It’s Hard To Hit Home Runs.
It’s Hard To Hit Home Runs
The Cast
Date: 072719
FILLERBUSTER’S ELEVEN
BACKGROUND: This started as a long-winded numbered blog. It transformed into an organized long-winded category blog. Now, it is a quick-hitter to ease your pain. I lack time. So, the preparation of the blog actually made me procrastinate from writing the thing. Let’s see who makes the cut. Barely edited as usual unfortunately, so please excuse any mistakes during my stream of consciousness. I feel the need…the need for speed. Let’s turn and burn.
SETTING: This is written in two parts. Almost all after work on Friday before our double date dinner, and the final thoughts and release on Saturday morning before I head to the gym when my wife goes to 6am Red Rocks yoga (good for them).
Oddly, no theme going into this…so that is fun.
Let’s hope this is better than the voices in NBA 2K…
- EVERGREEN 1: This may be a week ago, but I only write this once a week. Sorry. I am sure there is SOMEONE out there saying that watching Shane Lowry win the British Open was boring, and there will always be those people. Those are probably the people who A) think a sporting event has to be highly contested to be special B) tuned in to see what this golf thing was all about as it was the last Major C) don’t understand the difference between the weekly thing they see every weekend on the TV guide and this one and D) just hate golf. It was beautiful. To have a lead like that against a bunch of guys playing the same course at the same time, and many with Majors already, can NOT be discounted. To KEEP that lead is something we only used to see when Tiger played in his prime. So, the first point is that it is hard to gain the lead, hard to keep the lead, and damn hard to win a Major. The second point is this. The fact that an Irish guy did it IN Ireland, in the first time in decades that the event was held in that country, is even more special. I think about when Andy Murray won the first Wimbledon and became the first Brit to win in 77 years as a parallel. I hope all of those naysayers turned it off before the final two holes, because those final fairway walks were special historically. Adding to this fact is that the Irish are a little more…energetic. Yes, we will go with that. Energetic. When he hit the green on 18 and started hugging people (that is when the hard part is really done), I had a huge grin on my face and turned up the TV. He won it for his country. He also won it for another group of people. In this day and age of fit golfers taking over (think Tiger, Brooks, Dustin, etc.), he won one for the beer belly, out of shape, drinking, old school golfer dad guys. You don’t need to have a final putt for it all for an event to be special, and that one was special.
- EVERGREEN 2: It is in the news that two boxers died this week. It is very sad. Let me get that out of the way. I have been a lifelong fan of the sport, box every day for a workout, and am the biggest Rocky fan I know. Whether you think from a sports angle or from a human angle, losing young lives like Hugo Santillan and Maxim Dadashev is sad beyond belief. But, my point is not to focus on that. My point is to make sure we embrace the reality of boxing before getting too sad. Listen, the definition, according to Wikipedia, of boxing is a combat sport in which two people, wearing protective gloves, throw punches at each other for a predetermined amount of time in a boxing ring. They are basically trying to hurt the other person as badly as possible so they quit, fall down, or until someone stops the fight. The punches are hitting organs and facial parts of the body, and there are no rules on how hard someone can hit someone, only that they hit them in a certain parts of the body, and with their hands. Bad things can happen when the fist and the body connect, and I am surprised fatalities don’t happen more. I am a fan, and I hope it never goes away. But, let’s remember what the kids are signing up for. They are signing up to get in the ring against someone who wants them on the floor as quickly as possible. So, I say this. It is sad that these kids died, I hope that there will never be another boxing death in the ring, but the sport is man vs. man in the most primitive way, and no rule will stop this from occasionally happening, and no one will watch if we put a protective helmet on their head. We are sorry for the losses this week, but must know it is a violent sport. Bad things might happen here and there. Sad, but true, as Metallica said.
- BRITISH OPEN: My random thoughts from last week in fluid methodology. The good thing about The Open is that the rest of your day is clear. I think Tiger should have quoted Forrest Gump when saying he wanted to go home. Someday Tommy Fleetwood is going to win one of these things, and had he not ran into a freight train, it would have been this one. The early start time on Sunday because of storms in the afternoon saved me from being at a baby shower setup and asking for a TV to be on during the final holes. The coolest story going into Sunday was that Lowry already had blown a four shot lead, exactly, at Oakmont in the 2016 US Open. Weather makes the final day at a Major more fun if you ask me. No one is beating a guy who shoots a 63 on Saturday with a TAP-IN par on 18. Scary though is that Brooks Koepka got top five once again in a Major and putted like crap. Rickie Fowler has been in position the last few Majors but just can’t have that special day to put pressure on the leaders, and they are not going to GIVE his first one to him. This was the third time in last 40 years there has been a six or more stroke margin. Stenson broke a club like this was a movie. Danny Willett, who we assume was a one-time flash in the pan, quietly tied for sixth. I think golf is missing out, as I get the schedule and moving the PGA to earlier, but it is end of July and the Majors are DONE. Too quick, too soon, and I don’t want golf to be the Triple Crown attack timeline wise.
