Since today is my birthday, I think I have the right to make a request. I would like to ask the Cleveland Indians to fulfill this request, and I don't think it's too much to ask. I just want them to win tonight's game against Boston to earn a spot in the World Series. I feel good about their chances to win the series, but it would be really nice to do it tonight. I think I heard that they haven't clinched a playoff series at home in like 87 years, so it would be nice to have a party here for once. And it would make it a birthday to remember for sure.

I do have one other small request, that I'd like to be filled if they have the chance. That would be to stick a fastball in the ribs of Manny Ramirez. The Indians were for the most part dismissive of his antics from Tuesday night, when after hitting a home run, he stood and watched the ball until it landed before flicking his bat, raising his arms and proceeding to casually stroll around the bases and congratulate himself like he had just hit the game winner in game 7 of the World Series, seemingly ignorant of (or unable to comprehend) the fact that his team was still down by 4 runs. Like Indians radio announcer Mike Hegan said right after he did that, if someone had done that back when he was playing, next time up they'd be picking themselves up out of the dirt. I'm sick of everyone saying "it's just Manny being Manny". No one should be excused for continually being a moron.

Song of the day: "The Plot" by White Rabbits

Labels: Cleveland Indians

A special thanks to Trot Nixon for breaking the tie last night and leading the Indians to a 13-6 win over Boston, and allowing me to finally go to bed around 1:40am this morning. I sat around for 5+ hours and watched about 95% of the game (I nodded off a bit through parts of the 8th & 9th innings). These marathon playoff games are wearing me down. Last Friday, I was at the Indians 11-inning victory over the Yankees, and it was honestly a very physically and emotionally draining game. For almost all of the last 2 hours, we were on our feet, clapping, cheering and yelling, usually to seemingly no avail, at least when the Indians were batting. But I did get a second wind once they won the game, which helped me to survive the crush to get on the RTA train back to where we parked.

I'm anticipating a rough week coming up, With games Monday, Tuesday and Thursday night, I don't think there is going to be much sleep to be had. Though I'm not one to complain when the excitement of an Indians win makes it hard to fall asleep.

Labels: Cleveland Indians

Last night was the first game of the ALDS playoffs, and the Indians crushed the Yankees, 12-3. So much for the Indians losing all 6 games to the Yankees during the regular season. I won't have to hear that stat again until the Indians win the series and the national media focuses on another Yankees meltdown, instead of their opponent's success.

I will be honest and admit that when the Indians traded to bring Kenny Lofton back a few months ago, I was less than impressed. I thought it was more of an attempt by management to bring back nostalgia instead of trying to ready a team for a playoff run. Lofton proved me wrong last night, leading the offense and knocking in four runs. I'm glad I was wrong about that move. I guess that's why I don't get the big bucks to make those decisions.

I'm taking a half day off of work today to head down to the game this afternoon. I have not-so-great seats, but it's just so much fun to be down there. Plus I don't have cable TV, so I can actually see the action today instead of staring at the radio like I did last night. I just hope their bats still have some spark in them like they did last night.

Labels: baseball, Cleveland Indians

It seems the music world is abuzz with news that there is a new Radiohead album coming out next week. While that is indeed an exciting story to me, it's the odd twist that is causing it to get a lot of attention. The twist, as you can read here, is that the band is bypassing the record industry and releasing the album, "In Rainbows", via their website, radiohead.com. Now it gets weird...apparently you can "pay whatever you want" to download the album. A little short on cash this week? Pay nothing. Feeling generous, give them $20. It's your call.

I'll believe it when I see it, and honestly I don't know what I'll do when I go to download it. They are solidly in my top 10 bands, and all the albums they have put out are great. But I'm still in the increasingly minority group of those who do not purchase music online. I've bought hundreds & hundreds of CDs over my lifetime, and I just never felt the desire to buy a digital copy of music. I've downloaded music online, but never paid for it. I just feel weird paying for a song that is just a file, as weird as that may sound.

So we'll see what happens next Wednesday, October 10th, when the album is released. I'm sure I'll get it, but how much will I pay? I'll let you know. Anyone else planning on "buying" it?

Labels: music, Radiohead

My body has finally healed itself, for the most part, from Saturday's marathon. Just yesterday when I was walking around at work my quads were super sore and felt like they might buckle at any time. Fortunately they didn't, and I'm about 90% back to normal today. If you're looking for a good laugh, check out my pictures taken during the Akron Marathon. Do they honestly expect me to pay $15.95 for a 5x7 of myself looking all sweaty and miserable?

I think tomorrow will be my first post-race run. I like running, I can't help it, and I've oddly missed it the past few days, despite my aching legs. Things will be a bit different this time though since I'm not training for anything in particular. Like I mentioned before, I think I'm done with marathons for the time being. My ultimate goal is still to qualify for and run Boston, but obviously 3:44 is a long ways from the 3:10 it takes to qualify. Over the past two and half years of my running ways, my workouts have consisted of running, running, and more running. Yes, there was the obligatory "I'm gonna start weight training!" workout every 4 months or so, but 95% of my workouts were just me, my shoes, and a bike. But this time around I'm really serious about trying to make the weights a big part of my workouts. I'm really happy with the progress I made with this past race, but it took a year's worth of work just to trim a few minutes off my time. I think stepping up the workouts and adding variety will help me keep making progress in my physical endeavors.

Thanks to Will for linking me up to the news that the day after my marathon record, a new world record for the marathon was set by a 34-year-old Ethiopian at the Berlin Marathon, setting the new bar at two hours, four minutes and twenty-six seconds. That's a mind-numbing pace of 4:44 per mile. I think I could keep that pace up for about a half mile, before keeling over from a heart attack.

P.S. - The title for tonight's post was taken from the song 'Mistaken for Strangers' by The National. Download a live acoustic version here from WOXY.

Labels: running