happy birthday CD!

Look what's almost 30 years old. Barely made it (and hasn't quite yet). The compact disc was released commercially in October of 1982. A optical digital audio disc had been in the works since the early 70s with Sony and Philips leading the charge. Sony demonstrated their first generation "compact disc" in September 1978, while Philips unveiled theirs in March 1979. The two companies decided to join forces an re-develop a disc and the neccesary player together. The first test CD was manufactured in Germany and contained Richard Strauss's "Eine Alpensinfonie," with a public demonstration following on a BBC program, playing the album "Living Eyes" by the BeeGees. ABBA's "The Visitors" was the first album to be mass manufactured, although Billy Joel's "52nd Street" was the first CD actually for sale, with a release date the same as Sony's first CD player on October 1, 1982. After being on the market for a few years and the player went down in price, it became the main format music was released on, peaking from 1992-2000. But, the CD got swallowed up in the digital media boom that they started. From their peak in 2000 to 2007, sales have dropped by almost half as people turn to digital downloads, streaming and satellite radio for their music needs. The first CD I ever got was Pearl Jam's "Versus" for my 13th birthday, the last one being the new Down By Law album "Champions At Heart" at their gig last week, but before that... no idea.

The compact disc was supposed to replace the LP (long play record) which had been the industry standard since 1948 (and record in some form have existed since before the turn of the 1900s). But you can't keep good quality down, as LPs have had a resurgence in the last few years, I think because they were tired of having music and having nothing with it. There is something about the packaging, inserts, artwork in its full intended size that make it feel like something special (even if it isn't). Not to mention the warmth of the sound. I got to go halfsies with my dad record collection with my sister, and scored some classics, and I love scratches... Makes the sound even better, unlike CDs where if it get scratched, not only does it not play but it won't eject and you have to go at it with a butter knife to extract the CD. The problem with records is the size, which is also the best part. Weird how that works.. My grandfather used to own a car dealership, and one of the mechanics actually designed a way to play 45s (no LPs) in his vehicle with a spring loaded kind of contraption that hung under neath the dash. No report on whether it worked worth a damn. First record I bought, that was not acquired from my dad, was Strung Out's "Twisted By Design" and the last one was King Crimson's "Beat" off of eBay. 

So since records couldn't be moved to a car, another format had to be introduced. Since they recorded on big 3-4 inch tape in the studio, a brain wave came along to have a miniature tape and a tiny little spool with lots of moving mechanical parts. The first one was, in my opinion, a disaster. It was the 8 track, developed by a slew of companies, including General Motors and Ford. Mostly a North American phenomenon, no one in Europe really adopted the format. It would jam when it was too hot out, or would spit the tape out at you (while the cartridge itself remained in the player) when it was cold out. Could play when they got dirty and there was definate head alignment issues. The 8 track was phased out of stores in the fall and winter of 1982 and were made available on as mail orders or in "tape clubs" through a couple labels like RCA and Columbia. Apparently, Kurt Cobain wanted Nirvana's third and final studio album "In Utero" to be put out on 8 track, as well as the standard (in 1993) CD and cassette versions. I only have one 8 track. Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors" for 10 cents at a yard sale.

During around the same time as the invention of the 8 track, there was also an audio cassette (cassette, tape), which had a lousier resolution than that of a (properly working) 8 track, and was semi-popular, particularily among bootleggers, but really took off at the start of the 1980s with the introduction of the Sony Walkman and by the late 80s cassette outsold the LP and the CD. The demise of the cassette coincided with the drop in prices in CDs and the players, offering much better sound quality (even though the audio quality of early CDs is debatable) for a slightly higher prices and once CD became the default media in cars it all but put the nail in the cassettes coffin. The first album anyone got for me was a cassette my dad gave me on my 8th or 9th birthday, what every kid needs, Def Leppard's "Hysteria." Awesome. The most recent one was found at a Salvation Army. Doughboys' "Crush" for 50 cents. I don't have a cassette player, and I have it on MP3 and CD so I probably won't listen to it, but whatever, someone should have it.

So digital downloads are winning right now. 

