USSM Post-Season Feed 06 Details and RSVP
Friday, October 13th, ~6pm-8pm+, Capitol Hill, Seattle. About 50 people total. No announced special guests, just me, Jeff, Dave, you and a good four dozen or so other Mariner fans. We’ll probably do some Q&A, I’ll have some Q&A for everyone… good times. We may podcast any Q&A we do – Jeff’s considering how we’d pull this off.
Some space still available
$22 includes all the pizza you can eat (many varieties, lots of it), salad, soda, and a tip. If you want to order beer, we’ll talk about that at the feed but it’s not included in that $22. The food’s going to be great.
Generally, spots for Feeds go really fast, so I encourage you, if you want to attend, to do so as soon as you can.
To RSVP:
If you have or can use Paypal
1. Email us and say “Put me down for 12 people, please” (your number may vary). If you’re a vegetarian or have other pizza-related requests, let us know so I can get the pizza mix optimal.
2. We say “word” or something similarly awkward.
3. Using the handy information we will send you when you submit your RSVP, use Paypal to send us $22*number of people you’re bringing.
4. I mark you down as having paid on my sheet, and we’re good.
Unless you skip #3, and then I give your spot to someone else.
If you can’t use Paypal for technical, moral, or other reasons, but still feel you’re a valued member of the USSM community like, say, super-reader Paul Covert, who we wish would come by and comment sometime
Drop us a line and we’ll see what we can do.
USSM Post-Season Feed
Friday, October 13th, 6-8+, Capitol Hill, Seattle, ~50 or so spots open. We have a location secured and mucho food and beverages will be available.
No announced special guests, just the USSM crew and you and yours. We’ll probably do some Q&A, I’ll have some Q&A for everyone… good times.
RSVP instructions, cost, etc all to be announced shortly.
Please, if you can’t go, don’t leave a comment that says “I’d love to go, but” — we’d love to have you, but I need to keep this thread clean that’s annoying.
Sunset Supper
If anyone’s going to be at Sunset Supper at Pike Place Market tonight (Friday), look for me — I’ll be working at the Canlis booth. We’ll be serving Dungeness Crab and Heirloom Tomato Salad with Feta and Cerignola Olives. If you’re not familiar with Sunset Supper, here’s more info. It’s a bit pricy to get in ($85), but there are a ton of great restaurants as well as wineries and breweries all serving up tasty tidbits. There’s also live music. You can find the full list of restaurants, etc., as well as their menus, by following the link.
Wedded Bliss Awaits
Peter White is alive: I have proof.
Our prodigal author (well, the one who isn’t me) has had his proposal accepted, and the happy couple will be tying the knot next May. If I can go all style pages on you, allow me to point out that Pedro proposed while hiking with his intended in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Congrats to Peter and the future Mrs. Jackie White. Set a course, Mr. Data, for romance.
Q13 in Review
Hey all,
Well, what a roller-coaster ride that trade deadline day was for the Mariners! As it turns out, Jason’s show-opening prediction (“I don’t see them doing much of anything”) bore itself out.
To boost my post-per-TV-appearance ratio, which is close to 1:1 these days, I figured I’d bust out a behind-the-scenes recap of what I thought went well at Q13 and what I thought could’ve gone better.
PRO
Didn’t use any profanity, ducking FCC violations
CON
Didn’t work in a reference to Nietzsche’s notion of eternal recurrence, losing a $10 bet for a friend
PRO
Called for Hargrove to be fired, called (indirectly) for Carl Everett to be euthanized
CON
Everett could catch on with Bellingham Bells. May then have to change appearance, check windows before leaving house, could end up with Barbaro’s head in bed
PRO
Got to see Derek dressed in his smooth suit
CON
No cosmetic artists on hand to make up Derek; digital camera/blackmail opportunity lost
PRO
Talked with Adrian Hanauer, the very nice G.M. of the Seattle Sounders, backstage in the green room
CON
After I mentioned how much I got into the World Cup this year, Vinnie pontificated on how boring soccer is (“I’m used to it,” said Hanauer)
PRO
Saw Q13’s spacious men’s bathroom, which actually has a sizable shower facility attached to it
CON
Now Derek wants to spend all the site contributions on a shower-centric interview facility for USS Mariner labs (Kidding; he already squandered the proceeds on that new tie)
PRO
Had great food and drinks at the Tap House (thanks, Dan)
CON
Had to drive back to Bellingham, so couldn’t safely quench prodigious thirst. Another time.
