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The Ballad Of The Swingman

By

On November 14, 2013

In Songs

The Ballad of The Swingman
by Rob Wynne and Jeff Williams
TTTO: “Wichita Lineman” by Jimmy Webb

I am a swing man for the Rockies
And I have no workflow
Waiting for the call
To enter and to throw
I see the batter and the catcher
I send a fastball, low inside
And the Cardinals first baseman
Hits it right down the line

I’d like this game to wrap up early
But it don’t look like rain
With extra innings our bullpen won’t ever take the strain
And we need more hits than strikeouts
And we strike out all the time
And the Cardinals first baseman
Hits it right down the line

And we need more hits than strikeouts
And we strike out all the time
And the Cardinals first baseman
Hits it right down the line

This is just a fun little insta that Jeff and I bantered in an IM conversation. (We have conversations like this all the time. Don’t you?)

The original song this is a parody of, “Wichita Lineman”, contains one of the greatest lyrics of any love song ever written. Click on the link above if you’ve never heard it.

Boston Globe Column on Red Sox win

By

On October 28, 2004

In Blog

Bob Ryan sums it all up:

Before looking into the cultural and sociological ramifications of all this, let’s step back for a minute and remind ourselves what this is all about.

It’s about baseball.

This is not the Boston Symphony whipping the St. Louis Symphony. This is not about Mass. General taking out Barnes-Jewish. This is not about chowdah getting the measure of toasted ravioli.

This is about the Boston Red Sox having a better baseball team than the New York Yankees. This is about the Boston Red Sox having a better baseball team than the St. Louis Cardinals. This is about the Boston Red Sox, for the first time since 1918, having the best baseball team in the world.

And, while I didn’t say so in my post last night, when I was still just dealing with the sheer delight and shock of joy, best of luck to the Yankees and the Cardinals and all the other teams next year. Cause, as every Boston fan knows, there’s *always* next year.

Finally

By

On October 27, 2004

In Blog

Red Sox 3, St. Louis 0

Red Sox win the World Series, 4 games to none.

I have waited my entire life for this moment.

Well, dammit.

By

On October 17, 2003

In Blog

Oh well. There’s always next year.

ACLS Game 7

By

On October 16, 2003

In Blog

And so, at last, it comes down to this. It always comes down to this. The Red Sox never do things easily.

ESPN’s Jim Caple had a lovely passage in his column on tonight’s deciding game:

Clemens and Pedro may be facing off against each other on the mound, but they won’t be alone. It’s never just the players on the field when these two teams meet. It’s also all the players who have ever played in the rivalry.

Joe DiMaggio will be taking batting practice with Ted Williams. Billy Martin will be challenging Jimmy Piersall to a fight in the stadium tunnel. Carlton Fisk and Thurman Munson will be wrestling in the dirt behind home plate. Bucky Dent will be going yard, Reggie Jackson will be admiring his home runs and Carl Yastrzemski will be raising his bat high as he squints at the pitcher.

Will this be the year the Red Sox finally go all the way and defeat the Curse of the Bambino? If so, what better place from which to step onto the World Series stage than the House that Ruth Built? And what better pitcher to overcome than former Sox superstar Roger Clemmens?

Tonight’s the night. One game. Nine innings. Backs against the wall. One team goes to Florida to fight for the championship, the other goes to Florida to play golf.

Cowboy up!

Somewhere in the celestial bleachers, Steve is smiling…

By

On October 14, 2003

In Blog

From Ron Rapoport, a sports writer in this mornings Chicago Sun-Times

Goodman would have lots to sing about these Cubs
by Ron Rapoport, Chicago Sun-Times

It’s root, root, root for the home team,
If they don’t win, what else is new?

It’s funny, really, but for all the notoriety Steve Goodman got from the two songs he wrote about the Cubs–“A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request” and “Go Cubs, Go”–I always had a special affection for his version of “Take Me Out To the Ball Game.”

It wasn’t just the sneaky way he fooled with the lyrics, but the good sense he had to play his guitar quietly in the background during the instrumental while Jethro Burns put down some simply sensational mandolin licks. Of all the versions of the song that have been recorded over the years, it always has been my favorite.

It is hard not to think of the times you would go to Wrigley Field and see him standing in an aisle with his guitar singing “Go Cubs, Go.” I don’t know if Gary Pressy knows this, but every time he plays it on the stadium organ, a significant number of fans who grew up on it sing every word along with him.

Goodman wrote the song for WGN in 1984, and it was a constant presence during that rollicking season. His requests to do a benefit concert after a game were denied, however–maybe the Cubs didn’t want him singing about “the doormats of the National League” and “their ivy covered burial ground”–but he was scheduled to sing the national anthem before their first playoff game that year.

Alas, Goodman, who had been fighting leukemia since 1969, died four days before the Cubs clinched, and his friend Jimmy Buffett filled in for him.

Al Bunetta, who was Goodman’s agent, said he once asked him if “A Dying Cub Fan’s Last Request” was about himself, and he said it wasn’t. “Take Me Out To the Ball Game,” on the other hand, was a song he could have written yesterday. And when I put it on the CD player again Monday, it almost sounded as if he had.

More short-takes

By

On October 9, 2003

In Blog

It’s National Orgasm Month

So give one to the persons you love today!

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Best funny line on the California election came from last night’s Daily Show, which I watched this evening thanks to my TiVo:

Jon Stewart: Steven, do you see any other trends emerging from this election?
Steve Colbert: Absolutely, Jon. In the past, our leaders tended to be veterans of World War II, or the Korean Conflict, or the Civil Rights movement. But with Jesse Ventura, and now Arnold Schwarzenegger, it’s clear that in the future our leaders will be veterans of the movie Predator.

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Even if the Cubs and Red Sox do both make it into the world series, it’s still possible they will *both* lose!

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And because anyone who doesn’t read it should, and because it’s so recently topical again (and again, and again), a recent favourite Ozy and Millie

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