This One's for Kobe - by Ben Galli

Ahhh. Kobe.  An icon of his time now enmeshed in popular culture forever.  For all the celebrity worship in society, Kobe reached heights of fame few ever do.  He’ll be remembered like Jordan, Prince, Madonna, Herve Villechaize. For decades and decades to come, people all over the world will say his name in tribute as they throw their rolled up balls of paper away.  Now, I can’t offer any profound insight into Kobe that you couldn’t read somewhere else. I didn’t know the man. But I can try to offer some sense of measurement of the impact he’s made.

I was not yet even 16 when Kobe started making his first waves.  Heard there was another high school kid that was gonna follow KG and might be better.  His dad played in the league. Brandy’s his prom date. Back then, I didn’t enjoy my current elite nba insider status so it was a surprise to me when the Lakers traded Vlade Divac to the Charlotte Hornets in the 1996 NBA Draft to select Kobe Bryant with the 13th pick.  Vlade was the lovable goof that never lived up to expectations but you happily rooted for him. He was athlete Balki. But I had already drank the Kobe Bomb. I was thrilled that we got this ceiling defying talent. Like drafting Griffey Jr.  

*Quick note on why Kobe fell to 13th.  It was pure agent-player power plays. John Calipari had just become the Nets new head coach and wanted to draft Bryant with the 8th pick.  Apparently Arn Tellem, Kobe’s agent and current vice chairman for the Pistons and Sonny Vaccaro, famed Adidas honcho (and Youngstown State grad) spread the rumor that Kobe would go play in Italy instead of “your team” to many franchises.  He also refused to work out for many teams. From the beginning, Kobe didn’t care what you thought.  

Over the years, Kobe had his moments and they were in the thick of the limelight.  The 4 airballs in an elimination playoff game against the Jazz his rookie year. It showed even as a rookie he wanted to take the big shot, but could he make it?  His next year he was voted in as an All Star, the youngest in history on the strength of a 15-3-2? Veterans were riled at this young diva who hadn’t earned anything. This was probably true then but I don’t think anyone today would dare suggest Kobe didn’t earn what he has now.  There were the triumphs with Shaq and the troubles with Shaq which ended with Kobe outlasting him at the top of the Lakers player hierarchy.  

And there was Colorado in 2003.  That year indelibly affected Kobe and his legacy.  He made a mistake (the extremeness of which is where the rub lies) and for the first time his villainy on the basketball court became his reputation off of it.  It was one of those trespasses that muddled with rumor, many can never recover from. Kobe had his 81 point game and 2 more titles after that, yet for many, he could no longer be great.

But when Kobe’s life was tragically taken on January 26th, 2020, the nation and the world got to see how far he had come.  He had become a champion for women’s basketball and teaching young athletes with the Mamba Sports Academy launched in 2018. He coached his daughter’s basketball team and his multimedia production company produced videos and series aimed at educating children even starting the creation of his own vision of “if the Olympics and Harry Potter had a baby.” - a sports fantasy universe.

It was Kobe as he ever was. Always pushing the limits, proving that a person could do whatever they set their mind to. Kobe’s was a life well lived but cut short. A reminder, whether we wanted it or not, that you have a short time to live on this earth so make every moment count and be that person you always dreamed of being. .

Spoiler Alert! I'm Posting the Set List For the Show This Friday - by Colin Gawel

Colin Gawel & The Lonely Bones are doing a reunion show at Woodlands Tavern Friday, February 14th. Yes lovers, that is Valentine’s Day. Showtime is 9-ish and admission is FREE.

So what is the difference between the Bowlers and the Bones anyway?

Bones have more keyboards, more Dan Cochran and more Cheap Trick….the same amount of Ricki C. and they do not wear Bowling shirts. Both bands prefer Hilltop Lager.

In case you were wondering what songs we are going to play, I thought it would be fun to publish a Spotify playlist in advance. This may make you want to come. This may backfire and make you want to skip.

Anyway, if you want to be surprised do not click on the link below. Hope you can join us. We are excited. - Colin G.

Click Here for Lonely Bones Setlist on Spotify

Spring Training Is Almost Here! Reflections on the 2019 World Series and Why It Meant So Much To Me - by JCE

(editor’s note: This blog is our THIRD baseball upload of the past week from various Pencil Storm contributors. Obviously nobody could WAIT for the Super Bowl to be over so they could indulge their Boys of Summer proclivities. Cabin fever RULES!)

