Category Archives: Sports

Baseball, Sean from Massapequa

Sean from Massapequa: Ollie and Manny, Together Again for the First Time

I often write about the Mets on this site, but I realize that my perspective is not necessarily that of the average fan. So as the Hot Stove League heats up, I want to get the viewpoint of another Amazins enthusiast. Today Scratchbomb welcomes back Sean from Massapequa, a union pipefitter and frequent WFAN caller, to discuss the Mets’ latest free agent recruits.

seanfrommassapequa.jpgNow that Derek Lowe has gone to the Braves, it seems the Mets have their sights on reacquiring Oliver Perez.

Yes, and I have my sight set on constructing an incendiary advice to hurl at CitiField. This team drives me nuts, chasin after bums like Oliver Perez. Sick to my stomach just thinkin about it.

Who do you think they should sign instead, Ben Sheets?

Sign somebody, sign anybody! I’m sick to death of no news! Checkin the papers, listening to Francesa, day after day, nothin! It’s January and I got snow pilin up in my driveway and my Chevy won’t start and I got my wife bustin my hump about fixin up the dining room. I need some baseball news, goddammit, or I swear to god I’m goin postal! Again.

I don’t think the Mets should sign a pitcher indiscriminately just because you’re having a tough time.

Buddy, a tough time is like “Wah, I stubbed my toe, I’m havin a bad hair day!” What I’m goin through right now is Normandy. My boss is workin my last nerve, the boiler’s actin up again, and Jesus Christ, you shoulda seen the piece a work my oldest brought home the other day. This guy looked like a reject from Tool Academy. Wore sunglasses indoors, at night, in January. Enough gel in his hair to kill a horse. God, I wanted to smack this mook so hard. Smack him right in the brain…

So you don’t care who the Mets as long as they sign somebody, but you don’t want them to sign Oliver Perez.

At this point, I’d love it if they signed Ollie, because then at least I’d have somethin else to piss me off and break up the monotony. I ain’t had nothin to get real mad at since a coupla weeks ago, when I threw a brick at some Eagles fan in the Giants Stadium parking lot.

A brick of what?

A brick of brick, what else? How else do you expect me the break the guy’s jaw?

Wow. How are you not in jail?

The guy was wearin a McNabb jersey just minutes after they eliminated Big Blue from the playoffs. The balls on that prick! Even if I’da gotten caught, no jury in the country woulda convicted me.

I’m kind of afraid to ask this, but what do you think of Manny Ramirez? There seem to be a lot of fans who want him on the team, but the front office hasn’t given any indication that they’re going to pursue him. Where do you stand on the issue?

Wilpons, Omar, get this man on this team! He means the difference between a World Series title and me hunting you down for sport!

I’m surprised. I didn’t think you’d be pro-Manny.

Why not? The man is an RBI machine. A machine!

Sure, of course, I just…he doesn’t seem like your kind of player.

What do you mean, the clubhouse stuff? Everyone says he’s no good in the clubhouse, but that didn’t mean too much when he was winnin in Cleveland and Boston and LA.

No, I meant…well, every time I talk to you, you yell at the Mets for pursuing certain types of players.

Yeah, bums. They’re always goin after bums and stiffs cuz they’re cheap, when they should be goin after the big fish like Manny.

Okay, it’s just that every other time I’ve talked to you, you’ve accused the Mets of only signing Hispanic players.

What?! I never said that!

Maybe you’ve never said those exact words, but you’ve implied it heavily.

I’m really hurt! You make me sound like some kinda racist or somethin!

Maybe I misinterpreted what you said. If so, I apologize. That was unfair of me.

Now, if Omar turns around and signs Pedro again, you’ll know it’s just cuz he’s lookin out for his fellow you-know-whats.

Very nice. Thanks for completely confirming my earlier suspicions about you.

Don’t mention it.

Football, Skitch Hanson

BUMP: Up the Middle with Skitch Hanson: Live from Tampa!

sbxliii.gifOriginally posted 1/26/09

Scratchbomb has its own man embedded in the doody-storm that is Super Bowl Media Week. Frequent contributor Skitch Hanson will be providing us with breaking news and other updates via his Twitter page, which you can view by clicking here.

If you have any questions for Skitch or you want him to check out anything in particular, just comment on this post and the word will get his way. I’ll be bumping this post frequently as a friendly reminder to the curious.

Baseball, Pointless Nostalgia

To Dream the Difficult-But-Not-Completely-Implausible Dream…

I love people who go on insane quests. I’m not talking quite at the Don Quixote level. More like completely pointless obsessions whose realization won’t accomplish anything for the dreamer. They just wanna see if they can do it. After a while, they don’t really know why they’re doing it anymore. But to stop doing it would mean that all that work they’ve done already would be totally wasted.

Want an example? How about a man whose goal is to acquire an autographed version of every single 1983 Fleer baseball card? Omar the Scrivener’s twittering alerted me to the presence of this monomaniacal blog, which I find completely fascinating.

For those who never collected baseball cards, Fleer was the line that ran a distant third in popularity behind Topps and Donruss. And as a cursory view of this site will indicate, their 1983 set was designed with an aggressive lack of imagination, even by the standards of the day. (Compare Topps’ snazzier look from the same year.)

On top of all of this, the pictures on the cards don’t exactly give Ansel Adams a run for his money. Like this card, where Reds pitcher Eddie Milner is caught mid-grimace. Or this one, where the Astros’ Harry Spillman looks kinda President George H.W. Bush. Or this one, where Seattle’s Bryan Clark flashes a nice smile but forgot to push his cap down on his head. Or this one, where Yankee John Mayberry looks like he just awoke from a pleasant nap.

So why has this man settled on Fleer 1983, of all brands/years?

Growing up, I collected baseball cards. For whatever reason, I ended up with many 1983 Fleer cards. Now I’m writing to players asking to autograph their card.

That’s it. Then again, do you need any more reason than this? I think not.

As of this writing, he’s gotten 458 signed cards out of a total of 674., just a little over 2/3 of the way home. Godspeed, good sir. May your quest conclude happily.

Understand: I am not mocking this man in any way. I completely understand where he’s coming from, because I have done things just as complicated and pointless in my life. And am probably doing some now. And will undoubtedly continue to do them in the future.

Like when I was a kid, I wanted to get a complete set of Topps baseball cards from the year I was born. But since I didn’t have enough dough to buy the set outright, I would by them individually. Or in those terrible sets that guys at card shows put together that are completely full of garbage, hoping that gullible idiots like 10-year-old-me will blow 5-10 bucks on. Which we always do, of course, because we are morons.

This is how now I have a baseball card album with 17 Oscar Gambles, 23 Kent Tukulves, and too many Jose Cardenals to count.