Ritual

I don't do it as often as I should, but I enjoy shaving.  I have a beard, have had one for a long time, however I do my best to keep it short.  The exception being the fall and into the winter when it's nice to have a little bit more facial insulation.  Shaving usually occurs once a week for me because I just shave my neck.  Sometimes once every week and a half or two weeks.  I'm not always one for keeping to routines if I don't have to. I do my best to keep my beard at or just a little below my jawline.  There have been a few times when I've grown my beard out a little bit or done something different with it.  I've gone with mutton chops a few times.  Which was fun.  It was something different.  But now I just like to keep it full.  

The ritual of shaving with a razor wasn't really handed down.  There wasn't like some great bonding moment.  When the time came to learn how to shave, my dad taught my brother and I using an electric razor.  I used it for most of my high school years.  I hated it. I will never buy an electric razor, I will never use one again. To be honest, I couldn't grow a lot of facial hair until I was almost out of college.  It wasn't until I was eighteen and Gillett sent a Mach 3 that I had a razor.  It even came with a 'you're 18!  Here's a razor!' type card.  To this day, I don't know how or why they had my name and age, but they did.  And shit, I got a free razor out of it so what did I care?  In fact, I still have it, I just buy the replacement heads.  I hacked my face with it until I got the feel for it.  I placed my fair share of toilet paper squares on my face to be sure.  At the time I got that razor creepily in the mail, I couldn't really grow facial hair.  My first attempt my senior year of high school resulted in just a little bit on my chin.  I let it grow out a little bit and kept it.  

As far as I can remember, I have enjoyed shaving.  It feels like a great ritual.  Very manly.  You start out with a lot of scruff and end up with a smooth face.  It's like starting over.  And maybe that's why I normally do it just once a week (normally at the end of the weekend).  To feel like I'm starting anew.  One thing that has added to the ritualistic feel is having a badger bristle brush and a cup.  Like you see in movies that depict the 1950s and 1960s.  I keep telling myself I will buy a safety razor like they use as well, it just hasn't happened yet.  I even have a little stand for it!  

It's funny to look back at my first attempt to grow a full beard when I was in college.  It was my senior year, I was mainly focused on writing my senior paper and lining up an internship for my museum studies minor.  The last thing that was really on my mind was shaving. I also kept my hair a little bit longer back then too.  Once again, no time for grooming.  Plus, what poor college kid has twenty bucks for a hair cut?  That's a lot of money that can go towards beers!  Anyway, my beard was kinda thin.  A little patchy in some places.  A sad attempt really. Bit was what it was though.  

As I've grown older, it's filled out more.  There's some gray hairs in it now as well.  And by some gray hairs, I mean like five or six.  It's very distinguished looking.  People in my life (family, friends, co-workers) have come to know me what a beard.  Everyone would be shocked if I one day decided to shave it all off.  PERISH THE THOUGHT!  For it will never happen.  Short of being offered money to do so.  And it was take a lot of money to convince me to shave my beard off.  So for the time being, I will stick to just shaving my neck and enjoying the little bit of ritual routine I have.

  

Non Cellar Sellers

The baseball trading deadline is approaching and the Detroit Tigers are once again faced with a tough decision.  Just like last year, they are not one hundred percent out of the post season race (yes, I know it's July) but they aren't exactly in a spot to be comfortable with their fall season chances.  So what are they to do?  Last year, they had some pieces that they were willing to trade away (Price, Cespedes, Soria) and in return they restocked the farm system.  They are no longer the worst in the league, but those moves didn't exactly vault them to the top farm systems.  The difference between last season and this season is that the players that they did move weren't going to resign with the team nor were they difficult to move because they were big names.  This season, the Tigers don't really have the pieces that they can move while improving the future of the team while at the same time not hindering it.

Now why do I think that they should be selling at the trade deadline?  They aren't at or near the bottom of the division.  They are in the hunt for the wild card at least.  There isn't any way they are going to catch Cleveland.  Especially seeing as how they've lost twelve of thirteen games to them this season.  Could they buy at the trade deadline and make a push for the playoffs?  Absolutely.  However, with the way the wildcard is set up, they would be making moves to play one playoff game.  ONE!  If they were to lose that game, they would be done.  I'm looking to the future.  I would rather see the Tigers miss the playoffs for a few years while they restock their farm system with younger talent.  The star players they have now at the highest level are getting older and if they start to stockpile prospects now, they could be ready by the time the current roster turns over.  It's simple and well run organizations understand this concept.  The chance for the Tigers to win the World Series is over, sadly, for right now.  There are too many teams that have leapfrogged them as far as talent.  They have to just remain relevant so when they make another push in a few years, the big name free agents who could help push them over the top will want to sign with them.  If they can go season to season and hover around the .500 mark, when they are ready to push for a deep playoff run they could lure players again.  

