Play ball!

Baseball officially got underway last week when the Boston Red Sox played the Oakland Athletics opened the season in Japan, but last night was the first regular season game played on American soil (and at an hour when most Americans would watch it). The Washington Nationals welcomed fans to their brand new ballpark in dramatic fashion as they beat the Braves with two outs in the bottom of the ninth on a Ryan Zimmerman walk-off home run.

Today and tomorrow there will be a full slate of games all day and all night long, and just like the first couple of days of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, these really are among the highlights of the yearly sports calendar for me. It's tempting not to take the entire day off, pop some popcorn, and laze in front of the TV all day. Alas, I actually have work to do. (Although I do think I'll make time for the Los Angeles/San Francisco game this afternoon at 4 p.m. ET.)

Beyond my perennial interest in baseball and my excitement over the beginning of another fantasy baseball season managing a team with my dad, this year holds a new distinction for me: This may be the first year since I was in middle school that I have changed my allegiance to a team. I've been a Cincinnati Reds fan for many years now, and I even lived in Cincinnati for two years, during which time I got to the ballpark as often as I could. But frankly it's becoming very hard to be a Cincinnati fan--so hard, in fact, that I am feeling the pressure to root for a new team.

But please understand--this has nothing to do with how good (or bad) the Reds are. I've been a Reds fan through thick (Always a bridesmaid in the 80s, then 1990 World Series champs! And how about those comeback kids of 1999?) and thin (pretty much every other year but those) and never once thought about ditching them due to their record or batting averages or ERA. No, the reason I'm about to leave the Reds behind is because I can no longer watch them.

Literally.

Major League Baseball has a cable package called "MLB Extra Innings," which purports to bring you hundreds if not thousands of games each season. And it does, but only out of market games. That means if you live in Cincinnati, you don't get to see Cincy games. If you live in Atlanta, you don't get to see Atlanta games. But those areas are serviced by the regional Fox Sports affiliates--in those cases, Fox Sports Ohio and Fox Sports South, respectively. So while I'm blocked from watching Atlanta Braves games because I live in the south, I still get a number of those blocked games on the regional Fox affiliate.

The trouble is, the Braves and the Reds claim where I live as "home territory." That means I'm blocked from both teams' games. That's fine for the Braves--I get enough of them everywhere else--but it means I never see Reds games anymore. Not even on ESPN! When national cable features the Reds, I get a black screen, or some back-up game from somewhere else in the country. (And often from the American League, which I don't really follow.)

The idea behind blackouts is two-fold. First, it gives MLB and the teams a property they can sell to Fox Sports with the guarantee that no one else will be competing with their broadcast. I get that. But there's also the crazy idea that if I can't watch the game on TV that I will get myself down to the ballpark to see it. The trouble is, Cincinnati is a seven hour drive from where I live. Um, guys? I'm not going to make it down to the ballpark too many times this season.

A call to DirectTV to complain is useless; they blame MLB on the blackout restrictions. E-mails to MLB tell me it's not their fault, it's the teams who claim zip codes as their "territory," and thus the teams who mandate who gets blacked out and who doesn't. But the territory thing is a silly land grab by the owners. When an expansion team or a team looking to move sets its sights on a new city, any existing team with a claim to that territory must be compensated. Thus the Baltimore Orioles exacted a monetary payoff from MLB and the Washington Nationals when that team moved there from Montreal, because the Orioles "owned" the territory rights to D.C. Thus any serviceable territory for baseball gets sucked up by the teams, no matter how ridiculous it is that you're seven hours away and still considered part of a team's territory.

And the Braves and Reds both claim us, but while we justifiably get Fox Sports South we do not, understandably, get Fox Sports Ohio. Not unless I buy the extra package DirectTV offers with all the regional sports stations, which seems a bit redundant when I've already got the MLB Extra Innings package for a lot less. Just without Reds games.

So after three years of this nonsense--both my old home in Knoxville, Tennessee and my new home in Penland, North Carolina are in "Reds Territory"--I've had it. It's impossible to root for a team you can never see play! What fun is that? I read the box score the next morning and cheer or wail? Huh-uh.

Because I play fantasy baseball, I end up watching a lot of different games and a lot of different teams, and last season I found myself really enjoying the late West Coast Los Angeles Dodgers feeds. I like the uniforms, the stadium, the players, and I love the Dodgers' home announcer Vin Scully. Then I started researching the Brooklyn Dodgers for my forthcoming middle grade novel The Brooklyn Nine, and the deal was pretty much done. When my dad bought me a Los Angeles cap for Christmas my transformation was complete.

I've still got my Reds caps and my Reds jerseys, and I'll still wear them, but I fear my baseball heart has left the Queen City for the City of Angels.

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Finished!

