Chapter 63: Milestones

Some significant milestones are in sight for many future Hall of Fame baseball players. Today, Frank Thomas became the twenty-first player to hit 500 home runs (before being ejected from the game). And it's likely that sometime this weekend Craig Biggio of the Astros will become the twenty-seventh to reach 3,000 hits for his career. [Correction: Biggio knocked five base hits last night to surpass 3,000. Congratulations Craig!] Both are almost certain Hall of Famers. Thomas won two Most Valuable Player Awards in the 1990s, and while Biggio has started to slow down, he's been one of the more consistent hitters in the National League since 1988.

But they're not the only people who have significant milestones ahead of them. Of course, Barry Bonds is the most obvious, with just a handful of home runs to go before he ties Hank Aaron's record of career home runs. I'm no fan of Bonds, whose reputation has been dragged through the mud due to his suspected steroid or human growth hormone use. It's sad, too, because he was a certain Hall of Famer before he seems to have started using the substances. Add on his career-long surliness and attitude problems, and you probably have as many people hoping his hamstring snaps as he's circling the bases on 754, if not sooner, than rooting for him to break Aaron's record.

The guy I'm rooting for to reach his personal milestone is Tom Glavine, who is now three wins away from 300 for his career. After a stellar career with the Atlanta Braves, where he won two Cy Young Awards, he came to the Mets and has been solid. There was a point last year when I thought he might be able to win another Cy Young award; had he not been left with so many no decisions and reached 20 wins, he probably would have. I know a lot of Mets fans are sick of his soft-tossing and picky nibbling at the corners, but I'm a fan of smart pitching, and I enjoy seeing him work and listening to him talk about his craft.

Another craftsman is Roger Clemens, though I think we're finally seeing the final season of his remarkable career. He needs one more win to reach 350, and even though the Yankees suck, he should be able to get it despite his slowing fastball.

With such achievements in the near future, I wouldn't be surprised if Major League Baseball did something during the All-Star Game to recognize the achievements -- particularly for Thomas and Biggio. (To Bud Selig's happiness, Bonds will likely not have reached the Aaron mark by the All-Star Game.) Though Biggio doesn't deserve a spot in the game itself, I think it's a worthwhile gesture for these guys.

Chapter 62.7: Taking a Day or Two

Life has been busy lately -- work, commuting, etc. So I have decided to take a couple days off. Of course, since I seem to have become a chronic workaholic, taking on projects that I barely have time to consider much less complete, I have things to do over these days. Here's to summer vacation!

Chapter 62.67: I Had To...

Found on the Web by accident: file this image under "that's not right."

Chapter 62.6: Another Life Ruined?

It turns out that the student driving David Halberstam was probably the one at fault in the accident that caused the writer's death. The AP article paints a none-too-pretty future for the young man, who reportedly considered Halberstam a mentor. Moreover, the boy's past was a point of interest, as he'd had several traffic infractions, including a DUI while still a minor (not that it's acceptable when of age.)

I feel sorry for the kid, and I hope he'll be able to recover from this situation. At the same time, I wouldn't blame Halberstam's widow for doing whatever she decides she needs to do. His death was quite clearly untimely.

Chapter 62.5: The New Republicans

I find it odd that I'm in agreement more with a couple of Republicans than with the major Democratic presidential candidates -- at least on a couple topics. New York's Mayor Bloomberg -- who I guess can't be considered a Republican now, since he's dropped his affiliation with the party -- and (I can't believe I'm writing this) Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger have outlined centrist positions and called for bridging the political divide. Of course, that's the type of thing that is always talked about during a presidential campaign, but neither of those men are running -- officially.

Personally, I doubt Bloomberg will run. All this recent discussion, and possibly even dropping the Republican affiliation, seem to be timed to his placement on the cover of Time as much as anything else. Of course, speculation about Bloomberg's intentions have been bandied about for months, now -- and he's even egged it on, like the consummate self-promoting business man he is. While I think he'd make an interesting candidate -- perhaps even a likely nominee now that he's officially independent -- I don't think he can win the electoral votes of middle America (read, the Plains states) without being a conservative. I could easily be wrong; I don't live out there. Neither does Bloomberg. And the Governator is simply not eligible, as per the U.S. Constitution. (He was born in Austria.)

I expect Bloomberg will end up doing what he's said he'd do: run a philanthropic organization, which he's been quietly putting together for a while now. Still, it might be relatively easy for him to become Secretary of Treasury (though he's more business man than economist) and return to philanthropy afterward. But even ex-presidents can do impressive things in philanthropy after their political careers are done. Herbert Hoover did, Bill Clinton's foundation is quite active; and without his post-presidential charity work, Jimmy Carter might have become a political footnote instead of one of our greatest former presidents.

No, I think Bloomy will be just a former mayor.

Chapter 62.4: Conservative Truth?

Ok, a quick note -- but I'll need to read on. I can't believe what I've just read in the Los Angeles Times: a history teacher got angry because a student used the term BCE (before common era) rather than BC (before Christ), which the student got it off of Wikipedia?! And as a result of this anger, the teacher decided that conservatives needed to create a wiki-based encyclopedia that conveys the conservatives' perspective.

That's ridiculous! The point of an encyclopedia is to convey information in as objective a manner as possible. It should inherently be neither conservative nor liberal, Democrat nor Republican, western nor eastern. I recognize that objective truth is a matter of debate, but that's part of the point too. If this teacher wants to dispute BCE, wonderful! Go for it. But it's not as though it was created by Wikipedia. The term has been around for many years. Personally, I think it's an unnecessary attempt at political correctness: the timeline starts at the same point, so the Christian bias remains intact. But I think Muslims and Buddhists recognize the historical significance of Jesus, regardless of whether they agree with the tenets of Christianity. Jews have a different calendar than Christians; these things coexist without any significant problems, right?

