Cavs @ Wizards, Game 6

Tipoff.

Cavs @ Wizards, Game 6

Section 410, row K, seat 15 Ridiculous pregame player introductions.
Yes, that's fire.

From the Department of Redundancy Department

Something I saw on a newspaper on the way back from lunch inspired me to formally create this list, which previously had had only two static ingredients. The list is a collection of things that people say that are inherently redundant. I do not understand why they say them. The first two, and original, members:

“It’s raining outside.” Oh. Yeah? Where else would it be raining, exactly? In your living room? Maybe in your desk drawer. No, the answer is outside, probably underneath the rainclouds. You don’t need to specify.

“I was just thinking to myself.” I may be behind the curve on this one. Telepathy may actually be quite widespread and I didn’t get the telepathic memo. If this is not the case, however, then you can’t quite be thinking to someone else, can you? You can think aloud, but…that’s what you’re doing as you’re telling me about thinking to yourself. I think by virtue of you saying it, you thought it. (I take that back. Some people do not think before they speak. I stand corrected.)

And finally, the one (a headline!) in a paper that declared that a person had “committed suicide by hanging self.” I’d like to see someone commit suicide by hanging someone else. Maybe by hanging some curtains, or a pronoun. I think we’re all pretty aware of the whole suicide idea and how it is something someone does to one’s self. But thanks for clarifying.

Dear Uncle Sam...

Dear Federal Government: 

Thanks so much for giving me $600 back.  Heaven knows you should not have taken it from me in the first place, but better late than never.  In the meantime, could you please get to work? There are some heavy duty problems around here that really need solving.

Love,

Jersey Matt

PS - Because you suggested I get my stimulus direct deposited, I'm getting screwed out of a great deal on a washer machine at Sears.

Via Email

From: Jersey Matt
To: Virginia Matt

OK Yankee fan, are you worried yet?



From: Virginia Matt
To: Jersey Matt

Again, yes and no. It would be easy to be worried given the abysmal team performance with RISP and the pitching. But you have to remember what happened last year. I'm not saying that having a poor April and May isn't going to hurt you, of course it is. However, we were worse last year at this point and came back, and that was after a hotter Boston start and no real significant Boston collapse (which is always a possibility). The other thing is the injuries. There are more this year, and more significant ones. This is also a "yes and no" event. Injuries are bad because they could be long term or linger (everyone is a year older, after all), but they also may be a legitimate reason for the early futility that may get turned around when (if) everyone gets healthy. So in short, yes I'm worried but no I'm not hopeless yet.

Also, I honestly have no problem with this turning into a true rebuilding year, which it in a small way already is. Kennedy and Hughes have obviously been taking their lumps, which is really hurting the team. But you know, thinking long term, that's what it takes. I hope they don't panic and go out and make some ridiculous signing, but instead stick to the plan. I'd be up for a veteran-for-veteran trade though (Giambi).

Last night at the Nats game someone (drunk) was yelling at Felipe Lopez for making an error on a true routine play. "FELIPE! I am PERSONALLY DISAPPOINTED IN YOU! HOW COULD YOU FLUB SUCH AN EASY BALL!" to which some guy in my row replied "Hey! He can't speak English!"



From: Jersey Matt
To: Virginia Matt

Can that entire email be posted?

Pirates @ Nats

Half smoke, all the way. (chili, onions, mustard)

Pirates @ Nats

Section 226

I've Been Called Out!

Virginia Matt called me out in an earlier posting about Jeremiah Wright.  Well I accept his challenge to explain myself.

I don't particularly agree with Rev. Wright's theological opinions.  His sermons, at least in my humble opinion, show a lack of nuance in interpreting and expounding upon Scripture.  Moreover, lots of things he say smack of the "soft racism of low expectations" which so many folks talk about and yet do nothing about.

