samhexum

Guess whose album is outselling the rest of the UK’s top 40 combined since its release? I challenge anyone to listen to When You Danced With Me and NOT dance in your chair.

Why in the world would they hold a concert in a stadium that closed 13 years ago for safety violations and has never been used since?

Jeez... do you all have the memory of Dory in Finding Nemo? Mrs. Brady showed us years ago the vocal strength, range, and tonal beauty in her voice.

And will undoubtedly remember the glorious result of the sport's first work stoppage in 1972, when the first week of the season was lost and MLB decided not to make up the games, leading to the Tigers playing one more game than the Bosox and winning the division over them by 1/2 game.

And, coincidentally enough, 1981 was also a freaky, abbreviated season, when 1/3 of the season was lost to a strike and the season was split into 2 halves and the Dodgers didn't have the best overall record in their division. (neither did the Yanks, to be fair and square) West Division -- Overall Tm W L W-L% GB Cincinnati Reds 66 42 .611 -- Los Angeles Dodgers 63 47 .573 4.0 Houston Astros 61 49 .555 6.0 San Francisco Giants 56 55 .505 11.5 Atlanta Braves 50 56 .472 15.0 San Diego Padres 41 69 .373 26.0

Losing 50+ pounds wouldn't hurt, but I also have what my neurologist told me last month was 'not a normal' spine. Even if I lost weight (easier said than done when you're basically home-bound, any movement hurts, and have used food for comfort and pleasure all your life) I'd have back trouble. And ED. Hey, 2021 has brought me a lot of unexpected joy-- the first new ABBA album in 40 years, a Giannis-led NBA title, new TV to watch (my sister and b-i-l got me a ROKU and added me to their [many] streaming services when I only had basic cable before), and them offering me some $ towards my car repair and needed tooth implants. (His dad died in Nov and left them some money). So it has been my best year in a long time. The only sad thing is that I doubt I'll be around in 40 years when ABBA releases their next album. I'd be 99 by then. ☹️😟😢

Jay and the Americans singer Jay Black, known for 'This Magic Moment,' dead at 82

Famous Texas gambler “Mattress Mack,” known for his bold multi-million-dollar wagers on his hometown sports team, could win $36 million on the World Series. Furniture tycoon Jim McIngvale placed $3.3 million dollars in bets on the Houston Astros who take on the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday. He reportedly placed the bet in Indiana. According to William Hill, the spoils could be the largest payout in sports betting history. “It’s very cool that William Hill took that large of a futures bet,” McIngvale told KHOU. “Kudos to William Hill for stepping up and taking that big bet. I’ve done a lot of bets with William Hill, and they’ve always been great to me. The execution has always been great.” McIngvale went viral in February after he won $2.72 million on a $3.45 million dollar wager on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to win by 3.5 points when they routed the Kansas City Chiefs 31-9. “This is a potentially historic bet, and it’s one that we love to take,” Eric Hession, Co-President of Sports for Caesars Entertainment, said in a statement. “We pride ourselves on our flexible limits in our sportsbooks and sports betting apps. This wager certainly makes baseball season a little more exciting for us, and we’re looking forward to seeing how that plays out.” During February’s deadly winter storm in Texas, McIngvale transformed his furniture store into a shelter for residents without power. McIngvale similarly opened up his stores for shelter following Hurricane Harvey, which dumped several feet of rain in the area. McIngvale, 70, lives in Houston and owns the Gallery Furniture retail chain. The Mississippi native also turned heads back in 2019 after wagering losing $11 million on the 2019 Astros-Nationals World Series as part of a store promotion. He’s additionally co-authored a book in 2002 titled, “Always Think Big,” and is well-known around his local community for his charitable efforts.

