Skaldheim

Thursday, December 23, 2004

Brian Sabean Is My Hero

Wow, was it only two days ago that I guessed the Giants were done making major moves? Um, forget I said that.

Moises Alou, welcome to the club.

The screaming about this move is already underway on Baseball Primer and other assorted parts of the Internet. According to what I've been reading, Brian Sabean is a very stupid man, and deserves to be shot, and the Giants are doomed to suck from this season forward, just as they have for the last few years.

Okay, enough is enough. Brian Sabean is not an idiot. The San Francisco Giants with Barry Bonds have not been anything like the Texas Rangers with Alex Rodriguez were. The Giants have been highly successful for five years in a row, and you can argue that the success goes back another three years to the 1997 season. The price Brian Sabean is paying for this success is that the expectations are now completely off the charts. Like with the Yankees, for the Giants it's either a World Series victory or bust. Nothing else is acceptable anymore.

Well, that's not true. When you listen to the kvetching about the Giants signing old guys instead of young ones, paying too much for people, giving up draft picks, and not developing position players in the farm system, you get the feeling that the standard is a World Series ring and the Organization of the Year award from whoever gives that out. (Never mind that Sabean has won Executive of the Year already.)

Oh, and we need to win while Barry Bonds is still playing, because if he retires without a ring, he'll be very sad.

All I know is that this gives me a headache (though not as much as it probably gives Sabean a headache), and that if Alou stays durable, he will most likely be an upgrade in right field over the Hammonds/Tucker/Mohr platoon from 2004. If Alou matches his numbers from 2004, unlikely as that will be, then he'll be a major upgrade.

The major downside of this winter's moves is not money. Screw the money. I'm sick of hearing about how much money baseball players make. It's the injury risk. A roster filled with older guys is more likely to suffer injuries. The Giants have shown a talent in selecting old guys who are durable, and keeping them on the field. If this trend continues, then the Giants will have improved their offense at shortstop and right field, and weakened it at catcher. Their bullpen and starting rotation will both be better.

Sounds to me like Sabean is doing a good job of assembling a major league roster for 2005. As long as Bonds is here, folks, it's going to be like this. One year at a time, win one for the Gipper, blah blah. You want a team filled with promising young guys with upside for the future? Wait until Bonds retires. Only after that will the Giants change their approach.

If this offends your sabermetric or aesthetic sensibilities, just remember there's more than one way to skin a cat. Then look across the bay and see if the A's fans are really happy to have a team filled with promising young guys for 2005.

Jefferson 10:48 AM

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Quoth the Sabean, "Never Mohr"

Well, I didn't expect that. The Giants have shown Dustan Mohr and Cody Ransom the door. I can hear the screaming already. Dustan Mohr is young, talented, and above all cheap. Why cut him loose now?

Well, this is one of those things that has absolutely nothing to do with statistics, salary, or things you can put into an Excel spreadsheet.

Both Mohr and Ransom committed the apparently unforgivable sin of botching defensive plays in the final days of the season. They have been found guilty of a 2nd-degree "Jose Cruz Jr. Act" violation. The penalty is getting kicked off the roster.

You might recall the little incident with Mohr and the bullpen mound in San Diego. Just about everyone wondered why Mohr didn't just drop the ball. It might have cost the Giants a game, and a game was all they needed. Similarly, Ransom committed a crucial error as a defensive replacement in that godawful ninth-inning meltdown in L.A. a few days later. Again, that play might have cost the Giants the division.

I don't think Brian Sabean has much patience for mistakes like that. You might hope that he's rational and looks at the sabermetric big picture, but he's a human being, and every human being has pet peeves. Hell, even Billy Beane has a doghouse. You can argue until you're black and blue in the face that mistakes in April count just as much as the ones in September. But you don't remember the mistakes back in April, and neither does Sabean. In your mind's eye, you can still see Mohr doing his Charlie Brown impersonation on that bullpen mound. So can Sabes. Ditto Ransom, and that roller under his glove.

