Skip Bayless from The Mercury News says in his column that baseball fans will be back, even if there is another baseball strike. He says baseball in our American DNA and that there's too much shared memories that get passed down from parents to their children about the game. I'm not sure I agree with him.
I think the American psyche has really changed since 9/11. I think the constant stories of greed and hype from the dotcom boom and bust to the Worldcom and Enron debacles have taken a toll on America's wallet. What are these baseball players thinking?
The US economy was still reeeling from the tech collapse in 2000 when 9/11 happened. 9/11 didn't cause the US economy to tank, it was already on its way, but 9/11 definitely was the kick in the butt down the economic hell hole we are finding ourselves in today. Has the baseball players' union not been reading the news? Are they so rich that they're that immune from the current economic downturn? I guess they must be, because they are striking for more millions for their multimillion dollar salaries.
I hope the baseball players come to their senses, because Skip Bayless is wrong. Baseball hasn't recovered from the last strike. There are still teams who are losing money, especially the small market teams. To get the fans back into the stadiums, the owners have mortgaged their future to pay players exhorbitant sums. And I'm sorry, it's now working.
Sure, some fans will come back, but not all. And the ones who left because of the first strike will stay away, passing down different memories to their children. If you follow Skip Bayless' argument that baseball is in America's DNA and is kept alive by memories. what happens to baseball when fewer and fewer americans have those memories. Baseball might not die a quick death. No one does. Quick painless death are only in the movies. Most people die incredibly painful deaths that go on longer than they should. The same will be true for baseball. As the game, the players and the owners become more out of touch with the people who actually watch the games, the game will surely die. Slowly and painfully of course. And baseball will probably be around longer than it probably should, but it will end and die nevertheless. And that will be a sad day for America and it's favorite national pastime sport.
Monday, August 12, 2002
Sunday, August 11, 2002
Saturday, August 10, 2002
Back from LA and I'm exhausted. I tried to post on Friday while in Lala land, but Blogger Pro does not support pocket explorer. Fortunately, they have a fix. Siince I can get into my regular email, I can post using email. I have to set it up first though. Blogging via email might actually be faster and more efficient than logging into the site, especially on my baby laptop.
So funny. While driving home over the Bay Bridge from the Oakland Airport, LA Woman by The Doors comes on the radio. I think I could easily live in LA. I used to hate LA because I always thought it was too big, too dirty and the traffic and the freeway sucked big time. Now San Francisco is just as worse with the congested freeways 24/7. The air isn't as bad as LA's because of the fog, but there are days when it gets close. SF will never be a big as LA simply because LA is just a bigger area, but if you count the whole bay area which is 9 counties, SF is just a tad smaller.
But if I live in LA, I would definitely have to totally lose weight. Everyone there seems small framed and rake thin. Fashion wise I didn't do too bad. LA people seem to dress up a little more than people here in SF. They're not as dressy as east coast/NYC people, but definitely slobness does not reign in LA like it does here. With my clam diggers and silk and rayon hawaiian shirts, I looked okay.
I wonder if I totally looked like a tourist though. Everyone in LA was so friendly, especially the people in the musuems. The audio guy at the MOCA said my brand spanking new coach messenger bag was very fashionable and all the guards at the Geffen Contemporary kept asking me if I had any questions and the guard at the door asked me if I enjoyed the exhibit. I've never known LA people to be so friendly.
The girls in back of me in the long line at the MOCA on Saturday said Kathy Bates of Misery fame was in the line in front of us. The line was so long that she marched her butt up to the front, presumably to get star treatment. She never came back so maybe they let her get in ahead because she's a movie star. That's the thing about LA. There could a stars where ever you go, but if you don't notice, you totally miss them. I thought for sure there was a Don Henley lookalike in front of me in the MOCA line. And I swear to god some woman who looked like Melanie Griffith was there waiting to get her car from valet parking. But who knows?
