The Angels and Tampa Bay are going to blow this thing and go home?

With this development, of course everyone now has to root, root, root for the Metsies, since it would a shame to have no New York team in the play-offs.

Right?

Right?

Can I get an amen, people?

Sure, Sam, just as soon as you show us proof that you rooted for the Yanks all those years that the Mets didn't make it in.

BTW I've asked this before but never gotten an answer: Has any team ever been eliminated from the postseason on the last day of the season, at home, two years in a row?

Brooklyn got knocked out on the last day in 1950 and 1951, but only the 1950 game was in Ebbets Field.

So at least the Mets have a new record to look forward to, and Sunday could be a truly Gothic day in New York baseball history. Lucky they'll have Santana going instead of Tom Glavine....

don't forget, the Empire won in the second movie. You'll be sorry when Teixiera is encased in carbonite and delivered by bounty hunter Boras Fett to ... uh ... Joba. Yeah, there's the analogy.

Nice use of Joba there.

Sure, Sam, just as soon as you show us proof that you rooted for the Yanks all those years that the Mets didn't make it in.

Actually, I was mainly asking for support from non-Yankee fans, knowing how they would be deeply sympathetic to New Yorkers and their need to have a post-season experience, even if not from the Yankees. Because we all know how non-New York types have such deep and abiding sympathy for New Yorkers.

Ahem.

As an impartial baseball observer, I second your assessment, Sam.

If the Mets or Yankees ever win another game, it will be too soon.

It would be beautiful to see both of them open up their new taxpayer playgrounds with 100+ loss seasons. Truly touching.

I'm not sure if that's fair to the taxpayers. If they're going to get screwed out of hundreds of millions of dollars they deserve to have a team that actually competes.

Au contraire, OPS+--they deserve a 100-loss season in the same way the American people deserve GWB.

I'm not sure if that's fair to the taxpayers. If they're going to get screwed out of hundreds of millions of dollars they deserve to have a team that actually competes.

Nationals Park? PNC Park? Tropicana Field? (pre-2008, obv.)

There are mental injuries sports teams can inflict on their fans far, far worse than not making the playoffs. Right Yankee fans?

I'm sure this is what most non-New Yorkers are rooting for.

At least Moose still has a chance at 20. Besides that and I guess one more Hughes start there's really nothing left to look forward to this season.

I guess I'll be rooting for the Rays and either the Brewers or Phillies.

Well Sam, I'm not unsympathetic but I have to feel for Brewers fans too (esp. the esteemed HW).

Obviously I'm pulling for the Phillies but I do like the idea of a post season Mets team simply because a huge post season for Carlos Delgado would get him a little closer to the HOF.

But won't somebody think of the elderly? ;-) (nuthin' but love Harv!)

Best Regards

John

The first time I entered Yankee Stadium, I turned to my friend who brought me and pronounced the scene before me as "a wretched hive of scum and villainry." Luckily, he was a Star Wars fan and laughed.

\true story

"a wretched hive of scum and villainry."

I would have chuckled a bit if you'd said villainry, too...

this ought to be good for a laugh: Buster Olney's take

he has a point, sort of, but I got a kick out of the chart at the bottom about compensation picks the Yankees gave up. Dammit, we could have had Mike Fontenot!

Why do they hang out with that talking bear that nobody can understand?

we had joy
we had fun
we had seasons in the sun.

Actually, I was mainly asking for support from non-Yankee fans, knowing how they would be deeply sympathetic to New Yorkers and their need to have a post-season experience, even if not from the Yankees.

The postseason will still be there to be experienced, NY team or not. It's been a while, but trust me, it's happened before.

don't forget, the Empire won in the second movie. You'll be sorry when Teixiera is encased in carbonite and delivered by bounty hunter Boras Fett to ... uh ... Joba. Yeah, there's the analogy.

Fine, but in 2010 I guess the Yankees will be defeated once and for all by the combined forces of Luke (Rays), Han (Angels, and Chewbacca is his Rally Monkey), Lando (Red Sox) and the Ewoks (uhhhhh.... Twins?). Of course, near the end of the season it will look like "It's a trap!" as Admiral Ackbar (the Mariners, to fit with the whole Admiral thing) would say. Oh, and the ship destroyed by the "Fully operational Battle Station"? That's the Mets. The rebel pilot that crash lands into the Star Destroyer will be played the Orioles, and the Blue Jays will be Wedge Antilles.

we had joy
we had fun
we had seasons in the sun.