Well, the NFL season has been put to bed and now it’s time for March Madness and then baseball. With that in mind, I wanted to reflect just a little bit on the 2019 MLB season. I was born in Washington, D.C. and raised in the suburb of Alexandria, Virginia. When I was about 6 or 7 years old my cousin Eric introduced me to baseball card collecting. I remember whenever my cousin was visiting from his home outside Philadelphia, we would spend time at my grandmother’s apartment, which was really close to a 7-11 store. She would buy us gobs of Topps baseball cards at ten cents a pack. We would spend hours trading our “doubles” and building our collections. I remember the first goal was for me to get all the Washington Senators, and Eric was collecting the Philadelphia Phillies. Most of these memories were 1970-71, which I know because I still have all those baseball cards---the 1970 cards have a gray border and the 71’s are black. The black ones look great with the red in Senators’ uniforms.

1970 Topps Frank Howard

1971 Topps Ted Williams (manager)

It was about that time that the Senators packed up and moved to Texas to become the Texas Rangers. I was heartbroken. My Dad (RIP) took me to RFK Stadium to see the Senators a number of times. My best friend John who lived down the street once caught a Frank Howard home run ball. I loved that team, even though they lost most of the time. With my team gone, I vowed not to root for the Rangers, and due to the fact that my favorite player in baseball was Carl Yastremski of the Boston Red Sox, I declared that the Red Sox would be my team from that point forward. The San Diego Padres threatened to relocate to D.C. only a season or two later, and I have a Topps baseball card that reflects that, but it never happened. If it had, I would have abandoned the Sox and rooted for my hometown team again.

an interesting card… $6.85 on ebay if you want one

I faithfully rooted for yet another losing team for the next 33 years until Boston finally broke through in 2004, winning the fall classic after winning the American League in a miracle comeback against the hated Yankees. I watched every playoff and World Series game in 2004 and it was worth the loss of sleep. I was elated over my Sox finally winning. I was 41 years old and it was the only time my team had ever won in baseball. My sister (RIP) went to school in Boston and got me to Fenway park once. That is a special memory, like my Dad and RFK Stadium. Since then the Sox have taken the title three more times, in 2007, 2013 and 2018. But those next three Red Sox wins were not as sweet for me. Why? Well because even though I still pull for Boston to win the American League pennant every year, in 2005 Washington, D.C. got baseball back. Naturally, I had to declare my true allegiance to my hometown Washington Nationals. They may have taken a couple of seasons to win me over, but they did.

Which brings me to 2019. After 14 years in town, and after some big playoff failures, the Washington Nationals brought a World Series title to D.C. for the first time since the 1924 Senators. Again, I stayed up late, watching my team pull off miracle after miracle to win the Series. When it was done, I had a feeling that exceeded even the 2004 Red Sox title.

I count myself lucky that without being a bandwagon jumper, I was able to root with all my heart and soul for two of the most improbable World Series champions—the 2004 Boston Red Sox and the 2019 Washington Nationals. I don’t expect to win another one in my lifetime, but that’s fine. I got this one, and it means a lot to me.

Now it’s time for pitchers and catchers to report!

Stats Prove Jobu Took Fear From the Astros Bats - by Colin Gawel

author’s note: The following story is my attempt to summarize/plagiarize the story: “Does electronic sign stealing work? The Astros’ numbers are eye-popping” by Jayson Stark and Eno Sarris, which was recently published at The Athletic.com.  I am going to justify this by suggesting that you should subscribe and read the whole story. It’s my favorite sports website by a long shot. (Click here to visit)

A brief refresher, the 2017 Houston Astros won the World Series. Turns out they were illegally stealing signs with a combination of a closed-circuit TV, trash can bangs and electronic buzzers. 

So you ask, “What is the big deal about stealing signs?” 

Two quotes to explain that:

“Hitting is timing. Pitching is upsetting timing.” - Warren Spahn 

“Straight ball, I hit it very much. Curve ball, bats are afraid. I ask Jobu to come take fear from bats. I offer him cigar and rum.” - Pedro Cerrano 

Now imagine if Jobu could have told Cerrano in advance when a breaking pitch was coming? Pedro could simply take the pitch and wait for a fastball. And avoid striking out. It’s not always what you swing at, it’s what you DON’T swing at. 

A couple highlights from The Athletic story….

In 2016, Astros hitters struck out 1,452 times. That’s the 8th highest total in the history of baseball. 

In 2017, Astros hitters struck out 1,087 times. 

