Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Watch the Toronto Blue Jays

I'm not a baseball fan.

Watching paint dry is infinitely more exciting that sitting through hours of watching butt scratching baseball players.

I speak from experience.

Ben and Frankie both played little league, with Ben playing through high school. I couldn't wait until he got his drivers license so that I didn't have to go to the games anymore.

Bad mama.

I know.

Anyway, this headline below in The Huffington Post caught my attention. It is referencing the article beneath it. Check out the complete article that follows.

Why Black Folks Should Watch The Toronto Blue Jays

~~~~~~~~~~

Charged up: Toronto Blue Jays are everything baseball ain't

Ryan Cortes, The Undefeated staff writer

Baseball can be slow and safe and polite and, to many fans, just boring.

Not the Toronto Blue Jays. They have speed and swag. If you aim a pitch at a player's head, expect a lingering scowl. Then a home run. And definitely some fighting words. They are the most interesting, compelling and unique team in baseball. For Latino and African-American sports fans yearning for baseball players who look, talk, compete and celebrate more like us -- we found 'em.

With 13 players of color, among the most in the majors after the Dodgers, the Blue Jays are dripping with diversity and personality. Their roster includes Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Russell Martin, LaTroy Hawkins, gold-plated-Jordans-rocking David Price, Dalton Pompey, Roberto Osuna, Ben Revere, Dioner Navarro, Marco Estrada, plus low-key Twitter genius Marcus Stroman, with Devon Travis and Maicer Izturis stashed on the DL. And their big bats are a major exception to an MLB season with fewer big hits than the former rapper Meek Mill.

Toronto leads the majors in runs scored, doubles, slugging percentage, total bases and RBIs. Somehow, in an upset, the team is second in WAR, on-base percentage and home runs. While the rest of the league is hitting like it's 1965, the Jays are more like big-assed Barry Bonds, deliriously flipping bats and blasting bombs.

In 1999, when baseball was ~~at its best~~swimming in steroids, players hit .271, reached base at a .345 clip and slugged .434. This year, the league is hitting .254/.315/.400. The Blue Jays? .261/.329/.440.

Since trading for Troy Tulowitzki, the club has won 15 of its past 19, including a torrid 11-0 stretch. The Jays were down eight games to the Yankees on July 29, but that distance has been cut to a half game following the recent addition of ace pitcher Price, with Toronto controlling the wild-card race.

And it's not just about the new stars.

No one in baseball has clubbed more homers since 2010 than Bautista, who has hit 215 of them. He's one of the most outspoken voices on Latino baseball issues, chastising commentators, revealing when and why he has been steroid tested, and even writing about his uniquely Hispanic journey. None of which would matter much if the dude wasn't also ridiculously fun to watch.

With the Jays up 11-4 late in one April game, Orioles pitcher Jason Garcia tried breaking Bautista with a pitch behind his back. Bad move against Joey Bats. Bautista ice-grilled Garcia, flipped his bat as the ball exited the field, stage left, then strutted around the bases barking at any Oriole who dared look him in the eye.

"That's bush league," Bautista recalled Orioles outfielder Adam Jones saying to him. "And I said, 'What's bush league is you throwing behind my head.'"

All this happened a week after Bautista skipped into a home run trot like Rafer "Skip To My Lou" Alston.

The unapologetic, wrestling-character feel to this year's team has also affected ex-Blue Jays. After Kansas City pitcher Yordano Ventura tweeted in Spanish that Bautista was a "nobody" -- he'd later delete it -- former Jays catcher Gregg Zaunspit out a rant that advised Ventura to "show some respect," "be a man" and "stop writing checks with your mouth that your skinny ass can't cash."

Everything about this team -- from its fresh uniforms to its myriad associationswith hometown emcee Drake -- is unlike your average squad. Mike Trout grew up in New Jersey being told to behave like "he'd been there before" when he rounded the bases. His hero was the polite Derek Jeter. Jose Bautista grew up in the Dominican Republic bachata-stepping around the bases and punching people over ball and strike calls. He loved basketball and idolized the defiant Michael Jordan. As MLB seems to squeeze the celebrations and fun out of the game, Bautista and his Jays are the baseball equivalent of a snarling Russell Westbrook swinging from the rim or swivel-hipped Antonio Brown cavorting in the end zone.

Bautista says he doesn't miss the Dominican baseball culture, despite its energy and emotion, because he wants to play at the highest level. "We've gotta adjust to how the game is played here," Bautista explained. "That being said, I think emotion is not bad for the game. And I think understanding players -- their emotions, how they play, and the passion -- is something that continues to keep getting better at the major league level."

Egghead traditionalists still talk about "playing the game the ~~white~~ right way." Many players of color grow up dancing and laughing on the field, but when their talent and dedication propels them to the highest level, their flavor can be viewed as disrespectful or worthy of a fastball to the face.

The "right way" even extends to fashion.

"Make it cooler," pleads Price. "Give us more freedom with shoes. You know, stop fining people for not having whatever colors on their shoes. I think that would be a big deal, if they would let us express ourselves a little bit more and just make this game more appealing to all populations, not just African-American."

MLB boasts many talented black and brown players, from Prince Fielder to Manny Machado, but African-Americans represented just 7.8 percent of the sport on Opening Day, and Latinos were 29.3 percent. Despite their larger percentage, Latinos remain a marginalized group. Some have to dodge death just to get here, and there are few translators to help them navigate a confusing culture; Asian ballplayers face no such troubles.

Our Jays refuse to be boxed in. And as strong as they've been this season, after shifting baseball's power balance by trading for Tulo and Price, their numbers seem downright conservative.

Consider this: The last time Toronto looked this dangerous, this late in the season? 1993. So get with the program. If you're reading this, it's not too late.

Sunday, August 16, 2015

GQ vs. Schlumpy

This article reminded me of the many years we were able to fly "Space A" on United Airlines, where Frank (ex-husband) was a pilot.

We were required to dress up to board because oftentimes first class was available, and it was expected that you would be dressed for that, should it become available. The gate agents wielded a lot of power in that regard. If you weren't appropriately dressed by their standards, you would be denied the seat.

This was years ago. Not sure if this still applies.

