DowningRules

Fitness and weight training are such a huge part of the game now. I’d be interested in reading about how a few players keep their fitness going in the off season and what training they do in preparation for the season, esp during spring training. Routines? Diet? Aerobic exercises? Personal trainers?

Is the hate for Dipoto here based on the way he ran for the hills from the Angels during the season? Or is it more based on poor performance as a GM? I can understand the grand dislike for Dipoto, but on the other hand, I was impressed that he took the time to attend that Angels Win spring training jump-off and seemed genuinely happy to be there. I thought that was cool and maybe would save him from some of the comments I've seen here.

Seeing football players and football field markers makes me want to hurl. Will never ever ever ever be a fan of the Rams for reasons portrayed in these flashback inducing pics.

Worst news of the day. Pretty much sealing the fate of Escobar. Besides being a pretty good Miami Vice bad guy stand-in, he was a joy to watch in everything he did. And he has fashions. I now have to revert to Jose Mota as Miami Vice bad guy stand-in, esp. if he still has his OG bright red covertible Mercedes.

HItler was a more gentle lover.

"Hey Howard, there's your chinaman."

Olive Tree down the road from there is really good. I liked the previous shanty-town like location better but the food mostly remains the same.

The look on Lance Parrish's face, like, "WTF am I doing in ANaheim?"

The title of this thread should read, "...likely to be severe because the Braves are not the Yankees or Red Sox."

Wopphil: I hope your back/neck issues are better. I had pretty much the same thing. If you haven't done so already, I highly highly recommend going to a sports oriented physical therapist. Mine saved my sanity. The poster ABC was spot on. All of what he wrote will help you tremendously, but I would def. see a professional to make sure you're doing the right rehab exercises. It's a process which will take weeks/months, but it will work. Then it's maintenance and I promise you will be back to mostly normal and work out etc. I would suggest this: Try lying on the floor with a tennis ball or a something round/hard. Place under the area you think hurts most. Gently move your body over that area and see what spots are most painful. Then, go to youtube and look up rehabilitation exercises for that area. That will help you narrow it down. But ultimately, make an appointment with a physical therapist. The money is well well worth it.

I'm in Las Vegas. I don't drink. I'm staying at my friend's house. I can hear him snoring upstairs. I need something to do: Enter the Weekend Shenanigans, mid-stream, as it's only Saturday morning. Too lazy to proof this... I drove out to Vegas Thursday night to avoid Friday traffic. I forgot that the 91 freeway has no sympathy and will suffer traffic any day/night. But once I got through that it was clean, pacing at about 82 mph on the drive out. I pulled over in Barstow to get a cappuccino at the drive-thru Starbucks. "Sorry...We're closed." Seemed kinda early but I know that meth waits for no one so they were probably ready to get out of there. A wasted 10 minutes from my drive. I like driving to/fro Vegas at night. Solitary time which is good for the mind. It was my first time using my Apple music account. Of course, no Vegas solo journey is complete without playing Bryan Ferry's "Windswept," which I did. I also studied the use of keyboard in JoBoxer's "Just Got Lucky." Whoever produced that thought of everything. A masterpiece. I also played a new semi-favorite: The Rolling Stones' "Heaven" from Tattoo You. I'm not a big Stones guy, but I do like the casual guitar riff in this one and it's a good midnight driver. I pulled into Vegas about 1am, meeting my out of shape/fat friends at Hennessey's Tavern at the end of Fremont Street. These are friends from college. I would say they've really let themselves go, but they frankly never had it together. Even though they were sitting in a giant booth, it still looked like a pack of steroided sardines. They like staying in Downtown Vegas because it's not pretentious and you can point at the women who don't mind any kind of attention. And there are some real characters up and down Fremont St. Usually, they prefer the Plaza since Michael Mann's television series "Crime Story" (starring the GREAT Dennis Farina and, in part, Andrew Dice Clay) shot some of the Vegas episodes there. But it was sold out so they ended up at El Cortez. Free parking! Class has its privileges. I was the sober guy so I eventually drove home my friend, whom we call "W" because he has an Arab name beginning with "W" and back in the Iraq war, we thought naming the Arab "W" in part as tribute to W would be hilarious. I couldn't sleep. Going to bed at 4am only makes you not sleep. I was out of bed about 8:30, and drove to Del Taco to get some breakfast items. I like to scrape the "egg" out of the breakfast burritos and eat semi-tortilla free. I want to fit comfortably into the booths at Hennessy's. Eventually, the troops rallied and the downtowners met me and W at the M for it's fabulous buffet. However, on Fridays, they jack up the price because they offer prime ribs of beef. At 2:30 they really hike it up because that's when the seafood buffet opens and all manner of chinamen crush the crab, etc. It's real America: fat, older people slopping spaghetti, pork chops, and thai curry on a single plate; younger fat people of all colors racing for the next round; families and friends huddling at their tables comparing the buffet's many treasure ("The potato salad is insane. Look to left of the mashed potatoes!"). At more than one table you see the couple who's given up. The dude is just cramming the food down, stains on his shirt. He don't care no more and they sit silently. The wife sips her chardonnay (included) while pretending to people watch. She's typically on the thinner side, gets her hair done as a splurge before the trip. Like a cylon, her eyes go back to center to look ever so briefly at hubby scooping up another fork of slop. A brief hope of conversation. They stay silent. It's all over but the dessert (included). I have to admit, I took that buffet down. I was going to make that $26.95 pay. I ate too much. I felt gross. Still do. Later, I went with one friend to the outlet mall. He likes to go to buy, what else, but extra large sweaters. He lives in Utah and wears layers in the house in the winter time which is on approach. I hunch he spills food and god knows what else on his sweaters, but I am happy he has pride enough left to get annual replacements. I drove us back downtown to meet up with another dude, who is a friend of sweater guy. Flew in from Utah. W, and my other friend whom we call "Jive Ass" because he walks like a black man and is originally from Trinidad, had gone to retrieve him after the buffet/diarhea. We eventually met up at the Cortez where I hung out in my friend's room, watching the end of Jaws 4...The Revenge. Something like that. With Academy Award winner Michael Caine, who I think was sober in at least one scene. We were on the 14th floor ("Did you know we're not on the 14th floor? We're on the 13th floor," said my friend). I looked out the window and down below, in huge block letters someone who was clearly expert at their job painted "DURAN DURAN." I took many pictures. It looked so out of place. I told my friends I had to shower. But really I just wanted some alone time. So I drove back in traffic to W's house, took a shower and watched some of the Angels game on my phone. I also did some online battling (total waste of time...I'm better than this) about Obama, the 4th Amendment, Due Process, and Title IX). I was eventually summoned by my friends who wanted to go to a sort of nerdy/Star Wars themed bar near downtown called the Millenium Fandom. I drove and parked for free at El Cortez. I thought the bar was close and I needed a post Meaning of Life-food scene walk. And boy, did I walk. And walk. My phone gave me the wrong directions. I walked past pimps, hookers, and probably some druggies, but really, is it worth differentiating at that point? Very reminiscent of the Miami Vice episode "Florence Italy" starring race car driver Danny Sullivan. I took off my watch and put it in my pocket. Hilarious. "Yeah, that'll throw 'em off my trial." I was lost. I saw a little naive looking Japanese dude walking in my direction. I scared him, but not on purpose. "Are you walking to downtown?" I asked. He was perplexed. I could see what I'd done to him. His face said, "Oh shit. They told me about this kind of thing here. Yankee come off real friendly. Then rape you and have their way with your yen." But he was surprisingly receptive. I told him he should consider getting a taxi, or for certain, put away his phone and hide his wallet. He was most appreciative. I would like to think he even gave me a little bow. Respect. My fingers hurt from typing too much/too fast. Will try to conclude later. [The newbies will wonder what the F this Weekend Shenanigans thing is all about. If any of the Oldbies want to explain, be my guest.]

