Otis Nixon

Otis Nixon
Born January 9, 1959 in Columbus County, North Carolina
Brother of Donell Nixon
Originally drafted by the Yankees, 3rd pick 1st round, 1979
Played for:
New York Yankees
Cleveland Indians
Montreal Expos
Atlanta Braves
Boston Red Sox
Texas Rangers
Toronto Blue Jays
Los Angeles Dodgers
Minnesota Twins
Had 620 career steals and 1379 career hits.
Not what you might call a handsome man.
Once arrested for pulling a knife on his own bodyguard. Why did he even need a bodyguard, to score coke?

2007 Hall of Fame Ballot

Spent a lot of time in the car today and ESPN radio piqued my interest.

Colin Cowherd spent a good amount of time discussing opinions on allowing steroid tainted ballplayers into the MLB HoF. While admitting that he is comfortable with either all in or all out he would favor admission for all. Part of this argument, he suggests that, all people break laws in a manner that suits their needs. A baseball player in order maintain competitive conditioning will take steroids, this is, according to Colin, an equivalent to exceeding the speed limit for the purpose of getting to get to work on time.

I hope that the Mr. Cowherd, for the purposes of entertainment, has constructed this analogy to promote discussion and not a philosophy on life. This sort of thinking leads to habits like weak parenting, based on an unwillingness to make critical judgments on the behavior of others.

To directly oppose the point I would suggest that during these player's careers each was richly rewarded through contracts and endorsements. To offer additional reward after admission of unlawful behavior would be insulting to those that have achieved the HoF honestly. The Hall of Fame is a shrine to great ball players who have been statistically superior, possessed leadership positions on successful teams and were publicly moral. Players who don't pass the stink test shouldn't get in.

Now Mr. Cowherd's points are not any cause of pain for me. In the end he is pragmatic, Players like McGwire will probably get in eventually because proof of wrong doing is absent.

Here is how I hope the voting should go in the next couple of years.
The following list is the set of nominations for 2007.

Harold Baines - nope, good hitter, played DH too much
Albert Belle - nope, too short of a career, great for about 5 years
Dante Bichette - nope, the hall already has enough fat bastards
Bert Blyleven - nope, nice pitcher, not great
Bobby Bonilla - nope, even shorter career sweet spot that Belle
Scott Brosius - nope, bet he gets 0%
Jay Buhner - nope, when he was healthy loved to watch him in the field
Ken Caminiti - nope, more that stink here
Jose Canseco - nope, admitted to steriod use
Dave Concepcion - nope, nice player on a great team, like Rizzuto who shouldn't be in either
Eric Davis - nope, a couple of geat years, lots of injures
Andre Dawson - YES , hard player, good stats, languished on Montreal too long
Tony Fernandez - nope, he was a shortstop wasn't he?
Steve Garvey - nope, what was that commercial for where he flipped the bat?
Rich Gossage - YES, not my favorite but dominating
Tony Gwynn - YES, the best contact hitter of the last 45 years
Orel Hershiser - nope, tough guy though, enjoyed this pitcher
Tommy John - nope, over-rated when he was with the Yankees
Wally Joyner - nope, good not ever great
Don Mattingly - nope, loved the player
Mark McGwire - nope, go back to the stink test
Jack Morris - unsure, tough in the playoffs
Dale Murphy - nope, 2 MVPs, fantastic arm, missed too many pitches low and away
Paul O'Neill - nope, let the Yankee fans squeal
Dave Parker - nope, a lot like Murphy, great arm from left field, short career sweet spot
Jim Rice - YES, good hitter, lots of home runs, MVP, put up with all that Boston crap
Cal Ripken Jr. - YES, MVPs, the game streak
Bret Saberhagen - nope, short career sweet spot
Lee Smith - YES, did as much as Gossage and for a long time
Alan Trammell - nope, tough player, too many weak years at the plate
Devon White - nope, he was fast, big deal
Bobby Witt - nope, aw hell no

Muslims Prepared for Holidays

Not Islamic holidays.

On Friday night, in the West Bank city of Nablus, Israeli paratroopers found stuffed teddy bears wired for explosives.

Targeting children, what kind of logic leads a man to this?

No man at all.

UGA 15 Tech 12

It hurts this year.
Johnny Young said it best, Reggie Ball is the Dogs best weapon.

Some of My Favorite Expressions

Got no more smile than a turnip.

Grizzly Hunting

The Pope took a couple of days off to visit the mountains of Alaska for some sight-seeing.

