Now that 4 weeks are in the books in the AFC (the Monday nigh game is 2 NFC rivals) I can tell you what would happen in the AFC if the playoffs began today.
Division Champions
NFC East Dallas Cowboys (winner of 3 team tiebreaker) (2-2)
Week 4 result Lost to New Orleans (1-3) 26-20
Week 5 opponent New England 3-0
NFC North Green Bay Packers (4-0)
Week 4 Result: Beat San Francisco (1-3) 17-3
Week 5 opponent St. Louis* (2-2)
NFC South Carolina Panthers (winner of 2 team tiebreaker)(4-0)
Week 4 result Beat Tampa Bay)37-23
Week 5 Bye
NFC West Arizona Cardinals (3-1)
Week 4 result Lost to St. Louis (2-2) 24-22
Week 5 opponent @Detroit (0-4)
Wild Card Atlanta Falcons (4-0)
Week 4 result Beat Houston(1-3) 48-21 Week % opponent Washington 2-2
St. Louis Rams 2-2 (winner of 5 team tiebreaker)
Week 4 result Beat Arizona (3-1) 24-22
Week 5 opponent @Green Bay (4-0)
FAST FACT Each current nfc playoff bound team takes on an opponent with either 0 , 2 or 4 losses.
Now that 4 weeks are in the books in the AFC (the Monday nigh game is 2 NFC rivals) I can tell you what would happen in the AFC if the playoffs began today.
Division Champions
AFC East New England Patriots (3-0)
Week 4 result BYE
Week 5 opponent @Dallas (2-2)
AFC North Cincinatti Bengals (4-0)
Week 4 Result: Beat Kansas City (1-3) 36-21
Week 5 opponent Seattle* (1-2)
AFC South Indianapolis Colts (2-2)
Week 4 result Beat Jacksonville (1-3) 16-13
Week 5 opponent @Houston (1-3)
AFC West Denver Broncos (4-0)
Week 4 result Beat Minnesota (2-2) 23-20
Week 5 opponent @Oakaland (2-2)
Wild Card New York Jets (3-1)
Week 4 result Beat Miami(1-3) 27-14
Week 5 BYE
Buffalo Bills 2-2 (winner of 4 team tiebreaker)
Week 4 result Lost to New York Giants (2-2) 24-10
Week 5 opponent @Tennessee (1-2)
FAST FACT 80% of current afc playoff bound teams play on the road in week 5. Although all of their opponents are .500 are under.
*Seattle plays Detroit tonight so record will change before Bengals matchup
I like music and movies with some of the same intensity that I like sports. I just finished watching the Rookie for the umpteenth time. This song appears at the end of the movie. I like this video as it tells the story of the movie in a way that is enjoyable whether you have seen the film or not.
I am not the voracious reader that my wife is. I like books and I have lots of them. Most of which, I accumulated we got married. I just don't usually spend as much time reading as she does. Each summer, I try to read more than I usually do and as I've tried here before, I will try to review each book I finish this Summer.
Today's Review
Persuasion by Jane Austen
My experience when it comes to reading a book adaption of a movie I have seen or seeing a movie version of a book I have read is generally the same. I tend to like the version which I have read or seen first better than the one I've experienced second. This is not necessarily the Case with Jane Austen's Persuasion. I really enjoy the film Persuasion and have just recently finished the novel. I am a big fan of Austen's works generally through the medium of film. I found that the reading of Persuasion really enhanced my appreciation of the film. Much of the dialogue in the movie is pulled verbatim from the book. The only difference being that it was adapted into dialogue from exposition in the original source. This task is done artfully by the filmmakers and removes any need of a voiceover narration which would have hampered the cinematic presentation. On the other hand, a reading of Persuasion gave me new insights and understanding of her characters some that I had grown to love and others I had learned to disdain in my multiple viewings. Mary, for example, is a much worse sister to Anne on paper than celluloid. If you have seen the film, you know that is quite an achievement. There is also more to like about Captain Wentworth, Mrs. Smith and even Lady Russell. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone, especially those fond of any Austen work in print or pixel. Next Time: Post of the Week
Today is National Donut Day. It is on the first Friday of June each year.
