Night Owl Cards

   Six years ago -- geez, almost seven now -- I wrote a post about the first player I think of when I think of a specific team.   I said in that post that maybe in five years I'd try it again and see if any of my choices changed. Well, it's more than five years since and, of course they've changed. This is a totally random exercise!   So I'm doing it again. I tried not to look at my choices from the first time. And, like last time, though I didn't plan to repeat the pattern, I conducted this thinking exercise shortly after waking up, so my brain wouldn't be influenced by anything that's going on currently.   However, my timing isn't great. The last time I did this was in January, the offseason. This time I'm doing it in the middle of the postseason, so I'm naturally going to pick people playing in that. Anyway, let's see what the brain said this time.   National League West   Dodgers: Mookie Betts. He's kind of been on my mind lately.  ...

I'm taking a break from the big box of cards from Jonathan to conduct a little thinking exercise inspired by Fuji's post from yesterday. Fuji, as he often does, asked a question at the end of the post related to the team he was featuring, the Angels. He asked, "When you think of the Angels, who are the first players that come to mind?" I actually read it as "first player -- no 's' -- to come to mind." And the first player that flashed into my mind was none other than bad-ass-'70s-hurler Frank Tanana. From the comments on Fuji's post, I was the only one who picked Tanana. I get that. I'm older than a lot of bloggers. But I wear it as a badge of pride. I'd much rather think of Tanana first than someone like Tim Salmon. Tim Salmon? When I think of Tim Salmon my brain goes blank. What else is there? With Tanana you have flaming strikeouts and cool mustaches and epic carousing and Foghat playing in the background when you look at...