Random thoughts-Obama/No-hitter/South Philly

Barack on The Daily Show
-Caught Barack Obama's appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart this evening (it was a re-run apparently). Man, there is absolutely no doubt about it, this guy has a rock star like aura around him. And he is really smooth when he speaks. Populism aside he does sound so NOT like a politician. Now, I am not sure what his stand on various policies is but he does sound convincing in whatever he says. One interesting point he made is that in the current atmosphere a majority of the people already know that when politicians speak they dont really mean what they say. Politicians know it and people who listen them know it. His point was that he would try to bring a non-political atmosphere to the people. Wonder how plans to do it but I liked the way he said it. To be fair though I thought Jon Stewart did not ask him too many tough questions. I did not expect him to but it would have been nice to have put Barack on the spot a couple of times. Although I remember when Jon McCain was on the show a few months ago, he did not ask too many tough questions either. Overall, I thought Barack looked good. Now if only he can somehow cut into Hillary's lead.

A no-hitter! yeah a no-hitter by a Red Saaawk rookie!
-How can I not bring up the no-hitter that Red Saaawwwx rookie Clay Buccholz threw against the Baltimore Orioles last week. Not only was it eventful, you know being a no-hitter and all, it made all Red Saaawx fans forget about the 3 game sweep against the Spankees a few games prior to that. I have to say, there are a few moments in sports that are a definite "can't miss". Watching a perfect game or a no-hitter live has to rank very high up on that "can't miss" list. Although I did not watch this live, I accidently stumbled upon the 9th inning being shown live on ESPN. I love it when the commentators shut up right after the final out has happened. You could see that this kid was just blown away by the moment. He could not say anything intelligcent on live TV! He maybe 23 but when this woman was interviewing him after the no-hitter he sounded and acted like a 10 year old kid! Was good to see. It was also cool to see Theo Epstein jumping up and down like a kid in his private box after the last out. Gotto give it to Theo he stuck to his policy of not trading young studs from the farm system (well, he did let Anabel Sanchez and Hanley Ramirez go but you can't always be right in baseball much like the stock market). I hope Clay pumps weights in the off-season, puts on some mass, and starts pumping those nasty off-speed pitches along with his mid-90s fastballs. And people should quit comparing him to Pedro. For one thing Clay does not have a high 90s fastball or the intimidating presence that Pedro had. I hope he turns out to be atleast 70% of what Pedro was.

South Philly! very under-rated!
-well, now I feel like a Center City snob dont I? In the 2+ years since I have been in Philly I hardly ever ventured out to South Philly to get a brew or visit a nice restaurant. I did not understand what the fuss was all about. I mean, between Center City, University City, Fairmount, and Old City we've got the city's best establishments covered right? Wrong! Upon Robert's recommendation we went to this place called "Cantina" on Passyyunk Avenue (close to Geno's) for a quick drink and some snacks last Friday. Robert has been raving about this place for a while, so we went there. I have to say, that whole area was refreshingly different from Center City. Passyyunk Ave had that retro- 60s and 70s feel to it. It could almost pass for a street in old Europe. And this place "Cantina" was painted all yellow outside and could easily have passed for an eatery in Mexico. And the snacks were great too. We had the Empanadas which were fantastic. And my fav part, they had a beer called "Rogue Chipotle Ale" which had a touch of peppers in it. It was really good. I am going back there with some friends for a weekend brunch thing soon. Thanks to Robert and Marina for bringing me to the wonderful South Philly area.