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So Josh Fields is back in Athens after being drafted by the Braves last year, and now he’s not only a closer, but a DH, and dude is pretty good at both. In last Friday’s opener against No. 1 Arizona, he had a bunt single (something he said he hadn’t done since high school), a home run and, of course, a three-strikeout save. That’s pretty impressive. Both Fields and his Diamond Dogs started off pretty poorly last season (dropping a three-game series to Oregon State, with late-inning collapses galore), so you would think Fields would have that on his mind upon taking the mound Friday.Wrong.
“I thought about that a little bit before, but once I went out there on the mound my mind was just blank and all I was thinking about was throwing strikes and going after hitters,” Fields told reporters.”But it was on my mind a little bit before. That first game last year, it was tough to start like that at the beginning of the season, and I guess we kind of felt like we had an uphill battle after that and this year I know just the guys that remember that last year just want to relax and not put so much pressure on ourselves.”Fields wasn’t the only one preaching that the Diamond Dogs have put their 23-33 2007 behind them, but it will be interesting to see if they make good on the promise.
As I was sitting in the press box at Sunday’s rubber game, the Diamond Dogs squandered a 4-0 lead going into the seventh, and proceeded to give up nine runs in the following two innings. In the eighth, an Arizona runner tried to steal second with two outs. Bryce Massanari’s throw went into the centerfield, and the runner rounded third, and proceeded to unnecessarily truck right on over Massanari, despite the fact that the transfer from Las Vegas didn’t have the ball. And, to me at least, he didn’t make a particularly strong effort to touch the plate. Georgia third baseman Ryan Peisel proceeded to have a near heart attack, flying down the third base line to come to the defense of his teammate. Benches cleared, big bad college athletes pretended as if 65-year-old men could really hold them back and stop them from getting to the other team, etc., etc.I’ve seen a lot of baseball on TV and been to a lot of games, but that was the first bench-clearing near-brawl that I’ve witnessed live, and I must say it was pretty cool. (Although a couple people didn’t particularly appreciate it— Arizona coach Andy Lopez was still screaming at his team when I left Foley about half an hour after the game, and Georgia Athletic Director Damon Evans saw it too, and didn’t look too stoked).
The Diamond Dogs played an exhibition with the Braves on Wednesday, and as one that’s been to a Braves spring training and a lifelong, bleeding heart Braves fan, I just have one thing to say.How cool is that…
In other, severely unrelated news, a colleague of mine, Red & Blacker Kevin Copp, sent me this quote from Georgia gymnastics coach Suzanne Yoculan talking about Nikki Childs, one of her gymnasts.I realize a lot of people aren’t particularly fascinated in gymnastics, but I thought the quote was pretty funny and had pretty good insight into Yoculan’s personality (she’s what I like to refer to as, lovingly of course, a crazy person). And plus, you don’t see a coach just straight up vent about one of his/her players very often:”Nikki….aaaargh…I want to ring her neck. She drives me crazy. I love her, but she’s just aaaaah. She’s a big competitor. You put her in the big meets, under the lights, championships, she’s on the money, but in the little meets it’s almost like she’s playing with me and making me mad on purpose. I’m like, ‘Nikki, what are you doing?’ She’s a gymnast that can age you for sure because she’s so good and you have to love her…It just looks like she has a hit routine and all of a sudden she wants to torment me. You can’t even see a technical mistake leading up to her wobbles. It’s like all of a sudden she wants to bend over.”
Tonight was supposed to be the night. The gloves were to be thrown down; the fight was to be fought. This was Hillary’s last stand after losing eleven straight caucuses. Somehow though, the reaction of the audience in early scuffles discouraged the two opponents from continuing on throughout the night. Instead, a civil, and what seemed to be almost friendly discourse evolved throughout the night. After the healthcare explosion, the mood lightened and issues were discussed. Could it be that politicians saw a real glimmer of what America wants in this brief 90 minute debate? Do we really care about the pointless issues that are drawn out all day long on the ten different news networks? Do we REALLY think Michelle Obama has been anti-American for the majority of her adult life? Do we really think Bill Clinton is a racist? For the majority of this campaign, the media has made it about anything but the issues. Finally tonight we got what we wanted. We heard the differences in their plans on healthcare. We heard their differences on withdrawal from Iraq. We heard their immediate plans of action for the mortgage crisis Americans are facing. For once, the coverage was not about whether Barack Obama is a plagiarizer, or if Hillary Clinton is desperate. Kudos to the candidates tonight, especially when they took control and continued to debate the issue of healthcare heatedly though professionally and without unfair or personal attacks.
