One of the wonderfully ironic things about this ignorant and idiotic holiday about a failed explorer whose two major accomplishments were a) getting lost and b) killing and enslaving millions of people is that he didn’t discover America at all. In fact, he never stepped foot in it. But he did step foot in Cuba, which makes this newspaper article about the bar that marks the spot of his landing in Cuba fascinating:

When visitors pull up, the employees greet them with a full-costume re-enactment of Columbus’ arrival...His landing is commemorated by a lone plaque, almost lost amid sculptures of Taino gods, a replica of a Taino village — which includes the bar — and the ruins of a marker, toppled last year by Hurricane Ike, for a small Taino archeological site…The shore, now a badly eroded beach, where Columbus and his crew landed their boat is unmarked and obscured by vegetation.

Hey kids, I’m off to the Phils game. It starts at 2:37, so it should wrap up around 6ish. I’ll be heading to the Vous as soon as it’s done, so hopefully we’ll start on time, but if it goes extra innings, I could be a little late. Action at Vous should start around 6:15ish. We then move on to the Black Sheep at 8 p.m. Been a little quieter there the past couple of weeks, so now’s the time to go to get a table. It’ll be packed by this winter. In anticipation of tonight’s game, here are a few things to check out.

A Few Random Thoughts I Had About Baseball this Morning.

A Colorado Rockies quiz.

An interview with a Colorado Rockies blogger.

Here’s some bars that are running specials for the games.

I recently read an excellent article in Esquire about the art of the compliment. It got me thinking about the best ones I received. When I was 17, I was at a wake when someone told me I looked like a young Robert Kennedy (above). I always liked that one. Another one of my favorites came a couple of years ago, when after the graduation of our summer school class, I was driving a couple of the kids home. One of them turned to me, and said, “‘Rome, you one cool white dude.” Obviously that one ranks high as well. 

We’re in Philadelphia, and we’re much better known for the insult than the compliment, so I think it’ll be fun to see if people around here give compliments. Plase post the best compliment you’ve ever received below.