Month: February 2022

I wonder who the next Brady Anderson is going to be?

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Despite the fact that the Braves won the World Series, I haven’t really been paying much attention to baseball.  That’s how far I’ve slid down the life of fatherhood and just how much I’ve gotten away from the sport that was basically my entire life for a notable stretch of it.  I was probably more vested in the 2004 Boston Red Sox’s victory more than I am of my own team finally winning it, honestly.

I’ve only been casually paying attention to if the Braves have stopped being so Braves-ey and actually re-signed Freddie Freeman, which they haven’t because they’re still the Atlanta Braves in spite of also being World Series champions, and whatever else random baseball stories Apple News or theFacebook headlines have steered towards me.  I do know that Major League Baseball is currently in a strike, which seems to have been pretty easy to ignore because it just so happened to take place during the off-season, but people will probably notice a little bit more in coming weeks if and when Spring Training doesn’t start on time.

As greedy baseball players negotiate with Major League Baseball, one interesting tidbit caught my attention: steroid testing for Major League players won’t be tested any further.  

From what I understand, this doesn’t necessarily mean that steroids are suddenly fair game and legal, it’s just that MLB won’t be testing for it anymore.  And this probably isn’t going to be a permanent thing, but probably until another drug program is drafted and agreed upon, but for lack of a better term, there is a window right now, where anyone who wanted to take steroids, could go ham on the gas, and probably get away with it. 

Honestly, by the time I post this, there will probably be a hundred players all taking something that would’ve failed a 2021 season piss test, and I think it’s a safe bet that we’re going to see some spike in home runs in coming years as the result of this.

That being said, my original question goes, I wonder who the next Brady Anderson is going to be?  This is in reference to the former Baltimore Orioles outfielder, whom through the first eight years of his career hit 72 homers, but then completely out of nowhere in 1996, crushes 50 home runs.  Although never formally caught, there’s basically no mistake that the guy hit the gas super hard after the 95 season, got jacked and then started smashing homers at an insane rate.

What I’m looking forward to in 2022 is what formerly average baseball player(s) is/are going to suddenly turn into Babe Ruth overnight, because it’s totally going to happen.  And how they’re going to field the questions on their miraculous production; my favorite excuse from a juicer was probably Luis Gonzalez, who nearly doubled his former career high in home runs when he smashed 57 in 2001.  He claimed it was a change in batting stance that led to him to suddenly become superhuman, but who knows what the future Brady Andersons are going to claim.  Crossfit?  Keto dieting?  Tonal?  P90X?

Either way, I’m glad I’ve gained a little distance with how much I care about baseball these days.  Because I’d probably have gotten up in arms and wasted hours on the internet arguing with people on fan sites about ethics and purity, when Starling Marte or Kris Bryant are suddenly joining the 50 HR club.  It’s not going to bother me nearly as much as it once probably would have, but it’ll be funny to see just how many high-and-mighty players capitalize on the opportunity with only their ethics to wager.

I hope Rousey gets owned by the fans again

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

As good as Ronda Rousey was in the Octagon, I’ve never really been sold on Ronda Rousey the professional wrestler.  I don’t think I’m the only wrestling fan that kind of thinks that she’s more or less a wrestling tourist cashing in on her name value, and using professional wrestling to pad her bank account, because for some reason they’re so willing to give her tons of money.  And as good of a MMA fighter she might have been, even to this day she’s still putrid inside the ring.

After reading this story about how WWE heads needed to give her a talking to about cutting promos, most notably the part where she’s the face in this feud with Charlotte Flair, and she needs to act like a heel, especially to the fans, because the formula of wrestling is the timeless tale of good guy versus bad guy, and it doesn’t really work out when a Wrestlemania match is going to be two assholes against each other, it was just another reminder of how much she doesn’t get the wrestling industry from the storytelling perspective either.

