On Podcasts

Last year, maybe around October or November, I finally decided it was time for an iPod. I had been procrastinating about it for a couple of years but the timing and the wallet were finally right and I decided to go for it. I have never been much of a music buff but there’s plenty of good stuff out there to enjoy. One of my main reasons for acquiring the device was to listen to audiobooks in the car and especially while exercising. There was one thing to which I never gave a second thought: Podcasts.

At first the concept was very silly. Listening to a radio show you missed. Who would waste their time doing that? Who has the time to listen to those things when you can invest that same time in an audiobook or listening to any of the 5,000 songs you haven’t played in the last 20 years? What a waste of time, Bro!!! That was until I listened to my first podcast.

The memories are blurry. I can’t even recall which one was my first. It may have been NPR’s Talk of the Nation. I love that show but can’t listen to it often since I am at the office at the time of broadcast. Somehow I don’t know how the first one it got into my iPod but one fateful day I didn’t feel like listening to my current audiobook. So I gave this “stupid concept” a try while I went for a walk. I felt what a druggie must feel the first time he tries Demerol or meth. I was instantly hooked. I enjoyed it so much I could hardly wait to get back home, sit at my computer and search for more.

I searched for some of the things I love and I subscribed to NPR Books, NPR Movies, NPR Science Friday, NPR Talk of the Nation, The New York Times Book Review, and ESPN’s Baseball Today. That was just the beginning.

Now I listen to ESPN’s Baseball Today podcast with Eric Karabell and Peter Pascarelli every lunch break. Checking for their latest show and getting it into my iPod are my last moves before I go for my first bite. I really get annoyed when the podcast is late and I can’t listen to it during lunch. Erik and Peter have become my lunch buddies.

Sam Tannenhaus has become my source for book news with his The New York Times Book Review podcast. I religiously listen to his awesome 15 minutes during one of my morning warm up bike rides at the gym. Eventually I had to drop Talk of the Nation because seldom I have one hour to devote to it, but in exchange I subscribed to NPR Science Friday which is divided into segments and I can perfectly pick what I want and fit in two or three 15-30 minute segments during the week either at the gym, the commute home, or if Eric and Peter haven’t uploaded their show by lunch time.

Later my brother, another avid baseball fan, suggested XM Satellite Radio’s Baseball Confidential podcast. Unfortunately it only lasted 18 shows, but it is a must for anyone who loves baseball beyond what happens on the field every night. He also recommended the “Baseball History Podcast” with Bob Wright. Another jewel. I downloaded them all and am still in the process of listening to all of them. I still have about 100 to go, which I am carefully saving them so I have some baseball to survive on during the off season.

This next podcast may not get me many fans, but I don’t care. This is my blog and I write what I like. I subscribed to “Real Time with Bill Maher”. I can’t catch the show every Friday Night, so when I don’t I listen to it on my way to work or back. Seventy five percent of what he says is as if I had written it myself for him to blab. I love to hear when someone says it like it is. Straight. No Vaseline needed.

Finally I got into two other podcasts. As a Christian, I admire Pastor Joel Osteen. He has a knack for cheering me up and lifting my spirit. I listen to his podcast when I need a soul boost. This may happen once or twice a week. I understand he is not the most profound pastor out there, but I am not looking for, or need, religion or theology. I need Jesus Christ in my heart constantly and listening to Mr. Osteen accomplishes the task. That is all I care for.

Finally, my brother recently recommended the “Amateur Traveler” podcasts, which I just got hooked on. I heard about a guy who went swimming with the whales in Tonga and now I want to visit the Outer Banks in North Carolina. The last one I heard was about this lady that has lived in Tokyo for seven years. I have been in Tokyo before so I could relate to her experience. It was very enjoyable. I downloaded them all and have about 125 to go. It may take me a year or two to listen to them all… so what?

If you read this far you must think I do nothing but listen to podcasts all day. That is not the case. I am “only” subscribed to 10 and religiously listen to just three. The other seven I alternate to when the mood strikes or if I have some time to kill.

I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to podcasts and invite anyone who owns an iPod to search for their favorite subjects on iTunes. There are thousands of possibilities available. Also, if you know of any cool podcasts on books, movies, baseball, current events or a real good Christian pastor, please let me know. I will need new lunch buddies once the World Series is over.