For Friday Fragments at Half Past Kissing Time I will share some fragments of donuts with you.
Fragment 1. Donut History
Did you ever wonder what donuts have to do with the salvation army? This short video explains...
Fragment 2: Donut Music
About 20 years ago, I wrote a song that is not specifically about donuts but chronicles a relationship that takes place at a Krispy Kreme. I called it the wall of glaze as a tribute to the glaze waterfall that engulfs the donuts on the donut assembly line there.
Here are the lyrics
The Wall of Glaze Lyrics by Dave Roller Music by Jeff Half Dozen (actually Jeff Six, but half dozen has a more donut themed approach)
It was our first date
On a Friday night
She got a blueberry donut and a medium Sprite
She looked so good and I stood amazed
That I could lose my heart at the wall of glaze.
At the Krispy Kreme
At the Wall of Glaze
Just a memory of my younger days
Of how she looked so good
And how I stood amazed
That I could lose my heart
At The Wall of Glaze
End of senior year
Going separate ways
I was off to the army
Her to the college days
We promised to write every week
It would be like we never went away
How we cried and cried at The Wall of Glaze
At the Krispy Kreme
At The Wall of Glaze
Just a memory of my younger days
Of how we promised to write every week
Like we never went away
But the tears fell like rain
At The Wall of Glaze
Well you know the story
Left a boy came back a man
And I wrote her in my letters
Things I still don't understand
Oh my love for her just grew and grew
I was longing for that day
When I'd ask for her hand at The Wall of Glaze
So on a Friday night
Got down on my knees
Put a ring on her finger
Said will you marry me please
She said I'm sorry
But you were just a passing phase
And she broke my heart at The Wall of Glaze
At the Krispy Kreme
At The Wall of Glaze
It's the end of the story
Not the starting page
I put a ring on her finger
She said "Boy, you're just a phase"
And she broke my heart at The Wall of Glaze
Now I sit alone
On a Friday night
With a blueberry donut
And it don't feel right
I know I shouldn't be here
But I feel trapped in a cage
Since she broke my heart at The Wall of Glaze
At the Krispy Kreme
Called The Wall of Glaze
Just a memory
Of my younger days
I know I shouldn't be here
I feel trapped in a cage
since I lost my heart, since she broke my heart, now that we're apart
At The Wall of Glaze.
Fragment 3 Free Donuts
The aforementioned Krispy Kreme was giving away free donuts today. Dunkin Donuts was giving away 1 free donut if you bought a drink, which was fine if you were getting a drink. If you were not all the drinks cost more than one donut so it would not have been worth the trip.
We did not get any free donuts today, but you can enter here to win free donuts a year from Entenmanns.
This summer is the last summer I will be posting here at Home School Dad, as I announced yesterday. So over this summer I will be reposting at HSD and YBD some of the previous posts. This was one of the first posts I did back in 2009 . . .
Wow! I just looked back at some of my earliest content on this blog, and I've been here since 2009! Yep, I wrote The Old Switcheroo 6.5 years ago, give or take, and now I'm here to tell you of a new switcheroo. I am actually going to close this blog down. I have started a new blog and will be doing my posting there going forward.
That is a pretty big switcheroo, but it is not the one I am referring to in the title. The switcheroo in other title refers to the reason why I am changing blogs. That reason is because it would be really weird to have a blog called Home School Dad, when I am no longer one.
Now of course, I have not been the main teacher of our homeschool since May of 2013. As of last Friday, we are no longer a homeschooling family. All of our kids will be returning to public school next year. I say returning because each of them has completed 1 year there in the past. Spider droid will be finishing middle school at the same school he did 6th grade 2 years ago. Wolfina will be going to 4th grade at a different school than she did 2nd grade, at , as she has qualified for an advanced program. Bunny Girl has the hardest transition as she hasn't been to public school since 1/2 day kindergarten in 2004 -2005. She moves from IBHS (Izola Becker Home School) to BHS
(Barrington High School) for her Junior year. I guess there is no I in public school.