Splendid. I'm guessing that's another lyrical reference that only the hipsters in the BTF crowd will recognize.

Prince Fielder, having been traded to the Tigers, will play that fat dude that slobbers all over the cockpit of his X-wing fighter before crashing into the Death Star.

I'm not geek enough to know his name, alas.

For shame, Bunyon. That was Porkins.

Splendid. I'm guessing that's another lyrical reference that only the hipsters in the BTF crowd will recognize.

Doesn't everyone know that song?

but I got a kick out of the chart at the bottom about compensation picks the Yankees gave up. Dammit, we could have had Mike Fontenot!

And Bryan Bass! If only the Yankees hadn't signed that Mike Mussina!

It's actually an interesting chart, and Olney has a solid point on the failures of Yankee drafting. Although for completeness sake it really ought to include the picks the Yankees got for their free agents. Tom Gordon, for example is noted as:

Signed free-agent reliever Tom Gordon; the White Sox drafted pitchers Gio Gonzalez (38th pick/supplemental) and Ray Liotta [Just because he played Joe Jackson? Come on!] (69th pick).

But fairness would really point out that when the Phillies signed Gordon away the Yankees used that pick to get Joba. So it cuts both ways.

Doesn't everyone know that song?

know it? That song is from like 10 years before I was born, and now I'll have it stuck in my head the whole ####### day

we had joy
we had fun
we had seasons in the sun

But James Shields and Kazmir
Made those seasons disappear

All our lives we had fun
We had seasons in the sun
But Ortiz and Dice-K
Made the seasons go away

Signed free-agent reliever Tom Gordon; the White Sox drafted pitchers Gio Gonzalez (38th pick/supplemental) and Ray Liotta [Just because he played Joe Jackson? Come on!] (69th pick).


And Ian Kennedy. Who sucks.

that year, the Red Sox used the pick they got from the Yanks for Daniel Bard and Kris Johnson.

The Marlins got Jacob Marceaux for Pavano. But they got CJ Henry from the Phillies for Jon Leiber.

Having personally witnessed the original and TRUE Yankee dynasty of 1936-1964 this latest version is but a cheap knockoff.

And while I appreciate the regular sentiments please note that unlike many of my brethren I HAVE witnessed a Milwaukee baseball champion.

Well, kind of. I was based overseas when it actually happened. But still, I was (and remain) a fan.

Tropicana Field? (pre-2008, obv.)

The Trop was built with hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars? Regardless of the product on the field, they sure didn't get their money's worth.

Enough with the Terry Jacks-off.

And while I appreciate the regular sentiments please note that unlike many of my brethren I HAVE witnessed a Milwaukee baseball champion.

Harveys is still mad Hugh Duffy couldn't see that Bill Reidy couldn't carry Ned Garvin's jock!

"Seasons In The Sun" the most maudlin hit song in history. Discuss.

Doesn't everyone know that song?

Just to clear that up Shooty, it was a joke. I can't think of any songs less hipster than Seasons in the Sun?

"Seasons In The Sun" the most maudlin hit song in history. Discuss.
"Honey" (Bobby Goldsboro) written by Bobby Russell, who has a solid track record of writing bad songs including "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia," and "Little Green Apples".

It went to #1 in the US knocking off "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay"! "Tighten Up" knocked Honey off the top perch after 5, count 'em 5, weeks. Top 40/100 radio was a crazy confluence in the day. Lots of folks played "Honey" on the Family Diner juke box -- between that song and "The Ode to Billy Joe", I used to look forward to hearing even such stuff as the Mills Brothers' "Cab Driver" rather than that dreck. Pop music was so diverse that even the Mills Brothers charted at #23 in 1968.

Charting info from Billboard US Pop Chart courtesy of wikipedia.

"Taxi" by Harry Chapin. Thats pretty rough song. Was that a hit?

Why do they hang out with that talking bear that nobody can understand?

That part of a pretty average episode was pretty awesome on its own.

Austin Roberts' "Rocky" is pretty maudlin too. At least "Honey" was just a wife dying young; "Rocky" was about a mother dying young.

"Ode to Billie Joe" is fantastic, though.

"Seasons In The Sun" the most maudlin hit song in history. Discuss.

No. That adjective doesn't feel right for that song.

"Taxi" by Harry Chapin. Thats pretty rough song. Was that a hit?

