As March comes to a close, I need to reflect or dream about the first part of April and the coming Major League Baseball season. While I have followed the spring exploits of my favorite team, I can’t really get excited about spring training. Until this last week of spring training, we hardly ever see a complete starting lineup. There are a variety of minor league prospects, players past their prime and those with little or nothing to offer all trying to get the the 25 player roster. Those that have it made are just getting loose for the coming season. Some good ball is played, but as it is often said, it doesn’t count.

Next week the real games start. I will be following every score. Grumbling at losses or poor play. Feeling aggravated when a star player is hurt or not doing well. Cheering for every win.

So if you follow baseball, this is the time of year you’ve been waiting for. If you don’t, your time will come. 😉

My promise to myself. I’m going to go to at least 1 major league game this season. I don’t know when or even where, but I will do it.

And to my fellow old-time tangenteers, Good luck to your teams, until they play my favorite team. 😉

Go Tigers.

For a while, my laptop’s screen started working again. I took it in to have it checked out, and they cleaned some contacts in hope that it would solve the problem. It did for a while. Buy now, it stopped working again. I guess I need to fork over some cash now to get a new backlight.

Right now I have it hooked up to my TV, but I have to sit too close so I can see the writing. Just not a comfortable way to do this unless I move the couch to within 2 feet of the TV, or set the screen resolution to a bigger size, so I can see the print from across the room. Oh well, I hope to back up the drive tonight and take the machine in tomorrow.

I also finally hooked up a wireless keyboard to the machine. This actually works very well. I’ve had the keyboard/mouse for a long time, I just never bothered to hook it up. I was hoping to be able to sit across the room looking at the TV screen.

I just set the screen to a different resolution, and can almost make out the print from across the room. I could definitely play computer games this way. I just don’t play that many computer games.

Maybe I could use this to watch baseball soon. If my connection speed is still good, I may have to sign up for the MLB package.

Not all but some…. and look out… her comes the return of the Red Stockings (on Friday)… BOOOO!!!!!! no doubt on the war path following the sweeping of the last series.  The Yanks have clinched a berth for the post season.  They slipped a bit but thanks to a win or two and a loss from Boston, New York has gone back to a six game first place lead and defeated the Angels of Anaheim tonight.  Just sayin’.  Last season, I did not get to say that.

And it looks like the Tigers  (another team on tangent’s radar) will be a post season hopeful, correct, justj?  What about the Cubbies, taylhis?

Yahoo!  The Bombers finally have done something they have failed to do all season: completed a sweep of the rather lackluster (of late) Red Sox.  The first time the Yanks have taken a four-game home stand from their rival since 1985?! The one thing I grew sick of is the continuous mentioning of David Ortiz and his possible enhancement taking of 2003.  I mean, it seems as if (the last two games, anyway) that the games were more of a did he or didn’t he.  I think the whole scandal has gotten way out of hand and is ruining the great American pasttime.

The series began Thursday night with a 13-6 blow.

The excitement continued Friday night into the wee hours of Saturday until Alex Rodriguez smashed a two run walk-off shot in the bottom of the 15th inning.  Marking the first time a Yankee-Red Sox game  has gone scoreless  through  14 innings and only the fifth time in recorded history  that  a walk-off homer has been hit in  a scoreless 15 or more inning game.  A heartbreaker but the pinstripes came out on top.

Saturday, the Yankees also blanked the Sox 5-0

Finally, the first place AL East boys rallied to go up 6-1/2 games with a 5-2 victory.  One thing is for sure, Boston will be looking for blood when next the teams meet up.  But for now.. good luck to justj‘s beloved Tigers when they travel to Fenway Monday night.

I’m taking yet another diversion from writing about my great weekend to write about a bad day I had today – I need to vent.  And yes, it involves Walmart – when don’t my bad days involve Walmart?!?  First, my husband’s business clients blew him off, yet again.  We were on the verge of a big business deal, but now the clients are stalling and  becoming difficult to get ahold of – not a good sign.  So I took the kids to Walmart to get them out of the house so my husband could have some peace when he called the clients – not that it mattered; they “weren’t home”.  Sigh.  So anyway, at Walmart, I discovered that they finally did it – raised the prices on diapers.  I knew it was just a matter of time; the diapers have been the same price since my almost 5-year-old was a baby.  So after absorbing the reality of the price increase on diapers (I have two kids in diapers!  Time to rush the potty training, I guess.), I go to check out, and I’m next in line, ready to put my stuff on the counter, and an employee says “I can help you on lane 6”.  So I went over to lane 6, but it turns out, the employee was wrong.  They wanted her to take over on lane 5 instead of open lane 6.  So I went back to lane 5, right where I had started, and now someone has gotten in the line with a SUPER-full cart in front of me.  Of course.  And I had hungry kids who now had to wait in a line with all that candy at eye level.  Have I mentioned that I hate Walmart?

