I think I need to start playing the leagues...

[Night]

I feel like i'm falling behind in discussion because I don't play in the leagues and talk about them. I'd def. be beaten up on until I got used to all the tricks and things everyone has.

[Kuniworth]

And the point is....? I think Rambo would say something like quit talkin start playin for christ sake.

[jon_j_rambo]

"Andy, am I talking to my shadow? Get in the game, go for the cash" --- Old Lady Mother-in-Law in the movie Malice.

Rambo of Hollywood

-----------------------------------------

Lost Parlay to win $ 1237.90

Braves (S Reynolds) 15 vs Expos (Z Day) 4 Under 10 even (L)

Reds (JO Acevedo) 8 vs Mets (A Heilman) 3 Reds -1.5 +145 (W)

Padres (K Jarvis) 2 vs Giants (J Williams) 1 Padres +190 (W)

Royals (K Snyder) 1 vs Tigers (Bonderman) 5 Tigers +130 (W)

Royals (K Snyder) 1 vs Tigers (Bonderman) 5 Under 8.5 -110 (W)

Twins (K Lohse) 2 vs Indians (B Traber) 9 Indians even (W)

Damn, missed this baseball parlay by 1-game!

Get in the game,

Rambo of Vegas

[ July 27, 2003, 04:59 AM: Message edited by: jon_j_rambo ]

[CC Baxter]

Lost Parlay to win $ 1237.90

Braves (S Reynolds) 15 vs Expos (Z Day) 4 Under 10 even (L)

Reds (JO Acevedo) 8 vs Mets (A Heilman) 3 Reds -1.5 +145 (W)

Padres (K Jarvis) 2 vs Giants (J Williams) 1 Padres +190 (W)

Royals (K Snyder) 1 vs Tigers (Bonderman) 5 Tigers +130 (W)

Royals (K Snyder) 1 vs Tigers (Bonderman) 5 Under 8.5 -110 (W)

Twins (K Lohse) 2 vs Indians (B Traber) 9 Indians even (W)

Damn, missed this baseball parlay by 1-game!

Have you ever considered Gambler's Anonymous?

[jon_j_rambo]

Anonymous? I don't do anything "anonymous", you obviously don't understand parlays of this magnitude. I'll give you a hint, they're half the cost of going to a movie.

Be a player,

Rambo of Vegas

[CC Baxter]

I don't understand "parlay's" at all. What the hell is a "parlay"?

Parlez vous Francais?

[Desert Dave]

As originally posted by CC Baxter:

I don't understand "parlay's" at all. What the hell is a "parlay"?

Parlez vous Francais?

Given the climate and context, this is a classic post.

Be a player...

Two kinds of players... old and the new.

New: Use a corked bat if you can get away with it, and uppercut the ball most of the time, and strike out so very much that The World (... the pitcher... merely 60 feet away :eek: ) begins to look... like a delirious demonic dream... and you are the Archangel of righteous Freudian retribution. All in all, kind of like playing... pinball, in a Buster Brown shoe-box.

Old: Choke up, hit to the opposite field, like Nellie Fox (... 2 strikes? don't matter! it can be, it WILL be done... for the TEAM) moving "Little Louie" Aparicio over to third, with less than 2 outs.

Or, "Laughing Larry" Doyle... laying one down right on the first base chalk... so that the hustling over Pitcher, say like old "Three-Fingered" Brown... will soon enough... be counting to... two... when he orders his little brown bottles of root beer... from that working class Vendor who likes to feed pigeons in the park. :eek:

---------

Old offseason job: Pumping "tane" down in New Orleans, or... selling Mother MaCree's Magik Elixir out of the back of a broken down Model T.

New offseason job: Complaining to the "haven't got a clue" Press every other week about how you don't get ANY respect, my god it's like yer a great war-game maker and living in Canada!... see, a team-mate makes 12 million bucks and you only make an INSULTING!... 8.3

---------

Old attitude: Thank Ma and Pa (... and the Stranger strolling on the corner, counting up street lamps) every single day that the good Lord has gone out of his way and gifted you with... EXTRAORDINARY talent. :cool:

New attitude: I am mightier! than Quinn the Medicine Man, since as we all realize, I can count up to... 3... on my fingers, and I'll NEVER have... ONLY 2 (you see... no Nellie Foxes or Laughing Larrys due up next, to SACRIFICE for... the Team, oh no, not any of THAT hokum, not ME!...)

