Valentine's Day Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations on this sunny Valentine's Day.

Interesting column on David Jonathan Drew (aka JD Drew). I think Bill James called him the guy who played for three franchises but was despised by four. I've never had a problem with Drew. It's just strange that so many will think him over paid while so many others will argue he's under-rated... On Valentine's Day in 1859 - Oregon is admitted as the 33rd US State... Best shuttle image ever... If you replace the words "My Sharona" with "Ray Liotta" - the song by The Knack becomes so much more fun... A Brief History of Pretty Much Everything - Very cool video... It occurs to me that there are many parallels between Drew and another JD - JD Salinger. Salinger is known for The Catcher in the Rye while Drew is the catcher in right field. Both shunned interviews and detractors said they wasted their talent. Fans of both tend to over sell their accomplishments (however Catcher in the Rye was not the best book ever written and there is more to baseball than OBP). Drew was supposed to be the next Mantle while Salinger was going to be Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald all rolled into one... Now I'm going to have nightmares about Derrek Lee trying to backdoor me... Twenty-one years ago Iranian leader Ruhollah Khomeini issues a fatwa encouraging Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie the author of The Satanic Verses. I'm amused at how ineffective the fatwa has been until I start thinking that we've had a defacto fatwa against Osama bin Laden and have been just as ineffective (of course we know for sure Rushdie is still alive - OBM? Not so much.)... I'm also amused that today is both Valentine's Day and Pat O'Brien's 62nd birthday. Here a blast from the past - Valentine's Day Pat O'Brien Style.