I'm Not Working Today

I live in a north-Madisonville neighborhood of three parallel streets connected in a loop, with a little spur coming off its southern side that dead-ends at a grassy peninsula into Lake Peewee. I think the neighborhood on Google Maps sort of looks like a kite, with the spur being the tail.

Once or twice a day, I take our dog, Ella, around the neighborhood for a walk. Most of the time, I just do the outer loop--that's just short of a mile, but I round up to account for Ella's pulling me toward passing deer or into somebody's yard for sniffing updates.

The walks are a chore that I tend to resist and resent like any other chore, but they are also fun. And, on balance, I'm glad Ella takes me out on them. I often turn up the fun by listening to Tony Kornheiser's fantastic podcast or Jenna Fischer's and Angela Kinsley's different-fantastic Office Ladies. And I frequently play a simple and highly entertaining (to me) baseball game I made up with whatever old tennis or racquet ball I bring along for Ella to sometimes chase.

Here's how the game works:

-- I bounce the ball on the street--pretty hard, but not as hard as I possibly can (unless it's extra innings (more on that later)).

-- If I catch the ball without breaking stride, that's an out.

-- If I have to stop, slow or accelerate my pace to make a catch, that's a walk.

-- If I bobble the ball at all but still catch it, that's a one-base error.

-- If I fail to catch the ball (with or without bobble), that's a hit. The number of subsequent bounces before I secure the ball indicates the number of bases advanced (one bounce is a single; two or three, a double or single, and four or more, home run).

It's pretty easy to get in a full game in one loop around the neighborhood because the games are usually low scoring. This morning, for example, I started the 1974 World Series. Both Ken Holtzman and Andy Messersmith had no-hitters going through the fifth. The Dodgers singled in the sixth, and the A's singled and then had two on after an error (probably Bill Russell) in the bottom of the ninth. The game went to extra innings.

And now here's what I was wanting to say about how the game is played a little differently in extra innings: After nine innings, I make myself really smack that ball on the pavement. I honestly try to bounce it harder to make it a little tougher on both teams' defenses (even Oakland's, honestly). What I don't want to have happen is have some scoreless game go some ridiculous amount of innings that requires me and Ella to do an extra loop, because neither one of us has time or interest in that kind of foolishness.

But today I was starting to get a little worried about Game 1 of the 1974 World Series because we were getting pretty close back to home and not much at all had happened in the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th or start of the 14th. My guess is that Alvin Dark went to Rollie Fingers in the 10th, and he pitched three or four innings before turning the ball over to John "Blue Moon" Odom.

With two out in the 14th, however, Jimmy Wynn just absolutely blasted a solo home run deep into center field, and the Dodgers were ecstatically ahead, 1-0. I imagined it was Doug Rau coming on to throw for Walt Alston in the bottom of the 14th, but I'm embarrassed to admit that I've subsequently learned Doug Rau did not pitch in the actual 1974 World Series. One would think this would not be much of a suspension-of-disbelief reach for someone capable of transforming Madisonville's little Lakeshore neighborhood into a packed and anxious Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in his mind, but one would be wrong.

Whatever, though, Doug Rau just absolutely mowed down the defending champs in the bottom of the 14th, and the Dodgers are suddenly on top of the 1974 World Series, one game to zilch. I've also subsequently learned that the 1974 World Series actually opened at Dodger Stadium, not in Oakland. But I'm already dealing with my Doug Rau disaster, so I'm just rolling with this one, too.

I am 51 years old!

Not Working This Morning

I think this or this probably was the "small Hilton" in Seattle where Bob Newhart, coming off The Bob Newhart Show, thought of Newhart, per this fun and interesting conversation with a skilled, unnamed interviewer with The Paley Center for Media ...

Here are a couple of facts I wrote down from a book I read that might well have been Great Quarterbacks of Pro Football by Steve and Rita Golden Gelman:

-- Len Dawson was a fifth-string quarterback as a sophomore for his high-school football team in Alliance, Ohio. He was the starter in his junior year.