So why the new switcheroo? Because Amy's part time position at her school has been eliminated and she has taken a full-time position. This means we have the desire for home education but lack the requisite personnel. We became aware of this a few months ago and we explored many avenues on how best to approach the 2015-2016 school year and beyond and for at least the next 2 years. We
decided that we were being directed to change the educational direction of our family.
We told our kids a few weeks ago and they each had different reactions. All in all the 5 of us are moving tot his new chapter in our lives by God's grace. Which led me to my initial dilemma, how how can I continue to blog at Home School Dad, If I am not in fact a home school dad? It would be a very water buffalo situation and we really don't want to go there.
So here is the plan, blog-wise I will keep HSD up for the rest of the summer, and I have also started a new blog Called YBD: Your Basic Dave. During this transition, I will put up my posts in both places. I know I probably could just switch names of this blog, but I would rather just start a new chapter in my life in a new blog.
Over the next few weeks I will be reposting some old HSD content as well as finalizing the look at YBD.
Thanks for taking time to read this. Please keep our family in prayer that Goe would direct us and give us a vision for what lies ahead.
When I went back to work in 2013 and stopped being the everyday home educucator. I began to think whether I would still blog and what I would blog about. I opened this blog, but only posted one time. . I have since deleted that post. I wrote at that time that " If our family ever does stop homeschooling. I intend YBD to become my main blog. " As I announced in the recent HSD, we have stopped homeschooling, at least for a sesaon. I am in the process of mothballing HSD, and will be posting here and at HSD concurrently through the summer. In September, I will be posting only here.
What can you expect at YBD? You can expect your basic Dave. Funny. Crazy. Sarcastic. Eclectic, Encouraging, Absent Minded. I am not sure exactly what this blog will look like in the next few months and years. But as Kermit and Fozzie like to sing, getting there is half the fun, come share it with me.
A: A summary of the principles of Christian religion in the form of questions and answers, used for the instruction of Christians. It is also a series of fixed questions, answers, or precepts used for instruction in other situations. Q. Why a sport's catechism? A: Because sports loyalty is sometimes described or lived out in spiritual terms. Examole. The Cubs faithful were delighted with the late inning heroics in today's game. Q: What is the Stanley Cup? A: It is the Championip Trophy of the National Hockey Leagu (NHL) Q: How many NHL teams are there? A: 30. The 30 teams are divided into 2 conferences (Western and Eastern) and divided further into divsions Q: What is required to win the Stanley Cup A: 16 playoff wins Q: How many teams go to the playoffs? A:16 Q: What is the playoff format? A: The top 3 teams in each division qualify for the Playoffs. The next best 2 teams in each conference qualify as wild cards. So each division can have as many as 5 and as few as 3 teams participating in the post season. The 16 teams are seeded as the top 3 teams from each divison 1-3 respectively and the wild card teams seeded 4th. The division champion in each conference with the better record plays the wild card team with the worse record in the 1-4 match ups. Q: Which teams qualified for the playoffs this year. A: In the Atlantic division of the Eastern Conference the,Montreal CaLightinnadiens were seeded 1st, Tampa Bay Lightning 2nd, Detroit Red WIngs 3rd and the Ottawa Senators were the first Eastern Wild card: In the Eastern Conference's Metropolitan Divison 1st was New York Rangers, 2nd Washington Capitals, 3rd New York Islanders and Pittsburg Penguins as the 2nd Eastern Wild Card. Montreal drew Ottawa , Leaving New York for the Penguins, and the 2nd and third teams in each division faced each other. In the Western Conference's Central division 5 teams made the playoffs the top 3 finishers were (in order) St. Louis (Blues), Nashville (Predators) and Chicago (Black Hawks) . 