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Throwback Thursday – Team Records Of The 1990s

Last week, we took a trip in the wayback machine to see all of the games that I attended during the 1980s.  This week, we turn our attention to the 1990s to see what my view of the baseball world looked like.

I’ve been able to identify 32 games I attended during the 90s, starting with a late April outing during the final season at Comiskey Park in 1990 through a September 2000 game at Wrigley Field, including my first visits to stadiums outside of Chicago starting with a July 1993 visit to County Stadium in Milwaukee.  All told, I saw games at eight different ballparks throughout the decade.

1990s Team Records
Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
Houston Astros 1 0 1.000
California Angels 1 0 1.000
Cincinnati Reds 1 0 1.000
Arizona Diamondbacks 1 0 1.000
Florida Marlins 1 0 1.000
New York Yankees 1 0 1.000
San Francisco Giants 1 0 1.000
Detroit Tigers 3 1 0.750
Oakland Athletics 2 1 0.667
Chicago White Sox 12 10 0.545
Chicago Cubs 6 5 0.545
Kansas City Royals Continue reading →
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Star Wars Day

My interest level in Star Wars has been pretty low lately.  I’ve yet to watch a complete season of any of their Disney+ shows.  There’s no particular reason, I just haven’t been feeling it.  But nothing will kill your interest in something you once loved like having a Town Hall meeting at work on May the 4th where you get to see your boss and their boss dive head-first into the cheesiest parts of fandom.  Ugh.

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FB8 – Week 14

A pretty bad week, thanks to cold, rainy weather and work “emergencies”.  Things got off to a decent enough start on Sunday, as I came 13 steps short of 4300.  Monday saw a slight increase, jumping up to 4600 steps.  Tuesday fell down a bit, dropping to 4300 steps.  Wednesday was the low point of the week, ending with a mere 2400 steps.  Thursday started the long climb back up towards respectability, going up to 3300 steps.  Friday saw another meager increase, jumping back up to 3800 steps.  A trip down to Guaranteed Rate Field for exciting White Sox baseball raised Saturday’s total to nearly 5300 steps.

Total steps: 28,201

Daily average: 4028.7

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Top 200 Albums: #51 – 60

We last counted down the Top 200 albums in my iTunes library four years ago. Since that time, the world has literally changed, and my commute has decreased from 1+ hours each way to 25 steps. So, despite the decrease in potential listening time, I figured it was time to take another look, based on number of plays from late 2007 through the morning of January 1, 2022.

As of today, we are three quarters of the way through of our countdown with the next batch of ten albums that I have listened to the most over the last 15 years, breaking the triple digit total play plateau with three compilations, and music from the 60s, 80s, 90s, and beyond.

#60: Various Artists – Forrest Gump
iTunes stats: 166 plays
Previous Ranking: 73

A 93% increase for the soundtrack, featuring artists like The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and CCR, from the Oscar-winning film.

#59: Bon Jovi – Cross Road
iTunes stats: 167 plays
Previous Ranking: 62

Ten of the band’s biggest hits earned an additional 66 plays over the last four years.

#56: The Beatles – Please Please Me
iTunes stats: 168 plays
Previous Ranking: 53

Seven tracks from this remastered version of the band’s 1963 debut album earned a 51% increase in plays.

#56: David Cross – It’s Not Funny
iTunes stats: 168 plays
Previous Ranking: 62

This 2004 comedy album from David Cross added 67 new plays, and that total would be significantly higher if I were to sync my old phone again, as I have listened to it while falling asleep plenty of times.

#56: Various Artists – Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Album
iTunes stats: 168 plays
Previous Ranking: 46

A drop of ten spots on the chart for this initial soundtrack album to the hit television series, featuring eight tunes by bands like Nerf Herder, Guided By Voices, and The Sundays.

Continue reading →

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Book 24 (of 52) – Don’t Breathe A Word

Don’t Breathe A Word – Jennifer McMahon

Fifteen years ago, a young girl went missing after spending the summer telling her family and friends she was going to live with the faeries in the forest behind her house.  When she returns fifteen years later, she triggers her brother and his fiancé to go on a journey to find out what really happened in those woods and who, or what, was responsible for the girl’s disappearance.

It’s been nearly three years since I found myself enjoying the work of Jennifer McMahon.  Released in 2011, Don’t Breathe A Word was McMahon’s fourth novel and the sixth that I’ve read.  Everything seemed to be going along fine, hitting all the right notes in explaining who was behind the supposed mystical elements of the tale, until the end, when it took a hard left back to the land of make believe.  Not exactly the way I would have gone, but it didn’t completely ruin things for me.

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Throwback Thursday – Team Records Of The 1980s

With the 2022 season well underway, I thought it would be interesting to take a trip in the wayback machine and see what my view of the baseball world looked like in the long-ago period known as the 1980’s.

I’ve been able to identify 14 games I attended during the 80’s, starting with Luis Aparicio’s number retirement in 1984 through a September 1988 game at Wrigley Field, which turned out to be the second official night game.  There are more games that I remember something about attending, voting for the new White Sox uniform designs in 1981, Carlton Fisk bat day some point in the early 80s, getting a Cubs calendar in 1986,  and winning tickets from WGN radio for a game, but I haven’t been able to track down specifics about them as of yet.

