Outta Shape!

I am going with a group to Dominica in about three months. There will be a lot of walking and hill climbing on that trip. And I am out of shape. I need to lose a little--okay--a lot of weight. But more than that I need to get my legs and feet in shape. I ought to be out walking right now instead of blogging! But at least my fingers are in shape!

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The Astros L Train

Minute Maid Park has train that runs atop the wall behind the stands in Left field. It maybe time to give the train a new name. If Carlos Lee, Lance Berkman, Jason Lane, Mark Loretta, and Mike Lamb all deliver as we hope, I will gladly get on the L train and ride it to the playoffs.

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Chris Sampson Update

I have been pulling for Chris Sampson all Spring. He had a bad outing last week and I was concerned it may have cost him a spot on the big league roster. But yesterday he had five innings, giving up one run on three hits against the Indians. It looks like he will make the team. Will he be the fifth starter or in the bull pen?

Phil Garner has some tough decisions to make, and this is one of them.

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Roy O. and The Rest

Spring Training has not answered many of my most pressing concerns about the 2007 Astros. I think they will hit enough to score many more runs than they did last year. I know that if Roy Oswalt is healthy, he will win 18-22 games. But after that it is not looking too solid in the starting rotation. And it is no longer early in Spring Training!

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So Much For My Final Four Predictions

I had University of Texas beating Texas A&M in the Final Four, but losing to Florida in the finals. Texas went out meekly to Southern Cal in the second round, and A&M stumbled out in the round of 16 to Memphis. Acie Law will remember a missed lay up in the final few seconds for a long time.

Florida is still alive, but my bracket is not looking too good right now!

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Ulzana's Raid--Not a Chick Flick!

Sometimes I stay up late watching an old favortie western movie, Ulzana's Raid. It stars Burt Lancaster and only has a couple of other recognizable character actors, Richard Jaekel and Bruce Davison. The rest of the cast is virtually unknown, but perectly cast. This movie is very violent, and not just suggestive of violence, it is depicted very vividly. For the violence it is rated R, but I do not find it gratuitous violence, it truly is a part of the story.

The movie came out in 1972, and I must have seen it at least 15 times. But until today I have never done anything except enjoy it as an entertaining story of the Old West. I generally do not try to dissect a movie. If a movie is a blatant message movie, it quickly falls out of favor with me, such as Dances With Wolves.


But in thinking about Ulzana's Raid as a blog topic, it occured to me that it has a message that was prevalent in the height of the Viet Nam War years, in which it was made. Man's inhumanity to man is exposed. There is the stereotypical savagery of the raiding Apaches, but there are glimpses into the nobility of simple culture. The movie also points out how easily the "civilized" turn to barbarity.


I hope that I will continue to be able to enjoy Ulzana's raid as only a good story, I hate to wake up on a Saturday morning analyzing art!

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The Greatest Child in the World

I have written a few blogs regarding becoming a grandparent and one or two about building a family history and a sense of belonging by telling stories. Today I want to tell one of my favorites.

The evening our daughter called to announce that she was on the way to the hospital to deliver her first baby, I took my wife to the airport. She would fly to Amarillo from Houston, so she could be there for the delivery. I had bought her the ticket for her Christmas present, the announcement came on January 13.

After dropping her off, I proceeded to drive the 13 hours to the hospital to greet my new grand baby. When they put him in my arms, I was overwhelmed with the feeling that everything will be all right, I don't have to be worried, this one will carry on the family traditions and do important things in the world.

After a bit my son-in-law and I went to breakfast and then to their home so I could get a nap. Before I went to sleep, Mike came in and gave me a greeting card that he had been saving for this moment.

On the front it read "Isn't it amazing that the man who was unworthy of your daughter... When you opened it up, you read "is now the father of the GREATEST CHILD IN THE WORLD!"

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I Love to Play Cut Throat!

I just got back from a gathering at which several of us finished the meeting by playing one of my favorite card games. We call it Cut Throat. Here is a description of the game.

Cut Throat is a fun card game that can be played in a relatively short time, and can be addictive! It is an offshoot of spades, so if you know about trumps, you will have no trouble picking up Cut Throat.

To begin, deal seven cards to each player (4 or more players is the most fun, and you can play with up to seven). When each hand has been dealt, the dealer turns up the next card on the deck to determine trump for that hand. So the trump suit can change each hand.


The first player to the left of the dealer bids on how many tricks s/he thinks s/he can catch. Every one bids around to the dealer. One of the differences between cut throat and spades is that the total number of bids must not equal the number of tricks available in the hand. So if the bids have totaled six when the dealer is to bid, he may not bid one, anything but. This assures that every hand at least one player will have his "throat cut".


The hand begins with the first bidder leading any card s/he wants, including trump. Everyone must follow suit if he can, high card wins the trick. If a player does not follow suit, he cannot win the trick, unless s/he trumps.


The game proceeds by dealing six cards to each player for the second hand, five for the next and so on down to one. Then you proceed back up to seven, by adding one card to the deal each hand till you get back to seven. The game is over after thirteen hands, high scorer wins.


The scoring in Cut Throat is a bit different than spades as well. You can only score if you catch exactly the number of tricks you bid. If you bid 2 and catch 3, no points. If you bid 3 and catch 2, no points. There is no penalty like in spades, wherein you subtract the underbids. No points are awarded unless you catch your bid exactly.


