Odds and Ends from a radar screen cleaning.
Washington Baseball Hall of Fame
In September I wrote some thoughts on who the Washington Nationals should honor at their new ballpark. At the time, it wasn’t exactly clear how the Nationals would accomplish this. The only concrete plans are statues for Walter Johnson, Josh Gibson and Frank Howard and some paintings.
Now that I think about it, Stan Kasten, at the SABR/RFK event in July, had mentioned the team might do something along these lines of a Hall of Fame, and in conjunction with the National Baseball Hall of Fame. I was thinking in terms of memorabilia and a dugout store.
Evidently, Kasten was referring to a Washington Baseball Hall of Fame.
I say that because Nats320 has just posted an update on this. Just a few details, but it now appears this is something the Nationals will do.
Say It Again
Maury Brown has an excellent interview with Bob Bowman, head honcho at MLB Advanced Media. Enjoyed it a lot but Bowman gave a totally confusing, industry-speak answer. It's about two-thirds of the way down, Maury’s question about the 2009 launch of The Baseball Channel (yea!). His reply made me think of the way Goober, on the Andy Griffith Show, when he didn’t understand what somebody had just said, would say, “Say it again.”
The BOB site does not allow copy and pasting, so let me list the more confusing phrases.
“back end overlap”
“integrate everything up and down”
“a pro side of things”
“overlap editorially”
“backend basis”
Or as Paul Vitti might say, “English, English.”
Top Marks for Washington
In his book, The Option of Urbanism, Chris Leinberger, in talking about changing demographics and where we will live in the future, notes that for some households, the quality of public schools will no longer be a primary concern. For many, however, it remains a crucial factor when deciding to stay or move.
In the nation’s capital, District schools most certainly have challenges ahead, something new chancellor Michelle Rhee is working on turning around. The news is better in the suburbs. In two recent education rankings, the Washington metro area took top honors.
Forbes Magazine ranked educational systems using criteria such “public school support, private school options, library popularity, college town and college options.” Washington/Arlington ranked first.
U.S. News & World Report, in its first ranking of "America's Best High Schools," rated Fairfax County's Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology number one in the nation. Five other schools in the Washington suburbs -- two in Fairfax and three in Montgomery County -- are in the top 100.
These rankings are no doubt flawed but do provide an indication for people interested in such things. People like, oh, say, major league baseball players who might be pondering future locales…
Awesome Boston
It must be a great time to be a Boston Red Sox fan. On top of their play on the field, there’s now the news that their farm system is ranked second. Also, their upcoming SABR regional touts Bill James, bloggers, a website roundtable and some other great guests, all in a tavern near Fenway.
It would be so easy to be jealous of these guys but I can honestly say I got no problem with it. The Boston folks I know are good people.
Of course, I'll probably change my mind when Red Sox Nation invades Nationals Park...
Now Reading
The First Campaign, Globalization, the Web, and the Race for the White House by Garrett M. Graff. Excellent so far and what timing for my reading, coming on the heels of Obama’s youth-fueled Iowa win. The catch phrase this time around just may be, "It was the young vote stupid."
Snakes and Arrows
RUSH’s Snakes and Arrows get a nice write up at Gibson.com
When Alex Lifeson, Neil Peart, and Geddy Lee—now all in their fifties—remerged this year with their ambitious eighteenth album, Snakes & Arrows, it had been five years since Rush’s last studio effort. Chock full of the same experimentation that made these arena fillers a household name in the ’70s, Snakes & Arrows is a rock and roll riot of swirling metal guitar and theatrical vocals. Asserting their maturity with some of the most literary lyrics of their career and their contemporary relevance by recruiting ace producer Nick Raskulinecz (behind Foo Fighters and Velvet Revolver), Rush released one of the most buzzed-about albums of the year. Entering the Billboard chart at No.3—their second highest debut ever—wasn’t even the band’s headiest achievement this year; instead, their first-ever dalliance with instrumental tracks took the cake. One of the three instrumentals included on the album has been nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. A must for all diehard Rush fans. - Ellen Mallernee
By the way RUSH’s instrumental is killer but it has about as much chance of winning the Grammy as me putting all my CD’s back in their cases.
Redskins
Sad to see my childhood team end its season, but good that Joe Gibbs turned things around after his infamous back to back timeouts that dropped Washington to 5 and 7 and put his job in jeopardy.
That's it. How many days to pitchers and catchers?
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