3The Western Conference wildcard teams from the Central were in order Minnesota (Willd) and Winnipeg (Jets) The Pacific divison top 3 finishers were the Ducks (Anaheim) Canucks (Vancouver) and Flames (Calgary). The Blues drew the Wild leaving the Jets for the Ducks. Q: The first team to win 16 games wins the Stanley Cup how does that work. A: A series of 4 rounds of playoff games matchups where the first teams to win 4 games go on to the next round. Q: How many teams are left now: A: Two Q: How did the first round play out In the East Canadiens 4 Senators 2 Lightning 4 Redwings 3 Rangers 4 Penguins 1 Capitals 4 Islanders 3 In the West Wild 4 Blues 2 Blackhawks 4 Predators 2 Ducks 4 Jets 0 Flames 4 Canucks 2 This left 8 teams remaining each looking for 12 more wins Q: What happened in the next 2 rounds" In Round 2 The Lighting beat the Canadiens in 6 games, Where the Rangers need 7 to advance past the Capitals. The Ducks doused the Flames Stanley Cup chances in 5 games. The Blackhawks swept the Wild in 4. 4 teams remained with 8 more wins needed for the Cup. The Conefernce Finals took 7 games to settle with the road teams (Lightning and Blackhawks) each beating the home squads (Rangers and Ducks). Q: Which team has the home ice in the FInals? A; Tampa Bay Q: What is the Playoff record for each of the remaining teams in the last 10 seasons excluding this one A: Lightning 5 apperance in 10 years 2 straight playoff appearance (including this year) 1 Stanley Cup Championship 03-04 3 Conference Quarter Final losses ( 05-06,06-07,13-14) 1 Conference Final loss 10-11 Total playoff wins in last 10 season 30 plus 12 this year for total of 42 Blackhawks 6 appearance in 10 years, 7 straight playoff appearances (including this year) 2 Stanley Cup Championships (9-10 and12-13) 2 Conference Final losses (08-09 and 13-14) 2 Conference Quarter Final Losses (10-11 and 11-12) Total playoff wins in last 10 season 57 plus 12 this year for total of 69
I just read an excellent post entitled when you're a Christian but not a virgin. It is about virginity, the loss of virginity, forgiveness and hope. As the father of 2 daughters and one son who are in their teen years or quickly approaching their teen years I was really glad to see such good instruction that I could pass along to them, So, Raquel, of It's Raquel , thanks for writing such a fine post and congratulations on being. post of the week
We interrupt your Memorial Day to tell you that there are changes coming to this blog starting June 1st. I know, I know, I should probably just tell you now. But it's like the old joke goes ...
This week's post of the week comes from my daughter. I know that seems like a little bit of nepotism. I was on the same trip as she was and took all of the pictures and still found her post interesting.
Wolfina's Secrets: Florida!: Last week I went to Florida and had a great time. I went to Walt Disney World (Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Downtown Disney), Seaworld, Cl...
For the first time since I started Post of the week, I have turned one in a timely fashion. The goal for Post of the week is for me to read the accumulated posts on my blogroll for a given week and choose one as the post of the week.
It is not necessarily the best post, just the one that is most significant to me.
This week we sold all our copies of Mystery of History at a curriculum sale. This was a gutwrenching thing for me. I taught the kids volumes I and II myself and Amy taught III this year. It is a fabulous curriculum but due to other considerations we chose to sell them.
Then Laurie Bluedorn of Trivium Pursuit comes out with a great review of the product and some thoughts on comments regarding the resource. It easily became the Post of the week.
Now that I have put two posts of the week together in a timely fashion, I hope to make it an everyday Sunday afternoon thing. Time will tell.
Allen Levi
Dave Ramsey
Frank Thomas
Hank Aaron
King Tut
Minnie Minoso
Nobody
Paul Konerko
Jimmy Stewart
Bob Wallace
My Places were
Comiskey Park
Debt
Elgin
Illinois
Nowhere
Turkey
Uzbekistan
Virginia
Zoos
My Things were
Bibimbap
Discussions
Giraffe Poop
Jack & Diane
Library
Nothing
Oreos
Quinjet
Ragamuffin
Xanthosis
Yoyo
I enjoyed my time doing a to z blogging.
Here are three things I learned.
1) It is a lot easier to do a to z blogging as a full time home school dad than it is working outside the home.
2) I tried to do two blogs at the same time and had to give up on my baseball one at U.
3) Blogging here everyday for a month has gotten me more psyched for blogging than I have been in 2.5 years. I am actually planning on participating next year in 3 blogs but have already picked my themes and hope to be much more prepared then I was this year.
