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Do they really expect us to believe that A-Rod would date Madonna? If you are going to date an older, once hot woman, aren't you better off with Rosanna Arquette? I mean, Madonna is so old, she dated Jose Canseco before A-Rod was drafted. Maybe Alex is this generation's Richard Fish.

A relative of a relative is trying to win a trip to the Olympics. If you would like to help him out, here are the instructions:

GO TO: http://track.flocasts.org/beijing2008/finals
Find the "Final Round Voting Begins....".
Go to the "Coast to Coast Relay 2004 Video.
Then click on the blue #3. That will cast 3 votes for Ryan. No need to cast #2 or #1 for anyone else. You will need to register if you haven't already, but it doesn't cost anything and they won't send you any garbage. You can vote once a day.

Thanks.

Here's the opening of J.K Rowling's speech at Harvard Thursday. She gave one of the better commencement addresses I've heard. Rowling pulled on her real world experiences to encourage the students not to fear failure and to use their imaginations to the fullest.

The text and video of the entire speech can be found here.

For my family who couldn't attend the event, my daughter Melinda gets her high school diploma.

My daughter Melinda graduated from high school Friday night. I just wanted to say congratulations! We're very proud of you, Melinda.

Barbara Walters revealed she had an affair with Ed Brooke while Brooke was the junior senator from Massachusetts in the 1970s. The only reason I bring this up is that one reason Brooke lost his re-election bid in 1978 was a rumor of an affair. That rumor turned into one of the best jokes the Harvard University Band did during my four years there.

The standard halftime show for us at the time consisted of about four songs. We'd start each by spelling out a word while the announcer read something topical. The punchline was the song combined with the word changing while we played. Here's how we finished the UMass show, Sept. 30, 1978 ("Bang" refers to movement on a starter's pistol signal):

(Bang to ED)

ANN: Riding the tide of a primary victory, the Junior Senator from Massachusetts is not yet out of hot water. But Brooke is not the first senator to have political aspirations dampened by a stormy personal life.
(play "How Deep is Your Love", march to TED)

It was subtle enough that some people didn't get the joke until Monday.

Peter Abraham saw Deal or No Deal for the first time yesterday:

I don't watch a lot of television beyond sports and HBO, so this was a first for me. I can't believe people actually watch this show. The entire point of the show seemed to be showing hot girls in slinky dresses. Which, you know, is fine. But can the contestants actually lose? The whole thing seemed pretty pointless. Anthropologists 1,000 years from now will determine we were a culture of idiots.

Actually, the few times I've watched the show it struck me as a good probability problem. Contestants have to balance the average payoff given the remaining money on the board versus what the bank is offering. It's the sure payoff versus the expected payoff with an element of greed mixed in.

Of course, if the show were actually marketed as a probability problem, it wouldn't sell.

Finally, a great curling blog.

My daughter Melinda and the Longmeadow HS Symphony Orchestra are performing at Carnegie Hall. We're off to New York for the festival.

This isn't the only blog that cares about curling. :-)

I didn't know that giving 110% is now for slackers.

The New York Daily News recounts the events that led to Don Mattingly resigning his coaching job with the Dodgers.

Finally, a reality show for me!

My wife Marilyn just became a real estate agent. If you're looking for a house in the Springfield, MA area or thinking about relocating to the area, give her a call or drop her an E-Mail.

With absolutely no apologies to Cole Porter and the YPMB:

Bulldog! Bulldog!
Bow, wow, wow
Eli Manning
Bulldog! Bulldog!
Bow, wow, wow
Brady is on his fanning.

When the son of Archie
Throws down the field,
Nobody will be panning!
Bulldog! Bulldog!
Bow, wow, wow
Eli Manning!

This was a no lose Super Bowl for me since I'm a Giants fan and I also like the Patriots. I did like the outcome, however. The Giants have to be the luckiest football team I ever saw. They do a good job of disappointing all game, then coming up with a big play just when you think they're done. The catch against the helmet after Manning was in the grasp of the defense was a perfect example.

Now, at least, I don't have to listen to people complain about Eli Manning.

I'm helping out my friends at Deadspin with the following photo (click for a larger image):

Update: The Big Lead has another photo from the event and more commentary.

