Happy Halloween

To all the ghouls, goblins, power rangers, princesses, sports heroes and leprechauns (that's for my son) and whatever else you are dressed as today!

Be safe - be safe - be safe. If you're driving a car today, slow it down, leadfoot. There's kids out there today. If you're trick or treating, be vigilant for those unlucky few who don't read my posts and may forget, while talking on their cellphones and not paying attention.

AND.....HAVE SPOOKY FUN!!!!!!!!!

Fill in the Blank Night

So what did you call it when you were a kid? The night before Halloween I mean...





In my neck of the woods, we called it GATE NIGHT - and people give me a quizzical look when I say that name. And apparently, the yuppies and new citizens of my little slice 'o' heaven in North Jersey have won out because the kids call it GOOSEY NIGHT, which I always found a little fem. But c'est la vie, right?





So I started asking people at work, around town at the Shop-Rite, wherever - "what did you call it oh so long ago?" So here is a list:

GATE NIGHT

GOOSEY NIGHT

MISCHIEF NIGHT

EVILS NIGHT

CABBAGE NIGHT

HELL NIGHT

Let me know if you have a good one. Funny, I had a friend named Flanagan and he called it 'same as every other night - and I still have to get me Da' at the precinct house!'. Poor Flanagan.

And a word to the wise... even though I've grown up, I still play the game tonight. On defense. Like a Jack Lambert, but better looking.

BITTERNESS BELOW!

And since I am a man of honor - congratulations to that team I despise with all my soul, the much-hated Philadelphia Phillies on their World Series win. I can see the pre-season comments in March already - AAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH!

The Curse Gets Stronger

Happy Birthday #8 for my youngest son Ryan today. All you Yankee fans better prepare for a miserable stretch - it's on folks.

Hitting Bottom

Purchased and read an interesting book - "Beyond Belief" by Josh Hamilton and Tim McKeown.

I have a lot of respect for this young man who basically travelled a hard path (of his own choosing by his own account) to come back and play professional baseball at the highest level. Most people know him from this year's Home Run Derby at the MLB All-Star Game, and have heard about his return from drug addiction in an abridged way. This book provides details (some graphic) of the "lost" time in his life. Never blaming anyone but himself, it shows Mr. Hamilton to be a person of tremendous value, and one who is intent on telling his story so others don't make the same mistakes. We always say that everyone deserves a second chance, and he is exactly the type of person you should be rooting for. I know I am. Good Luck Josh.

The Flu Shot Conspiracy

Strap yourself in folks, it's a rant today!

Weather here in the Northeast has turned this week, and it's time to turn on the heat! With the leaves falling (are you a leaf-peeper? Then keep it to yourself!) - it's also time to consider that annual 'I have to get mine' - the Flu Shot.

Apparently, the mass hysteria about pandemics and the like are the curse of the modern-age. A couple of years ago, there was a flu-shot shortage which made people act as if they were rationing potable water. But this is also the reason people forward me e-mails about dangerous halloween candy with links to snopes.com. I have no sympathy for a hypochondriacal (nice one, Mr. Webster) world viewpoint!
(And just a reminder, anything you forward me is deleted. I have no time for your nonsense.)

In other words - if a pandemic was really going to happen - and let's think big here, like bubonic plague big, it will. You cannot stop it. Your flu shot is useless. It is based on infection agents that are a known quantity and we can control. Kind of like bringing a knife to a gunfight.

So, if you are really old or really young, a flu shot makes sense, since your immune system may be a bit less than adequate. For the rest of you whining and snivelling shells of humanity, suck it up, live a healthy lifestyle, put on some decent outerwear, and you should be fine.

Say No to Flu Shots!

TBS Responds!

For all of you on the edge of your seats regarding the TBS issue from Saturday's epic blog, you may be interested to know they sent me back an e-mail. Here it is:

THIS IS AN AUTOMATED RESPONSE, PLEASE DO NOT DIRECTLY REPLY TO THIS EMAIL.

Thank you for taking the time to write us at TBS.

Solution:
On Saturday two circuit breakers in our Atlanta transmission operations tripped causing the master router and its backup - which are necessary to transmit any incoming feed outbound - to shut down. This impacted our live feed for baseball from being distributed to any of the other networks in the Turner portfolio and caused the delay in our coverage. Both our primary and backup routers were impacted by this problem. We apologize to baseball fans for this mishap that caused a delay in our coverage.

---

So this is the response it took approximately 60 hours to receive. You can bet a heapin', helpin' of fancy lawyers were involved in this one. Funny, the feed never goes out when they are playing re-runs of Friends or that comedy tour de force Frank TV!

Technical Difficulties

Memo to TBS - Not Acceptable.