This primary season has no doubt been historical. We have a Mormon, woman, and an African-American all three as very viable candidates. That, however, has been a dead horse for six months and people are still committed to beating it. What I want to discuss is something that seems to have blossomed lately. It is the interesting dynamic playing out in the Republican primary. We are more or less down to three “viable” candidates left (sorry Ron Paul), and one could really make the argument that it is down to two, or even one. The main theme in their spar for the nomination seems to be who is the most “conservative”, and it is that point that I want to discuss.
Over the last few days we have all heard each of the big three accuse each other of raising taxes and committing other unforgivable sins in the eyes of the GOP primary faithful. McCain is getting slammed for voting against the Bush tax cuts, Romney has supposedly enacted taxes as a governor and called them “fees”, and Huckabee is getting nailed harder than the others for raising taxes some heinous amount of times in Arkansas. It seems that all three seem to be telling the truth about the other, yet all seem to be decent men. Herein lies the question, why do all of these “conservatives” all get caught raising taxes? Is it possible to govern without doing so? Do our leaders really get elected and give power back to the people?
George H.W. Bush’s downfall was over raising taxes when he promised not to. He looked us in the eyes and said those famous words, “READ MY LIPS”, and we all know how it ended. George W. Bush told us all that he was a conservative, yet what happened? He presided over the development of a multi-trillion dollar debt. All three potential frontrunners are all getting slammed by the others for raising taxes or voting against tax cuts with their own constituencies. Is it possible to have a conservative leader who matches the conservative grassroots movements we all see, or is it time for our leaders to be truthful in their campaigns and admit it might just not be that easy to do? And does the conservative electorate really even care? Ron Paul has the most fiscally conservative record being offered, yet he hasn’t been able to garner real support from the conservative establishment. He has been overlooked for men who have spotty fiscal records, all while preaching about their fiscally conservative superiority.
What is it that matters to conservatives now? Is it abortion? That issue, along with gun control, was a dagger in the heart of the Rudy campaign. Is it the War in Iraq? That seems to be the issue that separates the conservative electorate from Ron Paul. Are these issues more important than fiscal conservatism? Is it still social conservatism with the more acceptable cover up of fiscal conservatism? I won’t pretend to have the answers about any of these. I don’t know if it is possible to govern while reducing the size of government and taxes alike. I don’t know what it is that drives the conservative establishment or electorate. All I know is that looking at all of it at face value, it isn’t really adding up like it should.
This will be a blog about the race for the presidency, and will take all your comments, frustrations, complaints and stories.
Branton Gray DeArmoun gets points for the following:
A) Jacket, scarf, tie, collared shirt. Just a little bit of effort yields results to the max. I don’t even care about plaids vs. pinstripe.
B) Look at the tie. Jellyfish!
That’s all.
This will be my last blog.
I’ve had an okay run with this and appreciate anyone who took the time and checked out my reviews. I’ve read a lot of great books this semester and hope someone may have picked one of them up.
I think the biggest concern was my choice of books. I should have been more specific in the beginning and titled the blog “Good Stuff I’vc Read” or “Red and Black Flashback”. Some of the books are old and I think I may have disappointed. Still, I enjoyed doing this and getting the word out for a book is a good deed in my opinion.
This is a book I haven’t quite finished yet and you’re probably wondering why the hell I’d post about it, but I think leaving it this way is good. The book is called “The Power of Now”.
I posted a blog about this author’s second run called “A New Earth” which had a tremendous impact on me. I talked about how I always pick up self-help authors’ latest works since maybe they’ve grown a bit and newer is better. I was mistaken with Tolle.
