KRAC Blog

Back when I had a base of operations in NYC I ran the New York Road Runners Race to Home Plate a couple of times. It was a hoot-- the course takes you from the parking lot outside of Shea out past the National Tennis Center, through Flushing Meadows Park, atound the Unisphere and then back into the stadium, through the gates at the back of centerfield, along the warning track on the third base side, finishing at home plate. Mr. Met was there to give you a high five. You walk out past the home team dugout and the Met's bullpen. Too bad the Mets aren't at home-- it used to be that you got a ticket to that evening's game, but this year they are offering ten buck tix for a game August 6th. (The Yanks are at home against the Angels, though-- 1:30 start.)

I'm still nursing this thing with my foot, but I felt pretty good today, and thought I'd have a go at five. Fifteen minutes into it four seemed more realistic, and three and a half is what I ended up with-- it's hot out there.

Chris Knab advises that he and the other members of the AAMCB have been drafted to be Willie Nile's back-up band for Nile's August 4 appearance at Thursday At The Square, when he will open for Ian Hunter. Bass player John Honan is married to one of Nile's cousins, as is Eric Apen, another former member (along with Chris and Honan) of The Real Wigs (only Jim will know that name). The guys auditioned for and jammed with Nile Sunday while he was in town, and Nile was impressed enough to sign them up. Mark your calendars!

Today's Keith Richards image is from Allan Tannenbaum's New York Nightlife in the '70's gallery. NSFW. (Via Kottke.) Gotta love the pompadour.
 

Jim is fond of saying that running the Ridge tells you how far you have to go. By that measure, I have a ways, but then, I always do. After a Spring spent laying down the distance runs, I am here to testify that miles are one thing, and hills are another thing all together. Even so, this morning was just hard work, not a near death experience. As I approached the phone booth (thinking "No more hills. Please. No. More. Hills.") I thought about the 1:28 and change that stands as my present Boilermaker P.R.-- and I think, conditions permitting, that I can make an assault on that number.

Interesting post at Sports Economist on the "Yankee Premium". "Does the gap between Yankee salaries and the rest of the league represent primarily a productivity difference or is there also a sizable premium above market being paid to Yankee players?

To explore this question, I performed a rough experiment to determine the payroll at which I could put together a team matching the productivity of Yankee players. I matched Yankee players with other MLB players by position."

The results are interesting-- of course, the results are skewed somewhat because so many Yankee players are under-performing, but even so, "Players filling similar roles with better numbers on other teams make anywhere from the league minimum up to around $2 million per season. In total, the Yankees are paying around $165 million for players whose mirror images on other teams are making under $80 million. "

I parked by the intake towers, at the foot of the Robert Moses, and took off down the trail, along the river. You really don't notice the Hooker plant, and focus instead on how the river starts picking up speed. It's buggy over that stretch-- I ended up looking like the grill of a car after a long road trip, and I learned pretty quick to keep my mouth closed.

After the Falls is when it gets really cool: there is a dedicated parkway for bikes and pedestrians, three lanes of smooth riding along the gorge all the way to the Power Vista. The Rainbow Bridge, and Fort Niagara beckoned, but I didn't want to over commit-- it was hot, and there is a lot of difference between 20 miles and 30 miles. Riding back I encountered a deer, who ran alongside me for about a hundred yards-- as close to me as that. If I'd had a brick, I'd be eating venison. I rode down past where I was parked, to the bridge, where there were kids swimming, and jumping off the lower parts of the superstructure. It looked inviting, and it sounded the way you remember summer sounding. I went home and had a beer instead.

I'm composing arguments in favor of a lighter bike, and one good argument is that a lighter bike would be a lot easier to take on and off the rack. Oooof is putting it mildly. In a funny way, I owe it all to Hal Higdon-- becoming serious about cross training has opened up a whole new thing for me.

Finally.

I didn't doubt that Afleet Alex would win the Belmont. But he was going to go off at such a short price that a win ticket would be nothing more than a get-your-$2-back coupon. So I boxed him in an exacta with a few long shots: Andromeda's Hero, Reverberate and Indy Storm, just to see if I could make some money (note the two Zito-trained entries). I caught the race on the car radio after it started, and when Afleet Alex blew away the field at the top of the stretch it was just a question of which horse snuck into second place. The exacta paid $44.00 ($41.20 at OTB), so I emerged from the Triple Crown with a shred of my handicapper's dignity intact, but still down for the year. Looks like I'll have to make up the deficit at Saratoga.

