My Sports Tees And Miscellaneous Caps, Part 6

Surprise! NOT about movies! NOT about disco! NOT even about cancer! It's more shirts and caps, in photos mostly taken months ago!

Let's start with the Phils, since they're in season -- and doing surprisingly well! Most of these I got from the clearance racks. First one is actually not a t-shirt.

Some from the recent glory days...

Two from 2008 -- one official, one not...

Phila. Daily News Update

I previously outlined some problems I had with my newspaper, which were enough to make me consider not renewing my subscription. I ended up renewing it, so I'm still a Daily News subscriber.

Although (and sorry in advance for this digression), every time I see the right-wing garbage from one of their editorial board members, Christine Flowers, I want to vomit. I don't even read it. I just see her name and wonder why she's allowed to spew her filth. I mean, there was an editorial in the paper regarding the teenage girl who wore her Mitt Romney t-shirt to school and was harrassed by her teacher, leading to all kinds of stupidity, media whoring, etc. The editorial says, in part:

The T-shirt flap and the resulting hostility that had a high-school student afraid to return to school because of obscenities hurled at her parents and rumors that students were going to attack her is a sickening indictment of an uncivilized society that has become increasingly intolerant of differences of opinions, political outlooks, religious beliefs and beyond.

Whether it takes the form of blatant questioning of, say, the current president's love of God, country, or his supposed lack of a birth certificate, or nasty commentaries on non-Christians, or distorted political ads with both sides accusing the other of lies and worse, or even Rush Limabugh calling a Georgetown legal student a slut and a whore for speaking out about birth control, the rise of the political echo chamber that has replaced useful and thoughtful debate that is grounded in respect is the real culprit.

Quite the thing, except these words are a near-perfect description of Christine Flowers. The only area where she has anything but an extreme right-wing view is on immigration. She has stated that, as a practicing attorney, she represents immigrants trying to stay in the USA. I can't help but wonder how she'd feel about it if she weren't making money off these people. I also can't help but wonder, considering the stance taken in the editorial, why the paper continues to employ her, thereby contributing to this "uncivilized society."

Anyway, that's not why I'm writing this post. Regarding one of my post's criticisms, there's good news: starting in January, home subscribers of the Daily News and Inquirer will get the digital version of the paper for free. I'm very happy about this because if I'm out of town I'll be able to read the paper on my tablet. I don't know why it can't start right away, but that's a minor quibble.

Speaking of minor quibbles, this centerspread appeared in last weekend's Sportsweek edition. There was a feature story on the Eagles' time at the Vet as this season marks the 10th anniversary of their last season before moving to the Linc. This photo begs the question...

...why did they use a picture taken during baseball season?

An Old Phillies TV Broadcast Failure

I'm watching a rebroadcast of the last Phillies game played at the Vet, which Comcast Sportsnet has been airing recently. I recorded it the other day and I'm going through it while my new tablet PC is charging for the first time. I never saw this broadcast because I was actually at the game. Remember when starting pitcher Kevin Millwood (whose Phillies career started with promise and ended up well short of expectations) was removed from the game after giving up 5 runs in 4-plus innings, walked off the mound and tossed his glove into the stands? Amazingly, the broadcast didn't catch that moment live because they had WIP's Anthony Gargano roaming the stadium doing reports, and at that moment he was interviewing former Phils Bake McBride and Manny Trillo. Granted, it was a special day so such reports are kinda warranted, but still...

Which TV Legend Invaded My Dream?

(Note: This picture of deep-fried Oreos is a placeholder. When the Networked Blogs Facebook app posts this it displays the first picture as a preview, and I don't want it to spoil the surprise.)




Normally I don't remember my dreams after I wake up. Sometimes they linger in my mind a little, and then fade. Now and then I have a dream that is so off-the-wall that it can't help but embed itself into my brain. The best example of this is the one where I was dreaming that I was in bed and someone I used to work with...wait, I'm not ready to discuss that one.

I had two dreams a while back in which guys I've played softball with were actors, or supposed to be actors. In the first, I was walking down the street and saw George sitting in a car. He was dead...or so I thought until someone said, "Don't worry, we're just filming a scene."  I will say that George was a very convincing corpse.

