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)

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..

Forecast

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

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.

Video-gate: is this for real?

Okay, I've had a little time to get away today-- the family and I all went down to my mom and dad's house in Murfreesboro for a little early celebration of my Dad's birthday.
The weather's cooler and it's really enjoyable to be outside these days, so we had a great afternoon out in the back yard, eating some pizza and some really good carrot cake (courtesy of my lovely, talented sister)...

So now I'm back home, watching the last few minutes of the New England-San Diego ballgame-- the Sunday Night Football matchup this week-- and of course, all the talk is about the Belichick Videotape scandal. I mean, there are some people who are really coming down on the Pats and Belichick. There's clearly some kind of Patriots-dynasty back-lash at work here. People are sick of the Patriots success (still hard to believe for those of us who remember all too clearly the decades of futility the Pats suffered through before 2001) and are seeming to revel in this recent fall from grace. More than that-- they're venomous, calling for the Commissioner to take draft picks, impose fines, and to suspend Belichick for as long as a year. I even heard one caller to a local show propose that the Pats should lose two home games next year.

All this seems to go a bit far.

I've not really had a chance to talk about this-- and I'm sure this will reflect poorly on my character to someone-- but I've got to wonder:
What's all the big deal about?

Okay, so now before anyone starts screaming at me-- you support cheating? Balco! Balco!-- let me explain a little.

1) if coaches don't assume that they're being watched, why do they cover their mouths with their play sheets? Heck, even coaches up in the box have been known to hide their mouths while they're talking.
2) if they don't assume they're being watched or that the opposing team is trying to steal their signals, then why do they have three or four different guys sending in the signals to the defense?

With all that subterfuge on the field, I guess I just assumed that teams were probably filming each other like crazy. At a minimum, I would have figured there'd be a few lipreader 'staff' stationed in the press box, armed with high-powered binoculars trained on various members of the opposing team coaching staff.

I mean, why not?

Week 3 Reflection

There's not much to say. No point in talking about the Michigan game. No sense in going over the tape. There's not one thing to be learned from it.
Coach, I think it's time for some Batting Practice

Bizarro World

This is hard to believe, but today I find myself rooting for Ohio State (against Willingham's Huskies) and Nebraska (against the Trojans)..

Inevitability

I guess this was inevitable-- Demetrius Jones enrolls at Northern Illinois
I truly do feel badly for this kid. With the state of our offensive line in the early going this season, he really never had a shot.
And now with Clausen seemingly entrenched in the QB spot (and with Dayne Crist on the way next year), it's just not a good time to be a third string QB at ND...

Cupcake Watch: Week 3

Her Loyal Sons has got it covered here..

Can you even call it a mixed metaphor?

Charles Woodson says "When the ship is sinking, you've just got to keep playing."

My, they do mint them some scholars at Michigan..

Something to keep in mind this week..

Week 2: Penn State

Just back from a brief weekend trip to Louisville to visit some old friends from college. Pretty wiped out tonight-- don't really have it in me to stay out of bed much longer, but just had to bring myself to review some of the Tivo 'film' of the ND-PSU game from yesterday.
Sometime during the first half of the game, while we were all at dinner at our friends house up inKentucky and I'd lost all track of what time it was-- I wasn't planning on tracking the game at all during the day yesterday and just enjoy the visit-- I got a text message from a guy I work with. It just said "Go Irish! I can't believe I just said that."
Now that I'm watching the game, I can see what he was talking about. Through much of the first half, the Irish look.. well.. they look okay. Not great. Not particularly powerful. The offense is clearly waaay behind the defense. But they look okay. Clausen is throwing and running with some confidence. Armando Allen is still fast-- though he's having some trouble with his footing. And the defense is playing with some intensity.
Of course, I know what happens. Promising as the offense may look, they still can't put together an extended drive. They go three-and-out ALL THE TIME... and that saps the intensity from the defense.. and pretty soon they can't staunch the onslaught any longer.

But hey.. the Walls interception looked good. The forced fumble on the ensuing PSU possession was a good sign as well.

O-line needs to get straightened out and fast. So many false starts. Discipline. Chemistry.

Okay.. I can't take any more. I'm going to bed.

Georgia Tech Reflections

Week 1 of the new Irish footbal season didn't go so well.
And yet, I don't feel so badly about the loss.

Going down 33-3 to Georgia Tech should sting... not that it doesn't. It'll sting more on Tuesday when I go into the office and face my Ga. Tech Alum boss.

But here are a few observations on the game.
1) Offensive line looks pretty bad. From my admittedly uneducated perspective, the Tech D-line looked at times like it was just pouring into the pocket.
2) Demetrius Jones didn't have a chance. As the running QB, he seemed like the logical choice, given the expected weakness of the o-line. But he just couldn't get settled back there. He put the ball on the ground a few times, got flushed and out of control repeatedly and didn't seem to be able to put anything together. At first he was able to get to he corner pretty quickly and make some yards.. but once Tech adjusted, it was all over for him.
3) Evan Sharpley looked pretty good at first. Pretty good zip on the ball in the first few series, and he was getting rid of the ball quickly-- at first. But again, once Tech adjusted, he got into trouble and started getting sacked.
4) Travis Thomas just looked slow. Period.
5) Armando Allen needs to start. He's F-A-S-T.
6) Jimmy Clausen didn't look like a freshman. He may not have been playing against the 1st-line Tech D. I don't care. He looked poised. And his arm appeared to be just fine.

