He may or may not have hit a big HR for the San Francisco Giants at some point.

" My excuse for being late to the office involves Moonshine, pretty sure I win – no?"

I was very lucky to attend the benefit for Bryan Stow last night at Yoshi’s in San Francisco. Tim Flannery and his band the "Lunatic Fringe" performed to a sold out house for a wonderful cause, Giants fan Bryan Stow.
Notable attendees included:
-- Amy G looking even better in person.
-- Pat Burrell whom I saw on multiple occasions distributing bottles of fine domestic beer to those around him. Seriously: dude had 3 beers in each hand numerous times. Love that guy, and he got a great ovation.
--J.T. Snow who for a while was sitting at the table with Burrell, not sure there’s a cooler table to be seated at.
--Hammerin’ Hank Schulman who had a nice seat up front.
-- Dave Righetti who was there when Flan met his wife (just celebrated 30 years together) at a strip-club in Montreal. Yeah, you read that right.
/not sure if serious.jpg

The man of the hour was Tim Flannery. This was my first time seeing Flan and he’s got a great voice. The band was fantastic. Great version of John Prine's "Angel from Montgomery" with special guest Kate Gaffney knocking the vocals out of the park.

Tim introduced the song "Pieces of the Past" with a funny story about Andres Torres who he dedicated the tune too. He remarked that Andres is one of the best humans in the world (duh) and referenced his struggles with ADHD. He described coaching 3B with Andres on third and telling him exactly what Andres' play would be depending on where the ball was hit, explaining in quick detail...and then have Andres immediately ask him to tell him again. "Gotta take your pills, Andres!"..."You take your pills, I'll take my pills..and we'll get through this" - (paraphrased quotes)

Flan also referenced singing the National Anthem with Bob Weir & Phil Lesh (former members of the Grateful Dead) last year, and then went on to praise the GD culture and spirit in San Francisco.

There were countless musical highlights and some really great jokes but everything is a little bit foggy to me right now because...Flan drinks moonshine. And he likes to share. Passed a mason jar around the stage with the musicians and then at the end of the gig passed it through the crowd. We had a nice pull off the jar (he did make fun of a woman up front who tried to pour some in her glass - LOL HER) and then passed it along. The lights came up and I saw some folks holding the jar and looking confused, made eye contact with them and they handed it to me. Myself and my friend ended up finishing it. Oops.

Flan was hanging out at the merch table signing and selling CDs (proceeds to the Bryan Stow foundation) so I got to shake his hand and say hello. Told him how much I enjoyed the Andres Torres story and that I really hoped to see him in a Giants uni next year. "I really hope so too" was his response.

He signed my ticket stub which I then placed in the empty moonshine jar and informed him it will be displayed amongst my bobbleheads.

I was reminded today that I was interviewed after the concert by a videographer in which I excitedly raved about moonshine and the generous spirit of Barry Lamar Bonds who is paying to put Bryan Stow's kids through college. Not sure why I was interviewed, but I imagine they'll have their hands full with the necessary subtitles.

All in all a wonderful evening, we rolled over to Rasselas and caught some bop jazz and had a couple more drinks which I'm going to go ahead and blame Flan's moonshine for.

I hope to see him perform again soon, and I'll bring a notebook to jot down details in case the moonshine is flowing freely again.

Pretty interesting read from the USA Today about USF's own, Scott Cousins.

It's never a good idea when pro ballplayers drift into the exciting and inflammatory world of social, political, or religious discussion. And, yes, I'd say the same if he was championing Che Guevara or something from the other side of the spectrum.
But I don't think he's endearing himself to the Oriole fanbase with some of these comments:

- President Obama not born in the United States
- Idolizes great American Ted Nugent

and, perhaps, worse - when talking about the second amendment drops "...but who has the highest crime rate in the country? Washington, D.C. "

Not only is he patently incorrect (D.C. is 16th) he's spewing misinformation about a town where LOTS of Oriole fans live!!

Luke, stick to baseball and hunting. This also goes for your interviews. Thanks.

Just like the World Cup....

Looks like a great documentary about a subject that sports at large generally doesn't discuss. I hope to catch this at the Castro on the 10th on November, failing that its on cable on 11/16

quote from the link:

Featuring interviews with Dodger teammates Dusty Baker, Davey Lopes and Rick Monday, among others, as well as A's teammates Claudell Washington, Mike Norris, and Shooty Babitt, Out gets into the nitty-gritty of Burke's athletic and post-athletic career.

According to almost everyone interviewed, Burke was run out of baseball because he was gay. The Dodgers apparently offered to pay for his wedding and honeymoon if he got married, and when he refused, he was promptly traded to the Athletics. The situation was no better there with manager Billy Martin, and Burke took a leave of absence from the team to clear his head.

Nice ESPN piece discussing the thirst for a San Francisco World Championship:

"The Giants need not defend their bona fides as baseball royalty (at .538, the club still owns the highest winning percentage in National League history), but the feeling of being second still remains: Second to its previous, five World Series championship life in New York. Second in the twin land deals (Walter O'Malley got the gold mine in Chavez Ravine, Horace Stoneham got an igloo at Candlestick Point) that brought baseball west in the first place. Second for the entire decade of the 1960s, when the Giants won more games than everyone in the league but it was everyone else -- the Cardinals and Dodgers, the Pirates and even the Giants' New York replacements, the Mets -- who won the championships."

Wow. If anyone needs to read some tasty Athletic tears - click the link.
Is it Penis envy? What is the deal with these A's fans?

I'm at a loss for words.

But I do have the Lulz!

Wow. Glad this isn't happening with any SF players. Basically he told the Chicago press before the game he'd love it if the Cubs made him an offer as a free agent in 2012. He said this before game #2 of a four game series with the Cubs, and while his current team (actually through 2011) is deeply involved in a playoff hunt.

What do you folks think? Is the lack of crowds, lack of home runs, lack of likelihood of a massive SD contract motivating these quotes? Or is he just a dope?

How long til they get....THE LETTER?

:-(

doesn't sound good.

Put a swing on it bay-bee!

Seriously, Vitale is going to be just fine.
And this FanShot is truly just here for the love of lulz and our leader, FdotLew.

Bums' first pick would rather be a L.S.U. Tiger?

Perhaps don't hold thy breath.

According to the blog, Biz of Baseball, the union sent out a memo advising agents that if their clients have any arrests in their past, for any reason, it could be grounds for Canadian border guards to detain them.

thank you Drunken Tony LaRussa!

Interesting.

Sure, he's too puny for Barry Lamar to take seriously - but I have to admit enjoying some of his programming.

Thoughts?

Their move to Vegas? Sacramento?
Or is Fremont THAT much better than Oakland?