In the other, I was walking around the fields at a city recreational center and in the middle of the baseball diamond there was a big-screen TV there tuned to a show. People in the dream were all talking about waiting to see Freddy on the show. Then, the scene ended and a voiceover said, "Stay tuned for scenes from our next episode." No Freddy! Sorry, dude. I'm sure you were great, though.

This morning's dream, however, may top them all. (Except that first one I mentioned that I'm not discussing, but that's for a different reason.) I was watching a baseball game. I think it was on TV at first. Then, suddenly, up to the plate stepped...

To All The Parks I've Loved Before...

Apologies to Willie and Julio for the title...

I thought I'd dig up something from the archives of the Outsports discussion board. A thread was started in 2002 about favorite major league ballparks. At the time, I had only been to six. I ranked them thusly: Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Dodger Stadium, Yankee Stadium, Veterans Stadium (I made a note that the Vet ranked ahead of the others because of good memories as much as anything else), Qualcomm Stadium and Candlestick Park.

From 2003 through 2008 (during those happy years when I still had spending money) I managed to get to a lot more parks, and updated the list each time. So I thought I'd share my current rankings here on the blog. Ballparks listed in italics have been vacated by the teams that once called them home. Some have been torn down and replaced, others still stand.

On Gaga, Madonna, Canceled Shows And Twitter

In 1990 I had tickets to see Madonna in concert on her "Blond Ambition" tour. I wanted to see the show desperately, having seen her from a distance at Veterans Stadium for the "Who's That Girl" tour. This time she was set for three shows at the Spectrum, so even if I had seats at the top I would still have a closer view. And since Madonna's music was evolving into something more than the simple grooves and lyrics of, say, "Lucky Star," and the show was more complex and controversial, it was a must-see for me.

The shows sold out quickly. I did not bother waiting in line to try and buy tickets in person. Unlike today, there was (obviously) no website for ticket sales. (Also, unlike today, the Vet still existed and the Spectrum was open.) I remember buying the tickets over the phone from a ticket broker. I'm not sure how much extra I paid, although the prices weren't as ridiculously inflated as they are now. The three shows were set for June 15, 16 and 17. I bought tickets for the 15th, a Friday night.

You may remember, as documented in Truth Or Dare, that Madonna was having problems with her voice due to a sore throat and canceled a few shows during the tour.

You guessed it. The June 15th show was canceled.

Since I bought the tickets from a broker, I lost some money on the deal. I returned the tickets to the box office and was refunded the face value price only. The money wasn't what disappointed me. I was sad because I never got to see the concert.

The reason this came to mind is because Lady Gaga had to cancel a show at Purdue University tonight. Just a little while ago, she logged on to Twitter and issued a series of tweets:

I've been crying for hours, I feel like I let my fans down 2nite. An hour before the show, I was feeling dizzy and having trouble breathing

Paramedics came to take care of me, and told me my heart-rate was irregular-- a result of exhaustion and dehydration.

can't apologize enough for how sorry I am. I could hear my fans cheering from my dressing room, I begged everyone to let me go onstage.

My stage has complicated mechanical elements,everyone was concerned I'd be in danger during the 2hr show, since I had passed out earlier.

I am so devastated. I have performed with the flu, a cold, strep throat: I would never cancel a show just based on discomfort.

I hope you can forgive me. I love my little monsters more than anything, you are everything to me. I will make-up the performance on Jan 26.

I got no such declarations from Madonna 19 1/2 years ago. (Nor did she reschedule her show the way Gaga did.) For all I know, maybe she felt the same way then that Gaga does now. And for all I know, maybe something else happened tonight. The TMZ report I linked says she merely got on her tour bus and left, and school EMT's were turned away when they arrived at the venue.

But I love that there are celebrities on Twitter -- singers, athletes, actors -- communicating directly with the masses. They're sometimes funny, sometimes profane, sometimes pouring their heart out, but always much more fun than those whose tweets come from employees, or worse, those who just issue statements through publicists.

Madonna really needs to get on Twitter before the next tour.