USSM Official Pre-and-post-game Meetup Bar Endorsement
Pioneer Square Saloon. 73 Yesler Way. I didn’t realize how much I’d come to value the comfortable simplicity of the Pioneer Square Saloon until I looked through my game notes and realized how often I was there. It kind of snuck up on me.
Two brief digressions:
1. I had some plans for the Drinking at Safeco feature this year that never came to fruition (Google Maps, updated write-ups… my reach exceeded my grasp). Sorry.
2. You used to be able to find me at the King Street Bar and Grill, but the last two years I’ve had increasingly poor service and ill times, so it dropped out.
Cons: the Saloon’s a little farther north. It doesn’t have a lot of TVs. There’s no kitchen.
So why go there?
The lack of proximity means it’s relatively calm, you don’t have to brawl for space, and it’s quiet enough that you can have a reasonable conversation. So it’s ideal for meeting friends, because you can get a table and talk to them.
They’ve got a bunch of good, cheap taps. I like the people who work there. I like the people who hang out there. The music’s been good every time I’ve been there, and I’m picky about my music.
While there’s no kitchen, but they’re cool about letting you bring in food, which works out well. If you want a meal, I’ve got another post coming about that.
The best alternative is probably the beer garden at Pyramid, because it’s so easy to find. You’re standing around in a parking lot, paying more, and the beers are often a little nasty, but meeting people from out-of-town or something is a cinch: “It’s across the street from the ballpark”. If they can’t find the park, you’ve got bigger problems than meeting them for beers.
Pioneer Square Saloon, folks. Check it out.
Also considered: Owl & Thistle (horrible service), other places on 1st, the Outback encampment just south, King Street, Tiki Bob’s, Sluggers, etc etc.
Next up: the pre-and-post-game meal endorsement.
If you’ve got a suggestion for a good meetup spot that is
– reasonably priced
– not overflowing with people
please, drop a comment.
USSM Endorsed 2006 Albums
Because it’s the off-season and nothing’s happening. Also, this seems to come up in conversations at Feeds and baseball fans seem to be disproportionately music freaks. Hopefully Jeff (at least) will join in and update this here post with his. Here’s what I’ve been listening to this year while posting/doing site work/tearing my hear out trying to keep USSM up.
Anyway, feel free to comment/complain/add. I tried to do ten and found I’d done 15 before I stopped myself. In no particular order:
Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
Fishscale
Mr. Beast
The Loon
The Greatest
Blood Mountain
Game Theory
Taking The Long Way
Everything All the Time
A Blessing And A Curse
Let Me Introduce My Friends, I’m From Barcelona (no link, this ‘CD’ is copy-protected).
Magic Potion
Night Ripper
The Audience’s Listening
So This Is Goodbye
Silent Shout
Nine Times That Same Song
(And now I’m tagging them with Amazon links because I’m unemployed. Hee hee hee.)
Dave’s Additions: I’m not a big music guy, but these two guys are friends of mine, and if you’re a Christian, you’ll like their CDs. If you’re not, not so much, so don’t say you haven’t been warned.
The Awakening – Jonathan Helser
Closer to the Burning – Stephen Roach
Jeff’s additions
I won’t duplicate anything Derek or Dave have already mentioned except to say that Neko Case does rock. With all the hip-hop I’ve been listening to lately, I’m surprised there is so much indie rock on my list, but I guess I was disappointed by a lot of the releases I was highly anticipating from my favorite MCs (Mr. Lif’s “Mo’ Mega,” anyone?).
A lot of records missed the list either because I like them, but not enough (the RJD2 and Aceyalone disc), or I like them, but not as much as everyone else seems to (“Return to Cookie Mountain” by TV On the Radio). I swear I did not plan for exactly 15 albums to be on this list, but it mirrors Derek’s list, so there. Maybe I’ll add two more later to mirror Dave’s list.
The Coup, Pick a Bigger Weapon
M. Ward, Post-War
Asobi Seksu, Citrus
The Brazilian Girls, Talk to La Bomb
Golden Smog, Another Fine Day
Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins, Rabbit Fur Coat
The Long Winters, Putting the Days to Bed
Loose Fur, Born Again in the USA
Madlib, Beat Konducta, Vol. 1-2
Mates of State, Bring It Back
Nouvelle Vague, Bande a Part
The Pernice Brothers, Live a Little
Snow Patrol, Eyes Open
Soul Position, Things Go Better with RJ and Al
Viva Voce, Get Yr Blood Sucked Out
Stuff you might not have heard that is worth picking up: Pigeon John’s album “… and the Summertime Pool Party” is uneven, but has some really fun high spots if you like feel-good hip-hop; The Hold Steady’s “Boys and Girls in America” sounds like the halcyon days of Bruce Springsteen updated for the indie kids; I wish Of Montreal’s “The Sunlandic Twins” and “Caravane” by Raphael had been released in 2006 so I could include them; I must confess I haven’t heard the new Mason Jennings record (hard to find in Okinawa), but if it’s anything like his previous folk-rock work, it’s awesome.
Don’t Call It A Comeback …
… I’ve been here for three weeks. And my log-in and password still work. Excellent!
Folks, Dave has on occasion kvetched about cross-country flights, which is certainly a truism. Let me vouch for the fact that moving across the International Date Line is no less trying. Between getting my project set up, trying to furnish a home, fill out myriad mystifying forms and leap headfirst into two mutually-unintelligible languages (three, if you count English), chores aplenty have rolled in. This has left me wondering whether there is an opposite of “combobulated.”
