3000 Words

A baby's head and a kiwi look remarkably similar.

A koala sits on a fence post to avoid an overflowing river below him.

An artist stacks 760 bicycles to make art.

Song of the Week

"Reach Out (I'll Be There)" - The Four Tops
We go back to 1966 for this classic, the first Motown song I remember liking, from my favorite Motown group.

I Think She Held It Together Quite Nicely

Trey Mancini hit his first Major League home run for the Baltimore Orioles, and his mom Beth was there to see it.
She was shocked, amazed and tearful, the exact reaction I would expect a mother to have. It was very similar to the reaction of Grandpa Matz when Steven had 3 hits in his Major League debut.



I promise you if any of my kids ever homer, majors, minors, high school or Little League, I will make her reaction look subdued in comparison.

I Get To Do Cool Things

Three years ago I was lucky enough to attend a Mets game and spend pre-game on the field, and take one of my favorite pictures ever, with Mr. and Mrs. Met.
The experience I had before Friday's game against the Twins was even better. Thanks to the dogged persistence of a friend we were invited for a behind-the-scenes tour of the stadium by the Mets PR team.

We entered at the Hodges gate, where right through that door is the press room where we often see Terry Collins discussing Mets injuries.

From there we were led down a back hallway, where the clubhouse is. And at the moment we passed by, Brandon Nimmo emerged on his way to the video room.

He stopped and chatted with us briefly about money and investing and the rapid depreciation of expensive automobiles.

To our left in that hallway is the batting cage where players can take some in-game cuts.

Lined up along the walls, where the bats and other equipment for every Met.

And in the best part of it all, we were led out onto the field, THROUGH THE DUGOUT!!!!!

Don't I look happy?

We were offered a piece of Major League gum. I brought two pieces home for the boys, who were initially unimpressed until they realized, that later that day the Mets had stuck their hands in that same bucket. They asked if the Mets get a new bucket of gum every day. I said yes. They decided the Mets must be rich to afford new gum.
They chewed it and decided it tasted better than the regular dubble bubble available to the public.

After a few more moments sitting on the dugout bench, and taking pictures we were escorted onto the field to enjoy batting practice.
Unfortunately, the Mets had concluded and the Twins were hitting (Kennys Vargas hit some bombs).

After a while we were asked to leave the field and head back to our seats, which we purchased ourselves, which explains the view from the 500 level.

But from that vantage point I got to see a masterpiece from Bartolo Colon, back to back homers from Jose Reys and Asdrubal Cabrera, and a 3-0 Mets win, topping off another memorable experience I was fortunate enough to enjoy. Note: Please forgive the lousy way this displays. I wanted pictures to be as big as possible, which doesn't work well with this template. For best experience click on the first picture and use the viewer to peruse them all.

Weekly Picks

So I forgot Week 1. I probably would have started off with a -1 so good thing I didn't. We'll start and Week 2 and see what develops.

NEW ENGLAND -6 1/2 miami
This is dangerous because the Patriots looked good in a nationally televised game, but that doesn't mean all their worries are gone. Plus the Dolphins sucked. And as you know, all that could change very quickly in the NFL, which in case you forgot stands for Not For Long.

tampa bay +7 ARIZONA
Again I am going against my opposites theory but I just think this is a heck of a lot of points to give to Jameis Winston.

indianapolis +7 DENVER
Another big road dog, but I really wasn't impressed with Denver last week and Luck should be good for a backdoor cover.

OAKLAND 4 1/2 atlanta
The Falcons suck and the Raiders are a fun bandwagon team.

BEST BET
green bay -1 1/2 MINNESOTA
I think Aaron Rodgers will pull this one out.