However, there are a few points in his defense:

1. He knows his audience.  And members of his congregation at the United Church of Christ in Chicago certainly liked him.  Listen to the cheering in the background of his sermons.  A lot of folks listening to him not only listened, but actively agreed with him.  So, he must be really tapping into something.  We should take note that a lot of people agree with him, despite whatever our own personal misgivings might be.
2. If you strip away the rhetoric, he does raise some really good points.  What exactly does make a patriot?  Why haven't we actually apologized officially for slavery?  How come he gets national treatment from the media, but these fools at Bob Jones University get nearly free passes?  How many media folks who criticized his sermons actually listened to them in their entirety?  
3. Doesn't he have the Wright (a ha ha ha!) to say what he wants?  And isn't it the media's fault that he's getting so much face time.  I think most of America fails to understand the importance that historically "black" churches have within the inner city.  People complain about there being no community centers where young people of color can go instead of being on the streets all the time.  From that need, mega-churches such as the UCC grow.  It's an organic process.  After these congregations/churches/organizations pop up, folks not in them get upset at what they preach and how they preach it.  It's the same reality that the US foreign policy has reaped.  Hey rest of the world, here's democracy!  But no, don't vote for him.  He doesn't like the good old U S of A!  In this sense, the "chickens have come home to roost."
4. As for the comments regarding 9/11, at first glance they are disgusting.  But, in all reality, isn't there a small bit of truth which we have collectively chosen to ignore?  There is a reason these people hate us.  It has a lot to do with our culture and a lot to do with our foreign policy.  Can we really deny that we provided weapons to Sadaam?  Can we honestly state that we didn't arm the Afghanis against the Ruskies and then drop them as soon as they had served their purpose to us?

In sum, I don't particularly like Rev. Jeremiah Wright.  In fact, I wouldn't even refer to him as a reverend.  Men of God are supposed to preach the message of God.  And yet, I can't help but see him as a tragic example of many of the racial divides that still split the nation.  In other words, because of many failures of both Democrats and Republicans in the past 70 years, we are now reaping Jeremiah Wright, which we have so unfortunately sown through the rise of the welfare state, institutionalized racism and a series of foolish, and half-hearted attempts to fix these two large mistakes.

Time to Panic?

Is it time to panic?  Not about the Mets losing 13-2 to the Pirates, necessarily, but rather the listlessness that has continued into this early season.  The Phillies continue to struggle, all indicators are that the Marlins can't continue at their blistering pace, the Braves are 0-9 in one run games and the Nats are a quadruple-A ball club.  And yet, and yet, the Mets have failed to gain any type of momentum in the month of April.  When there's pitching, the bats have fallen flat more often than not and vice versa.  Which, I should add, is a mark of a mediocre team.  Mediocre teams do not have payrolls within the top five of baseball, nor do they stay mediocre teams long.  Either something is done to raise them up from mediocrity, or those middling players drop off to such a degree that the team ends up in the second division.  

Meanwhile, the Yankees are playing even more poorly than the Mets, and yet I'm don't think I'm as happy as they should be.  It seems as if the Yankees (during the regular season at least) always find a way to make things happen.  Then again, maybe that is the magic of Joe Torre.  And without Brian Bruney ... what will the mighty Highlanders do?

Morning Links

"I recognize that the media is going to play this up again tomorrow, as they do every single year."

You're darn tootin' they will. Usually I'm against the media getting lazy/ier and drudging up old stories, especially when it feels like they're doing it just to be annoying, as they are with this story. However, I post the link because I had never heard the alternative explanation by the White House about the banner, and found it interesting. Regardless of whether the alternative explanation is accurate, it was still a horrible decision by whoever makes those decisions and someone should have said something. To create a loose analogy, someone said on a podcast I was listening to, about a movie's bad sound editing: "Even if you're the wardrobe director, not the sound editor, and you're watching the movie, and you notice that when the guy knocks on the door you don't hear the knock sound until he's done knocking, wouldn't you say something?" Was there no one who saw that banner and thought "Hmm, maybe this is a bad idea"?


It is great to see that we finally have some national unity on energy policy. Unfortunately, the unifying idea is so ridiculous, so unworthy of the people aspiring to lead our nation, it takes your breath away.

Again, an article that is written so crystal clearly and concisely that I feel like describing it too much would ruin it. Please read it. It's Friedman on the current state and possible near future of our national energy policy. I'm so glad he's off his book-writing sabbatical; that means he's writing articles again and, more importantly, the book is probably done.


From the "Throwing Jersey Matt Under the Bus" Department: Jersey Matt has some bold thoughts on Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and this is a formal, public request for him to put them to paper (or whatever) here, to which I will attempt to write a coherent response.