Just posted on a poet-friend’s blog:
enough. let’s talk
about the way the sun
falls on evergreens
late morning, in Californiaeverything you need to know
of light and shadow
is summarized outside
your bedroom windowthe needles of the trees
never struggle, never flee
just await the old
inevitable exchangeso fight, always
the urge to summarize
to skim the day for
the things you are waiting forno moment is
less true, less a part
of this, the only story
you will ever writethan any other
Favorite poems anyone?
from memory:
whenas in silks my julia goes
then, then methinks, how quickly flows
the liquefaction of her clothes.
next, when i cast mine eyes and see
that brave vibration each way free
oh, how that glittering taketh me.
–
i also love manley hopkins’ windhover (i caught this morning morning’s minion) and margaret (margaret are you weeping, over golden grove unleaving).
–
keptchup bottle keptchup bottle,
none will come, and then a lot’ll.
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methinks*
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fixed
Bookmarked. Thanks.
Bloombait.
Also, this.
{waits for Dial C to get to this grill}
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I like this. I’ll check when I get home to see if I have anything to contribute.
In this life
we stand on the roof of Hell
gazing at flowers.
Kobayashi Issa
The crowd picks up
the chant of “Defense!”
Robiskie and Banaszak
are the backs
slot right
Branch inside
Bradshaw
Stabler back
here comes the rush
he sidesteps
can he throw?
he can’t!
the ball
flips forward
there’s a wild scramble
two seconds on the clock
Casper grabbing the ball
it is ruled
a fumble
Casper has recovered
in the end zone
the Oakland Raiders have scored
on the most
zany
unbelievable
absolutely
Impossible Dream of a play
Madden is on the field
he wants to know
if it’s real
they said
“Yes,
get your big butt out of here!”
he does
there’s nothing real
in the world anymore
–Bill King
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free-versy! just plain free-versy!
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now
the pitch
swung on
there’s a
HIGH DRIVE
hit way back
right centerfield
that one is
GONE
and it’s
TWENTY
consecutive victories
for the Oakland Athletics
on an
unbelievable night
when they lost an
eleven to nothing lead
and now
they WIN IT
Hatteberg is mobbed
at home plate
the crowd comes back to
INSANE LIFE
crazy
just
plain
crazy
how do you explain it?
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we should have a reading. candle light, espressos, berets. a little king free verse, a few ray hudson haiku, some dadaist nonsense by joe buck…
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{snap snap snap snap snap snap}
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Oh god, not the snaps. NOT THE SNAPS
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To win this ballgame
To go out and pitch so well
How great does it feel
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And thus, the Ray Fosse School of Japanese Poetry was established.
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How great was it
To play like shit
Winning the game
Just the same
With one dink hit.
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The heart and hustle
The never-quit of these A’s
Reminds me of Dibs
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Very nice!
I’m of the opinion that a poem can’t be truly great unless it includes a rhyme for “Nantucket.”
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If Chickie were here, he’d cluck it.
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He went to a show…
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With some hookers and blow?
This Louisville-Notre Dame hoops game just keeps on going.
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Speaking of which, how ’bout them Tar Heels? I mean, this was the last year to win ACC and look at them suffer…
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I don’t recall a Heels team that has failed to gel together like this one has. Lot of talent, zero coordination. Freshman pointguard Paige has not been up to the task.
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Yeah, player for player, they look scary.
In the Desert
By Stephen Crane
In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, “Is it good, friend?”
“It is bitter—bitter,” he answered;
“But I like it
“Because it is bitter,
“And because it is my heart.”
Seven guys within four strokes of the lead in the final round at Pebble Beach. Ex-Cal Bear and Alameda Hornet James Hahn has a share of the lead at this writing. Hopefully things will be up for grabs right to the end, because the 18th hole at Pebble is the most beautiful golf hole in the world. If you’re bored around 3:00 the endgame might be worth a look.
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More on Hahn: learned on the “oh-so-public” Chuck Corica courses in Alameda…I’ve played there! Also quit Cal golf team as a junior in a fight with the coach. A stroke back of Snedeker at the moment.
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Bedbait?
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I have a feeling we’re not in Arkansas any more!
I was trying to develop a printable limerick for a family publication, but I backslud:
The sultry young lass was a sinner,
Thought Cap Morgan who had her to dinner.
They drank rum by the cup,
Then both her knees went up,
As a bit of the Captain was in ‘er.
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I think I’d change line 2 to “Brought Cap’n Morgan to dinner” and line 4 to “Both her knees then went up”
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Okay.
In other news, does this hipster image remind anyone of anybody?
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Oh snap, where’s the messenger bag?!