They're done! Yay! Kit is fully dressed! She even has outerwear - check out this fancy fleece coat. It's toasty warm for those cold winter days - and even has matching boots.

And look at that yummy fringe all the way around. Another piece I covet for myself. . .

Here's a more utilitarian poncho - nothing fancy but Jo loves this patterned fleece. She used to have a cat costume made out of it.

And here's one of my favorites. I don't covet this one for myself but I love it because it looks like Kit's ready for Friday school. Every Friday here is Spruce Pine Montessori T-shirt Day and Kit has her very own SPMS shirt. Thanks to Alan who did all the computer work to redo the logo in a doll-size. The transfer came out a little dark, but that's because I put it on a dark color. It would have looked clearer on white but none of the kids ever wear white T-shirts - they're all bright fun colors. The pink shirt made Kit look more like one of the kids at the school so that's what I went with.
They get delivered today for the fundraising auction in May and I can move on to making more aprons. But no evening sewing at all next week because I'll be at sales conference in sunny Bermuda. That sounds better than it actually is - I'll be spending all day every day in indoor conference rooms. But I should be able to go for a nice walk mornings and evenings. . .

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Doll Clothes Envy

Is it wrong to covet a doll's wardrobe? Here are the latest pieces for the wardrobe to be auctioned off. It's not the dress that I want (A-line shift dresses really only look good on children and stick figures) - it's the fabric.

I bought this years ago - I don't remember what for - and like an idiot I only bought 1/2 a yard. I've used a couple of pieces in quilts, but every time I look at it I think it would have made a great little skirt. It's got all the colors I wear and I love the pattern. Oh well - now it's a little doll dress.

Or shirt. It also looks cute as a tunic with the green velvet pants that I made to go with this strawberry shirt.

I just shortened the dress a bit to make it into a shirt. I also thought the neckline on the dress scooped a little too low. I redrafted the pattern to make it a bit higher, then realized instead I could make the shoulder straps overlap and snap together. It raises the neckline AND gives a cleaner finish to the top.

Only a couple more items to go and then I turn it all in tomorrow. Whew!

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A Rotten Acknowledgement and a Short Story Long

Just got word from editor Liz that Something Rotten has been named one of the New York Public Library's 2008 Books for the Teen Age! Samurai Shortstop was given the same honor last year by the NYPL. Thanks, guys! It's the second year in a row I've had to miss the author reception in New York too--and this year the featured speaker was Robert Lipsyte! Dang.

In other news, I've just finished the first draft of a new short story called "Field Day" for the Locker Room Tales anthology coming out next year from Dutton. I really like the story--but it's 40 pages long. At a certain page count short stories cease to be "short" stories, at least to my mind, and this one can barely see "short story" in the rear view mirror. Time to get out the red pencil . . .

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The Wardrobe Grows

I've been trying to sew an outfit a day so I can finish Kit's wardrobe by the donation deadline this Friday - right before I leave for sales conference. Here are the latest pieces.

A cute shirt with a matching pair of shorts. The pattern has this being pulled over the doll's head, but I made it snap all the way up the back for easy on and off. The shorts are a simple elastic waist.
This is the most ridiculously time-consuming detail ever. I mean - seriously! A complicated ribbon detail over the shoulder that is - to top it all off - completely hidden by the doll's hair. I've never been much good at following patterns and this is one reason why. They're just silly!

I love, love, love these jammies! I want them for myself. I bought enough extra of this polkadot fabric to make some jammies for Jo but not enough for myself. :-(

Another ridiculous detail - actual buttons and buttonholes. I don't really mind doing buttonholes (now that I've figured out which of the six methods in my machine instruction manual actually works) but these tiny buttons were awfully hard to button up. For cuteness the real buttons win, but for play value some snaps would be better. Maybe I could find some of those pearly ones they use on Western-style shirts?

And here are the jammies with the matching robe.
And here she is with a circle skirt. I made a couple of these (here and here) for Project Barbie and they're pretty easy - except for the hemming. Curved hems! Aaack! This was a bigger skirt (thus more hemming) so I decided to make it reversible. Ta daa! No hemming at all!
I'm not peeking under her skirt here - I'm showing you the cool turquoise inside.

I made a super cute A-line dress today, but no pictures because this is what it looked like outside. Brrr. . .

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Happy Zombie Day!

What a fantastic day! Jo got good loot this morning from the Easter Lepus, and then we quickly got ready to go to Penland School of Crafts, where they hold an unadvertised, absolutely free, community brunch and egg hunt--for kids and adults!

All the eggs are donated by local artists, and each participant may take one and only one egg from the egg hunt. If you find one, then find another you like better, you can re-hide your first egg and take the second. Cool, huh? And did I mention this is completely free!? All they ask is that you contribute an egg or two, and bring something for desserty for a potluck.

