The SoapBoxers

This is a bit different from my other stories, lacking the “edge” that I typically try to include.

Of all the benefits offered by his company, Andrew found that he valued one benefit much more than any other – the presence of his co-worker, the lovely Charisse.  Not only was Charisse a very attractive girl, but she was smart, had a great personality, and had a laugh that Andrew could listen to all day.  On days when Charisse wore a short skirt, Andrew’s concentration would go completely down the drain, and his productivity would be nearly worthless.  Unfortunately, Andrew was painfully shy, so he adored Charisse from afar.

Charisse enjoyed her job.  Most of all, she enjoyed working with Andrew.  Andrew was a smart guy who was often able to find a creative solution to difficult problems.  He also went out of his way to compliment the works of other members of the team, unlike many of the corporate ladder climbers who were more than happy to stab someone in the back to get to the next level.  Andrew was a great guy – Charisse kept waiting for him to ask her out.

Charisse had no shortage of men asking her for a date.  At first, she declined, in hopes that Andrew would ask her out.  Eventually, it became clear to her that this was not going to happen.  It appeared that Andrew thought of her only as a friend.  Charisse began saying “yes” when men asked her out.  Charisse had enjoyable evenings with a several of the guys, and had a few second dates.  She had been dating George for the last month.  George was a great guy, but there just wasn’t the spark that she was hoping for.  Charisse was trying to find a way to let George down gently.

At work, it seemed that Andrew and Charisse were spending every moment together.  They had a great working relationship, and their manager was smart enough to take advantage of this synergy by having them work together on projects.  They had many working lunches together, and often Andrew would run out and bring back a pizza to share during a late night work session at the office.  Sometimes, they would even hang out after work.  However, to the dismay of both of them, neither of them showed outward interest in taking their friendship to the next level.

On a Friday in May, Andrew and Charisse had finished up a long day and were headed out to the parking lot.  They jumped into the elevator for the trip down to the main floor.  As they chatted about their plans for the weekend, the elevator started downward, then lurched to a stop.  The light inside the elevator flickered and went out.   Darkness enveloped them.

At the moment that the light bulb went off in the elevator, a bulb went on in Charisse’s mind.  She could “accidentally” bump up against Andrew so that they were face to face.  If Andrew didn’t return the kiss, Charisse could simply claim that the collision was an accident.  At the moment that Charisse was finalizing the thought, she felt Andrews lips upon hers – the exact idea had come to him.  For a moment, Charisse’s heart was stuck in her throat.  Then she returned her kiss with the passion that had been building inside her.  She clung tight to Andrew in the darkness of the elevator.

A moment later, Andrew and Charisse felt the earth move.  More accurately, the elevator resumed its downward motion.  They reach the bottom, exited the building, and walked outside into the beautiful spring day and toward a new life together.

There are a couple of non-fiction subjects that I study in great detail.  One of them, not surprisingly, is baseball.  The other is true crime and forensics.  This might seem like an odd combination, but the great baseball historian and analyst Bill James also has a fascination with crime.  Today, I’ll begin a multi-part series where I introduce you to some serial killers from the past.

Ted Bundy

Ted Bundy had a confusing childhood.  He was raised by his maternal grandparents, not realizing until later that his “sister” was actually his mother.  Bundy studied psychology at the University of Washington.  At one point, he worked on a suicide hotline.  Bundy was eventually accepted into law school, although he eventually dropped out.

From the late 1960s through the mid 1970s, Ted Bundy murdered dozens of young, attractive females.  In 1975, Bundy was arrested for an attack that he had committed in 1974 (the victim fought back and survived).  In 1977, Bundy managed to escape from custody twice in a span of six months.  After the second escape, he traveled from Colorado to Florida.  On January 15, 1978, Bundy killed two women and injured two others in a sorority house at Florida State University, using a wooden club as a weapon.  Unfortunately for Bundy, he left behind a bite mark on the buttock of one of the women, Lisa Levy.  A month, Bundy was arrested for driving a stolen car.  A search warrant was obtained allowing authorities to obtain an impression of Bundy’s teeth.  Experts were able to match the impression to the bite mark left of Levy’s body.  Bundy was found guilty of murder in 1978 and died in Florida’s electric chair in 1989.

The Nightstalker

In 1984, the Nightstalker began to terrorize Los Angeles.  The Nightstalker would cut phone lines, break into he house, and immeditately kill any adult males.  He would then rape any women and children (boy and girls).  At one murder scene in 1985, he used lipstick to draw a pentagram on the thigh on one victim, as well as on the wall.  This led police to believe that the killer may believe that Satan was telling him to kill.

