House of Swank

Questionable Priorities

Sweetie and I are sitting here awaiting the first pitch of the MLB season that will take place in this country.  It occurred to me, as ESPN was doing the montage of President's throwing out the first pitch, that W was going to get to throw out the first pitch.  If I were owner of the team I would have W throw out the pitch (because I think it's probably law) and then I'd have Obama throw out the second pitch.

Sweetie commented that's one more reason not to vote for McCain - he can't raise his arms above his shoulders, so would be unable to throw out a ceremonial first pitch. 

Cautiously Optimistic

Today was the draft for my main fantasy baseball league.  Time will tell, but at the moment I'm feeling good about my team.  Usually after the draft I look at my list and go "Who the hell are these guys and why did I draft them?"  This year, that's only true with a couple of guys and they're backups to backups so all is good.

So, without further ado, the 2008 House of Swank:

Starting Pitchers:
Roy Halladay (Toronto Blue Jays)
Carlos Zambrano (Chicago Cubs)
Jered Weaver (Anaheim Angels)
Jeff Francis (Colorado Rockies)
Rich Hill (Chicago Cubs)
Dontrelle Willis (Detroit Tigers)
Tom Gorzelanny (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Kevin Millwood (Texas Rangers)

Roy Halladay is never allowed to quit from baseball, because I do not know what I'd do without him.  He has been on my team since my first draft - a keeper every year - and if he ever stops playing baseball I will be beyond toast. 

I did not realize Hill was a Cub when I was drafting him - by that point in the draft I was just searching for an adequate pitcher and things like what team he's on could be no bother.  So I've got 2/5 of the Cubs starting rotation.  Let's hope that doesn't suck for me.

I also did not realize Dontrelle Willis had been traded to the Tigers.  At one point I realized it, as I was looking at how many of my players from last year were Tigers this year, but I forgot that as we were actually drafting.  I really hope the Tigers do well this year.  More for my sake than for theirs, but we're in it together.  (Although not as bad as the team that has something like 10 Boston Red Sox).

Relief Pitchers:
Chad Cordero (Washington Nationals)
Francisco Cordero (Cincinnati Reds)
Todd Jones (Detroit Tigers)
Brian Wilson (San Fransisco Giants)

I've got a Beach Boy!  And another Tiger!  And thank GOD I had two closers worth keeping this year, because there was a run on them early, so if I'd needed to get more than 1 early I would have been hurting hard at other positions in my team.  (3 relievers are active each week, so I really only NEED 3 guys).

Catchers:
Jorge Posada (New York Yankees)
AJ Pierzynski (Chicago White Sox)

I really only have Pierzynski in case Posada has a horrible injury that will put him on the bench for a week or more.  Here's hoping I never have to activate him.

Corner Infielders (1st and 3rd base):
Miguel Cabrera (Detroit Tigers)
Adrian Beltre (Seattle Mariners)
Todd Helton (Colorado Rockies)

We're up to 3 tigers now!  I generally feel good here.  I'm a bit worried about Beltre.  If he plays up to his potential I'll be very happy.  If he plays how he usually plays I'll be very glad I have Todd Helton.

Middle Infielders (2nd base and shortstop):
Jimmy Rollins (Philadelphia Phillies)
Michael Young (Texas Rangers)
Rafael Furcal (Los Angeles Dodgers)

With Halladay, Jimmy Rollins has also been on my team every year since I started fantasy baseball.  In the early years he was never a keeper, but between him and Young I love my middle infield.  Furcal ain't too shabby for a backup, either.

Outfielders:
Magglio Ordonez (Detroit Tigers)
Delmon Young (Minnesota Twins)
Bobby Abreu (New York Yankees)
Raul Ibanez (Seattle Mariners)

Ibanez was a bit of a mistake.  I meant to take Furcal that round, but hit the wrong button.  I still needed an outfielder, Ibanez was at the top of the list, he is my favorite Mariner, and there were some other guys who could handle middle infield if Furcal went to someone else (lasted two more rounds as it were), so I stuck with Ibanez.  Two Mariners on my team.  That scares me.  But hey, a fourth Tiger, so that's good, right?

Utility:
Mark DeRosa (Chicago Cubs)

DeRosa is eligible at middle infield, corner infield and outfield this year.  He's a so-so player most of the time - although last year he had some hot streaks - but I like having that one guy I can plug in anywhere in case one of my positions gets plagued by injuries or suckiness.  DeRosa is just the guy for that.

