Looking back to the future in baseball

A very interesting Uni Watch (a column about uniforms) from ESPN's Page 2 on "Turn Ahead the Clock," a promotion that gave teams 'futuristic' uniforms just in time for the turn-of-the-millenium.

I thought a couple of the jerseys (the Colorado Rockies and, against the judgement of the Uni Watch guy, the San Diego Padres) looked pretty cool. But the San Francisco Giants (left on the last link) and the Pittsburgh Pirates jerseys... umm... let's just pretend that never happened.

TV reporter files report -- via iPhone

Here in Albuquerque, KOB-TV reporter Jeremy Jojola (or @jeremyjojola on Twitter), did something pretty cool -- he filed his report via the iPhone.

Check it out:



I'm not an iPhone user and I still find this pretty cool.

Chad Ochocinco is multitalented

Chad Ochocinco (formerly Chad Johnson) kicked an extra point which proved to be the difference in the Cincinnati Bengals' preseason victory over the New England Patriots. Ochocinco, being the self-promoting showman that he is, wasn't exactly humble afterwards.

From the Associated Press:

" 'Esteban' Ochocinco is back, the most interesting footballer in the world," Ochocinco said. "Everyone has to remember, I've always said that soccer is my No. 1 sport. I think Ronaldinho would be proud of me right now."

It isn't the first time the American football player has expressed his love for the European style of football. Though, at the time, he was still named Chad Johnson.

ESPNsoccernet: Rumor has it that you drove Coach Lewis crazy juggling a soccer ball during practice?

CJ: [Laughs] Yeah that's the way I warm up, before games, during the season, in practice, in between drills, in between practice I use the ball, just juggling the ball all day.

Usain Bolt is crazy fast

Ho hum, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt smashed another record, this time in the 200 meter sprint.

The remarkable Jamaican took gold in 19.19 seconds, shaving just over a tenth of a second off the mark he set in winning the 200m at last year's Beijing Olympics.

Bolt smashed his own 100m world record with a 9.58 seconds clocking in claiming gold in the shorter sprint on the second day of the championshiops.

And his antics afterward, according to Pardon The Interruption's Twitter account, were almost as entertaining:

Usain Bolt just ran 19.19. Then fake-raced a mascot. Then got hand kissed by cameraman. We'll discuss at 5:30pm ET.

Crazy fast and he just has fun out there.

Why I love the New Yorker

This article on Ricky Jay, who not only is not only one of the most gifted sleight of hand magicians of his time but also a great historian of magic, is nearly 15,000 words long. And every word is worth reading.

The article is from 1993, and I wish someone else would write such an article about him in 2009. It would be equally interesting to see what he has done in the last 16 years.

@TheOnion: "Newly Discovered Recordings Reveal Beatles Actually Terrible Group"

From The Onion:

This unfortunate find has forced music historians to completely reassess the talents of John, Paul, George, and Ringo," said Beatles scholar Mark Lewisohn, who has dated the tapes to early 1968.

I wish I could write as well as David Sedaris

His latest from the New Yorker is here:

The thing had been struck but not run over. It hadn’t decomposed, or been disfigured, and I was surprised by the shoddiness of its coat. It was as if you’d bred a rabbit with a mule. Then there was the tail, which reminded me of a lance.

“Hugh,” I called. “Come here and look at the wallaby.”

It’s his belief that in marvelling at a dead animal on the roadside you may as well have killed it yourself—not accidentally but on purpose, cackling, most likely, as you ran it down. Therefore, he stayed in the car.

“It’s your loss,” I called, and a great cloud of steam issued from my mouth.

As always with Sedaris (and the New Yorker), there is much, much more.