Double, Double Toil and Trouble

Former major league baseball player Ivan Calderon was killed recently.

My one memory of Ivan ("ee-von") is of a grand slam he hit against the A's in the late 80's. I was sitting with my parents out in the left field bleachers in Oakland and the fellow sitting next to me caught the ball. That's pretty much the closest I've been to a batted ball at a professional game and I'll admit that I didn't move an inch as it headed towards me. I'll bet Steve Bartman wishes he had reacted the same way.

UPDATE: I've just spent the last 20 minutes trying to figure out the exact date of the Calderon granny. The key factors that I remember from the game are as follows: Day game (saturday or sunday), Calderon's GS, Dave Parker was on the A's (his "non-HR" over the right field foul pole cost us the game), White Sox won the game, and it was a relatively high scoring affair.

Assuming my recollections are correct, the game was played on either 4/17/88 or 4/8/89. (That's the best I can do without checking the microfiche.)

Calderon's stats
Dave Parker's stats
1988 ChiSox Schedule
1989 ChiSox Schedule

Product Placement

Chicken of the Sea explains their company name to Jessica Simpson. The lesson: if you're going to say something stupid on TV, use a brand name and get free stuff.

Blowfish Prep

Ask Yahoo! has a great little tidbit about the life-threatening dangers of eating blowfish. My favorite line: "During the exam, which has only a 25% pass rate, the chef must prepare and then eat a meal of puffer fish."

Are the other 75% dying? What's going on there?

Bad Dude

Steer clear of Suge Knight at all costs.

He's a bad man.

Drunken Buffoon

Click on Namath's interview from this page and watch the whole thing. It just gets better and better.

Department of Homeland Budget Security?

"America needs to know that those who need to do things are doing them, that their government is working 24-7 to protect them against terrorist attack."
-Tom Ridge

This sounds like Ridge raised the terror alert level so we know he's doing something. I certainly hope that's not the case. (full article here)

Scooby Dooby Doo

It wouldn't surprise me if this whole situation was a publicity stunt to promote Scooby Doo 2.