Tuesday, October 30, 2007

So long, Donnie Baseball...

So the Yankees have selected Joe Girardi as their new manager over 1st Base Coach Tony Pena and Bench Coach Don Mattingly...
I had misgivings about the Yanks cutting Joe Torre loose..
but nothing about this whole scenario has affected me as much as this:
the thought of Don Mattingly in any uniform other than Yankee Pinstripes..

Because, apparently now that the job is Girardi's, Donnie Baseball has told the Yanks that he's gone as well.. and speculation seems to be that he'll follow Torre wherever he may land-- currently that would appear to be in the LA Dodgers dugout.

Don Mattingly a Dodger?

Mattingly was a boyhood hero for me, growing up. He was everything that was right and humble and work-a-day about baseball. Go out, put the bat on the ball, help your team win.

I realized a few days ago that I just couldn't support Mattingly for the manager's job. He's got no management experience at any level. And the last thing I'd want would be a Mattingly tenue to go down in flames... so Girardi seems like the right choice.. for right now..
But there's a big part of me that hopes that Mattingly will be back in a Yanks uniform before too long.. in some capacity.. and at some point, running the show from the dugout.

(Photo credit: NY Daily News)

Friday, October 26, 2007

LSB: Tim Brown Interview

Legends of South Bend, Aaron Taylor's fairly new Irish website, Aaron catches up with Tim Brown for a pretty good (and quick) interview... makes you feel good to be ND..

Friday, October 12, 2007

Forecast

The forecast for Pound, VA where I'll be for the weekend..

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

October Frenzy and ND Reflections after 6 weeks

October always seems to be such a crazy month for us. There always seems to be a trip or two, along with SleepyMama's birthday, Halloween.. it just gets crammed.. and this year's edition is no different.
We led off the month last weekend with a trip to Louisville-- second time back there in three weeks-- for an old college friend's wedding-- a costume wedding. Okay, so it was a costume reception-- we didn't actually get to attend the wedding, itself.. but that may have been a good thing.
As it is, the boys are now spoiled on weddings. The first time we have to dress them up for a formal occasion, they're going to ask why they couldn't wear their knight and pirate costumes again.
It was a great time, though-- I've posted a bunch of pictures here and we're really grateful to all our friends up in L'ville once again for a good time visiting and letting our kids barge in on their weekend plans.

This was, of course, the first ND game of the season I didn't get to see. Not because of the wedding.. we were finished and back at the hotel by halftime.. but ABC aired the Ohio State game instead-- wisely, I'm sorry to say.
And this would be the week that the Irish pull one out.
By all accounts (and according to the stats), the didn't move the ball very well on offense. But the defense was apparently tenacious and ferocious about getting to the ball and ripping it out.



Go D!

So the Irish have avoided all the most worst case scenarios people in the press were starting to throw around-- worst losing streak in school history (it was bad enough, anyway), could go 0-8, or worse yet, winless for the season.... so all that chatter can quiet down now and the team can get on with the business of putting things in place, building a team, growing and strengthening with experience.

Well, I'm likely to miss this weekend's game as well.
I'm heading up into the Smokies in southern Virginia for a weekend at a cabin up there to hang out with some of those same college friends from Louisville.. We'll have the modern conveniences, I believe.. but no internet or cell service.. so possibly no cable or satellite. We'll see. I'm packing some layerable clothes and a few six packs of beer and hitting the road on Friday.