The SoapBoxers

After the release of the TIME magazine cover “Are You Mom Enough”, the internet was a buzz with pro and anti breastfeeding comments. I wouldn’t be called “Crunchy Conservative” if I didn’t weigh in on this, would I?

First of all, I’ve nursed all three of my boys (and will nurse baby due in August) until they decided it was time to stop. My younger two quit nursing (self-weaned) due to pregnancy. I’ve heard the milk tastes funny due to the change of hormones, however, never tested this theory. My second son quit nursing at about 9 months, when I was three months pregnant with baby #3. My third son quit nursing at 18 months because I was 8 weeks pregnant with baby #4.

My first child, however, nursed much longer. He was 2.5 when he quit nursing. And there’s nothing wrong with that. My husband was deployed and my Doctor (and his pediatrician) encouraged me to to continue nursing as more of a comfort/security issue. I wasn’t going to deny him of it. His dad, after all, was in a war zone. Our son needed security and stability. And if that meant nursing, I was fine with that.

I never used a chair ( like the TIME cover) to nurse him and it was mostly just nursing before bed and naptime after the age of 2. People would say, “If he can say it, shouldn’t you stop?” No. Honestly, one of my favorite memories of his toddlerhood is when he was tired he’d say, “Mommy, I go ni-ni nurse?” It was great. When Daddy came back, he was more focused on his traditional routine of Daddy reading to him at bedtime and he became uninterested in nursing. He’s only had one ear infection in his life and is one of the healthiest kids I’ve ever met. While I’m sure some of it is due to good genetics and diet, I believe a lot of it is due to nursing.

In case you’re keeping track, with the exception of two months after the oldest stopped nursing and I conceived baby #2, I’ve been either pregnant or nursing since February 2005. The old “But I want my body back” argument doesn’t fly with me. You’re a mother. Nothing is really yours now. Deal with it. The earlier you accept that, the better.

When nursing my oldest at a restaurant (and I own nursing tops and do it discreetly), I had a woman ask me to take him to the bathroom to nurse. Unacceptable. I looked at her, smiled and said, “He’ll eat his meal in the bathroom as soon as you do.” She left. I also refuse to put a heavy blanket over my child’s head while nursing. Do you eat under a blanket? Neither should he.

Which brings me to the most asinine argument ever, “pooping is natural but you don’t see me dropping my pants in the middle of a restaurant to do it.” You’re mixing two different bodily functions. This argument just does not apply to breastfeeding. Stop using it.

When my oldest was a month old, we traveled to my hometown for Christmas Eve services. My mom gave me a funny look when I went to nurse my son during Mass. I replied, “Baby Jesus was breastfed.” She smiled and nodded. After seeing three children being breastfed (and how healthy they are compared to other children the same age), she’s become a breastfeeding advocate as well.

Maybe if more people would do what is natural and best for mom and baby, more people would see how “normal” and healthy it really is.

Stop judging people for doing what is best for their children. Breastfeeding is normal and natural. It’s a shame the way our society has sexualized breasts. We’re just using them what they’re designed for.

How long can Trent Richardson expect to play in the NFL?

The topic comes up every year: how long is the average football player’s career?  People are particularly interested in the length of an NFL running back’s career, since it seems that injuries often cut their careers short.  This is often given as 4-5 years, with some estimates coming in as low as 2.5 years.

As is often the case, methodology is going to be very important.

Perhaps the worst methodology I have ever seen was looking at the current starting running backs and calculating the mean number of years they have been in the NFL.  However, this uses mid-career numbers and is going to underestimate the reality.  Would you take a 2 year old, 45 year old, and 75 year old and simply use the mean of their ages (40.67) and declare this to be the average life span?  Of course not – nor should you use mid-career numbers to calculate the average length of career.

The second issue is the decision of whom to include.  Do we include ALL NFL running backs, even the guy from Kosmo State who went in the 7th round and narrowly held onto a roster spot for a year before getting cut?  This guy’s career was cut short by lack of talent, not by injury.  We need to separate the wheat from the chaff and determine the average career length of a GOOD NFL running back.  I doubt that the casual fan is too concerned about how long her team’s third string back will kick around the league.

