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Tuesday, October 9th, 2007
11:15 pm - Joe Torre
So, what are the chances that, on the eve of not having his contract renewed, Joe Torre will win Manager of the Year—like Joe Girarrdi before him? 

Should Joe Torre return? I have to admit to some mixed feelings. First: I own one Yankee numbered/named shirt—and the number on it is 6. So anything I say should be taken in that context.

That said. I am reminded of a commercial that Torre recorded for a local accounting firm. In it, he says things like, "What I know about Sarbanes-Oxley would fit in the pocket of my old catcher's mitt," and "managing was tossing me a glove and trusing I'd get the job done."

Now, why did this occur to me? I don't know who wrote the script, and I don't know if they wrote with input (interview—"Joe—what would you want to say?") but assuming that he did have some input, the psychology is interesting. Especially in light of the management choices made in this short series. Which were?

Game one seemed to be a lot of pitching experimentation. Game 2 was partially well-managed—from the pitching/defense point-of-view. In my opinion, on the defensive field, Torre did almost as much as he could—the only lack, really, would have been not arguing with the Umpires to pause the game until the gnats flew away. 

Game 3 stands on its own. And Game 4—it seemed to me that the major moves Torre made were pitching choices. 

And perhaps that's the issue. Torre seems particularly focussed on the defensive side of the game—on the pitching and the defense. And pitching wins sesaons. But maybe it doesn't on its own win best-of-five series. There seems to be a lack of aggressiveness offensively. I think he trusts certain of his batters to try to take care of the offense, on their own. And I think that's not worked out so well in these best-of-fives. Maybe in the past, this was something Don Zimmer had handled? Perhaps that's the answer—Torre comes back, but with an especially offensively aggressive bench coach?

In any case, time (and not a lot of it) will tell, and I don't have much confidence that Torre will be back. And this might mean the end of the annual Yankee trip to October.

current mood: crushed
current music: Cramer's Mad Money

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Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007
10:53 pm - Ya Gotta Bereave
On Monday, the New York papers all splashed the same—or similar—picture on their front pages. This includes, obviously, the New York tabloids, but also the New York Times, AMNY, Metro New York as well. A Mets fan, staring shocked, dumbfounded, staring, probably, at the scoreboard. Probably taken not at the end of the game, but some time in that disaster of a first inning. 

Now, while I spend most of the season paying more attention to the Yankees, my perennial hope is for a Subway (World) Series—like the ones I grew up hearing about. And I—I think like most of New York—spent most of the season assuming that the Mets' part of the equation was well taken care of. That even with the melt-down in the final two weeks, that they'd still pull it out—at least, pulling into that final tie-breaker game. 

And I think that picture of that Mets fan, the expression on his face, was chosen because it so encapsulates how much of the city feels, even those who aren't primarily Mets fans. 

The other thought that has occurred to me: The Yankees and the Mets had mirror-image seasons—great, grandiose winning streaks, heart-rending melt-downs. But the Yankees had the foresight to have their melt-down at the start of the season, giving them four months to dig themselves out of a giant hole...

current music: Rush: "The Way the Wind Blows"

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Sunday, September 30th, 2007
5:18 pm - Yankees
 So, no Subway Series this year. :(

So far, I was nearly partly right... I did expect (I think everyone did) the Mets to win the NL East, not collapse.

On the other hand, I think I predicted that the Yankees would finish three games behind the Red Sox. I was wrong—they finished two games behind. And with the Yankees playing the Indians and the Red Sox facing the Angels, and given the Yankees' perennial problems with the Angels, I am in the position of rooting for the Red Sox... (Assuming, too, that the Yankees beat the Indians—which—they are 6-0 this season...)

current mood: hopeful
current music: Yankees Post Game Show

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Thursday, September 27th, 2007
7:27 pm - Alberto R. Gonzales, Back-Up Yankee Infielder
OK—so we knew that George W. Bush had pull with Major League Baseball (having once been an Owner), and talk about a golden parachute...

No, seriously, they're not the same Alberto R. Gonzales's. The Yankee (former Diamondback) is here, and the former Attorney General is here. 

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Wednesday, September 26th, 2007
7:36 pm - Asia Producer Suggestions

So, it looks as though, with John Wetton's recovery from surgery going well (according to what his management has posted on the Asia web site...), and with new tour dates scheduled for the UK in March, one can hope that the long-awaited (26 years) third album from the original lineup may still happen...