So if you're looking for reasons for today's moves, don't. Just remember that, in the minds of baseball men, some games count a lot more than others, and some mistakes just don't get forgiven. In that regard, sometimes being a baseball player is just like having any other job. One big mistake, and you're fired.

What does this mean for the Giants outfield next year? It's too soon to say. Right now, your Giants outfield is Bonds, Grissom and Tucker, with Feliz as your fourth guy. The Giants have a few million to throw at another outfielder, but is there anyone left in their price range? Or will Tony Torcato ride the bench? I suspect the team is done making major moves, but you never know.

Jefferson 9:04 AM

Sunday, December 19, 2004

"...True Meaning of Haste" report

Today I gave my Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game scenario a solitaire run. It was a test of my scenario design, as well as my knowledge of the rules. I'm happy to say that the scenario seems basically sound and balanced. It'll definitely eat up the necessary 6-8 hours required to satisfy the convention. With one solo test under my belt, I was able to fill in the details of the victory conditions I had been rather fuzzy about. Afterwards, I wrote down the complete scenario for the first time.

Here's the scenario as it stands now:

Dundracon 2005 Scenario -- "?The True Meaning of Haste"

Description
As Aragorn and Theoden lead the Rohirrim to the refuge of Helms Deep, Gandalf the White rides the other direction. Knowing that Helms Deep will not stand without aid, he searches for the exiled Eomer and his legions of cavalry.

In his tower of Orthanc, Saruman watches these developments with his seeing stone. He sends a force of Uruk-Hai and Wargs to ensure that Gandalf and Eomer do not meet. With the aid of a sorcerous fog, the White Hand traps Eomer in a valley. As the fog lifts, the Rohirrim realize they have been ambushed! The Rohirrim must survive until Gandalf arrives, and escape to give aid to Helms Deep.

Participants
On the Good side are Gandalf the White, mounted on Shadowfax; Eomer, horsed with shield and spear; 18 Riders of Rohan, and 20 Warriors of Rohan.

On the Evil side are one Uruk-Hai Captain with shield, one Warg Rider Captain (identical to Sharku, except for his name), 4 Warg Riders, 2 Uruk-Hai Berserks, and 45 Uruk-Hai Warriors (equal numbers equipped with sword & shield, bow or crossbow, and pike).

Points Match
If you don't want to use the forces above, you can substitute appropriate forces totalling 675 points per side. Approximately one-third of the Good side's points must go to a hero, or a hero and other forces that begin the game off of the board. No more than one-third of the forces may be equipped with ranged weapons.

Layout
This match is fought on a 4 foot by 6 foot board representing a broad valley In the center of the board, place a pond, a large rock, or similar piece of shelter. The two long edges of the board are considered impassible escarpments or other barriers. Most of the battlefield should be clear, representing the plains of northern Rohan.

Starting Positions
The Good side deploys their forces first. All models must begin within 6" of the central pond.

The Evil side then deploys their forces with 12" of either of the short edges of the board.

Objectives
The Good side wins the scenario if Gandalf and at least half of the Rohirrim escape off of one of the two short edges of the board. No Good unit may escape until Gandalf enters play. All Good units must escape off of the same end of the board.

The Evil side wins if Gandalf is slain, or if Eomer and at least half of the Rohirrim are slain.

Any other result is considered a draw.

Special Rules
"A Wizard is never late?" Gandalf begins play off the board. He is riding as fast as he can to rescue Eomer. At the beginning of each turn's Move phase (including the first turn), the Good player rolls a die. Add each turn's roll to the sum of the previous rolls. When the total reaches or exceeds 14, Gandalf arrives. (Gandalf may use his Might points to add to these die rolls.) To determine which board edge Gandalf enters from, roll another die:

1-2 "West" short edge
3 "North" long edge
4-5 "East" short edge
6 "South" long edge

Gandalf may not enter within 6" of any corner of the board; otherwise, the Good player may place Gandalf wherever he likes on the board edge determined by the die roll.

