SB Nation User Blog: Apricot

DLD 12/18/08. Shake it like an Apricot picture.

Apricot — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:02:42 -0000

1. Intro

It has been a tumultuous time. Not only was Fanfest cancelled, but Apple left Macworld. I have some very deep (i.e., boring to you, but you know how to scroll, so quit whining, I only post twice a year) things to say about this, but first, let us clear our minds with the following:

Q: CONAN! What is good in life?

A: The Senior Hip Hop Choir.

(Really, go watch it.)

My first reaction was to flinch in horror, then embarrassment. The internet has trained us to be sent links to unreflective idiots on Youtube that we are expected to feel contempt for. But, soon came the realization that these are not stupid people, they know they are going to look ridiculous, you can see a few of them cracking up as they go. There is no chance anyone will think they are hip. So why do it? As they put it, and I believe it, it's a way to try to connect to generations well after their time, and to provoke strong reactions and conversation. The world is passing them by, and instead of refusing to see the change, they stick their heads out the window. So my reaction to the clip now is still a bit of horror, but also a lot of respect for the guts it took to make that and share it out.

2. Macworld

Now, Apple had a very long tradition of being a spectacle at Macworld, particularly the Jobs keynote. The loss of this tradition is a matter of indifference to most people, but to serious Appleheads, there is a sense of nostalgia and that the world is changing in scary ways. But Apple, A.J.R. (After Jobs's Return), has been a company that has made unusual, risky, tradition-wrecking corporate moves. This was the only way that a company on the brink of doom, a huge underdog, could survive and thrive. As Gruber says, Apple not only broke industry traditions, but seemed to go out of its way to break their own traditions.

Actually, when I was a pup, I had an Apple //e, a spectacular computer and perhaps the last, best computer which an geeky owner might be able to say they understood EVERYTHING about it, from machine language to the chips on the motherboard. I loved that computer. And Apple went out of its way to smash that tradition with the incompatible Mac. At the time (80s) I was fairly bitter about it and it took me many years to come around to buying my first Mac. But the products were compelling, so I caved in.

3. The Point, And I Do Have One

Now my point, and I do have one, is that the A's are similar in certain but not all ways. They are the plucky underdogs, they defy tradition and conventional wisdom and keep looking for the next edge. They toss aside the fan favorites out of cold numerical assessment, they swap away players at the hint of an inefficiency to exploit, they close the upper deck that has so many nice memories. And now they are scrapping Fanfest, which in all likelihood was NOT getting them any bump in tickets sold, and was a pain in the butt to put on. I feel uneasy at the change, but in reality, I never enjoyed Fanfest as much as I wanted to. The Q&A could never address anything meaty, and everything else was kind of a muddle. I do have a memory (was this a Fanfest?) of coming out of a theater (Paramount?) and seeing Macha handing me an A's DVD. I had a split second of wanting to find something clever or probing to say to him, but then I was quickly pushed out onto the street.

But here is the difference. Apple thrives by getting people to want to buy a product and to love it for its design, effectiveness or fashion. And viewed clinically, the A's do too. They thrive when people come to love their product: their players. The difference is that you get to keep your iPhone and cuddle it to sleep; you don't get to keep your shiny new Nick Swisher and his pointing up to his grandma, he gets traded as soon as possible. You don't keep your Haren and Harden. Even your misfit toys like Hatty and Marco are left behind. You get left with Bobby Crosby's ass, whose efforts you eye with contempt like some pathetic unreflective Youtube star's.

You know, people say you should root for the laundry, but that's idiotic. (Go rinse cycle, go go!) Sports is about emotional connections to people that you like striving under pressure and duress. When Marco Scutaro had another of his unlikely game-winning hits, it meant so much more, watching his struggle and blossom as a utility player (and it goes into another dimension if you've seen Player to Be Named Later). When Huddy outdueled Pedro, it felt extra good because you saw him come up and grow through the years. When Kendall kept on making those crazy painful suicidal plays, it meant more because you'd gotten to know him. When Hatty got that gamewinner off K-Rod, it meant so much more because it was Dad and it was dor-K.

I know the numbers pretty well that are driving the decisions. I know the A's are setting themselves up quite well for a long run in 2010 (with possible bonus play next year). Anyone who's seen my mathy posts in the past knows I don't think that Joe Morgan is right about the Enrons and nasty computers. But I feel for him, because I grew up in the 70s watching that brand of baseball. Where people didn't get paid ungodly sums (however deserved) and free agency and payroll differences didn't SEEM to shred teams of their identity. We miss what we think we remember about those times, when hustle counted and clever managing won games, not getting on base and waiting for the long ball.

