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g with his eccentric body movements and reactions and superfluous tics and flinches and adjustments all constitute the host of variations which separate all batters from each other successful hitting is a combination of intense focus coordinated body movements and a psychological mantra or set of rhythmic steps which help a batter focus his attention and energy on the contest between himself and the pitched ball coming towards him each batter has his peculiar method some are extremely relaxed others are all wound up and tense some batters go through a set of odd body motions others hold the bat in extreme counter intuitive positions prior to executing their swings some can t stand still and wiggle or twitch as they await the pitch some go into a kind of wind up similar to pitchers wind ups some point the bat at the pitcher until the pitcher begins his wind up all these different mannerisms become characteristic of a batter s specific character a kind of signature style of play ryness has studied every player s physical antics and stance and he can imitate them with impressive skill he has an impressionist s intuition about how to capture body movements how to emphasize the nuances of a person s carriage and exaggerate them to comic effect and he s discovered the perfect medium the brief you tube spot video clip ideally suited to a couple of quick impressions and he s even extended this to include a full work up of an imaginary brian wilson work out show or brian wilson fitness minute check out this extended spot video of r yness entertaining manny ramirez when he was with the dodgers and teammates with multiple impressions probably ryness is a new hybrid entertainment wizard who s turned a nifty little concept into a whole new career so take it on the road david letterman show clip if it s 15 minutes of fame you want why not 3 minutes people have been looking at baseball players for a century and more but ryness is the first person to build a routine out of it it s a typical horatio alger success story i don t do plugs but i salute ryness for a brilliant bit of trivial pursuit famous weird batting stances craig counsell reach for the sky jeff bagwell the classic deep squat kevin youkilis is this to build up torque posted by curtis faville at 5 23 pm no comments sunday december 22 2013 absolute zero we sit at the edge of something that is so vast that it is inconceivable but we may be at or near its imaginative center a vanity which has a seductive quality what is a thing absolute zero is a conceptual possibility not yet achieved in which there is no measurable energy being emitted from a substance where there is nothing no matter there is nothing to measure our minds evolved over time to facilitate interaction with the material world and incidentally developed the capacity for independent symbolic speculation or thought scientific experiment and language the tools by which we measure and gauge the speculative apprehension of phenomena appear to be unique to our species in order to measure a condition or effect we must utilize material in other words our measure is matter itself of which we and everything else animate or inanimate is comprised can temperature be measured without the presence of matter all matter is energy and we ve been told that all matter is in effect light matter is arrested light or light that has partially congealed into substance all substance then contains energy even at a point very near absolute zero in fact to within a billionth of a degree short of it matter exhibits properties which suggest that it might cease to be matter without any measurable energetic exhibition like infinite space and anti matter the idea of absolute zero seems beyond our reach perhaps because we re not given to apprehend it as material beings we disport within the dimensions of our consciousness and accept our limitations with joy or frustration to be in anything is to be contained and all languages verbal visual abstract are attempts at limiting the terms of agreement in order to obtain sufficient specificity but it may be that the universe is far too complex to be grasped with efficient systems absolute zero is one dilemma a limit which we can describe in the abstract but science so far has been unable to produce an experimental perfection that would permit us to get our minds around it we don t yet understand the full implication of what a pure emptiness might consist to have an emptiness one must postulate it within a containment else it ceases to have any meaning a sensible emptiness then is a toy of the mind at least for the time being at the other end of the scale it appears that entropy that quality of the loss of energy or the spontaneous depletion of measurable energy at a rate actually decreases as matter reaches its maximum load of energy a curious and paradoxical fact that runs counter to intuition absolute zero for me is a ravishing conception one that titillates and provokes my imagination speculation swirls around it in my mind like a series of nested gyroscopes so that i m not sure of exactly where i am or in what direction i m moving stillness and movement may be simultaneous in happy intersection and emptiness may be hiding inside the fullness of the moment surrounded by consciousness and the richness of the material world posted by curtis faville at 10 19 am 5 comments thursday december 19 2013 bill berkson dream bill berkson dream i m at the four seasons for a quick solitary lunch sitting at the bar after a moment or two i notice bill berkson sitting diagonally from where i am but he doesn t see me he s wearing a very expensive medium grey suit and his hair is sculpted onto his head he s talking to another man a client and i realize he bill in his other life must be a stockbroker this doesn t surprise me at all turning sideways i can just hear scraps of his conversation the residuals will knock your sox off says bill and you wouldn t even be here if your weren t bill sips a pink cocktail then notices me watching he winks not wanting to interrupt his meeting and motions slightly with his head towards the door a few minutes later i see him get up and give me another confirming look he heads for the door and i follow a safe distance behind out on the street he shakes his head as if waking up from a daydream hey man whatcha doing here not much what was that a power lunch nah just something i needed to tie up hey i ve got to run so let s get together later suddenly bill pulls his jacket lapels apart and in a single motion his whole outfit falls away revealing a superhero get up with black tights a white t shirt with big blue bb capitals in the middle i never suspected how muscular he is alright i m off brother he adds as he bounds away taking 20 foot leaps down the street i stare after him in disbelief with mixed feelings of envy and barely suppressed admiration posted by curtis faville at 12 38 pm 3 comments friday december 13 2013 stencils a hovering thought alighting on a memory is gone two blades of grass not quite touching posted by curtis faville at 5 22 am 2 comments wednesday december 11 2013 a song for the unsung american football is a team sport in team sports it is not always possible to accurately assess the value of any single player s contribution to his team s success great players may play on mediocre teams or average players may play on very good teams the context of one s accomplishments in a team sport do