That's all. If you would like to read about more audio formats then ask that google guy. He knows everything. Have a good night kids!

news feeds aug 24

Lance Armstrong has been long battling the US Anti-Doping agency for his alleged doping  allegations and it looks like his fight is over. Armstrong has decided to stop battling the agency saying it was a "one-sided and unfair process" after losing a court case on Monday where he was trying to put a halt to the allegations once and for all. The agency responded by saying he will get a lifetime ban as well as losing all his wins after 1998, including 7 Tour De France titles. "I have been dealing with claims that I have cheated and had an unfair advantage in winning my seven Tours since 1999. Over the past three years, I have been subjected to a two year federal criminal investigation followed by Travis Tygart's unconstitutional witch hunt. The toll this has taken on my family, and my work for our foundation and on me leads me to where I am today - finished with this nonsense," Armstrong said. The USADA has accused Lance the Pants of not only using but trafficking, giving them to others and covering up his own drug violations. It has never been proved whether he did or didn't use performance enhancing drugs, and has passed 500-600 tests in his career. One of his former coaches noted that Lance has never backed down from any fight, including his well publicized battle with testicular cancer, so for Lance to throw in the towel "underlines what an unjust process this has been."

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Best part about 3D movies? The cool glasses right? Or is it the thin storyline to make rooms for tons of 3D effects? While we may never get solid stories with 3D blockbusters, researchers in South Korea have developed a way to view 3D films without any additional hardware. So as it works now, 3D has two projectors running a film in sync with the one running with light polarized left to right and the other up to down, so when we take our glasses off everything looks blurry, since the images are basically the same, omit some light composition, but just slightly offset from one another. It is very expensive to do this, since you have to have two projectors, have the two reels of the film, and make it sync, not to mention hand out 100s of disposable glasses. The new process has a way to go… It basically puts a filter right after the projectors lens that polarizes the light, but unfortunately, the image resolution is fairly low.  "This technology is still in its infancy, but it's a new step that was hidden for a long time, " says physicist John Koshell. Remember the cardboard 3D glasses one of Biff's henchmen wore in Back To the Future? Bring those back!

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Alright, all you smart phone users/McDonald's fans (McDonalds regulars use smart phones?), it's all going down! Thirty McDonalds restaurants in France have been testing out a new smartphone payment system, similar to the ones used at many major retailers including Starbucks, 7-11 and Target. If the company is pleased with the results, expect the concept to engulf all 33,500 other locations the world over. You just walk in, order, they scan your phone (take payments from PayPal), and you get ushered over to a separate line to pick up you food. The 'little square' called "Square" was created by one of the founders of Twitter, which I did not know, is used for most phone scan payments but PayPal has been trying to stay relevant in the online payment game, which they basically invented, by working with McDonalds, not to mention they have recently hooked up with home reno behemoth Home Depot. 

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Kids allowance these days runs you $15 bucks a week, made payable from the age of 8 on. That at least the averages that have been reported in a recent survey. Kids tend to get a slightly bigger allowance when they get older (older being 15-16 not 28-29), but even at the average of $15, kids are making about $780 a year. Not mention, without any bills, from food to phone, kids still don't save, with fewer than 1% of those surveyed saying their child actually saved any money. Parents also cover costs like cell phones, music downloads, and sports costs. So after covering all these incidental costs, it is conceivable, in some homes at least, that kids have more disposable income that their parents do sometimes… and to put it in perspective a kid could buy an iPad and an iPod touch with their years "earnings." I'm going to an inflation calculator to see if my $5 allowance in the 1990s matches up. Nope, I made $8.23 per week or $427.96 annually. It did say good grades were a factor. Shucks.

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This isn't really news. Anyways, I saw Microsoft was revamping their logo, going for that retro-chic look in hopes of it making them relevant again after the launch of a redesigned Windows 8 and their Surface tablet computer (which looks great.. I posted a story when it was first announced CLICK HERE). I thought I'd put a couple other official logos up and they are pretty hilarious or terrible. Depends. The original logo was a "futuristic" looking text from the 70s, then they moved onto the glam metal fonted logo, and their "blibbet" logo with three concentric circles making up the first O in Microsoft was just ok, but apparently people had a campaign "Save the Blibbet" around the offices, not to mention the Microsoft cafeteria had a Blibbet Burger. 

