SB Nation User Blog: pdb

Off Topic 6/2/09 - Ain't that a kick in the nadgers edition

pdb — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:29:55 -0000

What with the meltdown on Sunday, and the somewhat-less-meltdowny-but-still-dispiriting loss yesterday, I got to thinking. Which is always dangerous, but anyway. What is the most dispiriting loss you have seen in person, in any sport? We've all seen a million of 'em on TV, but actually being there is something completely different.

Mine was in Cardiff, Wales. The 2001 FA Cup final was a fantastic day - my friends and I made it to Cardiff from London in reasonably sober shape, the sun was out, and as soon as we got off the train we found the red half of the pubs in town (well, the Arsenal-red half anyway). We had a couple beers, then I headed out to find a ticket from one of the many local touts. I found a fantastic ticket - front row, second tier, section M19 - as it turns out, right above the goal Arsenal would be attacking in the second half. I paid...a lot...of money for this. But it was worth it.

For the 30 minutes I was in my seat before kickoff, I sat there terrified that a ticketholder with a ticket that would prove mine was a counterfeit would show up; nobody did, so once the match kicked off, I relaxed a bit. Arsenal played really well in the first half, and the match went into the break scoreless but Arsenal were looking the most likely to score.

It all kicked off in the second half, though - Thierry Henry had a couple of fantastic chances that he didn't convert, but then with about 20 min left in the match Freddie Ljungberg scored for Arsenal. GAME ON. I turned to high-five the guy sitting next to me, who had no idea what a high-five was, so he grabbed me in a big bear hug and danced around like a madman. It was awesome.

Then, disaster of disasters. Michael Goddamned Thank Fuck His Team Was Relegated That Bunch Of Twats Owen scored, equalizing with under 10 mins to go. Fine, whatever, Arsenal were more or less solid defensively so I was OK with extra time and penalties.

But NOOOOOOO. That damned little midget did it again in the 87th minute, scoring low and wide past David Seaman to win the Cup for the Kop. Or something.

And then what did I do? I sat there and watched. I listened to the transplanted Kop sing "You'll Never Walk Alone" for 10 solid minutes, which would have been awe-inspiring had I not been so angry; I watched Ljungberg and Tony Adams pick a sobbing Thierry Henry up off the Millenium Stadium pitch to collect his second-place medal. I watched all the Arsenal players and staff collect their medals. I watched Liverpool collect theirs, I watched them lift the Cup, and I watched them celebrate. Why? Because I may never get to a Cup final again in my life, and as much as it was a hot knife to the eyeballs, I wanted to take it all in. My friends, all Arsenal season-ticket holders for years, couldn't believe I watched the whole thing, but I had to.

So that's my story. What's yours?

I need the scoop on GABP!

pdb — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:17:21 -0000

What's up all? I'm a Mariner fan coming to Cincinnati for a weekend, because my wife's going to be there for work and the Reds are in town when she's there. We've been to Cincinnati before, but never to a game - I was there in December and took the tour, and went through the museum (which was awesome, by the way - I envy teams that have a history, much less a long illustrious one!), but now I'm going to a game there, so I have the obligatory GABP questions:

1. Are tickets easy to get day-of-game or should we get them in advance?
2. Good/bad section to sit in? I'm not looking to spend a ton of money on seats (probably $35 or so max but cheaper's good too)
3. Decent place to get a beer or three before/after the game? We're staying downtown, and will not have a car. The last time we were there I didn't find much downtown, but I fully concede that I may have missed some stuff. We went to that big mall in Covington in December, so that'd do in a pinch, but the two things I love most in life are dive bars and good beer. If there's some sort of combination of the two downtown, or close to it that would be awesome.
4. What's good food-wise at the game? I'm not a Cincinnati native, so Skyline...doesn't do it for me. Tried it last time we were in town, so I'm looking for other local-ish recommendations - also if you have ideas or favorite places for post-game food, that would be awesome.

Thanks!

Champions League final open thread

pdb — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:49:58 -0000

I guess the Mariners are playing today, but it's irrelevant, because today Thierry Henry gets his second crack at the Champions League medal that he deserved to get a few years ago. Damn you Jens Lehmann. Anyway, I don't have access to TV or a reliable stream right now so I'm following it here. Anybody that doesn't want to pollute the M's game thread with CL stuff should hang out over here - it's not like the M's are going to do anything interesting today anyway, right?

