danajohnhill.org | Hard Times Come Again No More

I normally do not care one bit about “the latest internet sensation”, or which videos have “gone viral”.  But Miriam knows what I like, and yesterday she showed me a video that has me amazed and is totally worth watching, whatever limited free time you may have.

Actually, it’s two videos.  The first is simply a local news report about an attempted rape in the projects.  That’s not very funny in and of itself.  But the victim’s brother has a lot to say, and his expressiveness and odd word choice is mildly entertaining.  Still, this isn’t what is so great, but you must watch this video first in order to appreciate the second one.

In the second video, someone has seen the entertainment value in this gentleman’s manner of speaking, and, using computer magic, turned it into a great R&B song.  I don’t know how they did it, but it is amazing.  (The good stuff ends at 1:15.)

Filed under: Comedy, Current Events on August 2nd, 2010 | No Comments »

If you watch much baseball, particularly in person, you have no doubt witnessed it: a frantic rush for every home run and foul ball batted into the stands.  Occasionally, these balls are caught outright, and the happy fan holds up his prize and receives cheers all around.  Far more often, however, the batted ball bounces off a seat or a spectator’s hand, and initiates a mad scramble to retrieve it.  Grown men and boys leap over one another, and crawl along the floor to snatch it.  It would not be exaggerating to say that, for some young boys, the quest for a foul ball holds greater interest than the game on the field.

The same foolish impulse that animates the men who snatch baseballs from from one another in the stands, and the boys who race each other from section to section in greedy anticipation, is the same one that prompts fans to interfere with balls in play.  The infamous Steve Bartman incident is the best known, but others occur almost daily, with fans reaching over walls, gloves in hand, to scoop up fair balls.

This obsession reached its logical climax in Arlington last night, when a fan at Rangers Park tumbled from the upper deck to the stands below.  He had been reaching for a foul ball and lost his balance.  He dropped thirty feet onto fans below.  Fans in the park screamed when they saw it happen.  The home plate umpire threw his hands over his head in horror.  The television announcers were similarly terrified.  The game was halted for fifteen minutes, and many players were visibly distressed, with several of the Cleveland fielders clearly mouthing prayers.

Everyone loves a souvenir.  But is a $16 baseball really worth all that?

Filed under: Current Events, Rantings, Sports on July 7th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

I just watched a no-hitter.  Alas, it was against my beloved Rays.  Apparently, 1965 was the last time that a team–the Chicago Cubs, no less–were no hit twice in a season in which one of the no-hitters was a perfect game.

Filed under: Current Events, Sports on June 25th, 2010 | No Comments »

Wait, why’d they stop this guy?

Filed under: Current Events on June 15th, 2010 | No Comments »

When it comes to baseball, I am ultra-conservative:  I don’t believe in interleague play; I don’t like the wild card; I think there should only be two divisions in each league; I oppose the designated hitter rule; I think players should have to wear stirrups; I believe that baseball parks should have organs and not use pre-recorded music; I think the first game of the season should always be played in Cincinnati, and never outside the United States.  As a traditionalist, I naturally oppose instant replay, since I recognize that umpires almost always make the right call.  But I think that something must be done about the botched call that cost Detroit’s Armando Galarraga a perfect game tonight against Cleveland.  Bud Selig, who has done so much to hurt baseball must step in, void Jim Joyce’s call (which Joyce admits was wrong), and score Galarraga’s effort perfect.  The pitcher won’t get to enjoy the roar of the home crowd, and he will have missed out on being carried from the field on the shoulders of his teammates, but his name will go down in history.  He deserves it.

UPDATE: A day after the tragically bad call by Jim Joyce, he stood on the field in Detroit, visibly weeping, and shook Armando Galarraga’s hand.  Joyce is clearly distraught about his mistake – obviously more upset than Galarraga himself, who has handled this ordeal with tremendous class.

Meanwhile, on mlb.com, Hal Bodley makes a considered, but ultimately illogical defense of Bud Selig’s decision to not interfere with the outcome of the game.  Bodley admits that his first reaction was to demand that Joyce’s call be overturned.  But, he writes, “had Selig taken the easy way out he would have established a precedent that could have come back to haunt him and the sport. Years from now, that decision would be an integral part of his legacy”.

True, overturning the call would be unusual, and it would go against the perfectly imperfect nature of baseball, in which human error is sometimes a part of the game, but umpires’ decisions are final.  But where Bodley loses me is in his correct assertion that this call will lead to expanded use of instant replay.  What I wonder is this: if Joyce’s call leads to more instant replay, which will inevitably lead to other umpires’ calls being overturned, what’s the point of not just reversing this decision right now?

Filed under: Current Events, Sports on June 2nd, 2010 | 2 Comments »