Baseball is relaxing. It’s not relaxing when the Red Sox are playing the Yankees. It’s not relaxing in extra innings or when there’s a no-hitter in the late ones. Most of the time, watching it is relaxing, though. This cannot be said of football or basketball or hockey. On Monday, the Red Sox were …
Tag: baseball
Life by the Numbers
I’m 56. What does the number mean to me? It was the number associated with the race-car driver Jim Hurtubise, who, in addition to his occasional brilliance, was the Don Quixote of the Indianapolis 500 because, for a number of years, “Herk” tried to qualify a front-engined roadster after low-slung, rear-engined designs had come to …
No One Learns from the Learned
When did we stop believing people who know a lot? It’s everywhere. People are not dissuaded in the least to learn that 97 percent of scientists believe climate change is a major crisis. Person at the grocery store (or on Facebook): “They don’t know what they’re talking about.” Me: “How much do you know about …
It’s A Happy Crazy
Many years ago, it was my job to produce interviews with the members of a championship high school football team. I talked to every member of the team, and the interviews ran as fillers on the local station during the week leading up to the state championship game. When I asked one player what he …
A Nice Break From Desolation
He’d have never wanted anyone to know it, but, yeah, Jack Pinson was drinking, even though it wasn’t even noon on Tuesday, when he got a text message from Hank McGonigald. Hank wanted to get together and have lunch the next time Pinson swung through Atlanta. I hate to fucking tell you, Hank, but I …
Talking Baseball, Yastrzemski, Petrocelli …
I love baseball. Tomorrow the local college is playing at home. I think I shall go. Right now the Los Angeles Angels, who also just happen to be of Anaheim, are playing the Seattle Mariners of Cano. This is from the MLB Network in the living room, but the actual game is apparently being …
Continue reading Talking Baseball, Yastrzemski, Petrocelli …
A Book, the Highlights of Which Were …
Sometimes reading is a pleasure. Sometime it is more an investment. At the moment, I’m fairly racing through Frank Deford’s Over Time: My Life as a Sportswriter. He’s been my favorite writer of sports since I read his first novel, Cut ‘n’ Run, when I was about 15. I’ve been using a highlighter, as if …
Practical Rules of Writing
These are not practical tips in terms of serious. Lots of readers might be pissed because they clicked on this expecting something that really helps their writing. This is meant to be practically funny. Of course, whether it succeeds or not depends on the reaction of each reader. Some who are humorless will read this …
Useless What I Know
Some things I know. For instance, I know who framed Roger Rabbit. I know how to spell “Mississippi.” And “Ueberroth,” even after, lo, these many years. I don’t know how to spell “al-Qaeda” and “Qadhafi.” Neither does anyone else, though there are various and sundry opinions. My sad fate is to be a whiz at …
A Bit More Olympian About Football
The Winter Olympics are about to begin. I don’t know why it’s a plural since no one ever mentions any individual Olympic. Olympics is one of those words where you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t.Grammatically.I’m embarrassingly uninformed. The only person I know who seems to be in the Olympics is Vladimir …
Nightrider's Lament 