"You play for pride," he said. "You play to win, no matter what's going on. You play the game the same way whether you're in first place or last place, whether you're playing for that last spot in the wild card, or 25 [games] out.

"It's easier said than done, but it's necessary. As a professional, it's necessary. It's what you're supposed to do. Regardless of what's going on around you, you have to ignore the circumstances and get after it. That's my take: There's always something to play for." - Jim Riggleman

Oh man, what could have been. There's always the path not taken, if I'd have gone left instead of right, said hello instead of goodnight. But then there is losing, and trying to be a better loser.   There's holding a $20 dollar bill in either hand, and since you dropped the one on your left in the gutter, you throw the one in the right after it.  Tossing the baby out with the bathwater doesn't quite fit, I'd hazzard that's more an analogy for firing your hitting coach. 

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The dread 75!  And I'm off.

Thief or thieves removed 5 painting worth approx. $431 million in Paris.  Reports are of a person entering a window and cutting a lock to gain access to the paintings.  Sounds fairly simple, which is odd.  Nearly half a billion,  probably not black market price but I assume it's the estimated value at auction, to be had by climbing through a window and cutting a lock.  Wow.  BBC link

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Run of the mill fare here for the dread 75, but last words are a constant source of amusement.  There's the famous "Rosebud" and then the not so famous, and then the standards.  My personal favorites are varied, but typical for the genre as they precede disaster.

"We can make it!" (or an even better alternate "You can make it!").   "I've got it!" -lots of exclamations with famous last words.  They're annoying to read, but hey.    "Lookout!" This one is probably famous last heard. 

The classic exchange.  Wife- "Did you pack everything?"  Husband-"Yes dear".   Yes dear punctuates a lot of conversations for married men, at least it appears to.

"What was that?", or "Did you hear something?".  If I had to guess the most common of all famous last words, "Oh shit" would top the list. 

Beautiful weather, favorite places and favorite things?  Favorite games for the PS2.  Um, I'm horrible at topics. Bring back tags.  This is for SB.  Sorry NOLA.  Other memorable and famous tags

Oh yeah, has anyone checked out the M's website for awhile?  Their game wrap ups are so much better now (IMO), much easier to navigate with options for play by play, game scoring.  Reminiscent of Gameday, except they include a graph of tweets inning by inning.  Check it out, kind of interesting I guess.  Video for plays corresponding to spikes is provided.  Neato, whatever will they think of next?

Or Lack of Imagination, it's a distant cousin of underwhelmed only for... a lack of creativity.  Not the word I'd like to use but apparently my internal thesaurus can't be bothered today

Favorite comedy routines.  No Cure For Cancer, Denis Leary.  Bought this one on tape several times, and they all sucked.  Rote delivery, no punch, the only thing missing was a laugh track.  Illegally downloaded it and found paradise, it was an early live version.  Bootleg or something, knocked it right out of the park.   Elvis "Gimme a cheeseburger and a blow job, hubba hubba hubba", tracheotomy man, throwing styrofoam cups out the window of an 1968 El Dorado,  it was all in there.  (NSFW!)  But no link, I can't find a copy online that I really enjoy.

Patton Oswalt, the failure pile in a sadness bowl is classic (lunch gun was used in a thread once).  My personal favorite is Black Angus Steak routine "every time you eat a steak a hippies hacky sack goes in the sewer".   "53 BACON CHEESE BOMBS!  THEN BEND OVER DAISY MAY 'CAUSE HERE COMES THE GRAVY PIPE" Fantastic line!  (NSFW?)

Bill Cosby: Wonderfulness.   This entire album is brilliant, Chicken Heart bit takes the cake (for me).  His early stuff was magic, especially for working 'clean'.  Found it on youtube,  it's on CD and I'd recommend buying it.  My grandparents had the original on vinyl growing up, wonder if that's worth anything now.  "SNAKES!...  SNAKES!...  I'M GONNA STICK MY TOE OUT, IF YOU'RE THERE GIVE IT A LITTLE SNAKEY LICK!  LICKA LICKA LICKA!"   Part I, Part II.

