Friday, April 15, 2005
Hi all, I've been up to my you-know-what putting together a relativity/quantum mechanics class. Who knew that we don't teach relatavistic mass anymore? In any case, I don't have a lot of spare time, but I thought I should jot down some thoughts:
Job Perks I
My wife's employer gets really good tickets from time to time. And when I say really good, I'm talking about the luxury suite right behind home plate at SBC Park (the door marked "do not open" in the suite actually leads into the press box). I got my hands on one of those tickets last weekend. To tell the truth, I had big feelings of apathy (I'm not sure how that statement makes sense, but it does). As a Bay Area baseball fan I've watched the A's implode over the Winter, and the Giants' season won't start until Barry comes back either as the 98-lb weakling or as the angry black man who is going to give you the choice of walking him or getting his boot up your ass. So even on an amazingly sunny day I couldn't get into the game. Until the Giants got the bases loaded. The ball left Tucker's bat so fast that you knew it was gone after about 3 feet. That solved my case of baseball malaise.
Job Perks II
An old roommate of mine works for the Feds, he's a scientist on a team that reacts to "incidents" involving nuclear/bio stuff and terrorists. Turns out that he got to see the first game back in DC because his team was on site "just in case".
Simpsons Did It
I was watching one of my favorite Simpsons episodes the other day and Mark McGwire's words just drip with irony - "Do you want to know the terrifying truth? Or do you want to see me sock a few dingers!" On the other hand, I take MLB's satellites about as seriously as the steroids scandal. Yoink indeed.
Of course, the image of Jose Canseco moving all the furniture out of a burning house also works at many levels...
Tax Day
You know, it's April 15 and I have a question for all of you salary cap people out there. How do you claim a level playing field if some states have no income tax and others take a good chunk of the paycheck? Yes, some states now ding out-of-towners, but that's going to be less than a 50% effect. A $100M contract vs. a $105 might be equal to the player after taxes, but they are different to your cap. If you really want to level the playing field, at least build this into your cap system. Of course, you also have to account for cost of living...
posted by David 11:28 AM