This is terrible news. Although, the upside is that now Escobar will have more time to shop for fashions.

I want Yunel back. I miss his antics. He has lots of room near third base to play and things. He needs to get healthy and wear his MIami Vice duds to the ballpark. He could play a drug dealer (high-end) to great affect if he doesn't fully heal. Hurry back, 00.

Red: If the Angels get past the Wild Card, I am going to a playoff game with you. That's all there is to it.

If only MLB and the red sux fans would hype him a bit more. They desperately need a contender to first-half Aaron Judge.

Love that place. I remember my dad taking me and my brothers there when we were young kids. He talked up the place and, having seen Lefty play, told us how great a player he was. We didn't know who he was and thought, "whatever," but all the clippings and other evidence in the joint told otherwise. Perhaps the saddest part of the restaurant's closing is that one of the few remaining links to the glory days of the Pacific Coast League legend will be gone. The PCL which the Angels had a huge role in should have a more notable role in California history.

I have been informed I qualify for a subsidy. With this subsidy, I will pay $10 less than what I was paying before the ACA took away the insurance I liked but couldn't keep. It has taken me years to get to this point. My previous two years of ACA insurance were terrible...misdiagnosis...delayed diagnosis...waiting months at a time for authorizations to go to specialists who were bottom of the barrel and could not have cared less. (One doctor literally shrugged looking at me and said, "You're a mystery man." Said he'd send a report to my dermatologist. I asked him what it would say since he didn't have a conclusion. The doctor shrugged again, "I'll tell them you're a mystery man.") Unfortunately, I will be paying quite a bit more out of pocket for my new insurance, which is an HMO (I had PPO when I was able to pick the insurance I liked but was lied to about being able to keep). My prescriptions will cost alot more. X-rays: more. MRI: more. My deductible is quite a bit higher too. But, I will be paying approximately $120 less a year than my pre-ACA insurance. Despite all this, I think there are some great things with the ACA and though it requires a major overhaul, it can be repaired. The key will be to keep it non-partisan. So, it won't get fixed. Too many egos on either side on the line here.

I had ALdo Nova's Life is Just a Fantasy on my playlist for a long time. It's a great tune. The guitar shreds. A canadian person, Nova would go on to write songs for Celine Dion.

One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster.

THank you, Indians, for sweeping the Ped Sox and showing attention prostitute Ortiz the door.

