Chowdah's Definitions

In the style of Joy of Sox and other blogs, I've decided to create a glossary of terms that may or may not be used in my writing. It will be updated when the need arises.

Aftermath- Spanish 1 Honors

Happy Feet- Felix Pie, because Felix is Latin for happy and Pie is Spanish for foot.

Minor League Axis of Evil- Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, because the Yankees' AAA team is the SWB Yanks and the Pens' AHL affiliate is the WBS Penguins.

RIITOT- It's not a Finnish word, it stands for Random Idea I'm Throwing Out There.

SNG (Sameish Name Guy)- Niklas Backstrom, the Wild's goalie, who coincidentally is Finnish. (Helpful link that no, I did not create)

Soxitals/Yankguins- All that is good/evil.

An SNG visual aid (which upon posting I realized was a bit cut off. Oh well.)

Oreo Magic

I'm back! I was gonna post a baseball story I wrote back in (I think) 5th grade, but it was probably deleted years ago. (Hmmm.... 5th grade? Maybe I did care about sports before middle school...) [update 12/30: actually, it may have been 7th grade, but who gives a crap?] Anyway, a while back I wrote a parody of "Orioles Magic", an old O's anthem. As the title suggests, it's about Oreos.

Something magic happens

when you eat them up

You make the magic happen,

the magic of oreo cookies

When it's time for a snack

and you want oreos

There's a thundering roar from your tummy

to eat all you've got

And you never know

how many that you'll eat

When you eat one, you want more,

that's the magic of oreo cookies

Oreo Magic! Feel it happen!

Oreo Magic! Feel it happen!

O-R-E-O-S!

Magic! Magic! Magic! Magic!

Something magic happens

when you eat them up

You make the magic happen,

the magic of oreo cookies

When you tear open the pack

and you eat them up

Nothing could be more exciting,

nothing could be more fun!

There's a love affair

between you and oreos

There's a reason you eat oreos

It's 'cause you know what the magic means

Oreo Magic! Feel it happen (x4)

O-R-E-O-S!

Magic! (x4)

Oreo Magic! Feel it happen!

Magic! (x4)

Something magic happens...

Awesomeness

Yesterday, I was at Sunday School and saw an awesome poster lying around. Ya see, I'm a student aide in the 3rd grade Hebrew class, which meets in what is a social studies classroom during the week. (Coincidentally, the high school where my Sunday School meets is my actual high school- so I go there 6 days a week). While aiding, I noticed a poster with some Capitals pictures on it. I'm pretty sure it was a project for a sociology class, and here's what it said:

(In big letters): OVECHKIN
Tribe: Emveepea
Clan: Eagle
Primary Food Source: Penguins
Housing: Verizon Center
Weapons: Slap Shot and Wrister
Colors: Red and Blue
Clothing: #8 Jersey

I have no idea what the requirements for the project were, but this deserves an A. For Awesome. And since I left a complementary sticky note with my name and grade- maybe, just maybe, I could get an interview (but probably not, especially since I don't personally know the person who made it, and she's not in my grade)

[Update 10/27: The project (for a class/unit about Native Americans) was to pick a real Indian and fill out the above categories. After doing that project, the student made a Caps-themed one because the teacher is a Penguins fan. The poster I saw lying on the shelf is a year or two old; the teacher kept it, and the girl who made it has since gone on to college.]

Random Idea I'm Throwing Out There: Ump Tourney

Ironically, this was used on insidesocal.com last April. April! It's not from this postseason, but from APRIL! Then again, umps get villainized regardless of month.  

Well, the MLB playoffs aren't going too well. And not just because my Red Sox got swept and the hated Yankees are in the World Series (and on that note, Go Phils!). There have been a lot of blown calls this postseason, and the issue has gotten a lot of media attention. Everyone knows (and has to accept) that umps are human and thus not perfect, but there do seem to have been a relatively high number of bad calls lately. With something as important as a championship on the line (as well as all the media coverage and scrutiny that comes along with the playoffs), Major League Baseball has taken action- they've changed the World Series umpiring crew to have umps with more experience.

This brings up an idea- what about having the best umps in the regular season call playoff games, the same way that the best teams make the postseason? Instant replay and strike zone technologies can be used to evaluate umps, so how 'bout sending the most consistent/accurate regular season umpires to the postseason crews? (Of course, it's not that simple, but the main idea sounds okay in theory) And it doesn't even have to stop there- the best umps during a particular round of the playoffs could go on to call the next round (except that 3-7 games is a way too small sample size for umps).