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And they say the Brits are boring! I don't know anyone who wouldn't want to party with Prince Harry after his £30,000 ($47,442 USD) Vegas weekend. Harry and two of his mates rented a suite with three master bedrooms, private elevator, butler service, massage room, steam shower, 72" TV, gym and a wet bar (not to mention the infamous pool table and soundproofed walls for any royal shenanigans that took place). Harry arrived, checked in in a private lobby and went straight to the SW Steakhouse within the Encore Wynn resort, spending thousands of pounds of bottles on wine. After dinner, they slide over to Surrender night club, built around an outdoor pool, where him and his boys drank Jagerbombs and beers all night with bikini clad go-go dancers swinging on stripper poles. Mellow Friday night. Saturday, they rented out a VIP bungalow at the MGM Grand for one of its Wet Republic pool parties, before Sundays weekend cap of booze by the pool before whisking off to XS night club. The weekends tab was covered by Steve Wynn, billionaire owner of the hotel, who said that no one with the royal party is to pay for anything. This could be the first king to have a nude/semi-picture of himself on the internet, not that I know the complete history of the monarchy.

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Not to fully expose my love for the Back To the Future movies but I have to reference them again.. Back To the Future 2 actually. Remember when Marty saw Doc disappear in the DeLorean after it was struck by lightning and got send to 1885 then Joe Flaherty shows up as an employee from Western Union with a package that had been in their possession since 1885. I like that scene. Anyways, there is a 100 year old package in Norway with instructions not to be opened until 2012. It has been speculated that there is historical documents, some kind of small treasure. It is set to be open today, August 26, 2012. The package has been in small town Norway since August 1912, given to the local mayor by a politician, Johan Nygard, who said that the package would "benefit and delight future generations." Is it going to be a huge joke that will be having Nygard laughing from his grave? We will see. There is something hopelessly romantic about leaving something for people in the future, a message in a bottle sort of quality, but many capsules have often been a mixed bag, from finding nothing, to the contents improperly store and they deteriorate over time. My favourite is still Rivera's opening of the Al Capone vault found beneath the Lexington Hotel in Chicago in 1986. (You can check a previous story, with video, I did on the Capone vault HERE).

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A novelty condom company in New York City have put out some condoms with Mitt Romney and Barack Obama's face on the packaging. Mitt's rubber comes with the tagline "Great For Any Position" while Obama's read "Won't Break As Easily As His Promises" and "Ultimate Stimulus Package for Hard Times." Apparently, company founder Ben Sherman (apparently a side business to nice suits and sweaters), has been producing presidential condoms since the last election with Obama's 08 condom reading "Use Good Judgement," based on Obama's mantra that sound judgement was more important than experience, while his opponent John McCain's condom read "Old, but not expired." Obama's domes are outselling Romney's by a 7% margin.

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Friday song. Elliot's "Calm Americans"

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Say what?

news feeds august 17

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All three members of Russian female punk band Pussy Riot have been sentenced to two years in prison after screaming in protest "Mother Mary, please drive Putin away" in Christ Savior Cathedral, one of the biggest churches in Moscow. The three young women, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich have already served five months in detention which will count towards their sentence. The judge found them guilty of 'hooliganism motivated by religious hatred', and was convinced they intended to insult the church and undermine public order. The support in Russia for them to be freed was a paltry 5% in a recent poll, even with heavyweights like Madonna lending her support. People have been more sympathetic in other countries, with rallies at 2PM Moscow time (6AM EST) in many major cities, and right here in Toronto a protest begun a noon today at the Russian consulate at Bloor and Church streets.  A call me juvenile, I like hearing straight faced news reporters saying Pussy Riot. 

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Remember how the late Steve Jobs' mansion was broken into a few weeks back? Well, his personal iPad has wound up in the hands of a clown. Kenny the Clown, a San Francisco area entertainer, was given the tablet by a friend who is now charged with burglary (along with the iPad he got away with iPods, Macs, jewelry and Jobs' wallet) and is due in court on Monday. Kenneth Kahn, his non-clown alias, loaded it up with songs to use in his act, but not once took a look through the photos or anything else on the device. The police had to confiscate the iPad. The clown, who had a sad face painted on the following day, went back to work with his Blackberry Playbook which crashed after playing 33 seconds of "Play That Funky Music."

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A well known activist in the Santa Monica area is suing the city because she says the city's new parking meters' wireless signal is deteriorating her health. Denise Barton's symptoms include ear infections, ringing in her ear and neck pain and is looking for $1.7 billion in damages to make up for it. "I know it seems a little big, but they can't do things that affect people's health without their consent. I think that's wrong." She is also asking for an additional $1.7 million each month that the meters are operational. The wireless signal she refers to is for the meters to process credit card payments, as well as to send out text messages to the driver when their time has almost expired. A USC professor says Barton is going to have a tough time proving these allegations, noting "there is no evidence that cell phones, wireless networks or other low-level emitters cause adverse health effects. The first cell phone was introduced in 1973, and the epidemiological data do not show significant changes in the incidence of cancers since that time. It is very difficult to prove that these energy sources do not cause health problems, but there is no data that they do."