My methodology

There are two decisions to be made with the data.  The first is how to quantify “good”.  I’m going to take the years 1991-2010 and look at running backs who finished in the top 20 in the league in rushing yards at least once during that twenty year span.  My thought is that if you’re a good running back – the type that carries a team – you’re going to land in the top 20 at some point.  Maybe not every year, but at least once.  This is going to miss some situations like guys who are part of a tandem backfield for their entire career, but it should at least provide a decent sample size to work with.  I am excluding active players (defined as players who played in 2011), because of the problem with mid-career numbers.  Rushing yards isn’t a perfect barometer, but it should be fairly sound.

The second decision is what is meant by “length of career”.  Years can be messy – if a guy plays 9 games, does he get credit for a year?  I decided to just scrap the idea of years and go with games instead.

The data

Twenty years of top 20 lists means 400 names.  However, many players made the list multiple times.  There were 150 unique names on the list.  40 of these players are active, leaving 110 retired players in this group.  Here is the list, in order of most to fewest games played.

 
Mean: 109.4

Median: 103.5

If we divide these numbers by a 16 game schedule, we get 6.8 years for the mean and 6.5 for the median.  However, it’s important to note that it’s pretty common for a player – in any sport – to get dinged up and miss a game every one in a while.  So even a generally healthy running back would generally stretch these games out over 7.5 – 8 years.  Only 27 of the 110 players in the group had a career of 80 games or fewer (5 full seasons).

Most likely, a running back with Trent Richardson’s pedigree can bank on an eight year NFL career.  Longer if he’s lucky, shorter if he’s not.

Alas ... not in my collection.

Normally I write about sports, but this week I am going to go into the world of sports cards

I have received a number of auction catalogs as the spring months are prime for sports cards and memorabilia auctions. Even Kosmo has touted our favorite REA auction on the site here more than once over the years.

Seeing all of these cards, and knowing I am building a new home has me thinking as wel … maybe it is the time to sell my collection.

My Collecting Story

I have been a card collector since I was a young kid. I remember packing those 77 and 78 Topps cards into the Stride-Rite Shoebox surrounded with rubber bands.

I got a bit older, I started mowing yards, my money to spend on cards increased. I bought sets, I bought $9 complete unopened boxes of 83 Topps and 84 Donruss. I even picked off some old cards from the 50’s and 60’s and got a collection from an older relative. I had every Carl Yastrzemski card in existence.

I went off to college … my collecting days stopped. I bought a few shiny refractors once and awhile, but mainly the cards were locked away in my parents basement.

I got older, started a career. Met a girl … decided after dating a couple of years to marry that girl … sold all of my cards and bought her engagement ring and paid for my first brand new car (a 1994 Toyota Camry) and made a down payment on our first house.

Then after a short while the appeal of collecting came back. I always loved the sport of golf. I started to collect vintage golf cards. I soaked up all of the knowledge I possibly could. I asked a LOT of questions. I researched on the internet, I bought from overseas auction houses. I talked to other dealers, collectors, read anything I could on the topic.

And after some years – I became very well versed in this area of the hobby, albeit a small area of the hobby.

Not the first time I have considered selling

I moved with my job a couple of times, had a son … decided the time was right to part with my collection.

At that time I had an agreement in place for a person to make a number of payments over a couple of years for the entire shootin’ match. Every single card I owned except one Bobby Jones card I wanted to hang onto for my son.

That deal never quite worked out … I got a partial payment and gave up the centerpiece set in my collection in return for the money that had been exchanged at that time.

The money from the deal went into the son’s college education fund.

Then … my life really changed …

I was diagnosed with Cancer, got rid of it, it came back again, got rid of it again…..and through it all collecting became more important to me again, it kept my mind off of other things, it was fun, it is what I enjoyed the best and I could be on the computer anywhere, in the hospital, at home, while going through a stem cell transplant…anywhere. It made me escape my problems and added normalcy to my life.

I continued to try and share my knowledge and I met many many many more people in person, and via email and phone than I ever would have from all over the globe.

I have enjoyed trying to educate anyone who will listen about golf cards, tried to make the hobby a better hobby and get more people involved.

And now I am considering selling it all again … what do I do?

Now I am building a new home. This is the house my wife and I plan on being in for a long time. It is our dream house.