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who?
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You (only) need to grow a beard.
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Ive had for 6 months.
I would never wear that ridiculous hat!
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You have? Maybe when it comes in more …
And just wait ’til some french girl gives you that hat.
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I had it most of last season and when I saw you at the ff.
I cant grow a super thick thing. It just makes me look unatractive and homeless.
I am thinking about ditching the beard.
Good point on the french girl thing, but most hats make me look stupid.
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Liar. You’d totally wear that hat ironically.
Wow.
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I saw that too and *loved it*.
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This is pure awesome.
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The best part is how all of the lower case i’s are dotted with a heart. Punk as FK!
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It’s especially great when you do that to an “i” that doesn’t even belong in “Dead Kennedys.”
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Fashists with a heart over the i is awesome!
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Butterflies are also pretty punk.
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Light blue ink is totally punk
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“If the Dead Kennedies don’t like the man so don’t I” is the closest I’ve come to sig-changing in a long time.
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Too bad unicode doesn’t have an “i dotted with a heart” symbol.
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“Dead Kenned❣es”
almost
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This whole subthread is hylaryous.
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Pretty in Punk.
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Nice!
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It’s true, lying doesn’t count in a library. That’s where they go to bury them after all.
Returning to theme, Neruda.
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How does this make any sense? He hasn’t been good since 2008 and even back when he was good, he was pretty much the same pitcher as Blevins. Plus, the lefty depth in the bullpen is Doolittle, Blevins, Figueroa, Norberto, Werner, and even Blackley. I guess it depends on the contract… minor league deal, I hope.
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He had really good numbers in Japan last year. I’ve posited this before but I think the A’s are planning to stretch out Norberto and Figueroa as starters in AAA to make up for our shaky depth there. It’s cheaper and easier to do than signing someone like Saunders and both Norberto and Figueroa have some upside.
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huh. I did not realize that he pitched in Japan last year; I figured he was hurt or something. Your explanation makes sense.
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I think Figueroa is out of options, unless he is eligible for a 4th one for some reason.
Tough call on what to do with him. As you say, he has some upside, but he hasn’t really proved he belongs in the majors yet.
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Wow, I did not realize he’s been on the 40 man for so long. Didn’t he have TJS a couple years ago? I don’t remember it off the top of my head but I think there’s a provision about players needing to spend a certain amount of time on an active roster or a fourth option comes into play that might apply here.
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I think he would get one. See Dan Meyer.
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Looks like he missed most of 2011, so you’re probably right. I don’t remember the exact rule either.
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If he did and never got optioned to AAA for that, then I’d guess that option wouldn’t have been used.
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I agree with that.
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I’d love if they stretched both out. Norberto was doing well as a starter in the DR last winter.
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I can not believe nobody ever translated that to English. Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with my country?
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I do love the sound of Slavic verse, even when I don’t understand all of it. My favorite Russian poem/song:
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That one is completely stumping Google Translate. With EC’s I was able to get a sense of it (and it looked like “grudima” = “boobs”!).
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Try the version in Cyrillic script:
Если я заболею – к врачам обращаться не стану,
Обращусь я к друзьям, не сочтите что это в бреду,
Постелите мне степь, занавесьте мне окна туманом,
В изголовье поставьте упавшую с неба звезду.
Я шагал напролом, никогда я не слыл недотрогой,
Если ранят меня в справедливых тяжелых боях,
Забинтуйте мне голову русской лесною дорогой,
И укройте меня одеялом в осенних цветах.
Забинтуйте мне голову русской лесною дорогой,
И укройте меня одеялом в осенних цветах.
Порошков или капель, братишки, не надо,
Пусть в стакане граненом всегда мне сияют лучи.
Жаркий ветер пустынь, серебро водопада -
Вот чем стоит лечить, вот чем стоит лечить.
Жаркий ветер пустынь, серебро водопада -
Вот чем стоит лечить, вот чем стоит лечить.
От морей и от гор веет свежестью, веет веками,
Как увидишь – почувствуешь, вечно, ребята, живем.
Не облатками путь мой усеян, а облаками,
Не глухим коридором уйду я, а Млечным путем.
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And, yes, grudima, or in Russian, grudi, means breasts.
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So this season, maybe I need to start off all my game thread posts with груди
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груди is far too polite. сиськи is probably a bit closer, but maybe less polite than boobs.
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while I’m obviously not an expert in fine subtleties of English, I’d translate grudi as chest, not breast. For me, breast is close to boobs, whereas grudi can (and is in the case of the above poem) belong to a man
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It could be either chest or breasts to me. In the context of your poem, chest may be the better translation. However, since grudi is plural, I’ve generally thought of it as referring to breasts, although the context counts. And men do, physiologically speaking, have breasts; just without the function that women have. Another way to thing about it is that “grudi” or “breasts” is simply referring to the body part without any sort of sexual connotation, whereas boobs still typically does.