Before the eggs are hidden, they're put on display for everyone to see. Check these out:








I coveted two in particular:


But first the kiddies got a chance to hunt for painted wooden eggs and plastic eggs filled with candy. Everybody behind the line . . .

Get ready . . . get set . . .

Go!

Jo had scoped out a couple of hidden eggs along the back wall and went to get them before joining the mad rush to the field. I stood on the sidelines and cheered her on. Kill, Jo, kill! She got great eggs, including one beautifully painted wooden egg, and one plastic one with not candy but a glass bead necklace inside!

A few minutes later they released the adult hounds, and Jo came with us as we hunted the grounds for those precious fancy eggs. We did very well! While everyone sprinted for the paths into the woods, we strolled along the path at the start and found all kinds of goodies hidden in the crevices along the stone wall. Here are the three we ended up keeping:

Jo's of course is the pink ceramic egg shape with the butterflies stamped in it. Wendi kept the felted purple egg with the flower on it, while Alan scored with a fancy blue and white painted ceramic egg. We just wish the artists had signed their work!

An incredible day at Penland, which is just ten minutes from our house. (On the other side of our mountain, really.) Even better, we knew tons of people at the egg hunt, which made us feel that just a year into living here, we're already a part of this wonderful community. It reminded us again--as if we really needed the reminder--that we love where we live.

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My 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Homer Brackets

I miss two things about not working in a school/office anymore: stealing office supplies and running an NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament bracket pool. I really enjoyed those $5 pools where anybody and everybody entered--and practically everyone stood a chance of winning. March Madness is a happy time of year, and my favorite days of all are the first two, where the games come fast and furious from noon to midnight.

But now that I'm a full-time writer and work from home, I don't have anyone to play a bracket challenge with! (I know - cue the tiny violins.) This year I even debated not filling out a bracket at all. There was a part of me too that thought that perhaps this year, with my hometown school and alma mater Tennessee getting an unprecedented second #2 seed in in three years, I might just sit back and enjoy the tournament and root for Tennessee as a fan, not a bracketeer.

This is a big issue for me. I play a lot of fantasy sports, most importantly fantasy baseball, and I have to work hard to separate my fandom from my fantasy sports. There are some fantasy players who cannot separate the two and enjoy drafting all Atlanta Braves or all Chicago Cubs and riding their fortunes throughout the season, but to really win at fantasy sports you have to check your allegiances at the door an be willing to take players or teams that set your teeth on edge.

And so every year that Tennessee made the tournament, I would dutifully have them going out in the first or second round. And why not? Viewed clinically, there was no reason not to call it that way. They just were never that good. But of course each early departure from the tournament broke my heart a little--and one year the Vols went one step further than I had them in my brackets, and I felt unspeakable shame for not believing.

But this year is different. This year the Volunteers have Tyler Smith and JuJuan Smith and J.P. Prince and Wayne Chism and Duke Crews to throw down next to long-suffering and super-talented senior Chris Lofton. This year they have Bruce Pearl, who took Tennessee to number one in the nation this season for the first time ever. (Even if it was for just two days.) And this year the Vols got snubbed with the lowest of the #2 seeds, the eighth-best place in the tournament, after finishing the season ranked fourth in the nation. This year they have something to fight for, something to prove.

And this year, I believe.

So this year, without a bracket pool to compete in and without feeling the need to set my fandom aside, I present to you my hastily done, totally homer, 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament brackets: (Click to see it larger.)

Tennessee all the way, baby! I've shamelessly gone all out fan on this one, and I'm not embarrassed to say it. I go conservative in the East Region with UNC and Louisville and Notre Dame advancing--until they are all crushed under the might sneakers of the Tennessee Volunteers! Outside our region I give some SEC brethren a little love too, giving Vandy the win over trendy upset pick Sienna and Mississippi State a first round win over Oregon--although I couldn't go so far as to give Kentucky, Arkansas, or Georgia first round wins. (Kentucky mostly for spite.)

I also give dreaded Memphis (whom the Vols beat in the regular season, at Memphis, to claim their #1 ranking all for themselves!) three wins--until they run into a real team and get bounced from the tournament. That leaves Tennessee facing Kansas and UCLA taking on Texas in the Final Four, with Tennessee knocking off UCLA for the win. National championship, baby! Borrow Pat Summit's scissors and cut down the nets!

What can I say? It's a homer bracket. Like Woody Allen at the end of Annie Hall, when I get to write the story, I can make it come out any way I want to.

Go Vols - I'll be rooting for you.

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More Camera Phone Pics: ALA 2007

Today, more from the "Look what photos I finally pulled off my camera phone" department: ALA 2007 in Washington, D.C.

A fuzzy shot of the Penguin booth, where Something Rotten got a feature spot on the canvas sign at the back.

