Little league players

Some of you may have heard that a 9 year old Little League pitcher in New Haven has been banned from pitching because he can throw a 40 mph fastball. That is pretty awesome for a 9 year old. The league has said he can play another position, but he can't pitch. Apparently, parents of players on opposing teams were upset because they thought it was dangerous. Now, I don't know this kid's stats, but all the articles I have read about this say that he has not hit a batter. The idea that the league wants him to play a position that he is not good at gives this kid a bad message. Yeah, you are too good at something so we want you to play a position that you aren't good at so other kids aren't scared to bat. This also sends a bad message to the batters on the other teams. We'll take care of you and protect you from something you are scared of, you'll never have to face anything scary in your life.

As a prospective parent I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand, yes, I want to protect my child from everything scary in this world. On the other hand, I know this is an impossible task so I want to be able to prepare my child with the best resources available to face anything scary that might come his way. If you allow kids to face challenges and obstacles, won't they be better prepared to face them as they get older?

I can see that to a 9 year old batter, a 40 mph fastball would be scary, but it can also be a challenge. The batter can decide to bat against this pitcher, and yeah, he might strike out a bunch of times, but maybe, just maybe he'll get the bat on the ball. He might foul out, but at least he'll have made contact and that in itself is a victory.

All I have to say is shame on you league officials in New Haven who banned a kid who was really good at something he likes. Let him play in the next age group up, but don't ban him. Don't punish him for being good at something.

Sports?

Some of you may be wondering, "Hey, the title of this blog is Sports, Music and Life. Didn't the Olympics just happen?" Or maybe none of you were thinking that, but I figured I should at least mention that, yes, the summer Olympics did just happen. They were held in Bejing, China and Hong Kong. Michael Phelps became the winningest Olympic athlete ever (16 medals in 2 Olympic games), and beat Mark Spitz's record of most golds by a swimmer in any Olympic games this year, winning 8. It was pretty impressive. So impressive, in fact, that when we were at a Washington Nationals game a few weeks ago and Phelps' Butterfly race was on, everyone was watching that instead of the baseball game in front of them (granted it was the Nationals and the Rockies). The other person who is worth mentioning is Usain Bolt, now the fastest man in the world. This guy is from Jamaica and is literally as fast as a bolt of lightening. Ridiculous.

Honestly, I'm not that into the Summer Olympics. I mean, how long can you watch someone run a race during the marathon? I am from the US so I'm not crazy for soccer (i.e. football) like the rest of the world. I do enjoy watching the equestrian jumping competition, only because it's usually the only time this sport is on TV. There was no crazy Bella Karoli to watch during the gymnastics (although he did commentate) and Bob Costas has become more like a robot than a commentator. In addition, I am a bit confused about some sports being actual Olympic sports - BMX biking anyone? Badminton? Finally, I think it is total crap that professional athletes get to compete in the Olympic games. Professionals get their spot in the limelight when they play during their season. Let the little guy have the stage for 17 days.

So yes, the Olympics did just happen. They just weren't that interesting.

The Dark Knight

Last night, Sean and I finally went to see The Dark Knight, the next movie in the Batman series (technically the second movie), but I don't think they really go in chronological order except for Batman Begins, and you don't really need to see that one before you see this one. This was Heath Ledger's last movie as he passed away earlier in the year after the filming. Christian Bale plays Batman/Bruce Wayne again and Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Gary Oldman play their respective parts as well. In addition, Aaron Eckhart and Maggie Gyllenhaal play other characters. All in all, a great cast.

The plot was good. The acting by Ledger as the insane Joker was superb. The effects were great. The problem with the plot was that it felt as if the movie could have ended at least three times before it actually ended. It was quite a long movie, over 2 hours. I won't give anything away, but it seemed curious that they introduced a new villain toward the end of the movie, only to get rid of him before the movie ended. I did enjoy this movie more than Batman Begins. It was more of a typical superhero movie which I enjoy.

I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes superhero movies.

The Day That Never Comes

A little while ago I posted that Metallica is FINALLY releasing a new CD Sept 12. I finally heard the first single from this album titled, "The Day That Never Comes." The radio version that I heard was about 8 minutes long. I obviously haven't heard the rest of the album but it struck me as an interesting song to represent the album. It starts off as a ballad and then ends as classic Metallica with Kirk's signature guitar riffs and Lars' strong drums. At first, I wasn't crazy about the song. I was wondering why Metallica would release a ballad as their first single from this long awaited album considering they got so much flack for the Black album and especially for St. Anger. I thought they would've released something with more bite to it. I will have to hear this song again but right now I'm not too impressed.

Update

JAMM's supervisor never called me to apologize. Am I surprised? I think not. Add the supervisor to the jackass list.

I was going to call back the lady who said she would have JAMM's supervisor call me and tell her that no one called me. However, I think it would just piss me off more so I am going to write a letter to United and try to let this one go. If I ever see JAMM again, I might have to tear him a new one. Hopefully, we will never have to fly out of this small airport again.

I just googled "united airlines complaints" and there are about 848,000 site dedicated to this. Ridiculous. Don't fly United!

Flying sucks part II

** WARNING** This is a ranting post, but I tried to make it humorous so read on if you also think that flying and customer service in general, has gotten significantly worse.

