T-shirt #362 - The Detroit Tigers White Long Sleeve

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
TODAY'S COUNT: 03 blog posts remaining in the T-shirt year!!
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

T-shirt #362 - The Detroit Tigers - White Long Sleeve
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Spring Training has been going since mid-February, and I am catching the Baseball fever once again. (I hope you know I like to capitalize Baseball.)

I thought I had only one Detroit Tigers shirt left, a new one that I bought after the Tigers lost in the ALCS to the Boston Red Sox. But then I found this shirt in a box. It is actually a very nice shirt. And then I also remembered that I had not yet shared the shirt from the Final Game at Tigers Stadium. So, counting this shirt, I actually have three Detroit Tigers themed shirts to share.

Looking at my remaining shirts and the number of new shirts I shared this year (38 because there's one I have not published yet but exists in draft form) and then considering the box of almost two dozen new shirts that I have not even photographed or laundered yet since receiving them as gifts, I realize that I may have not needed so many new shirts to complete my year. Though I am still letting the blog be the count, and I am resisting the urge to make a manual count, I estimate that I have possibly as many as two dozen shirts that I owned before starting this blog that will not be posted during the main blog year.

Given that I have posted sixteen times about the Detroit Tigers (though this number does not represent sixteen Tigers shirts as some posts were Tigers content but not Tigers themed shirts), this shirt may not be the most deserving of being the three-hundred and sixty second post with only THREE posts remaining. But I did mention that I would limp to the finish line, didn't I? No huge revelations and epic entries rattling excitedly in the web form in these final days. I am busy with work and life and paying bills. And I will eventually share all of my shirts in blog posts.

Then again, maybe making a Detroit Tigers shirt one of my final ten posts is very significant and worthy. If I am listing shirts that mean the most to me and that I cherish, there's the comic book themed shirts (logo ones for sure), some ultimate shirts, and then probably Detroit Tigers shirts even over my prize Star Trek or BSG shirts.

As always at this time of year, I am excited for Baseball season to begin. I am drafting fantasy teams and reading about player news quite often. And yet, no bold predictions. After the Detroit Tigers failed to win the World Series, after getting in to the series, in 2012, I did not proclaim that they were an automatic lock in 2013. And see what happened? And so, once again, of course, I would like to see them win the World Series, but this is not an easy thing to do. As such, I am tempering my expectations.

And yet, the Tigers look very good this year...

I am encouraged by the run output this spring in which the Tigers have scored runs in the double digits four times in the last week.

The pitching looks great. Sure, Porcello is working up to form. But Scherzer looks hot, and Justin Verlander is all recovered from surgery. And though Iglesias, the short stop, will begin the season on the DL (and possibly spend the season there), the offense looks very good, even for spring training.

GO TIGERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

the shirt I was
wearing this morning, but
I am not now...

OFFICIAL BOILERPLATE TEXT OF THE LAST TWENTY POSTS COUNTDOWN: Hi. Thanks for reading. I am posting this "boilerplate" text everyday for the last TWENTY posts in the T-SHIRT blog year, which started on March 22, 2013. I will close out daily transmission on March 21st, day 365 of my T-shirt blog-tastic extravaganza spectacular. I will give myself a short hiatus of total non-transmission or  publication for an as yet undetermined period of time, though I am estimating about two weeks. After my blog vacation hiatus, I will resume T-shirt posts on a regular basis, also as yet to be determined (weekly? Twice monthly?) to finish blogging about all the T-shirts that were not featured in the blog year. At some point, once I feel I am rolling along nicely, I will begin regular posting through my main blog: SENSE OF DOUBT. T-shirt posts will direct to the T-shirt blog from SENSE OF DOUBT. I will continue to post THE WEEKLY COMIC LIST, the features of occasional T-SHIRTS I AM WEARING THIS WEEK, book reviews, comic book reviews, and other popular culture nonsense as I have been for a year now but all will go up at SENSE OF DOUBT and some will direct back here to 365 T-SHIRTS. Ultimately, I will begin Internet publication of my fiction, primarily the comic book satire episodic story called POP! among other projects. So, in summary, 365 T-SHIRTS will continue though intermittently. SENSE OF DOUBT will host my main blog presence and fiction writing as well as links to any T-shirt posts shared here. I hope you will continue to follow me in my journey as a writer and a content provider. Thank you for your kind attention and time you have spent with me on this and/or any other day this year. I am humbled and blessed by your readership. - chris tower, blogger, originated 1403.02
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

To close, I am posting some of my past Tigers content. I cannot say too much more than I have already. 

GO TIGERS!!

FROM T-SHIRT #132: I still have not opened the jar of Billy Sauce.