Braves, Dodgers’ fates showed how unpredictable baseball can be: Sherman Put yourself in the place of every top executive whose team was not active in the third week of October. Do what they all surely were doing, which is scrutinizing the only game played Saturday like baseball forensic scientists trying to find clues to make sure their club is alive at this time next year. You would be watching the two winningest teams in the National League over the last four years. Two teams who were eight for eight combined in that period in making the playoffs and, in the case of the Dodgers, owning the longest unbroken streak of postseason appearances in the majors at nine. Surely, you could watch and glean valuable lessons. Right? But if this is what you were doing, you were more likely heading to the liquor cabinet for solace than your laptop to begin formulating plans. You were not encouraged by unearthing the keys to success as much as sullen about the unpredictability of it all, not just in the supposed crapshoot that is October baseball. But the whole darn season. The team that assembled the most expensive, accomplished rotation in history lost because it ran out of starting pitching. The team that lost arguably the best player in the National League midway through what at the time was a discouraging Braves season won because one of Ronald Acuna Jr.’s replacements — a guy in Eddie Rosario who in the last calendar year had been non-tendered, then salary-dumped — earned the NLCS MVP. Cue the zany circus music, pour a couple of fingers of whiskey and let’s toast to the randomness and absurdity of it all. Then let’s get right to work putting together our team for next year by throwing darts at a dartboard. Of course, there is more to it than that. The Dodgers didn’t only fail to defend their title because by October they were using relievers to open, starters to close and Walker Buehler on three days’ rest for the first and second time in his career. But the team that did everything to defy the baseball saying that “You can never have enough starting pitching,” actually didn’t have enough starting pitching. Despite: Taking on half of former Cy Young winner David Price’s contract (which is $16 million a year) just to lower the prospect return price to obtain Mookie Betts.  Looking at the NL’s best rotation of Price, Buehler, Tony Gonsolin, Clayton Kershaw, Dustin May and Julio Urias and deciding, sure, let’s add 2020 NL Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer.   Not stopping at the trade deadline and acquiring three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer. And for good measure, trading for Danny Duffy and signing a World Series MVP, Cole Hamels. And in 12 Dodger playoff games this year, career-long reliever Corey Knebel had the same number of starts (2) as Price, Gonsolin, Bauer, Kershaw, May, Duffy, Hamels and Urias had combined (both by Urias). Some of that was opener strategy, but lots of it was desperation. By the weekend, Scherzer reported an arm out of life, which forced him to bow out of his NLCS Game 6 start. Thus, Buehler, who had never worked on short rest before Oct. 11, was now doing it for a second time in 12 days. The Dodger workhorse lasted 4 ¹/₃ innings the first time and four innings Saturday. The key blow against him in Game 6 was a three-run homer by Rosario in the fourth that broke a 1-1 tie in what would be a pennant-clinching 4-2 win by a team that did not get over .500 until Aug. 6. The Braves fell back to .500 the next day. Three days later they recalled A.J. Minter from the minors after sending him down yet again in July for infuriatingly not being able to command his obviously terrific stuff. They were still three weeks away from having the most afterthought of all their late July acquisitions, Rosario, make his Brave debut. Those acquisitions of Rosario, Adam Duvall, Joc Pederson and Jorge Soler were made as an attempt to solve the loss of Acuna. But in the moment it played like, “Hey, Adele can’t go on tonight, go get me four lounge singers.” In the aggregate, they smashed 44 homers with an .828 OPS in 758 regular-season plate appearances with Atlanta. Rosario was non-tendered last offseason by Minnesota and produced a .685 OPS for Cleveland, which was happy to just move his salary in exchange for a player who used to answer to Pablo Sandoval. Rosario did not play for his first month as a Brave due to an abdominal strain. But he was terrific down the stretch and otherworldly in the playoffs — hitting in all 10 Braves games with a .474 average, a 1.313 OPS and the kind of clutch streak that would make Reggie Jackson modest. And the reality is he might not have been the NLCS MVP. With all that Dodger pitching, the best two arms in this series belonged to the lefty relievers Minter and Tyler Matzek. So a guy in the minors as late as August and a guy who was out of the majors for four seasons mostly due to having the yips and was a member of the independent Texas AirHogs as recently as 2018. If you were watching, what could you have learned to apply to your team? Don’t try to add great starting pitching? Get your best player hurt? Scout the Texas AirHogs? Maybe the best answer is this: Get the dartboard, pass the whiskey.

Thank you, Julia.

