Feel Good Story du Jour

From Kansas City by way of the NY Times:

A Fan Visits From Afar, and the Royals Come Alive

By RANY JAZAYERLI  AUG. 12, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — How do I begin this story? How can I convince you that the greatest story for Royals fans in 29 years is unfolding before our eyes, and its protagonist lives a hemisphere away, speaks imperfect (but diligent) English and had never set foot in Kauffman Stadium until last Thursday?

I read on, and I was convinced. A nice guy visits a nice town and the result is a great story.

Comments

[Thomas Collins]

Nothing is better than a summer in which your team is in the pennant race. My favorite is the Impossible Dream Summer of '67.

[lyle]

What's a "pennant race"?

[Thomas Collins]

If nothing else, the Royals' surge has ended premature talk about the pitching matchups in the formerly inevitable Tigers-A's American League Championship Series.

[matt]

They lost last night....

[Thomas Collins]

Well, lyle, I admit that a race for one of the five playoff spots in each league doesn't have quite the same flavor. And constantly checking one's smartphone for the score does not measure up to running over to the car with the radio on to ask about the progress of Yaz, Gentleman Jim and the rest of the boys. But it's still a joyous summer if your team is in the mix.

[Jane]

What a fun story!

[Thomas Collins]

The Tigers lost, too, so the Kaycees are still in first place in the AL Central.

Of course, I don't have a problem being distracted by the Fenway team this summer.

[Thomas Collins]

Re the Dead Flops: You know it's not a good summer for your team when the player attracting the most attention from your fans is playing on the other side of the continental US.

http://espn.go.com/boston/mlb/story/_/id/11347438/oakland-athletics-pitcher-jon-lester-not-ruling-possible-return-boston-red-sox

[GMax]

I only lived one year in the KC area, but that was year when George Brett was making hitting a baseball look effortless. Yes the stadium on a moonlight evening is a very good place to be.

Thank God Zero did not get wind of this story and try to horn in on the action...

[lyle]

TC, I actually do start to pay attention to MLB (or as it comes up on the cable channel, "MLB Baseball") in the post season. But I rarely watch a single game during the rest of the year. Just never lived where there was a team to get behind. The closest to me is the Mariners and, well, you know. FTR, my general MLB disinterest makes me the pariah to my inlaws.

[peter]

tc@12:34

life goes on. remember in those days you probably thought Naragansett was good beer

[Dave (in MA)]

TC, funny how you fondly remember a year they didn't win, over '18, '04, '07 and '13.

[NKinLimbo]

Wait Naragansett is beer?

[AliceH]

Just never lived where there was a team to get behind.

Did you even READ THE POST, lyle in nearby Idaho? Fan From Korea. KOREA! Korea is hardly near to a MLB team.

And you dare to call yourself an American. Pfui!

/trollingwithfakeoutrage

[Captain Hate]

I've always had a soft spot for the Royals and hated the times when they fell short of the Yankees, either by the umps erroneously calling Patek out at second with Brett on deck, setting up Chambliss's game winnig homer or when the White Rat had a brain fart and pitched Dennis Leonard in a closer role where he served up batting practice. Finally they got over on them in a three game series where Brett sealed the win with a titanic shot off a Gossage smoker. Howard Cosell and Billy Martin were doing the game and both were obvious Brinks Bomber shills; they were silent until Jim Palmer said "I think that landed in the upper deck".

I've always thought the stadium looked very nice.

[lyle]

What a guy.

http://pagesix.com/2014/08/12/golfers-frisked-as-obama-unexpectedly-arrives-at-marthas-vineyard-club/

[lyle]

Maybe I should dare to call myself Korean, AH. ;)

[jimmyk]

the umps erroneously calling Patek out at second with Brett on deck

Of course the Royals were on the receiving end of one of the all-time worst call in 1985, one that gave them a World Series championship.

Still, nice story, and yes, the stadium is one of the few from that era that was attractive.

[Captain Hate]

Quite correct, jimmyk; the Jorge Orta call was horrible and the White Rat was victimized by that as well. I was cheering for the Royals in that series but just barely, since I like the Redbirds also. Too bad the series was marred by that call but it's an integral part of baseball. It's not like the Cards have been lacking in storybook endings on their side.

