Five for Friday

No, it's not the Friday 5. For the longest time I didn't understand what a blog meme was, so hopping on board one didn't interest me. (Please don't ask me to explain it beyond what the "Best Meme" category of the 2004 Bloggies says about it: A replicating idea that spread about weblogs. Just go to the Friday 5 yourself -- on a Friday when there is one -- and you'll get the idea.) Now that I do know, I haven't found one that hasn't been done to death, so I'm still not interested. Oh, and I usually have enough to say on my own that replicating someone else's idea seems superfluous. :-)

Instead, these are just five things that I want to touch on today:

1. This weekend is the first-ever Bahrain Grand Prix in Formula One. Great idea, isn't it? Put a racetrack for the ultimate in high-performance vehicles in the middle of a desert with sand blowing about. But if Ferrari isn't worried about it, then neither am I. I object to having a race there at all because of the restrictions put on the race due to the strict Muslim culture, but money talks, baby. Find yourself a TV with Speed Channel and tune in!

2. Thanks to frogblog for pointing me in the direction of a blog that is a nifty combination of both the sweetest subject matter and some fine writing that I know I'm going to so enjoy. Take a hop on over to Chookooloonks and meet beautiful, young Alexis, whose world I look forward to peeking in on frequently.

3. Darn! I've got to motilate or Ms. April will have my head when I'm late AGAIN to meet her for the Sharks game. (Not really, that turtle cookie is one very understanding chick. :-) It's almost the playoffs and her beloved team has captured their second division title...so of course they'll go and lose tonight! But it'll be fun anyway once I get myself into the trance I need to achieve in order to ignore the blowhard in the next set of seats over. Go Sharks! I'll have to round out the post with the last two items when I get home post-game.

4. [Picking up so seamlessly that if you blinked you wouldn't even notice...] Opening day for baseball is almost upon us. Yay! I realize there is pre-season and exhibition stuff is going on already, but I simply have no interest in that. Once the first real first pitch flies, though, I'm there. Then (sorry, April) it's "Sharks who?" Life is once more "Go Giants, baby!" I am fortunate to live close enough to their ballpark to go with some regularity each season. It's an absolutely beautiful ballpark that makes their former home look like the crumbling wreck it really is. In the time I've lived here in the Bay Area, that locale has undergone, apparently, four name changes: Candlestick Park, 3com Park (at Candlestick Point), San Francisco County Stadium, and the current and former Candlestick Park. This last change was news to me because I'd heard that they weren't going to go back to that name. But if the SF Recreation and Parks department says it's Candlestick Park, then it's Candlestick Park! And, honestly, I'm thrilled because I'm tired of having a certain argument with certain people in my life -- and you know who you are -- about whether or not "They" can just up and change the name of a ballpark when They want to. I maintain that, like it or not, They own the damn building and can do whatever They damn well please with the name. My verbal adversaries maintain that They can't because the name is the name. Period. Now, sadly, I believe I'm in for still many more years of this same argument; same players, different names. The home of the Giants, the lovely and successful Pacific Bell Park, has undergone a similar corporate-driven name change and is Pacific Bell Park no more. It is now SBC Park. And the fans are just as peeved as they were in the 3com Park days. I say: GET OVER IT. If you were so passionate about not having "meaningless" corporate names over the gates of today's facilities, you should have found a way to pony up the money so that the name didn't need to be sold. Remember the propositions and bonds you defeated that would have funded these facilities over the years? Money builds ballparks, not fan sentiment. If the fans had become a part of the process, maybe they could have arranged to have the names protected as terms of the funding. But that's not the reality, so quit whining and realize that the name is what it is now. If you want something to bitch about, work on doing something about the outrageous price of the concessions at ballparks. Money talks there, too, and when it comes to buying a $6 hot dog, the fans do have the power.

5. Now that I'm all worked up over that particular topic, it's the perfect time to introduce Hope Springs A Leak. The initial post explains it pretty well, so take a gander when you need to vent your spleen.

Have a great weekend!