Yankee Stadium Memories

As I watched Yankee Stadium's last game ever, on ESPN last night, many memories came to mind. Things I saw on TV. My very earliest was Reggie Jackson's 3 HRs in a World Series game in 1977. the greatest is Josh Beckett and the Marlins beating the Yankees in Game 6 in 2003 to clinch their second title.

Yesterday's game started with a very nice opening ceremony. All those all-timers like only the New York Yankees can put together, reunited in a farewell event. No other team can get even close to what we saw last night. Once a friend explained it to me this way: pick a kid in the middle of Africa, a kid that has never seen a game, and ask him to name a team in US sports. Chances are he will name the Yankees". My friend is totally right.

I am not a Yankee fan. Far from it. My twin brother is one and my late wife was one, too. We always feud about it. First on my Philadelphia Phillies (1977-1992) and later with my Florida Marlins, once they came about back in 1993 in my adopted hometown of Miami.

I had the incredible opportunity of attending two games in Yankee Stadium. They just happened to be two of the 100 World Series games they hosted there in 85 years of long tradition. As a baseball lover, the opportunity to be there, where Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle, just to name the four top players who have ever worn the pinstripes, was plenty. In addition, there was the World Series atmosphere, Don Larsen threw the ceremonial first pitch of the series to Yogi Berra and the autumn chilly weather that lets you know the season is winding down. Nothing could make it better for a pure baseball lover.

I can't recall now if it was the first or second game of that series, maybe the second one, when Roger Clemens and Mike Piazza were carrying a grudge from a beaning incident during interleague play earlier in the season. In their first confrontation Mike Piazza hit a foul ball that broke his bat. The barrel landed close to the mound and Roger Clemens picked it up and threw it at Piazza as he was walking down the first base line. It was one of the most vicious things I have ever seen on a baseball field. Later Clemens stated he thought it was the ball. Look at the accompanying pic and let me know when was the last time you held a ball like that, and, even if you honestly thought it was, you threw it at the runner??? I don't recall the name of the umpire at this time, but he didn't have the "cojones" to eject Clemens in the first inning of a WS game in Yankee Stadium, as he should have.

Few sport facilities in the world may equal the history of Yankee Stadium. The only ones that comes to mind is Wembley Stadium in London and maybe the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro. Estadio Azteca in Mexico DF could also be in that group.

The time has come to move across the highway so there can be more luxury boxes, more revenue, more absurd contracts for burned out players, more disparity in the league and the start of an era where other teams, the ones that know how to use at least half of their brains, will start getting to the post season while the mighty Bombers have to start all over again given they depleted minor league system, their crappy pitching staff, their on-the-way-out veteran players and the outrageous contracts that still remain in their books.

Long live the Yankee Stadium memories!!! That line does not apply to the Yankees, though.

Thinking of blogging

It is fun to be a blogger. I have been thinking all day on what to write about next. My brother is in Seattle and sent me a picture of the very first Starbucks. That was an idea. I thought on something I learned at Church that I have been practicing for the last two-three weeks. I thought of lots of other things but I am writing about the things I want to write about.

This entry may not have much meat, I know, but it is still so very cool. Someday, someone will find my blog and will leave me a message. I will be delighted when that happens.

I promise next time I will write something cooler.

Enjoy!!

Adolfo

My very first blog entry

Hi there!!!

I am not sure why I started blogging, but I just did. As soon as I hit "enter" or "post" depending on what this template says (I haven't checked the end of the page) I will become a blogger.

What am I trying to get out of this experiment?

I am trying to reclaim my creative writing. I love expressing myself and as I write here, now, I feel invigorated. I love it. I love to put in paper (or virtual matter) what I have to say. If someone reads it, awesome, if someone doesn't, then it is ok, too. I am blogging for me.

Circumstances have made me stop writing and I hate it. I am a good writer. I made a living writing for 17 years. Now I want to reclaim what is mine and this is the way to do it and to feel good about it.

This is not my journal, this is not my diary. This is not a space where I will write about what I did today and how much I love to "smell the roses". I want to share my views on life, on the things I like, I want to review books, comment baseball games, and share my opinion on current events. Hear what people have to say about my views. I am a journalist in my heart, I am a journalist by trade. I want to get back there. I already feel it. I am already excited.

I pray to the Good Lord that he will guide me so I can get what I need out of this experiment. I am still figuring out myself. He already knows it.

Lets blog away, then!!!

Wahoo!!!