Let’s not kid ourselves. That TV quiz was kind of a dud. Not my finest work. Too many 1980s questions. Live and learn. This week should be a lot more fun. Last Thursday at the Bards, a guy from a team that was struggling shouted out, “How about some geography questions?” So I said, “Next week,” and this week’s topic was born. At the end of the quiz, I asked “OK, not gonna do a whole round on geography. What else should we do? ” Somebody shouted out, “Children’s toys!” Toys is a little too specific, so I figured we’d just make it kids. That way we can include child stars, which are always fun, and children’s literature. So we’ll be covering everything from the Rocky mountains to Rock em Sock em Robots. See ya this week.

Reading a couple of awesome books, either of which I would highly recommend. One is “Pitching Around Fidel” by SL Price. After Ozzie Guillen’s comments a few weeks ago, I thought I’d research a bit more about Cuba, and about baseball in Cuba. Price made numerous trips to Cuba to write the book, and spoke with seemingly every great Cuban athlete past and present. Does a great job balancing the romance Americans have with Cuba with the cold reality. Very evenhanded look at Castro and Cuba. Terrific book. If you want to educate yourself more on Cuba, and do it while reading something that is highly entertaining, I highly recommend it.

The other book I’ve been enjoying lately is “Travels in Philadelphia“. This one was written by a great writer named Christopher Morley. It’s basically a series of essays he wrote for the Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger in 1919. Basically, he just walked around the city and wrote about what he saw, the people he met, and the shops and taverns on the different blocks he walked down. And unlike a lot of old history books, this isn’t dry at all. He’s a master of words, and furthermore has a great sense of humor. It’s almost like a time machine. And here’s the really cool thing: you can read the whole thing online for free. He’s also the author of one of my favorite quotes:

Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity.

And while we’re at it, why don’t you friend me on Goodreads?