1980s Team Records
Team Name Won Loss Winning Pctg
Toronto Blue Jays 1 0 1.000
San Diego Padres 1 0 1.000
Cleveland Indians 1 0 1.000
California Angels 1 0 1.000
Texas Rangers 1 1 0.500
Seattle Mariners 1 1 0.500
New York Mets 1 1 0.500
Baltimore Orioles 1 1 0.500
Chicago White Sox 5 6 0.455
Chicago Cubs 1 2 0.333
Kansas City Royals 0 1 0.000
Boston Red Sox 0 1 0.000
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#SoxMath

For the uninitiated, Sox Math is a segment during every White Sox game broadcast on NBC Sports Chicago, where two or more trivia questions are linked together via a simple math equation to form a final numerical answer. Fans watching at home tweet in their answers and the first one in with the right answer is dubbed the winner.  Sunday, that winner was me.
Back in the before times, there was a prize shelf filled with random objects that announces Jason Benetti and Steve Stone had come across along with extra stadium giveaways.  Starting in 2020, thanks to the pandemic, they switched it up to letting the winner create a video that would introduce the segment on the next game.  Yes, that means I got to create the intro video for last night’s game.

My initial thought was to utilize my bobblehead, surrounded by White Sox bobbleheads, with me talking offscreen, but I thought that might end up being too static.  So instead, I started moving all (well, most) of the mess off of my desk and replacing it with different White Sox paraphernalia, including bobbleheads, pennants, a towel, a Chris Sale K placard, and some Robin Ventura print sent to season ticket holders.  After a few practice shots to get the camera set up correctly, I hit record and, after three takes, felt I had gotten what I needed to get.  Some quick trimming to get just the last take down to the correct length, and off it went.

As we approached the top of the 4th inning, when the segment usually airs, I started to get nervous.  I mean, there was a non-zero chance that I was about to make a fool out of myself on regional cable television.  But, it aired without incident, aside from my mother sleeping through it.  I managed a gain a few new Twitter followers, the video seemed to be a big hit on Facebook, and a co-worker happened to see it and passed a video around to some folks in the virtual office.

As for the original question itself, an educated guess led me to victory.  I assumed there was nothing noteworthy about Julio Franco and Robin Ventura going back-to-back once and, had they done it three times, that would be rare enough that I would know about it, so two seemed like the safe choice.  The second question was much easier, as Ventura wore #23 and Franco #14.

Now, I just need to win again.  I’ve got some more video ideas.

 

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FB8 – Week 13

A pretty bad week, thanks to numerous work “emergencies”, but saved somewhat by another day over goal to end the week.  Things got off to a decent enough start on Sunday, as I managed to score 4600 steps thanks to some mid-inning pacing while watching the White Sox.  Monday saw a slight decline, as I finished 27 steps shy of 4000.  Tuesday was even worse, as I fell down to 3400 steps.  Wednesday saw a slight increase, as I finished with 3500 steps.  Thursday was the low point of the week, ending with a mere 2800 steps.  Friday saw a meager increase, jumping back up to 3600 steps.  A trip down to Purdue to see Danny’s band concert combined with 80-degree weather put me over 8200 steps, the second week in a row I’ve managed to have a single day above goal.

Total steps: 30,331

Daily average: 4333

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Top 200 Albums: #61 – 69

We last counted down the Top 200 albums in my iTunes library four years ago. Since that time, the world has literally changed, and my commute has decreased from 1+ hours each way to 25 steps. So, despite the decrease in potential listening time, I figured it was time to take another look, based on number of plays from late 2007 through the morning of January 1, 2022.

Today, we continue our countdown with the next batch of ten albums that I have listened to the most over the last 15 years with three compilations, two comedy albums, and a heavy dose of 90s alternative favorites.

#69: Various Artists – The TransFormers: The Movie
iTunes stats: 149 plays
Previous Ranking: 60

A 46% increase in plays for the six tunes, from the likes of Stan Bush and Weird Al Yankovic, from this soundtrack from the animated TransFormers film from the mid-80s.

#69: George Carlin – Life is Worth Losing
iTunes stats: 149 plays
Previous Ranking: 85

The comedian’s 18th album, and 13th HBO special, added 70 new listens while rising 16 spots in the rankings.

#68: Various Artists – ’90s Style
iTunes stats: 155 plays
Previous Ranking: 64

A 56% increase in plays over the past four years for the nine tracks from exciting 90s artists, like Jill Sobule, Green Jelly, and MC Hammer, from this compilation album.

#67: Various Artists – Millennium Hip-Hop Party Vol. 2
iTunes stats: 158 plays
Previous Ranking: 66

This turn-of-the-century compilation added 60 new listens to seven tracks, from artists like Coolio, Naughty By Nature, and Paperboy.

#65: Poison – Swallow This Live
iTunes stats: 160 plays
Previous Ranking: 58

A 52% increase for the eight tracks from this double album, the first CD I ever owned after receiving it for Christmas in 1991.

Continue reading →