Sporadic

I was gonna talk about last night’s debate, but I feel like after reading Factcheck.org– they did a pretty comprehensive job and honestly I’d have a hard time adding any color.

What I will tell you about was our trip to Game 2 of the NLCS.

So one of the advantages of having a roommate even though we could afford the place by ourselves is the fact that we can spend big money on “silly” things.  One of those silly things was $311 on NLCS tickets for game two against the cardinals.  Which Nicole was kind enough to put on her discover (“it all comes from the same place” she says) The Giants have definitely struggled at home so it was with a little trepidation that we arrived at the yard on Monday  They had just dropped game 1- although not in classic Giant’s style.

Up to this point usually when the giants lose one it’s pitching falls apart and they get shelled and then the batting never shows up so it ends up like 6-2 and the whole game feels like a slog through wet sand. Game 1 started out like it was gonna be that- Giants are down 6-0 and Baumgarner is out of the game. Then all of a sudden stuff came to life and we ran it up to 6-4 before starting the walk through wet sand. So, it just felt slightly more hopeful.

But anyway, I digress, we get to the park around 5 for a first pitch at 5:07. We were running a little late but that was largely my fault, I have issues when temps get warm, Nicole calls it “Hot-angry” (pronounced haTangry). Basically I have become so much a of a bay area person that when it gets up to about 75 or any humidity at all, my body shuts down and I get grumpy.

They were predicting normal bay area temps- 71ish but with normal fog rolling in around dusk and temps getting down into the 60’s. So I put on an under-layer- I use my running tights as a pair of long-johns- so I stay warm when it gets foggy or windy. So I’ve got another layer on and it’s still sunny and 75 at gametime.

We stopped just before the stadium to have a burrito and let me get back to normal less sweaty body temp.  We still had plenty of time after I returned to the living so we walked over to the park only to find that Muni had broken down in between downtown and the park, so everyone got to the stadium at pretty much the exact same moment. There were lines around the corner at every entrance. So we were in line when Angel Pagan put one in the center field seats.

It’s kinda fun to get to a game when your team’s already winning.

It’s also funny when the people in the seats next to yours (who you don’t know) ask you where you’ve been.

So the game progressed and things went very, very well. In the post Season, my record is 1-2 so far. I went to 3 games during the last playoff run in 2010 and with the exception of the World Series game, they were heartbreakers. So this was nice… the giants played the whole game with the lead and there were very few truly tense moments.

The fans behind us were wasted, but thankfully  they were wasted fans of the same team we were cheering for.  Here’s why: Every time something cool happened- Giant’s score, solid single to advance the runners, strike out: we all stood up. Why this is important: Every time they stood up they covered our seats in beer & vodka. So as long as we all stood up in the same moment  we stayed dry while our seats got wet. As long as we remembered to towel off the seats in between good things we were fine.

Our bags were not: they emerged somewhat beer soaked.

My bag was mostly full of game stuff so it was easy to wash out gloves, scarves, hats etc and  even the bag was one of those crappy backpacks that everyone has and I put it straight into the laundry. The only real casualty from my bag was my cool Indian head scarf from the street market in Dehli but it’s still usable – just not as a head scarf anymore (which if you ask Nicole is a good thing).

Nicole’s bag didn’t do so hot and we’re gonna have to work extra hard to get it back to Timbuk-2 coolness.

However, it’s all worth while to walk out of the stadium after a win and listen to the whole crowd go crazy. We cheered the whole way down second street to the Muni stop.  That sort of thing is fun to experience.  To get some of that. Here’s the last strike of the game from Sergio Romo (apologies for my terrible iPhone camera work)

All in all it was a great day. Lots of high-fiveing, Gangdom styling, beer wiping, chant yelling and the like. Let’s hope we get more like that.

So I think Mittens won the debate last night by not losing the debate last night. He also won by not being the Mittens we’ve come to know and fear.

Sure, he still promised that he would kill Big Bird and show Jim Lehrer the door. Yes, of course he said he would eliminate “Obama-Care”. He told us that spending money on “green initiatives” was bad, he made a point to explain how the President was doing the wrong thing by not drilling for oil in National Parks.

But, and here’s the weird thing, whenever push came to shove on Paul Ryan’s budget he basically pulled the old bugs bunny with the charging bull routine and moved away.

He spent a lot of time saying pretty words. He spent a lot of time saying that stuff that could be true but just well…isn’t. He changed his claims on health care, he changed his tax plan. He’s basically “rebooting” himself as Romney 1.0.

Mr. Romney said a similar thing on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” At the time, he said, “I’m not getting rid of all of health care reform. Of course, there are a number of things that I like in health care reform that I’m going to put in place. One is to make sure that those with pre-existing conditions can get coverage.”

But Mr. Romney’s aides later clarified that he would only explicitly guarantee insurance for people with pre-existing conditions if they have maintained coverage with no significant lapses.

Romney: My number one principal is, there will be no tax cut that adds to the deficit. … I will not reduce the taxes paid by high-income Americans. … I will lower taxes on middle-income families.

He never explains how he’s gonna do this. It’s like me saying “I will promise to walk to the moon in the next 6 years by building a very tall staircase from stuff I find around the house”. Yes I have stuff around the house, but how can I make that into a moon staircase?

The interesting thing for political wonks is that he appears to have decided that America is not buying the Romney 2.0 version. He tried to be the Dick Cheney republican with the cross and the flag, the anti-gay, anti-women, anti- immigrant thing. Apparently, either he’s not good at that or America is moving away from the crazy tea-bag thing.

We’re gonna have to see in the coming days how this all plays out. Does the kinder gentler Mittens work? Will it still work when a President, who frankly looked stunned by this switcher-mitt-a-roo, figures out how to process this?

I expected to hear more about the 47%, Bain Capitol, yachts registered in the Caymens from the President. He didn’t hit Mitt where Mitt is most vulnerable- his wallet. There was also no mention of the things that make the President awesome like  don’t ask don’t tell, equal pay for women, health care for the poorest and reasonable immigration law.

There are still 2 more debates and 1 from Biden and Ryan- I guess we’ll see what happens then.