The iPod music player is one of those iconic gadgets that seems like it's always been around, but still has that "new" feeling. Five years ago today, Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the iPod to a hall full of tech journalists, calling the device a breakthrough. Though curious, the initial response to the iPod was mixed - what was Apple doing introducing a device that wasn't a computer? And why was Apple getting into the MP3 player business where so many other competitors (including Rio and SonicBlue) were already?

At work, I read reports of the debut with marked skepticism. It didn't seem like something I really wanted, and I couldn't figure out a place I would play it. After all, I am seemingly always near a computer or stereo at home, have a CD player in the car, and didn't anticipate listening at work. It certainly wasn't as if I would suddenly get fit, take up exercise and go jogging with the iPod in hand, and white earbuds playing the best of techno. In fact, when one person on an Apple message board said the device was most likely geared toward 24 year-old geeks, I (being a 24-year-old geek at the time) said I wasn't interested and wouldn't be getting one.



Of course - that all changed when I got home, and watched Steve Jobs' introduction on QuickTime from the Apple site. Not 12 hours after the iPod had been introduced to the world, I had gone to the Apple store and purchased one of the first iPods ever built. In fact, thanks to my thorough e-mail archives, I still have my proof of purchase before 10 p.m. that evening, thanking me for my order.

The price for the 5 gigabyte device?

$399, plus an estimated tax amount of $31.92, for a total order of $430.92, and it wasn't even expected to ship for another 3-4 weeks. Five years later, you can't walk a block without seeing somebody wearing an iPod, and they come in sizes from a mere 512 megabytes to 80 Gigabytes, in a variety of colors, and as cheaply as $79. Yet somehow, I don't feel ripped off.

The iPod, and along with it, iTunes, and the iTunes Music Store, reenergized the world of music for many people, who saw the industry under attack from thievery engines like Napster and Kazaa. The iTunes Music Store gave those of us yearning instant gratification for music a safe, legal alternative that didn't leave us feeling dirty after download. Apple had a mega-hit on its hands, and we were there from the very first day. Congratulations Apple - you've come a long way.

Listening to ''The DJ - In the Mix'', by ATB (Play Count: 13)

Keith Olbermann first came to popular culture acting as the tag team partner to Dan Patrick on ESPN's SportsCenter. Now covering "real news", he's made quite a name for himself on MSNBC. As you can see from the below clip on YouTube, he's furious about some of the moves most recently made by this administration. He's sure that we've lost the long-term battle for some short-term feelings that we're "safer today". Regardless of your political leanings, make sure to watch it.

Macha's sudden dismissal after the ALCS sweep surprised a lot of people, but here at the ANtics, we should have seen the warning signs along the way - as he played favorites with players, feuded with the front office, kissed up to umpires and generally tried to go his own way on a club when that wasn't the plan for a manager - an interchangeable cog.

Below - 10 different examples, all brought to you by the ANtics, that display the disconnect as it happened.

1. He offered Adam Melhuse to be ejected instead of Bradley. (ANtics 2.32)
   
2. He said it was "Us against the world." (ANtics 2.27)
   
3. He threatened players with the "Vulcan Death Grip." (ANtics 2.23)
   
4. Rather than arguing with umps, he offered them jobs. (ANtics 2.21)
   
5. He openly called for "Kenny-ball" and threatened to subvert Billy Beane's plans (Antics 2.20)
   
6. He feuded with Melhuse over alleged gum theft. (ANtics 2.12)
   
7. He threatened to cut Saarloos if the pitcher didn't get a haircut. (ANtics 2.11)
   
8. Saying things were "nebulous", he offered no strategy to break the team's inconsistency. (ANtics 2.10)
   
9. In a Dusty Baker-esque move, he once challenged Zito to pitch from both sides of the mound. (ANtics 2.6)
   
10. And always... the lineups. As the season dawned, he promised to bat Kendall cleanup. (ANtics 2.1)
    

That's just ten examples of how we knew there were "Disconnects" with Macha this season - and we didn't even break into the 2005 ANtics. As you know, Macha's been let go, and every day brings new insight into the clubhouse tumult that apparently defined the A's year. We look into the struggles, in "As the Macha Turns".

Click to See Larger Comic

Also: Take the Poll: When Did You Know Macha Was A Goner?
2005 Comics | 2006 Comics |  All Comics | Poll

With the A's reaching the second round of the playoffs for the first time in more than a decade, some were surprised as to the speed which the team dispatched their manager of four years, Ken Macha. Initially, his dismissal came just with the saying that their was a "disconnect" between Macha and the front office, namely the team's general manager, Billy Beane. But in the week or so following, the press has been full of players claiming he snubbed them or left them in the dark as to why decisions were made. Now Macha is answering back, tired of seeing his name "dragged in mud."

As fans of the game, we don't expect to know all the nuances of how a team is put on the field, how lineups are decided, and how relations are between the dozens of individuals that comprise a 25-man roster and a team's front office. While on the surface, a team like the A's might be full of smiles and excellent camaraderie, we have seen this crack in the armor grow, revealing ugliness between players and manager, and manager and the front office, that in combination, left no option but to make a change.

A report in the San Francisco Chronicle today said that Macha's firing came from "too much interference". He felt that he couldn't make critical decisions independently, and had to relay orders coming from above while acting as those were his calls. Regulars and backups alike, from Adam Melhuse to Mark Kotsay, Jay Payton and Bobby Kielty are all cited as having confronted Macha about playing time, while it was clear the team was far from unanimity on which starting pitchers should take the mound against the Tigers in the ALCS. That the team was swept 4-0 surely didn't help anybody's cause.

In the wake of Macha's firing, GM Beane was asked if Macha would have been fired had he won the World Series. Beane's answer was quite telling: "We'll never know." This was damning in two ways - one reminding that the A's didn't win the World Series, and the second being that the issues around Macha were more than anything we saw on the field. For a team that should be basking in the memory of a hard-fought season where they took the division title, and swept the Minnesota Twins out of the ALDS, instead the A's are very publicly fighting amongst themselves over who said what when, and it's very petty. It shouldn't be like this, and regardless of who's right, it's time to be done with it. Macha is gone, and the A's have a lot of work to do to make sure 2007 is an even greater success.

More Information:

San Francisco Chronicle: 'Hurt' by players' comments, Macha tells his side of story
Inside Bay Area: Macha Voices Dismay

Listening to ''Gamemaster'', by Lost Tribe (Play Count: 6)