Then I  get home and starting making dinner, and I have a crying baby underfoot – I don’t know why he always cries at home.  He’s the happiest little guy everywhere else, but when we’re at home, he only wants to be held, and I can’t hold him while I’m cooking, doing laundry, cleaning or blogging, so…  he cries a lot.  I  guess I can get rid of most of the toys that are starting to take over my living room since no one plays with them!  And all day I’ve been looking forward to a nice hot relaxing shower, so after dinner, I went to do just that.  But apparently running the dishwasher, giving the kids a bath and hand-washing a dinner pot drained the (new!) hot water heater, and my shower was lukewarm with a cold rinse at the end.  Of course it was.  I can only hope that my day turns around when the Cubs begin their season-opening game tonight – I’ve been looking forward to this for months,  so hopefully my bad day wasn’t a precursor to the tone of tonight’s game.  To quote Tom Hanks from A League of Their Own: “May our feet be swift, may our bats be mighty, may our balls be plentiful…”  GO CUBS!

Earlier this morning, we ruined our chances of sleeping in (since our oldest daughter is on spring break) by signing up to bring a pet to my second-oldest daughter’s school – we forgot about spring break when we signed up for pet day for first thing in the morning, oops – so adding to everything is the fact that I’m tired today also.  We let our little ones play at my daughter’s preschool; they had a blast, and we had fun watching them.  My husband read a book to the kids, and we brought the rats for pet day – and it was SO fun to see certain teachers pale and shriek with fright – hehe!

So I guess the day wasn’t all bad; it was just Walmart getting under my skin, AGAIN.  Oh, and get this – I saw the store manager (I’ll call him Mr. Palindrome, since his last name reads the same backward and forward) park in one of the handicapped spots right in front of the store.  To be fair, he does have a handicapped tag, but I know from my sources that the handicapped tag is not for him but rather his elderly mother whom he cares for.  But I still think he should only be able to park in the handicapped spots when she is with him, and I definitely don’t think he should take those spots away from his customers when he is perfectly able-bodied.  Well, just my opinion, the guy irritates me because of all his dirty price games he plays at the Walmart and the small businesses the store pushes out of the way.  Not that it’s a small business, but Kmart is the latest victim of Walmart in our town – it’s closing for good in May.  What a shame – and to think the Kmart in our town was opened as the test store to see if Kmart would work in small town America.  The test was successful, but that was decades ago, and times have changed – just like Walmart’s prices!

***UPDATE*** – The Cubs are on, and they’re winning – YAY!  Soriano opened the game with a home run on the first pitch of the game! How cool is that?  But, for some reason, the game is not on ESPN 2 like tvguide.com said.  My husband bought me mlb.com, but that seems to be broken at the moment – they’re showing video during the commercials and nothing during game play.  Not only that, my husband’s clients have called (but I guess that’s a good thing), leaving me with the two little ones at their crabbiest time of day.  So I have 2 screamers and no Cubs game.  At least they are winning (I think).  When I put the little ones to bed here pretty soon, I’m tempted to join them just so I can start over tomorrow – every attempt I make at relaxing tonight has just made things worse!

Shortly after this blog post is published, the countdown timer on my site will change – but that’s a great thing.  It used to count down until the Chicago Cubs‘ first game of 2009 Spring Training, but since that game is TODAY (!) that countdown timer will soon be edited to count down until the first real SEASON Cubs game of 2009 – YIPPEE!  So here’s to hoping the Cubs win today (and every day!), even though it’s just spring training!

Now I have to go see if I can find the first game of spring training on a tv channel in the rural expanse of Northwest Ohio!  GO CUBBIES!!!

Today was the first day I’ve been to a play tryout where I didn’t read for a role. I was just there as a producer. It was kind of fun just sitting there watching others try out. No worries, no trying to figure out a role/persona. I really enjoyed myself. We had some new people trying out for roles, and it is good to get new blood in the theater. We just can’t have the same people in shows over and over again. I’m all for the new people getting parts.

