Keeping with the movies theme... I'm not going to lie. I did not have any inclination to see Up in the Air until I read Joe Posnanski's blog entry about it.

I live a metal free existence when traveling, and so when I beeped going through security the other week, I remember feeling defeated. The woman at security asked me all the questions she asks regular travelers … do you have any keys on you, anything metal in your pockets, can you remove your belt, like I was some kind of road tourist. It’s hard to explain, but I felt strangely humiliated. The whole thing took only a few seconds, and I went back through the X-Ray and I did not beep this time, and I wanted to shout: "It was YOUR mistake! See?" But there was no such admission. And I thought about it way too much the rest of the day.

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I'll start with baseball..

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Happy Veterans Day to all those who have served our country, and to those who are overseas now.

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Yay, the weekend is almost here!

Links:

- Warriors drop season opener to Rockets. At least the A's aren't as dysfunctional as the other two Oakland teams.

- Yankees lefty Phil Coke is an everyman... because he used to have a second job? He still makes exponentially more than I do.

- Redskins owner Dan Snyder has banned all signs from North Korea Communist China FedEx Field.

A spokesman told me that this policy is meant to protect spectators from getting injured by signs, and also to make sure everyone can see the action. Because obstructed views at that stadium could not possibly be tolerated.

- Need relationship help? Ask Madden.

Video games put you in the game. You're the quarterback, the point guard, the center, the pitcher. You must use both your brain and the players' brawn to win. You have to know the game and make the best decisions on the fly. If you don't, you're probably going to lose. Basic instinct teaches us to prefer winning to losing, so we learn the intricacies of whatever game we're playing. And in the case of females like my sister, playing video games can give that basic knowledge of the Power I formation, power forwards, power plays and power hitters, about which they have been wondering -- but afraid to ask -- for ages.

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We haven't had one in a while

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First off, big thanks to everyone who organized, brought food/drinks/good conversation. It was lots of fun, even more so because it ended with a walk-off! I don't have everyone's name, so feel free to comment and let me know if you were left out.

The full gallery is here. Also, I've put my photo "archives" from 2007 to now (most of them) into a Flickr pro account. Look for a player or a team by going to the tags page.

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Lineups:

Chicago White Stockings

Leftfielder Scott "Bugsy" Podsednik
Thirdbaseman Gordon "Buster" Beckham
Rightfielder Jermaine "Stretch" Dye
Hitter who has been designated Jim "Crusher" Thome
Centerfielder Alex "Slim" Rios
Catcher AJ "Wet Blanket" Pierzynski
Short Stop Alexei "Smiley" Ramirez
Firstbaseman Mark "Lefty" Kotsay
Secondbaseman Jason "Bugsy" Nix

Hurler John "Ace" Danks
Field Manager Ozzie "Skip" Guillen

Defending Worlds Champs Philadelphia Athletics

Thirdbaseman Adam "Machine Gun" Kennedy
Centerfielder Rajai "Crazy Legs" Davis
Catcher Kurt "Stone Wall" Suzuki
Leftfielder Scott "Knuckles" Hairston
Hitter who has been designated Nomar "Fidgets" Garciaparra
Short Stop Bobby "Bing" Crosby
Firstbaseman Tommy "Babyface" Everidge
Secondbaseman Mark "Hands" Ellis
Rightfielder Aaron "Noodles" Cunningham

Hurler Trevor "Chief" Cahill
Field Manager Bob "Gipper" Geren

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Sadly, I didn't get to go to the Root Beer Float day, so no pictures from that. But I was fortunate enough to have really good seats for Tuesday and Wednesday. I haven't really had the time to upload these until now.

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This is short and sweet, but I just wanted to see what kind of interest there would be in an AN tailgate party before the game on August 1, when Rickey Henderson will have his number retired. There's a jersey giveaway, so I figured all of that would garner heavy AN interest. Why not have a beer or a burger while you wait for gates to open? The game starts at 6 p.m. I have no idea when the parking lot opens, but we could congregate somewhere shortly after that happens.

Friday was "Dog Day" at the Coliseum, where people were encouraged to bring their dogs to the ballpark... well... the plaza bleachers.

Here are some pictures... sorry, I lack any kind of creative intro at the moment.

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How long has it been since we had one of these?

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So before Sunday's debacle of a baseball game, there was a friendly between the A's and Giants wives. I was there to document this match.

If you have any delusions about becoming the future Mrs. Ryan Sweeney or Mrs. Jack Hannahan... just click "back."

Please... do not post these elsewhere without my permission. Got it?

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Some fun facts about Vincent/Vince/Vin/V Mazzaro: 

- He also works for Bear, Stearns & Co.

- He's a MiLBY

- He has a nasty slider

- This was on page 21 of the Google search

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Links:

Brett Anderson still has a blister on his throwing index finger and Sean Gallagher will make his next start. At this rate, will they need to amputate? We've seen how little injuries escalate. Also, Chavez and Nomar might be back by May 14 and Michael/Michel Ynoa/Inoa will report to extended spring training today.

Uh... what?