In one year they went from striking out at one of the highest rates in history to a team that struck out less than any other team that season. Is this normal? According to the friendly nerds at Stats Inc., this sort of thing has happened exactly……never. At least since the live ball era started in 1920. In fact, no other team in history has come within 80 strikeouts of doing it. 

Stats also found the 2016-17 Astros were the only team in 100 seasons to cut their strikeout rates by more than two strikeouts per game in one year. 8.96 to 6.71. Home strikeouts dropped from 744 to 502. The Astros reduced their strikeouts at home by 83, more K’s than the next-closest team in the last 100 years. 

OK, we get it, Jobu was helping bats very much. How does this affect my fantasy baseball team?

Who suddenly stopped swinging and missing at breaking balls from 2016-2017?

Marwin Gonzalez, incredibly, went from a 40 percent swing rate to just 10 percent.

Carlos Correa 27 - 15;

Jake Marisnick 30 - 13;

George Springer 18 - 12;

AND according to Tony Adams at signstealingscandal.com, these four players combined for the highest percentage of trash-can bangs with Gonzalez leading the way with 147 bangs during his at bats. 

Evan Gattis has a career strikeout percentage of 22.5. In 2016 it jumped to 25.5. In 2017, it dropped to just 15.4. Only five players in the history of baseball have had that kind of turnaround. 

Some good news, despite the fact Jose Altuve inexplicably moved UP in the box against Aroldis Chapman before crushing an off-speed pitch for the series winning-home run. And even more inexplicably was completely obsessed with keeping his jersey on during the post game celebration, there is little evidence he benefited much from Jobu during the regular season. His bats weren’t afraid. 

His numbers are pretty normal unless you count that trash can thumping can only be heard during 2.8% of his at-bats. That would be an outlier for the 2017 “champion” Astros. 

You get the idea and I’ve got to get back to serving coffee. Why not subscribe to The Athletic and read the whole thing? It’s worth your time. 

Colin Gawel founded Pencilstorm and clearly has WAY too much time on his hands at Colin’s Coffee. 

MLB Cheating is a Crying Shame - by Scott Goldberg

I guess there is no crying in baseball—however what the Astros did is a crying shame. They cheated and won and mostly got away with it.  Alex Cora took what he learned to the Red Sox and won there—he learned cheating pays. He is now out of a job as is the Astros manager and GM.  The punishments aren’t severe enough.

I believe sports mirror the society we live in.  I can’t help but see parallels to our current political climate.  How politicians have placed party above country. How being honorable and moral are less important than winning.  How the ends justify the means. Is it any wonder baseball players, managers and front offices have placed team ahead of the game.  There is no honor in what these teams accomplished nor should there have been any glory. Doing irreparable harm to the game you espouse to love in the name of competing is a disgrace.  MLB cannot deal too harsh a penalty. Whatever is done is not enough.

I must admit I haven’t followed this travesty closely.  It’s too disturbing. I haven’t delved into all the underlying numbers.  I do know the Astros (and I assume the Red Sox) hit exceedingly better at home than on the road.  I know Clayton Kershaw underperformed in his outing at Minute Maid Park and the narrative became more about his inability to dominate in the playoffs (i.e. he’s choking).  Pretty unfair when the other team knows what pitch is coming through no fault of his own.

All sports have some form of deceit.  Soccer and basketball players flop, football players will have mysterious injuries to stifle their opponent’s momentum, and of course there is legitimate sign stealing in baseball.  There is a line in all sports. Sometimes that line is blurry. What the Astros and presumably the Red Sox did obliterate any sense that a line even exists.

I don’t totally know what to make of it.  I think about my upcoming fantasy draft. Are players like Bregman, Altuve and Betts still worthy of first round picks?  I am so disgusted, I’m not sure I want to participate in fantasy baseball at all this year. A baseball boycott seems a reasonable response for fans whose trust in the integrity of the game has been stolen.

I have been a Cleveland Indians fan for my entire life.  World Series appearances can be counted on one hand; wins---nada and I was born in the same year as the Super Bowl.  There is nothing I want more in sports than for the Indians to win a World Series. I am not sure how I would feel if the Indians finally won only to discover they cheated to do so.  Euphoria to disgust. I am not sure I could forgive the game.  

I know to some my reaction may seem overblown.  I actually feel the opposite. Sometimes I feel like a hypocrite watching football when I see players heads getting smashed and I know they are risking significant brain injury.  I get it that they know the risks at this point, but if fans like me stop watching revenue goes down and thus the incentive to risk brain injury goes down as well. How do I go back to watching baseball and thereby implicitly forgive behavior I really have no interest in forgiving?  Frankie Lindor’s smile will suck me back in, but I am warning you Baseball you’ve got two strikes. 

