Books Of The Decade
I read a lot of books this decade. I love putting together lists at the end of arbitrary periods of time. Seems like a perfect excuse to share some of my favorite books I read over the past ten years. Please note that the focus is on the date read rather than the date published. There are a few in…
Reader’s Notebook
Done. I finished David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest late Sunday night. That’s three months to knock out roughly 1100 pages, for those of you keeping score at home. It took me about two months to get through the first half, and I flew (relatively) through the second half over the last four weeks. For comparison, I started Bill Simmons’ The…
Holiday Weekend
Some extended weekend. Here, in 2000 words or less, is a summary of how your trusty blogger passed the holiday. We were hosts for the local family this year. It sounds daunting to say that we fed 17, but when you factor in that we are a family of five, hosting 12 people isn’t really that big of a deal.…
Favorite Songs Of The Decade
Something meaty for you to chew on, should this be a short week for you. If not, tuck it away and save it for a day when you have time to read about my 30 favorite songs of the decade. 30 – “Love Steals Us From Loneliness” – Idlewild 2005. This band started out the decade gangbusters, a rocking outfit…
Feel The Excitement
Finally. Remember how I mock complained about always getting assigned to games that ended up being blowouts, often at the expense of the team I was covering? That was a bit of an exaggeration, but it seemed that more often than not, I was asking a coach questions about a loss than a win. Things have been a bit better…
Man-oh-Mangino
I keep a small file on my computer with topics I might like to write about. Get an idea, add it to the list, and when time allows and inspiration strikes, I bust something out for you. Over the weekend I made a single word addition to the list: Mangino. After another fourth quarter collapse against Nebraska, I got to…
Nothing Gets By Reggie
The buzz this morning is about a certain coach’s certain curious decision late in a certain game played in a certain midwest city last night. I don’t want to talk about that (the decision). I want to talk about Reggie Wayne. Lost in the columns pouring forth this morning is my man Reggie’s catch for the ages that completed the…
I Don’t Think That Means What You Think It Means
As you probably know, I’m annoyed by small things at times. A current example: in this week’s hype-fest for the Patriots-Colts clash Sunday night, ESPN’s Josh Elliott called Peyton Manning’s career “incomparable.” As Amy Proehler and Seth Meyers would say, really? My dictionary offers two definitions for incomparable. 1 – without an equal in quality or extent; matchless 2 –…
Nicknames
One day recently I heard The Spinners’ “The Rubberband Man” while running errands. That was a song I grew up on, since my parents were very much into the early 1970s soul sound. But I recall it most fondly because of former NBA player Paul Pressey. While Pressey played his college ball at Tulsa, he earned the nickname “Rubberband Man”…
Must See TV
I’ve been remiss in not recommending ESPN’s 30 for 30 series. I’m a few weeks behind, but with the exception of the Baltimore Colts band episode (which I accidentally deleted after watching only 20 minutes), I’ve enjoyed every episode so far. Last night I watched Muhammad and Larry, an amazing piece about the 1980 Muhammad Ali – Larry Holmes heavyweight…