- NFL: Why Your Team Sucks has started on Deadspin, and it is must read material for any NFL fan, especially when it is your team’s turn. It is daily. The Cowboys are once again the most valuable sports franchise, and we all know that stereotypical Cowboys fan and love and hate them for it. I am saddened to hear Adrian Peterson is in debt, pretty much WHILE still playing. How the players don’t keep a Jason Bourne locker filled with cash, away from their friends and family, is beyond me. I don’t like Jalen Ramsey, and don’t have respect for much of the stuff he has said (ONLY because I don’t think he has proven himself, people), but arriving to camp in an armored truck was pretty freaking funny if you ask me.
- NBA: My NBA notes always seem to be in fluid, random style, so let’s do this. James Harden has a new move that apparently isn’t a walk, and we are still actually discussing whether his step back move from the past years is a walk or not. I like the Bucks picking up spot up shooter Kyle Korver, and he is going to be one hell of a trivia question someday (you know, because of the amount of teams he has already been on (seven teams, one repeat (Utah))). Even Pau Gasol, who just signed with the Blazers, is only at six teams. I feel like the Wizards try to win by simply paying the wrong people big money, and letting go of the cheaper value adds. Congrats, Bradley, on your new 4/111 million contract. Tim Duncan joined the Spurs coaching staff so quietly that you had to be a sports fan to even hear about it (dude, why not just chill out in all of your glory?). The World Cup team is having a hard time getting second tier players right now (Lillard out, DeRozan out, Love out). Of COURSE, Zion signed with the Jordan brand for the most amount of rookie money ever…and that is not faulting this…Zion might be special, folks. The ex-wife of Lorenzen Wright just pleaded guilty to the crime we all assumed she committed the whole 9 years or so. Think of a lower-tiered O.J. Simpson without the plea. Steve Kerr says that Anthony Davis demanding a trade is bad for the league, and I assume he would know, since Durant kind of ruined the league also for a few years.
- MLB: Four points to cover here. One, it is absurd that we just assumed the San Francisco Giants would be a seller at the trade deadline, but they are insanely, and consistently, HOT. It is like they flipped a switch randomly in the middle of the season. Second, who is Yordan Alvarez? Well, in case you didn’t think the Astros still had YOUNG talent, they continue to replenish their pipeline unfairly. He broke Albert’s record for most RBI’s in his first 30 MLB games. THIRTY FIVE, folks. Third, Tulo retired this week. He was beloved wherever he went, and I speak from the Denver perspective that people LOVED him here. Class act, he had the respectable .290 career batting average and 5 ASG nods, but his .985 fielding percentage from the shortstop position is ridiculous. Finally, Mookie Betts got a HR request from a Make-A Wish youth, Nico Sapienza, on Friday. Mookie decided to triple the kid’s request, without even having one of them be a inside-the-park one. Paul O’Neill would be impressed if interviewed (Seinfeld).
- MISCELLANEOUS: Three things. I find it ludicrous that Manny Pacquiao is beating people in the ring professionally, and also a SENATOR OF A COUNTRY, don’t forget The Basketball Tournament is going on where any team can form and play for $2 million, and read The Razzies in ESPN Mag, where they give you four ridiculous ideas for movies, but one of them is actually REAL. John Travolta is always a constant theme on the last point.
- SWIMMING: Swimming is the one sport where people simply get faster. You see kids go through who you think are unstoppable and all-time, and they are, but someone comes along and breaks their records still. Kristof Milak broke, with a good amount of margin, a 2009 Phelps record in one of Michael’s best events, the 200m fly. Then, Caeleb Dressel goes out and takes down the 100m fly to complete the new kids, different countries sweep. Then, on Friday, Missy Franklin’s LAST record went down. I remember my last record. The 8 & Under 4×100 Medley Relay at the Georgetown Dolphins pool. I thought that thing was unbreakable, and I remember my sadness when it went down.