I've been wrestling a bit with my relative indifference to the A's this year. I still want them to succeed, and I'm curious about the new players. But you know, I'd really just gotten to know my old players from the last ten years! And it makes it worse to come to AN and catch up, because my eye is drawn to the people that I know here from that time (how could I have missed Sal's dogsled manhunt for Thunderbutt?), and I think about the games and events we shared from that time (all those listed above). I can never forget coming to AN to process with others Kendall's Tag and reading McFood rambling about huge brass balls. I guess it's in the archives. And I don't care if it's good or bad for the team... I miss those players and I want them back, and I'm emotionally exhausted from caring for too many players in too short a time. I do find myself rooting for laundry this year and, well, it's hard to be too invested in how clothing performs.

So many of these kinds of posts are passive-aggressive bargaining ploys. "I won't support the A's anymore unless they change!" This isn't one of those. I understand why the A's are moving as they're moving. In fact, they'll be moving to Fremont, or San Jose, or Portland or Las Vegas soon. And maybe they'll be able to hang on to some players that we like. I know it's nothing personal: they did a cost-benefit analysis and it so happens I'm part of the cost.

We'll always have the archives. Until the New Depression takes the servers offline.

yours fruitfully, Apricot

DLD 8/1/08: Apricot Peeks Out of the Killfile

Apricot — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 17:59:23 -0000

hi folks. I've been reading a blog by Joe Posnanski and I think he's fantastic. In fact, he is the only sports writer I'm reading regularly now. He wrote an article about Ziggy which is worth a read, but in some ways is the least enlightening thing I've read by him so far, simply because AN hashes things out so thoroughly. I really like the pieces he wrote about Stan Musial, both the first one and the follow-up where he debunks the story he told in the first one.

There's your link. Dump away.

I have some personal ramblings after the jump in easy-to-ignore form.

This is the part you skip. You can scroll down to the funny comments.

Okay, I've been part of AN long enough that I think I can have one self-indulgent post a year.

My name is Apricot. You may know me from such films as "Moneybutt: The Art of Winning a Sexy Game" and "Killfile VIII: Jason Filters Manhattan". Anyway, I haven't been posting much on the site recently and I wanted you all to know that it's not because I don't love you (although that Sal guy...).

I've had a lot on my plate this summer. In May, Hopey became a big sister.

That's Wyatt looking a little uncertain of his safety.

I've been thinking a little about why I haven't been on AN as much this year. Certainly there are the obvious reasons, like the sleep deficit and general loss of free time. But I realized, there were deeper reasons.

I'm just not as obsessed about baseball this year. I still follow it, don't get me wrong, and I still read AN regularly. It's not because the A's have traded/released literally all of our favorite players this year (at least until Ellis goes). I'm pretty excited to see how Beane blows up a team. He doesn't leave much rubble, does he? It's not because the A's have been mediocre... it's fun to see the new kids and I think we will kick ass in 2010.

To get at the real reason, we have to go back a little bit. In the 70s and early 80s I was a diehard baseball fan. Played Little League, got in trouble at school for writing all my assignments about baseball. I grew up in the middle of NYC with not many other Asian kids and we neighborhood kids all had our conflicts and prejudices and had my share of being called names and challenged to kung fu fights, but when you're on the baseball field, a single is a single, a catch is a catch and we could all talk the language of baseball.

I particularly loved the Expos who were historically terrible in the mid 70s when I first glommed onto them and became a near-success in the 80s until that was shot down by drugs and the baseball strike. Good old 1981. That was the Expos' year, but the strike blew it. They still beat the Phils in the playoff with my favorite player Steve Rogers outdueling Steve Carlton twice. And then they go to the brink of the World Series when the manager pulled what might be called a "reverse Grady" and put in Rogers on 2 days rest in the ninth of Game 5 and Rick Monday hit his famous homer off of him. What a comedown.

Time passed and my enthusiasm continued to wane as my team became more and more of a financial joke, and each strike made me more jaded. I moved to the East Bay in 1991 and started following the A's. I have always preferred the NL game and so my attachment to the A's was casual at first. I could never stand the Bash Brothers (sorry) but Dave Stewart rocked. I would attend games through the 90s. I left the Bay Area for a couple of years and came back in 2001, and that's when my enthusiasm was re-ignited. First, it was embarrassingly easy to get playoff tickets, which was great personally (not for the team). Second, my new partner was a baseball fan (hold on to those, gentlemen). Third, 9-11 happened and the nation became a frightening, insane place. It seems unreal now as we regain our collective sanity, but we really did lose our minds. Baseball was a great distraction from that. Then Moneyball hipped me to the idea that you could use your brain while being a baseball fan. Wow, and our hometeam was the standard bearer for that! Finally, I discovered AN.