If you bid and catch 0, you score 10 points, 1 and catch 1, you score 11 points; 2 and catch 2, your score that hand is 22; 3 and catch 3, 33 is your score, and so on.

Give it a try, but be warned--it is addictive!!

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Another Hot Corner Has Been Blog

One of the current ways to improve the value of a blog site is to create links from one blog to another. There are a few bloggers I began blogging with who have decided to spend a little time building a network of links between our sites. We want to all improve our page ranking with Google, which is one indicator of visibility of a particualr blog.

Here is a link to still yet one other of those bloggers. Another Hot Corner Has Been's Blog?

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Too Early to Tell

The Astros are in the midst of spring training. So far they have won four and lost three. Of course, spring training won/loss records do not amount to much. It is finding a few pieces to the roster puzzle that can make the picture a bit more clear. Morgan Ensberg is hitting a bit, Chris Burke is not. Brad Lidge has had 2 good outings and one bad.

The fact is, it is too early to tell how things are going.

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My Scott Bryant Card

The Score baseball cards set in 1990 featured the card of a cousin of mine, Scott Bryant. Scott had been named the college player of the year after a terrific season at the University of Texas. He had played the outfield and hit very well. He also did some relief pitching because he had a very strong arm. The Longhorns went to the College World Series that season in Omaha. They advanced to the tournament undefeated.

In the finals they met at Wichita State for the championship. In the championship game Scott was the pitcher. Unfortunately the team was beaten by the Shockers. But Scott was drafted in the first round by the Cincinnati Reds and so he was included in the cards set as one of the top round draft picks.

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My Phil Huffman Card

In my card collection I have some cherished cards, like the 3 Nolan Ryan rookie cards, and my 1915 Sporting News Honus Wagner card. I have a 1948 Preacher Roe card and a complete set of 1963 Fleer cards. The checklist in that set is nearly as valuable as the rest of the set, because so few of them exist anymore. But the first card I bought for my collection when I began to collect again in 1984 was a Topps Card of Phil Huffman!

You don’t know that name, but I coached Phil in his youth baseball days and I thought it was neat that he had risen to the status of a Topps baseball card.

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Two Starters for Willy T?

I know that the Astros' acquisition over the winter was focused on Jason Jennings. They gave up Willy Taveras and two young pitchers for Jennings and Mike Gutierrez. It is looking like Gutierrz may win the fifth starter spot in the Astros rotation. That would make the trade a little easier for Astro fans who loved Willy T to swallow.

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Hunter Pence and Luke Scott

Hunter Pence is a young outfield prospect for the Houston Astros. He is in his first spring training with the big league club. He is a power hitter that has fans in Houston drooling. And he is off to a start that does nothing to lessen the hopes. In his first ten at bats, he has seven hits. It is a bit reminiscent of the spring training Luke Scott had two seasons ago. I hope it does not take the same turn in the regular season as Scott's did that first year.

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Yao Ming Returns

The Houston Rockets were not able to win on the road at Cleveland. It was the third loss in a row. That is all bad news. But the good news is that Yao Ming made an appearance in a game for the first time after missing 32 games because of a knee injury. If the Rockets are going to make a run in the last segment of the season and into the playoffs, Yao is going to have to be healthy!

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Baseball Cards in the Late 1980's

Baseball card companies really produced a lot of sets during the years of the late 1980's because there were a lot of speculators that decided to invest in the market at that time. It artificially drove up the prices and made it difficult on those of us who were true collectors who love the game and the players. And when the investors left the market, the supposed value of the cards dropped like a rock!

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Future Hall Of Famers As Rookies in 1989

The 1989 Upper Deck set of baseball cards has a number of rookie cards of players that I believe will end up in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. The number one card is Ken Griffey Jr, who is sure to enter the Hall. So is Randy Johnson, and Craig Biggio, and John Smoltz. Curt Schilling is making a case for his inclusion as well.

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Upper Deck Debuts in 1989

There was a new entrant into the baseball card market in 1989. Upper Deck launched its set with the number one card being a rookie card of Ken Griffey Jr. Upper Deck stormed through card shows and shops because the card stock was so superior to any up to that date and the photography was wonderful. I recall a card of Gerald Young, a centerfielder for Houston, with a picture of him making a fabulous catch against a blue wall. And the super high leg kick of Mark Langston was caught in a great shot.
There is more about the 89 UD set, but I will save it for another post.

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Give 'Em L, Astros!

The Houston Astros have been known for the past 15 years or so as The Killer B's. Mostly that has been based on Biggio and Bagwell, and more recently Berkman. But the line up this year could include Carlos Lee, Mark Loretta, Lance Berkman, Luke Scott and Jason Lane. If that turns out to be the case, I think the Astros' marketing department should use the slogan, "Give 'Em L, Astros!"

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Erroll Le Vant (Pronounced Irrelevant) Blog!

One of the current ways to improve the value of a blog site is to create links from one blog to another. There are a few bloggers I began blogging with who have decided to spend a little time building a network of links between our sites. We want to all improve our page ranking with Google, which is one indicator of visibility of a particualr blog.

Here is a link to still yet one other of those bloggers. Erroll Le Vant's Blog?

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