The police caught a break when one of the Nightstalker’s victims was able get the license plate number from his getaway car.  The car was stolen, of course, but police were able to lift a partial fingerprint.  Unfortunately, Los Angeles had only begun to  computerize their fingerprint records.  The fingerprint records for most criminals were still on paper.  Only criminals born in 1960 or later were in the computerized system.  The computer found a hit – Richard Ramirez, born in February 1960 – just making the cutoff to have his prints in the computerized system.

The photo of Ramirez was soon all over the television.  Unfortunately for him, he was out of town.  When he came back into town and stopped at a convenience store, the other  customers immediately recognized him.  They were in a predominantly hispanic area, and the hispanic population was very upset at the negative publicity that Ramirez was bring upon their community.  Several citizens attempted to stop Ramirez as he tried to flee, eventually inflicting a pretty decent beating upon Ramirez.

Ramirez ended up going to trial three times.  During the first trial, a juror fell asleep.  During the second trial, a juror was murder – in a completely unrelated crime.  Finally, Ramirez was convicted during his third trial, which was interrupted by frequent bursts of satanic comments from the accused.

It wasn’t all bad news for Ramirez, though.  Ramirez exchanged leters with many people after his capture.  One of them ended up marrying him.

Wikipedia and The Casebook of Forensic Detection (Colin Evans) were sources for this article.

No.

There has been speculation that Raul’s dream season at age 37 is due to performance enhancing drugs.  This really makes no sense at all.  If Ibanez was going to do steroids, wouldn’t he have done them last year, since he was a free agent last off-season?  This would have maximized the money he could have made as a free agent.  It doesn’t make much sense to do the steroids AFTER signing the free agent deal.

So why is Ibanez on the best home run pace of his career?

Perhaps it’s his 20.7% HR/FB rate (that is, 20% of the fly balls he hits are home runs).  This is largely a luck-driven number that would be expected to regress toward the mean (around 10%) at some point.  My guess is that he’ll end the season around 14% HR/FB.  Basically, Ibanez is just on a hot streak.

Cheating?  Nah.

A bit lucky?  Probably.

Scroll down to read the main article for today – a recap of day 1 of the baseball draft!

OK, 3 rounds (plus sandwich) in the books.

The draft started very predictably with the National signing San Diego State pitcher Stephen Strasburg, easily the best player in the draft.  The Pittsburgh Pirates made the first “reach” on the draft, taking Boston College catcher Tony Sanchez at #4, far above his projected slot.  This was apparently a case of the Pirates choosing a signable player (there was reportedly an agreement in place before the draft) rather than a player with a high ceiling.  Pirates Nation (if such a term is still accurate) probably let loose a collection groan with this pick.  This is one of the reasons why I wish baseball teams could trade picks.  The Pirates could have easily traded down 10-20 spots and still been able to nab Sanchez.

A few guys slipped more than I expected

Aaron Crow was the first round pick of the Nationals last year (#10) overall and could not agree to a deal with Washington.  He spent a season with the independent Forth Worth Cats and went back into the draft this year.  Some folks had his stock dropping, but I really expected someone to nab him in the top 5.  Instead, he dropped to #12, where he was signed by Kansas City.  This is the second time the Royals have signed a former Cat, as Luke Hochevar followed the same path after he was drafted #6 overall by the Dodgers in 2005 (he was drafted #1 overall by the Royals in 2006).  Contrast this style with the Pirates choosing a lower ceiling player to save money.

A couple other guys were drafted later than I expected due to injury concerns  Pitcher Kyle Gibson of Missouri seemed like a lock for the top 10 before being diagnosed with a stress fracture in his pitching arm.  He dropped to the Twins at #22.  If the Twins can get a good comfort level by the August 15 signing deadline, they could end up with a very good pitcher with this pick.

Perhaps the most intriguing drop was Tanner Scheppers.  Scheppers was a lock for the top 10 last year out of Fresno State before suffering an injury to his rotator cuff and labrum.  He dropped to #48 last year, and the Pirates were unable to sign him.  To be fair to both sides, the negotiations had a risk/reward aspect related to the injury.  This year he was pitching for the independent St. Paul Saints and appears to be fully healed from the injury.  However, some doubts apparently still exist, as Scheppers dropped to the Texas Rangers at #44.  

Scheppers would have actually made a lot of sense at the tail end of the first round.  He is the equivalent of a college senior, and teams would not have been subject to the August 15 deadline to sign him.  They could have waited until right before the 2010 draft to make a really serious offer.  If he was recovered, sign him.  If not, don’t sign him.  Teams who can’t sign a first or second round pick receive a pick one spot lower in next year’s draft (if you can’t sign the #1 overall pick, you’d get the #2 pick in 2010).  Worst case scenario for a team at the tail end of the first round would be not signing Scheppers and getting an equivalent pick in 2010.  The Rangers actually took more of  a risk.  The sandwich picks are not protected.  If they don’t sign Scheppers, they do not get any sort of replacement pick.