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

T-shirt #132: Detroit Tigers Stadium and Billy Sauce

T-shirt #132: Detroit Tigers, Tigers Stadium, and Billy's Hit-a-Ton Barbecue Sauce & A BIG ROUNDUP OF RANDOM STUFF!!

A GOOD DAY TO BE A DETROIT TIGERS FAN

Good morning from the Bloggy Carnival of Towerness. By the time I finished writing this one, it was no longer morning.

It's Wednesday the last day of July 2013, and it's a good day to be a Detroit Tigers fan.

I was actually watching last night, and I was actually hoping with the power of my mind and heart for the very outcome that occurred as Alex Avila clubbed a two-out, grand slam in the sixth off one of the best pitchers in Baseball, the Washington Nationals' Stephen Strasburg. It was Avila's first career GRAND SALAMI.

Usually, if I send a Twitter message during a game, crowing about something that happens in the game, I jinx the outcome, and the Tigers lose. Last night, I sent the message, and the Tigers still won, by a score of 5-1.

In other Tigers news, a big trade went down last night that will bring Boston shortstop Julio Iglesias to the Tigers as a backup in case regular and All-Star shortstop Jhonny Peralta is suspended by the MLB on the bogus Biongenesis scandal. The Tigers gave up OF Avisail Garcia and RHP Brayan Villarreal in the deal.

Stories. I love Baseball's stories and I love its statistics. History and numbers. The history of numbers. The human interest of stories. The numbered story of history. The personalities and the oddities. Today, I am going to feature a little bit of all that delightful big country buffet in one roundup blog post.

DISLOYAL BARBECUE SAUCE

I have been disloyal.

I bought barbecue sauce featuring a Kansas City Royals player named Billy Butler or as he's known by the nickname: "Country Breakfast."

And this was not an impulse buy in the store. I sent away to Kansas City for this sauce and paid extra fees in Federal Express shipping.

In my defense, proceeds from the sale of the sauce benefit a Kansas City food pantry and community kitchen charity called the Bishop Sullivan Center.

Also, hey, I kind of like the Royals. There, I said it.

The Kansas City Royals would not be on my list of "most hated" Baseball teams. I kind of like the current crop of young players who are making a run in the AL Central. And I have always liked the franchise, going back to the days of George Brett. If a team is going to duke it out with the Tigers down the stretch, I would rather see the Royals in the fight than the Indians and Twins (whom I do hate) or even the Chicago White Sox (about whom I am on the fence).

Plus, I like Billy "Country Breakfast" Butler. He was a pick up on my main fantasy Baseball team a few years back (is anyone surprised that I play FANTASY BASEBALL? I thought not.), and he has "hit a ton" for me ever since.

Plus, in these days of summer, I am keen to try specialty BBQ sauce. And Kansas City intrigues me as a great place to visit.

And though the Royals have produced "Fear the Sauce" T-shirts, I do not expect to purchase and wear one of those shirts. Sauce for another team I will try; T-shirts for another team, a RIVAL team? No way.

and also from  T-SHIRT #132:

MAX SCHERZER

It's difficult to have a favorite Detroit Tigers player. For a while, I was a Brandon Inge fan, and then an Alex Avila fan. But how could I not love Justin Verlander and Miguel Cabrera? And what about Prince Fielder, Victor Martinez, Jhonny Peralta, Doug Fister, and Joaquin Benoit?

They are all favorites. They are all special because they are on my favorite team. Even when the Tigers acquire someone I did not like previously, such as Jose Valverde, I have to come to like the player because he is now a Detroit Tigers player.

I already liked Max Scherzer before reading the Sports Weekly article from July 18th, which is mostly cribbed from these articles by Jeff Seidel of the FREEP:

Detroit Tigers first-time All-Star Max Scherzer takes modesty, intellect to mound

and

Detroit Tigers' Max Scherzer (10-0) shows all his talent, strength.

There's also a good blog post here:

Five awesome things about AL All-Star starter Max Scherzer

What I read in these articles makes me love Max Scherzer all the more. He was an under-valued, smart pick up from the Arizona Diamondbacks, and he's having a career year following a very good year to prove it.
I learned how competitive he is, how much he studies the game, that he loves scuba diving, that he is a kid at heart, and most importantly that he's a life long learner, learning and reading all the time, getting into what he calls "Google Freefalls."

I also learned that his nickname on the team is "Mad Max."

Go Mad Max.

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

FROM T-SHIRT #16:

"Where were you in 2003?" I would ask these suddenly emerged from the closet Tigers fans wearing their new, crisp, creased Tigers gear.

