Why, on second thought, I dislike the Jacobs Deal

Categories: Baseball, Bruce, Other Sports, Pop Culture

Daylight Savings Time fascinates me. It utterly fascinates me that everyone in the entire country -- or at least all the affected areas of our great nation -- will agree twice a year to change time. Here we all are, every last one of us, saying: “OK, yeah, you know what? It’s not 10 o’clock anymore. Nope. From now on, it’s 9 o’clock. No, really I’m being very serious here, turn your watch back. It’s 9 o’clock now, and until further ... Read More

The Art of Second Guessing

Categories: Baseball, Other Sports, Playoffs

This began as a little side note to discuss Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon’s rather odd and unfortunate choice to let lefty reliever J.P. Howell hit for himself in the seventh inning just so he could face righty Pat Burrell the next inning. Then I got a few emails about a second-guess column written on the Kansas City Chiefs site ... anyway it turned into this mess: There is something dramatically unfair about the second guess. The second guess is unfair even when, ... Read More

The Accidental Wardrobe

Categories: Baseball, Media, Other Sports, Pop Culture

Back at home, I have a Baltimore Orioles sweatshirt, two or three Oakland Athletics sweatshirts, an Arizona State cap, a crumpled 1996 Masters hat, a Cleveland Indians sweatshirt jacket, a Chicago sweatshirt (not any specific team, just Chicago, like, in support of the whole city) and various other clothes items representing teams I really have no attachment to whatsoever such as the Texas Rangers, Calgary Flames and various great American Universities such as Tennessee, Virginia, Florida A&M, Maine and Utah State. I ... Read More

Meteorologists Fight Back!

Categories: Baseball

I wanted to give this its own special post: As you might know, baseball czar Bud Selig blamed bad weather forecasting for his lamentable decision to start the World Series in the rain on Monday. Now, I will be the first to admit that blaming the weatherman/weatherwoman is one of the oldest and most noble of all American pastimes -- and I fully appreciate Bud pulling out the card when he was backed into a corner. This is a lot like people ... Read More

We’ll get together then, Dad

Categories: Baseball, Pop Culture

I suppose lots of fathers have their own cat's-in-the-cradle-and-the-silver-spoon moment.* Mine came on October 31, 2007 in Nagoya, Japan. That, of course, was Halloween. And, of course, because I was trying to show more intensity in Nagoya, Japan, I was not back home in Kansas City, Missouri, when my young daughters were going door to door and getting matchbox size Krackel bars and those little Alka-Seltzer two-packs of SweeTarts. *This is funny as I think back: I remember being, oh, probably 13 or ... Read More

I only want 2 see you laughing in the purple rain

Categories: Baseball

Well, I said more or less everything I have to say about the crazy rain suspension in Game 5 of the World series in this Kansas City Star column.* *And, yes, I did have a typo in there, having the Phillies World Series win in '85 rather than '80. Under deadline strain, the mind does sometimes confuse long droughts. The author regrets the error. But I do think, it’s worth saying once more that baseball under Allan Huber “Bud” Selig Jr. never ceases to ... Read More

Jamie Moyer’s America

Categories: Baseball

The following is the completion of an aborted Jamie Moyer column written sometime after midnight on Saturday night. One of the fun parts of being a newspaper columnist is, because of the absurdity of deadlines, we often get to start columns on spec. With a drop-dead 1:30 a.m. deadline for a game that, very clearly, would not be over at 1:30 a.m., the key is to guess who might be the hero and start writing that as if he IS the hero. ... Read More

Crazy Predictions Recap

Categories: Baseball

No, I have not forgotten how a few of you gave me a hard time for saying that the Tampa Bay Rays would contend this year. I have not talked about it too much because, frankly, I’m wrong so often that it seems foolish to brag when I’m right. This seems to me a bit like celebrating a sack when your team is down four touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Still, hey, the Rays are playing in the World Series today. And while ... Read More

From the notebook: Lolo

Categories: Baseball, Media, Other Sports

So, I was thinking about Lolo. I think about Lolo or bring her up in conversation, oh, probably once or twice every month, which is strange, really, because we were never especially close friends or anything. Lolo was someone I talked with at work sometimes. I liked her a lot, but I’m not sure that we ever even shared a meal. I don’t think we have talked in, wow, close to 20 years now. And to be honest, I have no idea ... Read More

Big Game Garza and Other Thoughts

Categories: Baseball, Other Sports, Pop Culture

It has been a while since we’ve had a rambling, pozterisk-drunk post. Well, not anymore. * * * Philosophers have long marveled at the mysteries and quirks of the human mind. This began many years before they listened to Buck Martinez call a baseball game.* *So, during Sunday night’s Game 7, while Big Game Garza** was pitching the Rays to their first World Series, We all heard Buck Martinez say many odd things. But this especially baffled me: “There are two positions on the field where ... Read More