I'm not NPR, but can I have some of your money?

pdb — Thu, 21 May 2009 04:41:47 -0000

Every year, I do a little charity ride called...well, it used to be called the MS150, but this year it's called BikeMS 2009 for some reason (I get the 2009 part, really). Anyway. It's a two-day ride, day 1 being routes up to 100 miles and day 2 being either 35 or 55 miles. I plan on doing the century day 1, and legs willing the 55 miler on day two.

I've been doing this ride since 1995, and in that time have raised close to $8000 to fund research into the causes of Multiple Sclerosis, and to support people in Oregon living with MS. Why do I care? I care because my mother had MS for years. I'm no scientist, nor can I do medical research, so all I can do is pedal the crap out of my legs for two days and hope that I raise a decent amount of money in the process.

This year's ride is August 1st and 2nd, and I'm starting to fundraise now, which is why I'm posting this diary. Jeff graciously gave me permission to use this space to beg for donations, so that's what I'm doing - I'm shamelessly monetizing my hopefully-not-shambolic reputation 'round these parts so I can raise money to go to this great cause.

It doesn't matter if you've met me or not - if you know me from here, and want to support what I'm doing, throw me a few bucks. Hell, if you want to pay me money to stop talking, I'd take that too - the donations are what's important. For those of you in the corporate world, check with your company about their matching gifts program - that's a great way to double your donation without even trying very hard.

Any amount you can afford is awesome - there's no minimum, even $5 is appreciated. Of course, there's no maximum either, so if you wanted to sell your house, cars, and offspring, and give me all the proceeds, that'd be cool. No pressure.

Seriously, though, thanks for indulging me, and thanks for your time and generosity.

If you want to donate, click here and then click "donate to Paul" at the top left. If you'd prefer to send me a check, drop me an email and I'll let you know where to send it.

And, if you're in the Portland area, at some point in late June or early July I will hopefully be doing an in-person fundraising thing, with beer tasting. Stay tuned.

Off Topic 5/20/2009 - Something about something or something

pdb — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:11:25 -0000

So it appears to be time for a new OFFTOP, since the last one fell off the front page. All the usual questions have been exhausted, but I have one that's a sort of a twist on one that's been asked a million times already.

If you are a music fan, what one album changed your life, musically? I grew up listening to metal - and bad, cheeseball 80's metal at that. Then, one day, my college roommate gave me a cassette copy of REM's Murmur, and it completely blew me away. I had no idea that music could be urgent, intense, quiet, and inscrutable at the same time - that record pretty much blew my musical worldview apart and forced me to reconstruct it.

Granted, I got it four years after it first came out, but that record compelled me to buy more REM stuff, and that opened my eyes and ears (and perspective) to some pretty amazing stuff over the years. To this day, whenever I hear the intro to Radio Free Europe, it takes me back to that moment when I first heard it, and how that felt - and I love that feeling.

The same question can apply if you're not a music fan, though - in your "thing", be it art, film, books, whatever, what one thing blew you away so much that you changed the nature of your fandom because of it?

Also, beer, movies, video games. Books. Other sports.

3/17 OTFPOTD - I needed an excuse to post this edition

pdb — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:20:12 -0000

So it's St. Patrick's Day. Or, as we call it in my family, Reinforcin' O' The Cultural Stereotype Day. The last OFFTOP fell off the list, so I'll put one up, because I wanted to post this little gem.

20th Century Fox film studio is now prohibiting rental copies of its films (even from Netflix) from having bonus features and extras. To get them, you'll have to buy the disc. It's just another example of how stupid companies are in the face of a new way of doing business - instead of embracing the rental market, as they should be doing, they're probably going to send even more people into the welcoming arms of BitTorrent and the like. Not smart.

Personal note to Thingray: drop me an email, I need to ask you a question but your email's not in your profile.

The 2009 "Buy stuff for the mods" fund drive

pdb — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 05:14:49 -0000

As I mentioned a few days ago, I think it'd be a fine idea to raise money for the mods to cover their mlb.tv subscriptions for the coming season, in gratitude for all the hard work that they ~~avoid~~ do.