I am sorry it took me a few weeks to post my thoughts. But i went to Florida for 1 week right after this ended and it's taken me about a week to get back in the swing of things.
Speaking of road trips I am participating in the a to z road trip . For more info click here.
I was at Target today and went into the Men's bathroom. The bathroom smelled exactly like Trix cereal. I have been noticing this for a few years. Many bathrooms smell like this but especially Target. I have been wanting to post about it for quite a while. It is perfect for Friday fragments, because I could not imagine ever writing an entire post about bathrooms that remind me of cereal I ate as a kid. In fact, I can hardly believe I've written a pargagraph about it.
Saint John the Evangelist
While I was in the Trix smelling bathroom, I picked up a religuous tract that had been left in one of the stalls. It seemed to be left there for the purpose of distribution. Now, I have handed my share of tracts out in my life. I know this is not method I would use. My critics would say, hey it worked, you picked it up. Christians are supposed to display the aroma of Christ. Trix or worse bathroom smells are definitely not the aroma I would want to compare my Savior to.
Milking Robotics for all it's worth.
Tomorrow is the big day, Spider Droid's FLL Robotics Tournament. His team has been working so hard to get ready for this day. The theme of this yearsis Food Factor and his team has been working on a solution to prevent the spoiling of milk. One of the things I love about F.L.L is their Core Values. The core value I like best is: What we discover is more important than what we win. So, while the tournament is a culmination of several months of work and research, their season has already been succesful no matter where they finish.
I just came home from a trip with one of my kids. Before I get into it. Let me tell you about a trip my son and I took last year.
On Thursday 7/23 SD and I drove to New York for the primary purpose of going to Baseball Hall of Fame. We left home at 4 a.m. and drove out of Illinois into and out of Indiana and breakfasted in Michigan.
We ate at Cracker Barrel
After breakfast we headed towards the border and at 11:30 a.m. central drove into Canada. We drove a few more hours and stopped for lunch at A&W which are more like the A&W's I remember as a kid and not like the few still in Illinois.
We started a root beer trend that continued on the trip.
I got excited when I saw the above sign and even more excited when we saw the below sight.
Over the past year, I have been writing a limerick each day. I will share at the end of each post that day's limerick.
Setting 3:40 a.m. alarm Does my sleeping a great deal of harm But gives vacay great start And sure played a big part Ending day at Niagara with charm.
Time again for another monthly edition of post of the week. I would change it to post of the month, but then I would probably do it annually. The jist of post of the week is to find the most excellent post on my blogroll from the last week and repost it here.
3 years ago when I last participated in a to z blogging. I ended with this video my wife took when the kids were younger. It feels like cheating to do it again. But. it's eithe that or not finish.
When I think of the yoyo I think of the Duncan Couagempany and the yo-yo fad that started in the 1920's and the subsequent fads since then.
Did you know that the yoyo is a Tagalog word? Tagalog is a language of the Philippines. The yoyo was used for 400 years in the Philippines as a weapon for hunting and fighting, In Tagalog yoyo means come back. The yoyo goes back much farther than 400 years and dates back to 500 years before the time of Christ it was used as a toy in ancient Greece. It was also used in China, before moving to Europe in the 1800's. the toy came to the us in the 1860's with the British name bandalore. In 1920 A Filipino immigrant by the name of Pedro Flores brought the name yoyo to the US and started producing the toy his shop on California. His taught caught the attentiogin of Donald Duncan who brought the rights. to it.
A to Z blogging like the yoyo has had it's ups and downs for me. But with one day left we are definitely ending on an up.
: yellow discoloration of the skin from abnormal causes
2
: a virus disease of the strawberry plant characterized by crinkling and curling, yellowing and dwarfing of the leaves, and stunting of the entire plant
Why did I choose such a noun? Because of the movie Akeelah and the Bee. Before the scene we are about to watch, Akeelah and Dylan are talking about the word xanthosis and it is clear in the movie by the time of the spelling bee finals when they are the last 2 contestants, that they both know how to spell that word. Akeelah has been observing throughout the movie that Dylan's dad is a tyrannical spelling bee Dad and only the championship trophy will be enough for Dylan to achieve.
