June 2009
47 posts
“You will hear players say, all the time, ‘I wish I knew then what I know...”
– Joe Posnanski at SI.com has clearly never seen an Independence Blue Cross commercial, or else he would never have written it that way.
“Known as ‘the white girl,’ the 5-foot-4 blonde threw parties in...”
– Hip-hop rappers! (I also enjoyed this: “Her favorite quote was: ‘At the end of the day, it is what it is.’”)
“In a week unusually rife with celebrity death, it’s a little spooky to...”
– Uhm, yes, New York Times, that’s quite the connection. If I were 50-year-old Albert II, Prince of Monaco, I’d be quite spooked!
“I always admire people who have the courage to confront the conventional wisdom...”
– One of my favorites from baseball stat guru Bill James. I just love any quote with the word “malarkey” in it.
“After players brushed him off, [Tampa Rays fan Robert] Eaton said he called out...”
– Phillies pitcher J.C. Romero allegedly assaulted a fan during the Phillies’ series against Tampa. Maybe The Pen will finally get interesting! Still, what did Romero (allegedly) say? An ‘f’ followed by four dashes is a five-letter word. Shut the fudge up?
“If you could do a commercial for one product, what would it be? Chris Coste:...”
– I missed this hilarious exchange between Jesse Spector and Chris Coste earlier this month.
“No, you don’t. No, you don’t. No, for the love of all that is holy,...”
– Rob Iracane at Walkoff Walk lays down the truth on steroids, amphetamines and the Hall of Fame. Rock on. For reference, I would totally vote Jose Canseco into the Hall of Fame. Of boxing.
Steven Wells, 1960-2009
Steven Wells, I think, rejected more of my ideas than any editor I’ve worked with. In the fall of 2006, I ran up to his cube after getting off the phone with C. Urbanus. “I just got an offer to referee a rock, paper, scissors competition,” I said. “I think I can—” He stopped me. “I want it!” he nearly screamed. The article ended up being...
“All those f****** experts in America, everybody who thinks they know everything...”
– That was Michael Bradley after the United States somehow managed to make the Confederations Cup semifinals; today the U.S. beat Spain 2-0 to make the final. Whee!
“Gary Papa, Gary Papa/ He’s got sports on Action News/ Hockey, racing, golf...”
– I will never get this commercial jingle (set to “Ode to Joy”) out of my head. Must be from 15 years ago. If you’re wondering, this is my favorite Gary Papa memorial tribute on YouTube.
WatchAnd why haven’t I played Grey’s Anatomy: The Video Game yet? I want to control Meredith and have her back down, dammit! (via NPR via my buddy Joe)
“Heaven forbid that the delicacy and morality of children be so poorly...”
– The above is a response from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts to 500 Christian women who protested nude paintings at PAFA’s March 1891 exhibition. The Philadelphia Inquirer, incidentally, wrote in support of the women. (from Censoring Sex)
“Based on police reports, Davis seemed to take his arrest in stride, stating that...”
– A million monkeys could spend a million years writing drug bust stories and not come up with a paragraph as awesome as this one from the Berkshire Eagle.
“No boy or man can expect to succeed in this world to a high position and...”
– Philadelphia Athletics manager Connie Mack, in 1913. Ha!
WatchI can’t stop watching this report from CNN. Umbrellas clearly are the ultimate tool for preventing dissent.
“For those of you who still believe that Abner Doubleday invented baseball in...”
– The first sentence of Joe Morgan’s Baseball for Dummies.