Ambush. Because of the surprise achieved by the Evil side, they get priority on the first turn.

Today's test ended with a draw, pretty much. Gandalf didn't arrive until Turn 5 (he should arrive on Turn 4, with average rolls), and the Evil side won priority 7 turns out of 9. When Gandalf did arrive, he came in the opposite end of the board as the rest of the Rohirrim! So the wizard had to burn his Might points very quickly, making heroic moves and fending off waves of Uruk-Hai. Eomer, Gandalf and a small number of Rohirrim escaped.

I believe that if the Good side delays engaging the Uruk-Hai as long as possible, and then throws their entire force in one direction after Gandalf arrives, they should be able to win through. If Gandalf is late in arriving, the Rohirrim will be in deep trouble. The Uruks want to close with the Rohirrim as soon as possible to pin them down.

The main problem I had today was that my table is only 30" x 72". So it's only 2/3 as wide as it should be for this scenario. A wider board might make life easier for the Rohirrim.

The next step is a full dress rehearsal, probably. I'll invite some friends over and have them try it out, and we'll get a bigger table to work with. I'll make sure to take photos of that one. I'd love to do that within the next two weeks so there's still time for a second dress rehearsal before the convention.

Jefferson 2:57 PM

Friday, December 17, 2004

Miniatures Project Update

Oh my god it's halfway to the convention and I haven't even playtested this once yet! Panic!

I do at least have a rough order of battle. I don't have it in front of me, but it looks something like this:

Evil side: 45 Uruk-Hai (one-third each with pikes, sword & shield, and bow or crossbow), 1 Uruk-Hai Captain (using Lurtz's figure and stats), 3 or 4 Warg Riders, and 1 Warg Rider Captain (using Sharku's figure and stats).

Good side: 18 Riders of Rohan (with whatever weapons are on the figures I have), Eomer on horseback, Gandalf the White on his horse Shadowfax.

I might be forgetting something, but the two sides will have equal points.

Gandalf will arrive as a reinforcement later in the game. The Evil side wants to stop Gandalf from meeting Eomer and bringing reinforcements to Helms Deep. The Good side wants to get out alive, so they can help Theoden.

Thankfully, I already had 75% of the necessary figures full painted two months ago. I am currently painting two Gandalf the White figures (one on Shadowfax, one on foot) and nine Uruk archers and crossbowmen. I will also need to paint at least 5 Uruk pikemen and six Riders of Rohan. Maybe some terrain too. With two months to go, it should be fine, but I can't slack off any.

More importantly, I need to sit down and try playing this scenario solitaire and develop it some more. That's always a challenge in our apartment, which doesn't have any 4 foot square flat spot to set up toy soldiers. But I will find a way.

One week before Dundracon, the Shield Gaming Conference will take place in the same hotel. It's a small convention dedicated to historical miniatures wargaming. This will be its second year, and from the web page, it sounds like it will be bigger this year. I plan to attend, even though I don't have any historical figures in my collection...that might change when I arrive, of course...

Jefferson 3:02 PM

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

The Island of Misfit Franchises

Oh, won't someone please give a good home to this poor baseball team?

As you have probably heard, the former Montreal Expos are on the verge of being homeless again, a mere 78 days after being packed off to Washington D.C. In a quite unexpected development (that is, unexpected by anyone who wasn't paying close attention), D.C. City Council Chair Linda Cropp decided to, um, alter the deal between the city and Major League Baseball.

Baseball, as you might expect, immediately put the Washington franchise on hold, and will take them off life support if the council doesn't change its mind by December 31.

I have to laugh. I have to laugh at Cropp because the "altering the deal" bit works best when the other side has no leverage. For instance, if you're Darth Vader and you have occupied Cloud City, you can alter your deal with Lando Calrissian because Lando can't do a damn thing about it. If you're Lando, you can't try to alter the deal with Darth Vader.

