Big Blue Huddle

a few new ones

PLayboy is just a name now. I agree, print mags are basically dead. Even this so-called cover is just for an online thing don't think it will ever will make it to the newsstand.

Quote from: Ed Vette on October 06, 2021, 10:50:48 AM
That ball also moved and a curve, Slider and screwball were all possible with this ball. I struck out many a batter with this ball. When we didn't have one or it broke when the bat hit it in the right spot (groan), a tennis ball replacement was like an old jalopy.

You got that right. It was firm but not hard so you could dig a finger, a knuckle, into it and make it do some amazing things.

Quote from: jimv on October 05, 2021, 09:30:40 PM
Lenny, was posting this really necessary?

If I didn't think so, I wouldn't have posted it.

Something people might be curious about.

What's wrong with it?

See the Newest "Playboy" Cover Model, Who Just Made History

https://bestlifeonline.com/news-bretman-rock-playboy/

Bretman Rock has just made history as the first openly gay male star on the cover of Playboy. In the photos posted on the company's website, Rock sports the classic bunny ears and a corset, like many Playboy stars have worn before him. (Playboy, which was founded in 1953, transitioned to be exclusively digital last year, so Rock's cover

Some of US older folks will relate to this, A LOT. This WAS my life during the late '50s and early '60s. I don't think I ever walked out of my house without my Spaldeen. If you know of this pink phenomenon, then you know exactly what this means.

The Spaldeen:


This story is about a ball, the most wonderful ball ever invented.  It's better than a baseball, basketball or football.  It's better than any ball you can name.  It was gone for 20 years, but it is back now.

It is called a Spaldeen, which might not mean anything to you, unless you grew up on the East Coast, preferably New York City before 1979.  I grew up in Brooklyn in the 1950s and 1960s, which means my childhood memories are filled with Spaldeens.

Starting in the 1920s, the Spalding Co. manufactured tennis balls at its home base in Chicopee, Mass.  But overruns would occur, so there wasn't enough of the fuzzy stuff for the outside of the tennis balls. Some anonymous genius -- and I use that word "genius" with reverence -- got the idea to market the bright pink, unused rubber cores as the "Spalding High-Bounce Ball."

Because New York City people don't talk so good, they pronounced Spalding as "Spaldeen" -- as in, "Hey, Joey, you wanna play?  I got a Spaldeen."  Spalding would box the Spaldeens and ship them down to New York City, where kids would buy them for a quarter each.  And, my God, when you bought a brand new Spaldeen, the aroma alone would cause ecstasy; it was the smell of Bazooka bubble gum and summer and childhood and joy and hope.

Then you would go out and play.  All those legendary New York City street games began and ended with Spaldeens.  I'm talking about games you've heard about but might never have played -- stickball, punchball, stoopball, hit the penny and a million others.

When it came to inventing games with a Spaldeen, the only limit was your imagination.  We didn't have baseball fields or any other kinds of fields.  We played ball on playgrounds -- really slabs of concrete surrounded by cyclone fences -- or we played in the street, using sewer covers as bases.

The virtue of a Spaldeen, besides that you could whack it a mile, was that it didn't break things. You hit Mrs. Smith's Olds 88 with a Spaldeen, no big deal.  No broken glass.  No broken mirror.  No broken nothin'.  Of course, Mrs. Smith would come running down her steps, screaming, "I'm gonna tell your mutha."  I apologize, Mrs. Smith, wherever you are.

I mostly played in the playground of P.S. 156.  And every kid would come to the playground with a Spaldeen in his back pocket.  If someone had a stick, we'd play stickball.  The stick was an old broom handle or a dowel from the closet.  We'd draw a box on the wall and pitch to it, and if the batter hit it over the fence, it was a homer.  We'd play handball with the Spaldeen, and sometimes we'd go to a friend's house for stoopball.  A kid would throw the ball at the steps in front of someone's house, and as the ball sailed back, you'd try to catch it on a fly.  If it bounced once, it was a single, twice a double, and so on.

But the king of Spaldeen games all over New York City was punchball.  You'd toss the ball over your head.  You'd swing down overhand as if you were serving a tennis ball.  And then you'd punch it with your closed fist.  Guys could hit it 200 feet, long fly balls that seemed to never come down.  The puncher would be running around the bases -- painted squares on the playground's grimy concrete -- while the outfielders ran like mad after the Spaldeen.

THOSE WERE THE DAYS MY FRIEND -- WE THOUGHT THEY'D NEVER END !!!!!

Quote from: Sem on October 02, 2021, 02:22:52 PM
Generally don't watch much TV during the summer months. However we did watch the first few episodes of The Kominsky Method (Netflix), while visiting some friends recently. My wife and I both enjoyed it, so we'll likely pick it back up once the days get shorter.