[NKinLimbo]

The Royals were the best managed baseball organization in the pre-free agency period. They imitated and then surpassed the Cards and Dodger minor league development systems and made shrewd trades. They capped it by going to the '80 and 'winning' the '85 I-70 World Series. Since then big money free agency has dominated, and their attempt at spending in the early 90s (Kaufmann's last hurrah) was disasterous. BTW my favorite Royals moment was the '80 ALCS, game 2 a furious Steinbrenner screams at GM Stick michael and manager Dick Howser, the Yanks were swept, and Steinbrenner fired classy Dick Howser after the season. Howser went to KC and won the '85 World Series, he died 2 years later of cancer. A great loss, Howser was a great baseball man. I despised George Steinbrenner in those days. What a schmuck he was.

[GMax]

Oh how precious this one is. MoveON.org has a post which says:

Democrats are losing. BADLY.

Yes, yes there are. hahahahahahaha

[lyle]

“As a veteran myself and someone who fought in a very different kind of war, I come here with utter awe for those who served here in the circumstances and the manner in which they served,” he said.

Piece of shit. Yeah, you know who said this. Spit.

[Captain Hate]

Bang spot on about Dick Howser, NK. When he died of cancer it felt like a favorite uncle passed.

[Captain Hate]

Tammy Bruce talking about Lauren Bacall harkening back to the days when actresses had real faces.

[lyle]

Yet another reason to despise Fecesbook:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2014/08/the_facebook_factor_in_the_gops_battle_to_take_the_senate.html

[NKinLimbo]

CaptH-- you wouldn't believe the nonsense Steinbrenner said about Howser after the '80 ALCS when he fired him. Howser won 103 games in '80, and he did it with smart baseball and no drama. George couldn't stand the lack of drama, 103 wins or not. So George went back on the Bob Lemon/Billy Martin revolving door, and the Yanks weren't good again until George was suspended and Stick michael and Buck Showalter professionally ran the team during the suspension and acquired the great young talent that won those WS for the Yanks in the late 90s.

[Thomas Collins]

Narragansett at Bradley's Café in Providence, peter, was a liquid treat for me. Lyle, if you don't have a team, join Red Sox Nation (probably not a good summer to make that pitch, I'll concede). Dave (in MA), my most thrilling fan moment is when Rico caught the popup, which didn't even clinch the pennant, but clinched the tie. Second most thrilling is earlier in the game with Gentleman Jim's bunt base hit. Third is Tartabull throwing out Berry at home plate in the regular season (that one I listened to on the radio). Fourth is George Brunet closing out the Tigers later in the last day of the '67 regular season (another radio one), which put the Red Sox into the World Series against the St. Louis Gibsons. Fifth is the tuck rule call that preserved the Pats' impossible dream 2001 season. I don't get to an actual championship moment until my sixth most thrilling moment: Vinatieri's field goal to beat the Rams. Although Vinatieri ranks sixth in pure fandom moments, it is the most overall poignant moment for me in retrospect, because it's the last championship game I watched with my Dad, who died later in 2002.

[NKinLimbo]

ThomasC-- in Yankee Stadium 1992, a Saux fan who drove down for that saturday afternoon game, told me a story about the final out of '78 'playin' game at Fenway (BOOOOO!!!.) Can't vouch if it's true but a good story if you want me to relay.

[Danube on iPad]

To return to a topic we discussed here a couple of weeks ago, here's the straight scoop on UDT/SEAL:

The short version is, in order to call yourself a SEAL you have to have served in a SEAL team. In 1983 Irish Flynn, then the senior SEAL, directed that the remaining UDT teams be converted to SEAL teams. Thus, UDT 12 (Ventura's old team) became SEAL team 3. It wasn't just a paper transaction; the missions changed from swimmer-type stuff (reconnaissance, clearing obstacles) to out-and-out combat of the highest order.

Ventura left the service several years before this transition, and thus in the eyes of SEALs was not and is not one of them. Were he to put on his uniform he would not be entitled to wear the trident. There are guys - I know a couple - who were never SEALs but refer to themselves that way. The SEALs don't much like it but they tend not to call the guys on it.

[Thomas Collins]

What's the story, NK?

[Captain Hate]

Thanks for that follow up, DoT; I'll consider that the definitive word on the perceived status.

