Friday, January 27, 2006

A few things

If you do support a filibuster, please sign Senator Kerry's petition. I'm still a moderate Democrat, and I signed it. I have no hard feelings after doing so either. It felt great.

Monday's event in Louisville with Senator Kennedy and Senator McConnell has been rescheduled to due the event of a filibuster.

Political Cortex has more. It's not 41 the counts. It's Bill Frist having to get those 60 affirmative votes to end cloture.

Guess who is heading to Northwest Indiana? Howard Dean. Some are saying that this is a sign that Sen. Bayh is a major contender come 2008.

The Kentucky Kernal has their review of the game last night. It was a historical one for the woman's program in my opinion.

Rob Corddry offers some advice.
"Bring a poncho, because if you're sitting in the first few rows it gets messy. And two, if you come with a small child please sit where I can't see you because then I can't sleep at night -- it gets a little blue."

Responsible parenting is about to become a prime consideration in Corddry's life. He and his wife Sandra -- a speech pathologist who appeared on the fake news show last week in a segment about his obsession with threesomes -- are expecting a baby July 8, which means his college tour days are numbered.

"I really want to exploit these colleges before June because then my time is up. You know I have to steal as much hard-earned tuition money as possible. I need to buy a Bugaboo stroller, apparently."
I've seen John Mabry playing when he was going through the Cardinals organization so it's interesting to read how he took a deal the Cubs of all teams.
Players come and go, but "May-berry" and Albert Pujols were the only Cardinals who took their mail from a St. Louis post office year 'round. Born in Delaware and educated in Maryland and Pennsylvania, Mabry along with his family embraced the Midwest after he first reached St. Louis in 1994. He has since played for the Seattle Mariners (twice), Oakland A's, San Diego Padres, Florida Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies. His preference was to finish his career where it began.

Contacted by four teams, Mabry phoned general manager Walt Jocketty to divine the Cardinals' interest. The Cubs were waiting for an answer on their $1.075 million bid. After several attempts, Mabry finally reached Jocketty, telling him, "Listen, I want to stay in St. Louis. It's my first choice. All you have to do is say it's guaranteed at a number."

Said Jocketty: "We can't do this. As a friend, I would take another deal."

And Mabry did, accepting a significant bump from last season's $725,000 base salary.

"Would it have been a good thing (to remain a Cardinal)? Absolutely," he said. "I have four small kids. But this is also great. I'm still playing. No. 2, they're still relatively close. My family plays a big part in my decision. There's also playing time and the chance to win. But the fact they can get there until school gets out is a big thing. I'm looking forward to it."

Mabry, 35, and his wife, Ann, have four children under 6 years old. The highlight of Mabry's 2005 season wasn't his ninth-inning home run that capped a seven-run, ninth-inning rally at Great American Ball Park against the Cincinnati Reds. It was learning that his son, J.T., had stayed awake long enough to hear the moment on the radio.

Mabry has made his West County residence his home year 'round since 1998, coincidentally the year he signed as a free agent with the Mariners.

Reasons for playing elsewhere may change, he says, but Mabry's reasons for living here haven't.

"When I was here (as a rookie) in '95, we absolutely stunk. We lost 100 games, but we still almost drew 2 million," recalled Mabry, employing a bit of fuzzy math to describe the strike-abbreviated 62-81 campaign that left the Cardinals in fourth place and Jocketty to fire manager Joe Torre at the behest of itchy-to-sell Anheuser-Busch. "They come out to genuinely support the home team. Even when we stunk, they showed up 25,000 a night. They're enduring it with you. They still support the individual players.
Imagine Bart Peterson running for Governor of Indiana come 2008. The GOP is already talking about this and they are afraid for the same reasons that they are afraid with Evan Bayh or Mark Warner. Moderates can win.

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