And in listening to the live show (twice in person, and on the Fantasia live recording), as well as the Wetton/Downes Icon project, some thoughts about co-producers who could help punch up the Asia sound occured to me.

1. Nick Raskulinecz (AKA "Booujze"), late of producing Rush's Snakes and Arrows album. 
2. Alex Lifeson—Lerxst himself—to help punch up Steve Howe's sound—and rhythm guitar playing.
3. Trevor Rabin (the force behind Yes' pop hits on 90125 and Big Generator)
4. Rik Emmet (formerly of Triumph).
5. David Gilmour? Perhaps? 

Anyway, just random musings...

 



current mood: creative

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Monday, September 10th, 2007
9:38 pm - The Surge

What's the actual story with The Surge? Some people are saying there's limited success—others claim there's none. But—here's a question—what results would you expect from what might be a sound strategy if backed by sufficient troops, but executed without them? 

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Sunday, September 9th, 2007
10:30 pm - More Than Mystique
Recently, Fernwithy  posted an item about Ivy League "Mystique." That it in and of itself was of value. I am not sure personally that Ivies have that "mystique." I did a six-and-a-half week summer program at Cornell once, been to the Harvard and Columbia campuses numerous times. Known very many people who went to ivies, and found them on balance to be of the same quality as my fellow Tufts alumnae.

However

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Wednesday, September 5th, 2007
8:14 pm - Stuck in the Middle With[out] You

"Last night I dreamed of a long-forgotten place
High up on a hill, with the cool wind in my face.
And the air was clean and clear and I could see for miles around.
And in my heart, I knew I had come home
And in my soul there was a peace I'd never known.
And so I lay my claim to this sacred place I'd found
And I stand the middle ground."
               —Rik Emmet, "Middle Ground," 1990

I keep seeing comments from conservatives about how they're an embattled minority. I keep hearing commetns from the Left on the same theme. But I can't help feeling as though the actually embattled group is the majority caught between them—becoming ever more silent.

Or, rather, perhaps, muzzled.



current mood: anxious
current music: TV: Mythbusters

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Monday, September 3rd, 2007
8:29 pm - Wars of Religion
"Now it's come to this
Wild-eyed armies of the faithful
From the Middle East
To the Middle West
Pray, and pass the ammunition"
                               —Rush, "The Way the Wind Blows" (Lyrics by Neil Peart)

Stanley Fish's latest blog entry (subscription required) ruminates on liberalism (understood classically) and the religiously tolerant state. That is, the classically liberal state tolerates all religions (generaly speaking) and espouses none of them. I generally agree with this particular column, except that I think it does not go back far enough.

Fish does allude to John Milton and John Locke, but (not inappropriately for his purpose) omits the contexts in which they wrote. What are those contexts? For Locke, the aftermath of the religiously-driven English Civil War. For Milton, the heat of that same Civil War. But the setting for modern religious toleration derives from the entire European experience from about Guttenberg on. 


current mood: geeky
current music: Rush, "The Way the Wind Blows"

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Friday, August 31st, 2007
4:10 pm - ¡Vamos Yankees!
 So, yes, my neighborhood borders on a heavily Spanish-speaking area. And I did in fact see T-shirts with the subject line above on sale in a local chain sporting goods store. (And never mind the irony of the juxtaposition—the Spanish with the Yankees...)

But as I write this on Friday afternoon, the Yankees have sole possession of the AL Wildcard lead. Which I think (hope?) they will win. I don't think they'll win the East this year—I'm thinking that the Sox will win the East by three games, when all is said and done.

And I'm not sure if the Yankees will make it all the way to the Series. I do have a bit more confidence in the Mets... 

My prediction for the Series: Mets over the Sox in six. Just a touch better than '86... 

Edit: Unless of course, Major League Baseball is trying to throw the season with an unreasonable suspension of Joba Chamberlain: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-BBA-Yankees-Chamberlain-Suspended.html.

current mood: contemplative

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Thursday, August 30th, 2007
10:23 pm - The Year for Rush?
Is this the year Rush finally get a Grammy?

It could happen. After all, the Red Sox did eventually win a World Series. So, really, to make an allusion, "anything can happen."

Seriously, though. 

Consider that all of Rush's Grammy nominations (and there have been four) have been for instrumentals. In fact, since Moving Pictures, most of Rush's instrumentals have been nominated: "YYZ," both "Thing" pieces ("Where's My Thing," "Leave That Thing Alone"), and Neil's drum solo, "O Baterista" from Rush in Rio. About the only recent instrumental not nominated was "Limbo" from Test for Echo. 