Get it Rube! I wants to... just CRUSH that ball and stand watching it majestically depart the Park, so EVERYONE paying $300 dollars each for this special middle-class privilege... will just KNOW... how beautiful and darling! I am indeed...

---------

Old favorite song lyric: "Bang the Drum Slowly, and Play the Fife Lowly..."

New favorite song lyric: "Have a nice day, and, while yer at it... get the hell out of my way!"

----------

Old Nice place to Visit: Niagra Falls, in the Springtime, when love is in the air, and the water won't alight on fire! from all the chemicals floating around in there.

New Nice place to Visit: Las Vegas, where "the people bowed and prayed, to a neon god they made"... to practice your gambling technique, and... your foreign language skills, especially... the tres tres elegant.. French.

[Kuniworth]

right on spot Immer. Lol!

[JerseyJohn]

One of your best Mr. Etwas! I'm glad somebody finally mentioned Nellie Fox and Louis Aparicio!

[Night]

I have totally lost the conversation. lol

[CC Baxter]

Oh, a "parlay" is somehow concerned with...baseball?

A betting forecast involving numerous bets which are interdependent upon each other ?

Or perhaps an anglicised word which summons up images of Napoleonic officers, pelisses jauntily draped over shoulders meeting in the frosty early morning before a battle to arrange the day's slaughter...

[Desert Dave]

As originally posted by CC Baxter:

Oh, a "parlay" is somehow concerned with...baseball?

In America, EVERYTHING... is ultimately and utterly to do with... Baseball, yes. And, indeed. :cool:

Parlays, politics, war-games, Los Angeles-sur-mer, the price of tea in China, or even... the incredible lightness of Being.

The list is endless, and I won't bore the... ah, uninitiate with all of it... it would require several thousand forum pages. And more.

Even that exquisite cinematic Pixie, Miss Kubelik, would undoubtedly and avidly agree.

I should say... it's, quite, like this: Baseball has the same tremendous meaning to America as this event... does for Great Britain, tell me if you disagree...

***The fateful day that a young and wildly prescient King Arthur extracted Excalibur from the rock.

Mythic Beginnings are existentially essential to... eventual Cultural harmony. It is why, quite simply, that America... recently and especially... these days of pitiful ersatz Ideologies, is struggling mightily with... realizing its appropriate place in the World... with... its very... soul. :eek:

The amazing game of Baseball has been corrupted by avaricious... Dilettantes and Fools... the Owners AND the Player's Union... too bad, but we who KNOW what this can finally mean, are determined to re-arrange this... shameful disgrace, post haste.

[CC Baxter]

I should say... it's, quite, like this: Baseball has the same tremendous meaning to America as this event... does for Great Britain, tell me if you disagree...

***The fateful day that a young and wildly prescient King Arthur extracted Excalibur from the rock.

Mythic Beginnings are existentially essential to... eventual Cultural harmony. It is why, quite simply, that America... recently and especially... these days of pitiful ersatz Ideologies, is struggling mightily with... realizing its appropriate place in the World... with... its very... soul

My entire knowledge of, and exposure to, the sport (sorry, Immer, the cultural cornerstone of the US) of baseball is derived from the film Bull Durham.

In this, the character of Annie Savoy (another one of those beguiling celluloid goddess ala La Kubelik), is of a similiar mind to you Immer as regards baseball's fundamental role in the folklore, myth and reality of America:

Annie Savoy: [narrating] Walt Whitman once said, "I see great things in baseball. It's our game, the American game. It will repair our losses and be a blessing to us." You could look it up.

I apologise for my British ignorance in regard to The American Game. I wonder if any Americans on the board have a working knowledge of the rules of cricket?

...and I still don't really know what a "parlay" actually is.

[Liam]

well, outta 20 games I have no arguments yet. Other than I haven't won them all

So far most of the active group in the Zleague are the cream of the crop

If you should get an unlucky guy Sorry ;)Post him name though please so we all can avoid him

[Oak]

I'm an American with a working knowledge of cricket ... but then I've spent most of my life living in former British colonies (Hong Kong and Singapore). I agree that you'd be hard pressed to find someone in the USA who had the faintest idea what cricket is. They would assume a one-day test is a very extensive exam of some sort.

I find it interesting that baseball culminates each year in the "World Series" ... which features only teams from North America. An interesting view of the 'world'.