One area in which the Oscar-winning director will not be striving for realism, however, will be with Bill James, the stats guru who has a key role in Lewis’ book and whose body of work Beane applied to his management of the A’s. “My current plan is to animate him,” Soderberg revealed to MTV News while promoting his Tribeca Film Festival entry, “The Girlfriend Experience.”

Rick Reilly has a column about Yankees closer prospect Pat Venditte — a switch pitcher. Watch what happens when he faces a switch hitter.

This All-Hunger team, it's coached by Charles Barkley, right?

College coaches (and EVERYONE else, I'm discovering) are on Twitter. That thing is addicting. I'm sure the soul-sucking NCAA will find some way to make a buck and/or take the fun out of that.

USC football coach Pete Carroll has more than 17,000 followers on Twitter. Indiana basketball coach Tom Crean and new Kentucky coach John Calipari are engaged in a lighthearted competition to see who can get more followers. Former Raiders coach Lane Kiffin is Twittering at Tennessee.

Meantime, Stanford basketball and football coaches don't have Twitter accounts, and Cal athletic department officials say accounts on the free social networking site are in the works for some of their coaches.

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The future A's were playing... well... the near future A's. The Ports actually won 3-2 in a 7-inning exhibition contest where innings ended randomly.

Here are some of the shots I got last night. The entire album is here. Let me know if that doesn't work, I'll upload them to Flickr when I get home tonight.

It probably goes without saying, but please, ask me first if you want to use these pictures.

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Mondays are no fun.

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   (Note from Nico - I'm putting this on the front page until the event has come and gone. Hope to see as many of you as possible!)

Who: Any and all ANers, regardless of seniority

What: fANfest

Where: The John Lewis Glass showroom at 10208 Pearmain Street, Oakland 94603 (google maps) (yahoo maps)

When: Sunday, Feb. 8, 12 - 4 p.m.

Why: Because we need some baseball and fun

Previous fANfest diaries:

- An AN FanFest?

- Gather Round AN...

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Just because FanFest has been canceled this year doesn't mean that we resourceful ANers can't get an A's fix before Spring Training.

EDIT:

Who: Any and all ANers, regardless of seniority

What: FanFest

Where: Lynnzgal's showroom at 10208 Pearmain Street, Oakland 94603

When: Sunday, Feb. 8, 12 - 4 p.m.

Why: Because we need some baseball and fun

It sounds like visual entertainment shouldn't be a problem, and I have a couple DVDs I can also contribute. I think we should have a trivia game, too. Any other ideas? We could even sell beer and soda at exorbitant prices. Kraut, if provided, will be free.

Also, thanks everyone (hat tip to lynnzgal) for making this possible. A week or so before the event, I'd like to get a head count of how many people we'll have.

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Good morning.

via mtsix.com

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There's nothing here. Mobile users, rejoice.

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I was looking through some storage boxes earlier today and found a couple tickets with autographs I don't really recognize. They could be players on either team (although probably not for the Angels ticket). I apologize for the poor photo quality, I just used the Photo Booth feature, not a camera. Thanks.

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Thanks to Alexi Ramirez, we still have regular season-ish baseball to play.

via d.yimg.com

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So that's what I've been doing wrong. The road to writing for ESPN is not though years of solid journalism, but being a young money millionaire.

via www.hiphopdom.com

So writes Young Wayne-on-them-hoes, A.K.A. Mr. Make it Rain-on-them-hoes...

My fantasy team is now 2-1. I'm fifth place in the league right now but movin' up. I won my last game by a great margin. I had to drop Ben Roethlisberger 'cause he don't look like he's doing nothing any time soon. Had to do it. I picked up Kurt Warner because he has more to prove than Ben. He's stepping in to Matt Leinart's place, and he's still kind of competing. You want guys like that, guys who are motivated.

I grew up playing football. Believe it or not, I was a fullback. When I was nine, ten, eleven, I was a great blocker. I knew how to block real good and the other kids didn't. So there I was. One game when I was ten years old we were on the goal line about to score, and coach called the play for me. I was supposed to go one way, but I ended up sneaking around the other side on a sweep. Everybody thought I was already tackled. The ref was already blowin' his whistle. But I was still up and I stutter stepped one way and beat the last guy trying to get me and scored that touchdown. That's my favorite sports memory for myself.

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This will be long and full of pictures. Please check it out and let me know what you think. I went to New York last weekend to see Yankee and Shea stadiums and basically just play tourist around the city. It was hot as hell (seriously), but I had an absolute blast. This will be mainly about baseball, but will also have other parts of my NYC trip mixed in.

if you have Facebook, you can look me up and see the whole gallery.

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This isn't an advice thread (I've already got a whole list of places that I've got to go to), but I just wanted to see what other ANers are going to games this weekend. I'm taking my first trip to NYC, and will be sitting in Tier 30 (row C, I believe) on Friday night and Main Reserved MVP 16 (Row E) on Saturday. I'll be sure to take tons of pictures.

Who else will be there, and where?

Also, AN looks horrible on a BlackBerry.

I can't think of a title.

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Minor League Baseball is fun, I haven't been in a while and it was cool to see some of the names that have been bandied about on this site, like Sean Doolittle, Chris Carter and Matt Sulentic.

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