In case you were away, TBS did an awful job last night when their signal for Game 6 between the Rays and Red Sox cut out DURING THE PRE-GAME and did not come on until 8:28PM, well after the Rays had gone one up on a BJ Upton homer.

I'm sitting in my man-den, big screen TV tuned in, and multi-tasking on my laptop when I see Dick Clark come on at about 7:50 or so... I thought it was a bit (especially when the first teaser was of a guy wearing a Celtics jersey and the Red Sox were mentioned), until the whole opening credit sequence came on. So I figured, no problem, I'll go out, get some milk in a whole 4 minute trip and get ready for the game. So I come back, and Steve Harvey (I think it's SH, but because I have never seen the show I'm not 100% sure) comes on. And I say to myself 'who changed my channel?' And now it starts getting a little confusing because I'm pretty sure you can't have a rain delay in a domed stadium, but TBS doesn't have any info up...until about 8:12, after the first pitch, with a scroll about technical difficulties. Unbelievable. We can't get a feed from another studio, besides the one in Atlanta to make sure everyone doesn't think that there is a blackout? But then again, TBS is one of those channels that plays the exact same movie back to back on successive nights (THE NEW CLASSICS - bulls**t) because they most likely can't get anyone bright enough to work the controls on the weekend.

So in my angst, I sent TBS an e-mail - here it is:

10/18/2008 8:16 PM EDT
Details:
* TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES *

You have got to be kidding me. You've had on some cr** show or another on for the last 20 minutes and no playoffs. Unacceptable.

And here was the automated response:

THIS IS AN AUTOMATED RESPONSE, PLEASE DO NOT DIRECTLY REPLY TO THIS EMAIL.
Thank your for contacting TBS.Your feedback is valued and will be received and reviewed by a member of our TBS web staff.All communications will be routed to the appropriate departments for their consideration. Should your correspondence require a response, we will make every attempt to provide one to you in a timely manner. Many answers can be found by utilizing the extensive Knowledge Base that has been established for your convenience and we encourage you to explore this tool thoroughly.Thank you for watching!

Best,TBS Web Staff

I guess that crack TBS web Staff will be busy answering hate mail over the next few days.

TGIF

Long time no type. Apologies to the frenzied hordes looking for a new post from Mr. Slam.

[Use deep announcer voice here] When last we left SoulSlam, he was having a Friday Night Finnegan...

Anyway, per my last posting, we had our tryouts early Saturday AM, had about 10 boys come down, with 4-5 unable to come that day - so we will have some cuts, something I don't like to do, but have to.

Spent the early part of the week in the Dallas Metroplex, for some work related frivolity. Very flat, lots of strip malls and mega-churches, and four-way stops everywhere. Good news - the hots dogs at 7-11 taste the same as in Jersey. But here is something worth noting (and getting particular about) - why do some areas of the big ol' U.S. of A. refuse to provide cartons of milk, cream, etc. at the coffee stations? I'm in the Dallas version of sturdy convenience, pour myself the big 24 ouncer and then look for the java condiments. And look again. "Hey, where's the bucket of cream, I ask myself". And then I see that I will have to open up those individual portions one at a time. Being a MAN (capital letters intended), I stake my place like a wolf over it's dinner and begin tearing the lids off these suckers. But at 24 oz., that is a lot of creamers folks. The coffee station looked like a Beirut Wal-Mart after the Ramadan sale. Since I didn't just fall off a turnip truck, I went with the 16 oz. cup on day two. Evolution is my motto.

So now I'm back in the real world. Congrats to the Phillies (even though I despise you). And last night's BIG COME FROM BEHIND win from the Red Sox was fantastic. Let's keep playing boys.

Last, check out a couple new links and such on my page if you dare - first we have a link to the "Fat White Guy" - entertaining stuff. And I've also placed a widget for Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey if you are so inclined (or twisted). Out.

Friday Night Finnegan

Sitting here, Phillies just beat Dodgers 8-5 to go two up in the NLCS. Next game is in LA on Sunday. Dodgers better get their game on here. Saw Sandy Koufax was at tonight's game.

Now I'm waiting for Game 1 of Rays-Red Sox. Hopefully we've got a big series here.

Couple of odds and ends:

My program has boys travel tryouts for 2009. 10U in da house! Should be fun, especially since there is a soccer tournament going on down at the fields, and I like to make a lot of noise on the diamond when soccer is going on. I do not like soccer. Not at all. Begin the hatemail.

Picked up the DVD release of Brotherhood Season 2, the Showtime series. I don't have Showtime, but brought the Season One DVD with me to Japan when I travelled there, and watched it in the middle of the night when I could not sleep. A fine show and since it was my english-speaking companion, it holds a place in my Black Irish Heart. I'll give you the lowdown when I finish watching it.

Caught some of Life on Mars last night. Interesting. We'll see...

