A great moment with my kid: So, tonight, as Maggie and I are reading Harry Potter (we were taking turns, each reading a couple of pages, before she went to sleep), I went off-book. {Um…to clarify: This was done in a silly way, not a Stephen King kind of way.}

The line was something like, “Harry, Ron and Hermione sat in the Gryffindor common room. Crookshanks the cat was stretched out lazily in front of the fire.”

At this point, I decided to see if Maggie was really listening or asleep, so I continued “Suddenly, a spark flew from the fire, and Crookshanks’ tail caught fire. The cat began racing around the room in big circles. Hermione tried to catch it, and the cat ran through her legs, catching her skirt on fire. Now Hermione and the cat are running in circles on fire around the room. Ron, trying to help, stuck out his arms to grab the cat, who jumped over his head. Of course, Ron’s hair caught fire. Now Ron, Hermione and Crookshanks are running in a big circle, on fire. Harry grabbed his broom and tried to beat the fire out of Ron’s hair. The broom caught on fire. Now all four are running in a big circle, on fire!”

By this point Maggie, who is wide awake still, is laughing uncontrollably and yelling “Dad! That’s not what happened! Stop it!!” and I keep ad-libbing until we both go hysterical with laughter. Then she starts to do more story about people running around trying to beat each other out with brooms. Eventually, through much laughing, we wound up with Dumbledore coming in, freezing everyone like a statue, and stealing Ron’s candy.

Silly, silly fun.

(And HEY!, all you PETA people and folks worried about my daughter turning out an abusive arsonist? Go read something else.)

See this picture?

That’s me on the left, John Lepard on the right, in the Williamston Theatre. In the true spirit of full disclosure I feel it’s necessary to point out that when taking this shot they had John stand a foot behind me and ALSO put me up on a step so we would look closer in height. I didn’t mind. I actually felt bad for him…I mean, who would want to be that tall? Poor lanky fella.

Speaking of the theatre: I’ve been talking about how great the building is, well of course it’s not a theatre yet. The main space is a big almost empty room that needs some posts removed and some seating banks and walls installed! Today, however, 2 marvelous Stage Managers – Amy and Michelle – came out and taped out the theatre on the floor for me. (We have an open house on Thursday night, and we wanted it done so folks could get an idea of what we wanted to do with the space.) The stage, the seating banks, the rows of seats, the steps, even the walls and box office. Oh MAN! Seeing the blueprints was one thing, and imagining it in my head was another, but seeing it all in lifesize dimensions on the floor is an amazingly inspiring thing! We’re still not even sure if this is the actual, final layout, but seeing it there is just incredible!

Alan Trammell did not get elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame again this year: Despite great lifetime stats, Tram is getting overlooked in a HUGE way by the voters.

Okay, here’s what Rob Neyer had to say about why Trammell should be in the Hall of Fame:
…there is very little doubt in my mind that Ozzie Smith was one of the 10 greatest shortstops ever, notwithstanding the current crop. And it seems to me that if you’re among the top 10 players at your position, then by definition you’re a Hall of Famer.

Trammell was the best player in the American League in 1987, but finished a close second to George Bell in the MVP vote because baseball writers are obsessed with RBI. Trammell never played quite so well again, though he did put together a few more solid seasons. He was overshadowed by Cal Ripken for much of his career, but we shouldn’t let that blind us to his greatness.

So why does Alan Trammell rank so low in the votes from the Hall of Fame Voters?! See the chart below:

2006 VOTING

NOT ELECTED
Jim Rice 337 (64.8%)
Rich ”Goose” Gossage 336 (64.6%)
Andre Dawson 317 (61.0%)
Bert Blyleven 277 (53.3%)
Lee Smith 234 (45.0%)
Jack Morris 214 (41.2%)
Tommy John 154 (29.6%)
Steve Garvey 135 (26.0%)
Alan Trammell 92 (17.7%)
Dave Parker 76 (14.4%)
Dave Concepcion 65 (12.5%)
Don Mattingly 64 (12.3%)
Orel Hershiser 58 (11.2%)
Dale Murphy 56 (10.8%)
Albert Belle 40 (7.7%)

Some say it’s because he and Lou Whitaker (a great 2nd baseman) were so linked as a double-play combo that folks assume Trammell wouldn’t have been as good without him. This is a RIDICULOUS argument, because clearly his defense was spectacular – he won 4 Gold Gloves for God’s sake! – and as witnessed by the Rob Neyer comparison above, to Ozzie Guillen, Trammell’s offense was tremendous! And he led his team to a World Series in 1984!

This frustrates me, because he was a great player, a great Tiger, and is a great guy, and is deserving!

That’s all the randomness I can handle for one night.: Which means it’s time to watch my tape of Friday’s Battlestar Galactica!