Cue the Vikings
I keep receiving spam from an individual who seems to think that if the contention that the lawsuit brought against the synodical president and first vice-president is useless and divisive is repeated often enough, it becomes necessarily so. I don’t know the sender, and certainly never made a request to receive e-mail from this sender. Unsolicited e-mail from an unknown source — I spell that with an “S”, a “P”, an “A”, and an “M”.I read the first few missives sent my way since they seemed to pertain to synodical affairs, and because I was willing to give the unknown sender the benefit of the doubt—but (cue the Vikings) it became clear that it was spam, spam, spam…of a Lutheran variety. I didn’t expect to see Lutheran spam, but I guess I shouldn’t be so surprised. It certainly seems a cost-effective, though disreputable, means for disseminating one’s message.Although I really have no means of verifying it, my gut feeling is that this individual is not working alone, but is acting as an operative for one of the political factions active in our synod. I would be curious to know how this individual happened to come upon a list with my e-mail address on it. It’s a relatively new address and wasn’t published in the last Lutheran Annual. I have, however, updated my e-mail address at the synodical website’s section for updating one’s profile for the Lutheran Annual, and I would like to think that whatever I post there isn’t made available to Lutheran spammers (or Anglican, Zoroastrian, or any other stripe of spammer). Like most other people, I don’t hold spammers in very high esteem. And any individual or entity that has to resort to spamming to get its point across isn’t likely to convince me that it sits on the ethical high ground.
Lunchin with Loofrin
I had a nice lunch with my new friend, loofrin, whose blog is Full Throttle & an Empty Gas Tank. Over beer & wings, we got to know each other a bit and shared our common affinity for the New York Mets (kindred fans are a rarity in central Indiana). We also explored some of the common points in our respective histories. It’s like doing the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon, only, as loofrin puts it, in the Missouri Synod, it’s more like 2 degrees. It’s almost spooky how it works. For instance, he mentioned Dr. Clyburn Duder from Austin, and that was a blast from the past for me, given that Dr. Duder was both a classmate of my father’s at Springfield (class of ’66), and also was an English professor at River Forest the last year I was there. I never had Dr. Duder for any classes, but I sometimes joined the English department that year when they took their usual coffee / cigarette break down in the basement of Kohn Hall. It was real convenient for me, since I lived up on 2nd Lindemann that year. Even though we were mostly just shootin’ the breeze there, Duder was usually pretty good about asking me how my dad was doing.You certainly should check out loofrin’s blog, since he is hosting Lutheran Carnival VIII, sort of the recent Greatest Hits of the Lutheran blogosphere. I think he posted it in the wee hours this morning, and I must admit that I’m still working my way through it. Good stuff so far. I was surprised to find loofrin had even submitted my meager work and posted it—even though they’re certainly not Greatest Hits caliber (He may be the only person that knows I’m out here). I’m still working on figuring this blogging stuff out. Scott Stiegemeyer submitted some useful stuff on the art of blogging, and I’m working my way through it all, hoping to glean some pointers along the way. You will note, that I actually have real-live links in this posting, my very first ones! I guess that’s progress. Loofrin explained how to do that at lunch today. I thank him for his patience.
Liturgical NASCAR?
I’d heard how NASCAR was making a real effort to broaden its base, and now it seems they’ve decided to go after the liturgical crowd. Why else would they have the Banquet 400 on the day the Series A Gospel is the Parable of the Wedding Banquet?
Already Missing Baseball
I noticed the void more acutely today. I’ve not seen a boxscore from my beloved Mets since Monday, and I’m undergoing withdrawal pains. I’m accustomed to checking up on their progress on a daily basis. David Wright really came into his own, turning in the best season from a Mets 3rd baseman since the days of HoJo. Why Willie kept him buried down near the bottom of the batting order for so long this year remains a mystery to me. Jose Reyes was healthy the whole year and led the league in triples and in stolen bases. I hope his leg problems are a thing of the past. That business last year about his having to relearn how to run seemed awfully strange.Every time Pedro’s turn came in the rotation, you couldn’t help but get excited. Had a few bad breaks gone the other way, he’d have merited serious consideration for a Cy Young award.Aaron Heilman and Jae Seo, having both washed out of the rotation early in the season, returned and found redemption. Heilman seems to have finally put it together, albeit as a reliever. We can always use a good reliever. Seo surprised me on his return. Never did I expect him to become so lights-out. I’m still not completely sold on him, but he’s certainly increased his value.I kept hoping Carlos Beltran would finally put it all together, but it never happened. Personally, I think he just needs to relax. It wouldn’t hurt for him to lighten up and crack a smile every now and then. He strikes me as being just too earnest and trying too hard to prove his worth to us. I’d hate to see that $119 million become an albatross around his (and our) neck(s). I will, however, give him credit for foregoing facial surgery and returning so soon after that horrific collision he and Cameron had in the outfield. Cliff Floyd surprised me by remaining healthy. He racked up some impressive numbers. Yeah, his bat cooled off some in the last half, but his 12 stolen bases were about 11 more than I expected from him, and who knew he had 15 assists hiding in his arm?During the first half, I feared Tom Glavine was taking over Al Leiter’s role from the year before as designated washed-up veteran, but he looked sharp over the second half. I now think he has a shot at reaching 300 victories, which is more than I gave him this spring.Mike Jacobs certainly impressed with his 11 home runs in exactly 100 at-bats. I hope he gets a legitimate shot at being our 1st baseman next year. I don’t think Jacobs is a fluke. He’s hit throughout the minors. Why throw big money at a veteran when this rookie might very easily match or exceed the veteran’s numbers? Carlos Delgado seemed to think Florida had a better chance of winning than we did. The Fish did no better than we did, even though Delgado played first for them instead of us. I say let the Fish choke on Delgado’s huge contract this year! Doug Mientkiewicz got lost in the shuffle in the meantime. I thought he was just getting his bat in gear when he went down hurt. I don’t think he’ll get another shot with the Mets.2nd base, catcher, and closer are where we need upgrades. I really think Kazuo Matsui is better suited to being a (f)utility infielder. And it appears the Mike Piazza era has ended. Castro was serviceable, but he’s more valuable as a good backup catcher. As for Looper, I’m willing to cut him some slack since he pitched with an arm injury most of this season, but even so, I’m not convinced he’s the ideal candidate to be our closer. There were too many 9th inning meltdowns for my taste. In my mind, the question is whether Heilman or Looper makes the better set-up man.Victor Diaz didn’t hit as well as I’d hoped, while Mike Cameron is going to be a bit of a question mark—will he return as a primo defender or will he be spooked by the collision? I’d hate to see him become another Tony Conigliaro or Dickie Thon—never quite the same afterwards.With the absence of Mets boxscores, what am I to do? For the time being, I’m reduced to cheering for whoever is playing the Braves or the Yankees. Without their boxscores and daily capsules on each team, USA TODAY is now worthwhile only for the daily sudoku puzzle. There’s a whole winter between now and pitchers and catchers reporting. The hot stove league will have to occupy us in the meantime. Nevertheless, hope springs eternal for another taste of the glory of ‘69 or ’86. Wait ‘til next year.
