will be the story. Do not extend a lifeline to him with an opportunity to erase his pathetic debate performance. Better to let him twist slowly in the wind.
2nd INNING
The Song of the Week: Tiny Tears by Tindersticks, from their 1995 album Tindersticks.
This is an achingly sad song about a couple who has to break up, but they have been unable to say the words to each other. I first heard it on an episode of The Sopranos. It is haunting and meloncholy and, in a departure for me, it has no loud wailing guitars or driving backbeat. Lead vocalist Stuart Staples is an acquired taste, but his voice really works for these lyrics. It is one of those songs that makes the listener feel something. I like that.
3rd INNING
The effect super rookie Paul Skenes has had on the Pittsburgh Pirates fan base cannot be overstated. He has provided excitement and hope to a moribund franchise, emotions that have been absent for most of the last 40 odd years. I have not seen him in person, but in the games I’ve watched on TV, the excitement in the ballpark comes through the screen.
It may be unfair for us fans to anoint a 22 year old rookie, the savior of our long-suffering baseball team, but that’s the position he is in and he seems up to it, so far. Most fans of the Pirates have learned to curb their enthusiasm, but in the case of this Paul Skenes guy, it is hard not to be excited, for a change.
4th INNING
Is there a happier natural phenomenon than a rainbow? We live in a very dry part of the world, so we joyfully celebrate a rainy day. And then, if we are lucky enough to see a rainbow, even a partial one, well, it’s like getting a thoughtful, unexpected gift from a loved one. Can’t beat it.
5th INNING
To those who believe childless people have less of a stake in the governing of our country, or are somehow lesser human beings for being childless, I say “Go fuck yourself. Who the fuck are you to be saying that?” (I must be really pissed off if I’m going for the double “fuck”.) Having reproduced does not endow any special governing knowledge or insight or rights upon the reproducer, you stupid morons.
Childless people have not had the experience of creating children, but they know what it like to be a child. And, anyone planning on living into the future would obviously have a stake in that future whether they’ve had children or not. It would be like me saying I won’t go to a female doctor because she has not had the unique experience of being male. Or only those who make their own cars have a stake in planning and maintaining our roadways.
Critics of childless people like, say, J(erky) D(umbass) Vance, are exactly the kind of idiots who should not putting their defective idiot genes in the gene pool.
6th INNING
I don’t care about suspected or actual steroid users in baseball anymore. I used to view them as cheats who were unworthy of being in Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Now I believe, if the numbers say they’re worthy, then let them in. And, by the way, there are already drug abusers, racists, cheats, and other ne’er-do-wells enshrined there. It’s the Baseball Hall of Fame, not the Baseball Hall of Saints.
The fact is, we do not know for sure who was juicing and who wasn’t back in the 90s and the 00s. The most famous of the suspected cheaters, all-time home run leader Barry Bonds, never failed an official Major League Baseball drug test, to my knowledge. MLB did not even test for steroids until the 2003 season, although steroid use before then was kind of an open secret.
Bonds has said he did not know he was being given steroids by his trainers. Yeah right, Barry, whatever. Whether he knew or not, it’s obvious he juiced. Just compare a picture of Bonds in his rookie year to a picture from near the end of his career, when he was, say, 39 years old. It seems highly unlikely a human being could transform his body like that without chemical help. But, wouldn’t it stand to reason that at least some of the pitchers he faced, were using steroids, too? There’s no way to know for sure.
In my opinion, MLB did not want to know the truth. Fans were pouring into ballparks to see the home runs flying out. Everyone was making money. I believe the MLB Commissioner at the time, (Not My) Bud Selig, did not want to strangle the golden goose, so he ignored the steroid problem for as long as he could. And, guess what? They put (Not My) Bud Selig in the Hall of Fame. If the enabler gets in, why not the players he enabled?
In baseball, heck, in most sports, players are encouraged to push the boundaries in order to win. Some call it “getting an edge”. Doing whatever one can to help the team win has been valued and praised since forever. It was only called “cheating” if you got caught.
