Monthly Archives: December 2011

Living in New York I have developed great appreciation for long lines. Only rarely have I been disappointed after waiting (I’m looking at you, Matrix 2 & 3) and have found that if you bring a cheery attitude to the queue, that it becomes an enjoyable part of the overall experience. I ate the best breakfast of my life when, across the street from the Tokyo fish market, I chose the Sushi Shop with the longest line. I’ll wait out any Shake Shack location with a smile.

My family stood in one of those long lines at the Bronx Botanical Gardens this weekend. We queued up for the Holiday Train Show outside the main entrance under a big tent. It was cool so we were comforatable in our winter jackets. They even gave us tickets and broke us down by entrance times. Scattered around the tent were information placards describing what we were about to see. We learned that all of the building models are made entirely of plant parts. As far as lines go, I was impressed.

When our time arrived, we walked into the main entrance. But instead of entering directly into the exhibit, we came upon a large vestibule. There were a couple of spectacular models of a mansion and an air port, but they were impossible to access because of the chaotic mob of people. We only had to navigate a 50-foot curve around a fountain to get into the exhibit, but the mob had to funnel to single file while standing still. Inside the greenhouse, it’s 80 degrees.

All around us people were disintegrating. A old White woman pushing a wheelchair barked, “You people need to move!” The young Black father directly ahead of her asked her pointedly if she wanted to run over his two young kids. She yelled back that she didn’t run over his kids so he shouldn’t take offense. He kept his cool, though he was not giving her the last word on the matter. I noted to the woman that neither the father nor the kids, nor anyone else in the vestibule could move anywhere and that they would move when they could. It didn’t help. She was lost in the semantics of the argument and the father, who I thought was justified to take offense in the first place, let it drop and moved away from the wheelchair when he could.

We were already single file out in the tent! Why on earth they allow hell-on-earth to take shape inside the vestibule, I’ll never understand, but armed with the proper cheery attitude we shed our jackets and shuffled our feet occasionally until we finally tumbled to the base of the funnel.

The models of the buildings and bridges were incredible, but I expected the trains themselves to be cooler and omnipresent. The buildings require a lot of scrutiny to figure out which plant parts comprise the structures, but when two kids are bolting from train to train, scrutiny is not an option.

Cheery had wilted to ho-hum in the heat, but then, just after the midway point, I heard Jude shout out, “Yankee Stadium!”

Long live the long line.

Apropos of nothing, dig this:

Joe Martz’s photo of his George Brett action figure.

I love this shot.  Reminds me of how much I hated Brett, with the utmost respect, when he was a player. Guy killed the Yankees and was a dick about it, too. Ah, the good ol’ days.

Over at SI.com, Joe Sheehan writes that the Texas Rangers are the ideal spot for one Prince Fielder:

The Rangers have a hard team to improve. They’re set at just about every position, and in many spots, for years to come. Three of their four infielders — plus DH/UT Michael Young — are under team control through at least 2013. Nelson Cruz and Cuban import Leonys Martin, 2/3 of the outfield, are locked in through then as well. The team’s projected 2012 starting rotation includes just one pitcher, Colby Lewis, who can leave before 2015. Only catcher Mike Napoli and outfielder Josh Hamilton can become free agents after 2012, and the team has shown interest in locking up both players beyond that. While the Rangers would like to add a top-tier starting pitcher, they seem to be looking to do that in trade market rather than trying to sign Edwin Jackson, who–despite my case for him–isn’t seen as front-of-the-rotation material. The Rangers also have a good farm system that is particularly deep in pitching backing up the major league roster.

At first base, though, the team has Mitch Moreland splitting time with the veteran Young. Young is primarily a DH now, and his inexperience at first was a key part of the Rangers’ Game 6 loss in the World Series. Moreland is 26 and in a bit over a season’s worth of games has hit .258/.331/.427 in the majors, basically league-average performance. He recently underwent surgery on his right wrist that may limit his performance or availability at the start of 2012. Healthy, Moreland may be an average first baseman; he will never hit in the middle of the order for this team. He’s not someone who blocks Prince Fielder, who would make the Rangers three wins a year better, at minimum, over the next few years.

Meanwhile, the wait for Yu Darvish is on.

True Indeed.

[Photo Credit: Through My Blue Eye]

Winning anecdotes about my two favorite Yankees in the same wonderful career retrospective?

And Happy Holidays to you, SI and Walter Iooss JR.

This has to be the Reggie shot he is talking about, right?

[Photos by Walter Iooss Jr.]

Check out these cool 1961 Golden Press cards at The Virtual Card Collection. I found them through another dope site, Paris LF.

Bookmark this one–Paris LF–it’s a keeper.

Check out this photo gallery of small town America over at a most remarkable site, Pictory.

[Photo Credit:  Ethan Bodnar and James Besser]

I have not tried this, but dag, does it ever look tasty. Seriously. You can pick up a bottle in Snootsville Williams-Sonoma.