AN was a sweet size then, around 2004, when things were getting off the ground. I don't mean AN was better. But you could literally recognize almost everyone who posted, and you could welcome those you didn't recognize. And as that community grew, I felt like I could contribute something to its environment. Nico and I could go on idiotic pun-offs. Sal and I could get rather technical and sabernerdy. I could validate fans who loved the game AND thought the players were hot, with absurdities like Moneybutt. I could post cartoons to general support. It felt nice to help the site grow and help create some critical mass to legitimate all these aspects of the site.

And now AN is sprawling and thriving and has a lot of great people in it who have taken each of those threads in a wonderful direction. And our nation is slowly regaining its sanity (just in time to be broke), so I don't need as much escapism. And I've got my hands full. Which all adds up to: I still love you guys, just not as visibly.

The Link Dump is now open...

DLD 3/10/08: Goodnight Killfile

Apricot — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 16:28:01 -0000

Greetings entities.

A small but vocal subset of ANers know and use the poorly named "Apricot's Killfile", as celebrated(?) in past diaries Fanposts like this legendary poetry slam. Well, to be honest, it's just Xbox who uses it. Anyway, I have asked Daniel Martin, the excellent actual author of killfile for Greasemonkey to update it for AN3, and he claims that it is now working. For those who don't know what killfile is, here is a story for you.

In the great green room, there was a telephone and a red balloon and a picture of a giant snowman waving. And there was an old lady whispering hush to annoying AN users. In fact, she used a script called killfile.user which allowed users of Firefox browser to selectively block the posts from her screen. Goodnight room, goodnight phone, goodnight red balloon. Oh, before you go to sleep, remember you need to install Firefox, Greasemonkey, and then get the killfile script, which will make Firefox install the script (you may need to unblock the popup). Then restart Firefox and look for the "kill/hide comment" links next to every commenting user. This script should work across the SB Nation 3.0. Goodnight nobody, goodnight air, goodnight noises everywhere.

Now onto a couple of token links.

Chavez likely out for opener
The A's have made no announcement, but the general feeling in the organization is that Eric Chavez's streak of Opening Day starts will end at nine. Steve Sayles, the team's head athletic trainer, wouldn't say whether Chavez will make the trip to Japan.

SPRING TRAINING / A's are for real, just ask Sweeney

Mike Sweeney is either extremely optimistic or extremely desperate. At his locker at Phoenix Muni Stadium on Sunday, just before taking the field for another A's workout, Sweeney looked around the room of ballplayers in green and gold and offered a stunning assessment of Bobby Crosby's ass.

Dump away!

DLD 2/15/08: There's Too Much Confusion

Apricot — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 20:11:27 -0000

Where is the DLD? Has it been eaten by the Fanshots?

I tried posting a Fanshot, and (1) it failed, and (2) it doesn't feel the same as having your links lovingly ignored by a hundred hardcore fans.

So. Here is my Link Dump, complete with dumping thought process as a debugging trail for future DLDers and psychologists. This will make it useful to AN3 debuggers and very boring to humans.

{Hey, the cursor randomly jumps out of the textbox when I type too fast and loses focus, much like myself.}

Marine Layer on the new ballpark. {Okay hitting the link button pulls up a blank window that says {$lang_insert_link_title}. Really not helpful.

{Ahhh.... okay turning OFF WYSIWYG has returned things to sanity on Safari/Leopard.} Rule 1. Don't use WYSIWYG.

{Okay, if these links are old, then why don't YOU open up the Dump tomorrow, Mr/s Smarty Pants?}

U.S.S. Mariner predicts A's will win the division, proof solid that there is are horrible bugs in their simulation software.

{Okay, previewing the post was scary. First, it previewed but didn't give any way to re-edit. Secondly, it put things into a funny mode where HTML meant WYSIWYG and vice-versa. AND DAMNIT, STOP LEAVING THE TEXTBOX WHEN I TYPE FAST. Rule 2.To get out of preview hit Esc, don't hit Back.}

{throws }

{OKAY, RULE 3. DON'T USE ANY BUTTONS ON THE BAR. The last button apparently means "destroy your post" if you the whole thing selected. I think in advanced mode, there is a button that means "begin colonoscopy". Don't push that one.}

Okay, it's been a lot of work to post these two links. I apologize to gigglingone for thinking she was a wimp for being exhausted posting her DLD.

This is a game that looks intriguing for fantasy baseball types: Simyard.

Okay, now the whole second half of my post doesn't preview. Why? No one knows. RULE 4. Trying will only lead to FAILURE.