The thoughts of selling the collection again enter my mind … I could do a LOT more with the house if I sold my entire collection. I could totally finish that walkout basement right out of the gate. I could add that gas fire pit in the backyard that I would want to have eventually anyway….and I am sure I could sock away some more money into the kids college fund.

I could always sell some stuff. Heck I have quite a few things to sell anyway. I could sell my extra’s or just some of my collection. OR … I could sell all of it and I am quite sure I would be able to find new happy homes for my cards.

Would I miss the cards that much? I could eventually replace them all again at some point in time except maybe a couple that are exceedingly rare cards, and of course I have a few cards in my collection that if I did sell them It is very likely would never get to have in my collection in that type of condition ever again … but at the end of the day … does it really matter?

I guess this is a struggle that many collectors come to grips with at some point during their collecting life-cycle. At what point is it a hobby and at what point is it a bunch of money that is sitting in an album or a drawer or a safe or on a shelf.

For now, it is a decision that I am wrestling with as well.

Until Next Time, stay classy Dalhart, Texas

This installment of discussions about types of writing and using examples of successful writer will focus on Autobiography. Autobiography should be the simplest form of writing, after all it is the author writing about him or herself. Who better than the author would know what happened and why? Actually almost anyone else is better at capturing real events. Every author writes with a bias. When writing about oneself, the intentions are always pure, the outcome always tainted by a preconceived notion of what is right. It is easy to see in someone else’s writing, but your own is the true.

Autobiographies usually depend on the success of the personality being captured. Some autobiographies define the author who would otherwise be unknown.  The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank is one such book. In ways, she avoids the narcissism that is rampant in books by/about politicians. Her youth makes the writing simple, almost as if she is righting a journal for school. That is also what makes it so compelling.

There are autobiographies about entertainers such as Born Standing Up by Steve Martin. This book is almost one of his routines with some insights (or distractions) from his real life. Ozzy Osbourne wrote (?) I am Ozzy. Not to be harsh, but this is not a life with a lot hidden from view. Chelsea Handler has released at least one book that can be considered autobiographical, although most of her books could fall in to the same category as Steve Martin, comedy with some real life.

Recently we have been bombarded with autobiographies from American politicians. Some of these are entrance pieces such as Dreams From my Father and The Audacity of Hope by Barak Obama, while others are exit pieces justifying actions such as My Life by Bill Clinton and Decision Points by George W. Bush. Although these books can be enlightening, they are usually tailored to a specific audience, primarily people who support the author with out additional explanations required.

The autobiographies that remain the most entertaining are written by the most entertaining people in history. Abraham Lincoln actually wrote three separate autobiographies. Benjamin Franklin also penned his own. My Life in France reveals how much more there was to Julia Childs than her cooking show on PBS. Some let you see just how hard life can be and how surprising it can be for someone to succeed. Frank McCourt wrote two books. The first, Angela’s Ashes, could be considered a biography of his mother, but paints a detailed picture of his own youth. He followed up the with Tis about himself as an adult in the United States. Both are very well written, at times you are compelled to talk to the characters to get them to avoid pitfalls and disaster, but to no avail. He is one of the authors who can report the good choices and bad with somewhat less excuse or justification than most.

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A little while ago I wrote the first of what I am sure will be a number of articles regarding the building of our house.  Since that initial announcement, we have been busy cleaning our home. It is amazing how much one accumulates at their house over a period of years. Since we have gone through pretty much every article of personal property that we own, we have been able to move most things that we are not keeping in the house – that we will need every day – to one of 4 piles.

The Garage Sale Pile

This is NOT our crap.

We held a garage sale at our home a couple of weeks back. Items that did not sell were off to my sister’s house for her garage sale. Since that time (and more cleaning) even more items are scheduled to a garage sale to be held at my parents’ house. Those in the Goodman Family call this annual event “The Mother of ALL Garage Sales” My parents are pretty much professionals when it come to the auction/garage/yard sale circuit. They enjoy it, they have a lot of nice stuff, they price it to move, and most importantly, they get a LOT of customer traffic. To date we have enjoyed the spoils of garage sales income of over $1000 from our two sales just counting our cut of the action and not the items that were sold at our sale for some of our friends who had stuff to unload to the public as well.

