Notes and Ire

Quick notes on the Sox:
1) That piece from yesterday that I put up, which had been sitting in draft form for about a week, seems to have given Theo a nice little kick in the ass. Embree gets DFA not 12 hours after I post it, plus he trades for a 2nd baseman and a redux of a righty 4th outfield (temporary). Also, they traded for a 2nd baseman with a better bat than Alex Cora. Nice to know I could be of service.

2) Millar continued his futility at the plate, getting an 0-fer. He did draw a walk, but he also got thrown out trying to steal. Fantastic. The man has the pick-up of an Abrahms tank, and I get queasy when he tries to go from 1st to 3rd on a triple, yet he tried to steal a base. Granted, I didn't see the play (as I still don't have internet at home, thus necessitating a $30 bar bill to watch games), but there is no reason to see him even attempt. Granted, I am one of the few people living to see Millar actually be successful stealing a base (in '04 at Fenway, against Texas), but really, I think that should be a once in a lifetime thing for the Monkey.

3) Also sounds like Schilling is pushing off more and regaining his form. Good stuff. If this is true, then I retract my desire to see him go back to the minors until he gets his leg drive back.

4) Moot and off topic, but an interesting phenomena is the number of people emailing me/posting on the internet suggesting Embree needed to go, but that they would like to buy him a beer for his troubles and past actions. In fact, it has also been my experience that in practice these guys really don't have to pay for beer whenever they go out, as fans usually will pick up their tab. Now, it's not that I don't agree with the phenomena, and goodness knows I'd line up at the bar for the privledge, but this whole "let me buy you a beer" thing is a little confusing when looked at critically. The bulk of the general populous earns between $25-$65k a year, whereas a bad major leaguer earns at least a few hundred K. Of course, the anonymous slubberdegullion shells out the $6 for a microbrew and gives it to the rich guy, who coincidentally is only rich because he draws his salary from the beer-buyer and a few million more fans who feel the same way. In it's simplest form: Rich Guy is rich because he gets money from Poor Man. Poor Man buys Rich Guy a beer, and is happy for the experience. I feel like if I were more of a pessimist there would be a great metaphor for capitalism hidden somwhere in there.

Quick notes on other things:
1) So I figured out what those convoys of dudes in SWAT outfits are that seem to buzz around the capital every morning on my way to work. It's the president (or the VP, or someone else high up in the government). Today, as the damn buses and cars with their sirens went buzzing by, assuring I would have a blaring headache for the rest of the day, the guy doing the colors for the DOL stopped and saluted as they drove past. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the number of times I see these convoys (3-4 times per week, either walking to work or going home) would suggest that these aren't drills, as they are too regular. So, if indeed it was The Big Tomato today and he was having a cup of coffee in the van this morning, I can say that I had a brief meeting over coffee with the President.

2) Yeah, I know, I'm really reaching.

3) Watched Outbreak over the weekend with the Resident Female. I've always enjoyed this movie, because it has a great cast and an unabashed political agenda that it advances by making an absolutely mockery of biology. Throw in Dustin Hoffman's incredibly over-the-top performance, and we have a winner. I mean, he is launching into one of his soliloquoys about the virus and the bureaucracy or whatever, and I just want one of the characters to say, "I'm sorry, Sam, I know you are saying something very important about a random supervirus, but I see you're lips moving and all I hear is 'DRAMA!!!'" Forget the fact that it considers a happy ending (uh, spoiler?) having half a town dead and the other half relegated to dialysis machines for the rest of their lives. Forget that the "bad guys" are the ones that make the only arguments that make any sense throughout the entire movie. Even disregard J.T. Walsh's "my speech would have been fantastic if I hadn't drank 12 cups of coffee before filming" scene as the president's chief of staff. I love this movie for the way they take an incredibly mundane idea ("hey, let's make a movie about ebola!") and somehow twist it to suggest that the army/government is stockpiling biological weapons and we will all be saved by a Cassandra faith.