Oh yeah.
Keeping up on baseball news has been shuffled down on the priority list somewhere just above “is there any drawback to living with wild geckos?” and just below “register for the health care system.” I’ve been a lot better at keeping up my Okinawa blog, but then, this place is the epicenter of the next year for me, so I’d better. If you’re interested in mundane details about my apartment, political and environmental news about a place you might not know much about, and the occasional bit of strangeness, pop on over.
Though my absence is no doubt helping the average Post Intelligence Quotient over here, I’ve been looking for an excuse to duck in, say “hi,” and hopefully bring something in the way of Japanese baseball news to the table.
It’s the offseason here, too, but here’s what I’ve got: the Yokohama Bay Stars train in Ginowan City, where I live now. They just did a little meet n’ greet with some American kids. The Bay Stars (along with many Japanese teams) will be back in Okinawa in February for spring training.
That’s right, they have two offseason camps. Rumors that they force pitchers to throw hundreds of pitches during each are unsubstantiated, but let’s just say I’m bringing the camera in three months.
Mariner fan photo blogging: while I was strolling around Highway 58 today trying to sign up for local cultural activities, I ran into these two kids, who were anxious to try out the only English word they know — and, coincidentally, the phrase that I popped over here to say — “Hi!”
Always happy to meet another Mariner fan, I pointed out in Japanese that I’m from Seattle, where the Mariners play. They looked perplexed and then laughed, as it became readily apparent that the young fella wasn’t so much a baseball fan as someone who thought the hat looked sweet.
I also saw a weird advertisement featuring Ichiro today, but neglected to bring my camera, which is always — always — a mistake. At least it will give me fodder for another post sometime in the next several months.
Kidding. Kind of.
Ask USSM: How to fill the void?
What am I supposed to do with my free time? Read more
Go vote
Hey, I’m going to be out today volunteering at the polls, so here’s my non-partisan plea: if you haven’t mailed a ballot in, find the time to go vote today. If you’re in the metro area, especially if you’re on the eastside, there’s a good chance you’re in the 8th, which looks like it’s going to have one of closest elections in recent history, and if you’re in eastern Washington, the 5th (map of Washington’s districts). And really, no matter where you are, the difference in who represents you comes down to whether you drag yourself to the polls.
I’m not going to ask you to vote for Darcy Burner, or lobby for support for some proposition. Just vote. If your vote is the opposite of mine, I’ll be happy you went out. If you’re a reader, I’m relatively assured you’re a reasonable, smart person, and I trust your judgment.
And maybe I’ll see you out there.
#28 with a bullet
My upcoming book “The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball” ($11! You can’t lose!) is currently ranked ~#10,000 overall, making it, to my great delight, #28 (among, uh, Baseball Bestsellers) Baseball Prospectus 2006, which is now a full season old, is #32, but Tim McCarver’s “Baseball for Brain Surgeons and Other Fans” is #49. Yeah! Take that, Tim McCarver!
Hee hee hee. So if you pre-ordered yesterday, thanks. If you haven’t, there’s still time! Hurry! Or.. it might come out! And you don’t have to use Amazon — you should be able to go to your local independent and get them to order it.
Update! #11, just ahead of Game of Shadows! HA! And just behind Seth Mnookin’s Red Sox book which, unless I’m mistaken, is BP’s “Mind Game” with a different title and cover, released much later. Yes, I’m talking trash about other baseball books now.
Google AdSense duplicate advertisers
In our occasional forays into using Google AdSense, one of the problems that’s made it not worth using is duplicate advertisers, particularly one company that I didn’t like because they ran those “free with survey” offers that you can find all kinds of complaints about all over the internet using barely different names and URLs which are all fronts for the same company with the same offer. I, being finicky and crotchety, don’t want USSM readers to see ads from them. But when they run many, many different sites, it’s hard to block.
I’ve been tinkering around with it a little more this weekend (obviously) and it’s back.
To wit:
a, “Free All-Star Baseball” game
b, “Free Baseball Blanket” game
Unethical!!!!!!!
Provided for your off-day horror/amusement, an email conversation on the feed between someone from Boeing and me, as I work through the Feed queue.
Last chance for feed tomorrow
updated: nope, that was it, folks, you missed your chance
Birthdays of more than one kind
1. Happy birthday to USSM authors today. Congrats, Jeff!
2. I am as shocked as anyone to see my book’s on Amazon, available for pre-order. Check it out, I can build an Amazon link and everything:
I stared at the listing for a couple of minutes, jaw open, speechless.
Then I started to think:
– 256 pages? Really? We know that already? Because legal hasn’t even been through this thing yet and I’m willing to bet it sheds a fair chunk of text
– I guess we are going for the trade paperback, which is what I wanted because I’d much rather sell this thing at $11
– They’re using the original title I pitched? I never thought I’d get away with that (but then, Rob Neyer didn’t think they’d take “Rob Neyer’s Big Book of Baseball Lineups” seriously)
– April? I think it’s February
– I HAVE MY OWN ISBN
– But no Amazon Sales Rank or reviews, which is good because I’d probably only obsess over them
So yeah, it’s a skeleton listing, it doesn’t have any editorial or other information, and some of it’s (as far as I know) wrong, but — wow. I’m so happy.
I promise that I will happily autograph copies for any USSM reader who wants to lower the value of their book.