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Fitbit VII – Week 23

Another slight improvement, as things continue to move in the right direction, even if they are still well below where I want to be.  Things got off to a slow start on Sunday, as I finished 1 steps shy over 4600 thanks to Lucas Giolito bobblehead day and a double header at the old ballpark.  Monday improved a bit, up to 4700.  Tuesday fell back down, as I barely managed to pass 4400 steps.  Wednesday saw a big improvement, as I was off work and ran some errands which got me all the way up to 5700 steps.  Thursday was even better, as another trip to Guaranteed Rate Field put me up over 6500 steps.  Friday fell off quite a bit, as I dropped down to 3700 steps.  A day of leisure on Saturday put me back over 4000 steps.

Total steps: 33,839

Daily average: 4834.1

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Hey Now, You’re An All Star

First, the good news.  Five Chicago players will be making the tip to AtlantaDenver next week for the All Star Game.  Starters Lance Lynn and Carlos Rodon and closer Liam Hendriks will represent the White Sox, while third baseman Kris Bryant and closer Craig Kimbrel will represent the Cubs.  It is the first mid-summer classic for Rodon, second for Lynn and Hendricks, fourth for Bryant, and eighth for Kimbrel.

Now, the bad news.  Unlike in years past, the teams will be wearing their All Star jerseys in the game itself, rather than just in the surrounding ceremonies.  The National League will be wearing white, with the team logo on the left breast superimposed over a three letter acronym for the team (CHC for the Cubs, for example).  The sleeves have a flower pattern at the cuff that makes little sense, with either an American flag or All Star Game patch, depending on the arm.  The back has a star below the player’s number signifying their number of All Star selections.  The American League will wear the same, but in navy blue.  Both leagues will wear navy caps with a giant star underneath the team’s logo.

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iTunes Top 200 Artists: #7

6 years ago, we first counted down the then Top 100 artists in my iTunes library.  Since that time, I’ve successfully managed to migrate my music collection to a new PC with the stats intact and expanded the count down to the Top 200..  It’s been 3 years, so I figured it was time to take yet another look at my Top 200 artists, based on the number of plays from late 2007 through January 1, 2021.

Twin sisters who bonded in high school over a love of music following the discovery of their step-dad’s guitar, we continue today with at #7 with Sara Quin and Tegan Quin, known professionally as the band Tegan & Sara.

#7: Tegan and Sara
iTunes stats: 657 plays
Previous ranking: #7

Tegan and Sara entered my consciousness in the early 2000s, when I Hear Noises started to get some airplay on WXRT.  Since then, I’ve seen them in concert, read their book. and listened to their music, with 84 songs from 10 different albums in my collection.  They’ve stayed even on the charts, thanks to a mere 50% increase in listens over the past four years.  

I saw them in concert in October of 2005, at the end of what was a very busy week.  Prior to the show, I settled in at Rock Bottom in River North to watch the end of Game 3 of the ALDS as the White Sox finished off their sweep of the Red Sox.  After the game, a group of us hopped on the Red Line and headed north to Wrigleyville to check out Tegan and Sara at the Metro.  To be honest, I don’t remember much about the show at all.  The album they were touring in support of, So Jealous, is one of my favorites and I’m sure I enjoyed the performance.  But, my favorite baseball team was headed for the ALCS, I’d just been to two playoff games, and the Weezer and Foo Fighters show was earlier that week.  It’s all sort of jumbled together at this point.

 

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By The Numbers – 48

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.

Today, we continue our look at those players, picking our favorite, if not the best, player to wear each uniform number for both Chicago teams with #48.  65 different players have donned #48 while playing in Chicago, 35 for the White Sox and 30 for the Cubs.

Rick Reuschel was selected by the Cubs in the third round of the 1970 draft.  He joined the big league team in June of 1972, donning #48.  His best season came in 1977, winning 20 games and finishing third in the Cy Young Award voting as the Cubs flirted with a pennant chase before a late season swoon.  He remained with the Cubs until he was traded to the Yankees during the 1981 strike.  He returned to the Cubs in 1983, but wearing a different number.

Acquired for Omar Narvaez, Alex Colome wore #48 during his two seasons on the south side.  He notched 42 saves in 83 games, and picked up an additional save and 2 scoreless innings in 2 appearances during the 2020 Wild Card series against the A’s.

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Fitbit VII – Week 22

Well, things are starting to move in the right direction again, as I passed 30,000 steps for the first time in 3 weeks.  Things got off to a slow start on Sunday, as I finished 27 steps shy of 4000.  Monday came 3 steps shy of 4600.  Tuesday fell back down, as I barely managed to pass 4000 steps.  Wednesday saw a big improvement, all the way up to 5000 steps.  Thursday fell back again, down to 4300  steps.  Friday was the best day of the week, as I earned 5800 steps thanks to a trip to Guaranteed Rate Field.  A return trip on Saturday, with plenty of rain, gave me only 5000 steps.

Total steps: 32,816

Daily average: 4688

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Show Me Some Good Times

We start the second half of 2020 by looking west to the state of Missouri.  These pictures come from a single trip, for Danny’s band competition in 2018, starting with Angelina posing in front of a statue, the Gateway Arch to indicate where the pictures are from, Danny performing on the field, Angelina and Michael cheering in the stands, Danny and Michael standing in front of a giant chess piece at the World Chess Hall of Fame, and, finally, another shot of Danny during the performance.