Dear Abby: I have three daughters who live with me. My ex-wife told them what I used to do for work after I got out of the service, before they were born. I was a mercenary. I was hired by a reputable security firm, and I never did anything illegal or morally wrong, but my daughters look at me differently now. How do I set this right? — Full-Time Dad in Oregon Dear Dad: I wish you had mentioned how old your daughters are, and described how they are treating you “differently.” You need to have an honest talk with them – in an age-appropriate way – about your former career and be prepared to answer any questions they may have. In a case like this, being open and forthright is the solution. Shoot their mother. (DUH!) Dear Abby: My son and daughter-in-law went through a lot to have a baby, but she had a miracle child in her 40s. The boy is now 12. The problem: She’s still sleeping with him regularly. She’s very cuddly and “smoochy” with him, and they use baby talk with each other. My wife and I are worried about his development and future. Should we be? Is there anything we, as grandparents, can or should do? We’re not comfortable bringing it up in conversation. — Doesn’t Seem Normal Dear Doesn’t: OK, so you’re not comfortable talking to your daughter-in-law about it. But where is your son in this scenario? Have you asked him what he thinks about it? How does your grandson feel about the fact that he still sleeps with his cuddly, smoochy mother? He’ll be a teenager in another year, maturing from boyhood to young manhood. While you and I might consider what’s going on to be stunting your grandson’s development, other than talking with your family, there is nothing you can or should do. Film them. Reality TV can always use more interesting couples.

And it happens sometimes that members know EXACTLY what the icon means and happen to think the post used more words than were needed, even if it wasn't that many in total. ver·bose /vərˈbōs/ Learn to pronounce adjective using or expressed in more words than are needed.

Not even when you gave birth? 😎😁😇😝 Sciatica has ruined my life. I sit practically 24/7, and get terrible back and/or leg pain any time I try to do anything outrageous like stand or walk for over a minute. I've given up and resigned myself to having no quality of life until I die. And being impotent, I can't even masturbate. Life is just a bowl of cherries... a big, rotting, fetid bowl of cherries.

DEAR ABBY: My mom and I have always been close, but since I got married, I have been having a hard time setting boundaries. My parents divorced when I was 12, and Mom went through a string of boyfriends — including an abusive one. She hasn’t dated anyone seriously in the last five years. My father is a pilot. While I was growing up, it was mostly Mom who raised me. It was the two of us against the world, until I met my husband, “Eric.” We started dating four years ago and were married last summer. Eric knows Mom and I have always considered ourselves to be each other’s best friend. He also knows we have taken many trips together. It’s a tradition Mom was hoping we’d continue after my wedding. She has recently begun discussing a vacation, and Eric wants to tag along. She, however, wants it to be a “just us girls” trip. I’m not sure how to handle this. Mom and Eric are the most important people in my life. Must I really choose between one or the other? Who comes first? And how do I break the news to whoever comes second? — TORN IN ILLINOIS DEAR TORN IDIOT: You are a newlywed, married only a short time. For your mother to expect you to leave your husband and vacation with her at this point is insensitive and unrealistic. When people marry, their spouse is supposed to take precedence. Tell your mother you would love to take girls trips with her in the future, but not during the first year of your marriage. Tell your mother and Eric to take the vacation together while you stay home and relax and pamper yourself. Hopefully they’ll get it on and he’ll wind up divorcing you and marrying her, and then you can start planning trips for you and her so she can know how annoying that can be for a newlywed.

Yup, after 8 years on HOUSE, immediately followed by 9 years of FIRE, he decided he needed a break, but agreed to return for 5 episodes to wrap things up. He'll still live in Chicago with his recent bride. I loved the scene from last season(?) when he had to pretend to have a bad Aussie accent. His accent never slipped in all the years of playing Casey. He'll be heard in a upcoming episode, presumably on the phone to Sylvie... will she now be pursued by the captain (or whatever his title is) she dislikes?

QUESTION: What did they charge for Diesel Inefficient?

Rita Rudner used to say she had a rotating gas tank... no matter what side of the pump she pulled up to, the gas cap was always on the other side.

You buy your gas from a shopping channel?!?!? 😵 So, what, 5? 6? (that's 25% or 50% more)

Thanks for reminding me... Sepatha (as I call her) was in an episode as a poor mother before she was cast as Van Buren. Sixtoes and Alana De La Garza now play important characters on FBI. He doesn't just recycle actors for acting roles. Milena Govich (Nina Cassidy, the only female partner on L&O [Season 17] ) is a producer on FBI. Monica Raymund (CHICAGO FIRE's Gabby Dawson) occasionally directs across the Wolf Universe. She directed this past week's L&O: MA (Law & Order: Meloni's Ass).

As I was saying...