- THIS AND THAT: Rocky won ESPN Mag’s tournament of best fictional character ever. It is hilarious reading in how they got there and you should check it out. Online has a link for the winners, but you need to get your hands on the actual Mag for the commentary. I sometimes have to pinch myself and wonder why my wife has me watching America’s Got Talent, and why I am so entertained. Compromise show definition. Like Shark Tank and The Voice. An Aussie man hit a police car with $140 million in meth inside, and I would think you would drive like a granny when carting that amount of stuff around. Big Little Lies might be a show that my wife started watching, and might have a bunch of chicks in it including Meryl Streep, but damn it is so good. We just finished it, and it has a Usual Suspects type floor drop in the very final 10 seconds. I read slow (well, in small bits of spread out time), but The Origin by Dan Brown is really good thus far. I am so scared of Coming To America 2 coming out, as how are we going to think Eddie Murphy is going to be 80’s and early 90’s Eddie Murphy again? There is a petition to move Halloween to the weekend, and although I disagreed initially saying the day is special, we SHOULD do it, since we do a rotating date for Turkey Day already, and since people get in the most trouble for Halloween. Good Boys previews have started on TV I see, and this appears to be Superbad, but for younger people…looks hilarious. Finally, if you think the Roids Era was behind us, an 11 year-old got busted for his livestock show lamb being on PED’s. Look it up. I am not making that up.
- THE FILLERBUSTER: The Melting Pot was good last week, and we got more of our condiment crack, their wine and garlic seasoning you MUST have. We stopped by the bar I used to tend at and pretty much live up, Olde Towne Tavern, and nice to know my buddy Soup was still discussing conversation topics I always loved being in (“Dare you. Google Andre Rison. See? It popped up like I said!”). Found a walk-up Jersey breakfast place down the street that is great and has Rosenberg bagels…Salt and Grinder on 32nd and Lowell. Atomic Cowboy on Tennyson has decent pizza, but is another place with no cream cheese topping…WHY? Shot an easy 17 under at my first Golden Tee game in a while at Berkley Inn (don’t forget the world championships of GTee are on August 7th). Inputted Layla to try for the first time in karaoke and WHO puts on the acoustic version when someone requests that? I was ready to air guitar. I changed my Facebook photo, thereby completing my 2019 activities on the site. I survived a baby shower, and even had to be the first one there and last to leave because of setup. We learned “value selling” at my job this week, which is brilliant in that it simply cherry picks the best ideas from all of the sales books I have read. I eat leftover food like a goat, but for some reason never want it if it has been communal, like a Chipotle catering. My wife and I are “reactivated” for Padi scuba diving, are doing St. John and Key West in a month, and have to admit the recert was a little more nerve-wracking than I thought it would be. Accelerated re-learning. I missed the Tenacious D concert at Red Rocks for the scuba class, so glad it will be worth it. Nice to know there are protests in San Juan, exactly where I will be for a night in a month. I have reverted fully back to my childhood, and carry around Cheerios in baggies at work and eat them straight up at meetings. I just realized that although I blog, I haven’t updated the rest of the site in 6 months or so…on my list now. Get Up, by Shinedown, is still a daily play for me, whether working out, or just having a down moment. Listen to it, folks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcohgARJTWQ . Finally, we went to Undici in Englewood last night. They used the right sauce on the lasagna, it was pretty darn good, and I will rank it #4 all time for me. Rome, White Pie, Lindsey, and then Undici. Nice place and not too pricey.
- TWEET OF THE WEEK
ALTERNATE CATEGORIES
- THE BEST WORKOUT SONG EVER FOR THIS WEEK (because the best song this week IS the best song ever…for now):
- QUOTE OF THE WEEK
- LINKS TO SAVE YOU TIME IN LIFE
- TRAVEL
- THIS WEEK’S LIST
- MY NUMBERS
- GONE FISHING (the riddle for money):
- PICS BY MY PIXEL (pictures from my phone):
- LIFEGUARD ENTRY:
- COLLEGE FOOTBALL
- COLLEGE BASKETBALL
- NHL
The theme? I was lacking a theme honestly until Saturday morning when I posted this thing. But, Mookie hit his three dingers, creating a Seinfeld reference, making the theme easy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tcVPVXGoww
By the way, I thought Linds was going to a yoga thing at Red Rocks that had about 20 people on early Saturday morning. Apparently, it is a THING, and they PACK Red Rocks. I told her to get me pics. She purchased these tickets two months ago and it sold out.
And let’s just start doing a weekly reminder for my favorite part of next summer and we aren’t even through this summer…can’t WAIT. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVRHG6z7sN8&vl=en
That’s it for today. Hope you enjoyed or are at least more informed. Remember two things. First, feed yourself, feed your family, but always, always remember to…feed the wolf. Second, if you can’t spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker. Will I blog again? That is a CLOWN question, bro. As one shepherd said to the other shepherd, let’s get the flock out of here.
PIC:
My buddy went camping and someone got this photo. Man, I love Colorado.
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