Utterly Meaningless

APOD

Filed on May 23, 2010 at 5:58 am under by dcobranchi

A very cool photo today. Make sure to zoom in on the shuttle.

Add a comment »

THE CALLED SHOT

Filed on May 15, 2010 at 7:32 am under by dcobranchi

Thursday was my birthday. No big deal and I wouldn’t mention it at all except it’s a necessary detail for the story. Jonathan had a 9-10 baseball game scheduled for that night. As we were heading out the door for the game, my dad called with birthday wishes. He told Jonathan to hit a home run for me.

Now 9-10 baseball is the first year that the kids pitch. It’s not exactly MLB quality. And Jonathan’s team is not exactly tearing up the league. At the top of the 4th, they were down 10-0. That’s mercy-rule territory. They needed to score at least one run to keep the game alive. The leadoff hitter walked. Then, on the next pitch, one of the stranger plays in baseball happened. A grounder to first allegedly hit the runner going from 1st to 2nd. But nobody on the field saw it and the field umpire didn’t signify dead ball (which is the correct way to handle it). Instead, he let play go on. The batter-runner was thrown out at first and left the field. That’s when the field umpire called the runner on 1st out for interference (Rule 7.09 (m) and 7.10 (a)). Then the home plate umpire called the batter-runner out for abandoning the baseline by going back to the dugout (7.08 (a)(2)). This, IMO, was a very legalistic ruling, since the field umpire blew the call and that error led to the kid leaving the field. Regardless, after all of the discussions and arguments and hullabaloo, it was now 2 outs with nobody on and Jonathan got up. One more out and the game is over. Two pitches later he hit a sharp liner between third and short. It skipped through the left fielder’s legs and rolled to the fence. Jonathan hustled all the way around the bases for a “home run” (at least in 9-10 baseball). As he crossed the plate he yelled out “Happy Birthday, Dad!”

That really was the best birthday present I’ve ever received.

5 comments »

ONE MORE REASON TO BOYCOTT AZ

Filed on May 13, 2010 at 5:23 pm under by dcobranchi

Taser Int’l is headquartered there.

Add a comment »