Back in 2018, Rousey and Charlotte had a match at Survivor Series, which was pretty decent because Charlotte is basically the greatest female wrestler ever, and Rousey was smart enough to let herself get carried.  But the most memorable part of the match was when Charlotte got herself disqualified by abruptly attacking Rousey with a weapon; but despite the fact that at the time, Rousey was built as a heroic face, while Charlotte was toeing the line as a heel, the dastardly actions by Charlotte were met with explosive cheers from the crowd.  Throughout the match, Rousey was getting somewhat of a lukewarm reception, but when Charlotte went ballistic on her, the line in the sand was pretty drawn – the fans had turned on Rousey.

The thing is, Rousey being so green to the wrestling industry, had no earthly idea how to handle it.  After the match was over, Rousey looked at the crowd with a shocked and appalled look on her face as boos rained down on her.  There was actually a moment where the cameras caught her jawing with a fan, claiming that he was no man, and the whole televised walk to the back was awkward and kind of painful to watch.

Today’s wrestling fans don’t like to be told what to do, which is why they’re so apt to turn on wrestlers in such dynamic manners from time to time.  And the fans at a Survivor Series, which is a tier-1 event for the WWE, tends to draw more hardcore fans, and these are the ones that tend to understand their power as a collective, and know they can fuck with the talent if they work together, and that’s basically what happened with when they turned on Rousey.  And once it’s seen on television, it becomes the truth to all casual fans and before you know it, Rousey is hated by all fans from then on, and next thing you know, she’s jobbing out to Becky Lynch at Wrestlemania to the delight of the fans and then vanishing from the WWE for like, three years.

Well, Rousey is back, and the WWE machine is once again trying to push her as a face.  But the aforementioned promo she cut, mostly on the fans, clearly indicates that she hasn’t forgotten how she was treated by the fans three years ago, and combined with all her shoot-not-shoot remarks about how much she hates wrestling fans, it clear her relationship status with the industry is probably best described as, it’s complicated.

What I’m really hoping for is that come Wrestlemania, when Rousey faces Charlotte for the blue Women’s Championship, I hope that the fans turn on her again.  Not before, not after, but during the match against Charlotte.  Charlotte has been trying to nurture the arrogant heel persona over the last two years and frankly, getting paired against Rousey could be the worst thing to happen to her character, if the smarky fans that show up at Wrestlemania decide to deploy another heel turn on Rousey again.

But I’m all for it, and hope that it happens again.  I’m not sold on Rousey the professional wrestler, and I would be over the moon to see the fans go complete dark side on her again, and see how she reacts to it happening at Wrestlemania of all places.  It doesn’t change the fact that she’s probably going to win the blet because a big name like Rousey isn’t brought in to job, but I just hope the fans definitely let her know that they recognize someone who respects the business, and they’ll definitely let anyone else know what they think about them.

Not sure how I feel about this

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

When I read this story about an Initial D café out in California, I was a little skeptical.  Initial D is a property that I’ve been pretty passionate about, and frankly of all the anime series that have ever existed, absolutely none of them can say that they’ve been able to keep my interest for 18 years.  My interest in Initial D could legitimately vote. 

Kare Kano, Ranma 1/2, Evangelion, Rurouni Kenshin; none of these properties, among many others, as much as I loved them when I did, had the ability to keep me coming back for more throughout their existences.  With Initial D, I would watch whatever I could, but then in later years, when I’d learn that more of it existed, I would search and watch it and catch back up, until the point came when the series was out of episodes.

As suspect as I thought the ending kind of was, my love for the series was unmistakable.  Frankly, almost all anime have shitty endings, and Initial D’s was far from the worst out there.

Anyway, this Initial D café out in California; of course it’s in California.  And as much as I like the execution of the place, and the obvious love for the property that the owner has, there’s just one thing that bugs me:

Fujiwara Tofu Cafe, while not formally endorsed by Initial D’s creators, 

It’s a business that’s completely more or less unauthorized.  And in spite of the lack of endorsement, the place is completely smattered with Initial D stuff all over the place, and has completely lifted its entire identity from a property that they more or less don’t have the endorsement to use.  I’m no legal expert, but I wonder about the legality of using so much official stuff for a business not sanctioned by the creators of it.