Update: A commentator at Deadspin asks if I'm the Pinto from Animal House. Trey Wingo, pictured behind Dana above, thought the same thing. One day, he walks into the research office at ESPN, comes up to me and asks, "Why do they call you Pinto?" There's a big smile on his face, waiting to hear the story of my nickname. With an annoyed look I say, "Because that's my name." Trey was very apologetic, and in fact was one of the nicest people to work with at ESPN.

I'm not much of a football fan. At the end of the World Series, I look to see how the NY Giants are doing, and follow the team if they are playing well. So this year, I've been watching.

The Giants strike me as a similar team to the Arizona Diamondbacks. They're not really that good, but seem to make key plays at the right time. However, Eli Manning appears to have developed an excellent skill. I just saw on a 3rd and 1 in the first quarter, Manning drew the Packers offsides. Over the last few weeks, I've seen this happen a number of times with Eli. It seems to me most flags at the line of scrimmage are false starts, but with the Giants there seem to be a lot of encroachment calls. Can anyone with football knowledge confirm this?

Here's a picture of the Bay Path College campus I snapped with my cell phone on the way to work today.

I hope everyone enjoyed the New Year's Eve festivities last night. May 2008 be a happy and successful year for all!

I hope everyone celebrating today has a happy and safe holiday!

I was just reading this piece on Steve Martin at Slate, and the opening paragraph resonated with me:

According to the census bureau, roughly 40 percent of the American populace was born after 1981, which means that Steve Martin has not been a stand-up comedian in their lifetime. What do these youths make of Martin? I guess they think of him as a reliable, profoundly Caucasian presence in glossy Hollywood comedies (I use the term loosely) like Father of the Bride, Bringing Down the House, and Cheaper by the Dozen, and in mirthless paycheck specials like The Pink Panther and Sergeant Bilko. They may have read his small, well-made novels, The Pleasure of My Company and Shopgirl, or his adept and droll humor pieces in The New Yorker.

But do they realize how revelatory a performer he was?

No, they don't. Around 1998 or 1999, I was at ESPN one day talking to a group of production assistants, all around 25 years old. For some reason, I spouted a Steve Martin line from one of his stand up routines. They all looked at me curiously, so I explained it was from one of Steve Martin's old bits. They still looked at me strangely until one of them said, "Steve Martin did standup?"

If you didn't know Steve did standup, go buy Let's Get Small.

I want to say thanks to all the veterans who read Baseball Musings for your service and sacrifice. To all those currently serving, I hope you come home safe and sound.

I'm traveling to NC today to visit schools with my daughter. Blogging will be light, but I did load the laptop with PMR data, so I should be able to publish a couple of positions this weekend.

Bill Madden finds Jon Papelbon's cell phone in a cab. Of course, writing for the Daily News, it should have been required for Madden to go through the contact list and see who's who. :-)

The Sports Frog and I write twice a week at AT&T Blue Room. Check out the Sports Buzz here.

This has nothing to do with baseball, but I turned on ESPN2's coverage of Wimbledon, and the camera angle is awful. You can't see the baseline at the bottom of the screen, partly because it's obscured by the Bottom Line 2, but mostly because the camera needs to pan down. To give ESPN the benefit of the doubt, it's probably a fixed camera, rather than one they can control. But you would think they'd ask someone to change the angle.

This is a message to Al Bethke. Did you get the e-mail I sent you? My new address is dfpinto@verizon.net.

Here's the video I promised yesterday:

My daughter's high school orchestra played for the Massachusetts Music Educators' Association All-State Conference this afternoon, and I journeyed east to enjoy the show. I'll have video highlights on YouTube soon. I stopped in Cambridge earlier to join professor of international politics and Red Sox fanDaniel Drezner for lunch. Among other things, we talked about how Matsuzaka and the WBC help international relations and Papelbon moving back to the closer role.

The Longmeadow High School orchestra played Verdi and Shubert wonderfully. It's nice to hear them in a room with good acoustics, since their high school auditorium is less than adequate.

Samuel Alito shows good form as he throws out the first pitch at a Devil Rays game. It's good to see a great fan of the game on the bench.