If the teacher wants to complain about the potential for anonymous changing of Wikipedia entries, fine. That's actually being addressed in something called Citizendium. I'd rather complain about why a teacher seems to have a problem with a student venturing beyond the teacher's information in order to learn. The teacher should be helping to mold this student's mind, helping the student to think for himself and assess the veracity of sources of information. Just because a book is published, for example, doesn't mean it's accurate. Interpretations cannot be assumed to be fact. As far as I can tell, BCE is a term of art -- and not a particularly elegant one. But teaching students to only use one perspective is simply ugly.

Chapter 62.25: That's Better

What a difference a day makes. The Mets started hitting again (albeit versus a struggling Twins team). I'd like to see Jorge Sosa handle Johan Santana and his crew tonight, but Santana is one of baseball's top pitchers. It's more important to see what the hitters can do against him.

But what I like most about last night's game (which I didn't watch, truth be told) was that the bats are starting to awaken. The first five guys in the order did some damage and John Maine seems to be righting his ship. Of the previous three games against the Yankees, the Mets were able to hit in the final two -- ironically, they only won the first, 2-0.

But there are miles to go before we sweep.

Chapter 62.2: Not So Good

Well, the Mets lost two of three. Worse things could have happened, and it was good to see the Mets score some runs again. But while the Mets retain first place, they shouldn't assume that this season is theirs for the taking. There are more than 90 games to go, and that's more than enough space for the Braves, or Phillies, or even the Marlins to supplant the Mets atop the NL Eastern Division. We've lost, but it's on to the next game. And on the way toward October.

Chapter 62.1: Dud Rocket

Watching the first couple innings of last night's Mets victory over the Yankees, I couldn't help but notice that Roger Clemens wasn't pitching with too much velocity. His fast ball was mostly hitting 90, 91 miles per hour. Oliver Perez was in the same range -- sometimes a little faster, and I saw at least one 95 mph pitch -- but Clemens is known for his fast ball. I understand that he's 44 years old; more importantly, he knows how to pitch and has impeccable location. I'm just saying he's lost a lot of velocity.

What he also lost was the game, I'm happy to say. Let's Go Mets!

Chapter 62: Destination Mars

Ever wonder what the planet Mars might have looked like eons ago, when it might have sported water and oceans? Scientists at Cal Berkeley have come up with the image I've posted above. Take a look at what they say about the likelihood that Mars once was covered with water. Interesting stuff for "spaceophiles" like me.

Chapter 61.9: Leaving on a Soft Note

As a lifelong New Jerseyan, I'm not ashamed to say I've enjoyed the Sopranos. I'm not Italian, so perhaps others can feel properly offended in how the show portrays people who are Italian. But we Jerseyans aren't always well thought of either, and the show didn't exactly make us out to look like the intelligent, fun-loving people we usually are. The show had its moments, of course.

But the final episode was somewhat disappointing. The chief complaint is that it left few things resolved. Sure Phil Leotardo is no more, and I'm not complaining about that. It was time to go, yaknowwhadI mean? And as he looked directly into the camera and waved goodbye to his grandkids in the back of the SUV, every viewer knew what was coming next.

The final moment, however, when the screen went black and the sound stopped, reminded me of an Andy Kaufman special from the late 70s. The screen went to a fuzz and I ended up trying to get the picture back in place by whacking the side of the TV. Then it came back on and in his Latka Gravas voice, Andy was doing the same thing and complaining about how he hates his television. We were all fooled, and we laughed uproariously.

But that was comedy. The Sopranos was more than a dramatic story of a criminal family living in New Jersey. It was a metaphor for life -- from the ducks on the swimming pool at the very beginning, to Christopher's fiance Adrianna puking on the table at the FBI (best vomit scene ever!), to AJ's Hummer catching fire and exploding, to Meadow having difficulty parallel parking as she hurries to meet her family for dinner. And always there's somebody hanging around who you're just not sure about.

Closure? Not in Jersey, apparently.

Ultimately, I'll miss the Sopranos. They were real life. Not my life, of course, but theirs. It was usually interesting. At times shocking. But what kept us coming back was that theirs was a family that kept trying, in spite of themselves. I don't mean the Family, but Carmella, Tony, and the kids. Seeing family relate to each other is always good.

Chapter 61.6: Looking Toward 2008

Ok, with that little bit of sappiness out of the way from yesterday, on to more serious stuff: the 2008 election. I noticed a press release from the Pew Charitable Trusts that discusses the importance of the youth vote in the 2006 election. While I was aware intellectually that it had been significant, I must admit seeing the numbers for particular races caught me by surprise.

For example, in the Montana race, Jon Tester defeated Conrad Burns by fewer than 4,000 votes; the youth vote had increased by more than 39,000. And in Virginia, James Webb topped George Allen by less than 9,400 votes; the youth vote had increased by more than 110,000. Looking at the surface of those numbers, I'm at a loss to assume that the youth turned the tide. Kids often are influenced by their parents' viewpoints (despite what the kids say), so in a Republican-dominated state like Montana, I don't know that we can assume most of them were voting Democrat and pushed it to Tester. But I'm curious enough that I'll look deeper into the reportage by Pew.

But the message coming out of the 2006 and 2004 elections was that this younger generation of voters is doing something that previous generations -- mine included -- have not done to a great extent: vote. I think that's a good sign for the future on many levels. Greater participation ideally comes with greater knowledge; which comes first, however, is one of those chicken/egg arguments. Keep it up kids. Teach us all something!

Chapter 61.57: Thought for the Day

Chinese proverb: "One generation plants the trees; another gets the shade."