Tad Annoyed Fails to Land on the Moon Today

It's been a while since I posted. Nothing much seems to be annoying ol' Tad these days. And any of the stuff that occurs to me usually happens during my commmute and evaporates from my miniscule psyche by the time I gets me to my computer. So a couple of random thoughts on current events, just to loosen the joints...

Yesterday Apple Computer announced their new I-Phone. At least that's what they were hoping to call it. They were in last-minute talks with Cisco Systems, whose Linksys unit apparently already has a product called I-Phone. No agreement was reached before Steve Jobs announced Apple's I-Phone, so now Cisco is suing Apple for trying to use the name without permission.

Bad move in my opinion. Just think of all the sales Cisco will miss out on by mistaken consumers. Perhaps in exchange, Cisco can get permission to call their latest routers "IPods".


Switching gears, yesterday the Baseball Writers of America announced the results of their Hall of Fame balloting. The headline I read on my newspapers shamefullly read "McGwire Fails to Get Elected to Hall".

I have a number of problems with this headline. First, it unnecessarily bags on Mark McGwire. Was he actively pursuing election? Did he lobby or campaign? I don't know, but I would hate to be accused of failing to do something that I never set out to accomplish in the first place. The headline should rather state "Baseball Writers Fail to Elect McGwire" at the very least.

Even better - the headline should proclaim that Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn were easily elected, and deservedly so. But there is no question, no controversy, no juicy story behind that.

I think that Mark McGwire has a place in baseball infamy. He did nothing to cheat, technically, as far as I am aware. The Andro he reportedly took was not against the rules when he played. So more power to him.

For players that took supplements after they were outlawed, too bad. Rafael Palmeiro continued, and got busted. Sammy Sosa retired, and is contemplating a comeback as I understand, a year after his system, er, mind is clear. And Barry Bonds... let's just say that his body does not recover from injuries as quickly, he is now on pace with the rest of us.

Should Barry get elected? Probably, in my view. Being a nice guy was never a criteria. I've never met Mark McGwire, but he always seemed media friendly (and was good on TV) when he played. Bonds is not. I've briefly come across Bonds once in person, and making a good impression or appearing affable was not one of his priorities.

My bottom line is that Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Pete Rose, and Joe Jackson each have contributed significantly to the game of baseball, and are pretty darn famous. They should be in the Hall of Fame.

But who the hell am I. Ah yes, just a casual blogger.