The New Sudoku Players' Forum

[Cec]

How about the word "Pitching"....Pitching the ball and Pitching Lucas

Cec

[MCC]

Pitching is not the right word, Cec.

Clue:

Opening a champagne bottle.

MCC

[udosuk]

Opening a champagne bottle.

Cork? (Corked bat)
Pop up?
Pop out?
Pop?
Swing?
(Has the answer anything to do with those swinging laser thingies?)

Okay, final guess:

Saber/Sabre
link 1
link 2
link 3
link 4

[MCC]

(Has the answer anything to do with those swinging laser thingies?)

Yes.

Udosuk's final guess is spot on
Click on links in his post to find out.

My next clue would have been:

Jackdaw No. But this captain prefers "this" to the usual offering.

MCC

[udosuk]

Back to some more sports talks...

The Yankees are falling into another bad slump now. If they miss the playoffs (which is quite likely) I wonder who'll be fired next season. The new bullpen pitchers are quite exciting but the starters keep faultering. Perhaps the Clemens suspension did have a bad effect somehow.

The D-backs keep winning close games, which is quite pleasing to see. Perhaps Cec's prediction of a BoSox vs D-backs World Series will come true after all.

[Cec]

I'm not sure how well jokes "go across" so I'll see what response eventuates.

A local Golf Club is holding its annual father/son tournament who play against another family pair to make up a foursome.

Dad, who is a keen golfer, drives the ball about 250 yards from the first tee straight down the middle of the fairway. His son, who is a "hacker", mis-hits the ball off the fairway into rough terrain .

Dad takes his 3-iron and, with all his skill, launches the ball some 200 yards onto the green to within one foot of the hole. The son takes his putter but hits the ball too hard about 10 feet past the hole.

Dad, controlling his emotions, sinks the putt for a bogey five. On reaching the next tee, Dad quietly says to his son " If we're going to beat this pair son we've got to get our act together". The son looks at his dad and replies " Well don't blame me - I only had two strokes to your three!

Cec

[udosuk]

Nice joke Cec, I like it.

This somehow reminds me of the time I play snooker with my dad. I ain't all that good, and often miss pots to leave the target balls right in front of the pockets. So my dad usually pots more balls into the pockets than me. But I always outscore my dad by a wide margin, on virtue of the foul shots from him. Because he makes a lot of foul shots I seldom have easy potting chances. Ironic I guess. (If I'm cunning enough I'll focus on playing defensively and setting him snookers, but what's the fun of that?)

[Cec]

Thanks udosuk. Talking about snooker, it reminds me of my younger days when I made a snooker table, actually using chipboard, and enjoyed playing against my kids who had trouble judging the uneveness of the table and hence found it hard to pot the balls into the pockets. I marvel watching the professional players on TV, particularly how they not only pot the balls into the pockets but know how to return the cue-ball to a position on the table to execute their pre-planned next shot.

Cec

[re'born]

It seems, Cec, that your father/son combo decided to play again the following weekend, but this time they bring Grandpa. Being a weekend they are paired up with another golfer to complete their foursome. Pleasantly suprised, they discover their playing partner is a very attractive female. On the last hole, the girl ends up about 45 feet from the pin, putting for birdie. Being a treacherous green, the girl takes her time trying to read it. Finally, the son approaches the girl, takes a look at the hole and says, "Ma'am, I believe you should hit it about 8 inches to the right." Hearing this, the father comes up to her and after spending about 10 seconds reading the green says "No ma'am. I believe you should hit it about 12 inches to the right of the hole." Finally, the grandfather approaches, looks at the hole, looks at the green, then up to the girl, and says "Young lady. That there is a gimme."

(reading over his shoulder, re'born's wife says: "you should stick to sudokus.")

[Hud]

I didn't see Cec's prediction for the world series, but I like it. I don't have enough confidence in the D-backs yet, but the National League doesn't appear very strong this year.

I thought when grandpa approached the gal he'd make a lewd comment about her figure. Maybe he did, but re'born's wife disuaded him from putting that part in lol.

Since it's Friday, maybe I can slip in a joke that isn't sports related:
It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then
-- just to loosen up. Inevitably, though, one thought led to another, and
soon I was more than just a social thinker. I began to think alone -- "to
relax," I told myself -- but I knew it wasn't true. Thinking became more and
more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time.

That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I had turned off the
TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her
mother's.

I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don't mix,
but I couldn't stop myself. I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could
read Thoreau and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused,
asking, "What is it exactly we are doing here?"

One day the boss called me in. He said, "Listen, I like you, and it hurts me
to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop
thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job."