The I Wondered Where That Was Pile

Not a large amount of goods but these are things that once upon a time entered a black hole void in our domicile to never be seen again…until that is we are going through the entire house and opening up every storage container and bottomless closet space.

The Off to the Storage Unit Pile

Then there is the majority of items. This is the “clutter” around the house that we need to alleviate prior to putting the house on the market. We have our realtor coming to go through our house later this weekend. We are hoping that we have de-cluttered enough that she will not have many recommendations to make. Items already in storage are things that are going to stay there in storage for a while, or are things that are not currently being used (like winter coats and clothing)

The Too Good for the Storage Unit Pile

These are the items that we would not want to chance keeping in the storage unit. Things like wedding photos, some prints and collectible items, personal mementos, passports etc.

Next Up – the Garage!

We pretty much have the house cleaned, dusted, scrubbed, touched up, picked up etc., except…the final man’s domain….that being the garage. That is on the docket for the next several days, as they say…we are saving the best for last.

Looking Ahead – The Next Two Weeks

We have finalized the floor plan with our builder. I cannot say often enough how great they have been to work with. We should see the outside architectural mock up drawings in the next day or two. After that we just wait for the appraisal to come in, the development to approve our house plans through their process, and then can be breaking ground.

In that same time frame we should easily be able to list our house on the marketplace, have the realty listing up with write up and photos, and maybe even have an open house (although not this weekend as it is Mother’s Day weekend)

In my Utopian Society, I would have an open house after a week on the market and would have 4 people competing for full price offers. In reality I am hoping that we have a bunch of “lookers” at the house and find at least one family that would be interested enough in our home to purchase it.

Although I am not real excited about the possibility of having to move two times, I would much rather do that and make sure I have the house sold and avoid having two house payments. Here is hoping we have lots of people looking for a fully finished 4 bedroom,  2 ¾ bath walk-out ranch style home.

The passing of Amendment One in North Carolina yesterday got me thinking about a long-standing law in the United States that gives tax-exempt status to recognized religious institutions. The basic idea is that the US was founded on religious freedom and the surest way to prevent the free exercise of religion is to tax it . Exempting a church from taxes is also one of the best ways to keep the “separation of church and State” as described by Thomas Jefferson in his letter to the Danbury Baptists. This nation was founded on the basis that people should be able to practice whatever religion they’d like, and the government should have no ability to prosecute or privileged individuals for religious reasons – it’s supposedly why the Pilgrims came across on the Mayflower.

Over the past few months many churches in North Carolina have taken a rather active stance in favor of Amendment One, from simply putting up signs in favor of the amendment to having their pastors actively speak to the media that they are supporting the amendment. Beyond that I’ve heard quite a bit of anecdotal evidence that some churches are even telling their congregation that they should vote for Amendment One. One of the biggest Holy Rollers of all time, Billy Graham, came out enthusiastically for Amendment One. By taking an active stance for such a politically divisive issue, these churches are without a doubt getting political – if that’s the case, shouldn’t the rewards for staying politically neutral, tax exemption, be taken away?

A tax exemption is not a right, there is no constitutional mention at all of a religious institution’s right to not pay taxes. In fact, there are forms and qualifications to submit to the IRS that any tax exempt organization has to complete to show that they get the privilege of paying less or no taxes. The whole purpose of the tax exemption in the first place was because churches were believed to “fill in the gaps” in terms of charity and helping the poor and destitute, the gaps that the government was unwilling or unable to take care of. If a church is taking a political stance, then they are intrinsically swaying voters and changing outcomes and results regardless of the original intentions.

The right to not pay taxes is fine for charities, but when a church decides to speak out against individual rights the IRS has the right to veto that church’s application for tax-exempt status.

Photo: The Hunger Games film, starring Jennifer Lawrence, has grossed more than $600 million.

In the past, I’ve never been one to follow the hottest book trends.  I read whatever I felt like reading.  Generally, the authors were well known authors, but usually not the very hottest ones.  Lately, however, I seem to be picking up the latest “hot” books.  First it was Stieg Larsson’s Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, and now The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins.  I don’t think this is a case of me suddenly becoming more open to suggestion, but simply a case of my preferred type of books falling into the mainstream.  I found the Kindle version of the trilogy for $15 and snapped it up.  The price has gone up a bit, but it’s still a good deal.