Where was I in 2003? Listening to games. Watching games. Often, my favorite of tandem of TV on mute and radio broadcast on full volume. I listen in the car. I listen in bed at night. I carry my portable radio around with me from room to room, outside, on trips, at the ultimate field, at the dinner table. I listen to or watch games whether the Detroit Tigers are winning or LOSING.

In 2003, my beloved team lost a lot. Despite significant changes to the team and leadership, the Tigers set a new record for most losses in American League history with 119. EIGHTY-SEVEN years had passed since an American League  team had been so futile: the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics lost 117 games. The Detroit Tigers narrowly avoided setting the major league record of most losses in a season held by the 1962 New York Metroplitans with 120 losses. Entering the last week of the 2003 season, the Tigers were well on the way to over 120 losses, if not for a mini-winning streak with victories in five of the final six games of the season, which saved the team from making ignominious major league history.

I loved the 2003 Detroit Tigers as much as I loved the 2006 Detroit Tigers as much as I loved the 1975 Detroit Tigers or the really awful (though not epic in losses) 1996 team. Still, I felt there was a lot to like in 2003. Illitch had finally jettisoned Randy Smith, the worst GM in all of Tigers (if not all of Baseball) history. Enter Dave Dombrowski, wiz kid of the Florida Marlins and a graduate of Western Michigan University here in Kalamazoo. Awesome. Dombrowski hires Alan Trammel, my favorite Baseball player of all time, to manage the team with several other of my favorite Tigers as coaches, such as Kirk Gibson and Lance Parrish. The Tigers had some young talent with potential, such as Jeremy Bonderman, Nate Cornejo, Carlos Peña, and even Matt Anderson, who was the inexplicable Number One draft pick of Randy Smith in 1997, the same year the teams that followed selected players, such as Troy Glaus, J.D. Drew, Vernon Wells, Michael Cuddyer, and LANCE BERKMAN.

So back to my question for these fans coming out of the woodwork: "where were you in 2003?"

Was I bitter? Maybe, a little. Bandwagon fans. Not a fan of the band wagon. But did I want them to stop supporting the Detroit Tigers? Not really. I could do without how the fair-weather fans drove up ticket prices and made tickets more scarce, and yet I will take all the Tigers fans the team attracts. The more the merrier. We are an exclusive club, united by one sole common virtue: we all LOVE the Detroit Tigers.

This brings me to 2006. After some rebuilding and smart acquisitions, the team had performed better in 2004 and 2005, but they had not earned winning records yet. Sure, 70 some wins are a near 30 win improvement over the dismal 43 win season of 2003, but I tend to be a realist, especially about the Detroit Tigers. Let's not get too excited.

On Opening Day, someone I knew claimed the Tigers would go to the World Series. I scoffed. 2003 was still too fresh in my mind. In the early part of the 2006 season, things did not look good at all for a post season run of any kind let alone a WORLD SERIES appearance (the first in 22 years). But the Tigers started to win and win A LOT. By August, the team was 40 games above .500, and yet they almost let it all slip away. The Tigers lost the division in an epic September collapse, and they entered the post-season as a Wild Card. Given how the team was playing, I had little hope that it could beat its first post-season opponent: The New York Yankees.

The Yanks and Tigers split the first two games of the ALDS. I attended game three, the first home game,  in which Kenny Rogers smoked the Bronx Bombers. SMOKED! Embarrassed. AWESOME. Other than the last game at Tigers Stadium, this game three was the single best baseball game I had ever attended. Suddenly, winning some post season games did not seem so unlikely. The Tigers won game four also and a trip to the ALCS.

This is the 1968 commemorative World Series hat for the
Detroit Tigers, which I wore on Opening Day 2013.

I did not get to attend any more Tigers games in 2006 after the ALDS as ticket prices were out of sight and work commitments kept me busy at home. But I bought the shirt. I did not expect the team to win the series, and it didn't. But I wear the shirt with pride. It was a wild ride, one of the most fun seasons I had been able to share with my beloved team. And then 2007-2010, the Tigers could not put it together. But now, in 2011 and 2012, two years of making the post-season. AL Central Champs both years and American League champions in 2012. And another World Series loss in 2012. (And yes, sentence fragments, so shoot me; they work.)

Is 2013 the year that the Detroit Tigers wins it all?

I am excited.

But let's not get too excited.

It's Baseball. Anything can happen, and it usually does.

-chris tower 1304.06 10:25

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

FROM T-SHIRT #120:

ALAN TRAMMELL

My all-time favourite Baseball player is Alan Trammell and has been since 1984. I did not have one favourite Baseball player let alone one Detroit Tiger prior to crowning Trammell as my champion. I had many favourite players and many favourite Detroit Tigers.

