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today i learned the guy who covers the cubs likes the DH

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can you imagine working for a big newspaper in Chicago,

sorta big, it’s the sun-times

and you get to go to the most beautiful park 100 times a year

and you are fundamentally against what makes the National League the National League?

to me that would be like being a bartender but not appreciating booze.

it’d be like saying you love women but would rather they be completely odorless

it’d be like being a librarian but you prefer the film adaptations.

we battled a little on twitter and he took offense when i told him that i was unfollowing him and then all of his fans piled on

and one by one i picked them off.

it was astounding how few of them really understood the nuance and truths about not just baseball

but strategy, pace, and how to score a run.

scoring runs, of course being the prime objective of baseball.

one guy told me that he liked the AL style that included the designated hitter because it sped up the games and created more runs.

i told him to find me the proof that the games were shorter in the AL than the NL

he conceded he was wrong.

so to reward him i showed him that the amount of runs scored in each league were virtually identical.

i even showed him a chart

 

more people defended the sun times reporter.

one guy asked me a ridiculous scenario where it was the first inning and the pitcher was due up, would i pinch hit? he said he would i said, “why? your team had batted around in the first. you’re doing great, why take out your pitcher for the hope of another hit even though the odds of a pinch hitter being successful is low?”

he was all, “well he has a better chance of a hit than a dumb pitcher!”

which is true but still inane. so i asked him about another scenario.

i said what would happen if its the bottom of the 7th, scoreless game, two no hitters until the Cubs #8 hitter smacks a double into the ivy.

one out, man on second, do you let your pitcher bat or do you yank him because now you have the best chance youve had all game to score… but if you yank him you are also pulling out a pitcher who is mesmerizing the opposite team?

he said, oh id let him bunt. its an obvious sacrifice bunt scenario.

i said is it? and i pulled out this Runs Expectancy chart like the nerd that i am that shows you have a .66 chance of scoring if you have a man on second with 1 out. but you only have a .35 chance of scoring if you have a runner on third with 2 outs.

so by bunting you are actually halving your chances, so you may as well let Kyle swing away and/or try to draw a walk… and make the pitcher waste valuable pitches.

all he could say was that the stats i provided were 5 years old (as if that matters) and any time he sees pitchers they stand there for three pitches and then walk to the bench.

it was then that i realized who i was talking with. and who this writer attracts. and that i was wasting my time with both of them and i should get back to actual work.

which i did

which i am nearly finished with.

which makes me very happy.

and tomorrow i will sell my OJ helmet.

to a very nice man who once used it in an art show.

and i will throw in an OJ football card.

everything must go.

im selling everything i own,

new year new you.

what a weird wild month

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can i tell you everything?

do you want to know?

are things suddenly true in here?

one thing that’s obvious is ive blogged on here this month more than in previous januaries going back years and years

in part because i dont have a job.

i have some projects im working on and even though they’re challenging,

they dont stop me from coming over here.

weirdly, when i worked at certain offices i either didnt blog here at all or i blogged all the time.

but now that ive been at home for literally years now ive had a hard time blogging for a lot of reasons,

top of them all is because id been busy.

first writing the first draft for a long and detailed book and most recently trying everything i could to get Los Angeleno noticed.

tonight im sitting here listening to Dio, finishing up on project #1 and about to work on project #2. which i know i shouldnt be doing on Sunday but the clock is ticking

and i have to remind people im amazing.

today i watched church on youtube and they were great.

really good singing, naturally,

the organist

but the sermons were so good

in one of them the pastor gave props to the poet who spoke at bidens inauguration

even though there wasn’t anything religious about the poem

not everything needs to be to get love in this church, which is nice.

i should start posting them here

since they’re on youtube

the first half hour is the organist and then the service.

 

ive been researching corporate social media accounts for one of the projects

i spent all week on it.

my conclusion is most of them, even though their businesses are about communication

have giant holes in how they do social media.

either they arent following up on the questions that get asked

or they make way too many twitter handles (which was something we did wrong at the LAT)

or they have broken links or embarrassing photos that really should be removed.

as i studied them i wondered – am i really this insightful

or does nobody truly give one shit about their social media?

one company’s facebook page was impressively good so i googled that company’s name and “social media manager” and found their person’s LinkedIn.

turned out she had been doing it for two years and got a promotion this month.

but even though the FB was good the other channels were either meh or very bad.

were they holding her back? did she have ideas and they vetoed them?

some channels had zero interactions, no engagement at all.

for that you get a raise and a corner office?

the world is upside down i tell you.

and this is a giant sector of business meaning if someone decided: we’re going to beat all of our competitors at every social media platform, they could do it, with little effort.

really what they need to do is hire someone, give them a little freedom and a graphic artist.

if these two were actually good together, they could pay for themselves with the youtube revenue.

almost all of these companies had youtube channels that were terrible.

ironic because thats the only social network that pays you if you are good at it.