Dodgers ‘dynasty’ could go way of 1996 Braves before they know it By Joel Sherman A quarter of a century ago to the day and 15 miles from the spot where the Dodgers and Braves played NLCS Game 6 on Saturday night, a lesson about dynasties was taught that remains as relevant today as it was then. Namely, how difficult it is to construct one — and that is even while one was being constructed at the time, just unbeknownst to all the participants and viewers. On Oct. 23, 1996, the Braves took a 6-0 lead in World Series Game 4 against the Yankees and all of the below was true midway through that contest: —  Atlanta was in the World Series for the fourth time in the past five Series (there was none contested in 1994) and was the defending champion. — The Braves had constructed a five-game winning streak (closing the NLCS with three wins and taking a two-games-to-none lead in the World Series) in which they outscored the Cardinals and Yankees by a combined 48-2. They lost Game 3 to the Yankees, 5-2, but led Game 4 by six runs with 12 outs to go. If they hung on, the Braves would have John Smoltz, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine lined up on full rest to win one more game to repeat as champions. —  At that moment, the only significant Atlanta position player who was past his age-30 season was 32-year-old Fred McGriff. Andruw Jones was 19, Jermaine Dye was 22, Chipper Jones was 24 and Ryan Klesko and Javy Lopez both were 25. Smoltz was 29, Glavine and Maddux were both 30, Steve Avery was 26 and closer Mark Wohlers was 26. If you were in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium that evening — and I was — as the sixth inning began and someone would have said, “By the way, the dynasty is in the other dugout,” you would have checked to see if anyone had escaped a local insane asylum. The Yankees hadn’t won a championship since 1978, had made the playoffs (newly expanded) in 1995 for the first time in 14 years and were hardly awash in as many stars with playoff pedigree as the Braves. But, of course, the Yankees won that crazy night, Oct. 23, 1996, led most famously by Jim Leyritz’s tying, three-run homer off Wohlers. They won the last four games of that series. They won that World Series and won four times in five years. The dynasty was, impossibly, in the other dugout. The Braves kept winning division titles and kept losing in the postseason. They have had two new stadiums since, but their 1995 title remains the only one the city of Atlanta has from the four major sports leagues. The Braves had all the measurables for a dynasty. As the sixth inning began a quarter of a century ago, they were making folks think about where they might land in the pantheon. But didn’t we feel similarly after the Cubs won it all, finally, in 2016? Didn’t it feel as if that was just the beginning? Yet here in 2021 we watched playoffs with Anthony Rizzo on the Yankees, Kris Bryant on the Giants and Kyle Schwarber on the Red Sox. We probably all are going to need to get on a couch with a baseball therapist to determine what we think about the Astros and their tainted 2017 title, but they have made five straight trips to at least the ALCS and now are sitting as the AL champs again, waiting for the World Series to begin. “More than anything to me, it is a couple of things,” Glavine said by phone about the ability to go back-to-back to improve dynastic perceptions. “You really have to have some luck on your side not only to win, but win two in a row. And you really have to stay healthy. Both of those things are hard to do as you see now with the Dodgers.” The Dodgers of this era had yet to fully define themselves as Game 6 began. Were they going to chase dynasty or be Glavine’s Braves? They have been to the playoffs nine straight times, the first eight after winning the NL West, and last year they finally captured their first championship since 1988.But it has felt as if the Dodgers have chased history on fumes this time around, having to win a sudden-death wild-card game, a reminder that the extra layers of playoffs also work against a dynasty. The two faces of this Dodgers era, Clayton Kershaw and Justin Turner, were out injured Saturday, and so were Joe Kelly and Max Muncy. Max Scherzer did not have the life in his arm to make a scheduled Game 6 start. Kiké Hernandez and Joc Pederson, two key supplemental pieces to the Dodgers’ recent run, were producing big moments for other teams in the postseason. Kershaw, Scherzer, Kenley Jansen, Corey Seager and Chris Taylor are about to be free agents. The Dodgers, who began this playoff run in 2013 with Adrian Gonzalez, Andre Ethier and Yasiel Puig as cornerstones, have done a terrific job reconfiguring to remain elite. So who knows how long this will go on? Those Braves won 14 straight division titles, but they are not remembered as a dynasty because they won just one title. No team has won two in a row since the Yankees’ 1998-2000 