Trammell was everything I wanted to be. He was smart and consistent. He was intense and focused. He was a winner. He was smooth and defensively solid. He was quiet. He led by example. Did I mention the smarts?

Bill James rated Alan Trammell as the ninth best shortstop in the history of the game in the same Historical Abstract book that I wrote about in T-shirt #115 and the Chicago Cubs (Ron Santo).

Trammell is Hall of Fame bound. He has been on the ballot since 2001. Eventually, he and Sweet Lou will be inducted. Not yet.

Trammell was World Series MVP in 1984.

He sat at Sparky's side and learned from one of the greatest managers in the history of the game. And though Tram's first run as Detroit Tigers manager was not the most stellar, he is getting more seasoning as Kirk Gibson's bench coach with the Arizona Diamondbacks, who are currently in first place in the NL West.

Though Tram was not a power home run hitter (only 185), and though he did not hit enough to reach the lofty and exclusive 3000 hit club (only 28 players have so far in MLB history), he knocked 2365 hits in his career, which is not too shabby and a feat few have accomplished. Though I am not going to report Tram's position in MLB history with his career hit total, he is seventh on the all-time Tigers list after two of the Tigers in 3000 hit club (Ty Cobb and Al Kaline) plus Gehringer, Heilmann, Crawford, and Sweet Lou Whitaker (who has just four more hits than Tram, his infield partner for all those years).

Here's a great blog entry from last year that expresses many sentiments I share about the grand old ball park.

ALAN TRAMMELL REMEMBERS TIGERS STADIUM

Trammell embodied the best spirit of that time and the very nature of Ernie's phrase "Bless You Boys!"

THE DETROIT TIGERS 1984 SEASON

Commemorative hat from the
2012 World Series

The Tigers exploded out of the gate in 1984 like no other team that year, no other Tigers team in history, with one of the best starts in Major League history.

The Tigers cruised to a 35-5 record in the first 40 games and one of the top ten best starts by a team in major league history.

A writer collected these starts atBLEACHER REPORT.

The Tigers ended up  with 104 wins and 58 losses, which is not the best record in Baseball history, but it is one of the best. And in 1984, the Tigers' record was far and away the best of that year with the next best team back at 96 wins (The Chicago Cubs).

But 1984 is special to me because it brought me back to Baseball and reminded me of how much I loved the Tigers and Baseball.

Unlike the last time when the Tigers won the World Series (1968) when I was only six years old, the 1984 win meant a lot more to me because I was watching the games with my college friends (and sometimes my father) and engaging in adult conversations about the Tigers and Baseball.

The Tigers have not won the World Series since.

Most of all, I remember the summer of 1984 and how it re-kindled my forgotten love of Baseball.

I think puberty turned me temporarily insane. I didn't really fully grow out of the insanity until I was in my forties.

But early on, I remembered how much I loved Baseball, and I have been devoted ever since.

Hat is from Spring Training 2009
which I attended with my best pal.
Hat is a purged gift from him.
Photo courtesy of Robert Tower

BOOKS ABOUT BASEBALL

I love books about Baseball. Here's a picture of me posing with some of my books about the Tigers (though not all of my books about the Tigers) and all my books written by Ernie Harwell, most of which are signed.

This love of Baseball books should not surprise anyone. After all, I am the writerly, bookish type. Naturally, one of the things I love best about Baseball is the study of Baseball: statistics, stories, and history. The LORE. This is what Ernie gave me a passion for: THE LORE. He told the legends of Baseball both big and small like no other storyteller I have ever heard speak about Baseball.

I have written eight posts (including this one) about Baseball since I started the blog. I have written all but one of these Baseball posts about the Detroit Tigers.

And if you think I am out of Baseball shirts, you do not understand me at all. I have much more to share about Baseball, The Detroit Tigers, the 1984 team, Alan Trammell, Tigers Stadium, and Ernie Harwell. Stay tuned. Oh, and I should not forget to mention: Sparky Anderson.

ERNIE HARWELL

Ernie took over as the voice of the Detroit Tigers two years before I was born (1960) and finally retired the year I was 38 years old (which was also the year my mother almost died from bacterial meningitis). For 38 years of my life, Ernie was the voice of the Detroit Tigers. As I wrote in T-shirt #115, I think I nailed it:

"I love listening to Baseball on the radio. This is one of the central truths of my love for Baseball. It is presented in its most classic form on the radio. I grew up listening to the Detroit Tigers on the radio, the sonorous voice of Ernie Harwell crackling across my AM band, hand-sized transistor late into the night."

