Thursday, September 30, 2004

THAT WAS YOUR FOOT, RIGHT?

The Houston Chronicle reports that a movie theater in Houston is closed because a maintenance man cleaning at two in the morning saw an eight foot snake slithering through the auditorium. They think it might be a Burmese Python, but they are not sure. The sighting was eight days ago, and they still have not been able to confirm that a snake lives in the building, let alone catch it.

Unless this theater can show an eight foot snake they caught on television, they might as well knock the building down, because they are getting nobody to sit in a dark theater for two hours any time in the future.

IN RETROSPECT, THE AXIS SEEMS OK

On September 22, I blogged about Germany and Japan wanting United Nations Security Council seats. I thought it was a bad idea. Now comes word that . . . Libya is seeking a Security Council seat. One of the rationales the Libyans put forth is “there can be no Mediterranean without Libya.” I don’t even know what to say, other than there was a Mediterranean when Libya was a Roman province, when it was an Ottoman province, when it was an Italian colony, and now, so apparently the Mediterranean is more adaptable than the Libyans realized.

FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTEMPT

The Japanese Major League (the Central and Pacific Leagues) have agreed to begin playing interleague games next year. This is as tough a decision for them as it was for Major League Baseball in the United States, and will probably create the kind of buzz interleague games did in the U.S. However, what I am really struck by is that each league in Japan only has six teams. They play in excess of 130 games per season (their leagues are still going and teams are at about 133 games) against FIVE other teams. I wonder if they get to know each other.

I also have found a number of missing former Cubs in researching this item. Who can forget these guys:

Roosevelt Brown, who was supposed to solve the center field problem on the North Side once and for all;
Tuffy Rhodes, who hit three home runs for the Cubs on opening day, 1994. The Cubs still lost the game, and Tuffy ended up tying the single season home record in Japan with 55 for the Kinetsu Buffalos;
Matt Franco, who played sixteen games in the 1995 Cubs infield;
Rodney Myers, who is allegedly with the Dodgers this year, but is shown on the Hanshin Tigers in Japan. His best ERA with the Cubs was 4.38 in 1999;
Dan Serafini, who went 3-2 for the Cubs in 1999 (what a glorious year that was); and last but certainly not least
Julio Zuleta, who was supposed to replace Mark Grace, and couldn’t hit a breaking ball.

Makes me nostalgic for the time when I was happy to have Julio Zuleta, instead of tearing my hair out over the 2004 version of the team.

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