-- At the half of Super Bowl I, the Packers lead the Chiefs 14-10, and Dawson has completed 11 of 15 passes for 152 yards and a touchdown. On his first pass of the second half, Dawson throws toward tight end Fred Arbanas under the duress of converging Green Bay linebackers Lee Roy Caffey and Dave Robinson. Packer safety Willie Wood intercepts and returns to the Kansas City 5. Dawson finishes the game 16-of-27 for 211 yards.

Super Wikipedia on prolific-children's-and-travel-writer Golden Gorman, originally of Bridgeport, Connecticut: "In 1987, on the verge of divorce, Gelman decided that it was time to live her dream of traveling the world and living among people in other cultures. It's been 24 years and she still has no permanent home; her new passion is to bring the concept of a 'Gap Year' to teens in the U.S. Her organization, Let's Get Global, is dedicated to encouraging and assisting recent high school graduates to have international experiences before they begin the next phase of their lives. The ultimate goal of LGG is to create a cultural norm in the United States that will make it a common practice to extend education beyond U.S. borders. Let's Get Global suggests that graduating high school seniors defer college or the job world for a year while they immerse themselves in other cultures and discover the common humanity of mankind."

April 17, 2006

Back at the Madisonville Community College, which I love. On the UK-blue couches in the student center, I’m listening to the pleasant, purposeful chatter of the snack-bar couple at work.

“What are you cooking?”

“We’re going to need more eggs.” 

And, “do you want me to toast your Pop Tarts?”

There’s also the low murmur of a Law & Order or some sort of crime-investigation drama rerun on TNT. On my left, a buzzcut in work boots reads over geometry text and nurses a 20-ounce Diet Mountain Dew. On my right, a 19-year-old piddles with a video game on a public-access PC.

Al Stewart is playing here Friday. And Saturday. 

COFFEEHOUSE PERFOMRANCE TWO NIGHTS! 
FOLK AND POP LEGEND KNOWN FOR HIS HITS

‘TIME PASSAGES’ AND ‘THE YEAR OF THE CAT 

There are two portraits of Stewart on the poster. Under a heading “Then …” is a black-and-white photo of Stewart in poofy, shoulder-length hair. He’s looking pensively away from the camera, wearing a paisley shirt and silver-studded leather jacket – hands lodged loosely in front dungaree pockets. Next to the heading “and now,” it’s Stewart in a white, collarless shirt and gray sport coat. His hair is short, thinning, wiry and brown. His hands are clutched around an acoustic guitar neck. 

“Now, we’re going to pull out their barbecue separate, right? … Great. … OK, I’m going for a smoke.”

Also among the Madisonville Community College student-center placards are handbills for First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Earlington:

We offer an old-fashioned style of worship in a relaxed manner. Dress as you desire. Some dress up in their ‘Sunday best.’ Others wear jeans and a tee shirt. God looks at the heart. So do we. … We are a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). This means we partake of the Lord’s Supper each Sunday. Everyone is invited to participate. The only ‘requirement’ is a confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. You are encouraged to think for yourself. Nobody will tell you what to think. You are asked to give that same freedom to others.

Before I flush the last remnants of Christmas73 from my YouTube "Watch Later" feed, here are a couple of last gems ...

Phil Elderkin in the April 5, 1969, Sporting News offered in his Page 71 "NBA Basketball" column these well-earned observations about some of the league's coaches:

-- The Knicks' Red Holzman is "firm but soft sell" Strong on defense, teaching and matchups.

-- The 76ers' Jack Ramsey is a "very intense person who takes defeats home with him but never really seems discouraged." His gambling defense "requires a collegian dedication."

-- The Celtics' Bill Russell is "guilty of running soft practices," and sometimes the "crisis of the moment takes precedence over the whole picture."

-- The Bullets' Gene Shue is "expert at spotting a cold shooter quickly and hopefully replacing him with a hot one."

-- The Lakers' Bill van Breda Kolf is "outspoken, outgoing and often out of breath."

Rest in peace, Mr. Elderkin, newspaper journalist of 65 years, attendee at every Celtics playoff game 1957-69 and Baseball Writers' Association of America Member 5.