I am nothing if not self-referential and meticulous about the ongoing story I am constructing in these virtual pages.

Thank you, Ernie. I miss you.

+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 03 shirts remaining

- chris tower - first published - 1403.18 - 19:54
final publication - 1403.19 - 14:44

T-shirt #280: Israel

T-shirt #280: Israel

Grading robot powered down for two days for the holidays despite the looming final grade deadline Friday morning (12/27). I am happy to report that Grading Robot is once again powering down. This is the only time in the year that all work for which Grading Robot is needed ceases until January 13th. One school commences on Janury sixth with the other following on the 13th, but Grading Robot will not be needed for the first school until the 13th. Thus, the greatest vacation of the year for Grading Robot begins with a full ELEVEN days of no work and an eighteen day period of partial work. Grading Robot will not be at full power again until the week of January 20th, which happens to be the day after my birthday. So my birthday sort of signals the end of my full work vacation.

To celebrate the time off, I plan to spend time with the wife and kids, see movies, finish some household projects, help the parents, and most importantly host my best friend who will be here for five days of GAMING EXCELLENCE in January. Thus, it is fitting that this Israel shirt was gift from said best friend, Tom Meyers, better known as the Lord of Chaos.

It's rather interesting that this shirt is a 3XL, but it fits like a regular XL.

I am not interested in defending any political affinity with Israel or justifying any actions of this country or lack of actions. I like the shirt because I have always felt an affinity with the Jewish people, which is more interesting when recently my wife expressed interest in attending Temple. I like the shirt because Israel is the home of the holy lands of many people. And despite the country's actions toward Palestine and other actions or lack of actions in the area, I have always been rather pro-Israel because I have always felt very pro-Jewish. However, I am aware that there are many issues about which people would argue against showing pictures of myself in this shirt let alone with the Israeli flag (also a gift from the LOC) or of me in the shirt wearing my Hebrew Detroit Tigers cap (says DETROIT in Hebrew).

I have already featured Hebrew shirts on this blog:

T-shirt #3: Michigan in Hebrew

T-shirt #40: Indiana University in Hebrew

Mainly, I thought this would be a good shirt for me to share many pictures of my Christmas celebration with my birth family: my parents, my sister, Lori, and her husband Noel. Liesel always works on Christmas, and the kids are with their Dad, which is why pictures of our Christmas were posted with Christmas Eve, the day we celebrate.

Today is just pictures and text, some in captions and some not. You will see (as you did with T-shirt #278 - Three Wise Men? Be Serious) some previews of shirts to come as they were given to me as gifts. With birthday coming (January 19th in case you were thinking of gifting me a T-shirt), I think I am going to finish the blog year with enough shirts. But we shall see. I am trying to assemble another "break" from the blog in which I post shirts about which I have little to say while my friend is visiting (five days). So be prepared for light content that week. I still have much Pathfinder to prepare even though I am using modules.

Back to comic books tomorrow. Huzzah!

By the way, yesterday's post (which had its final publication today on the 26th) has become immensely popular very quickly, and I think more because it's about my wife and my wedding and not so much because it's about thirtysomething, too.

Onto my Christmas picture gallery. As always, thanks for reading.

CHRISTMAS PICTURE GALLERY - 2013 - TOWER HOUSE - PATTIWOOD

One of the purposes of this blog is a review of my geeky past. One of my fondest memories of Christmases past is my ever-burning, constantly yearning, and all-consuming desire for the toys for Big Jim's P.A.C.K. in 1976. I have found some BIG JIM shirts, so I am planning more BIG JIM content in the new year. I just wanted to share one of the best example of Christmas dreams. For at least a month in 1976, I dreamed of the stories I could make, the fun I could have, with these toys. These are definitely some of the coolest toys from my childhood.

It's important to toast with fine spirits during any holiday celebration. Liesel gave me a special bottle of Kentucky bourbon, 1792, for Christmas, and so here we are toasting and sampling this fine beverage.
I had seconds as seen below.

My mother loves Christmas. The Christmases of my childhood were magical and extra special. My mother devoted herself to so much shopping in the months prior to Christmas, carefully budgeting and yet buying many little things that showed how well she knew her children, that Christmas was all the more extra special because it was a living example of her love. Our stockings were "works of art," as my sister called them. She would carefully select very large and choice apples and oranges (one each) along with small toys and special doo-dads that she knew we would love. Some of these things we had asked for. Other things she found in her endless and months long shopping excursions.