I saw Robin Williams once here in SF at a movie theatre a long time ago with his wife and kids and the only reason I noticed him was because some people stopped him and asked if he was Robin Williams and he said he was. I totally wouldn't have recognized him unless he was pointed out to me. Robin and the family were going to see the Spice Girls movie.
More about LA later. I'm just glad to be home.
So funny. While driving home over the Bay Bridge from the Oakland Airport, LA Woman by The Doors comes on the radio. I think I could easily live in LA. I used to hate LA because I always thought it was too big, too dirty and the traffic and the freeway sucked big time. Now San Francisco is just as worse with the congested freeways 24/7. The air isn't as bad as LA's because of the fog, but there are days when it gets close. SF will never be a big as LA simply because LA is just a bigger area, but if you count the whole bay area which is 9 counties, SF is just a tad smaller.
But if I live in LA, I would definitely have to totally lose weight. Everyone there seems small framed and rake thin. Fashion wise I didn't do too bad. LA people seem to dress up a little more than people here in SF. They're not as dressy as east coast/NYC people, but definitely slobness does not reign in LA like it does here. With my clam diggers and silk and rayon hawaiian shirts, I looked okay.
I wonder if I totally looked like a tourist though. Everyone in LA was so friendly, especially the people in the musuems. The audio guy at the MOCA said my brand spanking new coach messenger bag was very fashionable and all the guards at the Geffen Contemporary kept asking me if I had any questions and the guard at the door asked me if I enjoyed the exhibit. I've never known LA people to be so friendly.
The girls in back of me in the long line at the MOCA on Saturday said Kathy Bates of Misery fame was in the line in front of us. The line was so long that she marched her butt up to the front, presumably to get star treatment. She never came back so maybe they let her get in ahead because she's a movie star. That's the thing about LA. There could a stars where ever you go, but if you don't notice, you totally miss them. I thought for sure there was a Don Henley lookalike in front of me in the MOCA line. And I swear to god some woman who looked like Melanie Griffith was there waiting to get her car from valet parking. But who knows?
I saw Robin Williams once here in SF at a movie theatre a long time ago with his wife and kids and the only reason I noticed him was because some people stopped him and asked if he was Robin Williams and he said he was. I totally wouldn't have recognized him unless he was pointed out to me. Robin and the family were going to see the Spice Girls movie.
More about LA later. I'm just glad to be home.
Thursday, August 08, 2002
I've been thinking about food and being in a relationship. I have seriously strange eating habits.
1. If I do eat, I don't eat very much and I like to eat simply. I rarely ever eat a salad, a main dish, bread and a desert in the same meal. I like to have one small main dish and eat it.
2. I binge eat. Right now I'm in a sushi mode, so I eat sushi two to three times a week, sometimes every day. Then I'll get tired of whatever I'm binging on and not eat it for a long time.
3. I've been an off and on vegeterian since I was 18 and tend to eat this way out of habit.
4. Since I've been a vegeterian for a long time, I'm not very good at cooking meat. In fact, I remember that just smelling raw meat used to make me so nauseous. I'll cook chicken and small pieces of meat, but never huge chunks of it like steak or london broil. And if I do meat, it has to be thorougly cooked. The bloody stuff freaks me out. I do eat fish however all the time.
5. I eat a steak maybe every 5 years or so.
6. I really prefer to eat on the weekdays, but I'll cook on the weekends and Friday. If I do cook during the week, dinner won't be ready till 8 pm.
7. I don't really like drinking wine at dinner and if I do, it's just one glass and definitely not every day. Same thing goes for all alcoholic drinks. I'll drink wine when I go out to eat and drink more than one glass but only for special occassions and at parties or get togethers.
8. Sometimes I just eat salads for days on end.
9. I think I'm lactose intolerant, so I only drink soy milk and I try to stay away from cheese.
10. There are foods I hardly ever eat or don't ever eat like eggs, lamb, etc.
11. I have an obsession with eggplant and binge eat it all the time.
12. I usually just eat fruit for breakfast.
13. I'm trying to eat kosher so I have list of food exclusions and foods that I can't eat together like meat and cheese.
14. I rarely drink soda and only drink german or italian mineral water (they're cheaper at$0.89 a bottle) with a slice of lemon.