[Jane]

VDH is very good:

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/362404/obama-still-president-victor-davis-hanson

[NKinLimbo]

DoT-- back in the mid-late 90s (when Ventura was mayor of Brooklyn Mn.), Ventura was a guest on the Imus show. He was very specific in describing himself a a "UDT Frogman' who spent his time pulling drowning Marines out of the surf during amphib landing drills. I rememeber Ventura describing UDT as elites, but forerunners of the SEALs. He sang their little UDT jingle (to the tune of 'O Tannebaum'.) SEALs are a national treasure, appropriating the title is really wrong, and violators should be called out.

[Jane]

they should have frisked Obama not the people he interrupted.

[Captain Hate]

they should have frisked Obama not the people he interrupted.

It's a private club, no? Maybe whichever member invited him should start having a hard time getting good tee times.

[Bori]

Jane,

Frisking Obama is a waste of time, after all he has is his pen, cellphone and his mouth. Dangerous but hardly illegal items.

[Thomas Collins]

CH, I wonder whether he was invited, or whether the Federal Government commandeered the club for the private benefit of the POTUS.

[Extraneus]

He carries more than that. Janet can show you.

[Bori]

From the previos thread,

After some hundreds of generations human nature gets the idea that marriage, or whatever word is used for it ... is something special as compared to "playboys, single mothers, polygamists ..."

There is one civilized society where Marriage is not seen that way, Communist countries. Take Cuba for instance, there marriage is seen as old fashioned and useless.

The Cuban government used to provide bridal dresses, a hotel room and beer for weddings, not it does not. Housing is also an issue as newliweds still have to live in their parents or separately.

Some Cubans say that if you can't provide for one, how are you going ot provide for two. For them their is not societal benefit from marriage, no property or inheritance to leave to children, no tax breaks, etc.

The State is the father, the provider, the religion. To them marriage is just another added burden.

[Captain Hate]

So 404 can Kelo a private country club? It probably wouldn't be the most lawless thing he did yesterday.

I guess having a potential best seller isn't important:

http://hotair.com/archives/2014/08/13/report-simon-schuster-imprint-rejected-book-about-bergdahl-because-it-would-make-obama-look-bad/

[NKinLimbo]

ThomasC-- so the Saux fan claimed to be a 20something at Fenway for the '78 playin game sitting by the Pesky Pole in right field. Saux down 5-2, Gossage pitching and is hittable. Saux get 2 in the 8th, make it 5-4. Bottom 9, Gossage tiring, 2 out, 2 on, Bridgehampton LI's Yaz is up. He said Fenway was rocking, he never heard it louder, even during the '86WS. Bedlam, they KNOW Yaz will come through. The moment Yaz pops up, the crowd goes completely silent, and he heard Nettles calling 'got it'. The crowd silently files out of Fenway like they are leaving mass.

[matt]

My history of the SEAL's is in storage, as is the rest of my life until we move, but my understanding was that they were very active in Vietnam.

A friend of mine served on a Swift boat and their job was inserting and extracting SEAL's in the Mekong Delta. I may be mistaken.

The UDT guys were pretty damn good as well. Being a Navy Frogman pushed an individual to the limit in other ways. Swimming in a mile or so to the beach, gathering sand and rock samples, and then swimming out without getting caught is a very tall order.

[Thomas Collins]

Thanks for finally finishing the '78 playoff game for me, NK. Once the popout was caught, I turned the TV off, so I didn't see the crowd reaction.

I actually had a more negative reaction to game 3 of the 2004 ALCS than I did to the end of the '78 playoff game. In '78, the Yankees made a great run that should have wrapped up the pennant, but the Sox came roaring back and forced a playoff game. My reaction after game three of the 2004 ALCS was that the Sox were not only going to lose, but were also going to go meekly into the night.

[Man Tran on iPhone]

Lyle, re Fecesbook.

This comment brings thing into focus:

If a bakery, flower shop or bridal shop can't refuse service to someone they disagree with, on the premise that they have to serve everyone if they run a business that serves the public, why should Zuck get away with not serving everyone?

[NKinLimbo]

Matt-- weren't UDT frogmen also tasked with removing mines from beach obstacles and using explosives to clear obstacles for amphib vehicles?

[Ignatz]

--Tammy Bruce talking about Lauren Bacall harkening back to the days when actresses had real faces.

