33 thoughts on “October 23, 2013: The World Series”

  1. I am glad that the best two teams are in the World Series. I want to see a good series and this one has a lot of potential.

    1. I agree. It may not be the teams I'd have preferred, but if we just want to see good ball, I think we have a good chance to see it.

      1. I won't be home until probably 7 or 8, Pacific time. So I figure that I'll miss about 3 innings. /redsawkstakeforeverattheplateandonthemound

        Actually, this series will be another contrast in styles. Watching the Cards/Dodgers, I noticed that the typical time-between-pitches for a Cards pitcher was well south of 10 seconds. For the Dodgers (not including Brian Wilson, who could be timed with a sun dial), it was more like 15-20.

        Red Sox are in this latter camp, obviously. I really hope the umps will bark at Sawks' batters to get their butts back in the box before snow starts falling.

  2. At my first law firm, attorney bios are posted with formal photos. There was a guy at the firm that I was going to spend a significant amount of time with and I looked up his bio and he had this stiff formal picture and he went by his second name. It was with trepidation that I met the guy. Turns out, his middle name was Stan -- he was named after Stan Musial. He was one of the nicest guys I met at that firm and his love for the game and his Cardinals was almost without equal. It was a June evening and we were driving up to northern Minnesota (back before everyone had a smart phone). He had to call his dad to see how the Cardinals had done that night. They'd won, he was happy. After that, we had many a conversation about the grand old game.

    I'm pulling for the Cardinals along with Stan the Man.

    1. When we let people know that we were moving from LA to StL, my pastor (a good friend I knew from MN who moved to LA years before I had) told me that as a boy he had grown up listening to the Cardinals and Stan the Man late at night on the farm in Cooperstown, ND. I keep wishing they would visit StL during the summer and I could take him to a ballgame.*

      Choir tonight is cut short tonight because of the game. w00t

      *He gave the "sermon" during our wedding, and threw out a Twins shout-out during it.

    2. at least they didn't (presumably) use those dumbass marketing headshots I see all too often on LinkedIn where the person is in some corny pose with chin on hand or a wearing a fedora. Ugh.

      1. I went to lunch with some co-workers back in the mid-90s and we sat at a table next to Stan. It was all I could do to get the others to turn around and let him eat in peace. He's a gem here.

  3. Bryan Garner's English Usage Tip of the Day is faneffingtastic:

    Tmesis.

    Tmesis, the practice of separating parts of a compound word by inserting another word between those parts, seldom occurs today. Typically, it occurs either in humorous passages or in low colloquial language -- e.g.: "The crowds and the loud music and the X Games are miles and miles and miles away, a whole 'nother country away." Chris Jenkins, "Hell of a Race," San Diego Union-Trib., 24 June 1997, at D1.

    But tmesis occurs in other phrases as well -- e.g.: "'He might be in Florida some-damn-where,' says Fred Haselrig, Carlton's father." Michael Silver, "Invisible Man," Sports Illustrated, 18 Dec. 1995, at 66. In a similar vein, Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911) of the New York World had a pet word: indegoddampendent. This type of interpolated profanity use is common in British English with "bloody" -- e.g.: "It is also, as her fans Down Under rightly proclaim, abso-bloody-lutely wonderful." Paul Cole, "Special Kasey," Sunday Mercury (U.K.), 21 Apr. 2002, at P38. In American English, far stronger language is commonly inserted, as moviegoers know only too well.

    The traditional form of tmesis, however, occurs with formal words ending in "-soever." It has an archaic ring to it, and most readers probably encounter it primarily in the King James Version of the Bible -- e.g.: "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them." Mark 11:24.

    1. Heh. I know I've come across this before, and I think it's more common in some other languages. (Though I can't remember what languages at the moment.)

      1. looked it up. I was unaware of any Latin or Greek roots beginning with Tm, but there one is.

        BTW, "TMesis" is splitting up parts of an unregistered trademark and inserting other elements into it.

      1. I love that Topps has the Archives or the Heritage sets and will bring back past players for autographs. This past year's Heritage (1964-based) had the likes of Bill Dailey, John Goryl, etc. Archives had Gladden, Gaetti, Brunansky.

  5. ESPN identifies the most overpaid (by total dollars) and underpaid players in the league based on projected worth in the upcoming season and actual salary.

    Most Overpaid SelectShow
    Most Underpaid SelectShow

      1. Sadly, it is not. I think the Wolves ended up winning the Theo Ratfliff expiring contract sweepstakes, if I'm not mistaken.

  6. Josh Freeman has a concussion, Christian Ponder will start on Sunday.

    That sentence says so much about the NFL and the Vikings.

      2. Good question. I would have gone with him... but then again, maybe the Vikings have little interest in winning.

        1. I would actually go with Ponder because with that O-line, you need a QB who can scramble away from the 4 defenders coming at him.

  7. Okay, I think I can understand dressing the iconic Make Way for Ducklings statues in Red Sox gear for the World Series. But the fake beards are taking things just a little too far.

Comments are closed.