I don't quite see why Sports Illustrated needs to scare us about global warming, but using a fake photo doesn't really help their cause. (Story starts here.)

Update: I didn't mean to post this. When I thought about what I wanted to say, I decided it didn't have a place on this blog. I must have hit save by accident. But since I did, I don't think the story is balanced at all. Only the worst case scenarios are cited, and to me that's just bad journalism.

Update: I should have credited FishStripes with a pointer to the article. They have Dontrelle's reaction to the photo. Also, Cafe Hayek agrees with the one sidedness of the story:

It's a bit of a stretch. A huge stretch. And of course it's a stretch in one direction only. It could have been written this way:

The next time you get to enjoy throwing a baseball in February or enjoying a December game at Chicago's Soldier Field instead of viewing it mostly as a rite of passage or a test of your toughness, thank global warming.

John Sickels spotted a cougar. With its new-found fame, the cat is going to change his name to Mellencamp.

The Baseball Crank gets off the line of the day on MTVs declining ratings:

If this keeps up, the network may have to fill time by showing music videos.

Bart Simpson saw this coming a decade ago.

Spring is in the air.

The Mother's Day fiasco is over:

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit claiming the Angels discriminated against men by giving tote bags to women during a Mother's Day baseball game.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Jonathan Cannon ruled Thursday that the giveaway was not biased against men and that the May 8, 2005, event was a way to honor mothers.

The lawsuit, filed by Los Angeles psychologist Michael Cohn, claimed thousands of men and fans under age 18 were each entitled to $4,000 in damages because they were treated unfairly. Women over 18 received the gifts that day.

The Angels changed the giveaway to all fans after the suit was filed. I hope they go back to the original idea. And it looks like Michael Cohn will have to pay attorney's fees. I hope Moreno used a very expensive lawyer.

My friends' son Grayson celebrated his second birthday today. Grayson's favorite book is Casey at the Bat, and when you ask him what the umpires says, he goes, "Strike one." If you continue to ask, you get, "Strike two," then, "Strike three, you're out." He'll also say, "Ball four, take your base." Obviously, the young man is being brought up right.

Grayson's sister Lilly is also extremely cute.

Caitlin A. LaGrotte of Temple University asked me to post a link to a survey she's conducting. Here's the description:

Here is an opportunity to share your experiences at baseball games when the Yankees are playing the Red Sox.

This survey hopes to better understand the environment created in baseball stadiums when rivals are playing. The study will not ask for any personal information and will allow for better understanding of the rivalry between the Yankees and Red Sox. If you have attended a Yankee versus Red Sox game at Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park please click the link below to take the survey. Thank you.

You can take the survey here.

The Cooperstown Cookie Company just sent me their latest treat, peanut butter filled chocolate baseball caps. I'm not a big fan of peanut butter, but this was fresh and delicious, complementing the milk chocolate perfectly. From the picture, it looks like they'll be promoting them for Valentine's Day. A perfect gift for someone you love who loves baseball!

I'm very grateful that because of people like Dr. King and Jackie Robinson, I've been able to enjoy a game where talent comes from all walks of life and from all over the world.

I'm hoping a physicist/engineer can answer a question for me. Let's say you have two identical cars (same mass, same engine) traveling at a steady100 km/hour one six car lengths behind the other. Both will use about same amount of fuel to travel a given distance. But if the trailing car tucks right in behind the lead car, the trailing car uses a lot less fuel, because the first car is doing all the work of over coming wind resistance. (I believe this is called "drafting). If you then took the distance between the two cars to 0, that is, physically attached the trailing car to the lead car, would both cars then be able to split the fuel savings (both engines keep running)? Or does it not matter if the cars are connected? (By connected I mean a stiff connection, as opposed to a chain, so the two cars always move as one.)

My daughter passed her driving test today. :-)

This is great, because I don't need to drive her around anymore! And actually, she's a very good driver.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all my readers. However you're celebrating, I hope you have a wonderful time with your friends and family!

Once again, I'm thankful for all my readers who keep this site growing. You've allowed me to make a living from something I love. I hope each of you has a wonderful dinner and day with your family and friends!