A less-fuzzy shot of my cover on the banner.

D.C.'s upscale/touristy Chinatown district, very close to the convention center.

That's my knuckle in the foreground of that one. Dang cell phones are so small.

Best inexplicable, gratuitous grab for ALA convention-goer dollars: "Do you like books? We have 300 beers, 30 on tap!!!"

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Say goodbye to Dodgertown

Five minutes ago I e-mailed the latest revision of The Brooklyn Nine to editor Liz, and by total coincidence the Dodgers are today, even as I write this, playing their last ever spring training game at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida. Next season, they move to new digs in Glendale, Arizona.

In 1948 the Brooklyn Dodgers were the first team to establish spring training facilities in Florida, an innovation by General Manager Branch Rickey, the man credited with developing pro baseball's first farm team system and who later made history by signing Jackie Robinson. While other teams have changed cities and stadiums, the Dodgers have been a fixture in Vero Beach, Florida for sixty years. Today that comes to an end.

It makes sense for the Dodgers to have spring training in Arizona with the rest of the West Coast teams in the Cactus League. It's closer to their fans, and closer to the players' families. In a last ditch effort to keep the Dodgers in Vero Beach, the city bought the complex from the Dodgers in 2001 and leased it back to them for just $1 per year. But Arizona has done everything it can to lure the Dodgers away from Florida, offering to pay them to move and build brand new facilities for them. In the end it was too hard to resist.

And Dodgertown, as revered as it is, is something of a relic. The dugouts are literally trenches dug out of the ground with no roof overhead, and the closest urinals for the players during the game are in the right field corner. The player entrance is the same as the fan entrance, with a sign above the ramp that says "Players left, Public right," and the stadium seats just 6,500 people--charming enough for a single-A team, but in today's world of high-attendance spring training games Holman Stadium is busting at the seams. (The new ballpark in Glendale will have room for 12,000 people.)

I've been to spring training games in Florida, but alas I never made it to Vero Beach for a game. I did visit Vero Beach for a school visit once though, and I took the opportunity to drive over to Dodgertown and take some pictures. It's not just a stadium, it's a complex--a place where players like Campanella and Koufax and Snider and Drysdale and Robinson once stayed in little motel rooms and ate together in the cafeteria and worked out on sandy baseball fields. Even in the "off-season," Dodgertown still echoed with memories:

Sayonara, Dodgertown.

Hey--maybe the Mets will move in to replace the Dodgers the way they did in New York in 1964. But just like then, it wouldn't be the same.

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Meet Kit - My New Model

Alan's been the one doing all the posting lately because I've been. . .

a) sick
b) traveling for work
c) making a couple of things but not taking any pictures because I haven't finished anything
d) all of the above

If you guessed d you're right. I've been traveling a lot, sick most of the time, and waiting for an order of ribbon to be delivered so I can finish (and take pictures of) some of the kajillion aprons I've been making. But I felt mostly human this weekend so I finally got started on a project I've been needing to tackle because it's due at the end of this month.

Jo's school has a really cool auction every year to raise money. A lot of the parents are artists who donate nice work, but there are also donations of free eye exams (from the eye doctor dad), free pet physical and boarding (from the vet mom), etc. Last year we started at the school too late to donate anything - though I did buy a massage. This year I offered to make a complete wardrobe for an American Girl doll. I finally got started today and here's what we have so far.

Meet Kit. Years ago, when we lived in Cincinnati, I was a buyer at Joseph-Beth Booksellers and the lovely folks at Pleasant Company were launching a new American Girl - Depression-era Kit Kittredge from Cincinnati. I did an early review of Kit's books and they sent me this doll as thanks. Now she has an all-new outfit.The shirt was looking a little plain after I made it so I added this little embroidered sun. A very sunny outfit for a dreary, windy day.
Jo loved the tiered skirt. I've made these for Jo in the past but I kind of hate doing it because those ruffles are a major pain. No more! I am now the proud owner of a gathering foot . Wow! What a difference the right tool makes! Add this to the list of tools I should have bought a long time ago.
Since I've been on an apron kick lately I decided to make Kit an apron too. Jo LOVES this bubble fabric and I thought it was a great choice for an apron.
Jo also wanted Kit to have an apron she could paint in - something about enrolling her in an art class for while they're at Daytona Beach - where does she get this stuff? I finally asked her how she knew about Daytona Beach and she reminded me that Supergirl mentioned it in an episode of Justice League Unlimited. OK then. Here's an art apron made from oilcloth. It should be a bit wider but I'll fix that on future versions. Alan also said it needs a pocket, so I'll be adding that too.
So see? I haven't been doing absolutely nothing. Of course, I'm getting ready to hit the road again so evening sewing will grind to another halt.

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