Yeah, it was. Beats out SITS.

I'd have to think about this for awhile, but I think I couls find a better one than that one, too. Plenty of country songs to consider.

I would go for "last day of the season (blind man in the bleachers", which could possibly be both the worst sports song ever and the most maudlin .

"Ode to Billie Joe" is fantastic, though.

Suppose that you are 16-17 years old, very much into the contemporaneous Beatles and Motown and you kind of like that new group "Cream". You work about 20 hours a week during the school year and up to 40 hours during the summer in this diner. Lets say OtBJ plays once an hour and it stays on the juke box for the next year. Any possible enjoyment that you might derive from the mildly haunting melody is washed out by the annoying singer's voice, the din of siverware and clanging coffee cups and the owner/head grillman's voice over the loudspeaker "#5, pick up, #5 pick up."

Taxi got to #24. "Cats in the Cradle" would be a better suggestion plus it got to #1.

Cats in the Cradle? Thats about a kid and his dad, and they spent some time together, but not too much.

TAXI is about two people who gave up the love of their life for their dreams, and now one is a lonely slut, and one is a lonley taxi driver.

And they don't want to get back together, because it is all so sad. They are already dead, even though they are alive.

sj, Taxi has some depth to it, which is sad but not maudlin. CitC on the other hand...
Maybe I have a bad mental definition of maudlin...

dictionary.com says:
1. tearfully or weakly emotional; foolishly sentimental: a maudlin story of a little orphan and her lost dog.
2. foolishly or mawkishly sentimental because of drunkenness.

I would not call Taxi "maudlin".

I have not ever heard maudlin used explicitly in the context of #2.

this ought to be good for a laugh: Buster Olney's take

Yea, I heard him spout it on SportsCenter, and its ridiculous. The only compensatory pick that would have mattered was Joe Blanton (maybe Gio Gonzalez, too early to say). He also fails to look at the compensatory picks the Yanks received from trading for players, which include Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy and Phillip Hughes.

And the bigger point, is that the Yankees have hardly "fallen from grace." They will win 86-90 games this year. That's pretty darn close to a post-season spot - many years it would be enough for a postseason spot (they won just 87 games in 2000 when they won it all!)

Its also ridiculous to blame poor drafts on signing free agents. There are more than a few good players who get taken late in the first round or second round or even later. There are lots of good players, who are known to be good, but slip that fall for signability reasons (Joba Chamberlain being one). There is nothing stopping the Yankees from signing big free agents AND still drafting and developing a good minor league system (no one is blaming the Red Sox signing of Josh Beckett, JD Drew or Julio Lugo for decimating their farm system). There is no causation there.

But it will be fun to see New York pundits grasp at straws trying to explain how the Yankees could possibly not make the playoffs. They didn't draft well enough, they went after the wrong free agents, they never should have gotten rid of Torre, the chemistry is not good enough, A-Rod is a clubhouse cancer, yadda, yadda, yadda.

The Yanks are simply a very good team that just wasn't as good as Tampa and Boston. That is all.

TAXI is about two people who gave up the love of their life for their dreams, and now one is a lonely slut, and one is a lonley taxi driver.

She's not a lonely slut; she's married to a rich guy that she doesn't love.

She's not a lonely slut; she's married to a rich guy that she doesn't love.

you are right, slut was the wrong word, I was going to go with whore, but that was probably too strong too.

Anyway, she is a lonely lady who gave up her dreams and her love for cash.

what happens if the Mets and Brewers are tied after the regular season?

All our lives we had fun
We had seasons in the sun
But Ortiz and Dice-K
Made the seasons go away

Hilaripus. Unfortunately, that's now going to be stuck in MY head all day.

what happens if the Mets and Brewers are tied after the regular season?

Assuming the Phillies aren't invovled, a one-game playoff at Shea

She's not a lonely slut; she's married to a rich guy that she doesn't love.

I don't get that subtext to her. There's nothing to indicate that she is less than happy. Other than her looking for a cab in the rain, that is.

He's a stoned taxi cab driver who never became a pilot. Whoever thinks she became a slut is delusional.

There's nothing to indicate that she is less than happy.

Harry certainly doesn't think she's happy:

You see, she was gonna be an actress
And I was gonna learn to fly.
She took off to find the footlights,
And I took off for the sky.
And here, she's acting happy,
Inside her handsome home.
And me, I'm flying in my taxi,
Taking tips, and getting stoned

I don't get that subtext to her. There's nothing to indicate that she is less than happy. Other than her looking for a cab in the rain, that is.