One of my fondest memories of Christmas is that every year my mother would assemble a box of school supplies for us: pens, notepads, stamps, bookmarks, paper clips, folders, and so much more. All these items were lovingly selected to fit our personalities and interests. Often, this meant she had to go many places. Continuing the tradition while we were in college and after college, she would have to plan ahead. For my sister's box, she would have to make sure to buy University of Michigan stuff during a trip to Ann Arbor sometime that year. The thoughtfulness and love expressed by these boxes was a huge influence on the person I am today as I try to live up to my mother's example.

My Dad is the one mainly responsible for my love of comic books. Every year I would receive a large box of comic books on Christmas Eve. The tradition continued with my sister once she was born and old enough for comics. Knowing we would wake up in the middle of the night, my parents wisely let us open the comic book box the night before so we would have comics to read in the middle of the night when we were too excited to sleep anymore. We were not allowed to wake our parents until 7 a.m.

My Dad has been loving Christmas more and more lately, especially since my sister and I are both married and on our own. Also, BTW, the shirt he is wearing was originally mine and I give it to him because he likes red shirts so much. I have been keeping it in reserve, intending to use his shirts, the ones I gave him, in case I needed to round out my year of T-shirts with ones in his closet.

Tried to get a good picture of Princess, my Mom and Dad's cat, who doesn't remember me anymore, even though I used to feed her and clean her litter.

This is shirt with a special embroidered design. That's my father's logo for his architecture business.

My father asked us to get him scotch whisky but not to spend more than $30. Silly rabbit.

Great T-shirt gift!! Soon to be featured on the blog. And by soon, I mean before March 22.

My sister and Noel laughing that I now give them cards with dogs on the front because I am now a dog person as well as a cat person.

Another AWESOME T-shirt gift. The image comes from Kate Bush's The Dreaming. Don't worry. I will write about it.

My sister is thrilled to receive this special Vera Bradley purse.

My sister is also very happy here with this set of nested measuring cups shaped like a kitty cat.

Here's the Christmas tree (above) and the Christmas Village (below) all lovingly and carefully decorated and assembled by my sister who helps to keep the Christmas traditions our mother set and perpetuated alive and well. She also made cookies (not pictured) and a pecan pie.

Updates on 1312.29 from my Dad's camera. To start, a great picture of my mother laughing with chocolate on her lips.

I love page-a-day calendars. I have been disappointed this year with the Intellectual one I have. I currently run two, a word of the day one and the intellectual's checklist. At one time, I had five, so I have cut back to two.

More previews of shirts to come. When I started the blog, I soon realized that there were dear popular culture products that I wanted to write about. Can you guess which one this is in the photo below?

I mentioned Pogo in my Calvin and Hobbes post (T-shirt #122) since Walt Kelly was such a huge influence and Watterson and so many others. My brother-in-law pointed out that Pogo has been accused of containing racist content. However, in the Wikipedia entry for POGO (linked here), the word racism does not appear. A Google search did discover one lone book by some academic nerd who sees racism and sexism in every strip and obviously misses the point. I love POGO, and I have since I was a kid.

In addition to using page-a-day calendars and an engagement calendar, I have two wall calendars, though I may reduce this number to one. Here's the one for 2014.

Good times were had by all.

If it's not obvious, I love my family very much. Happy holidays to all, and thank you for reading.

COUNTDOWN TO THE END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 85 shirts remaining

- chris tower - first published 1312.26 - 20:06
final publication - 1312.27 - 9:59
update - 1312.29 - 8:47

T-shirt #259 - The First Chicago Cubs Shirt

T-shirt #259 - The First Chicago Cubs Shirt

Cubs fandom. This may seem blasphemous for a Detroit Tigers fan. But I feel I am allowed to love more than one team, especially with two teams that compete in separate leagues and rarely play each other.

This is my first Cubs shirt, and it must be about 30 years old. As you can see it has seen better days. It is close to being either pajamas or a "dead" t-shirt. Not quite yet, though I had to unearth from the back of a secondary closet.

Though I own several Chicago Cubs shirts, so far I have only featured one, T-shirt #115, in which I created a loving tribute to Ron Santo. Expect more Cubs and Baseball content to come, though I was hoping to forestall much of it until February and March.

I am still rolling a bit content light for the week as I try to work ahead.

And at the moment, I do not have any pressing news or content to share about the Chicago Cubs. So far, their off season activity has been very quiet.

Unlike the Detroit Tigers, who traded Price Fielder to Texas for Ian Kinsler, traded Doug Fister to Washington for two bullpen arms and a utility man, and are close to singing free agent closer Joe Nathan. But is it right for me to discuss Detroit Tigers content in a post dedicated to the Chicago Cubs?