today was ernie banks’ birthday

mr cub

wanna hear a crazy story

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20 years ago i was looking for pictures for my website

back then i didnt have a blog, i had tonypierce.com and i liked to get big pictures that weren’t too busy and then write around the images.

it was sorta art sorta writing. if you hated what i had to say maybe youd like the picture.

one day i was looking through this very well maintained Drew Barrymore fan site. they had folders from each of the films, ads she had done, tv appearances, and so on

and in one of the folders was pics of all the fans.

the person who seemed to be the leader, or the biggest contributor named DaisyPrincess.

let the record state i was not looking for a girlfriend. i wasnt even looking for a friend. i had plenty.

the sad fact was i was breaking up with my gf at the time which was so sad because we loved each other. but we had to do it.

we were in the process of moving. and my little website was a creative distraction.

meantime my friends in Tsar were trying to make it big. they had signed a record deal or were close to getting one. but the way DaisyPrincess hyped Drew made me think, “if Tsar had someone like her on their side, it’d give them a great push.”

so i started emailing her just to find out what her story was, why was she in love with Drew. one thing led to another and we chatted on AOL instant messenger for hours every day. hours and hours. and it was all PG if not G rated.

for some reason we just clicked.

because life is bizarre, it turned out that she loved No Doubt, and that band’s stylist had just been hired by Tsar’s management. and that intrigued Ashley and she listened to Tsar but she was not really into it.

but for some reason she kept chatting with me.

after a while i thought i was being catfished. what’s this college girl in vegas want with me? i was not making any real money at that time. i was way older. i did not look like any of the guys she had either dated or swooned over on her blog. was i being set up for a tragic end? would i be found in a shallow grave in the desert if i dared drive out to meet her?

probably.

so once my breakup with my ex was completed and i moved into the apartment im in now, i suggested that we meet for a day.

i said i would rent a car (i didnt even have a car!), drive to vegas

and i told her that if indeed she was a 400 lb man who hated Cub fans and was going to kill me, all i ask is don’t touch my face,

that way my friends or my mother could identify me and give me a proper burial in isla vista or wrigley field

or somewhere strangers could gather and say omg what an idiot.

turned out she was not a man, not a murderer, and even prettier in real life than in her pictures.

we spent the night eating taco bell and watching charlie’s angels.

when i dropped her off i thought i’d never see her again because, come on. who gets a girlfriend from a message board?

either you get chopped up or you get ghosted.

but that didnt happen either.

it’s funny that i chalk up a lot of the nice things that have happened to me in the last 21 years to the busblog and blogging, but this happened before the blog.

it was like the silent film era. you did everything yourself. design, graphics, HTML… everything. even when i started the blog i would fall back to old school features like photo essays and special web pages where i would write around pictures.

why did ashley like me? who knows.

perhaps she did want to kill me in the desert but got cold feet when it turned out i really did love drew

and really did want to watch charlies angels on pay per view

and was not there to get her involved in a life of crime

like the others had.

i just wanted some killer wallpapers.

20 years ago seems like yesterday.

maybe because i live in the same place and when i look at parts of my apartment it’s easy to remember this or that.

or maybe because time really does fly

which is why you should go and meet that stranger whose probably gonna butcher you

maybe you should drive all night while playing springsteens drive all night

we are alive for a bat of a lash

so live.

the reason i ask if you know i love you is because

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secretly i volunteer at a pop-up confessional

and as people confess their sins to me in the darkness two underlying themes exist

– they feel unloved or undeserving of love

– they don’t recognize actual love when it’s right in front of them.

now part of this has to do with hollywood and books and a lack of a good education in public schools

something as important as love should be taught better, and in more than a few classes in elementary and high school.

but it isnt

we have to guess. we have to ask our friends. and our friends dont know. so we read about it but those people are selling books. so we watch sixteen candles and sex in the city and porn and true hollywood stories

but none of them get to the root. none of them teach you the actual dynamics.

if love was a house most of us would be homeless

is what we think.

but thats so untrue.

the sun comes up every morning out of love.

the birds pollinate and photosynthesis occurs due to crazy love.

scratch your skin and watch it heal

work out and feel your muscles grow

talk to someone and hear what they know

love love love love.

but we are taught that love is this or that and comes with this thing or that

thing

the things are not the thing.

we know this and yet valentines day is coming and its all about the things

that is not love.

love is staring in their eyes and not thinking about your phone

or the boiling kettle

or the upcoming bills

or any of the minutiae

love is that instant

it’s why we are alive.

and what will be gone

when we croak.

and now you know i love you,

because i do.

why am i procrastinating?