7th INNING
Obviously, I support Kamala Harris for President, and I hate, Hate, HATE, her lying liar convicted felon opponent. I would vote for a wet sack of garbage before I would vote for him. Based on her career resume and what is known about her, I think Kamala Harris will be a fine president.
There are those who wonder what she has been doing as Vice President. I have wondered that myself, on occasion. She may very well have had an important advisory and operational role in the Biden administration, but she was not out front in the limelight very much.
But, guess what? It doesn’t matter what she’s been doing the last four years! We all know what the lying liar convicted felon has been doing for the last eight years, and those who want to sign up for four more years of that, have to be out of their goddamn minds.
8th INNING
Picture of Lily. For no particular reason.
9th INNING
I guess I’ve always been a negative thinker. Sometimes I think of life as a half empty glass. There’s some really good stuff in it, but I often end up focusing on the empty part. It can take a real effort to see the glass as half full.
For many, many folks, the empty part of their life glass is due to bad luck or happenstance. People unlucky enough to have been born into poverty, or suffered tragic, life-altering events, through no fault of their own, may end up viewing their life glasses as half empty, at best.
When I’m feeling a little down because I’m obsessing over the empty part of my particular life glass, eventually I remember that I am better off than billions of people on this Earth. There is always something in my life glass, it is never empty. Not everyone is lucky enough say that.
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Something to say about Singles and Doubles Vol 10? Well, then . . .
Wow, that was all over the place, but I'll try to remember what I wanted to share. And, after all, you committed to 9 innings, so you had to DO 9 innings. Good for you. That's giving yourself a challenge and you lived up to it! Good Job! So, DT, actually makes me ill. I believe the so called, assassination attempt was bogus and he set it up with this poor guy. Do this for us and we will be sure you get $10,000 whenever you get out of jail. Like Mary Trump reported, Donald likes to stir people up so he can retaliate when they respond to his ugly tactics. You know, an eye for an eye type of thrill for him. Look at all the attention he got for getting a piece of a splinter or something in his ear. "I felt the bullet ripping through my ear." Really, I don't even see a scar and if it was an AR bullet his ear would have been moved thru his head to the other side. Getting shot at is a thrill for him. It gets him lots of media time. He never mentioned the poor guy who actually took the direct shot in the first attempt and died right near where he was standing. Nor the others that were injured. The guy at the golf course never let off one shot and ran away. He was from Ukraine. No wonder he is angry with DT who let this damn war begin because he refused to help their President have the weapons the Americans voted to give him to stop it when Russia began invading Ukraine. DT said he would help, then pulled out of his agreement because Putin told him not to help.
Ah, the baseball story. I loved Sammy Soto when he played with the Cubs. He snuck out because he was supposedly using drugs. It saddened me. He was really fun to watch. The Reds have a smaller field so we can watch more home runs. It makes the game a lot more fun. Who wants to watch a 1 - 0 game for 3 hours? Not I, but we still get them. It's a waste of time. I could be on t he deck laying in the sun to please my dermatologist and help her send her kids to college.
And how about Pete Rose. there he is over on the West Side of Cincinnati hoping against hope that he will still get into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Oh no, not while your least favorite Bud Selig was there. Pete never bet against his own team, so he never threw a game. He was one of the best baseball players of all time. And now look at Sports Betting! He was a drop in the bucket compared to today. I wonder all the time how many empires and referees are betting on those game they officiate. I've seen some pretty horrible football calls already this year. And seen some so called strikes 6 inches out of the batter's box. Come on, already! Give Pete his earned reward while he is still here to get it. He did get into the Red's Hall of Fame and that's something, at least.
The half glass was a good one. If the ice sits there long enough, it will keep filling up again. The Cat knew. Cats know a lot they don't want you to know.
The song was sad, NORM. You were all the over the place with my emotions here. I didn't particularly like the singer and the words almost made me cry, but I couldn't relate to them in actuality. The violins were good at the end, I thought.
Now I'm worried about all the butterflies in your valley.
Everyone has to get out and vote, that's all I got to say, that I can remember. Vote BLUE!!!!!