Fair Weather Fans

This past weekend I did something I've never done before...left a sporting event early. Leading up to Saturday I stayed at games no matter the score. My team could be up or down by a ton and I'd stay.

Saturday Kelly and I went to the Michigan vs. Northwestern game with Bull and Emily. The weather was horrible! Mid 30's, very windy and a mix of rain and sleet. That's not a very good combination. We bundled up as much as we thought we needed but it wasn't even close to being good enough.

We lasted until 7 minutes left in the FIRST HALF. We enjoyed the rest of the game and some ribs from Damon's Grill.
Ash

Thank You Tigers!

The Cardinals just ended the Tigers series in the 5th game of the World Series. The Card's played sound baseball throughout the Series. The Tigers did not!

BUT I'm not going to take a negative angle when reflecting on the season. I'd like to thank the Tigers...

Thank you for the numerous walk-off game winning homeruns.

Thank you for gum time.

Thank you for reviving what was a dead baseball city.

Thank you reuniting friendships.

Thank you for tightening others.

Thank you for the "call" of the game winning homerun against the A's. (Every time I heard that call I got the chills)

Thank you for a LONG, LONG season.

Thank you!!!
Ash

Crash

I've officially taken the nickname of "Crash" from Darren!

Tonight he and I went for a ride at Addison Oaks. I had two of the most violent crashes I've ever had on a bike. When I was younger I crashed all the time. Tonight it was different.

The first crash I lost control going around a tight corner and spilled. I landed hard on my right knee and then my head. Luckily I was wearing a helmet because I got my bell rang pretty good.

The second crash was right at the end of the ride. There's a halved log bridge (if you can imagine that) that is about 15 feet long. I just cleared the bridge but was slightly out of control and went off a drop off. I didn't pull my front tire up and my back tire decided it wanted to be in front. In other words I did an endo. The middle of my back landed on a stump.

Darren later apoligized for not being a good friend. When I asked why, he said he didn't have the camera ready!

Here's what my knee looked like after the ride.

Foreign Substance

Sunday night Kenny Rodgers pitched a gem of a game. He allowed only 2 hits in 8 innings. However, Cardinal hitters noticed the pitches were doing funny things and thanks to High Definition television everyone saw why. He had a "foreign substance" on his pitching hand.

What is a "foreign substance"? In this case I'm thinking it was pine tar. It could be anything. I've heard of a pitcher using Preparation H...gross!!!

What does a "foreign substance" do to a pitch? It makes a curve ball curve more. It makes a cut fast ball have more cut to it. It basically amplifies the spin on the ball.

Why do this? I don't know. Maybe he thought he needed an edge up on the batters.

What's crazy is after he washed his hands in between innings he was more dominant.

This pitching performance is something legends are made of. A 41 year old pitcher throwing a 2 hitter in the World Series. No one is talking about the gem. They are talking about the "foreign substance."

It's just too bad.
Ash

Can You Say the World Series???

OH MY GOODNESS...THE TIGERS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!!!

They just swept the Oakland A's. Magglio Ordonez (my Tiger...just kidding) hit a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the 9th. Talk about a way to end a series!

They'll play either the Mets or the Cardinals starting next Saturday. I'm honestly still in shock! More to come when my brain can fully comprehend what is happening.

GO TIGERS!!!
Ash

The Bull's and the Tigers

This past weekend a couple things happened that a lot of people didn't think would happen. First, James Bull got married. We went down to Nashville and had a great time - pictures to follow soon.

The second thing people didn't think would happen was OUR Detroit Tigers beat the HATED New York Yankees. They didn't just beat the Yankees...they dominated them. When you looked at the Yankees lineup it was actually very scary on paper. It was all-star after all-star. The old saying "Good pitching always beats good hitting" was evident. Kenny Rogers and Jeremy Bonderman pitched the games of their careers. They made that all-star lineup look pretty bad!

Kelly and I were able to see just about all of the both games this weekend. We were actually an hour late for the reception because I had to stay and watch the end of the game.

The celebration was AWESOME!!! After hugging and jumping up and down they carried the "skipper" Jim Leyland off the field. Usually a team goes back in to the lockerroom and goes crazy with bottle of champagne. Not OUR Detroit Tigers. The team, armed with a bottle of champagne in each hand, came back out and celebrated with the fans. HOW COOL IS THAT???

Next up are the Oakland Athetics in the American League Champion Series. Someone please pinch me...I can't believe this is still going on. And sorry Elliot - the Piston's pre-season will have to be forced to the back page for just a couple more weeks!!!

Ash

I'm An Apple Man Now!!!

For the longest time I made fun of "Apple People." I always thought they thought they were better. We even called the computers "Crapples."

This past Sunday we were at Rochester College's Fall Festival. They had a drawing for a bunch of stuff. One of the top prizes was an Apple iMac computer. We'll I won it!!!
Here's a picture of it.

When they called my name I lost control of my body and ran up there like a wild man!!!

Here's a shot of it on our new desk.
















Look how skinny it is! The entire computer is in the monitor. Oh my goodness it's awesome!

Off to put my Apple sticker on the car...
Ash