The books

Since it’s a trilogy, you would naturally expect three books (unless you’re a fan of Douglas Adams).  The Hunger Games in the first book, followed by Catching Fire and Mockingjay.

Here is the plot in a nutshell.  The books follow the adventures of Katniss Everdeen. Katnisss lives in the country of Panem, which is a future society that encompasses the modern United States.  Panem consists of twelve districts and the Capitol.  Citizens of the districts are under tight control of the Capitol following a civil war nearly 75 years ago.  People in the districts struggle to survive so that citizens of the Capitol can live a life of excess.

Every year, a lottery is held in each district.  One boy and one girl are chosen to represent their district in The Hunger Games.  The goal of The Hunger Games is simple.  Kill the other 23 children and emerge as the victor.  This brutal “game” reinforces the notion that the Capitol has complete control over the districts.

The world

I like science fiction, but only when there is at least a decent grounding in the real world.  That’s definitely true in The Hunger Games triology.  The people are completely normal humans, much of the fauna and flora is real, and the geography is based on reality.  The mountain range that separates the districts from the Capitol is obviously the Rocky Mountains, and it’s pretty clear that Katniss lives in the vicinity of West Virginia.

When Collins wants to tweak a real life object, she changes the name slightly (morphine becomes morphling) with an obvious clue to the relationship.  Likewise, the names of the characters are simple (generally 1-2 syllables) and often evocative of common current names.  There’s also some pretty obvious symbolism – the “boy with the bread” is named Peeta (pita) and the boy who has a tempest inside him is named Gale.  Many have pointed to deeper symbolism, but I generally read contemporary fiction for pure enjoyment and don’t delve into that too much.  However, the fact that Panem is completely devoid of the concept of God did jump out at me.

There are, of course, some things that are unique to Panem, and not based closely on anything in the “real” world.  Some really weird shit.

Collins does a wonderful job setting the scenes.  It’s very easy to visualize District Twelve, the areas, and many other locales in the books (and there are a fair number of scenes).  I haven’t yet seen the movie, but wonder how well it can compare to the picture Collins has painted in my mind.

The characters

I’ve been reading a lot of books with complex and interesting characters lately.  The Hunger Games, however, far exceeds these other books.  Carried forward by the first person point of view, I am not simply interested in the lives of these characters, I am emotionally invested and actually care about them.  Often times, I prefer third person point of view, but Collins really hits it out of the park by letting us inside Katiniss’s head.  It’s a little (lot) messed up in there, but we gain a lot of interesting insights about life in Panem.  It also allows Collins to take advantage of the information hiding that the first person point of view affords.  This allows the readers to be unaware of twists and turns in the plot.

None of the main characters can be described as simple or boring.  Collins uses some very interesting traits to make many of the characters memorable to the readers, but many of  the “simple” characters turn out to be far more complex than the reader – or Katniss – may have thought.

The verdict

Is there any doubt?  This is a great story with interesting characters and the plot is carried along by a first rate writing style.  If you enjoy reading suspense/thriller books, grab The Hunger Games trilogy.

Photo: I'll Have Another (purple) down the stretch.

The first Saturday in May is always one of my favorite days. It is another large sporting event that brings the casual fan to watch a sport that they otherwise would not normally follow. There are events such as the Daytona 500, The Masters, The Super Bowl, and of course…..

The Kentucky Derby.

The Run for the Roses…I always thought this, and not the Rose Bowl, should be called the Granddaddy of them all.   After all…this has been around a LOT longer than the Rose Bowl game.

Breaking from the #19 post position a horse named I’ll Have Another was the winner, making a game move down the stretch to win the Derby. It went off at 16-1 which allowed for a nice pay-day for the Goodman household as BOTH Mr. and Mrs. Goodman had winning tickets.

I enjoy horse racing, but would not consider myself a “gambler” per se. I like playing poker with the guys on occasion, and will attend some of the live racing meets here in Lincoln. I am not a big wager type of guy. $10 on a race is a large bet for me. Normally it is the standard $2 to win-place–show on a horse.

