Tag: PF

Koreans don’t get respect in baseball

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Impetus: Chan Ho Park not included in 2016 Hall of Fame . . . ballot

Let’s be clear here, in no way do I feel that Chan Ho Park is worthy of being enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame (HOF) based on his statistical numbers.  No, I love Chan Ho Park since he’s a Korean guy playing my favorite sport, but it doesn’t change the fact that he wasn’t exactly Greg Maddux or Randy Johnson legendary, and doesn’t have the statistical achievements in order to make it in.

In that regard, the HOF is at least consistent on its demand that only the truly best players get in, and they weigh statistical evidence above pretty much everything else.  However, small as they may be, there are some other variables that are considered when it comes to players’ chances at Cooperstown; otherwise Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa would all already be in the HOF, but their connections with performance-enhancing drugs have basically black-listed them and their gaudy career numbers from enshrinement, as long as ultimately, old-thinking baseball writers association of America (BBWAA) are in charge of keeping the gates.

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Remembering Tommy Hanson

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

In short: former Major League Baseball pitcher Thomas J. “Tommy” Hanson passes away at the age of 29, due to “catastrophic organ failure.”

Talk about something that came out of nowhere; it’s not often that I expect to hear about spontaneous deaths from people much younger than I am. And in spite of my faltering indifference to the game over the last few years, I’d like to write some words about Tommy Hanson, because if anything at all, he represents a player that was pretty prevalent during my peak of baseball fandom, and I’m genuinely sad to hear about his unfortunate and way too early departure.

Forget about the win-loss record, the ERA, and the list of teams that he had played for in his career, that one might expect to see within the final paragraphs of a professional athlete’s online eulogy and/or obituary. This isn’t to say that they weren’t pretty, quite the contrary, his overall numbers were positive and respectable, despite the obvious observation that he was declining quickly, mostly on account of shoulder troubles that plagued the tail end of his baseball career.

To me, Tommy Hanson represents the link, the gateway, into my eventual love and appreciation for minor league baseball.

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Today is a special kind of day

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

A year ago today, at like 4:30 in the morning, I asked a particular girl if she’d be willing to give a doofy guy with no game like me a shot.  She must have been groggy and discombobulated by the time of the day, because she miraculously agreed.

For all the times I’ve mentioned the mythical girlfriend, there’s still a thin veil of secrecy, because I’m generally a private person who typically tries to keep my brog relevant to me, not because I’m trying to be narcissistic and deny others any sort of spotlight, but mostly because I’m not going to assume that everyone in my little world will be okay with me throwing out their names and pictures on the internet.

But a guy that looks and acts like me, should want to boast a little bit, especially when he’s somehow able to dupe and deceive a pretty girl into getting stuck into a relationship with him.  That being said, if there was ever a time where I felt like pulling the veil back a just a little bit, today seems about as good as any.

The mythical girlfriend and I, at Disney World; look, she actually exists!

And for whatever reason, a year later, she’s (voluntarily) still around, much to my confusion.  <3

Photos: League of Legends shoot – Ahri / Caitlyn

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Now anyone who knows me or who’s been visiting my site for any length of time knows that I don’t really consider myself much of a photographer, much less even using the term “photographer” to describe myself.  I was never formally taught, nor do I put in a tremendous amount of time practicing and trying to improve myself.  I like to read about photography, and try to absorb knowledge that I try to apply to my approach with taking pictures, but that’s really the extent of how much effort I put into.

I just want my camera to do all the work for me, and spit out results that I am expecting to get!

Anyway the point of bringing that up is the mythical girlfriend asked me to take some pictures of her and her friend during Dragon*Con, wearing Ahri and Caitlyn from League of Legends, so that they could have some reliable photographs, since if anything, I’m good at sharing the pictures I take, reliably.

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Dragon*Con 2015: Thoughts and Closing

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Better late than never, right? Life’s been a little bit hectic since the conclusion of the convention, and between balancing life, family and work, on top of trying to edit and process down 500+ photographs, finding the time to write, much less catch up on all of the thoughts and words I had in mind in regards to Dragon*Con seemed like somewhat of a daunting task. But I’m in a good place with photos currently, and with what feels like a window of opportunity to do some writing, away we go.

“Clarity” is the one word I repeatedly answered with, whenever anyone asked me how the convention was.

I’ve made no secret that I wasn’t really looking forward to the convention as Labor Day approached. A combination of some life moves, a little bit of financial struggling, some ambivalence, and just the general feeling that it just might be the same song and dance as it’s been for the 13 straight previous Dragon*Cons that I’ve been to made me feel a little, un-excited about this year’s.

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Have you ever tried to repair a broken window??

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

So in this Chase Bank commercial, Drew Brees’s son kicks a football in the yard; but because he’s the son of Breesus, it’s implied that he has some genetic football talent passed down onto him despite the fact that his dad is a quarterback and not a Gramatica.  That being said, the ball goes sailing at a high velocity, to such a magnitude it breaks through several houses walls and windows, much to the chagrin of Drew Brees himself.  Bewildered neighbors stare at the carnage caused by the lead food of Brees Jr.

But no problem, because Drew Brees is an NFL quarterback, Drew Brees is rich as shit.  And thanks to his handy new Chase banking app, he’s able to parlay chunks of his shit-rich to his various neighbors whose homes have incurred damage at the leg of Junior.

I’d like to point out the part where Drew Brees wires $200 to one of his neighbors for a broken window.  Because I am currently dealing with a similar situation currently, however I cannot say that a young place-kicking prodigy kicked a football through my window.  No, it was just a freak accident involving my landscaper, a mower, and an errant stone in my yard that went sailing into my glass, shattering it.  It is not a big deal at all, considering it technically happened last year, and I’ve just been too lazy to deal with it until more recently.

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Auto part stores have to be drug fronts

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There’s a shopping center not far from where I live that used to have a Hollywood Video.  Yeah, remember those?  Anyway, since basically the entire media rental industry has died, the property was naturally vacated.  I never gave much thought to what would eventually replace it, but I passed by it recently, and saw that it was replaced by an Advance Auto Parts.

This perplexed me, because within a five-mile radius from this particular Advance Auto Parts is literally two more Advance Auto Parts stores.  Increase the radius by another five miles, and I can identify three more Advance Auto Parts.  Literally, within a ten-mile radius lies five Advance Auto Parts stores (that I am aware of).

I have a hard time believing that the proper saturation point of automotive needs is a two mile radius per store; this isn’t Sim City, where heat maps can show the necessity for auto parts, and I have a hard time believing that people need auto parts this badly to where there are five Advance Auto Parts within a ten-mile radius.

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