FIELDER-KINSLER TRADE

TIGERS FANS PANICKING ABOUT FISTER TRADE

TIGERS SIGN JOE NATHAN

I like what the Tigers are doing. In other news, I am shocked that Jacoby Ellsbury is a Yankee.

In an instance of pure serendipity, there is Chicago Cubs content in the Sports Weekly, which arrived in my in box yesterday, after I had written the previous text (I am working a day ahead right now and hoping to expand the lead). Sports Weekly discussed major prospects on the horizon for the Cubs in top outfielder Albert Almora, shortstop Javier Baez, third baseman Kris Bryant, and another outfielder Jorge Soler. Bryant had the best overall season last year and was MVP of the Arizona Fall League. Baez who might move to outfield or third hit for power but needs work on plate discipline.

A nice article on the team makes the case that the Cubs will not seek a quick fix via free agency but will instead rely on the farm system and prospects to pay off starting in 2015 and thereafter. So, though the Cubs may improve marginally from a dreadful 2013 season, I would not bet money on too much improvement. New manager Rick Renteria hopes to turn around the trend as the Cubs have 90+ losses in the last three seasons, but is it realistic that the Cubs even break even let alone contend? Not yet.

So what else is there to say right now?

Besides, this is my content light week of semi-hiatus.

COUNTDOWN TO THE END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 106 shirts remaining

- chris tower - 1312.05 - 9:28

T-shirt #215: Powell's Books

T-shirt #215: Powell's Books

Three subjects today only one of which is related to Powell's Books. Today, I will review the book Night Film. I want to deliver a heartfelt thank you to my readers. And, of course, I have a few things to share about the resignation of Jim Leyland from the Detroit Tigers.

Today's shirt comes from my recent visit to Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon.

The shirt came wrapped in a paper band bearing the quote: "Was he an animal, that music could move him so? He felt as if the way to the unknown nourishment he longed for were coming to light." - Franz Kafka (1883-1924) The Metamorphosis.

I did not go nuts in Powell's with pictures, but my wife did take a photo of us together. Can you guess which section we're in? Where I found her in my wanderings?

Not much else to say about Powell's. It's a great bookstore? Yup.

DEAR READERS

Once again, I had someone tell me that he loves the blog. I never expect this to happen. I think I blushed. I feel a little embarrassed each time, like I got away with something I should not have. This particular comment came from someone I respect a great deal. He was a senior when I was a freshman. I had no idea that he was reading my blog at all, even once. I looked up to him a great deal when I in college and since. I am honored by his praise.

I do watch the stats that Blogger collects. Though I know that many of the "hits" to my blog are robo-bots, collecting URLs to sell me alleged readership boosting services, looking at the numbers, I also know that many of those hits represent readers or at least quick clicks, people who pop in and skim or glance or peek.

Page views yesterday totaled forty-three (43). Page views last month totaled fifteen hundred and twenty-two (1522). So far, page views all time total nine thousand four hundred and seventy-four (9474).

THIS MONTH - OCTOBER
(Stats reflect the activity for the month)

On October 16th, the blog peaked at 101 pageviews. Interesting stats pop out. T-shirt #176: Isher Artifacts earned itself a whopping 216 page views. I suspect this spike in views has to do not with the subject of the shirt and searches related to it but all the comic book content on the page, as I reviewed Forever Evil, Infinity, X-Men: Battle of the Atom, and Avengers AI, all of which may lead people from Google searches to my page.

It's no surprise to me that my tribute to my dear friend Bob Russell received over 80 hits for T-shirt #171. It's interesting that my recent adventures in Hawaiian food, featuring my People's Food Co-op shirt, in the post for T-shirt #199, has received 70 page views. And interstingly, the hodge podge that is T-shirt #209 has received 22 page views. And finally, not so strange, but an interesting fact is that my post on Nightwing, T-shirt #62, has received 57 page views. Is this due to the number of Nightwing fans among my readers, on the Internet, or the spike in Nightwing attention due to his unmasking in Forever Evil?


ALL TIME

I will just post the Blogger chart below to save time. Isher still leads not just for the month but all time posts probably because of all that comic book content. The Neahtawanta Bob Russell tribute follows due to my promotion of it on the Bob Russell memorial page and all the people who love Bob. I am intrigued that Batgirl ranks third, though like Nightwing, this may be due to increased interest in the character due to her stories in the DC universe. The Barn Theatre post ranks fourth because, again, of my promotion of it through the Barn page on Facebook and all the Barnies who may be interested in my tribute. Lastly, T-shirt #118 was my posting about the Trayvon Martin case, which I cross promoted to both Reddit and Stumble Upon. BTW, the links in the chart below are live links. Feel free to click.

