Filament Friday 11/15/2013

I’m adding dates to the titles of the Filament Fridays, as that is apparently all I can contribute to my own site anymore. Links!

• Every time I want to write something thoughtful and reasoned about the Cubs, this guy John Arguello over at Cub’s Den writes it first. Good stuff here about staying the course. And stay tuned, I may yet have something to write about the Cubs…
• Apparently other people Ramble about the Cubs, too, but this is getting included for the mention of Ced Landrum. Check out this 1991 stat line that Ced put up for a pretty middle of the road Cubs team.
  

  Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
  1991	27	CHC	NL	56	99	86	28	20	2	1	0	6	27	5	10	18	.233	.313	.279	.592

  I actually remember this team well, as this was around the time I became more interested in stats and following the game at a deeper level. There were several players on that team that I just KNEW were going to be stars that I missed on COMPLETELY. Rick Wilkens, Derrick May, Jose Vizcaino, Gary Scott, Frank Castillo, just to name a few. But, Ced Landrum was the biggest miss of all. Playing out the end of the year as Jerome Walton was flaming out, Ced seemed like he stole a base every time he got on. I was convinced the Cubs had found their leadoff man for the next 10 years. Imagine my confusion when he didn’t even make the team the following year. He played 22 games with the Mets in 1993 and never played another major league game afterwards. I guess the lesson is beware arm chair GM’s on the internet. They’re likely to be super awkward teenagers who don’t know what the hell they’re talking about.

• I fully support the idea of the Cubs hiring a robot announcer.
• The Onion has been killing it on the topic of the Washington NFL team’s name.
• As the back and forth in the Dolphin’s bullying story (scandal? Was anyone really surprised by this?) continues, I came across Matthew Berry’s fantasy football column and some really powerful words he opens up with. I think if “we” are going to get anything out of this saga it is going to require a lot of open-mindedness and looking from different perspectives. As Berry mentions, it’s not unexpected that Incongnito doesn’t think he was doing anything wrong – which doesn’t mean what he did wasn’t wrong, but means that perhaps we should react towards him with something besides anger and name calling. Or, to put it another way, maybe we shouldn’t bully the bully.
• I LOVE THIS HEADLINE!!! The Robot Restaurant is now on my bucket list.
• The nice folks over at Canal Street Chronicles are having a prediction contest for the Saints – 49’ers game. I have no idea what the prize is, but here are my predictions:
  1. Saints D gets a safety.
  2. Hartley makes 2+ FG’s.
  3. Ingram rushes for 69+ yards (bow chicka bow wow).
• Marques Colston scoring a touchdown, Marques Colston scoring a touchdown, Marques Colston scoring a touchdown, Marques Colston scoring a touchdown, Marques Colston scoring a touchdown, Marques Colston scoring a touchdown…
  

  Marques Colston scoring a touchdown, Marques Colston scoring a touchdown, Marques Colston scoring a touchdown, Marques…

• I love Zen Pencils.
• According to this, coffee, citrus and nuts are key to preventing diabetes. In other news, I will never get diabetes.
• The Wizards are 2-6 and everyone is all #SoWizards and stuff. I’m still optimistic (shocker), but the schedule is about to get easier, with games coming up against Cleveland (twice), Toronto, Milwaukee and the ever-dysfunctional New York Knicks. It’s not inconceivable that the Wizards could go 6-3 over their next 9 and finish up November within a game of .500. And, yes, I know what that word means.
  
• According to ESPN.com, the Wiz could already throw in the towel on the season and start trading everyone, starting with the recently acquired Marcin Gortat. That link is ESPN Insider content (sorry), but the key phrase is, “It’s still early and much of the early woes can be attributed to a difficult schedule, but…”. Anytime you see a sentence like this you can generally assume what comes after the ellipses should be something like, “…I’m going to make up some crap based on the worst case scenario and see what sticks.” It’s pixels for the sake of pixels.
• This is good for added perspective – The Sad, Beautiful Fact That We Are All Going To Miss Almost Everything. So, you know, appreciate the things you do get to experience.
• Speaking experience, friend of the family Andrew Boston is the new head coach of the Uganda Lacrosse team. His first job is to get the team ready for next year’s World Championship.
• Cutting the filaments short today, I’ll end with my official Saints – 49’ers prediction. As above, I’m calling for a safety by the Saints defense, so the final score ends up 22-13 for the black and gold. As a child of the NFC West era Saints I will always have a special hatred in my heart for the 49’ers, so this one will make me extra happy.