I think it bugs me because I’m such a fan of the property and generally protective of my fandom of it, and this is definitely something that I wouldn’t have done, at least without trying to gained some approval from those in charge of the property in the first place.  I mean, who’s to say the guy who owns it hasn’t, but the thing is if I don’t get the green light from Shuichi Shigeno, then this is definitely a venture that I don’t embark on.

But that’s just me.  Otherwise, I have some respect for the fact that the duder’s family has an actual history with making tofu, which gives a degree of legitimacy to the business, and wasn’t just some mega fanboy opening an Initial D café, but then just selling hot dogs and/or other weeaboo-ey Asian food.

However, the lack of endorsement from the creators, and the fact that the guy is making a living on intellectual property that isn’t endorsed kind of rubs me the wrong way.  Would I go to this place if it were in Atlanta and not California?  Absolutely, I am that much of a fan of Initial D that I would.  But knowing the backstory of the whole place and that it’s not officially endorsed still gives me this trepidation that I’m probably doing a shitty job describing.  It just rubs me the wrong way, and I feel like a property that I love so much, is getting a little bit of a raw deal, with fans making a buck on their name without their approval. 

Forced writing, vol. 745

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Over the last few weeks, I’ve actually been in an okay rhythm of writing.  Between my new job having yet to really pick up steam, leading me to have some occasional downtime, trying to get #2 onto a modicum of a sleep schedule, and the fact that there have actually been numerous things that have piqued my interest to write about, I’ve actually felt satisfied with how much brogging I’ve been able to accomplish lately.

At this very moment however, I’m in a position where I wish to continue to ride such momentum and keep on writing, however my motivation to write is basically nonexistent today.  It’s not for lack of things that I know I could brog about, from the Royal Rumble, a Bengals vs. Rams Super Bowl, Tom Brady’s retirement, or the spoiled surprise of the Washington Redskins Commanders new team name.  Or social commentary about how despite the threat of coronavirus being no lower now than it was two years ago, people are going out and about all the time, and other sicknesses are spreading like wildfires, leading to situations like earlier this week where I had to go two straight days without a nanny, while on the clock, wrangling two kids.

No, I don’t much feel like writing right now.  And I hate to make it seem like I’m never not in a bad place, but right now I’m not in a particularly good place.  However, I’ve said it several times in the past, it’s times like this when I don’t feel like writing, is exactly when I should be writing, even if I am forcing it.  I have the capacity to do so, and short of dicking around on YouTube or doing surveys on my phone, there’s still no better way to spend available time than writing for me.

I just received confirmation from the vet that my dog is very much not a good candidate for surgery, due to the development and spread of cancer in his little body, and at (roughly) 16 years old, it’s probably best to just do whatever necessary to make his life comfortable, but for all intents and purposes, dog has cancer, who knows how much longer there’s left, but it’s probably not much.

I’ve touched on it before, but #2 has been regressing hard in terms of sleep, in spite of the training we’ve been trying to implement.  For the most part, both of my kids have been polar opposites of each other when it comes to sleeping, and for how great my oldest sleeps, #2 is an absolute nightmare when it comes to the topic of sleep.  Over the last few days, she’s been waking up multiple times in the night screaming bloody murder, and nothing short of plowing her with bottle after bottle seems to be capable of bringing her back down and getting her to sleep.  For another 54 minutes, before it all seems to repeat itself.

Mythical wife and I have been basically getting no more than an hour of sleep at a time before it repeats itself, and it might be just fatigue rate, but seriously, this shit is ruining my life right now.  I loathed teething and sleep regressions from my first go-around, but there’s nothing saying we’re not hitting both at the same time with #2, but it absolutely sucks balls, and I can’t even look forward to going to bed anymore, because of the expectation that shit will repeatedly hit the fan while asleep.

So when baby isn’t sleeping, parents aren’t sleeping, and we’re miserable and ornery and exhausted, more so than when she was a tiny newborn.  And this impacts my work life, which is actually now important now that I’m a new guy in a new place, and it’s critical that I make positive first impressions of how hardworking and reliable I am, but I haven’t really been able to, because of kid duties, and I’m concerned about having those that hired me think they got a dud, instead of the stud I know I’m capable of being when I’m normal, engaged and not distracted.