Any favorite comedians or bits to share?  Also the baby photos were hilarious, Activision is manned by evil people, and would using the jump make these work better for mobile users, or users in general?

There have been some great OT threads recently, what kicked them off I have no idea.  Happy feet for Spring Training is my theory.   I have no seeds of thought for an OT discussion, actually I rarely do and those have fell rather flat.  Mostly I post up some rambling thought and then figure the OT discussion will be topical to the day and happen organically.  The last one is way over 1000 comments, and I needed an excuse to bring up a Superbowl meet up. 

Also, while driving down 522 last week the billboard for a strip club congratulated "Juicy", the stripper of the year.  First thing I thought was how fortuitous of her parents to name her Juicy.  Karen, Susan, Melanie, names like that just wouldn't cut it in that industry.  Kind of a random thought, but sometimes it just seems like a persons name fits so perfectly for their personality.  (yes I know it's more than likely a stage name)

Anyone up for an informal LL meet up on Sunday to watch the Superbowl?  Dante's sounds like a good spot, a little north of some, a little south of others, plenty of room and the pool, darts, etc to keep the hands occupied while the conversations warm up.   Depends on who all is interested in meeting up, if the greater part of the group is interested in another location, let's do it.  Keep in mind that the game will kick off sometime around 3:30 PT, and I've no idea if the bar will packed.  I assume so.

Anyone ever figure something out long after the fact?  For instance, some time ago brayden04 said today is a great day, probably 3 months later I realized he might have made a triple double that day and I missed an opportunity to ask him about it.  

Or the time I thought acblue was correcting my grammar, some time later I discovered he was possibly referencing this, which would explain my initial confusion.  Or maybe he wasn't, either way I'm still a little confused but that was still an amusing read.

Recently, fogel cracked wise with "milk is gay".  Four hours after reading that I literally sat up in bed and said out loud, "Harvey Milk" (for whom I will not provide a link, politics), then went back to sleep.  That one was definitely strange. 

Also, the perfect sport movie was once discussed.  Can't locate the thread but someone, perhaps marc w. or pdb, commented to the effect that most sports movies were just a setting for something else.  Romance, drama, thriller.  And I agreed with that, and by and large still do.  HOWEVER (there's always a but), every winter as ski season approaches, it's a personal tradition to watch Downhill Racer.  I love the story, directing, cinematography, all of it.  Great '70's movie, and possibly a pure sports movie.  The athlete, the ego, the training, the failures, the great success, the women, and eventually the realization that youth will be served and time is fleeting.  Fantastic sports movie, can't believe it slipped my mind.  

Also, is interested in a pre-event meet up this Saturday?  I'm up for getting there a bit early and having a beer, maybe meet some new people.

OT ideas for the day?  I don't know but EVERYTHING HAS TO BE IN THE FORM OF A QUESTION!  And if you don't?  You will single handedly be responsible for jinxing the M's into a ten game losing streak!!!!!

Holy crap I'm enthused by the M's this year!  Optimistic even, it's fun to watch.  The things stand out when I think of last year?   Bedard refusing the money quote, the constant wondering/bitching about whether or not Vidro's option was ever going to vest (I don't even know what this is and the explanation was everywhere, and I love you Mike Sweeney!), and lastly  Ichiro being selfish.  What a difference a record makes, and a defense.  So those of you who are waiting for the doom and gloom stuff it!  Stop taking a piss on my happiness!  Go find the guy who took the jelly out of your donut, and chew on his ear thank you very much! 

How about this little exercise, you're only allowed to talk about the upside for today, and today only!  Everybody sees the downsides, all the ways things can fall apart- not everybody chooses to talk about them.  I've always called the long shot chance Threading The Needle, and the M's just might thread the needle this year. Enough with the 75 word filler!

The last OT thread that was properly titled as such quickly fell off the list, the sidebar post that unofficially became the next OT has also fallen victim to a similar fate.  I recently changed my mind about topics for discussion, previously I just chucked something in here that I found interesting since I firmly believed people will talk about whatever the hell they're going to talk about.   Upon further review, I'm starting to believe that topics are often the seeds for some interesting conversation.  Not that LL is a chat room! 