In this case, Lando Cropp is trying to "alter the deal" with Darth Selig. That just isn't going to work.

MLB doesn't give a rat's ass about Washington D.C. They care only for the mountains of cash they will get by selling the Expos/Nationals/Hobos, wrapped in a shiny publicly financed stadium. If the new owner has to chip in to help build the yard, the Expos aren't worth as much. That means less money for the owners. That makes for unhappy owners, and no one wants that.

So what happens next? First, Cropp has to decide whether or not to back down. She won't. If she does, she looks weak and hypocritical, and her career will be pretty much over. The rest of the council will have to override her, and that seems unlikely.

The ball will then be in MLB's court. Will they keep the Expos in RFK for a year anyway? Forget it. No chance. They will want to punish the district for double-crossing them. Where, then, will they put the team? Back in Montreal? That would be the best thing, I think, but the Expos offices and organization is mostly gone from that city already. Most likely, the Expos will end up in San Juan for an entire season. The stadium is as ready as it will ever be. Whipping a minor-league stadium into shape in Portland, Norfolk, or Las Vegas is probably asking too much.

But this story has been too wild for a simple solution to take hold. There are two wild cards here, and they're both "c" words: contraction and Congress. After the 2006 season, MLB may disband two teams without complaint from the player's union. In fact, they might make more money long term by doing just that. So don't be surprised if MLB shuffles the Expos around for a couple of years and then shoots them.

Congress could throw a huge monkey wrench into everyone's plans. They could threaten to pull MLB's anti-trust exemption if MLB doesn't accept Cropp's demands. This would put MLB in a huge bind, and they would have little choice but to accept. Thing is, I believe Congress is in recess until the new term starts in January. So I think this is pretty unlikely, unless John McCain gets bored waiting for Santa.

My vote is for MLB to do the right thing. Put the damn team back where it belongs, in Montreal. Pledge to the residents that they're going to sell the team to local owners and use the proceeds to build a new, first-class ballpark in Montreal. Start marketing the club there. Apologize profusely for the existence of Jeffrey Loria (who, by the way, has started his dance of death with the Florida Marlins already).

That's not going to happen, though. Montreal's not going to get another team in my lifetime. Frankly, after this debacle, neither is Washington D.C. Three strikes and you're out, folks.

Jefferson 10:05 PM

Sunday, December 12, 2004

The Worm's Turn

This is a report on the linkshell event we did last night in Final Fantasy XI. A linkshell is basically a club inside the game. Our linkshell is called MaximumMonkey, after the late lamented comic book store. From time to time we will organize in-game events we can do as a group. Our current favorite activity is the Burning Circle Notorious Monster, or BCNM. (You might recall I wrote an article a while back about a BCNM 30 that Riloth, Dydo and I did.)

Last night's BCNM of choice was "The Worm's Turn." It's a BCNM 40, meaning the characters are capped at 40th level during the fight. A party of six has half an hour to defeat the giant worm Flayer Franz and his mob of smaller Flesh Eater worms. The worms are immobile, so if you stay away they can't hit you physically. On the other hand, they can all cast huge spells. A mob of worms all throwing Stonega spells at you is a very bad thing. Oh wait, it gets worse. Whatever PC currently has Franz's attention will get sucked into the middle of this mob. I don't know about you, but standing in the middle of a writhing mass of evil, hungry, giant worms is not my idea of a fun time!

This fight is actually very easy if you know what you're doing. Our linkshell learned how to beat this fight the hard way a few weeks back. Since then, we have beaten Franz & His Band of Fanz 18 times in a row. Now the only question is whether or not we'd still win if we were all loaded. (We haven't tried...yet.) I might get in trouble for this, but here's the Secret Monkey Plan:

Party Composition & Preparation: You will need a white mage to keep everyone alive, as usual. You will also need a good ninja to be the blink tank. You MUST have someone who can cast Sleepga or the equivalent (black mage, usually). The rest of the party should be made of good ranged damage dealers, such as rangers. A bard or red mage is also very useful, though not optional.