Have I let you all in on my NFL team yet? No? I am an Oakland Raiders fan, and times are tough on the East Bay. If we get 4 in the W column this year it will be a Silver and Black miracle.

Dumb TV

Well, that's the best name I could come up with - though it might not be too close to my point.
I love shows like The Shield, The Wire, Supernatural, Prison Break, The Sopranos, Rescue Me, etc. Now this is the point of reference, cavepeople.

So FX puts on a show called Sons of Anarchy. So I watch, and watch, and watch. And no matter what, I can't get into this show. So I ask myself why. A bit of introspection is often good for the soul. And I can't quite put my finger on it.
Until last night. When I finally figured it out.

I CANNOT REMEMBER ANY OF THE CHARACTERS FREAKIN" NAMES!

And this is my conundrum.

Paulie Walnuts, Michael Scofield, Tommy Gavin, Vic Mackey. I can remember 'em all. Let's see...
Tony Soprano, Dean Winchester, Omar Little, Fox Mulder, Freddy Corr, Lenny Briscoe, Frank Pembleton... need I go on?
But...

I CANNOT REMEMBER ANY OF THE CHARACTERS FREAKIN" NAMES ON THOSE MOTORCYCLES WITH THE STUPID WINDSHIELDS! AND NONE OF THESE GUYS CAN SHOOT WORTH A DAMN!

So now you know why the show will die a slow death.

All Work

And no play makes SoulSlam a dull boy!

Rough week at work folks. I know, cry me a river, boyo.

Anyways - Rays and Red Sox - Two Beasts from the East duke it out while Mr. Torre's Dodgers will do battle with the Phillies. Somewhere a sob is heard in the Bronx.

Here's my predictions (mostly my hopes and dreams)

Rays win in seven. Too tough at home, Beckett seems a little off and I like the Amazin' Rays.

Dodgers in six. Nothing scientific, I just hate the Phillies.

Billy Goats and Stuff

Well, there's always the next 100 years!


The Chi-town Wunderteam, the Cubs, best team in the NL this season get swept by the boys from the Left Coast. Somewhere, likely everywhere in the Windy City, tears are being shed over multiple brews.

Personally speaking, it's justice for what you folks have done to a hot dog. And the pizza.

On to NJ - spent the weekend with my family in beautiful Wildwood NJ! Great weather, perfect time of year (no crowds!) and a Seafood Festival outside our hotel. Went over to Cape May a couple of times, had a brew and sandwich at the Ugly Mug. Great times. But..


Don't know if it's the proximity to the city of liberty, but I saw enough Phillies fans in WW this weekend to last me a lifetime! And buddy, it's definitely time to trade in the Steve Carlton t-shirt.

Shea Hey!

Day later than I planned but it's time - the Tribute to Shea.

First stadium I was ever in, though I can't remember exactly how old I was. All I do remember was it was a Sunday, and a doubleheader (the kind they used to play all the time, back to back) and the team played the Phillies. It was the biggest place I had ever been in, and the field was perfect (though in hindsight, it probably wasn't). If I had to guess it was '71 or 72'. Sat in the Mezzanine and had a great day.

During the early '70's we would go to one game a season, and I got to see the likes of Tom Seaver on the mound. Always a great family day when we went to Shea (though I'm sure my parents would have rather done anything else). I also thought having Loge seats were the greatest things ever.

Sporadically went during the 80's - better things to do (or so I thought at the time!).

Then in the mid to late 90's my friends and I would purchase the six and seven packs to get to Shea and see a bunch of games. And some of those teams were not too good.

And for a good 4-5 year run, always went to Irish Night, and always got the special cap. One year green, one year with a shamrock. Then Irish Night became Irish Day and it wasn't the same. Something about 'the gene' I guess.

I was also there when Bobby Jones tossed a one hitter against the SF Giants to win the NLDS in 2000. Nosebleeds and I wouldn't trade them for anything. And my second son was on the way at time (and place his curse on the hated ones!)

My best memory of Shea is an easy one. The first game I ever brought my oldest son. He was 3 years old at the time, and the date was 9/21/2001, a Friday night. First game back in NY after the towers came down. It's both a happy and bittersweet memory. My boy hung in all game, we had great box seats (on the 1B side), and the place had an electric buzz. I can remember sitting in my seat before the game started and watching a plane take off from LGA. And I remember getting very sad. Then Jack asked me for another hot dog and I came back to reality. Mr. Piazza crushed a big one that night. And I got to see it with my son. That game is played on SNY from time to time and I always watch it.

In the last couple of years, I've gotten there once or twice. Kind of neat to see Citifield going up. But kind of sad to see the old ballpark go. It wasn't pretty, but it was the first. Now, the NY Daily News had pics of the dismantling that has begun.

Goodbye.