I can criticize the myopic view of Americans because I is one.

[CC Baxter]

I'm an American with a working knowledge of cricket ... but then I've spent most of my life living in former British colonies (Hong Kong and Singapore). I agree that you'd be hard pressed to find someone in the USA who had the faintest idea what cricket is. They would assume a one-day test is a very extensive exam of some sort.

I find it interesting that baseball culminates each year in the "World Series" ... which features only teams from North America. An interesting view of the 'world'.

Cricket and football (soccer to Americans) are games we gave to the world (apart from the US which preferred their own), then the world seemed too quickly get alot better at them than we are

As I write this I am watching a cricket test match in which England are getting pasted by South Africa.

The concept of the US "World Series" always raises laughs among football fans in the rest of the (real) world . The football World Cup is truly that, a competition for all footballing nations.

This thread is a reflection of how great the SC community is (see a thread started by Kuniworth). A post by Night about getting into league play has resulted in this freewheeling (dangerously OT ?) thread.

[Oak]

I believe that England also has a habit of getting clobbered by the Aussies. Actually, who have they beaten lately?

[JerseyJohn]

CC Baxter

There's an old Alfred Hitchcock clip in which he explains baseball, it runs something like this.

"The attacking team is armed with a wooden club but can only have a single player weilding it at once. Also, he must stand in a rather small box from which it is impossible for him reach any of the defending players. Except one, known as the catcher, he is clad in protective gear including an iron mask. He must squat down quite close to the attacker's box putting himself in peril. The attacker, however, is not allowed to face him and few of them attempt to swing the club in his direction.

"The defending team is allowed to arm one of it's players with what is descriptively known as a hard ball. Hurling this object at great speed he attempts to do the maximum damage possible the attackers clubman. Who, in turn, attempts to strike the hard ball with his club, causing it to hit and disable any one of the defending players. Failing contact, the clubman, who must leave his weapon in the box, is allowed to go after the defenders individually but must remain still when the next clubman takes his turn."

It is possible to see cricket games in some of the larger American cities; I began seeing them in New York City during the late eighties and early ninties. The major difference I noticed was their clubman used a flattened weapon which, instead of being rounded was squared and presumably sharpened along the edges.

[Oak]

Two other differences:

- in Cricket, it is the person with the bat that wears all the protective gear, rather than the person catching the ball.

- in Cricket, the 'pitchers' can't throw straight (maybe it is because they are running when they do so) and always throw the ball into the dirt.

[JerseyJohn]

Yes, I forgot about that, haven't watched a pickup game since moving to New Jersey. It's fairly easy to see how cricket helped form baseball.

I went looking for that Hitchcock quote, couldn't find it but instead found an interesting memory regarding the TV show with an explanation of "Oh Honey, he's British. They have a different sense of humor."

Billy Mumy: 'Working on the "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" shows was fine with the exception of one person ... Alfred Hitchcock. He was cruel to me and I'll never forget one syllable of what he said to me while filming "Bang You’re Dead," (which is quite a good show, and I'm glad I did it, and I'm proud to be a part of it). Anyway, as you know, I was in most of that episode, and you can only work a minor so many hours a day ... they were about to "lose" me for the day, and they wanted to get one more close up shot before I went home. Well, I’d been working all day, and I was fidgeting around as they tried to light me. Hitchcock rises out of his chair and slowly lumbers towards me. He was sweating. In my memory, he was always sweating. Several chins waggling, he approaches me in his black suit and leans down to whisper into my ear so that no one else can hear him but me, and this is exactly what he said to me ... "If you don't stop moving about, I'm going to get a nail and nail your feet to your mark, and the blood will come pouring out like milk ... so stop moving!" Well, I was truly terrified. They got their close up, and I went home for the day, and as we were leaving I told my mom all about how he wanted to nail my feet to my mark, and she laughs and says, "Oh Honey, he's British. They have a different sense of humor." Well, all he ever had to do was tell me he was just kidding. That he wouldn't really have nailed my feet to my mark. But he didn't, and he didn't because he knew that he scared the **** out of me, and he loved knowing that. Let’s not forget the fact that I was seven years old at the time.'

[ August 01, 2003, 03:10 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]

[CC Baxter]

Oak

[i believe that England also has a habit of getting clobbered by the Aussies. Actually, who have they beaten lately?/QUOTE]

England have won a few test series over the past few years. They have beaten South Africa, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and West Indies but the old enemy Australia remain the true benchmark and England haven't beaten them for years.