Posted by: Captain Hate | August 13, 2014 at 01:58 PM--

A pox on the house of whoever convinced poor deluded women (and men) that having a "doctor" pump filler into their upper lips until they have two wings on each side of their nose and gives them a speech impediment somehow makes them more attractive.

[NKinLimbo]

Political belief isn't proscribed 'invideous' discrimination in a public accommodation(except on college campuses)

[narciso]

'war on wimmin' only seems to be a thing, when they say it is, the Top Men concur,

[henry]

A feel good story from Aetna.

"The nation’s third-largest health insurer had 720,000 people sign up for exchange coverage as of May 20.... Aetna expects that to fall to “just over 500,000″ by the end of the year. That would leave Aetna’s paid enrollment down as much as 30% from that May sign-up tally."

More feel goodness at the link.

[lyle]

TC, thanks for the invitation to cast my fandom to Boston. I have been to Fenway about 15 years ago. I was on a business trip and a long time buddy procurred tix from one of his brokers in the downtown Smith Barney office. Turns out the seats were the first two rows directly behind home plate in a six seat box. The Idaho rubes took five seats. The sixth person was the guy who ran the radar gun for Boston.

But my favorite anecdote came from riding the T to the ballpark. Unsurprisingly packed, I notice a guy with his 10ish year old son both wearing Yankee regalia amidst all the Red Soxers. (Boston was not playing NYY that night.) After getting off the train with the masses making their way to the park, I quietly pointed these two out to one of my cohorts. A Boston fan overhears me and pops off in a thick Boston accent, "Those two had Yankee stuff on?! Man, that takes a lot of sack." My first and only time I've heard this particular idiom. I still laugh about it.

[Marlene]

Oh,the 1978 Red Sox/Yankee playoff game. Hubby was working his way up the institutional food service management ladder. We were living in Worcester and he was assistant manager of the Assumption College food service. Most of the students waited to come to to the cafeteria after the game ended,not in a happy state of mind. The movie Animal House was released in 1978. Yeah,food fight. Hubby got home about midnight that day. The kitchen and cafeteria had to be sprayed down from ceiling to floor. Guys were going thru the dishwashing machine to be sprayed down. The Red Sox have given New Englanders good memories,ha,ha.

[Danube on iPad]

"I rememeber Ventura describing UDT as elites, but forerunners of the SEALs"

Absolutely correct on both counts. He should have left it at that.

The SEALs were indeed extremely active in Vietnam, both in the Mekong Delta and the Rung Sat Special Zone. When I left (9/68) the Swifts had not yet come up into the rivers, and we in the PBRs would do the insertions and extractions. They had an extraordinary kill ratio; I think it was on the order of 100 to 1.

[Stephanie]

Braves/Minnesota 91. Kent Hrbek. spit.

The worst to first pennant run.
Smoltz, Glavine, Avery.
The will they or won't they overcome the Dodgers to win it all atmosphere.
The Sid Bream slide to win the pennant.
The controversial Hrbek/Gant first base out. Spit.
The Bobby Cox decision to put Liebrandt in as pitcher in game 7. idiot.

The ultimate cardiac kids.

That was a crazy summer.

I had just opened a baseball card shop and caught the wave on the rise. People who didn't even know about baseball wanted a 'team set' of Braves cards. Closed the store each night and raced to the stadium to catch the fun including the Otis Nixon 'catch'.

Tickets were cheap and the baseball was awesome.

[Pagar]

A withering Off Topic question.

Why were no work boots stolen doing the looting ?

http://clashdaily.com/2014/08/wonder-work-boots-stolen-looting-missouri/

[narciso]

speaking of Top Men, they were in Reid Epstein's Journal piece, ostensible piece on the repeal of the franchise free, but it degenerates into attacks on the Huntress, by
Andrew "8%" Halcro, who is for the repeal, and Hollis 'Gunny' French, against

[Laura White]

Ok I understand that these baseball narratives are mildly-displaced narratives of patriotic feeling (my Lord, that sounded snide-- will you please believe me that I actually liked and endorsed them all), but I would just like to draw to the attention of all that TM is seriously furious and rightly so at the wickedness of our current FP foolishness?

[Stephanie]

The leading from behind Foreign Policy foolishness? We're all just leading from behind repeating our own stories after TM started it off, Laura. ;)