Here is where we run into a problem.  Who do they trade?  Who can they depart with and still feel great about where they sit?  What type of players should they go after?  So.  Many.  Questions.  I think that with the moves they made last year, they have set up their pitching staff of the future.  We have all seen what Michael Fulmer is capable of, Daniel Norris has been hit and miss, Matt Boyd is still several years out.  If these guys can all stay healthy, and produce, we could be looking at a strong pitching core.  They also picked up JaCoby Jones who could be a great middle infielder for the future.  They have some talent coming up in the next three to four years, but it never hurts to have more.  They can always use them to trade away for if and when they can make a strong push into the playoffs.  I think that where the Tigers need the most help is the outfield.  Especially after J.D. Martinez broke his elbow.  I thought for few games that Steven Moya would do well for the time that J.D. was going to be out.  But by all accounts, he is best served as a designated hitter or a pinch hitter.  His defense still needs to catch up, but could he be moved for a more serviceable outfielder of the future?

What about Justin Upton?  I know the Tigers just signed him this offseason, but the fact that there is an opt out option after this season is disconcerting.  He could leave and the Tigers would get nothing in return.  It's almost like the situation they faced last year with Price and Cespedes.  The difference being Price and Cespedes were free agents at the end of last season and Upton does have a six year contract so he could stay in Detroit, it would just be a matter of whether or not he would.  I'm not sure how they determine that, but if he decides to leave I wouldn't be heartbroken (I didn't like the signing to begin with) but I would be upset that the Tigers wouldn't move him now to get some compensation.  And who would be looking for a bat that has been struggling this season?  Hopefully he gets hot in the next week and teams start kicking tires.  

Another player that might intrigue teams is Jose Iglesias.  Not for his bat per say, but more for his glove.  I enjoy watching him play and he has really solidified the middle infield with Kinsler.  He does have streaks in him that make me want the Tigers to keep him, but his injury history makes me leery.  The Tigers have is a prospect that can take his place in Dixon Machado.  True, he is someone that wouldn't really be ready until 2018 or '19 so maybe the Tigers shouldn't move Iglesias right now plus his contract is still team friendly.  But in the future, maybe they ship him off somewhere.  Maybe next year.  Next year when all the players are just a little older but still productive.  Next year when the Tigers may or may not be in the same situation they are in now.

After watching teams like the Royals and Astros rebuild through the draft and player development, I want the Tigers to take a similar approach.  I would like for them to give up on winning now.  The last good chance they had at winning a World Series was in 2012 and got steam rolled by the Giants.  After that, everyone could tell that they needed to restock and rebuild.  They just haven't done it until last year.  Mike Ilitch wouldn't allow it.  He wants a championship.  And I understand that, but what he wants isn't what is good for the team or organization.  Saying that I want the Tigers to rebuild doesn't mean I've given up any kind of hope that they play well, I just know that where they are now won't win them any kind of championship.  Besides, if I stayed a fan after the early 2000s what makes you think I would give up on my Tigers.  Life long fans of any team understand the need to rebuild or retool or reboot, or whatever you want to call it.  

Deserted Island List

Time for something fun and entertaining as we watch the world around us go to complete and utter shit.  We've all seen or read or thought about what we would bring to a deserted island.  There are plenty of people who can easily spout of four or five books, movies, or albums that they would want to have.  Other people probably wouldn't be able to give you one or two.  Me?  I'd be able to list somewhere in the eight to ten each range, but let's keep focused.  Below is a list of five movies, books, and albums I would want to have with me if I were on a deserted island.  And before someone starts the whole 'how are you going to play your music or movies without any power?', just don't.  Don't be that person.  Just have fun and assume the Professor from Gilligan's Island made me a coconut and solar powered tv/dvd combo type contraption before I murdered him for survival.

Albums:

• The Beatles:  Abbey Road
• The Clash:  London Calling
• Kendrick Lamar:  To Pimp a Butterfly
• Jack White:  Lazaretto
• Led Zeppelin:  Physical Graffiti 

Books:

• The Catcher in the Rye
• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
• Common Sense
• The Road
• 44 Dublin Made Me

Movies:

• Casablanca
• No Country for Old Men
• Pulp Fiction
• Good Will Hunting
• Dazed and Confused

The movie part is where it got a little tricky because some of the movies that I love are parts of a trilogy.  My favorite movies of all time are the original Star Wars trilogy.  The same can go for the Lord of the Ring trilogy.  Sure, each movie in both trilogies can stand on their own, but when I watch one I kind of want to watch all of them.  Because the story spans three movies.  So, if I could smash all three Star Wars movies into one, I would bring that.  But I'm staying within the margins I have set for myself while writing this.  Besides, I've seen those movies enough times where I don't need to have them physically.  I have them in my mind.  Always and forever.