~~~~~~~~~~

From Slate -

Take a One-Way Trip From Tatty to Natty

In defense of looking nice for your flight or train ride.

By J. Bryan Lowder

On evenings before I travel, it is my custom to set out the following day’s clothes on my bedroom chair. I do this in tandem with packing my suitcase, attending as much to the details of my travel costume as to the items being curated for use later in the trip. This is a useful habit for more than one reason: When I wake and must dash to some inconveniently located transit hub, I won’t need to make any snap decisions. And I can also thoughtfully incorporate the various elements of my travel-day outfit into the larger set of options I’ve brought along for the ride—these chinos will pair nicely with a different shirt, and those dressier shoes will come in handy when that friend takes me out for dinner later in the week.

However, the primary reason I make the extra effort to plan my travel outfit is because, well, no one else does. Among the cavalcade of pajama pants, tracksuits, nightgowns, painting rags, and ill-fitting sweatshirts that one encounters in the world’s terminals and stations these days, the competently dressed individual stands apart as a beacon of civilized life, an island of class amid a swamp of schlumps. By dressing myself as a decent human being who is aware that he is in public, I like to think I am performing a small act of resistance against the increasingly slobbish status quo.

Having just faced this onslaught of sartorial neglect yet again on an overseas trip, I’m pleading with you: Join me. Dress decently when you travel. Seven hours to Madrid in la clase turista is trying enough without your mangy old T-shirt adding to the sensory assault.

Now, before I’m accused of elitism, understand that I am not calling for a three-piece suit on every JetBlue hop or Megabus jaunt (though that would not have been abnormal mere decades ago), nor do I mean to dictate what you should wear within the tinted confines of your own car. I am simply suggesting that, when traveling by public means, each of us dress “nicely” or “respectably” according to our means. I certainly don’t have the funds for a dedicated travel ensemble, but I can manage to pull together an attractive trouser, a pressed shirt, close-toed shoes, and perhaps even a light sport coat or cardigan—the kind of thing I generally wear to work—with little effort or expense.