Of course, this, like most soul-sucking, sanity-testing tribulations of parenthood, will pass, but it’s just a matter of when.  It feels like a speedbump that never will end, and it’s so, so hard on a daily basis to operate in the routine I’m in.  It’s a waiting game with no definitive expected target date in sight, and frankly that’s feeling like the case with anything and everything these days.  From small shit like waiting for an email response from customer service, to waiting on some merchandise I’m interesting to drop when they said it was going to drop, to bigger things like the aforementioned wait for my daughter to get her sleep shit together so that my household can actually get some rest and improve the quality of our lives.

I am, not in a very good place right now.  I’m trying my best to keep my head above water, and trying to find happiness and small wins in the little things, like the explosion of growth and development from my first child, and the general daytime happiness and smiles from #2 at any other time outside of the night when she should be sleeping.  But when it comes to the big picture, there are a lot of things that are bogging me down, and I hope that the strings cut and they fall off sooner rather than later, because I’m just so over so much, and I need, just a little bit of time to catch my breath and not feel like I’m so underwater all the time.

I would be all for sudden death baseball

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

I came across this story about how the Frontier League (independent) is going to explore with an idea labeled as “sudden death” in games that exceed ten innings; presumably to eliminate the idea of long, drawn-out extra-inning games.  Usually, I’m pretty resistant to change, but as far as this idea is concerned, I absolutely love it, and would love to see it in action.

I’ve actually been to a Frontier League game.  There’s a team just outside of St. Louis, technically in Illinois, despite the fact that the town is just called East St. Louis.  My friend and I went to a Cardinals game in the afternoon, and we realized that we had the time to get across the bridge and catch a Gateway Grizzlies game.  It also didn’t hurt that Man v. Food labeled their ballpark’s nachos as the best nachos in baseball, which we were very intrigued at putting to the test.

The nachos were a bust and Adam Richman’s opinions are shit, but we did enjoy being out at a Frontier League game.  So knowing the level of talent and the fact that they’re not affiliated with MLB, the sudden death baseball experiment should be pretty interesting.

Long story short: games that exceed ten innings go into sudden death.  Home team chooses whether they want to hit or pitch.  If hitting, they start with a runner on third base.  They have three outs to bring that guy home by any means necessary.  If they don’t?  The team pitching automatically wins.  Game over.  No 11th, 12th, 16th or 18th innings.  Nobody has to worry about games ending at 1 am or beyond anymore.

And I am all about this idea.  Not that I mind extra-inning games, but there have also been plenty of times where extra-inning games end up feeling like a chore, and I wished it were over three hours ago, after the first three hours of the original nine innings.

But it opens the door to so much new strategy and scenarios for excitement, that I have to be optimistic about this.  It’s kind of got that college football overtime feeling to it, except the fact that there is no opportunity to match, it’s just an instantaneous decision.

Like, if a team has their best hitters coming up, they absolutely should decide to hit.  Conversely, if a team sniffs out the possibility of sudden death, they might choose to hold back their closer or general bullpen ace(s) in order to prepare to pitch.  Or a team that is put in the position to pitch switches pitchers every single batter in order to play the splits.

More likely than not, a team will probably opt to hit, because three shots to put the ball in play seems a little too favorable.  I almost think the rule should start with one out, instead of none, but I get that it should be “a full inning.”  But there’s still all sorts of holes in the idea, like what if the guy on third gets gunned down at the plate, but there aren’t three outs – does the sudden death resume with presumably the next guy on base, having to try and win hard mode from first?

Either way, I love the idea.  MLB will undoubtedly be watching, because even when they’re not in loose cahoots with Indy leagues, they’re more than happy to steal great ideas and implement them themselves.  And if it goes well in the Frontier League, than I’d expect to see it start popping up in MLB, even if it starts in the minor leagues first.