{Ahh... totally gave up on the web interface and I'm editing this in Textmate, a hardcore text editor. The freedom, the feeling of ease of entry... I love the feel of bug-free text entry in the morning... it feels like... Typography.}

{Ah, now I know why the editing felt so familiar. It's EXACTLY the feeling when you're trying to type something and small child is on your lap randomly hitting mouse buttons, keys and body parts.}

RULE 5. Edit text and past it back in, unless you want to simulate having a small child screwing with your computer.

{I'm just going to assume that this is being saved correctly, because my preview hasn't changed in many keystrokes.}

By the way, I talked to the maker of killfile for Firefox, and he has kindly agreed to try to adapt killfile to AN3.

That's all the energy I've got. Dump away. If you can find this diary!

sort-of fantasy baseball game

Apricot — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 19:57:05 -0000

sort-of fantasy baseball game

This doesn't feel the same as a Link Dump, but I'm trying this out anyway.

DLD 6/25/07: A Day In The Head Of Adam Melhuse

Apricot — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:57:32 -0000

Icky weekend. Here some links and cartoons.

Overmatched A's limp out of New York
On the original 2007 major-league schedule, the A's were set to play the Brewers in Milwaukee. When the final, revised schedule was released, however, Oakland wound up with the Mets, one of baseball's best and highest-salaried clubs.

A'S NOTEBOOK / Calero may be next on DL
Closer Huston Street is out, setup man Justin Duchscherer is out and now setup man Kiko Calero is likely to join both on the disabled list today. Calero said he has a tired right shoulder, something like a "dead arm'' that has bothered him.

Team mum about K.C. declining Bradley deal
The A's provided no information whatsoever Saturday after a trade that would have sent Milton Bradley to Kansas City fell through the previous evening. "I have no comment on the situation,'' general manager Billy Beane said Saturday afternoon.

Previously: A Day In The Head of Eric Chavez.

DLD 5/11/07: is this thing on?

Apricot — Fri, 11 May 2007 23:02:52 -0000

Uh, did I miss the Link Dump?

A'S NOTEBOOK / Pitchers get more thrills in the air than they'd like
Oakland has spent a lot of time on the road so far this season, and while the A's finished their three-city May trip with a 5-3 record, their travels have had a lot of bumps. "Every plane trip there's been a lot of turbulence and bad weather."

Oakland A's sign Fremont land deal
The owners of the Oakland A's announced today that they have signed a contract to buy 168 acres for a proposed ballpark development in Fremont. Lew Wolff, the team's managing partner, said the deal will allow him quickly to submit an application...

Pete Townsend paints your musical portrait. I will leave the crass jokes to others.

No matter what happens in the future, even if the Internet gets all Colossus: Corbin Project on our asses, I will forever be grateful for its bringing me Matrix Ping Pong. I can watch that forever.

ps. I have a little idea for creating a kind of web game that would be a replacement for the missing GoG, called "I Told You So". If I can get some time as the semester ends, I'll hack it together. I also have a longstanding fantasy of dumping Baby Winexp on the web for others to use.

DLD 3/31-4/1: killfile and the three bears

Apricot — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 16:16:13 -0000

Hi folks, the Apricot bunch was planning to go to the Rivercats-A's showdown on Thursday and report all about it with pictures and delightful commentary. Oh, it was going to be grand.

We had tickets for Home Run Hill and then we were going to take a rainbow ride home across a sparkly rainbow. But instead Hopey got sick, so we missed the game entirely. Dagnabit. So instead you get this little geek fable.

Once upon a time was a script called killfile.user which allowed users of Firefox browser to selectively block the posts of annoying AN users. One day AN changed the layout of the site and killfile stopped working. Well, the poppa bear said, "This sucks!" and e-mailed Daniel Martin, the bright and responsive author of killfile.user and asked for help. Within the day, Daniel had fixed the script. But the momma bear had trouble downloading the script from the original site, so the baby bear hosted the new version at a temporary mirror and said, to use this neat script, you need to install Firefox, Greasemonkey, and then go the temporary mirror above, which will make Firefox install the script (you may need to unblock the popup). Then restart Firefox and look for the "kill/hide comment" links next to every commenting user. This script should work across the SB Nation. And they lived happily ever after until the next layout upgrade to AN.

A's, Giants in the zone / Strikeout pitchers Harden, Cain look ready in exhibition at AT&T Park
Although it was an exhibition game, Friday night's A's-Giants matchup at AT&T Park did have some inherent luster. Each team started its young, strikeout-collecting right-hander: Oakland's Rich Harden and San Francisco's Matt Cain.