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i seriously need to turn off my social media

the problem is im doing something ABOUT social media so i need to refer to it

but i dont need to be calling politicians liars on it, thats for sure

even though theyre lying

and poorly, at that.

why do i think my tweets matter? why do i think i will bring them around to the truth?

change their ways?

inspire them to be their higher selves? their Christian selves?

my higher self is to finish this damn thing by 1am, get some sleep and wake up at the crack of 9am and get this meeting done and go back to bed and do something else magical.

but something tells me i wont

something tells me i will listen to the siren song and i will eat the lotus flower and get stuck on the isle of procrastination with the fair maidens and wicked beasts

save me

i did good today

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got a lot of work done

sold a magazine for $16 on ebay and mailed it off

talked to my mom

drove to a dollar store and bought a giant sweet potato for $2.50

made mashed potatoes with the potato

added peas and Impossible burger

wrote emails

danced in the hallway next to the radiator

watched very little tv

put up some hooks in the shower

took a shower

shaved

got in 3,000 steps

registered to give blood tomorrow

thought of some incredible ideas for this project.

figured out some things this company’s competitors are doing dead wrong that they can exploit.

applied at another company if this thing doesnt pan out.

played with the cats

blogged. which is def an accomplishment because this month ive blogged nearly every day so far this year, which i hadn’t done in the januaries of any of the past most recent years.

jesus wants us to trust him

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today is sunday so here is my sermon

the bible is SUPER DOOPER CLEAR:

fuck money

fuck what other people think

fuck all yr dumbass worldly possessions

fuck yr feelings about your enemies and those you find yourself judging

it’s all bullshit. all of it.

the bible tells us that the weird little dance the bizarre game of Earth is fucking childsplay

it’s a fake tea party we’re having with a 3 year old.

aint no tea in that cup, son!

Jesus says the real tea is in the kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus says sell your shit and follow him

Jesus says love every fucking person: your friends your enemies your neighbors your family everyone

his final commandment was OMG LOVE EVERYONE JUST LIKE I LOVED EVERYONE IS THAT SO HARD?

so when we worry, unless we’re worrying solely about if we are being loving Enough, then we need to stop worrying because worrying is a form of not trusting Him

and if you wanna be a believer of Him you gotta trust Him

easy-peasy dopey and sneezy.

Matthew 6:25 if yr scoring at home:

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Jesus continues:

26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

Worry does nothing good. we think it prepares us but it doesn’t. Who was prepared for COVID otherthanObama?

a year ago this week i was in church and i looked at my phone to see that Kobe had died.

how was i supposed to know that hundreds of thousands of other Americans were also going to die in tragic ways in 2020?

we cannot prepare for squat. i have two Go Bags. neither are of any use, really. especially if The Big One hits when im at Neptunes Net.

which is why we have to just trust the big guy.

dance with who brung ya.

and Worry did not get us here.

Love did.

 

NFL to Black head coaches: drop dead

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70% of NFL players are Black. 30% of the assistant coaches are Black.

Recently there were 7 head coach vacancies. All but one has been filled. Those 6 were filled by white coaches.

This genius was one of them.

Of the last 20 head coach vacancies only one was filled by a Black man.

It’s impossible for me to believe that of those who were interviewed for the Lions job, they don’t see this video

and ask *That* guy beat me out for the gig?

Detroit gave this guy a six-year contract even though he has never been a head coach before in the league.

The person who probably said WTF the loudest was the Chiefs’ Offensive Coordinator Eric Bieniemy, who last year helped lead KC to the Super Bowl. For the last two years he has applied for every open Head Coach job and has been told, yeah no.

Fun fact: In the history of the NFL, Black head coaches have a higher winning percentage than white head coaches. But who’s counting.

do you know ive been doing this nearly 20 years?

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how is anything possible?

how is it that this is even alive?

how is it that im even alive?

do you know the things ive done that i havent written in here?

10 years ago next month i nearly died in vegas, like seriously

and i Believe that life is a nice combo of Free Will and Divine Intervention

i think if God or the angels see that we are doing the right thing or our hearts are good and we make THE WORST CHOICE,

he will look out for us.

and if we are smart we will never make that mistake again.

but i also think God wants us to try things. he wants us to stretch out of our comfort zone.

i believe this for a few reasons: first because it feels good, second because thats how we grow, and third because nearly every great story in the Bible is about people stretching.

and then they are rewarded.

when Abraham listened and nearly sacrificed Isaac, when Noah did the outrageousness by trusting and building a giant ark, when (a disguised) Joseph asked his brothers to go get his younger brother… then theres the disciples who dropped what they were doing to follow Jesus.

they all were rewarded for making those out of the ordinary choices, and in doing so they were leading by example.

none of those things were on the Content Calendar, which is why i dont believe in the Content Calendar.

to me the Content Calendar is for trying to look organized for someone else.

because you dont feel confident in your own job.

trust yourself.

and if you dont feel confident then think about why you are listening to the radio station in your head that’s not playing your favorite songs.

i like to hear those old standards “tony you fucking rule” and “tony omg yes!”

all those sad songs about how im too this or not enough that are wickety wickety wack as kris kross used to say.

im here to be a better version than i was last year, which hopefully was better than the year before

and the only way to do that is to

upgrade.

and that starts in the mind.