DJ and I started keeping track (my mom always kept track) and I believe this year was a personal record. I had to run out after the first hour number to get more candy when we hit the 125 mark. If you want to know something scary. Try driving down Avalon, the part with no sidewalks when there are cars parked on both sides of the street and hundreds of kids running around.
We estimated about 280ish but up the hill someone counted 339. They came in packs so it was tough to count at times. Reports of people on Charles Street ran out and turned off the lights early.
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I won't talk about the Packers but my experiment of getting Elwood addicted to Fandule is working. We have been in the money 6 straight tournaments. I lay the ground work and give him my lineup and then he adds commentary from what he has obsessed over and makes 3 or 4 tweaks.
I received an email Saturday night and from his massive research . . . .
QB - Rodgers - 8800
RB - Ware - 7400
RB - Booker - 5600
WR - Julio Jones - 9200
WR - Evans - 7900
WR - Adams - 6600
TE - Doyle - 4900
K - Novak - 4500
D - Denver - 5000
QB - Not the consensus pick. Not sure why - Brady fever?
RB - Both RB's will have high ownership - Booker in particular.
WR - Everyone will own Evans. Julio Jones is a pricey stud, but with a favorable match up may be worth it. I "upgraded" from Thomas (5700) to Adams (6600) with the money saved elsewhere. Thomas has a lot of upside, but with Breese's penchant for spreading the ball around, it's hard to say how many looks he'll get. I'm a little concerned about stacking Rodgers with Adams in a cash game.
TE - TE is the wasteland of wk. 8. There's no consensus pick. Dolye is as good as any.
K - Novak saves us 600 over Vinateri. Leads league IN FG attempts. With a projected score of 24 I'm hoping he'll grind this one out.
+++++
DROP THE MIC
Worked out perfectly. Denver and QB-Rodgers were studs.
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There have been questions on what is going on on Farnham Street (HWY89). The DOT is planning on a reconstruction project slated for 2021 and "we" are in the beginning stages of helping the DOT. 2021 is not a firm date, could be 2022 or 2019 or any date really. All depends on $$$$$.
This would be from Avalon to The Kurth.
The one thing I want to stress is that with the road construction this year and James Street next year the City has learned what works and what does not work in getting news out. There has certainly been a learning process and I'm sure that there will be hiccups along the way but at least "we" have some experience now.
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I have all the ingredients for a new beer, an Arrogant Bastard clone. My East Indian Porter is on tap but still young and green so it' needs another month.
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I asked the Strat-o-matic community about books. I figure these are probably the brightest people when it comes to baseball and I was between books . . .well, I normally have 3 going at once so I have a slot open LOL
Killing Patton: The Strange Death of World War II's Most Audacious General is really an interesting book about the life of General Patton. I've never really read a military book like this before. Seems angry at times pointing out that Stalin was much MUCH worse the Hitler. Stalin makes Hitler looked like an angel, just over a longer period. I'm not a fan of Bill O'Reilly at all but he writes pretty darn good books.
So I asked about baseball books and if you are looking for something to read about a sport that is gaining popularity on TV (up 5%, unlike the NFL who's ratings are down 19% this year) here are their recommendations. OH - sorry about the weird font for the rest of the blog. I cut and pasted from Facebook and how it's all mucked up.
The Universal Baseball Association, Inc., J. Henry Waugh, Prop. (I loved this book 30 years ago)
Jeff Polman's Mystery Ball '58, a fun murder mystery wrapped around Jeff's Strat replay of the '58 season!
Bang the Drum Slowly
It's not fiction (which kind of makes it even better) but The Catcher Was A Spy about Moe Berg was a good read.
NOTE - Moe Berg is REALLY interesting person
Try anything by Ring Lardner. " You know me Al" and Alibi Ike are both great.
"Last At Bat" Author Mark Donahue - this is one that I'm reading now
The Art of Fielding for something newer. Shoeless Joe, The Natural, The Great American Novel for classics.
Hoopla by Harry Stein. It's about the 1919 CWS. I think it's even better than Eight Men Out.
Blockade Billy by Stephen King
I took a week long seminar on baseball writing led by Charles Fountain, journalist and author of 3 books about baseball, most recently The Betrayal, which requires examines the 1919 White Sox it's good, but non-fiction. As part of our readings, we had excerpts from Lardner's You Know Me Al serials, which are available on Amazon cheap or for free. They are funny, and the fictional narrator is a prospect pitcher called up by the White Sox around 1918. Lardner covered the pre-scandal White Sox as a sports writer and was friends with Eddie Cicotte.
Iowa Baseball Confederacy for fiction; Stars and Strikes, and Big Hair and Plastic Grass for non-fiction
The Greatest Slump Of All Time
"I Did It the Natural Way: The Barry Bonds Biography"
I got a few of these hard cover books on Amazon for one penny and $3.99 shipping
A side note - I'm putting together a piece on Bob Poser, maybe for the newspaper, a Columbus resident who made it to the big leageues. I have a lot of information, photos of him playing ?? adn so forth - always looking for more.
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Here is a trailer of the newest documentary on the USS Indianapolis - it's up for an Oscar this year. My father in law is in this but not the trailer. I have seen this a few tiems now and it just floors me - VERY very good movie
https://youtu.be/G2UP5k9sdQ0
But in other USS Indy news - people that have seen the big budget flick Men of Courage saj it totally blows. Horrific visuals the sharks are more from Sharknado, the ship is wrong and so forth.
+++++++
How to make all movies better
https://youtu.be/oZ7UUUKSgbU
Nuff said
