Art of the Interview
My San Francisco Giants book was recently republished in paperback, so the publisher had me do a few radio interviews this month to publicize it. Last Sunday night, while being interviewed live on a sports radio show, everything was going well until the host asked me a question I couldn’t possibly answer. The question was something like: “How would you compare Juan Marichal’s pitching style with other Hall of Famers like Sandy Koufax?”
I had one or two seconds to comprehend the question, realize I had no answer, and to come up with an answer. My insides churned. So what did I do? I told him the truth. I recall laughing into the phone and saying, “Well, I wish I could answer that, but I can’t because I wasn’t alive when they pitched. Maybe you would be a better person to answer that for me?”
He had to answer his own question. The guy threw me a curveball and I hit it right back at him!
My Backyard, My Weeds!
This week I bet my neighbor that I can grow a bigger weed than he can. No, not the illegal kind of weed. I’m talking about the kind that have sprouted up all over my backyard ever since my #$@%! gardener decided he no longer wanted my money. (more…)
Musings about baseball… and my friends
I recently started writing a San Francisco Giants blog for the San Jose Mercury News. During the week Giants Talk launched, I wanted to write a posting that would grab people’s attention. So I wrote a column, titled “How I learned to love Bonds again.” What better way to get the flaming started than with a blog where I publicly express affection for Barry, the most hated man in baseball? (more…)
Baby Talk
This past weekend, the weather was perfect (high 80s, sunny) and friends from the Bay Area were in town to catch a few weekend spring training games. We got to meet our friend Suzanne’s adorable, three-month-old baby boy for the first time.
When we met for post-game drinks and food at Gordon Biersch, all the women in our group embraced the baby, doing the take-turns-holding-the-baby thing.
Later, I realized none of the men held – or even touched – the baby. We just sort of admired the little tyke safely from a distance.
Heh.
My hometown: full of anti-war, dog-loving zealots
I’m always apprehensive when the national media descend on San Francisco. More often than not, it’s to poke fun at my hometown and portray it as full of wacky, liberal heathens who are out of touch with the mainstream. Even more so now that Nancy Pelosi has stepped onto the national political stage and is a threat to the right, making her and the city targets.
Two recent national stories – one on San Francisco’s school district and the other on the city’s powerful dog lobby (haha!) – simply make me proud of the city’s open-minded and progressive nature. (more…)
TiVo in Vogue
I’ve had TiVo for five weeks now, and a trend is clearly developing.
Before TiVo: I read about 3.5 books a month.
After TiVo: I’ve read six pages. Total. And that was waiting at the DMV.
It’s so wonderful to record stuff like Sleeper Cell, 30 Rock and every film ever made by Hitchcock (yeah!) — and to watch them at my leisure. Of course, I could have done the same with our dusty old VCRs. But I’ve been out of blank tapes for the last, oh, eight years. I suppose I could have purchased more blank tapes, but… what a hassle. Unless it was baseball or the news, I’ve mostly avoided TV and just cracked open a book.
But now, how can I possibly read the novel (now a coaster) on my bedside table when three thrilling episodes of 24 await me?
New Musical Experience
Over the years, my wife’s eclectic musical tastes have introduced me to dozens of artists whose concerts I normally would not have attended: Aerosmith, the Indigo Girls and Matisyahu, a singer who raps about Judaism over a reggae beat.
I’m grateful that she helps me break out of my self-imposed ’80s musical shell. But nothing prepared me for last Friday night when she took me to see Christian rocker Chris Tomlin. I’ve never listened to Christian rock before. And I’m sure the Jesus and Mary Chain doesn’t count. It was a completely different concert experience than I’m used to. A few things I learned: (more…)
Media’s use (or mis-use) of “troops”
Since when did the word, “troop,” mean one person? Print and TV journalists are using it that way everyday. “Bush is deploying 21,500 new troops to Iraq” or “15 troops died in a Baghdad car bombing.”
Don’t we in the media really mean, “soldiers” or “troop members?” My old trusty Associated Press Stylebook defines a troop as a “group of persons or animals.” My paperback American Heritage dictionary and Dictionary.com give similar definitions.
Since when did the definition change? I mean: we wouldn’t call a lone Boy Scout a troop, but we’d say a Boy Scout troop is made up of a number of Boy Scouts.
Anyway, it’s annoying.