If you agree, give some money - doesn't matter how much, but if you appreciate the work Jeff, Matthew, and Graham do 'round these parts this is an excellent way to show it.

Three MLB.tv premium subscriptions are $330. I set up a Pledgie thing to handle the donations - since I'm dumb at the internets, all the pledges will go to me and once the fundraising period is over, I will send all money raised to Jeff and he can divvy it up. If there's more than $330 in the Pledgie thing, I'll leave it up to Jeff to decide what to do with the money. I set up the Pledgie ~~because I really like saying the word Pledgie~~ to close on Monday, March 9, so you have just under a week to donate - $330 should take no time at all. If you want to donate, here's the place to do it.

UPDATE: As noted in the comments, if you're unable to/uncomfortable with using PayPal (Pledgie uses PayPal as its donation engine) send me an email (ngtfblog at gmail dot com) and I will get you a physical address where you can send a check.

UPDATE 3/5: We have hit the magic $330 mark. Thanks everybody.

UPDATE 3/9: Each mod got mailed a shiny new check for $125 today - the total raised was $375. Y'all are awesome.

What should be done about the mods?

pdb — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 05:03:41 -0000

Last year, if you recall, we had a wee fund raiser to provide Mr. Sullivan with ~~cheap hookers and the best Colombian blow~~ MLB.tv for the year, in gratitude for all the work he has done on this site. We all felt warm and fuzzy, like we'd actually done something constructive with our lives for once. It was a strange feeling, but not a terrible one like most feared it would be.

Well, it's a new season, and now, in addition to Mr. Sullivan, messrs. Carruth and McAree have stepped up and done a lot more contributing to (and modding of) the world of LL. So it doesn't seem fair just to single out Jeff this year - obviously, since they're in Seattle, Matthew and Graham don't need MLB.tv to watch the Mariners, but it seems like if we can raise money for one, we can raise money for three just as easily.

So, non-Jeff mods, my question to you is, even though you're "in-market", would an MLB.tv premium subscription be something useful to you? If not, what (and when I say "what", I really mean "what baseball-related thing with an MSRP approximating that of MLB.tv premium for a year - nobody's getting a Bugatti Veyron here) would?

An MLB.tv premium subscription is $110 a year. I'm not a mathematician, but I believe that would make three subscriptions somewhere in the neighborhood of $330. We can raise this in about eighteen seconds if we really want to, and we wouldn't even have to get in a flame war with people who don't want our mods to go to college. I for one think that's a bargain for what we get out of LL every year - if you agree, let me know and in a few days if everyone's amenable I'll put up another post asking for money and also providing a means by which to donate it.

OTFPOTD 2/23/09 - I Forgot My Pants edition

pdb — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:13:34 -0000

I got my new bike yesterday. I haven't ridden in a couple weeks, so I fell out of the routine of packing up the next work day's clothes/lunch/workout gear the night before. I woke up this morning, threw everything I needed into my pack, and went on my way, giddy from new-bikecitement.

I roll up to my office, park/lock my bike, and go in to change. As I'm getting changed, I realize that I brought everything - shirt, belt, socks, workout stuff - EVERYTHING BUT PANTS. FECK.

So here I sit, at my desk, wearing my riding gear. Fortunately, half my office is out sick today and I have no meetings, so I can hibernate. Which is good.

What's the most embarrassing thing that you've forgotten when going to work or school? How'd you deal with it?

OTFPOTD 2/16/09 - I need a good chili recipe edition

pdb — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:34:55 -0000

So as I mentioned last week, me and the mrs. are on a cleansing diet for the next 10 days - small portions, no processed foods, no dairy, no caffeine, no bread. Just to prove I'm not completely insane, though, meat is allowed - even red meat, as long as it's lean. Which means chili is still on the list of things we can eat, as long as there's no cheese in/on it.

I have a couple chili recipes that I like, but I'm getting tired of them, and I need a new one. I'm up for just about anything, chili-wise; I like all kinds of meat, all kinds of beans, and the spicier the better. So if you have a good chili recipe, I'd love to see it.

Oh yeah, and spring training's in full swing, which to me serves as the canary in the long interminable coalmine that is winter, to completely ruin a good analogy. Baseball inches ever closer, and things are looking up.