Friday the 13th
Ok. Ok. Commentary does have superstitions. Some might have to do with routines to stick by or else. Some have to do with the Astros and gear. I try not to walk under ladders. I get a bit startled if a black cat darts across the street in front of me if I am behind the wheel in my ride. Friday the 13th doesn’t really come into play when it comes to superstitions. Maybe it is because some folks think the number 13 is a lucky number and some say it is an unlucky number.
There have been over 150 MLB jersey numbers retired. Of the 150, only one 13. Dave Concepción’s number 13 with the Reds.
Since you are about to ask, Billy Wagner wore the 13 with the Astros and so did Bruce Bochy. Bochy, who currently manages the Rangers, is a future Hall of Famer and hopefully Wagner too.
Taylor Swift’s favorite number is 13 so I am not going to sweat today’s Friday the 13th.
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Vice President Kamala Harris knocked it out of the park Tuesday night at the Presidential Debate. She is judged differently because she is a woman of color. By differently, I mean she must work harder than a fella. I was impressed with her spot-on facial expressions to Donald Trump’s stupidity when she wasn’t speaking that we all saw on the split screen. See the featured photo. The LA Times has a piece on the VP’s debate facial expressions and here is from the article:
Her microphone may have been muted when it wasn’t her turn to speak, but Vice President Kamala Harris’ facial expressions spoke volumes during her debate against former President Trump.
There was the arched brow, the hand on chin. Her pitying glance and dismissive head shake were particularly effective in communicating disgust and amusement as her opponent claimed that immigrants were eating their neighbor’s pets and newborn babies were being killed in post-birth abortions.
Polls taken after the faceoff show overwhelmingly that viewers felt she’d bested her competitor, and Trump has since announced he won’t do a second debate with Harris. But according to The Way It’s Always Been Done, she is going about this election in all the wrong ways.
“If she wants to win, Harris needs to train her face not to respond,” wrote GOP pollster Frank Luntz during Tuesday’s debate. “It feeds into a female stereotype and, more importantly, risks offending undecided voters.”
Warning to sensitive swing voters: The subject of Harris and her untrained face may cause discomfort. Read on at your own risk.
A good poker face has historically been as integral to appearing presidential as a firm handshake or stiff suit. Just take a look at the portraits on U.S. currency. And just to be clear, the term wasn’t coined by Lady Gaga. It’s a descriptor for “an inscrutable face that reveals no hint of a person’s thoughts or feelings.”
Poker face may have helped lend legitimacy to legions of men who ran for office before her, but despite 235 years of presidential stoicism across 46 leaders, Harris does not draw her power from impassivity. On the contrary, the risky move of showing how she feels has turned out to be one of her great strengths.
During the debate, her body language and expressions helped sell her passion and resolve around heated subjects such as the abortion ban and immigration. And as evident in the countless debate memes that now flood social media, her demonstrative approach knocked Trump on his heels.
When Harris leaned in and suggested viewers attend his rallies to witness firsthand his boring monologues and attendees leaving early, you could almost see steam coming out of his ears. She flashed quizzical glances when he said something patently absurd, looked unimpressed when he hurled insults. She easily pivoted to a commanding stance, looking directly at the camera to address viewers, as if she was narrating the event. It was Harris leaning into her own gregarious nature while deploying a tactical restraint as needed.
Here is the entire article: Women know showing emotion at work is risky. Harris proves otherwise (msn.com).
It was a combination of great debate prep and outstanding instincts.
I think it is finally hitting Trump, the Fox News talking heads, and MAGA world that they underestimated Vice President Harris. I love it.
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This is from the Daily Beast:
When Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz asked a rally crowd in Michigan if they had expected former President Donald Trump to burn part of Tuesday’s night’s presidential debate on false claims about pet-eating Haitian migrants in Ohio, the crowd responded by breaking out into chants of “we’re not eating cats.” The rebuke, recorded by journalists in attendance, was to the cadence of the Harris-Walz campaign catchphrase “we’re not going back,” which is frequently chanted at the vice president’s rallies.
I am jealous. I wish we were an in-play battleground state so we could have rallies and chants. Oh, well.
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Speaking of superstitions, at the afternoon game yesterday, it being a workday, the crowd size was a tad down. The Saint Arnold kiosk that I frequent was shut down. I had to break with tradition and found a Hopadillo. We still won.
We are now 4 ½ games up in the AL West with 16 games remaining on the regular season schedule. 9 roadies and 7 at The Yard. We are in Anaheim this weekend for a three-game series.
