Wednesday night I watched the new HBO’s new baseball documentary Say Hey, Willie Mays! It’s what you’d expect. Not bad, but not great. Let’s just say… it’s no Willie Mays.
For more thoughts on the national pastime and those who defended said nation (happy Veterans’ Day!), tune in to today’s episode of Math and Musings.
Elections, politics, blah,blah, blah.
Here’s some real news.
Earlier this week I made a visit to Kura Revolving Sushi Bar in Tysons, Virginia.
Tysons is sometimes referred to as Tysons Corner, but will now forever be known as “the home of Kura Sushi,” because this is the future of all dining. I really can’t see myself going to any other restaurant the rest of my life.
You’re probably thinking I’ve never heard of this place. Well, more than 400 locations in Japan but only about 30 spread across the United States. The one in Tysons is actually the second in the D.C. area, but as I avoid D.C. as a metonym (see above), I also avoid it literally.
Kura Sushi might be the one reason to go.
I usually hate all things new and modern and tech-heavy, but Kura Revolving Sushi Bar does it right. “Revolving” is not just puffery. You really do sit around a sort of carousel, on which plates of delicious food, sushi and otherwise, pass by. Want something? Grab it. Seriously, just grab the plate off the conveyor belt. Don’t see the thing you want? Use the touch screen menu in front of you and… it comes on the conveyor belt. Actually a different conveyor belt, and this one stops at your table.
Your mind not blown yet?
Your drinks are delivered by a robot.
Seriously. Think Rosie the robot maid.
You can go your whole meal without speaking to a human being, but if you’re missing that personal touch just call one–using your touch pad. Yeah, the Larry David dream of summoning waiters with a bell is now here, but in a much less obnoxious fashion.
This is what politicians should be debating.
This is the future.
And it tastes delicious.
For the second time in six seasons the Houston Astros are champions of baseball. The Astros defeated the Phillies Saturday night for their fourth win of the series, their 11th win of the playoffs against only two losses. These guys are good.
So where do we turn our attention now? Do we take the Rogers Hornsby advice and stare out the window waiting for spring?
Nah, I’ve got a backlog of musings to compile here, don’t worry.
This one I’ve been waiting to post for some time.
More than 15 years ago in one of my list-making phases I made a Top 10 list of the numbers 1-10.
Yes, you read that correctly.
This was the rank order of the numbers one through 10, the first being the best and the last being the worst.
7, 3, 5, 9, 1, 8, 6, 4, 2, 10.
That was the list from 2006. Looking at it now I don’t disagree with the top few. Certainly odd numbers are invariably cooler than even numbers, but are all odd numbers better? And I definitely gave the number 10 the short shrift back in ’06. Ten’s a good number, worthy of inclusion in the top half. In fact I’d place it at #4, followed by 8, then 9 and 1. Actually I’d put 1 ahead of 9, so the list begins 7, 3, 5, 10, 8, 1, 9. The worst three numbers are 6, 4, and 2, and I’d place them in that order.
Definitive list, Top 10 numbers 1-10:
7, 3, 5, 10, 8, 1, 9, 6, 4, 2.
This is what I do when baseball season ends.
One pitfall of recording a podcast several days before it airs is that, well, things happen between recording and airing.
Case in point: on today’s episode of Math and Musings you will hear me talk about many things, but you will not hear me talk about a five home-run outburst, a no-hitter, or an epic Game Five of this year’s World Series.
Oh, the show is entertaining and insightful, but not exactly up to date.
That’s what this space is for.
Until now when it’s old news.
For a further discussion, tune in to Math and Musings.
After trumpeting the twin events to great fanfare the past few days Mother Nature laughed and brought rain to both Halloween and the third game of the World Series.
Rest assured, Halloween was still celebrated, although on a smaller scale, and Game Three was rescheduled to last night.
Astros probably wish it never stopped raining.
Or maybe that’s what happened.
Game Four comin’ at ya tonight.
True, I’ve previously referred to Halloween as an overrated holiday, but now that it’s here I’m allowed to revel in all its spooky and/or sugary delights.
Baseball’s World Series, too, has provided great fanfare, through two dare I say epic games thus far, hopefully a portent for contests this coming week.
The only downside to this time of year is wall-to-wall, post-upon-post Election coverage, and unfortunately that dreck continues for eight more days!
Today on Math and Musings you’ll hear about two events I’m pretty sure have never opened on the same day: Halloween weekend and baseball’s World Series.
Saying this weekend is going to be great is like the understatement of the year.
And if you want to hear me go on about it for 15 minutes, click this link.
The writing has been on the walls for years, but now it just got real.
Final proof that “TV” is over and streaming is the official means by which we consume visual media.
According to my sources, no “television” station is airing the Charlie Brown Halloween special (“It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”) this Halloween season. No Peanuts Thanksgiving or Christmas episodes this year either, but for the folks at Apple TV+, who apparently own the rights to all things Peanuts TV.
Say “what time?” or “what channel is that?” and we know what century you’re from, Boomer.
I remember once hearing the late Vin Scully describe the scene in Brooklyn following their win in the 1955 World Series. Something akin to Mardi Gras, New Year’s Eve, and the Fourth of July. That was Brooklyn.
In the rest of New York… it was fall.
Today in New York, and all points east…
it is fall.
On today’s episode of Math and Musings you’ll hear me discuss baseball’s LCS. It was recorded a couple days ago, that heady time in which the AL series was still nothing-nothing. Studio executives were dreaming of the Yankees being in the World Series again, no doubt bringing more eyeballs to the screen and dollars to their pockets.
Standing in their way, though, are the Houston Astros and their pitching duo of Justin Verlander and Framber Valdez. Verlander and Valdez… that just rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it? Step aside, Spahn and Sain, Koufax and Drysdale, Johnson and Schilling… this is your new postseason pitching tandem.
Series returns to the Bronx for Game 3, where the Yankees will start their own ace, Gerrit Cole. Cole’s a former Astro, famously leading the ‘stros in their 2019 loss to my hometown Nats. Cole was the winner in Game 5, the last game Houston would win in that series.
And the last game he pitched for them before signing a $324 million deal with the Yanks.
Lookin’ for that to pay off tonight.