There is a new forward in it where Tolle describes the night that changed his life. Has Eckhart Tolle achieved what so many Buddhist strive for? Has he been “born again” according to Christian faith? Who the hell knows. The book is fantastic. It has struck a deep chord and I find myself practicing the methods not for aspiration, but because it makes so much sense. Why would you choose to live any other way? According to Tolle: spiritual enlightenment is attained by overcoming the ego. I believe the world can always use a bit of that.
The book destructive patterns of human thought. It suggests your every emotion–sadness, anger, fear–is rooted in the instinctive fear of death. It talks about how your thinking mind is only a fantastic tool, and who you truly are is much deeper, wiser, and peaceful. All you need to do is bring it out. No need for crucifixes, monastery life, or pilgrimages; the truth and power lies within.
I really don’t want to go further than that because, for one, I haven’t finished it, and two because there is much hype about religious banter. Ironically, the book is not religious by itself; it quotes all religions and shows how every faith is a journey toward the same thing.
So that’s it folks. I don’t know if all readers go this way, but after a healthy stack of literature I wanted to venture into the more profound. This book is amazing in message, and sales. It’s like an underground spiritual phenomena. The practices actually work and you can have more joy in your life right now. All you have to do is look inside.
Thank you, to all readers.
During the last week of classes sleepless nights begin as many students scramble to complete critical assignments.
This past week was extremely stressful for me. Like many other students, I had due papers, projects and presentations. At the same time, R&B staff wrapped up for the semester, published more pages than usual and trained editors for next semester. Juggling my assignments while preparing for finals has been challenging, as it is every semester.
The Student Government Association is looking to change that all with a resolution that will prohibit professors from giving tests and quizzes or having projects and papers due during the week preceding finals. If passed during the spring semester, the resolution would take affect in the 2009-2010 academic year.
This past week the R&B editorial board expressed our discontent with the plan in an institutional editorial. My thought is that this plan is the antithesis of academic rigor, which University administrators have been striving to achieve. If passed, “Preparation Week” will become “Party Week.
Listen to more reaction:Preparation Week
— Juanita, editor-in-chief, jcousins@randb.com
The Hard Goodbye from the Sin City Series was the first comic book I ever read.
I never got onto Superman or Spiderman as a kid, and I only picked it up because I loved Mickey Rourke’s performance in the movie and wondered what made him and the rest of the all-star cast so passionate. Such a sleazy, daring, violent, over-the-top film; I loved it. I can’t just see a movie or read a book; I have to know where it came from and how it came together for what reason and by what people. I’ve always sought inspiration through entertainment.
But I didn’t buy the comic. I read it over coffee in a Barns & Noble. And then I bought the whole series.
There is something appealing about these novels I’ve seen in rare few books and movies– particularly things from Tarantino–that I’ll never have the capacity to put into words. Enthralling, magnetic, fetching, provocative, tempting, engaging, addictive…
I was shocked, almost embarrassed by how much I enjoyed my first comic. I felt like the kid in Never Ending Story; hiding in a dark room draped in a blanket reading feverishly by candlelight. ATREYU!
The Girls of Old Town, The Roark Family, the Irish Mercenaries, Hartigan, Nancy Callahan, Dwight, Marv…god, the imagination in the settings and characters is abysmal. What cloud did Miller fall from?
There’s so much plot in every novel that I can’t begin to give a synopsis. Let’s see…murder, sex, booze, evil, heroes, hate, martyrs (did I mention sex?), and the most memorable characters you wish you could imitate but you realize you’ve never heard their voice. Then there’s Miller’s humor which is entirely another subject.
The novels rarely take place in daylight and there is no color, except in things Miller finds effective like green eyes or red blood or the yellow bastard. The series is about the decay of a great city, that surely would have burned if not for the vigilantes.
I highly recommend this entire series. Some of the novels like Family Values are disappointing in length, but others are epic. After the week it took me to read every novel, I jumped into 300 and Batman Returns. I might as well get it over with and start playing Warcraft.