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This is the strangest combination since Ted Danson and Whoopi Goldberg. Warner Bros are teaming up with the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment?) and the Scooby Do gang in an all-new animated feature. Apparently, what happens, is that Shaggy wins tickets to the Wrestlemania in WWE City (original) but a mysterious ghostly bear is there and might ruin the whole thing! OMG! The gang teams up with the wrestlers to solve the case. Featured wrestlers, and thank God other than Vince McMahon, I don't know any of them, include Triple H, John Cena, Kane, The Miz, Brodus Clay, Santino Marella, Sin Cara, AJ and the previously mentioned WWE CEO McMahon. STOP RUINING MY CHILDHOOD WITH TERRIBLE MOVIES! …and that's all I have to say about that.

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Does the NHL lock out after such a great season last year? Guess we'll see by September 15 at the latest.

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And just because I'm going to see Down By Law for the first time in years on Monday, here's a tune, Down By Law's Clash inspired single from their fourth album "All Scratched Up," here's "Radio Ragga." Enjoy!

johnny pesky

Former Red Sox player and manager has died at the age of 92. Johnny Pesky played for the Red Sox from 1940-62 and managed the club in the 1963-64 seasons, as well as in the late going of the 1980 season on an interim basis. Pesky didn't have much power, but was a master at getting on base. He led the American League in base hits three times and has a career .307 batting average. Fenway Park, in sunny Boston, Mass, have named the right field foul pole after him  (Pesky's pole) due to the fact that he hit so few home runs (six of them in his career at Fenway), that when he did they barely cleared the right field wall, near the pole, since this was the shortest distance to hit a home run in the park. After Boston, Johnny played two seasons with the Tigers and Senators before retiring in 1952. Pesky started his coaching/managerial career in 1955 with the (ironically) New York Yankees Triple A affiliate in Denver, before moving to Detroit's farm system, managing their Birmingham and Seattle minor league clubs. After two winning seasons in Seattle, Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey had Pesky pegged for the vacant managerial position, which had been opened up by Yawkey promoting manager Pinky Higgies to GM. After managing the team for two seasons with ok but forgettable results, he went to the Pirates for four seasons serving as first base coach under manager Harry Walker. But, he wound up back in Boston in 1968 as a color commentator for the Red Sox television crew. He turned down a lucrative offer from former Red Sox star-turned Washington Senators manager Ted Williams to be one of his coaches, but he chose to stay in Boston and continued to do the Red Sox telecasts until 1974. Before the start of the 1975 season, Pesky was made a coach again, manning first base, much like his time in Pittsburgh. His first season back as a coach, the Red Sox were American League Champions (but lost the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds in seven games). In his later years, Pesky has been at every major Red Sox event it seems. He sat in the dugout a few times (Baltimore filed a complaint to the MLB), raised the World Series 2004 banner, and in 2008 the Red Sox retired his number 6. A great man who will be missed by all within the baseball community. 

Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky

Big Papi David Ortiz & Pesky

Pesky & Dustin Pedroia

JOHNNY PESKY 1919-2012

london 2012

We are almost two weeks into the Olympics and I was pretty on board when they started, having checked out many events from rowing to swimming to gymnastics. Where I started to get irked was around the badminton match between China's Wang Xiaoli & Yu Yang and South Korea's Jung Kyung-eun & Kim Ha-na. I've seen someone throw a game before, but I have never seen both sides trying to lose. The match didn't feature a rally of over four returns (you can do better than that in your backyard with ten beers in your system), with serves being hit into the net and routine shots hit way long. The same thing happened with the Ha Jung-eun & Kim Min-jung (South Korea) versus Meiliana Jauhari (Indonesia). Both teams were looking for an easier draw next round, but throwing games doesn't really go along with the ethics of sportsmanship in the Olympics. All eight competitors were disqualified. 

The social media doesn't bother me as much, since you can say what you want (within reason) in this day and age, not to mention that something that may appear to be accepted in some cultures may not in others. So, I take that with a grain of salt, and actually am kind of surprised by how many athletes have been expelled because of Twitter and Facebooking comments (like the pictured Greek triple jumper who was expelled just before the games).  