Yum! Brands who sponsors the Triple Crown holds a contents where the winner that is selected gets $100,000 to drop on one bet – one horse – one chance to win for the Kentucky Derby. This year the guy who got to place the “mystery bet” put his $100K on #11 – a longshot by the name of Alpha.

At the time the bet was placed the horse – had it won the Kentucky Derby, would have paid back an amazing $2 million on that $100,000 wager.

The real comment of the day is when the individual was asked by an NBC reporter, would the lucky contestant like to make the wager or would they rather just take the hundred grand and walk away. Without hesitation the guy responded “I am a horse player “ and indicated he was going for the big pay day and not the “small potatoes of the hundred large.

I can tell you if that was offered to me, I would walk with the hundred thousand without blinking an eye. Guess my risk appetite is a LOT lower than most people at the horse track.

Another interesting tidbit from my gambling experience this weekend. As you can expect, at the simulcasting place in Lincoln, the patron traffic was teaming on Saturday. There was a HUGE crowd watching the races some even all dressed up in their faux Kentucky Derby at the Lincoln Race Course experience. The parking lot was packed and fortunately my father and I basically just went and placed our bets and then took off to do some further work for the day.

When I came back on Sunday afternoon to cash the winning tickets, the place was deserted, you wondered if it was even open…there were about 50 cars in the parking lot, and I am guessing some of those were for the people working there as well.

Needless to say I got in and out of the place much more quickly than I did the day before…and left with a lot more money than I came with.

I am sure the same cannot be said for most everyone else on Saturday.

Murder at the Track

Death is no stranger to the racing crowd, even around an event like The Kentucky Derby.  In 2008, Derby runner-up Eight Belles was put down on the track.

The past two years, however, have seen human death case a cloud over Churchill Downs.  Last year, jockey Michael Baze was found dead in his vehicle three days after the Derby.  The cause of death was accidental painkiller overdose.

This year, 48 year old Adan Fabian Perez was murdered in a barn on the premises of the track (more than 200 people live on the grounds full-time).  There hasn’t been much released about the murder of the horse groom, although there was some arguments in the vicinity on Saturday night.  Perhaps soon we’ll know who killed Perez, and why.

Photo: Bryce Harper

Photo: Cole Hamels

On Sunday night, Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels hit Nationals rookie outfielder Bryce Harper in the back with a pitch.  This was not mere accident – Hamels freely admitted to hitting Harper on purpose.

Why did he do it?

Hamels’s explanation was that he felt that Harper approached the game in a disrespectful manner and that Hamels took it upon himself to give him an old school welcome to the Major Leagues.

It’s true that Harper is a very confident player.  Most observers would even say cocky or arrogant.  It’s also true that he has ruffled a lot of feathers in high school, community college, and the minor leagues.  However, he hadn’t done anything to disrespect the Phillies at this point.  Had he done something to show up Hamels – such as a painfully slow trot around the bases after a home run – Hamels might have a leg to stand one.  However, lacking such motivation, it seems that Hamels simply took it upon himself to launch a preemptive strike against Harper.  If anything, this event could soften the image fans have of Harper, with some people seeing him as a victim in this incident.

It’s absolutely true that Harper needs to grow up a lot.  But it’s also true that he’s still just 19.  If you take a random sample of 19 year olds in the minor leagues, I’d guess that there are a decent number of them with big egos, particularly guys who were picked in the first round.  My thought is that Harper’s teammates and manager are the ones who should work with Harper on his maturity.  Maybe some Crash Davis Bull Durham style tough love.

The Aftermath

Harper took his base and later stole home when Hamels tried to pick off a a runner on first base.  Jordan Zimmerman later hit Hamels with a pitch, at which point the umpire warned both benches (meaning that the next pitcher to hit a batter would be ejected).  I think the umpire handled this the correct way, allowing the Nationals to retaliate before issuing the warning.

Major League baseball suspended Hamels for five games after he admitted to hitting Harper on purpose.  I’m starting to get annoyed at MLB “punishing” starting pitchers with a five game suspension.  In reality, the pitcher doesn’t miss a start – the team just juggles the rotation a bit.  In the Phillies’ case, Cliff Lee will be inserted into the rotation when he comes off the disabled list, so there’s really minimal impact to the rotation.  Personally, I’d like to see a minimum of a 8-9 game suspension for pitchers, to make sure that they actually miss a start.  What’s the point in suspending a player when they don’t actually miss any time?