Let's see what happens next .
If you have not seen this fine 2006 movie I strongly recommend that you do. For more A to Z challenge click here.
Today's noun was going to be a place. It was going to be Walt Disney World aka The Magic Kingdom. On Saturday, 4/25 Robert Wallace passed away. "Mr. Bob" as he was known at Lake Zurich Community Church and the Lake Zurich Harvest, to generation after generation of AWANA kids was one of the kindest and Godliest men I ever had the pleasure of meeting, He and his wife Lucille made every day living a ministry. His life was spent investing in God's eternal kingdom, not a magical one. He is there now, enjoying God's presence forever.
As this Father's day video shows, Life does goes fast! Bob is the last father featured.
When I think of Juan Uribe, I think of the 2nd out of the ninth inning of game4 of the 200 World Series
I will show it to you.
Juan Uribe is still playing major league baseball almosts 10 year dcerneafter that epic play. To date he as 178 homers. 87 of them came was a member of the Sox. Hie best 2 seasons were 2004 and 2006 as far as the long ball was concerned. He hit 23 in 2004 and 21 in 2006. He averaged 18 homeruns over an 162 game season or 1 dinger every 8 ganes.
For Friday Fragments I thought I would go back in time and look at 3 increments of 5 years starting in 1993 and telling you what late April of those years may have looked like.
Fragment 1 : 22 years ago in Tash Kent
Family Status: Single as they come
Employment Status: Southern Baptist Missionary
In April 1993 I spent a week In Tashkent, Uzbekistan. This was right after it had become it's own country after the breakdown of the U.S.S.R. I was living in Russia at time as a Baptist missionary/English teacher and was spending a week in Tashkent to observe how ministry with Korean Russian youth was going since the team leadership aspect of the ministry in Tashkent would matc hopefully to what we planned to do in my city of Khabarovsk.
I don't remember a lot about my time there. I helped with English classes, church services, and also spent time enjoying the city. I had a caricature of myself drawn at a sidewalk cafe which I gave to my folks upon my return. My time in Tashkent was as close to a business trip as I've ever been on.
Fragment 2: 17 years ago in Hickory Hills
Family Status: Newlywed
Employed at Dovenmuehle Mortgage
In April 1998, we had just moved into our apartment after getting home from honeymoon in TN. We were very busy with our church, work, and being madly in love. I was working in the phone center at the mortgage company and had only been there since December of 1997.
We ate out a lot, but also spent a lot of time with friends and family. We started a tradition of visiting our living grandparents about once a month. Those newlywed times will always be precious to me. Every day was an adventure and I am glad to say that it still is.
Fragment 3: 12 years ago in Carpentersville, IL
Family Status: Married 5 years and had 3.5 year old girl and 1.5-year-old boy
Employed at Dovenmuehle Mortgage
By April 2003 life was getting back to normal after an eventful 2001 and 2002. I was working in the research department at my job mostly handling presidential correspondence. We were attending church in Crystal Lake
Let me we be really clear Jim Thome did not ruin the White Sox. Sure they won the World Series right before he got there and haven't sniffed it since. But that is not Thome's fault form 2006 to 2009 Thome hit 134 of his 612 major league homers for the Sox. The 7th most of all time the 134 is good enough for 13th on the Sox all time list. In his 22 yr career Jim averaged 39 homers for every 162 games played. Thome hit 42 for sox in 2006 and followed up with 35 in 2007. Thome's time with the Sox may not have warranted the ring he so dearly wanted, but make no mistake, Thome is no Sox killer.
I went to Turkey for two weeks in 199 for a short term missions trip. We took a team of 6 adults and our baby daughter. I'm going to give you some brief observations from my memories of our time there.
We spent a majority of our time in Istanbul, which is a city on two continents (Asia and Europe)
People on the streets of Instanbul would take our baby daughter out of our hands hold her for awhile and give her back. We were warned about this in advance so it would not freak us out.
