Re: Idle Chatter

1803
So far this year, I've seen enough snow and sub-zero temps to last the rest of my life.

As if we haven't had enough snow, we're supposed to get another 6-8" tonight. When we clear all that stuff away, they are predicting another 12" to 18" on Tuesday. I'm having a tough time trying to find areas to move the snow at home. My side of the driveway has a mound about six feet high and tapers down to about four feet near the parkway. The back portion of the driveway near the garage is blocked in by my house, fence, and garage. There is an opening to the back yard about 4 feet wide. I guess I'm going to have to blow the snow from this area into the back yard.

I not only have the library and my own property to clear, but I've been doing one of my elderly neighbor's driveway and walks. He just got out of the hospital a couple of weeks ago. He fell and broke his wrist which needed surgery.

A few weeks before that, I took a tumble at the library on the icy parking lot and jammed my shoulder. It's still very sore and that's been about six weeks now. Tough lifting my arm up to the shoulder. I hope its not a rotator cuff problem.

I've been rushing to get all of my inside work done before the snow hits. Supposedly, it's supposed to start around ten. Hopefully I'm outta here by then.

I'm starting to feel like Jack Nicholson in The Shining.
“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is, with a new game every day, and that's the way baseball is.”
-- Bob Feller

Re: Idle Chatter

1805
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/just ... rks-013114



Just a bit outside: Uecker says 'Major League IV' in works

Ricky Doyle
NESN

JAN 31, 2014 9:08p ET


Ex-major leaguer and current Milwaukee Brewers announcer Bob Uecker turned 80 on Jan. 26.

Harry Doyle and Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn might return to the big screen soon.

According to legendary broadcaster Bob Uecker, a “Major League IV” movie is in the works, although details about the film are limited.

“I’ll be honest with you, they’re talking about it,” Uecker said, according to Milwaukee Brewers beat writer Adam McCalvy. “The storyline is all set, too. They’ve already asked me if I would be in for ‘Major League IV,’ and I told them I would.

“I’ve talked to the directors. They’re talking about it and they’re pretty serious, but that’s all I can tell you, really. If there was more, I would tell you that, too. They have been talking about it for the last year-plus. As a matter of fact, they called me during the season last year and asked me if I would be in.”

Uecker, who recently announced that he’ll be cutting back on his travel schedule as Brewers announcer in 2014, has played the role of wacky Cleveland Indians announcer Harry Doyle in the previous “Major League” movies. Uecker is optimistic that “Major League IV” would please the series’ fans.
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“’Major League III’ stunk, so ‘Major League IV’ I’m sure is going to be better than ‘Major League III,’ which they sold to a different company,” Uecker said. “That thing was on airplanes the day after we finished it.”

Uecker said he has no plans to retire from broadcasting despite his shortened schedule for 2014. He’ll certainly have more time for acting, though, which is good news for “Major League” fans if the new film gets green lighted.

Uecker was born in Milwaukee on Jan. 26, 1934. He played six seasons in the majors, debuting with the Milwaukee Braves in 1962 and also donning uniforms of the St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves. In 297 career games, the catcher finished with a .200 batting average, 14 homers and 74 RBI.

Several years following his retirement after the 1967 season, Uecker began calling play-by-play on Brewers radio in 1971. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003, winning the Ford C. Frick Award for his distinguished career in broadcasting.

Re: Idle Chatter

1806
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Tina Maze

Alpine skier

Tina Maze is a Slovenian World Cup alpine ski racer. She is one of just six women who have won in all five World Cup events and one of three who have won in all five disciplines in a single season.

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Olympic pop singer? Gold medalist has song at top of music charts

Olympic gold medal winner Tina Maze is a pop star back in Slovenia. The athlete literally flew down to the finish line on Wednesday in one minute, 41.57 seconds to win the gold at the Winter Olympics, but that’s not the only thing she is known for as she has a beautiful voice too. The talented athlete is also an music artist in Slovenia and currently has a number one hit. According to Yahoo Sports, her song My Way Is My Decision, is on the top of the charts in Slovenia.

The video of My Way Is My Decision is an awesome presentation of how she battles the mountain in her day-to-day lives. Her lyrics are heartfelt, but seeing the athlete suit up in skis and a helmet in a bare room makes the viewer recognize how close her music is to her Olympics passion.

Tina Maze is one of dozens of Olympic athletes who seem to surprise the viewers. While most of the Olympic action is on the slopes, the fans who check out the lives of the athletes after the Olympics seem to find many wonderful surprises. It’s hard to imagine a talented athlete who has a hit on the music charts. Thanks to Tina Maze, there is no imagination needed as the star already made it happen.

Check out the music video of My Way Is My Decision and if you like the song, go over to iTunes and pick up a copy. No doubt Tina Maze could use the cash to help continue her Olympic dream and supporting her never sounded so good!

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Jam Out To Gold Medalist Tina Maze's Music Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53D_Oghk ... r_embedded

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Skiers tie for downhill win

Dominique Gisin (left) and Tina Maze

Gisin, Maze both take gold in race that went down to the hundredth of a second

Updated: February 12, 2014, 12:29 PM ET

By Jim Caple | ESPN.com

ROSA KHUTOR, Russia -

I would have said time was on my side if I had merely reached the media bus just before it pulled away at the start of the nearly two-hour, multivehicle trip up to the mountain venues. But then I watched Switzerland's Dominique Gisin and Slovenia's Tina Maze race in the women's downhill Wednesday.