This gave me a lot to think about. I came home early after my conversation
with the boss. "Honey," I confess, "I've been thinking..."

"I know you've been thinking," She said, "and I want a divorce!"

"But Honey, surely it's not that serious."

"It is serious," she said, and her lower lip began to quiver. "You think as much as college professors, and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on thinking, we won't have any money!"

"That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently. She exploded in tears of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal with the emotional drama.

"I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped out the door.

I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche. I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big glass doors, they didn't open. The library was closed.

To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night. Leaning on the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye, "Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?" it asked.

You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinkers Anonymous poster. This is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker. I
never miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was "Porky's", the week before, it was "Animal House". Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting. I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home.

Life just seemed... easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking.

[udosuk]

I didn't see Cec's prediction for the world series, but I like it. I don't have enough confidence in the D-backs yet, but the National League doesn't appear very strong this year.

As an analogy to your country's popular baseball I would assume the D-backs team would beat BoSox team so we would "tip" D-backs to beat BoSox.

Okay, I twisted it a little. Because the D-backs & BoSox belong to the NL & AL respectively and there are no more interleague plays remaining this year, the only way these 2 teams can meet again this season is in the World Series. So I take it Cec is "tipping" the D-backs to beat the BoSox in the World Series. (Okay the reality is he probably has no idea about what is NL, AL, interleague plays & the World Series. )

Your joke/story is very philosophical. But feel free to post more if you want.

For some reason I'm having difficulty understanding re'born's punch line "Young lady. That there is a gimme." I take it "gimme" is a golf jargon which I have absolutely no idea about. Must be karma payback time for posting a baseball jargon riddle to trouble the viewers who aren't interested to baseball at all.

[Hud]

A gimme is usually a short put of around 12 inches that you don't make your opponent shoot. In stroke play tournaments where you score by shots (not holes won) there are no gimmes. In Ryder cup play gimmes are common but sometimes used as psychological ploys. For instance, a player might accept a gimme on one hole and refuse to give a gimme on a shorter putt on the next. Some players get upset and upset golfers usually get upset.

[Cec]

"....So I take it Cec is "tipping" the D-backs to beat the BoSox in the World Series. (Okay the reality is he probably has no idea about what is NL, AL, interleague plays & the World Series. )..."

You're quite right udosuk... I have no idea of the format of baseball competition overseas. I merely chose two teams at random viz."D-backs" and "BoSox" which were mentioned in previous posts to best answer Hud's query as to the meaning of the word "tipping".

".... Finally, the grandfather approaches, looks at the hole, looks at the green, then up to the girl, and says "Young lady. That there is a gimme."
(reading over his shoulder, re'born's wife says: "you should stick to sudokus.")

re'born, a cute variation to other punch-lines I've heard for this joke.

Hud, I enjoyed your "meaning of life" story.

Here's a short one....
A golfing pro was giving lessons to a novice who hit his shot into a very deep bunker. "What do I need?" asks the novice.
"Take your sand-iron" the pro replies then adding "because it's so hot you better take your drink bottle".

Cec

[Hud]

I just watched one of the most masterful pitching performances I've ever seen. Webb of the D-backs didn't throw a no-hitter or a perfect game, but he really made it look easy against a pretty good hitting Braves team. I don't think he can possibly challenge Hersheiser's record of 59 scoreless innings, but he's the closest to in in the 19 years since the record was set. The young players on the D-backs are also very impressive, and should only improve with time. Reynolds hit his homerun an estimated 453 feet and he's not that big of a guy. Young hit 2 and makes it look easy also.

A golfing pro was giving lessons to a novice who hit his shot into a very deep bunker. "What do I need?" asks the novice.
"Take your sand-iron" the pro replies then adding "because it's so hot you better take your drink bottle".

Cec, at first I didn't get the joke, but after rereading it, I see the pro told him to take his drink also.

[Cec]

"... Reynolds hit his homerun an estimated 453 feet and he's not that big of a guy...."

Another example where size doesn't always matter when playing sport. I understand Ian Woosnam, a British golfer, who I think won a "major" some years ago, was only about five feet one inch tall but was renowned for his long hitting as well as his overall golf ability.

By way of interest, was Reynold's estimated 453 feet hit "on the full". If so, that's a huge hit compared to cricket where "sixes" are given for hits clearing the boundary which is usually just inside the fence. A "big" six in cricket could land many rows back or land on the roof of a grandstand but a 453 foot hit on the full would be, in my opinion, extremely rare.

BTW I'm glad you finally got the sand bunker joke

Cec