Also, Saturday afternoon we met my inlaws for lunch at the Village Grille on Main Street in Williamsville. When I walked in, my bro-in-law pointed to a guy sitting at the next table and asked if I knew who he was. I didn't recognized him in his baseball cap, but it was Joe Delamaleure (sp?). I shook his hand and said it was a true honor to meet him. He was very friendly and talked to us for quite a while, offering opinions which included: "The Bills should never have gotten rid of Flutie"; "Bledsoe is still a good quarterback and suffered in Buffalo only because they took away his weapons and the line was bad"; "Bledsoe can still play and will play well for Dallas" (Steve Grogan told him this); and "Mike Williams is too fat and slow." I don't know how old Joe D. is, but he looks like he's about 40 and could still play.

Turns out he was doing his laundry at the laundromat across the street and was taking a lunch break.

Something you gotta respect about Jim is how he is always surrounded
by good looking women 

Something I have always respected about Our Captain is how he always gets a clear shot at the camera. 

Hey kids, what time is it? 

Hey, say what you will, I look thinner in this one than I have in a while. 

The way I see it there are two ways to make money on the Belmont this year-- apart from correctly guessing a longshot that is. Plan A is to suss out the likely Show horse and box it in a trifecta with Afleet Alex and Giacamo. I don't know what Plan B is: I suppose one could buy trifecta tickets with the two likely winners and the rest of the field, but that's a Pete Rose sort of move in my book-- if gambling is going to be fun, it should convince you that you are lucky, or smart, or both. I'm taking Chekhov as my third horse. We'll see how smart and lucky I can be.

When David Kane was fronting The Celibates they performed a song called "The Girl With The Headphones. When my brother was at the U of M he hung around with a band called Map of the World, who did a song called "Monkey's Paw". Both of these were great power pop tunes with terrific hooks, and I have copies of both-- on mix tapes from that era. Ain't got the vinyl, and as for digital-- well, if these songs exist in digital form somewhere, it'd take a bigger obsessive than I am to ferit them out.

That's one of the beauties of the mix tape, actually. I agree with Brandon Stosuy: the digital playlist is a different creature, (as is the mix CD). When I read about the PlusDeck 2 yesterday I knew right away that this is something I require in my life. It turns taped music into digital files. I don't care that it is surely a complicated instalation job. I don't care that there is something pathetic about going out and buying a computer peripheral to put my old mix tapes on my iPod. We're not talking about old Duran Duran albums here-- this is great stuff.

Belmont this weekend, and although it is usually my favorite, I haven't got a very clear picture right now. Afleet Alex 6-5, Giacomo 4-1-- obviously I have to look somewhere else for a creative stake in this race. Andromeda's Hero? The Times notes: "This colt has rested since his eighth place finish in the Derby". I know how you feel, horsie. A.P. Arrow is the son of A.P. Indy, who made me some money back in the day. Chekhov has Gary Stevens up, and at 12-1 might be an interesting bet.

Following up on Dave's Men's Masters Relay post, look at the drop off: the third place team, Checkers Men Of Steel ran 2:57:03-- 6:45 pace. The fourth place team, Kenmore Krew came in at 3:32:15-- 8:06 pace. They must have looked at least year's results and figured they were a lock, little suspecting that we'd move up and go the longer distance. (Oh, and the fifth place team, Lancaster Striders "B" turned in a 3:42:57-- 8:30 pace.)

Nike sponsors an event called "One Hit Wonder"-- basically a race series in several different cities with a concert at the end, and live music along the course. The NYC race is a five miler in Central Park on July 20. Joan Jett (who was a Howard Dean delegate!), The Donnas, and Fountains of Wayne. It's a Wednesday. It's a long way to go to see Fountains of Wayne (and Joan Jett), and it is a long way to go for a five mile race. Is it too far for both together though? Maybe I can set up a pretrial or something for the 21st.