Mages should bring one pie and about one yagudo drink per fight. Rangers should expect to blow through a stack of arrows per fight. Players should supply their own sodas and snacks. Everyone should bring a Star Orb.

Phase One -- Kill Franz: After you enter the arena, buff up, eat your foods, and what not. Rest to full MP and then approach the circle. Your ninja blink tank will then provoke Franz. Franz will pull the poor ninja into the middle of the circle. The black mage then uses Elemental Seal + Sleepga on Franz. This will put the mob of Flesh Eaters to sleep.

After that, the rangers turn Franz into a big wormy pincushion. The black mage hangs back a bit, recasting Sleepga as necessary. No one enters the circle except the blink tank. The white mage will have his hands full keeping the ninja alive, as well as casting Barstonra on everyone. If Franz draws someone else in, that person must run back out immediately and not engage Franz up close. If the black mage can hit Franz with an Aero II a couple of times, so much the better. Mainly, the black mage should concentrate on Sleepga, and not use up all his MP. If you have a bard, he'll be very busy with Ballads, Minuets, and Earth Carols.

This actually isn't that complicated. As long as you keep the Flesh Eaters sleeping and your ninja tank alive, you will wear down Franz in about 5-10 minutes. Once he's dead, you have essentially won the fight, but you still have to deal with...

Phase Two -- Mopping Up: After Franz is done, things get tons easier. The mages can retreat and rest, recharging their MP. There's no hurry, you will have plenty of time to finish the fight. Everyone else just stands back, out of spell range of the Flesh Eaters, and mows them down with arrows, AoE spells or whatever. Just don't get within their spell range, or their Stonega spells will hurt. Don't bother sleeping the Flesh Eaters now; just make them sleep with the fishes. You should be able to finish them all off in about 3-5 minutes.

Phase Three -- Profit: Now comes the fun part, collecting the loot. You will get six drops, provided nobody died. (No one should, and if someone goes down, you can Raise them near the end of the fight, when there's one or two worms left.) Lots of great drops from this fight, including Erase scrolls (350,000 gil on the Phoenix server), Utsusemi:Ni scrolls, Phalanx scrolls, spirit torques, and bunches more. How you divide the stuff is up to you, but I recommend following MaximumMonkey's policy.

In our linkshell, we'll repeat the BCNM as many times as we can, until we run out of Star Orbs or conscious players. Last night, we did this one ten times, winning each one. We pool all the drops and sell them at the Auction House, dividing the spoils evenly among all participants. We had eleven different participants last night, and all will get an equal share, even if they only did one BCNM that night. This is to encourage everyone in the linkshell to give it a try; we also recognize that not everyone can stay up until stupid hours of the morning. We want everyone to benefit, because we like the people in our linkshell!

Since only six people can play in the BCNM each time, we rotate people in and out. It lets folks rest, and this way no one worries that they'll "miss out" on a really good drop from a particular fight. Often times, the "bench" players will run back to Jeuno to pick up another Star Orb, or buy more supplies.

Yeah, yeah, you don't care about that. How much did we make? That's all you care about, the gil. Well, it looks like each of us will get about 325,000 gil after all is said and done. Beats farming, don't it?

