Ummagumma

A few weeks ago, when I first learned of the cave-in of a small mine in Chile, I didn’t really bother to pay that much attention. I figured any survivors were doomed and, in any case, it wasn’t that big of a disaster. Mines collapse somewhere in the world all the time. The recent floods in Pakistan were far worse in terms of the sheer size of the human scale. But, meaningful "size" is not always just in terms of quantitative numbers and distances measured in many miles. Certain human qualities sometimes take on an enormous size in strict terms of human awareness and are measured in but a few hundred square feet. In recent days, I have taken greater notice of events. It has become a heroic story in my mind, still unfolding. But, for me, it seems miraculous not only that anyone survived almost a half-mile down like that but that they managed to get to this particular location were they could be found. And then to have the animal instinct in the very higher human form to wait

These notes give you some idea of what kind of roller coaster ride baseball can be on a daily basis for a serious fan of the game. There are many highs and lows in the time frame presented. First, let’s go back to July 30. A great come from behind win for the Braves that is indicative of how this team can play when it gets its act together. Unfortunately, Martin Prado hurt himself on this play which resulted in 15 days on the disabled list. Atlanta kind of struggled a bit going 7-5 after they won that game, then I started these little notes…looking back there is a sense of foreboding throughout them. Can we actually win the division in Bobby Cox’s final season? Lots of video highlights presented throughout. Thursday, August 12 – Phillies rally for 8 runs against the Dodgers in the last two innings to beat them 10-9. A chance to gain a game in the loss column goes by. Phillies are second to the Braves in last at-bat wins. Friday, August 13 – Braves win 1-0. Tim Hudson is making a gre

You know how sometimes a song will get stuck in your head for no apparent reason. That happened to me last week. I got to humming a tune from Neil Young’s 2009 release Fork in the Road on the way to work and then back home again afterwards. So, I decided to check out the song on the CD/DVD release when I got home that night. Neil has put out 33 studio albums (so far) among many other releases throughout his incredible 45 year career. Most recently, in 2007 he created a superb album, Chrome Dreams II . In 2009, he followed with Fork in the Road . When you put out that much material, featuring as many diverse styles as Neil experiments with (remember he was once sued by his record company for failing to produce "Neil Young music"), occasionally something comes out and you scratch your head. What was he thinking? I was nonplussed by Fork in the Road when I got it in April of last year. I listened through it once. Listened to a couple tunes again. Played what I thought was th

The good news is Braves have won 5 of their last 7 games, including two last at-bat wins. They beat the Houston Astros today 8-2 . Another big inning late in the game , made possible by Billy Wagner's seventh blown save after Tommy Hanson pitched a gem of a game . (OK, that last part isn't such good news.) McCann contributed the fourth Braves pinch hit grand-slam of the season. The Braves have now won 19 games this season in their last at-bat. The most in the majors. Even better, they beat the Astros in last night while the Phillies lost at home to the Los Angeles Dodgers . That gave Atlanta a skinny two-game lead over Philadelphia in the loss column. Suddenly, the Braves are hitting the long ball . After not showing that much power for most of the season (as a team they rank 19th in all of baseball in home runs), they recently took 3 out of 4 games ( we should have swept them ) from a very good San Francisco Giants ball club and have beaten the Astros largely because of goo

Portrait of Tommy Glavine by Steve Penley . Presented to Glavine as part of his number retirement ceremony. I am a Tom Glavine fan. I well remember his first full season in the major leagues. It was 1988 . He went 7 - 17 with 4.56 ERA. Those 17 losses were tops in the major leagues and were part of a pitifully bad Braves team that went 54 - 106 that year. Hardly impressive. But, I liked his tenacity. I liked the fact that he was not a "fastball" type pitcher. He had a pretty good change-up. He was a "location" pitcher. He was good at painting the corners of the plate for strikes and kept hitters off stride by keeping the ball out of the middle of the plate. Well, now and then he was that way those first couple of seasons. Unrefined, but I saw potential. And I always like to root for promising rookies. That's one of the things about baseball I enjoy the most. Watching rookies develop. Tom Glavine certainly developed. In 1989 , again for a last-place Braves team

Just after the All-Star break the Atlanta Braves held the best record in the National League and were third with the most wins in all of baseball behind only the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays. In the NL East, the Braves enjoyed a comfortable lead over the then slumping Philadelphia Phillies. Now, just a couple weeks later, that has all changed . The Braves are in a fight for their lives to hold on to first place as the Phillies are surging and Atlanta is staggering. We (being a lifelong Braves fan I use the term ‘we’ often when referring to them) dropped three consecutive series on the road against the Florida Marlins, the Washington Nationals, and the Cincinnati Reds. Going 3-6 on a road trip this late in the season with the standings this close is not exactly championship caliber play. What happened? Several things. First of all, in a general sense, all season long the Braves have scored a lot of runs in ‘the big inning’ , that is, they very often score 3 or more runs i

On July 25, perhaps the greatest breakdown in the history of US intelligence was revealed on the internet with the release of about 75,000 classified military documents under the so-called Wikileaks Afghan War Diary . The massive leak to the public caused a furor . Some say it proves the war in Afghanistan is unwinnable . Some say the leaks have jeopardized our military operations . I’ve watched this story unfold with considerable interest. Many influential or karmic elements are at work here. Many compare this colossal leak with the historic Pentagon Papers disclosure during the Vietnam War. Those opposing the war in Afghanistan will do everything in their power to compare it with Vietnam, so that is a highly convenient analogy. While the Wikileaks revelations tell the public a few things we didn’t already know , by and large it actually just supports most of what we already knew. The Obama administration, while critical of the national security breach itself , has taken the op