Uh, its all in the last verse.


But we'd both gotten what we'd asked for,
Such a long, long time ago.
You see, she was gonna be an actress
And I was gonna learn to fly.
She took off to find the footlights,
And I took off for the sky.
And here, she's acting happy,
Inside her handsome home.


As I said before, slut was the wrong word. My mistake. And obviously, "she's acting happy" means she is, in fact, not happy. I guess she could be not lonely, and angry. but I two lonely people in the cab would be theme, and it fits the tone of the rest of the song.

I guess I just assumed she married for money, I guess a "handsome home" might not mean rich, but I assumed it did.

"Captain Jack" is pretty maudlin. "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." And maybe it's me, but "The Pina Colada Song," despite it's twistedly happy ending, always came across as a downer.

Nothing, though, makes me as unhappy as "Walking On Sunshine." What a horribly depressing song.

"Seasons In The Sun" the most maudlin hit song in history. Discuss.

"All By Myself" by Eric Carmen and/or Celine Dion is pretty bad.

And then of course there's "I've Never Been to Me".

This, however, is my all time least favorite ballad-type song. It was a huge hit a mere 14 years ago, but I bet you've forgotten all about it. Well, now it's in your head again! And mine too! ARGH

she's married to a rich guy that she doesn't love

she is a lonely lady who gave up her dreams and her love for cash.

that's not a slut of sorts?

A "slut" is someone who's promiscuous.

correct, not a slut, not quite a whore. I believe I used the wrong term either way. And for that, I am sorry.

The original point remains. I find the song very sad, because two people in a cab gave up love for dreams, neither came to them, and now they have nothing but regret.

first definition is promiscuous, but prostitute is also part of the definition. if she is marrying simply for money, she's trading her sexual availability for cash. i'll agree she is not really a slut in the more common colloquial usage, but there is a narrow bit of 'slutty' that could be applied.

Is this site geeky or what?* A half-dozen Semantic Police debating the lyrical nuances of "Taxi".**




* Not that there is anything wrong with that.
** Not that there is anything wrong with that.

if she is marrying simply for money

Can someone explain to me where in the song it says she married for money?

What it says is that she's unhappy despite the fact that she's "so high she's skying" and "living in her handsome home". She's "afraid to fall", and she's "dying as a result". She also clearly doesn't want to be recognized.

In the sequel, she says "It's better sometimes - When we don't get to touch our dreams."
Then, he sings,
"That's when I asked her where was that actress
She said "That was somebody else"
And then I asked her why she looked so happy now
She said "I finally like myself; at last I like myself."

What all of this adds up to is that she reached her dreams. She became a succesful actress that everyone knew and made lots of money through her acting. The problem was, fame didn't suit her. She wasn't happy being rich and famous, even though its what she dreamed about. Given that she was a succesful actress in the 1970's, I can imagine lots of drugs and everything else that went with that lifestyle. She wasn't happy until she gave up her dream, and decided to live a normal life.

There's nothing in there about a husband at all.

Is this site geeky or what?* A half-dozen Semantic Police debating the lyrical nuances of "Taxi".**

Totally agree. But where else can I have this debate.

Let's move on to Joshua Kadison's "Jessie". What exactly is it that Jessie does to him, when he says "Jessie, you always do this to me"? What is the significance of the cat? What is the backstory, is Jessie maybe bipolar? Are they both recovering junkies of some sort?

sequel? I think song sequels are inconsequential if they aren't on the same album.

"WOLD" is far less emotionally complex than "Taxi", I now realize.

Harry Chapin sure was one sad ######, eh?

I used to get Jim Croce confused with Harry Chapin. The combined Croce-Chapin songwriter sure had two different sides to his personality, but they went together pretty well.

i can't speak to the song lyrics, dizzy. i was just responding to someone's assertion about her. as i said, if she married for money ... etc.

There's nothing in there about a husband at all.

Well, the way I read the song is that many years ago she wanted to be an actress, and now she's living in a beautiful home in a beautiful neighborhood where she's "acting happy" instead of being a professional actress.

There's a very strong implication in there that she married for money, but I guess you don't have to see it that way if you don't want to.

. . . and the owner/head grillman's voice over the loudspeaker "#5, pick up, #5 pick up."

Bob Shepherd owned a diner?