In 1998 cell phones while common in the U.S. had not yet exploded to their current popularity. In Istanbul, everybody had a cell phone and were constantly on them. Again, this seems commonplace in the US now but it wasn't at the time.
Istanbul has a rich heritage and was the capitol of the Byzantine Empire when the city was known as Constantinople.
Turkey is the home of some ancient biblical places like Ephesus.
Let me show you 3 visual highpoints of Istanbul, The Blue Mosque, The Hagia Sophia and the Grand Bazaar. All places that we visited.
The Grand Bazaar is one of the oldest and largest covered markets in the world. It marks it's beginnings from 1445.
M o
The Hagia Sophia was built under the direction of the emperor Justinian in the 6yh century. It was an Eastern Orthodox cathedral from 537 to 1453. In the 15th century when Constantinople was invaded by the Ottoman Turks the cathedral was turned into a mosque. It remained a mosque from 1453 until 1931 when it was converted into a museum.
The Sultan Ahmed Mosques known as the Blue Mosque because of the blue tiles on the inner walls of the mosque ws built 500 years ago.
Sherm Lollar played for the White Sox from 1952 to 1963 . He hit 124 of his 155 MLB homers for the ChiSox. He would average 14 homers a 162 game season. In 1960, he and Minnie Minoso swapped places several times as the career home run leader for the team. Lollar died of cancer at the age of 53 in 1977. At the time of his death he was 3rd all-time in homers for the Sox he is now 15th, 1 behind Joe Crede and 7 ahead of AJ Pierzynski. His best 2 seasons for the Sox homer wise were 22 in 1959 their World Series year and 20 in 1958. Little known fact (I just made up.) The term LOL derives from the first 3 letters of Sherm's last name.
I am something of a Jimmy Stewart fanatic. I have seen many of his movies. It's a Wonderful Life is my favorite film of all time. Mr. Smith goes to Washington is also in my top 10. He was in so many great films. So when I decided to watch 12 movies this year that I had never seen before it didn't surprise me that a Stewart film would make the list. What did surprise me is that it would be a Stewart film I had never heard of before.
Magic Town (1947) is just that. I had a month free trial of Amazon prime and was looking for a Jimmy Stewart film I had not seen before and when I found Greatest Show on Earth, which I had heard of previously but never seen, When I found it was not available I went with Magic Town.
I did a little researching and found that It's A wonderful life (1946 pictured above) and Magic Town were back to back box office failures for Stewart.
The main difference between the two is that Magic Town is well deserving of it's failure. It's A Frank Capra like film , which is not surprising as it was written and directed by long time Capra collaborator Robert Riskin. The end result of the reteaming of Riskin and Stewart without Capra is expressed quite well in an IMDB review by Mario Gauci ...
"... while the plot is typically original and engaging, somehow it lacks Capra's cinematic expertise in putting over Riskin's ideas: the tone is too often syrupy and sentimental while the hero isn't made to face formidable villains such as one finds in Capra's work."
Stewart is not at his best in the movie. His portrayal of a pollster trying to put a magic formula to work, lacks the multilayered nuanced performances he so often achieved. Jimmy Stewart was in many great movies prior to 1947. If you are looking for better Stewart movies from the 40's, you might want to try The Shop Around the Corner or Rope instead of this slightly above average comedy drama.
In 2014, the movie ragamuffin about Rich Mullins came out. I only have 39 minutes before my R is late for the A to Z challenge. So I will let this clip stand on it's own.
Ray Durham played for the White Sox from 1995 to 2002. He hit 106 of his 192 MLB homers in a White Sox Uniform. In a 162 game season he would average 16 long balls a season. His best 2 seasons for the Sox homer wise were 2001 with 20 and 1998 with 19.
Not only does Carlos Quentin hold the White Sox record for most homers with a last name beginning with Q (107) he also holds the MLB Q HR record with 154. Quentin who was released last week by the Atlanta Braves and is now a free agent, has averaged so far 30 HR for every 162 games played. He played 4 seasons on the south side from 2008 to 2001 His best 2 seasons with the Sox were in 2008 when he hit 36 and 2010 when he added 24.
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