Now is probably a good time as any. I gotta take a sabbatical on this blog for a while. The hours are finally catching up to me. Skipping a day or two or three isn't really cutting down the time as much as I thought it might. And the Fun Factor vs. the Chore and Lazy Factor has been evening out more than I like, and I think it's been showing the last few months. And trying to get to a number like 2,000 posts means the next 75 or so would definitely be an exercise in self-torture.

I think I'll start something different in the future. Count on it being a shorter form. Probably not Twitter-ish, but more Tumblr-ish.

I'll see you again at that time.

Scenes from last night's Tribe game. The weather and StubHub gave rise to a last-minute decision to attend the Indians 11-2 thumping of the White Sox.

Beautiful night for a game.

Asdrubal Cabrera knocked in five runs.

Harold Baines was coaching first for the Sox last night. I was waiting for a bus at the Federal Building several years ago as Harold was making his way down East 6th for a game.

Me: "Hey, Harold. Don't hit us too hard tonight."

Baines (smiling): "4-for-4 with 4 RBIs."

Jeanmar Gomez is 5-0 for the Tribe since his last callup.

Can't we bunt on this guy?

Fukudome is tired. It's September.

Joe Smith doing an imitation of my contorted body following the Foo Fighters.

Carlos Santana, looking prepared.

Two Indians pitchers I didn't even know were on the team finished up last night.

First, Putnam.

Then Kluber.

Meal of Links

Roger Ebert fixes Netflix for them. Even he thinks streaming is the way to go.

Rick Perry. This year's Fred Thompson. Lazy candidate.

America's best burgers. With love for B Spot.

Hypocrisy and the death penalty. A thoughtful read.

"The Office" returned last night. Here is a profile of Mindy Kaling.

Exercise Yard

I absolutely loved Marvelous Marvin Hagler. The history of the Hagler-Leonard fight. After the defeat, Hagler never fought again.

Hagler-Minter (with the bottles)



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40 Across: Seven-time N.L. batting champ (6 letters) Answer: Musial

Last night, Best Friend and I saw the Foo Fighters. As always, when Dave Grohl is in town, you know you are going to a ROCK show.

The Venue: Quicken Loans Arena. The home of the $8 cocktail.

Dave Grohl: Grohl remains quite the entertainer. He reminded us that about 40 minutes to an hour away from here, there is a city with a street named after him. The city would be Warren, OH. He also said it wasn't really a street, but "an alley behind a Burger King. Because there is no way they are gonna name a fuckin' boulevard after Dave Grohl."

After the last song when everyone is waiting for encores, the video screen comes on. Again with the night vision backstage. People cheer. Then who do they switch to? Of course, it's Grohl. How many are they gonna play? He cups his ear to the crowd, they go crazy. It's always funny. Are they gonna do two songs? The negotiation begins. Then Tyler Hawkins gets into the act. Eventually, they decide five is enough and they come back on stage.

The Tickets: We were in Club Section 108 about 5 rows from the front. Pretty good seats which allowed us to see everything.

The Crowd: The upper section facing the stage was curtained off. The other uppers maybe half-filled. The floor was not overly packed and it looks like 10,000 were there. I gotta say the atmosphere in the clubs was way different than the last time we saw them, when we had great seats downstairs. Lesson learned.

The Sound: The Q used to really suck soundwise. Dave's screaming and cussing came through with no problems.

They had two opening acts last night and we got in a lot earlier than last time, when Supergrass was on the bill. The first was Mariachi el Bronx. Sort of disappointed we didn't see them. Rise Against was next and I thought they were very good. Really a hard driving sound.

The Stage: The setup was a bit different this time. The stage floor was lit up at times.. Grohl still has a ramp into the audience. This allows for the typical gesturing and running around with your guitar. At the end of the ramp was a stage, which later elevated maybe about 15 steps and that gave everyone at the shitty end to say they at least saw Dave Grohl, up close. Two video screens fronted the stage.

The Foos were back to a more normal number with 5 members and an ocassional keyboardist. You have four guitars, including Grohl, up front. In the back, we have the keyboards and Taylor Hawkins on drums, of course.

The Music: A consistently strong performance once again last night. All the hits were terrific, "Let It Die" "My Hero" and "Monkey Wrench". We got a solo version of "Best of You" this time. "Everlong" closed it out with the full band treatment, which was acoustic last time.