With Armando Allen, John Carlson, and Jimmy Clausen, if they can put it all together this season, we could have some interesting games. But it's going to be tough to be an Irish fan this season. It's going to be some hard going. But the future certainly looks bright!

CupCake Watch, Week 1:
USC takes on Idaho.
Ohio State beats up on Youngstown State.
Penn State tunes it up against Florida International.
Michigan takes on Appalachian State... and loses. Oops!

Here come the Irish!

Oh boy.. I get chills listening to this (clipped from an event ND held as part of its latest capital campaign)

Sing along

Honestly now.. is there anything funnier (or cuter) than listening to my three-year-old, Bryce, singing to himself, fumbling through the lyrics to Bennie and the Jets?

More post-BarCamp Nashville chatter...

Working from home this morning, having some problems with my VPN, my email client, the works.... pretty frustrating...

Soooo, I'm reading through some more of the post-BarCamp blogger chatter.
I'm just a so-so personal blogger.. an IT guy with an English degree in his back pocket.. so I don't always feel 100% qualified in either the blogosfera or the coder communities, but feel like I've just got to say:

Everybody chill!

I'm really glad I went to BarCamp Nashville. I'm really glad that Dave and Marcus had the (truly) bright idea to put it all together.. to say nothing of all the long hours and hard work that went into making it all come together.

So I'm really glad I went. My eyes have been opened to some new possibilities. I feel engaged in something. I feel energized to get involved. Like I said, I've worked in IT in this town for 10 years.. and there were-- of the 500+ attendees at that thing-- 498 people I'd never met before.

But I'm also disappointed in myself. Disappointed that I didn't get even more out of it. That I couldn't stay longer, meet more people, do more than just make snarky Twitter comments along the way.

It was a great event. A great first BarCamp for Nashville... kicking something off. Who knows what it could lead to. Or what the next gathering could be like. And I'm sure everyone has lots of ideas for how to refine and improve on what's been done so far.

BarCamp Nashville Recap

Kate O offers a recap of the BarCampNashville over at Music City Bloggers complete with a BarCamp picture-- the first I've seen-- in which Manundso and I actually make an appearance..

Sleepover Success!

Just got back from picking Aidan up from his sleepover.. and it was quite a success!
Apparently the boys all stayed up until about 10:30, laughing and giggling... this after an evening of pizza, cake, and Zathura.. then woke up this morning around 7:30 for Donuts and orange juice (and a hail storm of Nerf darts being fired back and forth across Ms. Brooke's living room)..
And when we arrived and Aidan met us at the door, he was in tears.. but not for having spent the night away from home.. he was upset because we were there to pick him up.

The boy didn't want to go home.
Didn't. Want. To. Go. Home.

As my dad said this morning, the flood-gates have opened.

As for us.. last night, we went and caught the 7:10 Superbad (which was amazing!) while Bryce visited with his aunt. Then we all slept like logs.

Social Bookmarking

One of many great videos from Common Craft explaining somewhat technical concepts in easily received terms. Why can't more of my folks at work think like this?

BarCamp Nashville

Spent a few hours at BarCamp Nashville this afternoon-- it was very interesting... though I'm not sure it was so unconference as everyone likes to say.
And it was, as expected, very warm. That was very unconference. They cranked up the A/C at the Exit/In (also unconference), I'm sure, but it just wasn't enough...

Brought Manundso along with me and, while I don't think he got quite as geeked out as me, he enjoyed the first several presentations. Presentations were mostly good. Mitch Joel stole the show, hands down.

Lots of marketing-speak-- I'm a little conflicted about technology seminars that turn out to be all about sales. But nothing here was as slimy as what went on at Oracle AppsWorld in 2003, for instance (i.e. mock-turtles and chunky eyeglasses as far as the eye could see; and not an analyst or coder in the crowd).

I'm also a little bothered by how 'planted' in my seat I felt. I'd have liked to be able to get up, move around, mingle a bit.. but space was at a premium, we didn't really know anyone as an entrypoint, and there was no real 'networking' space available-- with the possible exception of the bar.

Not able to stay much longer, unfortunately... the beer has started flowing, judging by the Twitter feed, but SleepyMom and I are planning to see a movie tonight while Aidan is at a sleepover (his very FIRST!) and Bryce spends some quality time with his aunt..

So I'm cleaning up a bit around here and making some notes about all the local talent I've been exposed to today. This BarCamp experiences really has gotten my entrepreneurial juices going.. maybe it'll turn into something.

Some of the names to note:
Dave Delaney
Marcus Whitney
Jackson Miller
Mitch Joel
Chris Houchens (the very Cluetrain presentation)

One take-away from BarCamp that I think will be valuable-- I look forward to getting more plugged into the local group here. Having worked here for 10 years, I've managed to get to know quite a few people in the technology sector around town.

What opened my eyes this afternoon is that not a single one of them showed up. So who are all these other people? And where the hell have I been? I'm looking forward to getting to know-- and perhaps working with-- many of them in future.