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Top 200 Albums: #171 – 177

itunes_imageWe 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.

We continue today with the next batch of ten albums that I have listened to the most over the last 15 years, including two compilations, one greatest hits package, two remastered albums from one of the greatest bands of all time, and nine entries from the 90s.

#177: The Beatles – Rubber Soul
iTunes stats: 72 plays
Previous Ranking: NR

Released in 1965, this sixth studio album from the Beatles, behind four of the 14 tracks, makes its debut after adding 33 additional listens over the past four years.

#177: Red Hot Chili Peppers – Blood Sugar Sex Magik
iTunes stats: 72 plays
Previous Ranking: NR

The Chili Peppers climb on to the chart thanks to four singles from their 1991 breakthrough release, which increased its listens by more than 85%.

#177: Various Artists – Rock ‘n’ Roll Era: 1962
iTunes stats: 72 plays
Previous Ranking: 196

This entry in the Time Life series, featuring tracks by Dion & The Belmonts, The Beach Boys, and The Drifters, among others, added 32 additional plays to jump up 19 slots.

#177: Run DMC – Ultimate Run DMC
iTunes stats: 72 plays
Previous Ranking: 192

Four tracks from this collection of the seminal rap group’s greatest hits saw 31 new listens over the past four years.

#175: The Beatles – Beatles For Sale
iTunes stats: 73 plays
Previous Ranking: 179

Only three of the fourteen tunes from this remastered version of the Beatles fourth studio album make up this total, which would be higher if I hadn’t deleted the original versions outright.

Continue reading →

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By The Numbers – 23 Bonus!

In 1929, uniform numbers appeared on the back of baseball jerseys for the first time, thanks to the Indians and the Yankees. By 1937, numbers finally appeared across all uniforms, both home and away, across both major leagues. Since that time, 81 distinct numbers have been worn by members of the White Sox, while the Cubs boast 76.

Sunday, we continued our look at those players, picking our favorite, if not the best, player to wear each uniform number for both Chicago teams with #23.  Today, we take a special bonus look at player who famously wore #23 for other Chicago teams, making it possibly the most successful jersey number in town.

Michael Jordan was selected by the Chicago Bulls with the third overall pick in the 1984 NBA draft.  He would go on to become the greatest player in the history of the NBA, leading the Bulls to six titles, nabbing six Finals MVP awards, five MVP awards, three All Star Game MVPs, one Defensive Player of the Year award, and the 1985 Rookie of the Year award.  He was a 14-time All Star, 10-time first team All NBA, 9-time first team All-Defensive, 10-time scoring champion, 3-time steals leader, and 2-time Slam Dunk Contest champion.  A member of the NBA’s 50th and 75th Anniversary teams, his #23 has been retired by both the Bulls and the Miami Heat, for whom he never played.

Selected by the Bears him in the second round of the 2006 NFL Draft, Devin Hester quickly became one of, if not the, greatest return specialists in NFL history.  In his first 13 weeks as a professional, Hester recorded six return touchdowns, including three punt returns, two kickoff returns, and a then-record tying 108-yard touchdown from a missed field goal against the New York Giants.  As the Bears advanced to the Super Bowl, Hester became the first and only person to return the opening kick of the Super Bowl back for a touchdown.  2007 added an additional 6 touchdowns, followed by 2 quieter seasons.  In 2010, he added an additional 3 punt returns for touchdowns, followed by 2 punt returns and 1 kickoff return in 2011.  He added an additional punt return in 2013, his final season with the Bears.  This past September, in his first year of eligibility, Hester was nominated for the induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

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Against The Nationals All Time Leaders – Through 2021

nationalsIn the past, we’ve looked at the all time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for all 30 teams. This offseason, we will take our first ever look at those leaders against all 30 clubs. We continue today with the Washington Nationals.

The Nationals began life in 1969 as the Montreal Expos.  When the Expos missed out on their best opportunity to win a World Series due to the work stoppage of 1994, followed by years of alleged mismanagement, fan support dropped away, and the team moved to Washington in 2005.  I’ve seen them play 18 times, 5 as the Expos and 13 as the Nationals, including one at their home stadium in 2019 and a neutral site game in 2004.

Home Runs

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 4
Corey Patterson 2
12 tied with 1

Hits

 

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 8
Ryan Theriot 7
Michael Barrett 6
Derrek Lee 6
Mark Grudzielanek 6
Juan Pierre 6

Runs

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 5
Ryan Theriot 4
Derrek Lee 4
Moises Alou 4

RBI

Name Total
Aramis Ramirez 13
Moises Alou 4
Jeff Conine 3

Doubles

Name Total
Moises Alou 3
Jacque Jones 2
Ben Zobrist 2

Triples Continue reading →

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Book 5 (of 52) – A Man Called Ove

A Man Called Ove – Fredrik Backman

When a man called Ove loses his job and finds himself with nothing to do during the day, he decides to end his own life in order to be reunited with his recently deceased wife.  Every time he tries, though, something gets in his way and, slowly, he builds up a small community of neighbors that rely upon, and eventually love, him, which gives him a reason to keep living.

In his debut novel, A Man Called Ove, Fredrick Backman builds a relatable character: the old curmudgeon who lives for following the rules and finds fault with everyone around him.  Whether it’s a family member, neighbor, or co-worker, we’ve all had experience with some variation of this character.  That relatability goes a long way towards establishing a relationship with Ove, as Backman goes back and forth between the present day, where Ove gets pulled into relationships with neighbors new and old, and the past, where we learn about Ove’s upbringing and his life with his wife.