What did it for me, and many Canadians was the Canada-US female soccer game. The Canadians are leading the Americans 3-2 with time almost expired. Canadian goalie Erin McLeod held the ball for more than 6 seconds and apparently that is a violation, but one that it seldom called especially at such a crucial time of the game. The US is awarded a free kick and on the ensuing play the ball, at least semi-indirectly, hits a Canadian defender and we get called on a handball, then American Abby Wambach scores on the penalty kick awarded to them for the aforementioned handball. The US won it 4-3 in extra time. Forward Christine Sinclair, the best female player on the Canada team and arguably the world, said after the game "the ref decided the result before the game started." FIFA (who apparently is governing body at the Olympics?) is looking into the incidents/comments to see if supplementary action against the Canadians is required. Yes, the Canadians comments are being looked into. Not to the absolutely TERRIBLE refereeing. 

Maybe I'm just sick of London 2012, and wish it would stop pre-empting all the baseball games, but I just can't wait for them to be over. You get pretty excited at the start, then it wanes, slowly, as you watch the games unfold, then you become sick of them because of the politics and apparent match fixing. It's on every channel, every morning, then recaps all afternoon. And we're not doing too great on the Canadian front. I think we are better suited for the winter Olympics since everyone thinks we live in igloos anyways. But we can ski, skate, play hockey and curl... so spread that on your discus and smoke it!

08/08 AM notes

You know what $2.6 billion buy you these days? It'll send a little robot (the size of an SUV) to Mars and take pictures (that we could already do with powerful telescopes). It landed flawlessly on the Mars surface and is put work right away; day one the rover is tasked with putting up a high-gain antenna so its transmissions with Earth will be a lot quicker, then it will start to collect weather information. The rover will then cruise a couple miles over to Mount Sharp, which rises 3.4 miles above the base ("sea level") of the landing site, checking out soil samples and the composition of rocks. The aim of the mission is "to assess whether Mars ever had an environment able to support small life forms," NASA said. No life whatsoever, not even plant has been found in any past rovers, have been found on the martian surface even though that's where most people think the Bush-Cheney administration came from.

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Upcoming marriage? Looking to save money on your catering bill? Now you can! Denny's restaurant has leased a 6,400 square foot space in downtown Las Vegas' new Neonopolis centre that will house a wedding chapel at the centre of it. If the line up is too long at the Star Wars chapel or you can't find enough Elvis impersonators for guests at the Graceland themed one, you can have a wedding cake made out of pancakes! …"It's going to be an icon within Vegas. People are going to travel to see this Denny's. The wedding scene is such a part of Vegas, and who doesn't want a wedding cake me out of pancakes?" says Denny's chief marketing officer Frances Allen. Um, I was joking about the pancake wedding cake. They aren't. If you want your bride to say no, and possibly start seeing a psychiatrist, then for the love of God don't get married there.

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I saw a headline that said Roseanne reunion. I clicked it, read the story. There is no Roseanne reunion. And that's too bad, because did we get screwed on the last episode of that show. Such an amazing show, even the last season where the Connor's won the lottery and got rich (not like it mattered anyways as it turned out!), and then out of nowhere, it's over. That last episode was one of the most unexpected, shocking endings to a series ever. Or at least for a sitcom about a blue collar family(I'll just post the last episode below - it's one YouTube). Anyways, the Roseanne reunion reported was for the upcoming Comedy Central Roast of Rosie, where she was joined by Michael Fishman (DJ), and the two Becky's, Sarah Chalke and Alicia Goranson. The Roast airs on August 12 and includes roasters Sharon Stone, Carrie Fisher, Katey Segal, Jeffrey Ross, roastmaster Jane Lynch and an appearance by Roseanne's ex Tom Arnold.

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We all know Daniel Day Lewis can act. If you have seen any one of his movies you know the English star is good (my favourite Lewis character is Bill the Butcher in "Gangs Of New York"). Well, anyone who is a fan should look forward to his upcoming starring turn in Lincoln, slated for release this November. The historical drama has taken years to get off the ground, with producer Steven Spielberg buying the rights to historian Doris Kearns Goodwin's book "Team Of Rivals," before the book was finished. Apparently, the final screenplay doesn't resemble the 2005 best seller anyhow. The film focusses on the last four months of the presidents life and will hit theatres November 9th.

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At the Drive In have been playing reunion shows here and there since their show at Coachella and will hopefully be making their way Toronto again one of these days. Here's a new interview with the band for Rolling Stone (CLICK HERE). And a concert stub from last time they were in town… October 24, 2000 at the Reverb (which is now a Crate & Barrel store) for $11! There was a copy of NOW magazine out that week to coincide with their show that had the band on the cover with the headline "THE NEW NIRVANA?" Don't remember what was said, just that they were none too happy about it.  At the Drive In/International Noise Conspiracy/Murder City Devils. Great gig!