CURRENTLY READING
Walden By Henry Thoreau
ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Sin City Soundtrack by John Debney, Graeme Revell, and Robert Rodriguez
The Dharma Bums is a mid-career novel from Jack Kerouac who is becoming my favorite author.
On the Road had an impression on me for its poetry and adventure and lead me to buy another work. I was not disappointed.
Dharma Bums, like all his others is semi-autobiographical mixed with a little Beat fiction and covers Kerouac’s sparked interest in Buddhism while becoming famous for On the Road, published years before.
I’m getting the impression Kerouac glorifies a different character in each novel, someone that was his friend and that he missed after their experiences. In On the Road, Dean Moriarty is Kerouac’s real-life friend, and famous bus driver in The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, Neal Cassidy, and Japhy Ryder is Gary Snyder in Dharma Bums, a famous Buddhist, outdoorsman, poet and environmental activist who Kerouac befriended through Allen Ginsberg a decade after On the Road was published.
The book starts out like On the Road; a hitchhiking knap-sack stargazer contemplating the world; but then Ray (Kerouac) meets Japhy and from then on the book consists of their shenanigans: climbing mountains, drinking wine, throwing three-day parties, and “rapping” (spontaneous verbal poetry) with various icons of the decade who also appear under fictitious names.
On the Road became difficult at times but it left me with incredible lyrical moments that Dharma Bums is much fuller with. My two favorite parts were climbingMt.
Matterhorn and at the end with Ray’s two month fire-watch on Desolation peak. There is so much poetry, the lush kind that you read over and over because it gives you chills.
After this book, Kerouac is definitely one of my favorites if not number one and I intend to keep reading him, probably continuing with
Big Sur or Desolation Angels, which I’ve heard is his best work. This was a total delight to read. I didn’t think that an account of meditating, drinking wine, writing poetry and hopping trains would be very interesting, but that’s what Kerouac did—illuminate the mundane.
CURRENTLY READING
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Bob Dylan- The Times They Are A-Changin’
The Red & Black created hysteria on campus Monday. For the sake of my scholarships and yours, it was well worth the ink, newsprint, dozens of e-mails and phone calls.
The Office of Financial Aid sent an e-mail Nov. 20 as Red & Black staff headed home for the holidays, as did many other students and University staff. The vaguely written message stated that its recipients “must now reapply for the HOPE Scholarship using the new electronic application called the GSFAPPS” before today, lest they have to repay scholarship money from the Fall and Spring semesters.
The University closed its offices Nov. 21, making it impossible for our reporters and editors to speak with a financial aid official about the application before we resumed publishing on Monday. We left voice mails and sent e-mails to officials in the office. None of which were returned.
The message sent with such short notification severely limited the amount of information we were able to retrieve. We did not know exactly how many students received the e-mail, much less how many students understood its importance. We didn’t have all the information, but we published Monday what we did know so that students would have a better warning and time to respond.
Susan D. Little, director of the Office of Student Financial Aid, wrote in an e-mail to me Monday afternoon that the e-mail was sent Nov. 20 to about 6,000 of the more than 18,000 HOPE Scholarship recipients at the University.
I stand behind our decision made to publish the story in Monday’s edition. Had we not written the story, students may have been equally as irate Wednesday as they are now. Had we failed to report on such a critical financial matter, they may have questioned our commitment to quality journalism and our dedication to inform our readers.
The Office of Financial Aid received more than 700 phone calls Monday from students and parents inquiring about the HOPE Scholarship.The flood of inquiries caused by our front page article also caused the Office of Financial Aid to extend the deadline to submit applications to Dec. 3.
Perhaps next time such an occasion arises the Office of Financial Aid will not wait so late to inform students of a critical matter. Meanwhile, students should appreciate our attempt to assist them in funding their educations.
Did we really inconvenience you students by informing you of the potential change in your scholarship status? My guess is that we saved some University students from missing the original Nov. 27 deadline and from having to repay thousands of dollars.
Read more in Tuesday’s edition of The Red & Black.
— Juanita Cousins, editor@randb.com
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