So it turned out that the idiots at United never delivered my bag yesterday so I went to the airport to pick it up. This literally would have taken me less than 5 minutes if the jackass meter maid wasn't such a jerk. As most of you know, I am pregnant so I didn't want to park in the garage far away from the airport and I didn't want to have to pay for parking to pick up my damn bag that should have been delivered anyway. There is a short term/cell phone parking area where you can park as long as your car isn't left unattended to wait for passengers to arrive. It was only me so the car was unattended. The baggage office I had to go to was right inside the door next to this parking area so I parked there. I made the mistake of asking JAMM (Jackass meter maid) if he was going to give me a ticket if I let my car there. He said that if I entered the building he would give me a ticket (he said this not so nicely while stepping between me and the building). So I said fine and left that area, went around the airport and parked at the curb. He again came up to me and said if I left the car he was going to give me a ticket. I said I literally have to run in for 30 seconds to get my bag. JAMM said he was still going to give me a ticket. I told JAMM if he wanted to give me a ticket , fine, I went in the building and of course, no one was in the stupid office. So now I had to go down to the other end of the airport (it's not that big of an airport, but remember, I am pregnant and had to walk all the way down there) to the ticketing booth to get someone to let me into the damn office. As I came out of the building JAMM was writing my ticket. I told him I now had to go down to ticketing so it would take me about a minute. JAMM said that if I left he would call the towing company. I asked him if he was serious and he said he was, so I left the curb and parked in the short term parking garage where I had to freaking walk all over the place to get my damn bag. So I get to the ticketing booth and see the same guy who I gave my form to last night and he, DABG (Dumb Ass Bag Guy), asked me my name and after I told him, he said, oh yeah, we called and left a message. To which I replied, yes, I had gotten the message, and I called right back (literally 4 minutes after the message was left), left a message to make sure they had the correct address and no one ever called me back. I continued to call EIGHT times throughout the afternoon to see if SOMEONE would pick up the damn phone. I also called the 800 United baggage number twice to make sure they knew the correct address, figuring they could get the message to DABG. It seems they had the same luck I had. I then asked DABG if the airline was going to pay my ticket and parking fee because I had to go all the way to the airport to get my damn bag and they messed up delivering it and he just shrugged his shoulders and said nope. I then asked if there was any petty cash since the garage was only going to be $2 and again he shrugged his shoulders. DABG never gave me an apology. Finally I got the stupid bag and I saw JAMM again and asked him for the name of his supervisor. He said he was the supervisor on duty (which I totally didn't buy) and I said that there must be someone above him and he said he guessed I could call the airport and I told him I would absolutely do that. He was so rude and obnoxious to be I couldn't believe it. It was like he had nothing better to do than harass the pregnant lady. What a jackass.

This morning I did indeed call the airport to complain about JAMM. The woman I spoke to was quite apologetic (finally!) and said she would look at the video tape and talk to JAMM and his immediate supervisor and have him call me to apologize. I told her I had no interest in ever talking to JAMM again and she said that the supervisor, not JAMM would call me. She was also surprised I had to pay $1 for parking since I was only in there for 12 minutes. 12 minutes to walk all the way from the garage to the terminal, get my bag and back out!! If JAMM had just left me alone I would have been in and out of there in less than five which is less time that those other people sitting in the passenger pick up lot had been waiting. It's not like the airport was busy and I was taking up space. What a jackass. Flying sucks. I have decided I am never going anywhere I have to check a bag again if it involved this small town airport.

Flying sucks

The past few days, Sean and I were in the DC area visiting family and Sean took a class. It was a wonderful trip. I got to see my sister and her husband, saw some friends who had their baby in July, saw some friends who just got engaged, played mini golf and generally hung out. The days were relaxing and fun only to be up-ended by crappy air travel. Our flights were on time, however, once on the plane, we were stuck on the plane on the runway FOR AN HOUR before we left the ground. Luckily, the AC was still on so it didn't get too uncomfortable. Finally, we got off the ground and landed. However, once we landed, we were stuck on the plane for at least 20 minutes since there was only ONE baggage handler. OK, so fine, we finally got off the plane. I had to check a bag since we were gone for more than a weekend. Yup, you guessed it, my bag didn't show up. So then I had to wait in line with the other passengers whose bags were also still in DC to fill out a form. Now, I am waiting for them to show up with my bag, but since I put my home address on the form and not my work address I am wondering if they will just leave the bag at my home or actually deliver it to my work since I did call this morning to tell them to deliver it to my work. We will see. Flying sucks.

Belated birthdays (again) and thoughts

Happy belated 90th birthday to my grandmother and xth birthday to my mother. I love you both.

My thoughts are going out to my friend's mom today as she has surgery. We are thinking of you!

The Weasel

Bud Selig must be bored out of his mind to attempt this. When will MLB ever get a new Commissioner? Let it go Bud - it's over and done with!

Manny being LA

Yesterday as the trade deadline approached, the Red Sox were involved in a major deal in which Manny Ramirez was traded away to the Dodgers, Jason Bay was received from the Pirates and the Pirates got 4 players, 2 from the Sox and 2 from the Dodgers. The Sox are also paying the rest of Manny's salary for this year. No word on if the Dodgers will be required to pick up Manny's option(s) or not.

This is a sad day in Red Sox Nation. Manny is a Hall of Fame player and always puts up great numbers. Lately, though, he has been a royal pain in the ass in the clubhouse, getting into a fight with one of his own teammates, getting into a scuffle with the PR guy over a request for a ridiculous amount of tickets, and to put the icing on the cake, taking himself out of the lineup of the first game of the Yankees series last week.

Manny has been one of my favorite players since Nomar left in 2004. Manny helped the Sox win the 2004 and the 2007 World Series. I was at his first game at Fenway where he hit a home run in his first at bat. Sure, Manny has his antics, his weirdness when he cuts off relays to home and allows an inside the park home run, throws the ball into the stands when there are only 2 outs, hi-fives a fan after catching a fly ball, etc. Despite his playing style, his numbers are irrefutable: 2318 hits, 510 HR .312 avg over 16 seasons.

It will be an interesting second half of the season without him. Jason Bay has some big shoes to fill. Good bye Manny, we will miss you - say hi to Derek Lowe and Nomar for us.