We’ll be doing more in the morning/early afternoon, depending on the cooperation of the DMV, but meanwhile, Jonathan assembled free-agent lists of his top 20 available wingers and his top 20 available minor-league free agents. I like this because now I don’t have to. It’s his bonus list that’s incredibly clutch. His Nos. 1 and 2* are pretty much a given. My own biases say 18 is too low, and I might find a place for Atari 2600 Ice Hockey, too, but that’s a lot of hockey on this list. No. 9 is a solid one. The three little guys throwing their arms up when you win, crying when you lose? Excellent. I’d definitely find a place for Micro League Baseball**, which has taken up, oh, probably several weeks of my life. And while the title voiceover for 16 was pretty cool, to me the best part was the muffled robotic voice that announced a “fmwight!” My buddy Mike Forster had the various Summer Games and Winter Games for the Commodore 64, and those had their moments, too, though there were those annoying parts that are parodied so gleefully over on the Homestar Runner site.
But, yeah, free agency. Starts any minute now.
Jeremy Yablonski re-upped with Binghamton. The Globe reports that Petteri Nokelainen re-signed with Boston.
Today on The Wire: Alexei Zhitnik and Duvie Westcott, along with Denis Gauthier. That show goes on hiatus for a while now, and so does the running gag. But linked within the Gauthier story: Kyle Greentree goes to Calgary for Tim Ramholt.
“Johnny Damon can relate to Ryan Church”? Yeah, me, too. And to Johnny Damon. Which just feels weird.
Kevin Smith on George Carlin. (“When are you gonna take the kid to see the Cats?”)
Have I plugged Cul de Sac lately?
And finally, if there’s any possibility that time could run backward, at least we know it might be funny.
*-When I was a kid, I could never beat the Bengals with the Giants. I could beat everybody else — blitz with L.T., hedge against the run, run the flea-flicker — but I lived in fear of having to face Esiason in the Super Bowl (with the Mighty Bombjack Show at halftime). Now, on the emulator, I can handle the Bengals with little problem — except I can’t remember how I used to handle Randall “QB Eagles” Cunningham…
**-Ongoing obsession seen here. That was the ’68 Tigers and Denny McLain beating Tug McGraw and the ’80 Phillies, by the way. McGraw became a favorite after I read Screwball, his 1975 book. “Every morning you wake up, only to discover that… your school is not with it, and your church is struggling, and, worst of all, your country is falling apart. … It would appear that the people are (messed) up. I really don’t know in which direction to head or what to do. Why? Because I’m a people and I’m (messed) up. I think the reason I love baseball so much is … it takes people off my mind.” Can’t say it much better. I think somewhere in there was the story of his bet with two kids about whether a pitcher could balk with no one on base — what was it — did he throw a pitch into the stands? Did he throw to first off the rubber? Something like that. Maybe I ought to see if the library still has it***…
***-Boy, did that footnote go off on a tangent.