Credits: I'd like to give a huge pat on the back to Dydo, who is our linkshell founder, our ninja tank for all 10 fights, and the organizer of last night's event. I'd also like the thank everyone else who participated and made it such a great night:

Brudis (thief)
Daeuhl (bard--and the best one ever)
Eoa (white mage)
Fatbox (ranger)
Flimage (ranger)
Orlia (white mage)
Riloth (ranger--and good friend in real life)
Tobias (white mage--but wishes he could be a pirate instead)
Vibrator (black mage)

Jefferson 12:30 PM

Monday, December 06, 2004

If Everybody Panics, No One Is Overreacting

We really don't have a good name for the steroid scandal yet. Every really juicy scandal has a good name, after all. Usually, it ends with "-gate." "Steroidgate" doesn't really work for me, and "Balcogate" just sounds like something you wouldn't tell your mother you did. Thanks to Jason Giambi and his refreshingly candid way of speaking, I've been sorely tempted to call this "Assgate." That's just fun to say, and it really applies in so many ways.

But honestly, I don't think you can sum this up in one simple albeit catchy word. I'd rather call it something more descriptive, like the "Massive Occurrence of Explosively Flatulent Commentary." (You can sum that up as "Moe FC," but you will undoubtedly get people confused with The Three Stooges' world-reknowned soccer team. (Okay, we can't all be Waiting For Boof.)

To paraphrase the well-known philosopher Mr. Mackey, "Drugs are BAD, m'kay?" I think most of us can agree on this. And furthermore, cheating is also bad, m'kay? Unless you get away with it, of course. (In that case, it's clever.) And people who cheat or take drugs, or both at once, should be voted off the island or at least put on TV so we can make fun of them every night, or at least look down on them and tell ourselves that no matter how badly we've fucked up our lives, at least we're not those junkies who shoot crap into their asses.

If you have a job in the media, or politics, you get to spend a lot more words saying that exact same thing, but with more feeling. It's what you call an easy week at the office.

Okay, what about a year from now? Six months from now? Even a month from now? What's going to change? Will all these trees and electrons be wailing in their respective afterlives about how they were wasted? Of course.

Bonds and Giambi aren't going to jail. They're not going to get suspended. The commissioner isn't going to lock out the players until they agree to a stronger testing regime. The record books won't change. Senator McCain might pass some legislation, but it'll get overturned by the courts. People won't suddenly think worse of Bonds and Giambi, mainly because few liked them in the first place, or thought they were clean. The season is going to start on time. Bonds is going to play left field for the Giants. He'll get tested again for juice, and he'll still hit 35-45 homers.

Best case scenario: the commissioner and the player's union get together and strength the steroid testing program, and remember to actually ban human growth hormone. They put in tougher rules and tell everyone that they're going to be enforced, just like they are in the NFL.

Worst case scenario: same as above.

I'd really like to end this by saying something funny, but there's really nothing humorous about the way our society "deals with" drugs and sports. I find it hard to believe that no MLB player has used coke since Steve Howe, or that amphetamine use stopped after Jim Bouton wrote his books over 30 years ago. Of course NFL players get that big by going to the hofbrau every night. Face it, we use our athletes when we're happy and want something to cheer for, and also when we're unhappy and need someone to bitch about. It's the act of cheering or condemning that we love most; if we actually changed the things we didn't like, we wouldn't be able to bitch about it again. We don't want to give up our highs and our lows, because let's face it--we are addicted too.

Jefferson 8:29 PM

Friday, December 03, 2004

Barry, Meet Bubba

It was the Clintonisms that did it...

Bonds also was quizzed about a document that said, "Barry 12-2-02, T, 1 cc G - pee."

A prosecutor asked, "Does that correspond to you getting, you know, growth hormones or testosterone or giving a urine test or anything of those things that you can recall from Mr. Anderson."

"T could mean anything," Bonds replied. "G could mean anything. And pee could probably mean anything."
--Chronicle article

"It depends on what the meaning of the words 'is' is."
-- �Bill Clinton, during his 1998 grand jury testimony on the Monica Lewinsky affair

Reading through the Chronicle article last night, I was struck by how Bonds and Clinton approached the grand jury in similar ways. Two very smart people, sensing a witch hunt, and trying to talk circles around the people who were questioning them.