How did my Rockies do?  I’m pretty happy.  The Rockies has 3 picks in the top 34.  At #11, I really wish we would have grabbed Aaron Crow.  Instead, we picked flamethrowing high school lefty Tyler Matzek, who already has a fastball in the mid to high 90s.  Matzek has really good upside potential.  The big knock on his was money, as he reportedly wants about $7 million to sign.  At #32 I was hoping we’d go after Scheppers, but took Sacramento State outfielder Tim Wheeler instead.  Wheeler has good speed, and question marks about his power and his ability to stay in center field.  If he can stay in center and show good power, this could be a very nice pick.  At #34, we went for another lefty pitcher with good power, Rex Brothers out of Lipscomb University.  Brothers throws in the high 90s.

A big week in sports and a lot of stories to touch on…so this week Johnny G decides again to do the weekly run-down.

The Big Unit gets the big 300th Win. I wrote an article about this last week and I was glad to see Randy pick up 300 on his first try. Too many times in sports is seems like an athlete gets close to a milestone and it takes a long time to get it done and out of the way. Nice Job Mr. Johnson

The Magic decided to not show up for Game 1 in Los Angeles and then played better in Game 2. I am not a big fan of the NBA and last night reminded me again as to why. Too many ghost calls (for both teams in my opinion, but most of which Kobe was the benefactor of) impacts the final score of the game way way way too often in NBA games. I guess this is why I am a fan of individual sports like golf, because there is no referee to blame the outcome on.

Speaking of golf, I guess Tiger Woods’ knee must be feeling better. Jack Nicklaus the host of the Memorial Tournament joked that Tiger was really struggling in his comeback from the surgery since he had only what??? A bunch of top tens and a win to his credit so far this year? I guess you can add another win to the tally now. The folks running the US Open are hoping he can keep that going in two more weeks.

Roger Federer finally breaks through in an easy coasting straight set triumph at the French Open. This now adds him to the list of tennis players to win the career Grand Slam. Many would argue that Federer is the best of all time. He now has tied Pete Sampras with 14 career Grand Slam titles. I, for one, don’t feel he is even close to done winning them just yet.

The College World Series will be starting next weekend in beloved Omaha, Nebraska. The CWS has become one of the most popular NCAA tournament venues thanks mainly to the fantastic coverage provided by ESPN of the games in Omaha. Matter of fact a few years back when the NCAA was considering moving the CWS out of Omaha, the ESPN telecast became more of a “telethon” constantly pimping the great job and the fine folks and hospitality that the city provides hosting the tournament. Omaha has now committed to building a brand new stadium which will be used almost exclusively for this tournament for the few decades. I guess it does pay to have a major network in your corner.

And since ESPN is wanting to throw it’s weight around, the SEC begins a new 15 year contract with ESPN starting this year which will televise all of their games not already picked up by CBS coverage for a smooth 2.25 Billion dollars over that time. If you’re a fan of the SEC all this means that the future looks good. If you’re a competitor of the SEC, you know this league is not going to be backing down…and if your are not on the Big 10….errrr Big 11 network already you better hope that your conference is planning on something soon with an exclusive television deal….or during National Titles games we are going to hear a lot more chanting of S-E-C, S-E-C!

Most people dispersed their advice to graduates closer to graduation, so consider this to be a second helping.  Certainly many of the topics will have been addressed by others.