In all seriousness, we had a great time, and everyone at Q13 was super-nice. Hopefully we’ll get to do it again sometime. Also, I’m being real about ramping up my posting schedule, both here and at my new personal blog, which I’ll fire up tomorrow. It’s going to be an Aug. 1, 2006-Aug. 1, 2007 chronicle of my time in Okinawa. Check it out if you’re so inclined.
New arrival…
Long time readers may recall this post, dated two years and two days ago. Along similar lines, I’m pleased to announce the arrival of the newest M’s fan, Noah Robert Barker, born today at 8:24am. I’d have a picture for you, but WordPress is arguing with me at the moment. (Take that, WordPress!).
Minor League Baseball on TV
I’m flipping through the channels just now, and I notice the Hudson Valley Renegades are on local television. The Renegades are Tampa Bay’s entry in the short-season New York-Penn League — equivalent to the AquaSox in the Northwest League. Wouldn’t it be cool if the AquaSox were on TV now and then, maybe when the M’s have an off-day? Anyway, just a random thought.
Also, the showed Bill Murray sitting in the stands, and I was like, “Hey, that’s Bill Murray.” Turns out he owns the team. Whaddya know.
KUOW radio appearance Monday, 9-10ish
If you’re interested in hearing local radio history, BP’er (and general friend o’USSM) Jonah Keri and me, former BP’er (and general ne’er do well) will be on KUOW’s Weekday tomorrow morning, talking about the Mariners, baseball in general and, if past history is any indication, cracking each other up and going on random digressions about the Transformers and the Simpsons. There may be other guests, but last I heard we were the only confirmed ones.
94.9 on your dial, or KUOW has some nice streaming audio options for your enjoyment.
Book Review: The Museum of Clear Ideas
T.S. Eliot once wrote that April is the cruelest month. Given that Eliot was the most British American ever conceived, it is unsurprising that he did not appreciate baseball’s approach. This despite being born in St. Louis and living during the era of Rogers Hornsby. Working on some poem is barely an excuse.
To the rest of us — poets, too — April means baseball. After reading Donald Hall’s vastly underappreciated 1993 work, Museum of Clear Ideas
In Clear Ideas, Hall draws on themes from sport and visual art. The book’s first baseball poem is an attempt to explain baseball to Kurt Schwitters, the artist acknowledged as the 20th century master of the collage.
The volume isn’t all baseball, but the narrative of the game informs (and bookends) everything else. We start with a non-baseball poem (“Another Elegy,” which nevertheless alludes to rain delays), then move on to nine long baseball poems divided into nine poetic “innings”. Concluding, Hall offers three warm, darkly beautiful extra-inning baseball poems that are succinct and perfect, like black pearls.
Like Schwitters, Hall wraps seemingly unrelated elements into a package that works. And while any fan of poetry ought to enjoy the book, you might have to be a longstanding baseball fan to truly appreciate some of the wit here. Besides lines about storied games from yesteryear, there are references to Dock Ellis’ acid no-hitter, Wade Boggs’ affairs, Steve Blass disease, expansion and Nolan Ryan’s Advil ads.
To the poet, baseball is a pleasure (“Baseball is not my work. It is my/walk in the park, my pint of bitter,/My Agatha Christie or Zane Grey.”), but it also reflects the grand collage of life. Generations of young men become old men, barely hanging on as skills and vitality fade. Hall’s is a world where ” … even losing three out of four/is preferable to off-season,” as life is preferable to death.
Baseball, like sexual intercourse
and art, stops short, for a moment, the
indecent continuous motion
of time forward, implying our death
and imminent decomposition.
Being a Red Sox fan, Hall knows something about loss, death, hope and rebirth. Even if you win the Series, he reminds, the season ends anyway. Fortunately, there is still spring.
The Museum of Clear Ideas
[Ed note: those are affiliate links. We recommend the book even if you go buy it some other way. Standard disclaimers apply.]
USSM bracket pool
Already filled out 182 brackets today? Make it 183, and join the USSMariner blog pool.
Group Name: USSMariner
Password: wfb
No fees, no prizes, just a bunch of baseball geeks pretending like we know basketball too.