Broke and Broke

Derrek Lee and his broken wrist at Dodger StadiumIn late April 2006 I made my inaugural visit to Los Angeles and decided I would enroll in graduate school. On the second night of my visit, I watched on ESPN as Nomar Garciaparra painfully tore his groin — crumbling to the ground in the batter’s box — effectively ending his short tenure as a Cubbie.
I quickly resolved that I wouldn’t be missing the Cubs in October after all by relocating to L.A. in August.

Fast forward one year — to the day — and I’m standing at Dodger Stadium with a contorted look on my face as Derrek Lee wretches in pain at first base. ONLY THE CUBS could possibly lose two guys to injury (pitcher Scott Eyre sprained his knee on the play) defending A BUNT!

Thursday’s x-rays confirm that Lee broke two bones in his wrist – in the absolute freakiest of incidents – being run into at first base by the diminuitive Rafael Furcal.

And D. Lee, the consensus #2 first baseman in the world (if not #2 all-around), is out for two to three months. We can only hope that means before the all-star break.

It may be the worst imaginable news, but as Cubs fans worldwide share a 98th straight championshipless season, there can be only greater room for optimism, right? This STILL could be the year — and besides, it’s pitching that wins championships, right?

Blogosphemers

I always think articles like the one in today’s Wall Street Journal are a kind of jinx. Can Bloggers Make Money?

The old guard says no way, new guard says why not. Some interesting opinions to peruse, but overall, isn’t it a jinx to go about your business thinking only of the green potential?

Of more interest, the ever-optimistic web innovator and Technorati founder David Sifry has released Part One of this month’s State of the Blogosphere report. “The blogosphere is doubling in size every 6 months,” is just one of the findings in his research.

Possibly the most useful item floating through the Blogosphere this week (aside from, on a local level, the 225 things to do in L.A. meme – in celebration of the city’s 225th anniversary) is Buzz Machine’s Jeff Jarvis publishing this questionniare, given to any freelancer who intends to write for the New York Times.

Jarvis “suggest[s] that bloggers should answer the questions as well and post them online to pressure mainstream journalists into such open disclosure.”

He answers the questions on his disclosures page, and Vaughn Ververs at Public Eye responds, as does Regret the Error.

BlogBurst — Is it Live?

I would never go on and finish that cliche with the anachronistic “… or is it Memorex”, especially not on National Originality Day!

But, according to an article in Wired, BlogBurst launched last Tuesday. As one of 600 or so bloggers signed up for the project, I am curious as to how exactly and if my content is being seen by potential publishers, has been published, etc. There is still no way to read reports in the BlogBurst module, which is a bit frustrating (although I fully expect there to be nothing to report — especially with regards to THIS blog)!

Ryan is Nailed!

Ah, justice is served…. Uber-corrupt ex-Illinois Gov. George Ryan is found guilty on all counts:

On their 11th day of deliberations, the six-woman, six-man jury found Ryan, 72, guilty on 18 counts of racketeering, mail fraud, false statements and tax violations.

Winston & Strawn and its disgruntled employees who lost out on numerous hours of pay for the pro-bono case (which may have cost the firm as much as $20 million) cannot be happy.

As Eric Zorn wrote last week, the guilty verdict is “[j]ust the beginning of a whole new process,” as former Gov. Ryan is now eligible for a considerable jail sentence.?
Full Coverage @ the Trib