Do these ideas sound ridiculous? Or does this seem like it could be plausible after necessary minor (and major) details are worked out? And why am I asking questions on a blog that hardly anyone reads?  

Fun With Google Translate, Part 1 of ?

Today's edition of FWGT focuses on sports quotes, and what happens when they're translated to (I dunno, let's say German) and back a few times. (Quotes from BrainyQuote)

"We talked to the referees before the game; there's always new situations to adjust, for the refs and for us as well. Even on the ice, it's good for players to talk and interact with the referee." --Peter Bondra
Translated to German and back once- "We spoke with the referee before the game, there are always new situations to adapt to the referee and also for us. Also on the ice, it's good for players to talk and interact with the referee."

Okay, so that's pretty close to the original. Let's try another:


Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours. --Yogi Berra
Translated to Finnish and back once- "Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they will not come to you."
Twice- same translation

"A nickel ain't worth a dime anymore." --Yogi Berra
Icelandic and back once- "A nickel is not worth a dime anymore."

Wow. The translation is more grammatically correct than the original.

"We picked the Red Sox because they lose. If you root for something that loses for 86 years, you're a pretty good fan. You don't have to win everything to be a fan of something." --Jimmy Fallon
Greek and back once- "We chose the Red Sox because they lose. If you root for something lost for 86 years, you are very good fan. We need to win everything to be a fan of something."
Twice- "We chose the Red Sox because they lose. If you root for something lost for 86 years, will be very good fan. We can win everything to be a fan of something."

Well, that definitely changed the meaning of the last sentence.

And last: "You know, a lot of people say they didn't want to die until the Red Sox won the World Series. Well, there could be a lot of busy ambulances tomorrow." --Johnny "Benedict" Damon 
Hindi and back once- "You know, a lot of people say they win the World Series until red sox did not want to die. Well, there could be a very busy ambulances tomorrow."
Twice- "You know, a lot of people say they win the World Series until the red sox did not want to die. Okay, there could be a very busy ambulances tomorrow."

Wait- I win the World Series until the Red Sox don't want to die? What?!?

"The Leval-Shelay Devices", Complete Version

(When I originally posted this story, I didn't know how to add a "jump". So here's the story in its entirety, because splitting it up can make it kinda confusing to read.)

Fun With Baseball Reference: Sox Hitters

B-R is a great source for interesting* (and most likely, true) facts about baseball players. Without further ado, here are some things you may not have known about the Red Sox:

Jacoby Ellsbury: He's (usually) our leadoff hitter, so he might as well be first. Fun facts: his middle name is McCabe, some Yankees fans sponsor his page with the message "Almost as good as Brett Gardner.", and he was originally drafted by Tampa. WHAT? It's true- he was their 23rd round pick in '02, but didn't sign. And it worked out well- he went from 23rd round to 23rd overall (and his uniform # is 46, which is twice that. COINCIDENCE? Almost certainly.)
Dustin Pedroia: There aren't too many obscure facts on his page, except that his middle name is Luis. (I didn't know that)
Kevin Youkilis: Not much to be found here, either.
David Ortiz: Was a PTBNL in a trade between the Mariners and Twins in '96. One of his nicknames is apparently "Cookie Monster", and his full name is David Americo (Arias) Ortiz.
Jason Bay: He's been traded a lot, but I don't think that counts as an obscure fact. Middle name=Raymond.
J.D. Drew: Was once traded for Jason Marquis and Adam Wainwright. J.D. actually stands for David Jonathan.
Jason Varitek: Has been as high as 21st in AL MVP voting. Middle name Andrew. Batted 1.000 in 1997 (take that, Mauer!) in one plate appearence (never mind).
Victor Martinez: Middle name is Jesus, and he's from Ciudad Bolivar (A city named after Simon Bolivar, a historical figure that I started [but didn't finish] a school project on last year), Venezuela.
Mike Lowell: I don't feel like looking it up, but he might possibly be the most famous FIU alum. Was originally drafted by the Yankees and played in 8 games for them.

I didn't include any shortstops- perhaps that's a topic for a different post.....(maybe).....

*or not