Category Archives: Sports

THE MIDGET WHO BATTED IN THE MAJOR LEAGUES.

THE MIDGET WHO BATTED IN THE MAJOR LEAGUES. Bill Veeck is best known for arranging for a midget to come to bat in a major league game. For those of you who aren’t baseball fans, you should know that the … Continue reading

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JUMPING FROGS.

JUMPING FROGS. I was reminded that sportsmen have engaged in competitions with other animals, including frog-jumping competitions. I mentioned to Annalisa that Mark Twain’s first success was The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County. She said she’d never read it. … Continue reading

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BUNNY STEEPLECHASES.

BUNNY STEEPLECHASES. I have a continuing interest in new sports. This article (link via Instapundit) describes, with good pictures and youtube links, the sport of bunny showjumping. It began in Sweden in the 1980’s with the name Kaninhop. There are … Continue reading

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WHY NOT LET FIELDERS BLOCK EVERY BASE?

WHY NOT LET FIELDERS BLOCK EVERY BASE? In one of his annual BASEBALL ABSTRACTS, Bill James urged that catchers not be allowed to block the plate. He pointed out that blocking the plate was not logical. After all, players are … Continue reading

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REDUCING INJURIES AT HOME PLATE.

REDUCING INJURIES AT HOME PLATE. Buster Posey, Sn Francisco’s young star catcher, is out for the year with a broken leg. It happened while he was blocking the plate, as catchers are expected to do. (For those of you are … Continue reading

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NOODLING—CATCHING CATFISH WITH YOUR BARE HANDS.

NOODLING—CATCHING CATFISH WITH YOUR BARE HANDS. Noodling is the sport of catching catfish with your bare hands—or bare hand because one technique is to thrust one hand into the fish’s mouth and grasp a bone inside the fish. Ana Campoy … Continue reading

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HU’S ON FIRST.

HU’S ON FIRST. Chin-lung Hu is a utility infielder who has been playing in the majors from time to time from 2007 with the Dodgers and this year with the Mets. Here are his stats from fangraphs. He has 190 … Continue reading

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MYWIFENOSEVRYTHING AND THEWIFEDOESNTKNOW.

MYWIFENOSEVRYTHING AND THEWIFEDOESNTKNOW. The Kentucky Derby is today, and Larry Collmus will will have the honor of calling the Derby (describing the race as it occurs). He achieved fame with his call of the seventh race at Monmouth Park on … Continue reading

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ROOMS WITH “FLOW.”

ROOMS WITH “FLOW.” We discovered when we were finally moving from our starter house six years ago that new houses were being built to provide “flow.” (I don’t know whether this is still true after the financial events of the … Continue reading

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PHONEMES AND HISTORY.

PHONEMES AND HISTORY. The result of Dr. Atkinson’s study is dramatic: Language was invented only once. What I found as interesting as the result of the study (showing the spread of languages from one point in Africa) was the proposition … Continue reading

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