Or maybe we just go with a hierarchy from most to least polite:
Chest>grudi>Breasts>boobs>siski>tits
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The terms you have listed are not anatomically identical. Your heart is in your chest, yet it is not in your tits
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True, but poetically speaking, in English, clutching something to your breast can have the same context as holding something close to your heart.
Also, look at the translation for груди here.
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However, clutching something close to your tits…
Sure, they can mean the same thing but they don’t have to. There are situations where you can say that chest is a more polite way of saying tits, there are situation where this is simply inaccurate. Boobs and chest do not refer to the same body part.
So, while there are situations where grudi can be perfectly translated as breasts or even boobs, there are some, as in this poem, where the term is referring to the chest or breast, whichever you find more appropriate. The fact that the word is in plural doesn’t mean anything, as there is no singular for it that would refer to one breast.
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We may be arguing about two different things at this point. I do not dispute that in the context of the poem, grudi means chest, and, in this context, that the fact that it is in the plural, is meaningless.
My point was simply that, in terms of the etymology of the word груди, it is a plural. In fact, the singular грудь is apparently a perfectly acceptable word according to online Russian dictionaries, although I’m not sure I’ve ever heard it used. My assumption has always been that the reason that it’s a plural is because it’s referring to multiple somethings, in this case, breasts, and that over time, it has come to mean “chest,” “breasts,” or simply “something close to one’s heart.” I may be wrong, but without a Russian etymological dictionary, I can’t be sure.
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I only speaks basics of Russian, but there is exactly same constellation exists in Croatian.
There is indeed a singular of that word in both Croatian and Russian, “grud”. It does not refer to a single breast, but to chest as well, and is used as a more poetic expression. While grudi, the plural, can refer to both breasts and a chest, grud can not. Here is an example from a children’s song.
“Zeko i potočić” – Branko Mihaljević.
You can also use it as meaning something completely abstract. There is an expression “rodna grud”, which could literally be translated as “birth breast”, but which means the country, region or smaller geographical entity where one was born and raised.
There is an equivalent word, “prsa”. Like grudi, it is plural with no singular, that can be used both to refer to breasts as well as to chest. You use them often in expressions as “busati se u prsa/grudi” (chest-thumping), “bol u prsima/grudima” (chest-pain), as well as all the expressions that refer to women’s breasts “prsata zena” (big-breasted woman), “male grudi” (small breasts) and so on. If you want a polite word that is unequivocal in its use as breasts/tits, you use “dojka” (coming from “dojiti”, which is breast-feeding). This word definitely refers to the part of the anatomy outside of the rib cage. Breast cancer is for example never referred to as “rak grudi”, it is always “rak dojke”.
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Whereas in Russian, breast cancer is (transliterated) “rak grudnoi zhelezi,” literally “cancer of the breast glands.” (I suppose here breast and mammary are one and the same). There is, as far as I know, no equivalent in Russian to “dojka.”
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I’m sure the poem is great in Croatian, but given how badly Google Translate butchers Croatian to English I feel fortunate to have come as close as I did.
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OK, I hope DC will forgive me my butchery, but I can do no worse than Google
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whoa — thanks!
Percy Harvin to the 49ers? Not sure I want another malcontent WR, but he’d make a good complement to Crabtree.
http://min.scout.com/2/1265767.html
Cardinals’ manager resigns.
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Well played.
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FK that guy. One down, hopefully only a small handful more to go.
I hope I live long enough to piss on the Catholic Church’s grave in memory of all that were fk’d over by it, and by Rome before that.
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I wouldn’t count on it, though perhaps the cyborg hosting your downloaded brain circuitry will do that for you later on.
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Better start saving some urine for the cyborg.
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I’m pretty sure it feeds off of pencil shavings and dryer lint.
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We’ll make synthetic urine if we get enough of that kind of stuff…
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When it comes to performing a golden shower on a grave, there really is no substitute for the real thing.
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So Let the conspiracy theories run amok now. I’m waiting for “something will happen to Obama and Biden will take over both roles” to hit the news.
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I was lucky enough to live in DC during the early 80′s when its punk scene was really percolating. My friend Jerry had a band called “Christ on a Crutch;” their signature song was “Fuck the Pope,” sung to a jaunty almost Sha-Na-Na cadence….”He wouldn’t look so cute, if you made him lick your boot, Fuck the Pope (Bop-bop, bop).”