Billy Bob Thornton has a band the Boxmasters.  I've enjoyed some of BBT's acting work, but I would really hate to interview him.  What a cock, this gives  the Joaquin Phoenix appearance on David Letterman a run for it's money. Cosmic cowboy music, WTF?

The television shows I was following via Netflix are all on indefinite hold, even though I know several of them have been released.  Is this an outcome of the writer's strike? 

I'm actively rooting for the entire cast of Lost to die, except for perhaps Jin. 

There's been a lot of novels adapted to the big screen, some notable others not so much.  Elmore Leonard writes some incredibly snappy dialogue, hip protagonists, sexy locations.  Out of Sight, Get Shorty, Hombre, Jackie Brown are all adapted from  his novels.  Favorite adaptations?  Best or worst.

Zoe Bell, stunt woman extraordinaire, ooooh la la!  Online series, just found it and haven't watched it yet.  Angel of Death.

Video games, computers, virus protection, interesting websites, weird pics, items that make everybody go AHHHHHHH!!!!

Santa Fe Institute.   Rather innocuous title, it's a think tank.  From their website:

"...emphasizing multi-disciplinary collaboration in pursuit of understanding the common themes that arise in natural, artificial, and social systems." 

Listed topics of research range from war time sexual violence to the dynamics and quantitative studies of human behavior and institutions,  or the physics of complex systems if you'd like.

What's interesting about this group is their approach. 

"As many as 50 scientists and researchers can be accommodated at SFI for visits of varying intervals of time. While there are no permanent faculty, there is a mix of residential research professors (up to six-year appointments), postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, visitors, and external faculty members. SFI considers itself an "institute without walls." " 

Maybe you are participating in a research project.  Right now!  Ever thought about that?

Perhaps this approach isn't exactly unique within the scientific community, but how many think scientific think tanks claim the membership of Cormac McCarthy?  I'd love to know just what he's bringing to that table. 

Have a look at these beauties!  Check out the vintage one atmosphere suits, insane! (have a nice day at the office!).

My gaming experience ended with N64 GoldenEye, which wasn't a bad place to stop I guess.  Online gaming has a sweet siren song... but that topic doesn't need prompting from me.  Or movies, done to death, soooo five minutes ago.

And I've can't help but throw this little gem in the stew.  It's got furries, Mark McGuire, and widespread panic!  Makes me laugh every time.

Growing old is never a ball of fun, but when you live long enough to retire having survived a century that included a Great Depression, two World Wars, born in an era of horse drawn transportation and steam powered trains to witness men land on the moon,  to have your local utility turn you into a popsicle must be the final indignity. Cheers!

How many friends you have may be controlled by your genes.  And there's  a genetic tendency to introduce friends to each other!  Happy times.  Next thing you know they'll try and tell me my taste in beer is controlled by my genes, but that's just crazy talk.

And Tenacious D everyone!   Just 'cause this isn't the greatest OT post in the world, it's just a tribute.   My keyboard ate that other one. 

Tender Crisp Bacon Cheddar Ranch!  Bacon porn for all the bacon lovers out there. 

If you don't know the glory of Patton Oswalt, familiarize yourself!  Patton goes to Black Angus (every time you eat a steak, a hippies hacky sack goes in the sewer)!

From Chapman's Sailors Lexicon;  FOG: a mist at sea, consisting of the grosser vapours floating in the air near the surface of the sea. 

This definition is preceded by FOENUS NAUTICUM:  nauticul usury, bottomry. 

Other than that, I'm really happy for Dave Niehaus.  Hopefully the man gets to call a few more post season games before he hangs up his spurs.  When I think of the Mariners, Mr. Niehaus is the first person that comes to mind.  He's been here since the beginning, and many of my favorite Mariner's memories have been described to me from the ether in the unique and measured cadence of his voice. 

He's always been a gentleman, respectful of the game and the players, yet has often voiced the frustration of the fans with the strained plea, "Can't anyone throw a strike?!", or the despair often heard in "...and the runner is left stranded at third with another 6-4-3 inning ending double play."  May Dave Neihaus always be the Voice of the Mariners, I can't imagine the team without him.