A's sign infielder Todd Walker
With first baseman Dan Johnson out indefinitely because of a torn labrum in his hip, the A's wasted little time in adding an infielder to their roster. On Friday, Oakland signed 11-year major-league veteran Todd Walker to a minor-league deal.

A's are hurting as opener nears
Shortly after the A's arrived Thursday for their annual exhibition game with their Triple-A cousins, the Sacramento River Cats, manager Bob Geren gave an optimistic assessment of his team. "If we have our guys out there consistently, we're going to be fine, especially with Bunnies' fine shiny ass."

This is getting depressing, so instead watch two otters take a nap holding hands.

ps. The new diary/comment editing with the auto-link insertion is nice, but if I'm not allowed to use "alt" and "title" in an image link, then don't make it an option in the submission form!

AN Photo Contest #2: Call for Submissions

Apricot — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 20:33:29 -0000

Okay, by jlaff's request, it's on again.

Here's how it works. I've opened up a new Moneybutt server at
http://owlmelon.com/cgi-bin/photo.pl

Photo Submission Deadline: November 17th, 11:59pm.

Submission Instructions: Open an account at the MB server above, click on the link "add pictures or entities" and follow instructions. You will need your pictures hosted somewhere on the web with a URL. Post here if you have trouble.

Everyone is encouraged to submit photos. Don't worry if your photos aren't slick enough.

I'll put out a separate call for votes at the deadline which will go through Thanksgiving. You can start voting immediately, but it will be more fun when there are a few photos up. I've actually left last year's pictures in the batch in a separate category "Last Year's Contest", which you can select to see/assess the 91 photos from last year.

I am of course, open to suggestions for how this might go.
Here are the instructions currently on the site:

Eligible Photos

were taken by an AN member
are not of AN members (to the best of your knowledge)
and fit into one of the following categories:
Action shots (players in the A's organization, past or present)
Still/Profile (players in the A's organization, past or present)
Miscellaneous (other A's related photos... strange fans, cute baby A's fans, dogs, etc, no AN posters or players)
Submission Guidelines
give your picture a nice, unique title (check the Entity List to avoid other titles)
place your picture in the correct categories
don't put your name in the title
make sure your watermark is stripped
please limit yourself to five photos per category
Other Hints
use Add a New Entity below to submit new pictures
use Edit Existing Entity to change categories
tell me in chat or e-mail if you want to change titles
Good luck!

DLD 10/20/07: Patience, Profanity & Diego 3 Finale

Apricot — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 08:21:13 -0000

Looks like the A's might actually take some time looking for a new manager.

A's will be patient in picking next manager (AP)
The Oakland Athletics are prepared to take their time in hiring their next manager. For now, re-signing slugger Frank Thomas is a top priority for general manager Billy Beane. The A's have offered 38-year-old Thomas a two-year deal, and Oakland is hoping to get something done before the Big Hurt can file for free agency after the World Series.

Different folks seek different strokes at helm
Ken Macha received a pink slip this week because he wasn't a players' manager. The same day, the highly coveted Lou Piniella received a three-year contract from the Cubs, largely because he was a welcome alternative to Dusty Baker, a players' manager.

Deconstructing the Coliseum, Part I: The Bowl Shape
This is the first article of a new series called "Deconstructing the Coliseum." The purpose is not to trash it or spit on it, for the Coliseum has served its purpose admirably over the years. Instead, my goal is to educate readers of this site on what to potentially expect from a new ballpark, and how it compares with the current situation and other ballparks as well. The first part of this task is explaining where the Coliseum succeeds and fails.

This is from the "new A's ballpark" blog, which has a lot of great articles and nuts and bolts relating to, well, see title.

Retrieve Lilly from the doghouse? (Kershner)

Guilty pleasure (Warning: Continual profanity.): The worst rated player in Madden 07 writes him hate mail. . Sample: It's also pretty wonderful that my awareness rating was 59. You make it sound like I wake up in the morning, helplessly s--t and p--s myself, then lose three of my teeth before I discover that I am trying to eat a rock for breakfast.

----

We're at the end of Season Three of our complex and elaborately staged pastoral opera, "The Dialogues of Diego Chavez". Thanks for allowing me a little space to be as weird as I want. Thanks for those of you who have encouraged and enjoyed, and for everyone else I'll try harder next year. Tomorrow, let the usual chaotic jostling for Dump Opening return.

Season One
Season Two
Season Three So Far (1. Grover Woos Tapir, 2. Thunderbutt Woos Toilet, 3. Kyli Woos Slusser, 4. Whiteshoes40 Woos Hairy Chins, 5. Poppy Sniffs Special Air From Special Places)