The Longmeadow High School played a great first half, but the Notre Dame women dominated the second half and took the game 3-1. It was the first loss for Longmeadow this year. Here's video of the game, featuring my daughters two friends Ally Fox (#1) and Taylor Hedges (#3).

The police took away the Longmeadow defense sign.

Update: Longmeadow leads ND 1-0 in the first half.

Update: Terrific save by the Longmeadow goalie on a penaltyshot to keep a one goal lead.

It's halftime with Longmeadow leading ND 1-0.

Update: ND ties the game at one with 19 minutes left.

Update: With11 minutes left ND takes a 2-1 lead.

Update: ND goes up 3-1 with six minutes to go.

Update: ND wins 3-1.

The police took away the Longmeadow defense sign.

Update: Longmeadow leads ND 1-0 in the first half.

Update: Terrific save by the Longmeadow goalie on a penaltyshot to keep a one goal lead.

It's halftime with Longmeadow leading ND 1-0.

Update: ND ties the game at one with 19 minutes left.

Update: With11 minutes left ND takes a 2-1 lead.

Update: ND goes up 3-1 with six minutes to go.

Update: ND wins 3-1.

On this Veterans Day I'd like express my appreciation to all my military readers, active, discharged or retired. Thank you for your service. To those on duty away from home, may you all come home safe and sound.

Longmeadow and Westfield are scoreless at the half.

Update: Scoreless at the end of regulation.

Update: Longmeadow wins 1-0 in the second overtime.

Update:Here's the team celebrating:

Longmeadow leads Agawam 3-1 in the second half in the Western Mass semi finals. Highlights to follow.

Update: Here's some highlights:

Update: The embedded video doesn't seem to be loading. You can see the video at this link, also.

It's been a busy afternoon. My daughter was inducted into the National Honor Society.

Then the Bay Path College soccer team played their final home game of the season:

Then the Longmeadow High School field hockey team played their final home game:

Now time for the game!

It's talk like a pirate day. Here's an example:

"It's a little moral victory for us," Bay said. "You don't want to run around and throw a party because you got out of last place."

Avast, me hearties! Moral victories is all these Pirates be getting.

Regular Yard Work contributor Hee-Seop Choi blasts teams for sticking with veterans too long and Bill Plaschke for his hackery.

I'm really sorry I missed this story yesterday.

McAfee Site Advisor warns that basebal player screen savers are full of spy ware.

The comments aren't working at Walk Like a Sabermetrician so I'll leave the answer to the trivia question there in my extended entry, in case you want to try it before it's revealed.

A great picture here of the Angels players all wearing Joe Maddon glasses to honor their former coach.

Larry Mahnken picked a pretty good day to be born.

Kris and Anna aren't getting divorced! With any luck, they're heading for a George Steinbrenner/Billy Martin relationship. :-)

Derek Lowe, however, is not so lucky.

The nice people at the Cooperstown Cookie Company sent me a sample of their new treats today. They're minature shortbread cookies that look like baseballs. They're tasty, and your order helps a good cause.

My daughter plays in the Longmeadow High School Orchestra, and they took part in a national competition at Symphony Hall in Boston this afternoon. We don't know the result yet, but it was the best I've ever heard them play. They deserve to be congratulated for all their hard work.

Now for baseball!

I had a good time at the Curling Championships today. The crowd was small but vocal. Here's a picture from my seat of the Swedes taking a shot.

And here are the Swedish fans. They had cheering songs they'd sing, and I'm pretty sure one was making fun of the Canadians. :-)

View image

One really great thing about attending this morning was that I was able to try out my cell phone as a blogging tool. It seemed to work well (the photos were taken with the phone as well). That means I can blog from baseball games without carrying a lot of equipment.

Australia makes a poor last shot, missing the house and Scotland wins with the hammer.

Sweden comes within a hair of three, but fall short with two in the tenth to give the victory to Cananda.

Scotland misses a guard and Australia scores 3! Extra ends!

Norway plays a defensive end and wins the match 6-5.

Scotland takes two. Australia needs three in the tenth. They do have the hammer.

Norway nearly steals one, but the measurement gives it to Germany. Norway has the hammer and a two point lead in the tenth.

Update: The Swedes hit the hammer with the broom and Canada steals a point for a five-two lead going to the tenth.