Setlist:

Bridge Burning
Rope
The Pretender
My Hero
Learn to Fly
White Limo
Arlandria
Breakout
Cold Day in the Sun
Long Road to Ruin
Stacked Actors
Walk
Monkey Wrench
Let It Die
These Days
This Is a Call
All My Life

Encore:

Wheels (Grohl solo)
Best of You (Grohl solo)
Times like These (Grohl solo)
Dear Rosemary
Breakdown (The Tom Petty song)
Everlong

Once more, a great performance by the Foo Fighters. More bang for the buck than any band out there. You get great tunes, jocularity from the band, and an adoring audience. Still impressive after all these years.

PD review is here.

Meal of Links

Albert Brooks is a revelation in "Drive". A long way from the Danny the Dummy era. Which slays me all the time. Somewhere, I see Andy Kaufmann getting inspired.

Albert Brooks with Danny the Dummy



Does Troy Davis signal the end of the death penalty? I remain a staunch opponent.

R.E.M. folds.

"Pop Song 89"/R.E.M.



Cameron Crowe dissects Pearl Jam tunes. PBS airs this on October 21.

TV's Best Characters. Sterling Archer should be on this list.

Let's talk about death, baby. Let's talk about you and me. Let's talk about all the noncommunicable diseases that may be.

Exercise Yard

I guess we can forget about Dan Gilbert being ruined by the subprime crisis. He is one of Forbes 400 richest Americans.

Visitor

Across Down: ( letters) Answer: TEXT

Connie Schultz leaves the PD. Probably under a cloud, as her Tea Party mea culpa was a scant two weeks ago. Generally, I thought she had an important voice, but for some, they couldn't get beyond Mrs. Sherrod Brown was in their paper. All you need to know is to read the comments on Cleveland.com to find out there is no middle ground.

Meal of Links

Aaaaar, matey! It's International Talk Like A Pirate Day.

It's your Emmy winners. I obviously watch the wrong programs.

A Feist sighting! It's been a while. I think it's been at least 1-2-3-4, probably 5 years.

Look at what Best Buy was selling 15 years ago. 28.8 modems! Packard Bell equipment! You Don't Know Jack games! VHS movies!

Another dumb politician.

Netflix has survived a lot over the years. Lately, it seems they cannot do anything right. It's obvious they need to concentrate more on streaming, while not totally abandoning DVDs. Now, they can't even name the spinoff without catching heat.

Exercise Yard

College realignment is all the rage currently. But, look at the current Big East. They expanded in 2005 (including Marquette, Louisville and Cincinnati) and now certain schools, like Pitt and Syracuse, several years later decide, eh, it's not so good here. Eventually we get those 4 super conferences and a football playoff system.

Nate Silver makes your head hurt with stats.

Visitor

45 Across: Scotch partner (4 letters) Answer: Soda

OK, everyone can relax, as the Browns beat the Colts today. Sort of another yawner today. The good thing was the defense was only allowing Colt field goals until they gave up a TD with very little time left. They also got two turnovers, one when Reggie Wayne fell, allowing Usama Young to get a cheap interception. And Jabaal Sheard sacked Kerry Collins, picking up a fumble.

Again, not a whole lot happened either way here. The Colts were under 200 total yards until late. The Browns threw the ball 32 times and ran 34 making a lot of people pleased with the playcalling. Too many short passes, but they live to see another day.

Browns win, 27-19.

Meal of Links

Look at the size of those cans!

Not normally associated with recycling, but these are the size of the receptacles that Cleveland is using as part of its Sustainability 2019 Program. These cans were delivered to our expansion area (ward) this past Thursday. The black one is for garbage and it holds 95 gallons. On a weekly basis, I'd be lucky to fill two bags worth in the winter, without any yard waste. The blue one is 65 gallons for recycling. That looks like a one per month for me to even get close to maybe a third full. Maybe I should have ordered the smaller ones. But the things you can recycle! The cardboard toilet paper roll, for instance. Sheesh. First time I've had to recycle in the city for a long time.

Keith Law hated "Moneyball". Paul DePodesta (Jonah Hill's charecter) didn't want his name in the movie.

Overcoming the fear of public speaking. Still, a dreadful experience for many.

Exercise Yard

I was a bit perplexed to find that Floyd Mayweather actually beat Victor Ortiz by a KO. Hasn't had many of those lately. But it was the way he won.