JerseyJohn

The quote from Hitchcock is very descriptive . In the UK we have a game called "rounders" that is played at school and in parks (there are no professional players or leagues etc) which is very much like baseball except rounders is played with a tennis ball and a small wooden bat.

As for the British sense of humour, a mixture of surrealism, irony, sarcasm and self-deprecation would perhaps be the best way sum it up. You certainly need one while watching the England cricket team!

[JerseyJohn]

CC Baxter

Most Baseball books do mention rounders as the direct link to baseball. I'm glad you described it as I had only a vague idea of how it was played. Originally, Baseball from around 1840 through the 1890s was played with a much looser ball than the 20th Century version, hand stitched cover and not the sort of thing that could be hit very far. Nor something that would hurt anyone if they were struck by it. Up till around 1885 the common rule was a baserunner was out if tagged or struck by a thrown ball unless he were standing on a base. The modern game with it's present distances to the pitcher's mound and bases was finally agreed upon around 1900. Till the mid-1890s the pitcher's mound was much closer to home plate and the pitcher usually threw underhand, as in softball.

I happen to enjoy classic British humor, and I believe most other Americans do as well. Shows such as Monty Python and Fawlty Towers have always been very popular here. I think the sort of humor associated with the United States derives mainly from it's British roots combined with Jewish pessimism. I hope no one sees that as being racial, it isn't meant to be. Jewish humor tends to see the world in a sense of what will go wrong next! yes, as an exclamation instead of a question.

[ August 01, 2003, 08:11 PM: Message edited by: JerseyJohn ]

[CC Baxter]

I have memories of playing rounders as a child and it was really the only game which boys and girls would play together. The kids would stand equally spaced from each other in a rough sort of diamond shape and the kid with the ball would throw it underarm towards the kid with the small bat (the bat was like a miniature cricket bat). There was no "backstop" as the batter would stand in front of a wall or a tree. The game was enjoyable as it wasn't bound up with the seriouness attached to cricket and football. It as the sort of game played by kids on summer nights and had an informal quality. I haven't seen any kids playing it for years so perhaps today's generation don't care for it.

As for the British sense of humour, it remains one of our great exports. I grew up with Python and Fawlty Towers, the scripts are as much a part of British cultural heritage as The Beatles and Shakespeare.

[disorder]

ccbaxter said--

As for the British sense of humour, it remains one of our great exports. I grew up with Python and Fawlty Towers

as you can see, my favorite is andy capp! i also grew up with python(i think it started on public tv in us about 1973 or so). the goody's(better than python for awhile). fawlty towers with cleese. are you being served?.

good ideas all!

now the things that all right thinking americans cant deal with.

why in the world would a country make an item called "kidney pie". or blood pudding. some of their breakfast food would make arnold schwartzenager turn into a weak fool.

or for that matter, hagis (SIC?) made with goat stomach and chopped up intestines.

this is not just ethnic food mind you(like matzoh balls or lefse is in the us. is there anyone in the uk who doesnt eat this stuff?

[CC Baxter]

now the things that all right thinking americans cant deal with.

why in the world would a country make an item called "kidney pie". or blood pudding. some of their breakfast food would make arnold schwartzenager turn into a weak fool.

or for that matter, hagis (SIC?) made with goat stomach and chopped up intestines.

this is not just ethnic food mind you(like matzoh balls or lefse is in the us. is there anyone in the uk who doesnt eat this stuff?

Let's try to avoid cultural stereotypes, shall we? Do all Americans eat only hamburgers?

This is symptomatic of the view Americans have of the UK. The food you mention isn't eaten anymore. This stuff is straight out of the 1950s. Haggis I can't speak for as I am English and have only tried it once, I agree with you that it is foul stuff.

Blood pudding? I've never even seen it, let alone eaten it. In the UK we don't all wear pinstripe suits with bowler hats and speak like Hugh Grant. Food in this country is as cosmopolitan and as sophisticated as in any other western country. Immigrant cultures have enriched and added to the national cuisine so much so that some Indian and Chinese dishes are now regarded as "British". Every other program on TV is a cookery show, showing uses for every conceivable ingredient.

There is more to any country than just generally held cliches and the received wisdom of Hollywood films which tend to deal with the lowest common denominator among nations.