Where I will drink too much beer, eat too much junk food, and yell vociferously at our moron manager while sitting in the rain. And not wanna be anywhere else. Go Phils!
Around the Horn
-If you are looking to participate in this years City League Rock Paper Scissors Championship, you better play this week. “But Johnny, I haven’t played yet. There’s no way I can earn enough points to move to the Championship.” Oh, but there is. Jam Master Sean has decided to make this week double points week. So win a match or two and you should be eligible to knock off the cities defending champion, whoever that might be (ahem).
-The Phillie foie gras war is heating up. A cover story in the Sunday Inky. Of course, this follows the surreal standoff at Le Bec Fin a couple of weeks ago when some enormous rich guy pulled out his dong and wagged it at a bunch of protesters. I remember the last time I whipped out my unit at Le Bec Fin. It didn’t go over as well as I had hoped.
-It was on this date in 1919 that Congress approved the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote. And the country has gone to hell in a handbasket ever since.
-There is a MAJOR quizzo development in the works for mid August. Details in the coming weeks.
Charles Nelson Reilly’s Ascot Collection Wins at Vous
Palestra Jon should know this one: This Mets pitcher blew game Six of the ’86 Series with a terrible 10th inning, but miraculously got the win when the Red Sox had their epic meltdown.
Young Old and Restless win at O’Neals
This pitcher, who lost Game 4 of the 1984 World Series, would give up Pete Rose’s 4,192nd hit less than a year later?
Barry Bonds: Philly’s Kind of Guy
This is an updated tweaking of a story I did last year. Bonds and the Giants visit town this weekend.he was still the worst player in the history of the game. And let’s face it; was it not brutally obvious that Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa were on the juice during that great chase of ’98 that gave us all the fuzzies? So why does Barry not get treated like the star athlete that he is when he comes to Philly? Because he doesn’t operate under a facade of niceness, b/c his p.r. people don’t tell him to offer up a bunch of b.s. about “taking it one day at a time” and giving “110 percent”? You people always complain about how boring athletes are, then you get a guy who speaks his mind and you decide to hate him. Ridiculous double standard.
But what this really comes down to is the rules. Should Cy Young be villified b/c he was allowed to throw the spitball, which is now against the rules? No, so why should Bonds be villified for using steroids at a time when they were not only legal in baseball, but encouraged? It’s obvious that McGuire woulda never hit all those homers and gotten all those endorsement deals without the help of steroids, so why should Bonds be treated any differently than McGuire? The fact that baseball encouraged steroid use is baseball’s fault, not Bonds’s fault. He saw an opportunity to improve his game, and make himself better and his team better. And he did so in a way that he knew could potentially hurt his own health. He did what all the great ones do: He put it all on the line to improve his game within the framework of the rules. And you people, who call yourselves baseball fans, continue to boo him.
Hardest questions of the week
See how ya do with the toughest questions of the week. Answers are after the jump. Lots of new blood won this week. Details this afternoon.
1. What is the only mammal with a poisous sting?
2. In what European city is NATO headquartered?
3. This creature with a vicious sting is actually a colony of specialize polyps and medusoids. (Hint: It’s not a jellyfish)
4. What 1984 movie had the tagline, “It’s the time of your life that may last a lifetime”?
5. Memorial Day was originally conceived to honor soldiers from what war?
6. What future baseball Hall of Famer was drafted by the San Diego Padres, the Minesota Vikings, and the Atlanta Hawks in 1973?
7. Charles Dickinson was a renowned duelist, having killed 26 men until he himself was killed on May 30, 1806. Who killed him in a duel?
8. What two enormous North American breweries merged in February of 2005?
9. What movie from the 2000s had the tagline, “Family isn’t a word. It’s a sentence.”?
10. What EU nation has a national language that less than 10% of the population speaks fluently, and which over a third of the population can’t speak at all?
Annnnnd…we’re back
Freaking server crashed again. 2nd time in two weeks. Awesome. Anyways, now I gotta go to my basketball game (playoffs start tonight!!!) and then to quizzo. But first a quick note:
Today is Wesley Willis’s birthday. He would be 44 today if he were still alive. Rock over London. Rock on Chicago!
The Metro Column
Here’s the latest in the Metro. In case you are wondering, the turnout from the quizzo community has been a supreme disappointment. There are about 10-15 of you that I am extremely disappointed have not joined the program, b/c I thought spending an hour a week to make a major impact in the future of the city you love was a no-brainer (If you think I might be referring to you, the answer is “yes”.) As for the guys who have signed up, I wanna say a sincere thank you for making such a huge difference in the community.
“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” -Jackie Robinson
RELATED: Join the BBBS program today.
Do You Want Kobe?
Around the Horn, brought to you by Lucy
-Bo has been one of my best friends since before we were born. Our moms were friends when they were both pregnant with us. Well, he’s got a baby now named Lucy (above left) who her first birthday on Sunday. It was a great first birthday party. I mean, I had a great first birthday party, but this one was even better. I didn’t have duck cake.
-Last year, I said that Tacconelli’s tied with Tony’s for best pizza in Philly. The accolades haven’t stopped coming. ‘Nelli’s was named best pizza by Glenn Macnow in a recent 610 WIP pizza hunt, and just got a pretty good review from the Philadelphia Weekly.
–Charles Nelson Reilly! And Eva Gabor is totally hot. Thanks to Phil for sending this in.
–Is the next USFL on it’s way? Let’s hope so.