• Become independent – For 18 years, your parents have provided for you.  It’s time to start out on your own.  For some of you, this may mean complete financial independence, such as putting yourself through college and paying all of your expenses.  For others, this may occur in gradual steps.  However you address it, start taking steps in that direction.  You don’t want to end up thirty years old and still living with your parents.
• Learn about financial topics – I’m not suggesting that you need to become a stock market whiz.  However, with a bit of work, you can gain a functional knowledge of personal finance.  If you didn’t learn how to balance a checkbook during high school, learn now.  It will help you avoid overdrafts.  Gain at least a high level understanding of how the tax system works.  You should, at minimum, be able to fill out a 1040EZ form by yourself.  Learn about different retirement options (see this article for a discussion of Roth vs. 401(k)).  Start saving for retirement at the first available opportunity – especially if your employer has a matching program.  In addition to the mainstream media, check out some personal finance blogs – I have links to some in the right hand column.
• It’s OK to change your mind – If you’re heading off to college, you probably have a major declared.  Don’t be surprised if you change your major at some point.  You’re 18, and it’s quite likely that you have a fairly shallow level of knowledge regarding your major.  You might decide that this isn’t the right career for you, or you might simply fall in love with a different major.  Don’t be afraid to take the leap, even if it costs you a semester or two.  You don’t want to look back ten years later and wish you would have changed majors.
• Build strong study habits – If you sailed through high school and never had to study, you might be in for a rude awakening – I definitely was.  It’s hard to describe the difference in rigor between college and high school.  Suffice it to say that it is considerably harder.  It’s important to develop good study habits early, so that you don’t fall into bad habits.
• Stay out of trouble – Things that may have been considered childish pranks in high school may be considered crimes now.  You’re 18, so if you commit a crime, you can be charged as an adult.  If you have a juvenile record, this is a good time to turn over a new leaf.  Stay away from drugs and stop hanging around people who seem to get into trouble a lot.
• Have fun – You might think that you don’t have any free time at all!  In actuality, you’ll probably have considerably more free time now than you will during the later stages of your life.  Cherish the time that you have to spend with friends, and enjoy life.  Also bear in mind that your body allows you to do things that will be much more difficult when you’re older.  If you want to go mountain climbing, it’s a lot easier in yours teens and 20s than in your 50s!

David Carradine

David Carradine, most famous for his roles in Kung Fu and Kill Bill during a long and successful acting career, was found dead in his hotel room in Bangkok.  He was 72.  He was found hanged, and the police are saying that it was a suicide.  Carradine’s manager and wife are very skeptical and believe that foul play was involved.  I would tend to agree with the foul play angle, although we’ll certainly find out more about this in the coming days.

Ocotomom

Nadya Suleman, a/k/a Octomom, is calling Jon and Kate Gosselin “attention seekers”.  We see a lot of case of hypocrisy in the world today, but this one has to take the cake.  In case you’re one of the two people who doesn’t know, Jon and Kate (plus eight) are having marital problems.

On the topic of Nadya, the Octo family will be featured in a reality show.  Nadya’s autobiography will also be on the shelves soon.  My suggestion would be to boycott everyone involved.  I plan to boycott all companies that advertise on the show, and well as the publisher of the book.  I buy a lot of books, so my boycott could hurt the publisher a bit.  Vote with your wallet.

Missing plane

An Airbus plane traveling from Rio De Janeiro to  Paris dropped off radar and is presumed to have crashed in the Atlantic Ocean.  Searchers thought that they may have found the wreckage earlier this week, but authorities now say that the wreckage is not from the aircraft.  I am a bit curious about what the wreckage IS from.  I’m hoping that the plane simply landed on a remote island and has not been able to open a line of communication, but that seems rather unlikely.  The locator device within the plane’s “black box” will only emit a signal for 30 days – after that point, it may be impossible to find the plane.

Cars

GM filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy this week and has been selling off some of its brands.  Hummer was sold to Chinese company Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co., Ltd.  and Saturn will be sold to Penske.  Pontiac and Saab are still on the block.  The core GM will see its ownership change – 60% of the company will be owned by the US government, 12.5% by the Canadian government, 10% will be owned by creditors, and 17.5% will be owned by the UAW.  It is expected that the governments will only be short term investors  until a more permanent buyer (Fiat?) can be found.

Obama in the middle east

President Obama is in the middle east this week.  He gave a speech in work he advocated both sides working together, rather than letting our difference define us.  Peace in the middle east is a tall order – if Obama can establish lasting peace, clear room on Mt. Rushmore!  I think it would be great if people COULD get beyond their differences.  We’re on the earth for a short time – why waste so much of it squabbling?

First of all, this isn’t the main article for today – scroll down for the baseball article.

You may notice a few changes to the layout.

Top

• Front Page – This was called “Home” in the past.  It takes you to the main page, which shows the most current articles.
• Archives – I have added an Archives page that shows all of the articles in the complete history of The Soap Boxers
• Cream of the Crop – This is the same as “The Best of The Soap Boxers”, just under a different name.
• Write for Us – We’re always looking for quality content.

Left side

• I removed the links to the main page and “Best of The Soap Boxers”, since those links are at the top.
• RSS & Twitter – I have changed the icons (for the better, I hope).  For those who aren’t sure what RSS is, click on it to find out more.  We post a link to Twitter whenever a new article is posted on the site.  We don’t do anything else on Twitter at this point.
• Archives – This was previously on the right side.  It shows the headline of each past article, grouped by month.
• Categories – This was also previously on the right.  It groups articles by category.

