Changing Times

One feature of this medium that I really enjoy is the ability to change the appearance of the web page. I am going to tinker and mess around with the layout, and maybe add more content. Also, a new title (which refers to a Boards of Canada track that I always found inspiring) that removes any connotation of dining, casual or otherwise. Talking about sports and talking about work are two entirely different entities, and they each deserve their own space. My personal time allotment only provides the opportunity to write about one of those topics, and sports leads to more fun monologues.
This is the first update since the Eagles lost in the Super Bowl, the first since the start of the new baseball season. In between those two events, I prepared for and executed a few Fantasy Baseball drafts. I really enjoy the Fantasy Baseball, it keeps me from having to clean the bathroom all the damn time. I added two photos, just experimenting. Eventually the plan is to find a way to store a bunch of photos to go with content, that way family and friends and complete strangers can read and see and better experience this blog.
About the pictures:
1) The cop car photo: Not actually taken by me. Taken outside the Wachovia Complex on the Friday before the Super Bowl at 5:30 AM. Local sports talk station 610 WIP was hosting the annual Wing Bowl chicken wing eating competition inside the Wachovia Center. Wing Bowl is a phenomenon of interesting characters gorging chicken wings, surrounded by bikini-clad ladies cheering them on, surrounded by drunk drunk drunk drunk revelers, including other ladies showing bikinis and less, all of this lead by local talk radio hosts, and all because Philadelphia usually needs a fun pick-me-up before the Super Bowl, which normally doesn't feature the Eagles. This year was different. The Eagles were in the Super Bowl. Philadelphia was alive with Eagles Mania. Wing Bowl was going to take the form of a huge, drunken pep rally.
There is no cover charge to get into Wing Bowl, and I think this year will mark the end of that poilcy. The Wing Bowl started around 6AM, and the Wachovia Center was full, like lock the doors full, before 5. This unfortunate turn of events left me and my cohort (the photographer) unable to get in, but the experience was not a total loss. It is a rare opportunity to see 1) so many empy alcoholic containers outside a 20000 seat arena, 2) so many angry drunken fans, upset at being denied entry to the Wing Bowl, 3) such a powerful display of public drunkeness at 5 - 5:30. The angry drunken fans began to cause a scene, tearing down a fence here and there and maybe lighting a car or two on fire (explain that to your insurance company: "I was at Wing Bowl and the rowdys set the car on fire") The quick escalation of the scene led to the police presence documented in the photograph below. As we were walking out of the gates pictured, there was a stream of cops in riot gear coming in, clubs out. It was alarming, surreal, disappointing and cool all at the same time.
2) The Yankees photo: A-Rod and Mike Mussina are the two Yankees in the picture. I'm pretty sure that it's Miguel Tejada arriving safely at first base, it might be Melvin Mora. Not the first Yankees game I've ever seen live but the first one I've ever seen live as a fan. The Yanks blew a 7-2 lead in the seventh and lost 8-7, stranding 7 runners in the eighth and ninth innings. I'm only keeping this one up for a few days so enjoy it while you can.