15. I only drink filtered water.
16. When I'm on vacation, I tend to throw out all my food rules out the window so I can enjoy the native cuisine. Since I'm on vacation, I'll also drink like a fish.
17. I'll also throw out all my food and drinking rules when I go to parties or get together with friends for restauarant dinnder especially if it's a once in a while thing, like twice a month, but definitely not once a week or two days in a row. I'll eat bad foods and drink like a fish.
18. After events or vacation days where I don't follow my eating and drinking rules, I will need to cleanse and will follow various cleansning routines from a day to a week, depending the amount of partying I did.
19. I'm into fasting, so I fast at least once a month for health reasons. My fasting lasts three days and consists of 1 day of no food, just water and tea, two days of just fruits or fruits and veggies, raw and juiced only. And I do cheat sometimes.
20. I'm trying to get rid of my caffiene addiction slowly, so I mix caf and decaf beans togther in equal proportions.
I'm sure I have more weird stuff about food but hey, 20 items is pretty good for a first time list, isn't it?
1. If I do eat, I don't eat very much and I like to eat simply. I rarely ever eat a salad, a main dish, bread and a desert in the same meal. I like to have one small main dish and eat it.
2. I binge eat. Right now I'm in a sushi mode, so I eat sushi two to three times a week, sometimes every day. Then I'll get tired of whatever I'm binging on and not eat it for a long time.
3. I've been an off and on vegeterian since I was 18 and tend to eat this way out of habit.
4. Since I've been a vegeterian for a long time, I'm not very good at cooking meat. In fact, I remember that just smelling raw meat used to make me so nauseous. I'll cook chicken and small pieces of meat, but never huge chunks of it like steak or london broil. And if I do meat, it has to be thorougly cooked. The bloody stuff freaks me out. I do eat fish however all the time.
5. I eat a steak maybe every 5 years or so.
6. I really prefer to eat on the weekdays, but I'll cook on the weekends and Friday. If I do cook during the week, dinner won't be ready till 8 pm.
7. I don't really like drinking wine at dinner and if I do, it's just one glass and definitely not every day. Same thing goes for all alcoholic drinks. I'll drink wine when I go out to eat and drink more than one glass but only for special occassions and at parties or get togethers.
8. Sometimes I just eat salads for days on end.
9. I think I'm lactose intolerant, so I only drink soy milk and I try to stay away from cheese.
10. There are foods I hardly ever eat or don't ever eat like eggs, lamb, etc.
11. I have an obsession with eggplant and binge eat it all the time.
12. I usually just eat fruit for breakfast.
13. I'm trying to eat kosher so I have list of food exclusions and foods that I can't eat together like meat and cheese.
14. I rarely drink soda and only drink german or italian mineral water (they're cheaper at$0.89 a bottle) with a slice of lemon.
15. I only drink filtered water.
16. When I'm on vacation, I tend to throw out all my food rules out the window so I can enjoy the native cuisine. Since I'm on vacation, I'll also drink like a fish.
17. I'll also throw out all my food and drinking rules when I go to parties or get together with friends for restauarant dinnder especially if it's a once in a while thing, like twice a month, but definitely not once a week or two days in a row. I'll eat bad foods and drink like a fish.
18. After events or vacation days where I don't follow my eating and drinking rules, I will need to cleanse and will follow various cleansning routines from a day to a week, depending the amount of partying I did.
19. I'm into fasting, so I fast at least once a month for health reasons. My fasting lasts three days and consists of 1 day of no food, just water and tea, two days of just fruits or fruits and veggies, raw and juiced only. And I do cheat sometimes.
20. I'm trying to get rid of my caffiene addiction slowly, so I mix caf and decaf beans togther in equal proportions.
I'm sure I have more weird stuff about food but hey, 20 items is pretty good for a first time list, isn't it?
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