The problem is, that just never works. Evasiveness just makes people think you're guilty, not that you're smart. Evasiveness makes people think that you don't want to stop whatever you're covering up. Yes, covering your ass is the true national pasttime, but there's a time and a place to just knock that shit off. That place is called a federal grand jury.

When you're as smart as Bonds or Clinton, playing dumb just doesn't work. No one's going to believe it. Even dumb people can tell that you're smart, and that you're faking the ignorance. Dumb people are smart that way. Problem is, smart people are dumb in thinking that their non-denial denials, their evasion, their circumlocutions, actually work.

You know what's really stupid about all of this? Barry doesn't need to dodge anything. Are the fans going to shun him because he used steroids? No. The fans don't care. Barry could have just said "Yeah, I did it. I let things get out of control. The pressure of being on top led me to do stupid stuff, and I wish I hadn't done it." And he would have been a national hero, twice over. Instantly forgiven. The fans don't care if Barry's numbers are inflated, but they DO love a reptentant sinner.

What the fans don't like is when you treat them with contempt. When you believe they'll buy your act (see "Sosa, Sammy"), or if you act like you don't care if they do or not. The fans don't care if you don't like the media. The fans don't like the media either. But the fans can see through crap like never having heard of EPO and these other performance enhancers. They know how fanatic you are about health, nutrition and fitness. They know you've heard of this stuff. Is it so hard to just say "I've heard of that stuff, but I have never used it?"

One more thing. Everyone knows the BALCO investigation is a witch hunt. The investigators hate Bonds' guts (read the April 2004 Playboy article), and wanted to bring him down. The pattern of leaks by the government to the San Francisco Chronicle is so blatantly illegal and wrong, that you can't interpret the investigation any other way. Victor Conte is going on national TV tonight to confess? During the same week that the Giambi and Bonds testimony is leaked? Give me a break. There will be no trial. The judge is going to throw the whole thing out because of the leaks.

And the investigators won't care. Because they got their guy. They got him in front of a grand jury and put him on the defensive, knowing they were going to leak it. Bonds knew they were going to leak it. But the feds knew Bonds is a proud, proud man, and would cover his ass. The feds knew he'd play the "unknowing" card, and the "never heard of it" cards, and that no one would believe a word of it.

Bonds got flat-out outwitted by the feds. It was dirty, dirty pool. But it worked.

I am a huge Barry Bonds fan. I have been since 1997, on the day the Giants clinched the division title. That was the day Barry was so happy to win, he jumped on the dugout and started celebrating with fans. It was the most pure, unscripted moment of Bonds' Giants career. I loved that Bonds, and I still do. I'm still going to cheer for him this year. But I'll always mourn what could have been.

Okay, time to take a breath. This entire post has concentrated on one man's disbelief that a smart guy tried to cover his ass. I haven't even touched on what I think about the usage, what it means to the Giants, what it means to baseball, and what it means to the record books. I'll tackle that in my next post, which may not be for a couple of days.

Jefferson 8:51 AM

Thursday, December 02, 2004

Breaking News: Bonds Grand Jury Testimony Leaked

The last leak has just been published: Barry Bonds admits to using a "cream substance" and a "clear substance" provided by Greg Anderson, though he claims he didn't think they were steroids.

I will have more to say about this tomorrow.

Jefferson 10:17 PM

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

Salvation Army Banned By Stores

Check out this story in the Chronicle. Target, Mervyn's and other stores have banned the Salvation Army from collecting in front of their stores.

Do the Salvation Army bellringers really offend anyone? If so, don't those people have better things to do than to complain to stores about that? Don't the stores have any sense of charity? And don't believe for a minute the excuse that they can't allow the Salvation Army without allowing all solicitors. It's called private property. The stores can easily make an exception for the bellringers and still keep all the truly annoying petitioners away.

Frankly, I don't see myself doing business with companies that make harebrained decisions like that.

Jefferson 1:33 PM