Around baseball

Albert Pujols finally hit his first homer of the season,   but is still struggling to hit .200.  Don’t worry, Angels fans, he’ll come around.

The Rockies lost yet another pitcher to the disabled list.  Drew Pomeranz was hit in the leg by a line drive last night.  He stayed in the game long enough to hit a 395 foot homer at Petco (notoriously difficult to homer in) before leaving a bit later in the game with a quad injury.  He joins starters Jhoulys Chacin, Jeremy Guthrie, and Jorge De La Rosa on the DL. 

Mariano Rivera suffered a season-ending knee injury while shagging fly balls in batting practice.  The 42 year old says that he’ll return to the Yankees next year.  Only time will tell.  This spring has been tough on closers, with Joakim Soria, Brian Wilson, and Ryan Madson being lost for the yearand a bunch of other closers getting nicked up with less serious injuries.

The Orioles are tied for the best record in baseball, while the Twins are on pace to surpass the 1962 Mets as the worst team in history.  They are 7-21 and have been outscored by 64 runs.  No other team has a run differential worse than -35.

Photo: Sisler (left) and Cobb (right) flank Babe Ruth.

Orioles DH Chris Davis went 0-8 against the Red Sox on Sunday, but was still a key contributor to the Baltimore win.  Davis pitched the final two innings of a 17 inning game, becoming the winning pitcher when Adam “Pac Man” Jones jacked a three run homers off Red Sox outfielder Darnell “Old” McDonald.  In was the first time since 1925 that each team used a position player to pitch in a game.  The two players in that 1925 game?  Hall of Famers Ty  Cobb and George Sisler.  Cobb had two hits and a walk in five plate appearances and pitched a scoreless inning in relief.  Sisler was 0-4 at the plate and allowed no runs, one hit, and a walk and struck out a batter.  Who were the managers who were dumb enough to risk injuries to their star players in such a stunt?  Ty Cobb and George Sisler, of course.

In an effort to cultivate writing among our base of readers, I am announcing the first annual Soap Boxers Fiction Writing contest.

Prizes:

• The first place winner will win a $25 Amazon gift card.  You can buy nearly anything from Amazon, but I’d personally suggest using the $25 toward a Kindle.
• A random voter will win a $5 Amazon gift card.
• Writers for The Soap Boxers, and their immediate families, are not eligible to win prizes.
• There are no other eligibility restrictions.  The winner can be any age, and from any country.

Dates:

• Stories must be submitted by noon Central time on May 21, 2012.  Entries should be emailed to kosmo@observingcasually.com.  I will send an email confirmation within 24 hours.  If you don’t receive a confirmation, please follow up.
• Stories will be posted on May 23.  Voting will end at midnight Central time on May 25.  One vote per person.

Rights:

• The story must not have been published previously, either in print or online.
• By submitting an entry, you grant The Soap Boxers the one time right to post the story.  You retain all other rights to the story.
• Entries must be your own work.  If plagiarism is discovered, your entry will be disqualified and we will fully cooperate with rights holders who wish to sue or have you prosecuted.

Content:

• The story must be set during the summer.  Summer does not have to be the overriding theme, but the action of the story should take place during the summer months.  I’ll be flexible with regards to what constitutes “summer”, but if you write about dragging home a Christmas tree, I’ll have to disqualify your entry.
• The contest is open to any genre, with the exception of hard core porn.  Stories that fall within the confines of an R rating – such as crime fiction – ARE allowed.
• Suggested length is 500 to 2000 words.  This is merely a suggestion, but keep in mind the fact that the site’s readers will vote on the winner.  It can be difficult to get someone to read an 8000 word post on a web site.

Questions?

If you have any other question, post them in the comments section below.

Let your friends know about the contest – share via email, Facebook, and Twitter.  The more entries, the better!

If you’re new to The Soap Boxers, take a look around.  A complete listing of the site’s 1100+ articles can be found in the archives.  You’ll find writing, sports, politics, art, crime, news, and much more.  All of the content is completely free, but if you like what you see, considering using one of our many Amazon links to kick off an Amazon shopping trip.  There’s no added cost to you, and we get a small commission on each sale.

Good luck!