Ortiz does a diving headbutt into Mayweather in the corner. The ref breaks them apart, rightfully penalizing Ortiz. As they get back to the center of the ring, Ortiz tries to apologize and give Floyd a hug. Floyd looks like he's going to go into a full embrace, and with a move straight from the WWE, notices the ref is not looking, Mayweather then decides to hit Ortiz with a slappy left to the face, then a huge right to the chin of the defenseless Ortiz. KO! The ref didn't appear to indicate that time had been restored after the headbutt, but awarded Floyd the win anyhow. Uh-oh. Get the conspiracy theories ready.

Pretty cheap, borderline legal, but it stands as a KO. Leading to this exchange between Mayweather and HBO's Larry Merchant.

Mayweather: "HBO needs to fire you; you don't know shit about boxing."

Merchant: "I wish I was 50 years younger and I would kick your ass."

God Bless Larry Merchant



Visitor

None, on a sunny Browns Sunday.

I saw "Drive" today at Cinemark. I thought there would be more, well, driving. There was a terrific scene at the beginning of the movie where Ryan Gosling, as a getaway car driver, delivers the goods with the cops actively seeking his vehicle. But we had only three scenes or so, where his driving skills were needed. It's obvious they wanted some differentiation from the "Transporter" series.

This movie was actually quite a surprise. Let's hope Gosling and Carey Mulligan were not paid by the word, because the dialogue here was sparse, at best. Especially the scenes where both were involved. Bryan Cranston took time off from "Breaking Bad" and is good as Gosling's daytime and nighttime boss. The two heavies are partners Ron Perlman and Albert Brooks. Brooks gets the juiciest of those two roles, as he gets to do some interesting killing.

And that's where the movie takes a turn, so to say. You think Gosling is just a quiet guy going about his business. But oh, he's got a mean streak and can kill with the best of him. And the violence is almost over-the-top, but somehow fits the crimes.

I liked this one a lot. A throwback-80's style soundtrack, a non-glitzy LA, minimal dialogue, all make for something different at the cinema. And for all the driving and violence here, it was one of the quietest movies I've seen. If you were chomping on popcorn during this one, it would have sounded as if you were at the feeding trough.

Really good stuff, one of the best I've seen this year.

Meal of Links

The Marble Rye Lady died. Much scarier in her David Lynch appearances.

Johnny Depp is shown in "Dark Shadows". Oh, I dunno about this one. But I saw a trailer for "Rum Diary", where he plays Hunter S. Thompson again. That looked good.

The Republican strategy to beat President Obama? Electoral college shenanigans.

Exercise Yard

The Indians minor-league team that probably gets the least amount of publicity locally is the Kinston Indians. Well, they are moving. To Zebulon, NC. For some reason, I have never forgotten that Zebulon is the hometown of comedian Lonnie Schorr.

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47 Down: "Chestnuts roasting..." co-writer (5 letters) Answer: Torme

MLB had nothing better to do today, so they released the 2012 schedule . The Indians open against the Blue Jays on Holy Thursday. So, that means hot dogs unless there is a rainout. Next year, the season extends into October.

The Red Sox and Yankees only come in once, but both are here in August. Interleague is awfully strange with the new "Miami" Marlins, Pirates, and Reds at home and the Reds, Astros and Cardinals on the road. Memorial Day and Independence Day are at home. This may be the year to take a roadie out to Seattle or Minnesota, during the dog days.

The other thing you notice is those dreaded two-game series. They have two of those in May and only 9 home games in June. The June schedule is tough, because if they suck, they are out of sight, out of mind. Or, if they play well, you wish you could see them more.

Meal of Links

Frank Deford called this, "the most important article ever written about college sports". Well worth the time.

The "Austin City Limits" schedule is up. As always, it's worth watching. Jeff Bridges this year.

Your Fall TV Cancellation Forecast. Yes, there are many duds awaiting us.

Elizabeth Warren. Populist.

Exercise Yard

What happened to my alma mater's football team? After whomping on Brooklyn, 64-14, they got shutout at JFK. Last week, they were getting shutout at Cleveland Central Catholic when a brawl erupted in the third quarter. That game got called. So, being shorthanded, they did what any smart team would do. They will forfeit this week's game to Glenville. That was allegedly a home game, but they were playing it at Marshall.

On an unrelated note, we get Marv Albert for this week's Browns-Colts game!

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52 Across: Seven-time Grammy-winning jazz singer (9 letters) Answer: Al Jarreau