Record Review: Drive-By Truckers / The Unraveling - by Jeremy Porter

SPOTIFY Playlist - Listen while you read!!

The Drive-By Truckers’ twelfth studio album, The Unraveling, comes out January 31 on ATO records. The Athens-based band has a 24 year history of deep Southern roots and relentless touring, from the smallest dive-bar stages to theaters and concert halls across North America and Europe. They celebrated and questioned the `duality of the Southern thing’ with what was arguably the peak of their output - Southern Rock Opera (2001), Decoration Day (2003), and The Dirty South (2004) and one of the best live shows on the club circuit. While some only know of them as “that band that Jason Isbell was in,” others have embraced those albums and the rest of their catalog, their live show, and some of the finest songwriting in the last couple decades with a devoted following to a band that represents everything that American rock and roll should be: honest, imperfect, raw, controversial, & in your face.

If I’m being honest, I went into this record with low expectations. My personal arc with DBT peaked over a decade ago and I’ve struggled with the last couple albums, which to me felt tired and lacked the staying power of the music they were releasing in what I consider their prime. Even the live shows I’ve seen have been inconsistent since then (15 times total, in 8 cities across 5 states, but who’s counting?). Still, they’re way up there on the short list (ok, long list) of my favorite bands of all time and I’ve bought everything they’ve released. Every time I left one of those subpar shows disappointed, they absolutely killed it the next time I saw them, restoring my faith. I’ve almost written them off more than once in the past, but I’ve learned over time to always give them another chance.

The new album has an energy and spunk not heard from the Truckers’ with such consistency since The Dirty South, and while they’ve had a few great moments since, they haven’t sounded as inspired or energized as they do here. Singer/guitarist Patterson Hood does most of the heavy lifting on The Unraveling, which has already sparked complaining from the passionate fan base of the Trucker’s other creative force, Mike Cooley, who only sings two of the nine songs. The sing-along chorus of “Slow Ride Argument,” one of the two Cooley songs, and the intro and verses of “Armageddon's Back in Town,” harken back to classic upbeat DBT songs like “Feb 14th” from A Blessing and a Curse (2006). The record grooves where it should, pulls back when appropriate, and turns up right when you’re ready.

As longtime listeners have come to expect, each song is a little slice of modern America: good, bad, and ugly. “21st Century USA” is a good example, set on the pavement of a freeway-side hotel-stripmall where the band had a pit stop between tour dates. They were in Gillette, Wyoming, but with the Applebees, Taco John’s, KFC, AutoZone, and the “Good Time Bar to get your bad swerve on” surrounding them, it could have been anywhere between the coasts, and the struggles Hood witnessed and envisioned that day are the same struggles that most Americans - from all over - are facing.

They’re not shy about diving into political themes either, with titles like “Thoughts and Prayers” and “Babies in Cages.” The former has a great moving beat, some visual and challenging lyrics, and a chord progression that recalls “Two Daughters and A Beautiful Wife” from their last great album, Brighter than Creation’s Dark (2008). The sentiments expressed in these songs are noble and worth questioning, and the tracks succeed on their own merits, but a songwriter with the talent of Patterson Hood could have come up with titles less obvious and easy than overused phrases from political talking points.

The album feels like it was recorded live to tape. It’s got a warm, organic sound, and a flow and swing that comes naturally to a band with this much history. It doesn’t hurt that the current lineup is the longest they’ve had, and with long-time Truckers’ producer David Barbe at the helm, it sounds every bit like a DBT record. But most importantly, for the first time in a while, this record feels inspired and relevant. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that spirit back in the mix, and glad to be drawn back to some new music from the Truckers’ music again. I’ll always give them another chance.

The Unraveling is good, honest, guitar-driven, American rock and roll made by guys doing their best to write real songs in an attempt to figure out the complicated people, situations, politics and struggles of this country, and ultimately their own role in it all. Pick it up today at record stores everywhere or stream/download it at the service of your choice.

Jeremy Porter lives near Detroit and fronts the rock and roll band Jeremy Porter And The Tucos.

www.thetucos.com

Follow them on Facebook to read his road blog about their adventures on the dive-bar circuit.

www.facebook.com/jeremyportermusic

Twitter: @jeremyportermi | Instagram: @onetogive & @jeremyportermusic

www.rockandrollrestrooms.com