He was cruising along in the Pope mobile when there was a frantic commotion just at the edge of the woods. A helpless Democrat, wearing sandals, shorts, a "Save the Whales" hat, and a "To Hell with Bush" T-shirt, was screaming while struggling frantically, thrashing around trying to free himself from the grasp of a 10 foot grizzly.

As the Pope watched horrified, a group of Republican loggers came racing up. One quickly fired a .44 magnum into the bear's chest... The other two reached up and pulled the bleeding, semiconscious Democrat from the bear's grasp. Then using long clubs, the three loggers finished off the bear and two of them threw it onto the bed of their truck while the other tenderly placed the injured Democrat in the back seat.

As they prepared to leave, the Pope summoned them to come over. "I give you my blessing for your brave actions!" he told them. "I heard there was a bitter hatred between Republican loggers and Democratic Environmental activists but now I've seen with my own eyes that this is not true.

"As the Pope drove off, one of the loggers asked his buddies "Who was that guy?" "It was the Pope," another replied. "He's in direct contact with heaven and has access to all wisdom." "Well," the logger said, "he may have access to all wisdom but he sure doesn't know anything about bear hunting! By the way, how is the bait holding up? Or do we need to go back to Massachusetts and snatch another one?"

That Road Kill's Butt is Looking Fine

Bryan Hathaway of Superior Minnesota faces a misdemeanor charge of sexual gratification with a deer carcass. The misdemeanor carries up to nine months in jail and a fines up to $10,000. Because of a previous conviction Bryan could serve up to two years.

Mr. Hathaway has hired a Cochranesque lawyer, Fredric Anderson, who has found his path to freedom.

“The statute does not prohibit one from having sex with a carcass,”

It seems Mr. Hathaway has a fixation. His previous felony conviction in 2005 was for mistreatment of an animal in the shooting death of a 26-year-old horse. The purpose was to have sex with the carcass.

That dog thought he smelled something funky.

Linked page includes pictures of the defendant and the lawyer's motion.

My ABC's of Thanksgiving

26 reasons for being thankful this year.

A - Angel Fund, for their support of Bruce
B - Benise, a name taken from two, my wife
C - Claude, father, brother and grandfather
D - Dreamland Barbecue, Tuscaloosa Alabama, best ribs, ever
E - Ernest Hemingway, writer of Old Man and the Sea and much more
F - Fried Apple Pies
G - George W. Bush, a president whose actions are guided by his vision of right an wrong
H - Hartwell, the lake, as close to country as I seem to get these days
I - Issie
J - John Irving, writer of A Prayer for Owen Meany and Cider House Rules
K - Krispy Kreme Doughnuts
L - Love in my life
M - Morgan, Henry & Beatrix
N - Nieces, fourteen of them
O - Orvold, Marie and family
P - Patricia, Pat, Patty, Mom
Q - Quid pro quo, give and take, compromise, unsaid but needed almost all the time
R - Reggae music, Bob Marley
S - Sausage Gravy Biscuits
T - Tyrus, my son, carrying on the family tradition of odd middle names
U - Underdog, balloon in the Macy Parade
V - The Varsity, whuddya have
W - Will, determination to solve problems
X - Christ
Y - Yellow Jackets, mascot of the school that focused my energy
Z - Zydeco music, Buckwheat, Clifton Chenier

Observations

"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office."

Aesop

Northgate Football

The season ended last Friday, and so my son's last high school game.
Emotional stuff.

Germany Here I Come

Off to Krefeld Germany for a week of learning.
Should be back on 11th.
Hope to post some pictures, looks like an interesting place.

Lame Apology

You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.” —John Kerry

This said by and man who almost became, and still hopes to be, president.

The statement which was made to students was apologized for like this.

As a combat veteran, I want to make it clear to anyone in uniform and to their loved ones: my poorly stated joke at a rally was not about, and never intended to refer to any troop.

I sincerely regret that my words were misinterpreted to wrongly imply anything negative about those in uniform, and I personally apologize to any service member, family member, or American who was offended.

It is clear the Republican Party would rather talk about anything but their failed security policy. I don’t want my verbal slip to be a diversion from the real issues. I will continue to fight for a change of course to provide real security for our country, and a winning strategy for our troops.

The manner in which the apology was delivered (see blog link) hardly carries the personal force with which the insult was presented. Clearly the presidential candidate cannot be taped admitting that he is a horse's ass.

The spin put out alongside suggested that the statement was meant to be a joke at President Bush's expense. This is admittedly plausible and would be consistent. Why is such a negative politcal intention accepted at face value by the mainstream press?