Steve

Different strokes for different folks. We also watched a few episodes a while back, intrigued by the two great stars in the lead. Unfortunately, we just never got into it, and to be honest, left very disappointed. AND, no desire to retry it.

Glad you enjoy it though. Got great reviews, just not for us.

Looks interesting, unfortunately we do not have Hulu.

Quote from: bamagiantfan on October 01, 2021, 10:16:28 PM
I don't need to imagine Lenn. My county in Alabama is about to pass 32% of the population fully vaccinated.

Maybe she WAs aiming at what she wanted to hit.

Modern-day Laraine Bobbitt

A few of others

'Greenland'

A disaster type of movie about a comet (or something like that) that is about to hit Earth and cause an event so bad that it is forecast to basically wipe out the entire planet. They have selected people among many categories, that will go to this bunker in Greenland, hoping to survive this event and be able to start civilization all over again. Our hero and his family were selected but, of course, there are so many obstacles in the way that makes for the rest of the movie. Some are silly and some, well watch and find out. It was an OK watch, only for the premiss that something like this could possibly happen and what would civilization be like if and when it did. It is watchable if you are into these disaster-type movies.

"Being Flynn"    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455323/ 

I saw Robert DinIro's name in this movie so I figured it should be halfway decent. I was wrong. I really don't know how or why I watched this movie to the end, but I did. It wasn't pleasant, DiNiro plays a thoroughly ugly and angry man, who is an insult to everyone. He calls his son whom he hasn't seen or contacted in 18 years because he is out on the street and has nowhere to go. It tries to explore the new relationship between DiNiro and his son who happens to work in the homeless shelter DiNiro is now in. Why this movie was made is head-scratching, why DiNiro takes these ridiculous parts is also head-scratching. 

Myself, just an uncomfortable movie, I would give it 1 star, just not my thing.


"Battle of the Sexes"      https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4622512/

This is a sort of true story of the tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs--it's build-up, the match itself, and the stories of the participants. etc etc. I liked this movie a lot, maybe because of the people who played Billie Jean and Bobby. If you are any sort of sports fan you remember the match they had and even though we know the outcome, it was a very enjoyable watch.

"Five Year Engagement"       https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1195478/

So all the other movies were 'me' movies that I watched ny myself as my darling wife didn't have an interest. So we had to find a movie that she would like and she loves romantic comedies so this movie was next up.
Overall, a silly story of a sous chef who is engaged to this young lady who gets a chance to pursue her dream at a college in Michigan (they are now in San Francisco). Of course, he gives up his job and goes with her, postponing their wedding. The time frame in Michigan gets extended and the movie follows their relationship during this time. Overall, just typical Hollywood formula, Boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, boy and girl split up and boy and girl get back together and live happily ever after. Now you don't have to see the movie. But the two main stars and good supporting stars make this an enjoyable watch.  (See Hallmark movies). OK, I enjoyed it also. 

" In The Heart Of The Sea "     https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1390411/

A terrific movie by Ron Howard

See my review in the What are we watching thread.

I don't know whether to put this in the movie thread, but last week, as an Optimum subscriber they gave us free HBO and Cinemax for the weekend. I DVRed several movies, most of them a bit older and I have watched quite a few.
Most are just that, average movies, that really I couldn't care one way or another about, but there was one that I really enjoyed.

'In The Heart of The Sea' with Chris Hemsworth really stood out.        https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1390411/

This is the synopsis

n the winter of 1820, the New England whaling ship Essex was assaulted by something no one could believe: a whale of mammoth size and will, and an almost human sense of vengeance. The real-life maritime disaster would inspire Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. But that told only half the story. "In the Heart of the Sea" reveals the encounter's harrowing aftermath, as the ship's surviving crew is pushed to their limits and forced to do the unthinkable to stay alive. Braving storms, starvation, panic and despair, the men will call into question their deepest beliefs, from the value of their lives to the morality of their trade, as their captain searches for direction on the open sea and his first mate still seeks to bring the great whale down.

It is the true story that basically inspired Herman Melville's Moby Dick

It is directed by Ron Howard and again, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and would highly recommend it to one l. It is tense, but can be viewed by the entire family just younger people might not understand what is happening especially the parts on how they had to stay alive.

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on September 29, 2021, 08:21:25 PM
No, I would not. I consider first degree murder very different from attempted murder though.

I will agree with you 99% of the time. Attempted murder is nothing like actual murder and the punishment shouldn't be the same. But, that 1% is when you try to assassinate a President. There, to me, it makes no difference if the attempt is successful.