Two for Tuesday: Elmer Bischoff.

Here’s ten sports books from 2011 to keep in mind as you tackle that holiday shopping list:

1. “The Whore of Akron”

Scott Raab’s hugely entertaining memoir. I didn’t know what to expect, I thought it could just be a gonzo stunt. Then, after enjoying the first thirty pages, I wondered if Raab would be able to sustain the goodness for an entire book. Would he bang away on one note the whole time? Would the joke wear thin? Hardly. The book gets deeper as it goes along, without losing it’s light touch. A deeply moral, funny, and often moving work.

2. “At the Fights”

The wonderful boxing compilation edited by George Kimball and John Schulian.

3. “21: The Story of Roberto Clemente”

A fine graphic novel portrait of the great Clemente.

4. “Fenway 1912”

Glenn Stout’s definitive history of the making of Fenway Park. Not just for Red Sox Nation.

5. “Evel: The High-Flying Life of Evel Knievel”

Leigh Montville+ Evel=and a good time had by all.

6. “Sometimes They Even Shook Your Hand”

A terrific collection of our man Schulian’s best sports writing. A must-have.

7. “The Extra 2%”

Jonah Keri astute take on how the Tampa Bay Rays compete against the monsters of the American League East.

8. “Flip Flop Fly Ball”

The picture book of the year from the one and only Craig Robinson.

9. “Sweetness”

Jeff Pearlman’s best book yet.

10. “The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training”

Josh Wilker goes deeper into movies.

Where’s that bus? I don’t want to miss the train show.

Where’s that bus? There’s a cold rain falling.

I might fall asleep and miss my stop.

I’m thirsty and the water bottle is empty.

CC will throw the first pitch soon.

I need to make dinner for the boys.

I don’t want my wife to walk home in the dark.

He’s already held it in for so long.

I’m gonna end up in the first fucking row and my neck’s gonna be sore for a week.

Where’s that damn bus?

Technology exists underground, for most of New York, that tracks the trains along their route. Screens display the time of the next arriving train. And then the next one after that. No such service on the A Train. Nothing doing at the bus stops. You wait unknowing or you walk.

I guess the Blue Line doesn’t utilize that technology for the same reason that A and C Trains are the oldest, crappiest trains in the system. Nobody wants to spend any money on the A and the C. And I’m sure there is some preposterous reason why the MTA can’t develop an app that will track a bus as it inches through traffic as the frozen darkness descends upon your stop.

But c’mon, man. In this day and age, there’s no way we should be helplessly wondering where’s that bus.

Two for Tuesday.

Broadway and 116th street, Columbia University.

Charlie Pierce on the stupidity and sexism of baseball’s media dress codes:

MLB and the BBWAA have decided to step in with both feet to address a problem I never really noticed. Have there been battalions of reporters walking into clubhouses wearing flip-flops? (Except in spring training, I mean, where everyone dresses like a German tourist at Disneyland.) Have there been legions of my colleagues showing up for a three-game set between the Cubs and the Cardinals having packed nothing but ripped jeans and muscle shirts? God, I sincerely hope not.

“We just thought it was time to get a little organized, to put it in place before there was an incident,” committee member Phyllis Merhige, an MLB senior vice president, told the AP. “There’s no one who expects reporters to wear a suit and tie. But with the advent of different media, there are now individuals who are not part of a bigger organization that may have a dress code.”

In other words, OMIGOD, BLOGGERS! RUN AND HIDE! THEY COULD BE NAKED!

It is an exercise of control, of course. The baseball press box is an odd beast. It is owned by the team, but regulated by the local BBWAA, which is why you get that announcement before every game to the effect that “This is a working press box. No laughing or cheering, etc.” Which is good as far as it goes, which is occasionally too far. (I was once nearly removed from the press box at Fenway for the capital offense of laughing too loudly at the Cleveland Indians.) Occasionally, MLB feels compelled to yank the leash so the BBWAA knows who’s really in charge. Generally, the BBWAA comes to heel. This is one of those times.

Here is a digitized recording of the great Flannery O’Connor reading her story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find.”

Here’s the text.

[Drawing by David Levine]

“View of Oakland,” By Richard Diebenkorn (1962)

Serious Eats gives us 11 burgers around the country that are worth the hype. This simple-looking burger from JG Melon looks good enough to troop over to the East Side, don’t it?

For years, I’ve heard about “The Wire.” That is was not only good, the best thing on TV, but the greatest show of all-time. I finally got around to watching it, the entire series in just under a month. I don’t know enough about other dramas to know how to rate it, exactly, but I was not disappointed. Did I like it?

I loved it. The writing, the acting, all so memorable. When it ended I wanted to go back tot he beginning and start over again.

It’s one of those shows where it is hard to pick a favorite character. Once you are locked in on one guy–Omar, Bunk, Lester–someone else pops up. Here are some, though not all, of my favorites:

Talk about a debut…