More » Posts Entry Pageviews T-shirt #176 - Isher Artifacts Sep 13, 2013,  228 T-shirt#171 - The Neahtawanta Inn - Goodbye Bob Ru... Sep 8, 2013,  177 T-shirt #28: Batgirl (spoiler alerts) Apr 18, 2013,  119 T-shirt #125: Hair and the Barn Theatre Jul 24, 2013,  117 T-shirt #118: WWKD: What Would Kirk Do? Jul 17, 2013,  99

Ultimately, the upshot here is that I want to thank my readers, both those I know and those I do not. I am humbled and honored to have what I write read at all. There's a certain amount of hubris necessary for writing and publishing. I have that hubris, but I try to keep it in check. I will work hard to deliver quality content as often as possible and be worthy of your time and attention.

THANK YOU for reading.

JIM LEYLAND = CLASS ACT

Following the defeat of the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS at the hands of the Boston Red Sox, Jim Leyland has resigned as head coach and manager.

Jim Leyland steps aside as Detroit Tigers manager: 'The fuel's getting a little low' - FREEP

I recently wrote about Jim and his tenure with the Detroit Tigers in T-shirt #210. I defended Leyland against castigation by an idiot sportswriter, who turns out to have been right that Leyland would not continue if the Tigers lost the ALCS. I still think the local sports writer guy is an idiot.

As I wrote before, I was not on the band wagon that the pivotal change in 2006 that got the Tigers to the World Series was Jim Leyland. I think Leyland would agree with me. I defended him against criticism in recent years. I have not always agreed with his moves, but I do not think he is the reason the Tigers lost the ALCS, despite the Game Two debacle. Still, it's not a bad decision for him to step down. New blood may help (though, like the Red Sox last year, it may not).

Even though, Alan Trammell was my all-time favorite Baseball player, he was not my all-time favorite Baseball manager, a distinction I must grant to Sparky Anderson. Tram does not rank second either. In terms of Tigers managers, I must say I have enjoyed Jim Leyland's tenure more than other notables, like Billy Martin, Ralph Houk, and even though they were before my time Mickey Cochrane and Ty Cobb.

Thanks for a great eight years, Jim Leyland. We will miss you.

NIGHT FILM

I am not posting a bunch of links here. Just one to share the CBS Sunday Morning story via a cool blog by someone named Lisa.


Did you see Marisha Pessl on CBS Sunday Morning?

I first mentioned Night Film in the post for T-shirt #204.

In that post, I explained how I came to read Night Film and how much I was enjoying it (so much so that I read nothing else). It ranks with Ready Player One and Red Shirts as the three best new books I have read this year. Though I endorsed Warren Ellis' Gun Machine, and I enjoyed it, that book cannot compete with these others.

Night Film has already made my list of favourite books of all time.

My review here will not be extensive, and I am not posting reviews by others. I just give this book my strongest recommendation. Along with the other two I named (though Red Shirts will not appeal to everyone), I will bug people to read these books. Fantastic.

Night Film could have been hokey. But it's not. My first reaction to a novel that mixes straight prose narrative with "found" objects, such as police reports, magazine articles, and blog posts is that it can be a sign of a lazy writer. But perhaps this kind of thinking is the old way and not the new vanguard, not the zeitgeist. Marisha Pessl is not a lazy writer; she is a masterful and accomplished writer, who creates a vivid tapestry of character and suspense.

Night Film chronicles the investigation of the death of Ashley Cordova, daughter of reclusive cult horror film director Stanislas Cordova, who has died of an apparent suicide. Pessl has invented a rich history of Cordova and the people associated with the making of his films as well details about the films themselves. As the book begins, Cordova has not been seen in public in over 30 years, he has not made a film in over ten years, and his last few films were so horrific that no mainstream company would distribute them. The films are shown in underground locations (literally, like the catacombs in Paris) and are expensive commodities to come by copies.

To frame Cordova, think a cross between Lynch, Polanski, and Kubrick, and even that triptych is not an accurate portrait. My wife proclaimed, as she read the book, that she wished someone like Cordova actually existed.

I do not want to spoil any of the surprises of this masterful work that seems to elevate the suspense genre to new heights and intricacy. Suffice to say that this is one of the single best books I have EVER read, and I look forward to re-reading it multiple times. Do not hesitate. Do not pass go. Proceed straight to obtaining this book, take a deep breath, and plunge into the darkness with your eyes wide open.

Sovereign, deadly, perfect.

IMAGE GALLERY
Included here are the fictional movie posters for the fictional movies in the fictional book. Enjoy.

This last image is not a movie poster;
it's just a page from the book

- chris tower - 1310.22 - 10:04