matter though truly great performers are usually recognized as such even if based only on purely statistical measures in football the key positions are traditionally the quarterback running back receiver linebacker and defensive back but players at any other position may achieve prominence and be appreciated for their superior play players whose job it is to handle the ball tend to draw the most attention however and it is they who become the usual focus of fans and the media one minor exception is the punter or kicker once upon a time it was common for kickers to do all of a team s kicking duties kick offs punts free kicks and field goal tries over the years these have become specialized and today almost all place kickers specialize as field goal kickers who also do the kick offs with the punter only doing punting like field goal kicking punting has become a specialty usually a punter has no other function on the field he s a little like a closer in baseball a player whose sole purpose is to do a single thing in a specific situation and nothing else mediocre kickers are a dime a dozen even in the pros kickers who were stars as college players usually do not have very successful careers a kicker s life in pro football is usually very short despite the fact that they suffer the least amount of physical abuse because of the job required of them a kicker s maximum body profile tends to be a lot less bulky than his teammates he s not expected to block or tackle or take hits in fact the rules now forbid running into the kicker since a kicker is in a very vulnerable position with respect to oncoming rushers and there is a severe penalty for being flagged for that you would think that kicking given that it involves only a couple of physical functions catching the ball as it s hiked by the center holding it in front of one s body and kicking it as far as possible downfield would be a simple thing to do well not so to do it well and consistently is very difficult in the first place there is no room for error a kicker can t move to elude oncoming rushers he has only a hectic second or two to execute his play clearly getting even a poor kick successfully in the air is better than not getting it kicked at all so the margin for error is usually razor thin in order to kick a ball so that the maximum amount of force is transmitted from the rising foot of the kicker to the inert ball above there must be a perfect collision a slight deviation of impact will result in a shank or weak kick with shorter distance both height length of hang time and distance are required for a superior kick you want to force the opposing receiver to catch the ball as far back from the line of scrimmage as possible and you want it to take as long as possible to reach him in order to allow your teammates to run downfield to cover the receiver s return attempt and of course in cases where the field is short the kicker is required to attempt to kick the ball out of bounds as close to the end zone line as he can but without crossing it before going out of bounds which necessitates accuracy as well as control of force most teams settle for mediocre kicking and work to overcome the deficits which result field position is regarded as a strategic approach which is less important than having a superior offense or defense short field drives are obviously easier than long sustained ones but short field approaches are typical of defensive oriented teams generally playing for position is like playing poker whereas in the world of high power pro offenses a good passing game can make playing for position an inappropriate choice the most crucial situation involving the kicking game is when a team is backed up almost to its own goal line and must punt out of its own end zone a safety is always a risk in these circumstances and no kicker wants to get caught for the dreaded two points or even god forbid a touchdown the ability to kick for distance when backed up can mean the difference between winning and losing a game andy lee has been the 49ers punter now for nine years in each of his nine seasons he s been a stand out qualifying for all pro status three times he s always among the leaders in average yards and hang time and his efficiency is nearly perfect he never gets tackled and always gets his kick away for a decade the 49ers have had the luxury of not having to worry about their punting game punters come and punters go but good ones are hard to come by when you have one like lee you feel blessed one very vital aspect of your franchise is taken care of reliable in professional sports reliability is usually in short supply which is why andy lee is a star in a role that most fans usually don t appreciate or appreciate enough over time a great punter may actually account for several wins singlehandedly that s a rare gift a claim that only a great quarterback or a star running back can make posted by curtis faville at 11 57 am no comments sunday december 8 2013 o hara dean james byron dean 2 8 31 9 30 55 on september 30th 1955 the popular young screen actor james dean was driving his new porsche 550 spyder convertible towards a racing event in salinas california using newly acquired earnings from his two movie roles in rebel without a cause and east of eden he d been buying fancy racing cars and competing in amateur and professional racing events with some success racing had become a passion for him proceeding in stages towards salinas he was speeding at 85 mph and had already received one speeding citation earlier that day when trying to beat another oncoming car to a cross over intersection his vehicle impacted a 1950 ford tudor coupe head on in a horrific crash dean sustained serious injuries and was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital in paso robles early that evening for those too young to remember him james dean 2 8 31 9 30 55 had taken hollywood almost by storm in the 1950 s in his first movie role as cal in east of eden warner brothers directed by elia kazan he blossomed overnight into a major star in the current actor s studio marlon brando mold with a kind of sullen smoldering eccentric persona that captured perfectly the confused rebellious over emotional adolescent spirit of early beat era youth this role was followed closely by rebel without a cause warner brothers 1955 in which dean played the classic mixed up teen ager a gang member with a death wish and a flashy fragile sexiness that drove fans wild drag racing switchblades sex booze delinquency all the vital ingredients of the underground frustration with the conservative middle class world of 1950 s america and in his third major role and his last he reprised this persona one more time in giant warner brothers 1956 released after dean s death playing a poor white neighbor of a big texas ranch family who strikes it rich and rises to prominence as a super rich emotionally wounded but morally debased oil baron in his private life dean followed a parallel path he liked to be on the edge and automobile racing was the perfect vehicle for it reports concerning his love life are contradictory and clouded but it seems probable that he was mildly bi sexual and enjoyed relationships with both women and men fatally handsome and with a charming combination of flirtatious sexiness and feinting vulnerability he had his pick of partners audiences projected every kind of obsessive regard upon him if he had not died when he did there seemed almost no limit to the dimensions hi...