SB Nation User Blog: DaveinHouston

Large Print Score Books?

DaveinHouston — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 01:45:45 -0000

Has anyone seen any good score books that are good for the visually impaired? My 6 yr old godson is visually impaired and loves baseball and the Cubs. I'd love to teach him how to keep score, whether he's at the game or listening on the radio. But most score books I've seen have print that is way too small for him to use. I'd like to find one that is in a larger font. If I can't I may just look for a PDF scoresheet somewhere and have one printed and bound myself. Any recommendations on that would be welcome as well.

While I see fewer and fewer fans keeping score during games, I can't imagine experiencing baseball otherwise.

Vine Line Customer Service Phone Number?

DaveinHouston — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 17:15:38 -0000

Vine Line Customer Service Phone Number?

I'm trying to send my nephew a gift subscription to Vine Line. It's not clear how I'm supposed to do it, but when I enter my information and submit I get a popup "The service did not respond. Please try again later." Does anyone have a Customer Service phone number so I can just do this over the phone?

Pennant = Armageddon?

DaveinHouston — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:31:14 -0000

As I was watching the financial markets melt down yesterday and thinking of the recent confrontation with Russia over Georgia (and perhaps Iran to come) I couldn't help but thinking back on W.P. Kinsella's short story "The Last Pennant before Armageddon".

It appears in an anthology called "The Thrill of the Grass" and I reread it last night. I was even more struck that the story has the Cubs playing the Dodgers in a five game series in October, albeit for the pennant (this was before the expansion of the playoffs).

I can't believe I'm the only one musing over the coincidences, am I?

Advice needed regarding Extra Innings

DaveinHouston — Mon, 12 May 2008 18:59:28 -0000

My small local cable operator started offering Extra Innings today for the balance of the season at $159. My main interest, of course, is getting to watch more Cubs games, especially since my cable operator doesn't carry WGN.

I know that blackouts apply before 7pm on Saturdays for FOX and after 8pm on Sundays because of ESPN, but saw a note in a wikipedia article that WGN games are blacked out as well. Is this true? If so, it would defeat the purpose of getting Extra Innings.

"Square D" ad - last pennant?

DaveinHouston — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 22:56:25 -0000

One week into the season and I've already heard the new Square D ad more times than I'd like, but I can't believe Pat says it's been 100 years since the last pennant. A pennant is a league championship, right? How could they make such a simple error (and rebroadcast it thousands of times)???

The 1945, 1938, 1935, 1932, 1929, 1918, and 1910 Cubs must be rolling in their graves.

Orioles 2008 Schedule?

DaveinHouston — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 18:55:02 -0000

It appears that the Orioles haven't issued a tentantive 2008 schedule, but has anyone reverse-engineered a schedule from the other teams' preliminary schedules?

Our Boy Scout Troop will be in the area the week of June 29 and I'd love to take the guys to Camden Yards on either 6/28 or 7/5 if the O's will be in town.

What do Dusty, Jim Lefebvre and Lee Elia have in common?

DaveinHouston — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 03:33:55 -0000

They are only 3 of the 18 men who have managed the Cubs in the last 30 years to get another opportuntity to manage at the major league level. Amazing that 15 ended their managerial careers, isn't it? I'm not counting John Vuckovich since he only managed 2 games as a Cub and only 9 more afterward. Kinda makes you wonder who'd take the job? I guess Lou figures he'll retire after this gig anyway...

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CHC/managers.shtml

Anyone else have an mlb.com backorder?

DaveinHouston — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 15:52:36 -0000

I ordered three shirts on Saturday night with overnight shipping, hoping to have them by tomorrow. In checking the order status it gives no estimate of delivery.

I finally called today and was told to expect about a week for delivery. Apparently they don't pre-print these so that's the reason for the wait. I'm jealous of you guys up North who can just buy these in the store....

Astros fire Garner, Purpura

DaveinHouston — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 20:00:46 -0000

Well I guess Uncle Drayton can't fire himself. I don't know that Garner could have made more of such a weak roster, but Purpura definitely deserved the axe -- Jason Jennings' signing alone has been a total disaster. Of course that would have never happened had Uncle Drayton ponied up the bucks for Clemens and Pettite to stick around another year.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bb/5086447.html

XM Radio spring training coverage

DaveinHouston — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 21:24:59 -0000

For those that are interested, here is a current list of the ST games to be aired on XM:

3/1/2007 Giants @ Cubs 3:05PMET XM 181
3/3/2007 Cubs @ Athletics 4:00PMET XM 177
3/4/2007 White Sox @ Cubs 4:00PMET XM 178
3/5/2007 Cubs @ Mariners 3:05PMET XM 178
3/8/2007 Cubs @ Padres 3:05PMET XM 177
3/10/2007 Cubs @ Royals 3:05PMET XM 176
3/11/2007 Brewers @ Cubs 4:05PMET XM 178
3/17/2007 Padres @ Cubs 4:05PMET XM 179
3/22/2007 Cubs @ Padres 4:05PMET XM 180
3/24/2007 Cubs @ Giants 4:05PMET XM 184
3/25/2007 Angels @ Cubs 4:05PMET XM 187
3/26/2007 Cubs @ Angels 4:05PMET XM 183
3/31/2007 Cubs @ Mariners 4:05PMET XM 187