Right side

• Recent articles – This was  previously on the left.  It shows the seven most recent articles.
• Links to blogs – The was previously on the left.  Click on the links to see some of my favorite blogs.

I tried not to make any massive changes.  I hope you link the new design.  For those of you using IE 6, you’ll finally see the 3 columns properly.  What you had seen previously was a problem that was specific to IE6.

We’re taking a break from our typical friday fiction to do a roundup of the world of baseball.

Big Unit, big milestone

Randy Johnson expected to pitch for the Giants in pursuit of his 300th win on Wednesday night.  Unfortunately, mother nature had a different idea, and the game was rained out.  Thursday was also a wet day, but Johnson took the mound in the first game of a double header.  The weather and the early start time resulted in a much smaller crowd than you would expect for a historic game.  Johnson did not disappoint the crowd (in Washington vs. the Nationals).  He pitched six innings and allowed just two hits, two walks, and one unearned run.  The bullpen closed the door on the Gnats.  Nice job, Randy.

Draft

MLB’s amateur draft will commence on Tuesday and finish up on Wednesday.  It will be televised on the MLB Network, which I unfortunately do not get through my cable provider.  Mediacom, if you’re reading this, PLEASE add the MLB network.

Stephen Strasburg is far and away the top prospect in the draft.  Unless the Nationals balk at the demands of Strasburg’s agent, Scott Boras, he will be taken with the #1 pick.  Sports Weekly had an interesting compilation of the thirteen pitchers who have been taken with the #1 pick in the draft since the draft began in 1965.  1981 #1 overall pick Mike Moore has the most career wins in the group, with 161 (as well as 176 losses).  1989 top pick Andy Benes is the most game over .500 for his career (+16).  A number of the pitchers have had careers derailed by injury (Ben McDonald) or being rushed to the big leagues (18 year old David Clyde skipped the minors after being drafted by the Rangers).

I like Strasburg, but pitchers are inherently risky.

The #2 prospect is University of North Carolina’s Dustin Ackley.  Ackely will likely play center field as a pro, but has played first base this year as he recovers from Tommy John surgery last year.

Pitchers Aaron Crow and Tanner Scheppers were drafted last year but failed to sign.  Crow could not reach a deal with the Nationals.  Scheppers was considered to be a high first round talent last year before an injury put some question marks on his resume, causing him to fall to the second round.  Both are likely to go in the top ten picks.

For more on the draft, check out John Sickel’s MinorLeagueBall.com and  Andy Seiler’s MLB Bonus Baby.  John’s blog focuses on the minor leagues, but gives the draft a decent amount of coverage.  Andy’s blog is relatively new, but very informative.  Andy had previously posted a lot of draft related stuff on MinorLeagueBall before taking the plunge and starting his own blog.  Very impressive so far.

If you have an eye on the 2010 draft, check out  Summer Ball – a site devoted to the college summer leagues.  The college players play in summer league that use wooden bats – to prove their mettle with the wood (pun intended).

Crumbs

Manny Ramirez has gotten a lot of All Star votes, in spite of the fact that he is serving a suspension for using performance enhancing dugs.  Come on folks, don’t vote for Manny this year.

The Pirates traded Nate McClouth to the Braves.  I’m sorry, Pirates fans.  I feel your pain.

The Braves released future Hall of Famer Tom Glavine just as he was rounding into form after an injury.  This makes their free agent signing of Glavine even more moronic.  The Braves got one season out of Glavine (2-4, 5.54 ERA in 61 1/3 innings).  Few people expected such a lackluster return for their investment, but many pointed out the signs of decline (particularly in Glavine’s peripheral stats) and questioned the wisdom of signing a player who would be 42 years old on opening day of the 2008 seasons.  Most painful is the price the Braves paid.  They forfeited their 2008 #1 draft pick to their hated rivals, the Mets.  The Mets also received a sandwich pick as compensation (this pick didn’t come from the Braves, it was created out of thin air).  The Mets drafted Ike Davis with the Braves pick (#18 overall) and Bradley Holt with the sandwich (#33 overall).

The Midwest League’s Cedar Rapids Kernels have a promotion that could result in a fan winning one million dollars on June 8!  Before you get too excited – a Kernels pitcher (or group of pitchers) much throw a perfect game.  The odds of a perfect game are always tiny, but especially in low A.  Even if the pitcher does his job, it’s quite likely that the fielders will commit an error.

Have you ever wondered why you have to sign the credit card receipt when you return merchandise?

Essentially, your signature gives the merchant the authority to put money INTO your account.  Is there a particular reason why someone wouldn’t agree to this?  People putting money into my account is a good thing …