Sure, you say, but why bother dressing up (I’d say not dressing down) for a trip? Allow me to begin with a few practical considerations. As I say, it is wise to wear some of the clothes you’d like to have access to again while in transit. It saves room in your luggage, and you don’t plan on wearing that jogging suit when you’re out in the “real world” of your destination anyway, right? Why drag it along in the first place? Plus, unless you are flying in an un-air-conditioned cabin nonstop from L.A. to Sydney, you can probably wear your clothes again (perhaps with a brief dewrinkling in the shower steam) before needing to wash them.

Also, a number of coworkers and friends have observed to me that dressing decently seems to garner superior treatment from transit staff. Combine that preferential treatment with any goodwill garnered via “The Kindly Brontosaurus” maneuver, and you are liable to end up sipping cocktails just behind the cockpit with a well-heeled new friend simply by taking basic care for your appearance. And guess what? When you and your new friend arrive at your destination, you needn’t extinguish the sparkle of the conversation in order to go change into something becoming at the hotel. Simply freshen up in the airport bathroom and head right out to take a coffee or a drink, as your arrival time dictates.

If those sorts of practical and social perks don’t appeal, consider the emotional benefits of dressing well while betwixt and between—and no, I’m not (just) talking about feeling superior to the hoi polloi. As everyone knows, travel these days can be practically barbaric: Space is cramped, in-flight meals are lackluster, and premiums are charged for everything from checking bags to watching TV to munching snacks. The weary traveler has little control over these things, but he can control his own outfit—and feeling handsome amid all the inhumanities can be powerfully heartening. What’s more, traveling, despite its continuing degradation, should be exciting—it’s a special occasion! Just as you might buy yourself an in-flight cocktail or a frivolous magazine at the concourse newsstand to brighten the experience, you should wear flattering clothes as a small way of marking travel as a singular experience.

Alas, the general lack of respect for travel, itself, as a worthwhile human experience, seems to be the root of this lazy dressing phenomenon. Many of us act as if we’re trying to create a private, instantaneous bridge through folded space-time between our bedrooms and our hotel rooms by flying in our pajamas or busing behind oversized sunglasses; the bad news is, barring a sudden forward leap in technology, wormhole creation is impossible.

What is possible, though, is embracing travel as a process, one that offers its own pleasures as well as trials. And foremost among the former is an opportunity to share public space. In fact, traveling—especially air travel—may be the occasion when many of us are most in public, most engaged in negotiating the commons. Americans are, of course, fond of their personal space, but public travel requires that we recognize that airplanes, trains, and buses are not extensions of our living rooms. Just because we may be anonymous does not mean we are invisible.

When we dress well for travel, we are not only making ourselves look good; we’re also signaling that we are invested in making this shared experience pleasant for everyone around us. Think of it as a kind of sartorial social contract: Honor it and your minor efforts make transit a more pleasing activity; break it, and reveal your misanthropic narcissism to, quite literally, the world. What else to call putting one’s own base comforts above the comfort of all?

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/a_fine_whine/2014/09/dressing_up_for_air_travel_in_defense_of_looking_nice_on_a_flight_or_train.html

The World Economy

From The Citizen -

The World Economy

Explained With

Two Cows

NEW DELHI: The world’s economy is a difficult thing to understand. How does it work? Why are some countries richer than others? Why are some economies more stringent than others? What is the difference between capitalism, socialism, communism, and every other -ism? What differentiates the Indian economy from the French economy or the Chinese economy? Why are some countries, like Greece to take a newsworthy example, cash strapped? How is economics governing the world’s wars, including the war in West Asia?

The answer to these weighty questions has finally been revealed through a simple analogy: that of two cows. Here are two cows to explain socialism, communism, fascism, capitalism, the Indian, Chinese, Polish, American, Greek economies, and more!

http://www.thecitizen.in/NewsDetail.aspx?Id=4756&The/World/Economy/Explained/With/Two/Cows

Organize Your Family

With this cool app.

As seen on Essence.com.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cozi-family-organizer/id407108860?mt=8

Saturday, August 15, 2015

Dorm Room Hacks

From Buzzfeed -

There are 37 of them. Too long to post the whole thing, but definitely worth checking out. My favorite ones are below.

5. Or purchase a bedskirt organizer.

kohls.com

Fill it with shoes, books, snacks, and other accessories. It isn’t the most attractive thing in the world, but you can just cover it up with your comforter.

Get one here.