Starting in eighth position, Gisin twisted and turned and sliced her way down the course in a time of 1:41.57 to take the lead. And then 13 skiers later, Maze left the starting gate and raced down the course and crossed the finish line in . . . 1:41.57.

Yes. They both skied nearly two miles down the face of a mountain in the exact same time, right down to the hundredth of a second. It was the first time in Olympic Alpine history there has been a tie for first place (there have been ties for other medals). After the race ended and the results finalized, Maze and Gisin held hands and jumped on podium together.

"I saw it was going to be close so I looked away and when I looked back I saw the time difference was 0.00,'' Gisin said of watching Maze's race. "And I was like, '0.00. That's OK.'"

Dominique Gisin and Tina Maze did the unthinkable on Wednesday, when they tied for skiing gold.

OK? That finish was historic, though Maze said sometimes it's even closer. After all, her first World Cup win was a three-way tie for first.

"It's incredible in our sport how small the differences are and we are all aware of that,'' Maze said. "We're all on a high level and skiing well, and at the end, it's just hundredths that count. Maybe it's just one finger or a hand can change the color of a medal.''

She's right about that. Traveling at the speed they do, skiers can travel about 10 inches in a hundredth of a second. That's actually more than I would have expected in such a short amount of time. Which brings up the obvious question:

Should ski results be determined by the thousandth of a second as they can be in speedskating?

"I'd love to see them go to the thousandth! I'd like to get that timer guy and beat him to get the thousandth out of him,'' 1998 U.S. gold medalist Picabo Street said. "I would love to know. Me and everyone else. We would love to know.''

No, not everyone else. Each the recipient of a gold medal because of the tie, Maze and Gisin said they are quite content with stopping at hundredths. So is U.S. skier Stacey Cook.

"A hundredth is so close to begin with,'' Cook said. "Our sport is pretty amazing that you can cover two miles of distance in less than two minutes and still be that close. Ties are not a bad thing in sport. They both did equally as well. They both deserve the gold medal.''

Cook is right. The women's downhill course here is 1.6 miles long and it drops 2,600 vertical feet, averaging a 30 percent pitch, with drops exceeding over 60 percent. And, of course, it's covered in snow and ice. You cover that much distance at that much speed under those conditions, one-hundredth of a second is precise enough.

Right, Picabo?

"If it's gaugeable it, let's gauge it! If it's gaugeable, let me have it,'' Street said. "If you've got it, give it to me! They give it to them in speedskating -- why not here? Because we're going 80 miles an hour and coming 3,000 feet down a mountain? No, gimme that thousandth! I want it!''

Street knows how important a slim margin can be. At the 1998 Games in Nagano, she won the Super G by one-hundredth of a second.

"It comes down to something besides ski racing,'' she said of such a tight race. "One one-hundredth of a second means more to me than whether I was the best skier on the mountain. It has more to do with the type of person I am and how I'm rewarded. By the good Lord. He doesn't bless people who are mean, he doesn't reward people who are scrubs. I honestly think I was blessed with an Olympic gold medal because of the person I am.''

Well, I'm not sure silver medalist Michaela Dorfmesiter would agree she finished second in that race because of some moral failing. But it would make for a darn interesting tiebreaker.

"And now we go to sudden death overtime, where a priest, a rabbi and a minister will walk into a bar and review the athletes' morality. The winner not only gets the gold medal but everlasting life.''

"I wouldn't want to be the silver medalist there, Bob.''

Perhaps Street is right and character does play a part. But I prefer Gisin's view.

"I don't think you can race for hundredths of a second. Hundredths is always luck,'' Gisin said. "But luck comes back once in your life. One time you're on one side, one time you're on the other. Maybe just once you're in the middle, like today.''

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Tina Maze Web Site

http://www.tinamaze.com/

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“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is, with a new game every day, and that's the way baseball is.”
-- Bob Feller

Re: Idle Chatter

1808
We just got 6" of new snow on top of what we already had on Monday/Tuesday. I've got about 4 foot of snow in the yard and mounds about 7 feet from clearing the driveway. Heavy thunderstorms starting Thursday around 3am. 1 to 1.5 inches of rain expected so far. The sewer drains are still covered with about 36" of snow and I don't see the city crew out clearing them. I've never seen a winter like this one. What a mess!
“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is, with a new game every day, and that's the way baseball is.”
-- Bob Feller

Re: Idle Chatter

1810
We finally caught somewhat of a break. The heaviest parts of the storm went south of Chicago. We only received about .5" of rain/sleet/ice. Sloppy stuff. Slush was over my shoe tops. Lucky I keep an extra pair of sox and shoes in the car. When I got to work, I had to slip out of the wet and into the dry.
“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is, with a new game every day, and that's the way baseball is.”
-- Bob Feller

Re: Idle Chatter

1813
OMG!

Donna!

How are you?
“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is, with a new game every day, and that's the way baseball is.”
-- Bob Feller

Re: Idle Chatter

1815
JR......

I wasn't seeing things. She did not post, but her name appeared for several minutes on "users browsing".

Actually, this was the second time I've seen her name. The other was several months ago.
“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is, with a new game every day, and that's the way baseball is.”
-- Bob Feller