This is now two years in a row that I’ve enjoyed something from Bakman.  I’ll need to dig deeper into his backlog going forward for more hours on enjoyment.

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Midseason Review – Thursdays

We are on the back half of our look back at the offerings for the new fall season. Thursday night is traditionally the busiest night of the week for my television viewing habits, but not this year. Here’s what was on the slate for this season.

7:00

The Blacklist – The show continues on for a ninth season 9 without Megan Boone’s Elizabeth Keene for some reason.

After the initial effort needed to bring the team back together following the end of last season, we’ve gotten basically the same show without the weight of the mythology weighing it down.  Though at some point, it will all come crashing back when they decide to wrap up the show.

8:00

Ghosts – Rose McIver stars in this adaptation of a BBC show about a couple who think they are getting a beautiful country house but instead find it is falling apart and haunted.

I’ve heard good things and have some episodes recorded, but haven’t watched any of it as of yet.

Grey’s Anatomy – Old friends are supposed to return for the medical drama’s 18th season, with Kate Walsh and Abigail Spencer announced to show up.

Is there anything left to say about the show, other than it has been renewed for a 19th season?

9:00

Big Sky – I still haven’t watched the second story of season one, so season two may need to wait.

I still need to catch up on the end of season one.

It doesn’t look like there is anything exciting premiering in the near future.

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A Class Of One

With the unneeded lockout still in full effect, the baseball world had nothing to distract it yesterday from the small hamlet of Cooperstown in upstate New York, where the votes were tallied, and the 2021 Hall of Fame class completed with one additional member.  Former Red Sox DH David Ortiz scored 77.9% of the vote to earn enshrinement in his first election.

Six others tallied greater than 50% of the vote, led by Barry Bonds, who jumped up to 66% in his final go around on the ballot.  Roger Clemens was right behind him at 65.2% and will also leave his fate to the veteran’s committee.  Scott Rolen saw another big jump, rising to 63.2% and looks like he’s on track to eventually make it.  Curt Schilling, who threw a temper tantrum after not getting elected last year, saw a bit drop and ended his 10-year run with 58.6% of the vote.  Todd Helton and Billy Wagner continued to make strides, coming in at 52% and 51%, respectively, though Helton has more time on his side to make a good run towards induction.

On the local front, former White Sox outfielder Andruw Jones saw a large increase, going up to 41.1%.  Manny Ramirez, who spent a little more than a month with the White Sox, stayed about even, finishing with 28.9% of the vote thanks to his multiple PED suspensions.  The disgraced Omar Vizquel, who added sexual abuse of an autistic teen to the spousal abuse charges that had popped up the previous year, dropped even further, to 23.9%.  In his last go-around, former Cub superstar Sammy Sosa saw a small increase to 18.5%.  Jimmy Rollins, who spent the final 41 games of his career on the south side, picked up 9.4% in his first go-around.  Mark Buehrle saw his percentage cut in half, to 5.8%. but lives to fight another day.  Justin Morneau, who spent the final 58 games of his career with the White Sox, picked up 5 votes.  A.J. Pierzynski scored 2, while his former battery mate Jake Peavy was tossed a shutout.

Fifteen players will fall off the ballot, either due to reaching 10 years or failing to score 5% of the vote.

As for the newest Hall of Famer, I’ve seen Ortiz play 24 times, including the 2005 ALDS.  He joins Bud Fowler, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Minnie Minoso, Tony Oliva and Buck O’Neil, who were elected by the veteran’s committees in December, in the class of 2022.  They will all get their day in the sun on Sunday, July 24.

David Ortiz’s numbers in games I’ve attended were: Continue reading →

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Midseason Review – Wednesdays

We have reached the halfway point of our look back at my thoughts on the offerings for the new fall season.  Here’s what Wednesdays had on tap for the fall.

7:00

Legends of Tomorrow – Season seven moves to Wednesdays, which I look forward to tackling as soon as I start and finish season six.

Yep, still a season behind on this one.  I’m sure I’ll catch up one of these days.

8:00

The Conners – How this made four seasons, I will never know.

You know, it isn’t bad, but it’s not really good either?  I wonder if this has any audience that didn’t watch Roseanne back in the day?

8:30

Home Economics – After an entertaining-enough first season as a mid-season replacement, we’ll see if they can keep it up now that they’re running with the big boys.

I’m still enjoying this.  Hopefully others are as well, and it sticks around for a while.

And now the new entries:

Pam and Tommy – Hulu brings us this series detailing the relationship between Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee.

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Midseason Review – Tuesdays

Continuing our look back at my thoughts on the new fall season, with the offerings that I found myself interested in for Tuesdays.

7:00

The Flash – The gang returns for their eighth season, and hopefully I work through the seventh beforehand.

Having just recently finished the seventh season, I haven’t quite jumped into these just yet.

8:00

La Brea – This feels like one of the many Lost copycats of year’s past that will pull you in just long enough to get invested and then will get cancelled.

I watched the first episode and, truth be told, it didn’t seem like something I wanted to get involved with unless I knew it was worth it.  I haven’t seen anything that leads me to believe it would be.

Now, let’s see what interesting tidbits are coming this spring:

Black-ish – The eighth and final season finally gets underway.

Naomi – The latest DC superhero adaptation on the CW and the first one for a character created after I stopped reading comics.

Superman & Lois – Assuming I ever watch season one, I’m sure I’ll be onboard for season two.