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June All Time Leaders – Through 2020

With a full year of baseball on tap after last year’s troubles due to a combination of the corona virus and needless labor squabbles, I thought it would be interesting to look at the all time leaders in both offensive and defensive categories for each month in games that I have attended.

As we move into the summer months, I’m sure the nicer weather has played a part in my attending 160 games during the month of June.  I’ve managed to see a game on every day of the month, with 9 games on the 25th leading the way and 2 games on the 16th bringing up the rear.

Home Runs

Name Total
Paul Konerko 23
Sammy Sosa 11
Aramis Ramirez 9
Jermaine Dye 9

Hits

Name Total
Paul Konerko 87
Alexei Ramirez 60
Derrek Lee 59

Runs

Name Total
Paul Konerko 46
Aramis Ramirez 31
Alexei Ramirez 28

RBI

Name Total
Paul Konerko 52
Sammy Sosa 30
Joe Crede 29

Doubles

Name Total
Paul Konerko 16
Derrek Lee 15
Aramis Ramirez 13

Triples Continue reading →

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Post Mortem – Mixed-ish

We wrap up this year’s look at the shows I watched that have been cancelled with Mixed-ish, the prequel spinoff of ABC’s Black-ish.  Looking back at the childhood of Tracee Ellis Ross’ Rainbow Johnson, the show focused on a mixed race couple who have recently left a commune and are trying to acclimate back in to society with their 3 children, who have never had to deal with their race before.   Despite favorable reviews, the pandemic-shortened second season saw ratings plummet and settle in under 2 million viewers and ABC announced the cancellation in May.

The cast combined known talents, like Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Gary Cole, with talented newcomers (at least to me) Arica Himmel and Tika Sumpter.  I know Cole has already lined up a gig for the next season and I hope to see the others in something again soon.

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iTunes Top 200 Artists: #8

It’s been 4 years since we last counted down the Top 200 artists in my iTunes library. Since my iTunes stats are still intact, across multiple PCs, iPods, iPads, and iPhones, I figured it was time to take another look at the artists that have entertained me the most based on number of plays from late 2007 through January 1, 2021.

Formed in 1990 after the demise of Mother Love Bone following the death of singer Andrew Wood, Pearl Jam checks in today at #8 as we continue with the top 10.  The new group burst onto the Seattle grunge scene in 1991 and, by the second half of 1992, became a world wide sensation#8: Pearl Jam
iTunes stats: 653 plays
Previous ranking: #9

The grunge godfathers move up on spot thanks to an 88% increase in plays, thanks in part to my attending their 2018 show at Wrigley Field.  Their 653 plays come from 42 tracks and 12 different albums.  Go, tied for their most listened to song, earned additional plays after being used as the walkup song for White Sox star Paul Konerko’s final seasons and its inclusion on my various victory playlists.

I’ve seen them in concert twice: at Soldier Field back in 1995 and the aforementioned Wrigley Field performance in 2018.  The first show took place during the tour they put on without using Ticketmaster, which led to a lottery for tickets. Pearl Jam came out and performed an astounding 29 song set, including 2 encores.  My favorite memory of the night was during the performance of Better Man, when my friend Joe, not understanding the meaning of the song, said that all of the girls sang it about him, that they couldn’t find a better man.  Ironically, this was my last visit to old Soldier Field, which would be “renovated” in 2001 and 2002.

The second show, more than 20 years later, came a long time since I had last considered myself a Pearl Jam fan.  The show, while entertaining, certainly dragged for long periods between songs that I knew as the last album that I owned came out prior to the 1995 show.

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By The Numbers – 49

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.

Today, we continue our look at those players, picking our favorite, if not the best, player to wear each uniform number for both Chicago teams with #49.  60 different players have donned #49 while playing in Chicago, 36 for the White Sox and 24 for the Cubs.

Chris Sale, the 13th overall selection by the White Sox in the 2010 draft, pitched 11 games in the minor leagues before making his major league debut on August 6, less than 2 months after being drafted.  Sale worked out of the bullpen for the remainder of the year, earning 4 saves in 21 appearances. Sale returned to the bullpen in 2011, picking up another 8 saves while posting a 2.79 ERA.  In 2012, Sale moved in to the starting rotation full time, where he racked up 5 straight All Star nods and finished between 3rd and 6th in Cy Young award voting each season.  In 2015, Sale set the White Sox franchise record with 274 strike outs and, in 2016, he tied his career high with 17 victories and threw a career high 226 2/3 innings pitched in between spats with the front office over Drake LaRoche and 1970s throwback jerseys.  That December, the rebuilding of the White Sox began when Sale was traded to the Red Sox for, among others, Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech.

Jake Arrieta was originally acquired by the Cubs in July of 2013, coming over from the Orioles, along with Pedro Strop, in a trade for Scott Feldman and Steve Clevenger.  After 7 starts for Iowa, Arrieta joined the rebuilding Cubs and showed vast improvement over the pitcher he was with the Orioles.  He turned into an ace for the Cubs in 2015, winning the NL Cy Young Award, and was a key contributor to their World Series championship in 2016.  He threw two no-hitters for the team, one in 2015 against the Dodgers and the second in 2016 against the Reds.  He became a free agent following the 2017 season, but returned in 2021.