Fukudome!

That's pronounced "foo-koo-doe-mee"

from Cubs.com:

Hillman impressed by Fukudome

Outfielder could be good fit for Cubs if he leaves Japan

Well, maybe something good will come of this possibility for my beloved Cubs, but that's not what I'm here to talk about. I really just needed an excuse to say his name, because it provides a nice segue to discuss my feelings on the political going-on's in Birmingham these days. His names says it all.

My dad used to have an expression he'd say when he would approach traffic that was standing still: "Alright, somebody do something, even if it's wrong..." As it turns out, that catchphrase has become the core policy for our Mayor. "Let's do something" was the slogan that garnered him the very slight majority of votes last month. Well, what the slogan means is actually more akin to my dad's old advice for traffic congestion - "Let's do something - it doesn't matter if it's wrong..."

Punditry by the Pint has assessed the situation and I couldn't agree more. I recommend it, read it here...

Punish the person, not the whiskey

I don't drink, and I could really care less about the fate of this possibly illegally obtained whiskey, estimated at $1 Million. I just thought that the quote below from an "outraged" whiskey fan was priceless. Bless his Canadian heart...

Vintage Whiskey May Be Poured Out
Law Requires Officials Destroy Whiskey That Cannot Be Sold Legally
from WSMV Channel 4 Nashville

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Here's a sobering thought: Hundreds of bottles of Jack Daniel's whiskey, some of it almost 100 years old, may be unceremoniously poured down a drain because authorities suspect it was being sold by someone without a license.

Officials seized 2,400 bottles late last month during warehouse raids in Nashville and Lynchburg, the southern Tennessee town where the whiskey is distilled.

"Punish the person, not the whiskey," said an outraged Kyle MacDonald, 28, a Jack Daniel's drinker from British Columbia who promotes the whiskey on his blog. "Jack never did anything wrong, and the whiskey itself is innocent."

Investigators are also looking into whether some of the bottles had been stolen from the distillery. No one has been arrested.

Authorities are still determining how much of the liquor will be disposed of, and how much can be sold at auction.

Tennessee law requires officials to destroy whiskey that cannot be sold legally in the state, such as bottles designed for sale overseas and those with broken seals.

"We'd pour it out," said Danielle Elks, executive director of the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

The estimated value of the liquor is $1 million, possibly driven up by the value of the antique bottles, which range from 3-liter bottles to half-pints.

One seized bottle dates to 1914, with its seal unbroken. Elks said it is worth $10,000 on the collectors market. Investigators are looking into whether the liquor was being sold for the value of the bottles rather than the whiskey.

"Someone was making a great deal of profit," she said.

Tennessee whiskeys age in charred white oak barrels, but the maturing process that gives them character mostly stops when it is bottled. A bottled whiskey can deteriorate over a long period of time, especially if it is opened or exposed to sunlight and heat.

Christopher Carlsson, a spirits connoisseur and collector in Rochester, N.Y., said old vintages of whiskey in their original containers are highly prized.

"A lot of these bottles are priceless," he said. "It's like having a rare painting. It's heavily collected."

The raids, prompted by a tip, were conducted at two warehouses and a home in Lynchburg, about 65 miles southeast of Nashville. Another raid was at a Nashville hotel room where drinks were being served and bottles were being sold.

For now, the whiskey is being stored in a Nashville vault.

Elks acknowledged that pouring out the whiskey would not be a happy hour for her.

"It'd kill me," she said.

Semi-Tough? More like Semi-Turd...

Alright, Briefcase fans, it's been a while since I've blogged, and finally, à la Holden McNeil, I have something personal to say.

I watched a movie last night, and I'm quite certain it is now the reigning champion of movie turdburgers: Semi-Tough.

Released the same year as the first Bandit, it is probably Burt Reynolds' worst movie. And I say that having seen part of City Heat and all of Cop & a Half.

In addition to the poorly wigged, legendary - and dare I say genial (for Thomas) - Burt Reynolds, it has Kris Kristofferson, Robert Preston, Roger E. Mosley ("TC" from Magnum, P.I.), Carl Weathers, Brian Dennehy, and Bert Convy - that's right, I said BERT CONVY! So I'm thinking that this looks like Smokey & the Bandit meets Slap-Shot meets North Dallas Forty, right? Wrong.

I can't believe I sat through most of it, save the part where I went to the bathroom. I don't know why I kept watching. Maybe it's because there is nothing good on TV these days. Maybe it was because Convy is so danged good-looking. Perhaps I missed the key element of the story when I was in the john. The majority of the movie seemed to be a parody of/stab at the "est" seminars. If you didn't live in the 70's or if you haven't seen VH1's "I Love the 70's," you won't get it. Anywho, remember: that's Semi-Tough. Avoid it like the plague. I still think Burt Reynolds is great, though.

(The late Bert Convy was a perfectly-perm-headed
character actor, occasional member of the
Reynolds-movie-cast-entourage [Cannonball Run], and,
most notably, the host of TV's Win, Lose or Draw!)

A penchant for geology, nostalgia, and romance

Well, I was thinking of writing something about the Red Mountain Museum, inspired by this week's Birmingham Weekly cover story. Weekly staff writer Molly Folse presents a good article that chronicles the life of the one-time staple of annual elementary school field trips, you should pick up a copy of this week's issue. It's free.

