The Beginning Of A Week Of Necessary Diversions

In my line of work, it's easy to get overloaded with news. It's on TV, it's on the wire, it's being talked about in meetings and around the water cooler. You can't get away from it.

Katrina's shorted me out, which is why I haven't talked about it. It's not that I don't care; I'm just as concerned and angry as everyone else, and even a little bit awestruck at nature's unfettered raw power. But anything else I could say about it would, honestly, be redundant, and has been said much better by others. So I'm not going to. Well, other than that Tim Russert spending the first half-hour of Meet The Press coming up with different ways to ask the Homeland Security chief: "No, really. What the FUCK?!" may be the greatest thing I ever see on the news.

So I'll leave you all with a list Jen compiled of charities you can donate to, and for the online poker players out there, here are some charity tournaments you can play in.

For now I'm going to stick to what I do best: the little things. The random thoughts, the mini-adventures, the world of sports and the state of my business. So if you want a break from the madness (and really, who doesn't), swing on by.

And I'll start by ripping off Cubs.

I went to a baseball game yesterday. Before work, of course.

Atlantic League Baseball: Where retreads and last-chancers go to get Triple-A contracts.

NWK at ATC

The Sandcastle is on Albany Avenue, on the left just as you enter Atlantic City proper. It sits in front of the old Bader Field airstrip and looks out over Great Thorofare and the Intracoastal Waterway onto the city skyline. From my seat on the first base side, I could see across into the marina district, where Harrah's, Trump Marina and the Borgata are. If you turn your head you can see the rest of the skyline, and I can imagine it's a spectacular view at night with all of the casinos lit up.

This outing was initially hatched by some of the guys on the news copy desk, who all subsequently bailed out. Jabronis. The reason behind it was this was the first of three "Dollar Days": parking, lower level admission, hot dogs, sodas, and beer were all one George each. But with the others out, it ended up just being me and Charles. Thankfully, the weather was what I consider perfect: not too hot with a nice breeze; the kind of weather you can wear just about anything in.

It's been my experience that minor league baseball is more about the atmosphere than the game. Independent ball? Even more so. The catchphrase we like to use around the office is "Affordable Family Entertainment." I got there in the third inning and saw a speed ice cream-eating contest (Me: "He's the next Kobayashi."); a fight with the giant-sized boxing gloves between two random people, in this case a married couple, of all things (Charles: "They're promoting domestic violence."); and a round of "YMCA" ("If you want to do it, I won't tell anybody." "That's quite all right.")

Of course, I saw all of this while waiting in line to get eats. Three lines, about 10-12 people deep in each one, on the opposite end of the concourse from where I was sitting. I got two dogs and a soda for $3, and stopped there when I asked about the fries and was told that they were $3 by themselves. You get what you pay for, folks. The soda was... lukewarm? And I don't think I've ever seen so much beer spilled in my life.

The visiting Newark Bears broke the game open with a four-run fifth while I was in line. The defense let the Surf down. Their baserunning let them down even more. Two caught stealing, one picked off, a bunt attempt down five with two outs in the eighth, and the game ended on a play at the plate. There's something you don't - and quite frankly, shouldn't - see every day.

Also:
- Dollar dogs don't draw. The announced attendance was around 2100. They maybe got a quarter of that, closer to 400-500. Though there were enough people that it took a little bit of time to get out of the parking lot afterwards. (But if it were a fireworks night? Forget it. I'd still be trying to get out of there.)
- If I'd been a ballplayer, I think I'd have "Sabotage" as my music.
- Relatively, a lot of jailbait walking around. And you know the majority of it is jailbait because the girls old enough to go to college are gone by now.
- The Surf are hosting a "Cigar Dinner" in a couple weeks, which I'm trying like hell to reconcile with the Affordable Family Entertainment.

FINAL:
NWK 6, ATC 3

OTHER RELEVANT SCORE:
CAM 19, NSH 13 (By this time of year in independent leagues, any pitcher worth a damn has been signed by an affiliated club. Scores like this aren't all that uncommon an occurrence.)

STANDINGS
NORTH DIVISION
                W  L   PCT   GB  STREAK 
Long Island    28 24  .539   --  L 1    
*Nashua        25 26  .490  2.5  L 1    
Newark         19 32  .373  8.5  W 1    
Bridgeport     14 38  .269 14.0  L 1     

SOUTH DIVISION
                W  L   PCT   GB  STREAK 
Camden         35 17  .673   --  W 1    
Atlantic City  33 19  .635  2.0  L 1    
*Somerset      27 25  .510  8.0  W 1    
Lancaster      26 26  .500  9.0  W 1    
*-won first half

Should Nashua win the second-half title in the North, the fourth playoff team is determined by overall record. Of the non-playoff teams, AC has the best record, with Long Island second.