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aug 4 - round 2

A quaint little Vermont community neighbouring the Canadian border got more than half their fleet of police vehicles destroyed by a man who was a little upset about a recent charges for resisting arrest, and marijuana possession. Roger Pion, 34, drove his huge farm tractor destroying five cruisers, an unmarked car and a transport vehicle, also mangling the radios, radar detectors and other gadgets, not to mention they needed the jaws life to retrieve the shotguns and rifles out of the trunks. The damages total about $300,000 with Pion facing new charges that include seven counts of unlawful mischief, one count of aggravated assault on an officer, gross negligent operation and leaving the scene of the accident. Fortunately, the farm vehicle tops out at 17 MPH and he was apprehended a short distance away.

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Stahl House, Los Angeles

"He who lives in a glass house…" Here's a bunch of pics of the coolest glass houses. Some of them are quite impressive, some of them not so much. And it shouldn't count as a glass house if it isn't housing people. I mean, you have a 42 acre's of property with a mansion, guest home, and a garage that puts Jay Leno's to shame and you have a glass house on the ass-end of the property shouldn't really classify as a glass home. Pretty awesome, don't get me wrong. The coolest one has to be the Stahl house in the Hollywood Hills over looking Los Angeles providing breathtaking or stomach churning views depending on how you feel about heights. It has been in numerous films and tv shows, not to mention is still occupied by the family of the original architect. Pretty incredible place. Anyways, here's the list you can check out for yourself.

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Nice story about a couple of folks who rekindled their romance - 48 years after they divorced. Lena Henderson and Roland Davis were high school sweethearts, got married soon after, and raised five kids together. The split amicably in 1964 and remained friends throughout the years. Roland's second wife passed away 6 months ago and at the urging of his daughter he called up his former flame and proposed to her. She was a little surprised at the proposal to which he said "I'm too old to be nervous. When we divorced we were still friends and we're still friends, aren't we?" The couple is getting married today, August 4th, in the presence of their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. "Love is lovelier… the second time around"

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Will Ferrell's reaction to the Kristen Stewart-Rob Pattison "fiasco." Pretty damn funny! 

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The Olympics have been entertaining for the most part. Other than knowing Michael Phelps is pretty much going to win a medal in every event he goes into, there has been a lot more than just Phelps to get the American's excited. Missy Franklin won her third Gold of the games in the pool for team USA as well as gold medal showings in the women's 800 meter, women's gymnastics and a lock in basketball. The Americans and Chinese both have 18 gold medals as of the end of competition last night, with the Americans looking to pull ahead in track & field, where they have many medal hopefuls. Canadian snagged their best medal in the games so far in the men's 8 men rowing event getting silver, but we are still looking for our first gold in London. The first paralympian to compete in the able bodied Olympics posted a time of 45.44 seconds in his 400 meter qualifying heat, finishing second, and earning a birth in Sundays semis. Oscar Pistorius' legs were amputated at 11 months old due to a bone defect and runs on carbon fiber blades earning him the nickname "Blade Runner." People have been concerned that the prosthetics may provide some kind of spring effect but nothing has really came of that, and I doubt you could argue that he has any real advantage over anyone who has two legs.

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Greinke as an Angel

Baseball trade deadline has come and gone with most of the suspected players on the block being shipped but sometimes not to the destination you think. I was surprised to see Zach Greinke wind up in Los Angeles with the Angels. Same with Ryan Dempster going to the Rangers. Expect the AL West to be the division to watch going down to the wire with both the Angels and Rangers upgrading their pitching staffs. The Rangers currently lead the division by 4.5 games over the Wild Card leading Oakland Athletics and Angels. And how about the Phillies fire sale. I'm glad Papelbon is on a last place team, snubbing the Red Sox like he did. Anyways, after shipping soon-to-be Hall Of Fame Jim Thome off to the Orioles, the Phils made the NL West a little more interesting by sending their two best outfielders to two West rivals battling it out for the division crown. Centre fielder Shane Victorino has been shipped to the LA Dodgers while aging, but having a great season Raul Ibanez goes to the San Francisco Giants. The Giants currently lead the Dodgers by a half game in the NL West. Getting down to the home stretch of the season and it should be great to watch!

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Oh My God!