I was going to say something about how the Museum closed with the advent of the McWane Center in 1998, and how anyone who went to elementary school at any point from 1977 until then can tell you all about the Discovery Place and the Red Mountain Museum. I was going to say something about how the Museum was a fabulous byproduct of cutting into Red Mountain for the Expressway, as they found all kinds of fossils and geological whatnot, how I still have a huge fossil rock from the Museum, and also how all of the Museum's artifacts are owned by the McWane Center, yet they have been exiled in storage for the past ten years.

But no, I can't think of any of that now, because I am really intrigued by this entry on "The Backboard" classified section on the last page of the Weekly:

I guess it's good to know that I'm not completely out of options
when it comes to romance. Whoever this is, will not only
provide you with mail-order nuptials, but they'll teach
you her language too. Aww...

Been Caught Stealin' on C-SPAN

Ever wonder whatever became of Jane's Addiction frontman Perry Farrell? I turned on C-SPAN the other day and there he was, the distinguished gentleman from Connecticut's Third District addressing the House. But the chair recognized him as Rosa DeLauro. Must have been my mistake.

He's got my vote

Here's what happens when you call State Senator Bishop a homo:

Actually, Republician Senator Charles Bishop punched Democratic Senator Lowell Barron in the head during the last day of the senate session. Bishop says he punched Barron after he called him a "son of a b*."

**Addendum:
According to some fellow senators on tonight's local newscasts, it went down like this: after failing to reach an agreement on something, Barron allegedly said to Bishop "You better watch your back over the next three years, because I'll be there to [expletive deleted] you every chance I get." For some reason that set Bishop off.

eh, I'm kinda pulling for the Cavs...

...but I love these nuns! They rock.

San Antonio nuns offer prayers for Spurs
Sister Rosalba Garcia, center, Sister Angelina Gomez, right, and several other nuns of the Salesian Sister of Mary Immaculate Province gather in front of their San Antonio Spurs banner, Tuesday. More>>

"It's like the end of an 85-year rain delay..."

* tagline from the 1995 Rickwood Classic promotion

Ok, so I went to the Rickwood Classic after all. Part of it, that is. After my CLE let out last Wednesday, I decided to go over and see how much of the game was left. I pulled right up in to a real good parking spot up close - money. Cautiously approaching the turnstyles, no ticket agents, no ticket takers, I walk right on through - money. Making my way to the stands, I joined a solid crowd of 5,802 paid attendees in time for the 6th inning - I'm so money.

For this season's Classic, the Barons were sporting the old green & gold of the 1964 Birmingham Barons. The '64 Barons were the first integrated professional baseball team in Birmingham, courtesy of Ensley's own, Charlie O, who made Birmingham the AA affiliate to his then-Kansas City A's. That installment (later re-christened the B'ham A's) was part of what would grow to be one the best farm systems in baseball. Players like Reggie Jackson, Rollie Fingers, & Vida Blue would play under Rickwood's lights, and eventually go on to Oakland A's World Series glory.


On display in the Rickwood conference room was tons of old Barons, Black Barons, and A's memorabilia. Very cool. Two big display cases full of A's uniforms, bats & things were supplied by Mr. Glynn West, who was general manager of the A's. They were also selling souvenir scorecards for $1 - the front office girl didn't have change for a ten, so she just handed me one and said "it's on me." - Again, I'm so money. Also on hand was author Ben Cook selling & autographing copies of his book Good Wood: A Fan's History of Rickwood Field. I didn't score a free copy of that - not so money, I guess. Oh well.

But just as there were many in the stands glued to the game, so too were several like me who just had to walk around. I mean, unless you're going to a West End-Parker high school baseball game, you don't have too many opportunities to soak up America's oldest ballpark. And boy is it old. Go to the top of the stands above third base and walk along, looking over the rail at the old industrial neighborhood, with the downtown skyline as a backdrop. It looks cool. I strolled over to the right field stands (where Ted Williams is said to have measured the distance to the roof, to ensure accurate HR measuring), and looked beyond the outfield wall, where the original wall still stands, still bearing original measurements. CF was a meager 478'! (It is now a more workable 393'.) I walked around that whole ballpark, casually strolling up to the players entrance (while they were still in play), as well in to the clubhouse (after the game) to see these huge posters of Willie Mays and Babe Ruth. Also in the club house is a restored manager's office, circa 1940's. Oh, and after the game, fans got to go out on the field. How cool is it to stand on a pitchers' mound where pitchers like Satchel Paige and Dizzy Dean once stood?

Anywho, I'm not a big fan of incessant "journal-ing" on blogs, but my point is, the park is great, but she's not completely back to old-glory-status yet. Even though there are retro ads on the outfield wall and she has a fresh coat of green paint on the outside, she needs some serious work. Having the distinction of being only the fifth concrete-and-steel ballpark constructed in the U.S., she is now riddled by peeling paint on the seats, outdated concession stands, and holes in the concrete in the stands. Even the dugouts (which aren't original) until could use some work, IMHO - perhaps enlarging it, padded benches, something. The neighborhood closely resembles a demilitarized zone - driving over to the park, it is painfully obvious why we had to move. For the Classic, it seemed like half of the B.P.D. was out in force, even in their mobile-command-swat-bus thingy.

She is a gem. I wish the Friends of Rickwood the best in their quest to preserve such an important piece of baseball history. Perhaps one day, when the Met gets so run-down and the Trace Crossings neighborhood just gets too dangerous, when B'ham's "urban renewal" is complete, then perhaps pro ball will return to the city. Oh well, see you at next year's Classic - maybe then I'll actually buy a ticket.