So there's my team.  I've got 9 scheduled starts from my starting pitchers this week.  I'll get to see one of them (Millwood) and three of my defensive players (Young, Beltre and Ibanez) Monday at the Mariner's home opener.

Play Ball!

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I need help, and I need it quickly.  First I'll tell you what I need, then I'll tell you why I need it:

What I need:  A question to ask George Clooney.  The kicker:  He's appearing on the Dan Patrick show (sports radio for those not in the know) so if it could somehow be sports related - particularly March Madness, I'm sure there's a much greater chance of it making it on the air.  And, to really make it fun, the show is tomorrow, so if I'm going to send them something I need to do it right around now.

Why I need it:  I will frequently flip to the local sports radio station if there are commercials/programs I don't like/annoying songs on my other radio stations of choice.  I flipped to the end of the Dan Patrick show the other day and he was encouraging listeners to send an e-mail if their wife or girlfriend would like to ask a question of George Clooney on the show.  I got a little miffed by the fact that he acted as if he was only talking to men (although, in all reality, I may have been the only woman listening to the show), so sent an e-mail saying "Hey, I don't have a wife or girlfriend, since my husband would probably get a bit miffed by that, but can *I* ask a question of George Clooney on the show?"  They e-mailed me back today and asked me to submit a question.

Except I didn't think that far ahead and don't actually have a question to ask, which is where you come in.

The irony of it all is that y'all will probably come up with a great question, I'll send it to them and they'll want me to ask it - when I'm in an interview tomorrow and unable to call into sports radio.

But still, a girl's got to try.  It is George Clooney after all.

Giving In To Peer Pressure

If you're not a knitter, you can just go ahead and skip this blog post.

I've done it.  I've gone and done Ravelry.  Username Swankette.  I've actually been on for a little while, but just got around to taking the time to put projects in there.  Next step will be to add the stash.  But that will take a lot more work, so don't hold your breath.

Expert Opinion

In the new quest for a heart-healthy diet I decided that I needed a new cookbook to help push me along the path.  Not that I'm not capable of preparing a healthy meal, and not that I don't have a zillion resources at my fingertips, but a go-to guide when I'm bored with all the standards and don't want to dig through all of the recipes I've culled from Gourmet magazine to find one that is appropriate for the new diet.

It seemed easy enough.  Powell's has several shelves dedicated to "Healthy Cooking."  It should have been so encouraging and empowering.  Instead, it was just damn depressing.  The shelves were filled with every get-thin-quick crap plan you could imagine.  "Eat No Carbs to Lose Weight," "Eat Nothing But Carbs and Live a Healthy Life," "Eat Nothing But These Five Foods and You Will Be The Healthiest Person Ever!"  There was the Atkins Diet, the South Beach Diet, the Jenny Craig Diet, and a SPECIAL section devoted to Weight Watchers.  All next to several diet and weight-loss books by Dr. Phil - I'm sorry, but since when is a syndicated TV personality with a degree in clinical psychology qualified to teach me about nutrition?

Luckily, there were a couple of worthwhile books amongst all the crap.  I ended up with "The Stanford Life Plan for a Healthy Heart."  Written by a cardiologist, a nutritionist and a cook.  Now THAT'S how you get to healthy eating.

Of course, it's not just recipes but a lot of reading as well.  Time to start cracking the book!

Acting Our Age

Sweetie had a physical recently, and although everything came back "Everything's hunky dory" on his blood tests, his cholesterol numbers are a bit higher than we'd really like.  Blame it on his father's heart attack several years ago, but numbers inching up towards the "high" end of the scale make us want to put everything in check now, while we still can.

I went to the American Heart Association's website last night, for suggestions on what dietary changes need to be made to keep everything in check.  We eat FAIRLY well right now, but there was still room for improvement.

The changes we have decided to make:

• Limit meat to one meal per day (so if we had meat at lunch, go vegetarian or have fish for dinner)
• Cut back on the cheese (although part-skim mozzarella has a thumbs up)
• Explore butter alternatives

Hopefully these changes are enough to make an impact.  I'm going to miss my cheese.

