Sunday: Sunscreen. Just how exactly does this stuff work? Apparently by absorbing high energy UV photons and releasing the energy difference as heat or visible fluorescence. All that really matters is that it kept me safe through nine innings of baseball.

Monday: Pets. Do pets get homesick? I’m not sure, but I know they get car sick.

Tuesday: Mets fans. This may actually be a comment on the lack of Baltimore Orioles fans. Despite $8 tickets, a beautiful stadium and a killer block party, more Mets fans were in attendance that local supporters.

Wednesday: New iPhone software. This was almost disappointingly simple. Glad to see Apple worked out the kinks and staggered the release of the software and the new iPhone after the disaster of the last upgrade.

Thursday: SEPTA. When it’s raining and there’s an afternoon baseball game and it’s rush hour, it would be reasonable to have enough cars on the tracks to handle it.

Friday: USPS. So is the US Post Office really that bad? I’m considering spending $12 extra dollars on an order of comic books next week to not have the USPS ship my books.

I realize this post is decidedly negative, and involves a lot of baseball.  To compensate: Go Phils!

I believe MLD can claim singlehanded responsibility for this fact. That’s right I’m patting us on our collective back because we rule and no one else had anything to do with it.

Victory_is_Near

Kevin and I got into a heated discussion about the nature of MLB All-Star voting last week after learning that Phillies left fielder Raul Ibanez was currently 6th in voting among National League  outfielders.  We agree that this is a travesty as Ibanez has incredible numbers in several statistical categories, but the nature of the voting system just seems to lend itself entirely to this kind of injustice.

Ibanez’s ranking may have to do with his transition from the American to National Leagues, but this hardly seems to hurt big name players who seem to get a free trip to the All-Star game every year, even when they aren’t actively playing (I’m looking squarely at you Manny Ramirez).

It generally seems like current season numbers are largely ignored. Part of this is due to the fact that voters at the ballpark have no practical access to stats while voting. It’s interesting to note that neither Jimmy Rollins or Ryan Howard went in their MVP years as starters.  Also, the Phillies were on the road until this past weekend, so it should be interesting to see if any of the rankings change once the team returns home and local fans can vote at the park.

Voting ends Thursday July 2nd, 2009.

Announcements went out that registration would be capped at 26,500 for the 30th Anniversary of Philadelphia’s Broad Street Run, and despite the miserable weather over 22,000 crossed the finish line.

I have to admit, I loved running in the rain.  While I’m satisfied with the result, it would have been nice to get under 90 minutes.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to include this here or not, but here goes.  I’ve taken it upon myself to get back to basics and run.  I somehow found this new dedication after seeing too much of myself recently and as far as distractions go, this is one for the ages.  The Nike+ helps (if you’re using it, my username is ptb).

My half-marathon training began on February 10th, and tonight I managed a very satisfying run from the Art Museum to my home (thanks for the drop-off, Angie).