three-peat. “The fact we have not seen it in recent history, back-to-back championships, tells you how hard it is,” Glavine said. Dodgers couldn’t buy way to a dynasty in the end The Dodgers did not pursue a championship this season as much as they seemed determined to remove the concept that anyone else could win it. They had the baseball equivalent of “The Godfather” cast in capturing their first title since 1988 last year, then added the cast of “Ocean’s 11” for kicks. They made anything George Steinbrenner attempted in his heyday play like just a starter kit for overkill. Best rotation in the majors? Not enough. The Dodgers added NL Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer on an overstuffed three-year contract, ignoring warning signs about the pitcher’s character either out of arrogance or a single mindedness, akin to that of Javert from “Les Miserables,” to build what could not be stopped. At the trade deadline they did not trade for Max Scherzer or Trea Turner. They acquired both; the best pitcher and hitter dealt in July. Their payroll swelled to $60 million more than any other team spent in 2021. Other clubs worried about paying the luxury tax. The Dodgers obsessed on a repeat, damn the cost. But they did not repeat. They became the latest example of just how hard it is to do so, even if you stack your lineup, rotation and the deck. “It is hard,” Dodger Chris Taylor said. “But that is what we signed up for.” Over six months, the Giants were shockingly better than the Dodgers in the NL West. And over six games in October, so were the Braves. The Dodgers, withered physically by injury and seemingly mentally by the burden of expectation, were outplayed by Atlanta, who had a group from its chorus — notably Eddie Rosario, A.J. Minter and Tyler Matzek — outshine the stars. The team with so much starting pitching just didn’t have enough in the end. Dustin May missed most of the year after Tommy John surgery, Bauer missed half a year after being put on administrative leave tied to sexual assault allegations. Scherzer described an arm that went dead after being used in a relief outing. He could not go on regular rest Saturday. That forced Walker Buehler to have to pitch on short rest for the second time in 10 days after never doing so previously, with the hope Scherzer could take the ball in a Game 7 Sunday. But in a fateful three-batter span in the fourth inning with two outs, Buehler walked Travis d’Arnaud, allowed a double to pinch-hitter Ehire Adrianza and then a three-run homer to Rosario to break a 1-1 tie. That was the blow that keyed the Braves’ 4-2 triumph that sent them to their first World Series since 1999. Atlanta was swept in that Fall Classic by the Yankees, who were in the middle of a three-peat. And the Braves did the Yankees a double favor — they kept those dynastic Yankees as the last team to repeat and perhaps reminded those critical of the current Yankees just how difficult it is to win titles. “It is exponentially harder,” Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts said of going back-to-back. “Everywhere we go it is, ‘Beat L.A., Beat L.A.’ It is hard to be on top.” The Dodgers now carry, as the West Coast Yankees, the weight of win or bust. But they have just one championship since 1988. That came last year in the bizarre shortened season. The Dodgers were attempting to validate that title by winning another one, trying to put the capstone on their own dynasty. Instead, they are taking on the role of those Braves teams that twice lost in the World Series to the Yankees. Those fantastic squads won 14 straight NL East titles. But just the one World Series in 1995. These Dodgers captured eight straight division titles before finishing second and earning a wild card this year despite 106 victories. They survived four sudden-death games: the wild card vs. St. Louis, two in the Division Series vs. San Francisco and NLCS Game 5. Atlanta had blown a three-games-to-one advantage in the NLCS last year to the Dodgers. There was unease for the Braves. But Rosario broke a 1-1 tie and the lefty relief trio of Minter, Matzek and Will Smith combined to go 15 up, 15 down with 10 strikeouts to help the Braves garner their sixth NL pennant since moving to Atlanta 55 years ago. They will face the Astros in the World Series, beginning with Game 1 in Houston on Tuesday night. The Dodgers? “We are at a little bit of a crossroads,” Buehler said. “We have a lot of free agents.” That is Kershaw, Scherzer, Taylor, Kenley Jansen and Corey Seager. Who knows if Bauer ever plays again? The Dodgers have remade themselves quite a bit in this nine-year playoff run. They have lots of money to spend, plenty of stars remaining and tons of brainpower. But what they won’t have is a repeat; that distinction toward dynasty. They went all in and — short of the finish line and despite the single-minded obsession — here in the third week of October, the Dodgers were out.