And So It Begins

Baseball season quickly approaches and this year I have found myself in not one, but two fantasy leagues.  By "found myself" I mean that I'm on a message board where someone suggested starting a fantasy baseball league and I reflexively said "Sign me up!" and THEN I asked how the league was set up, what the rules would be, etc.

The good news is that there are a lot of people who have never participated in fantasy sports before, and it appears there are at least one or two who are so loyal to their home team it may cloud their vision.  And it's free, so no money lost for any stupid mistakes I may make.  The huge run on catchers early in the draft has me hopeful.

The bad news is it is a head-to-head rotisserie league where you can change your team and lineups daily, which is completely different than the fantasy leagues I've participated in before.  Strategically, I have some ideas on how to best approach my team, but am not sure if they'll pan out or not.

The draft way today.  Based on a lot of factors (number of hitting vs. pitching categories, quality of players available, and how other people were drafting) my strategy is to own every category in pitching - which I think is well within my grasp given the team I've got - and do the best I can with hitting, trying to pick up some of the new phenoms as the season gets to a start.

I am very happy to say that the two members of my PPFL fantasy team who have been with me from the start are here with me on this team as well.  I didn't even have to give them priority consideration to get them on the team.  In fact, I sat on Halladay a round or two while I rounded out my outfield and was still able to get him.

So, without further ado, here is the Second House of Swank:

C - JR Towles (Houston Astros)
1B - Carols Guillen (Detroit Lions) (also eligible at SS)
2B - Dan Uggla (Florida Marlins)
3B - Alex Gordon (Kansas City Royals) (also eligible at 1B)
SS - Jimmy Rollins (Philadelphia Phillies)
OF - Jason Bay (Pittsburgh Pirates)
       JD Drew (Boston Red Sox)
       Jeremy Hermida (Florida Marlins)
Utility/Bench - Adam LaRoche (1B, Pittsburgh Pirates)
       Travis Buck (OF, Oakland Athletics)

SP - Jake Peavy (San Diego Padres)
       Roy Halladay (Toronto Blue Jays)
RP - Jonathan Papelbon (Boston Red Sox)
       Pat Neshek (Minnesota Twins)
Bench -  Felix Hernandez (SP, Seattle Mariners)
       Rich Harden (SP, Oakland Athletics)
       Shaun Marcum (SP, RP, Toronto Blue Jays)

A Plea to the Power

Dear Senator Murray and Senator Cantwell:

I am writing you this e-mail to request you change your Superdelgate vote to support Barack Obama.  While I fully support your personal preference for Hillary Clinton, in your position as Superdelegate it is unconscionable that you would vote for someone other than Senator Obama.  There are several reasons for this:

1) You have gained this position due to your elected office, in which you are bound to represent the constituents that elected you.  The citizens of Washington have said loud and clear that we support Senator Obama to be the party's presidential nominee.  You must stand behind us in this support or you are not fulfilling your job requirements as a US Senator.

If you vote against Senator Obama at the Convention, I will consider this a breach of your duties and will therefore have a hard time trusting you to make decisions in the future, and it is highly unlikely I will be able to continue to support you in future elections.  I would also work to make sure others knew of this breach, and do what I could to insure I candidate I could trust held the position of US Senator.

2)  The Democratic party desires a democratically based election.  The purpose of Superdelegates is to allow involved citizens a greater role in the process at the convention, and to provide a check on the system to guarantee the party extreme do not take control of the election and insure an electable candidate be put into place.

I don't think that anyone has, or could, argue that either Obama or Clinton is too extreme in their viewpoints to be an effective President.  Therefore, the litmus test needs to be the electability of the candidate and who will better insure the Democrats win the White House in 2008.

Because of this you must select Obama to be the candidate.  I, personally, know of several lifelong Republicans who would vote for Obama if he were the candidate.  I also know of several Democrats who are currently Obama supporters who would likely not vote for Clinton if she were the candidate.  I do not know of a single Clinton supporter who would vote against Obama if he were the candidate.  I do not know of a single Republican who would vote for Clinton if their life depended on it.  Obama is, easily, the more electable candidate.

Please, continue to support Clinton personally in whatever way you choose to do so, but when it comes time to vote you MUST select Obama to be the Democratic Presidential Nominee.

Regards,

Swankette

(Just sent to both of my Senators.  We'll see if they respond.)