I don't think we're too far away from Escobar recording and releasing his own music. I'd like to hear that. I can also see him being a DJ. "DJ Seriosos," perhaps. I wonder if he likes pancakes. I am also curious if his car has rims.

Judas H. Priest. Comparing any season with an Angels season of the mid-'70s is a nightmare scenario. I remember going to those games with my pops. Every other word from him, while smoking his Marlboroughs, was "g'dammit." Pretty much my reaction this season too. Even smoked a couple Marlboroughs.

Is it me or is Escobar kind of a strange dude? When the hell did he change his uni number to "0." Not that I'm protesting since Brian Downing's number shoulda been retired. He's a bit of a fancy boy too. Seems to really appreciate the fashion. I could totally see him being a character on Miami Vice. Can't you? Any of you hot shots out there know where Escobar hangs out, lemme know. I want to hang with him. So long as it's not some sort of tranny massage parlour.

Hello there it's been a while. Not much, how 'bout you? Such a great song. Who is that? England Dan and John Ford Colley? Dorkiest looking '70s dudes ever, but dang that's a good one. Now, where was I? Saw the Date Chick Friday night. We've settled into a not uncomfortable routine wherein I go to the gym in the evening and Date Chick and I meet up around 7:30 or so to hang out and listen to some tunes. I'm constantly on the prowl for fresh music that also has some soul. Lately, I've been listening to some dude (or DJ or singer or I don't know what) by the name of Zhu. I'd say it out loud but don't want to be accused of being an anti-semite. Such is the temperature in the nation in these days. Micro-aggressions abound. I like Zhu's song "Paradise Awaits." Good rhythm and overall tone. Expertly produced. Not all heavy on the treble like so much of today's music. If you have any like suggestions, hit me up here. We went out to our easy lil' I-talian place run by a family from Montenegro (another micro-aggression; raise your fist and take a knee if you please). I always get a nice salad with no carbs. I would prefer to face plant the lasagna but I don't want to face plant the treadmill the following Monday. Saturday was busy around the house. Date Chick runs stairs (I don't) so I have plenty of time to clean up the house and so on. I've had my two nieces from Spain stay with me a couple nights here and there and was relieved they didn't want to stay the previous night. As Spaniards, they think nothing of stumbling in at 3am waking up their generous tio. One of them was headed back to Spain Sunday so I told them they had to stay down at my mum's house so they could see her the next day. My plan worked beautifully and I had the house reserved for myself the rest of the weekend. I did some laundry and worked on a little shelf I'm building for my audio/video equipment. I got a fancy new router that, with the antennas extended, looks like a crown in Game of Thrones. Between the receiver, the blu ray player and the router, there's enough heat to bake Trump's face - or make Hillary faint - so I thought it best to create some space to vent. To make it blend in, I'm giving the wood a nice patina of matte black, but it may take two coats. We'll see about that. Saturday night was very relaxing. Me and Date Chick dove into Netlfix's "Stranger Things." We only watched the pilot epsiode, and it seems engaging enough. I can tell right away that it gets better and better by about the third episode onward. Alot of story and character thrown at the viewer at once but nothing we can't handle. After, we were hungry (I'm always hungry...I'm at war with myself). Date Chick is prepping for the Long Beach marathon and was planning to run 23 miles the next day. I was not. So she wanted something "hearty." We got salads. Sunday, after the 23 mile run, Date Chick said she felt out of it as was to be expected. She's run close to 30 marathons so she's somewhat used to the post-run martian feeling. That afternoon we went to a very small engagement party for the Date Chick's older brother. He's a good part of the reason I know Date Chick in the first place. He's been friends with my two oldest brothers since Date Chick and I were kids. And here we are today. Back to the engagement party. It was a very small affair. Many cheeses and a few crackers. One thing I enjoyed is some sort of new trend involving honeycomb. You drizzle it on a cracker with, preferably, brie cheese. It was tasty. I would have that again. I'm watching an episode of Miami Vice right now called "Whatever Works" starring Earha Kitt. There's a cameo by the Power Station (Michael des Barres version). And at present, Tubbs is driving his Cowboy Cadillac at night while the Blaster's "Dark Night" plays. I've undervalued this episode. It's got some good scenes in it. Sunday night is my semi-cheat night. I get a frozen yogurt, preferably something minty. With oreo cookie pieces and mini-M&Ms. It's so great. I go to America's Cup which really hasn't changed much over the years. It could be in an episode of Miami Vice. Yogurtland is trendy and hip and has the lime green, but African-America's Cup has soul. And as a fan of sailing, I've always appreciated the double entendre of the name. Did you know there's a man who is from Newport named Bill Ficker who once won the America's Cup? He doubles as an architect, though he's retired now. This is the kind of information you need to know. That's all my fingers have right now.

1. That sucks. 2. Intentional or not, Angels should have drilled an Oriole or two in the back considering Cron was hit twice. I hate that the Angels don't do this. 3. The Rams should've stayed in St. Louis as punishment for f'ing up the original Big A. They jacked up the playing field and made one of the best stadiums one of the worst. 4. NFL sucks compared to even the worst of baseball, much of what we get to see now.