Now. The current album, Snakes and Arrows, features an historic three instrumentals—three shots at winning. At least one is likely to be nominated: "The Main Monkey Business," "Malignant Narcissism," and Alex's solo acoustic piece, "Hope." (Snippets of all three can be found in the Snakes and Arrows album section of the Rush web site.)

But: Here's a question. Why has a band with Rush's musical and technical reputation only been nominated for their instrumentals? It could be Geddy's voice--a Wikipedia check of bands with similar singers—Led Zeppelin, Yes, Boston, Styx, finds that, while Zep got a lifetime achievement award, only Yes has actually won a Grammy—for best instrumental. So that could have something to do with it...

Or it could be Neil's lyrics—still very much on the individual rights/liberty/free market side of things, rather than on the left. (After all, one could see 2112—"The Priests of Syrinx" in particular—as a reaction and response to John Lennon's "Imagine," with the evil Priests screeching, "Look around this world we made/ Equality—our stock in trade/ Come and join the brotherhood of man.") The sort of lyrics with which many Academy members may not be comfortable.

So--what's changed? For one thing, Geddy no longer screeches. He even sings in harmony! And sings about an octave lower than he used to. (Apparently, the band has discovered that they key in which you write can effect how the singer has to sing... And that vocal performance is driving key choices in ways it never did earlier in the band's development.)

And shifts in the political winds have put the lyrics on this album more in line with what most people think of as being the politics of the music industry. And that can probably only help.

So is this the year? We'll see.

current mood: hopeful

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Wednesday, August 29th, 2007
9:09 pm - Healthy Competition
So, here I am, watching, on the television, as a fetching pink-haired secret agent girl (is this how Tonks moonlights?) fights evil robots to make the world safe for cheap car insurance. And after a quick beer commercial—there they are—the cavemen. And at the next commercial break, the gecko (And—why—please why—that silly English accent?)
 
To say nothing of Dennis Haysbert, and the forlorn guy who just wants a car insurance quoooote. And I’m watching the car insurers duke it out, when up comes the AARP commercial—the one with they children and the hybrid donkeyphant political logo: “Please fix health care.”
 
And I had a thought: What if health insurers had to compete—for end-user business, not employer contracts—just like the auto insurers? Wouldn’t they have to work hard for our business—give us what we want?
 
Health insurance, of course, isn’t as simple as auto insurance. Everyone needs health insurance—only those who want cars need auto insurance, for one thing. But what if we took the best of this model—that the person using the policy got to chose it—as a basis for some wishful thinking?
 
How would this work? How would we pay for our health insurance? Would we buy it ourselves? Well, we certainly would—just like with car insurance—if it was required by law. (I will get to the low income/unemployed/etc. issue below).
 
Let’s start with those employed with benefits. Would we take what is essentially a pay cut, and then have to pay our own premia? What if, instead of buying our policies for us, employers gave their workers allowances for buying insurance, as non-taxable in-kind benefits? And what if companies were strongly encouraged to do so with the tax code?
 
For one thing, this ought to make things easier—and more predictable—for companies. They’d have a set amount they could set aside for each employee, instead of trying to guess how much the insurance companies were going to raise their premia. And they’d have fewer logistical headaches in HR.
 
Secondly, then, how do we make sure that the policies offered were any good? I mean—how to prevent private insurers from engaging in a race to the bottom? By having a government-underwritten option competing with them. (As an aside—I believe that competition, not ownership per se, drives most of the benefits of the Capitalist system. So I am interested in having competing interests, and that one of those competitors could be public is not at all a problem for me.) This could be an outgrowth of Medicare. Or something similar. It would establish a benchmark for policy coverage, and would almost certainly set a low benchmark for premia. And if the private companies couldn’t keep up, so be it.
 
But what about those who can’t afford it? How can you mandate a purchase from those who have no money? With means-tested premium discounts at the government insurer (which would also function as the insurer of last resort).
 
A note about this government company: It should also be required to come as close as possible to carrying an even—zero balance—balance sheet. This would hopefully keep the actual policy offerings/premia as close to what a private company could compete with as possible.
 
And if all goes right, none of this would require new taxes.
 
But this is all just conjecture…


current mood: pensive
current music: Rush: "Armor and Sword:" "No one gets to their heaven without a fight..."

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