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Minchin’s subtle poetic pope-slam.
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Geez, quitting just because you’re getting tired of it all? Just because the role you’re in doesn’t have the same verve and zest that it used to? Just because there’s no tenderness anymore in your fingertips? What ever happened to “til death do us part?”
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I think it was more like god saying “Dude. You know. You look like Satan. And you kind of remind me of him too. And I swear I tried real hard to make this work anyway. But I’m sorry, I’m gonna have to start seeing other people. Plus, it’s kind of creepy what you’re allowing your buddies do with the those alter boys and uh… there’s that fine ass Jewish woman over there and SHE can cook.”
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Maybe you just need to give the Pope’s deviled eggs a chance!
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I think god’s just gonna stick with the brisket.
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Or Popeyes Chicken.
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(Pope-yes)
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:facepalm:
And yes, I’m slow and didn’t pick up on it. And now I groan.
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I stole it from some comic I heard on the radio years ago. He did a song called “What Would Jesus Eat?”
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Relevant Classic
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Awesome. The other batgirl was awesome (also).
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Just yesterday I was looking at the WBC rosters and said “Oh, Little Nicky Punto is playing for Italy!”
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I don’t think I have ever referred to that player with anything but “Little Nicky Punto”
This, a silly thing I did
, is relevant to this grill
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This is fantastic.
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Yes it is.
Well, I can’t seem to post photos. So I’ll just post a link. Wait, what was I talking about?FSU
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Yay! I love that one!
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Thanks for fixing it. I used to have this on a t-shirt. Even wore it to school one day (I went to SI).
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Oops, didn’t read that FSU fixed it. Thanks, FSU!
Mike Piazza: not so poetic about the end of his career with the A’s.
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So he won’t go into the Hall wearing an A’s cap, then.
I do remember questioning the A’s insistence that he only come back off the DL if he was healthy enough to play catcher. Piazza doesn’t appear to have much love for Billy.
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Portraying himself as a hard-working player who didn’t use steroids (but did use androstenedione, ephedra and greenies, which weren’t on baseball’s banned list at the time), Piazza wrote a book that seems to be a campaign for the Hall of Fame.
Um… greenies were banned.
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Not when he played iirc.
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Amphetamines are a controlled substance, and the use of controlled substances had been prohibited since the 1991 Memo that Commissioner Fay Vincent sent out to all teams.
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Baseball didn’t start including testing for greenies until 2006. So, they may have been prohibited, but were never tested for.
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Admitting to having used them kind of supersedes a need for testing.
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Yet another tale of excellent man management by Geren.
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In case anyone missed it back then and anyone cares, here’s the interview I did with Piazza
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Awesome
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Nobody cares about your Piazza interview.
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You’re just like Bed, you VORP nerd
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I wish I were more like Bed, frankly. Except for the weird Coldplay love.
My poetry is usually slam poetry (i.e. read aloud), so this is a departure and just an experiment with a different voice, content, and formatting for me, but I thought I’d share anyway:
Last night, we sat in your car while you had a panic attack. I'm sorry I can't make you feel better. Your anxiety makes me so anxious. Last week, we watched the city light up from my rooftop and you confessed to nuzzling the abyss sometimes. I hope the comfort I mumbled into my beer reached you . Last month, I watched you laugh totheedgeofinsansity white knuckling your hold on structure. Just tell me who I need to beat up. I don't believe violence solves most problems but I'll be damned if I let that stop me. Just point me in the direction of your a c h e Last fall, I saw you bleed. The look in your eyes still scares me. I hope you don't think less of me for that. I wrapped you in a white towel and tried to staunch the flow of your desperation. Some stains don't really wash out, do they ? Sometimes I want to shake you until you accept that things do get better but I really do try to remember that maybe you're not ready to stop being sad yet. Just know that I'll wait for you. Sitting in the front seat on the side of the road holding your hand as you ride the waves in your head. The car's headlights fighting the haze as I whisper I love you I love you I love you into the blink of the emergency flashers. Why can't you see how worth it you are?up
clap-clap-clap
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Well done.
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This is truly brilliant.
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bravo
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Lichen it!
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That’s really good.
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Fantastic stuff.
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See, I was right, wasn’t I?
Great stuff, man.
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Thanks for the kind words. Happy to share if people enjoy it!
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thats pretty swell
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…
…..
speechless. “That’s absolutely fantastic” is about as close as I can get.
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Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!!!!
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nevermoor has that publisher agent for a friend, right? just sayin’
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I do indeed.
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Well shucks. Even if I did have publish-worthy stuff, nobody wants to publish poetry these days, right?
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No idea.
That’s her job, not mine.