I’m currently listening to the Tigers and Indians baseball game. The big difference is I’m listening to it on the Indian’s Radio network, instead of the Tiger’s Radio Network. I find it strange that the announcers don’t seem to know the Tigers. Maybe it is because I don’t know the other teams as well, but I don’t think the Tiger’s announcers are nearly as bad when it comes to the Cleveland games. I have caught them in other games, not knowing players, but you should know your division rivals. Cleveland/Detroit has been a big rivalry for as long as I can remember. I would think the Indians announcers would do better. The only reason I listen the the Indian station, is that I get it on all of the radios in the house. The Tiger station, I need to be in the car, or get my daughters battery powered portable to hear it. Even then, it is very touchy as to location, and direction of the antenna. Tiger’s just won!

Need to get some time off work soon. I enjoyed the 3 day weekend, but I would like to get time off to see my family all over the country. I guess I need to talk with the peoples in charge at work.

I’m looking forward to a movie or two with my girls this weekend. I’m going to have some time with both daughters at home so it is possible.

Suffering from a sore back for the past few days (it seems like weeks). Not much I can do about it other than resting it. Slow walking, moderate stretching, and making sure my back is supported while sitting are all helping. Not sure what I did to pull the muscles, but it was nagging for a while.

I haven’t watched much network or cable TV (other than part of a ball game) all summer. Can’t say I miss it. I went a few years, while working 2nd shift, without TV, I am guessing I could continue for a long time. Being in the middle of the woods, I don’t have cable (to far in the country) or satellite (too many trees). I don’t see myself getting those anytime soon. I really think I could live without TV. Owned or rented movies, well that is a different story.

I really guess that is about it. I am thinking of upcoming days that will be happening in July so I will have more to write about at a later date…

Normally I just roll my eyes to yet some other scandal happening in sports.  Athletes are given god-like status by many fans, so why shouldn’t they act like egotistical know-it-alls {sarcasm}?  Today, it seems Little League teams are no longer allowed to use the names of actual major league teams due to trademarks.  Not just the logos- the names too.  That is, unless MLB gets its share of the pie by forcing the Little League to use their “approved” uniform manufacturer.  How cold can their greedy hearts get?  Now, to be fair, the trademark office requires companies to actively enforce compliance or risk losing their trademarks; and the MLB could have been threatened with that from said trademark office, but I really doubt it.  I remember when I was in intermediate league one year and was on the Astros.  A friend of mine was on the Phillies.  Today we would probably be on the Oranges and Greens thanks to this ridiculous enforcement.  What happened to just giving a nod and a wink because you support youth sports?  It sounds like they support $$$ more.  Here’s a link to the story:

Major League Baseball Tells Little Leaguers: We Own Uniform Rights

Spring training is officially over, and the MLB starts now. While I know there was a game or to in China, the official first game that I acknowledge is tomorrow at 1:05 in Detroit. I wish I could be there, but there are always other obligations. I’ll be following the Tigers and one other team. I have friends who are Cubs fans. Since they are in the other league, I can root for them too. Someone else I know (who shall remain nameless… Can’t say that name anymore 😉 ) will be rooting for the Yankees. Never could stand those Yankees.

All new season, with everyone starting on an even basis. Any game can be won by any team. This is baseball, all 162 games… Looking forward to it. Go Tigers…

Oh yes, and I have a couple of friends that are rooting for the Indians… We don’t talk much during the season… 😉

The Cubs don’t just lose.  They lose with style.  They find new ways to make people say to themselves “I can’t believe the Cubs found a way to choke again!”  But why do they keep losing?  Is it a CURSE?  Yes it is…  But it has nothing to do with goats and everything to do with dollars.

You see, a franchise that has build a cult-like following on the platform of being “Lovable Losers” needs to maintain their status to keep their following.  And the following is where the money is…

Take the Chicago White Sox for example.  They won a World Series not too long ago.  But now, that is history and they are no longer selling out every game and in the national spotlight.  They have no story.  They are just another team that wins some and loses some.

But, to be a money machine you MUST have a story.  You must either be a big winner (like the Yankees) or a big loser (like the Cubs).  If you’re just floating around in the middle, you are not a story.  You are no longer the eternal undergdogs everyone roots for on the side.  You are…  Just another baseball team.

If the Cubs were to win a World Series, Lovable Loser would no longer fit.  And unless they could consistantly win, neither would the title of Elite Team.  So, I wouldn’t expect to see the Cubs winning a World Series any time soon.  They will always be a devistating injury, botched play, or Steve Bartman away.

Because baseball is a business and a good story is good for business.