1) LAST NIGHT I WAS PRESSED into emergency hosting duties as a series of thunderstorms interrupted Hugh’s and Duane’s travels across the country. Such are the vicissitudes of modern air travel.
Bob Owens, the proprietor of the Confederate Yankee blog, made a guest appearance. As you’ve probably heard, Owens wrote a blog post yesterday that shredded the last remnants of The New Republic’s reputation.
In a nutshell, Owens talked to the Bradley Fighting Vehicle expert who The New Republic claimed had confirmed the Bradley-related details of the Beauchamp Diarists. In truth, the man did nothing of the kind, which probably explains why The New Republic didn’t mention his name. If they had mentioned his name, it would have been easy for inquiring minds to confirm their reporting. Because they didn’t, it took the relentless Owens a week to track down the details.
You know, in normal reporting, you’d say, “Bob So-and-So of the XYZ company told us…” TNR avoided that standard practice in its essay that stood by the Diarists. Now we know why. The more time goes by, the more dishonorable TNR’s efforts in regards to this sorry episode look. And they looked pretty dreadful three weeks ago.
If you haven’t done so already, be sure to read the entire post at Confederate Yankee. Who says bloggers can’t do reporting?
2) BACK FROM IRAQ – Bill Kristol files a report on his trip to Iraq for Time Magazine. He’s noticed what I have – the men serving us in Iraq are the leaders of tomorrow, and our country will be the better for it. Besides, he quotes me! As Scott Johnson says, you’ll want to read the whole thing.
3) BARRY BONDS, THE NEW HOME RUN KING! Zzzzzzzz. There are a few things that some people may have forgotten about Bonds, or that young people may be unaware of. Back in the early 90’s, Bonds was by consensus the best player in baseball. He could do it all. And even then, he was extremely unpopular. Why? Because he was an arrogant jerk. Back in the day, there was an extremely popular video of Pittsburg Pirate manager Jim Leyland getting in Bonds’ face during spring training because of Bonds’ hideous attitude. Sports fans everywhere enjoyed the image of a righteous manager letting an obnoxious superstar have it with both barrels.
Some players grow out of such immaturity. Bonds instead grew worse. As a young superstar, he was the most insufferable player in baseball. As an old superstar, he has solidified his grasp on that crown. Even if he had never taken a performance enhancing substance, no one would care about Barry Bonds supplanting Hank Aaron because no one feels like celebrating Barry Bonds.
If he had retired before his head swelled up like a beach ball, he would have gone down as one of the best players ever. And you know what? Still, no one would have missed him when he left. In time, people who didn’t have to endure his personality will marvel at Bonds’ incredible accomplishments on the field. I don’t think many baseball fans would mind taking a ride in a time machine to see the even viler Ty Cobb play a few games. But for the contemporary audience, Barry Bonds cannot leave the game soon enough.
4) NOW THE FEEL-GOOD STORY OF BASEBALL 2007.
Some call it going haywire. Others call it Steve Blass disease. The fashion obsessed and malaprop-prone call it Bill Blass disease. It happens when a major league baseball player or other athlete suddenly loses the ability to do a simple thing that he has done all his life. In pitcher Steve Blass’ case, he couldn’t throw the ball over the plate anymore. When it struck catcher Mackey Sasser, he couldn’t accurately throw the ball back to the pitcher. Second baseman Steve Sax, who had been a great player, could no longer make the short throw to first base.
In all these cases, some sort of mental block triggered the breakdown. When you go haywire, it’s virtually impossible to make it back to normal. Steve Sax once memorably said that people would tell him just not to think about it. He said that’s like telling someone, “Don’t think of an elephant!” When someone tells you not to think of an elephant, what do you do? You think of an elephant.
Perhaps the saddest case of going haywire is the one that hit St. Louis Cardinal pitcher Rick Ankiel. In 2000, Ankiel was a 20 year old prodigy. The St. Louis Cardinals had signed him to a contract that included a $2.5 million bonus a couple of years earlier. Just barely out his teens Ankiel racked up an 11-7 record in the big leagues. He was 9th in the league in E.R.A., and 7th in the league in strikeouts.
The Cardinals made the playoffs that year, and there things went tragically wrong for Ankiel. With the nation watching, Ankiel threw five wild-pitches while allowing four runs in the 3rd inning of the Cards’ first playoff game. The Cardinals nevertheless advanced to the National League Championship Series, and Ankiel’s wildness continued to plague him. He didn’t make it out of the first inning in Game 2; out of the 20 pitches he threw that night, 5 got past the catcher. Ankiel returned to face four batters in Game 5 of that series; he threw 2 more wild pitches and walked two men.
Rick Ankiel never got back to normal. He never even came close He tried for what had to be five painful years until finally surrendering before the 2005 season. But Rick Ankiel is a great athlete, and was determined to make it back to the Major Leagues. He decided to do so as an outfielder.
Having started over as a 26 year old, Ankiel improbably became a very successful minor league outfielder. Last year, Ankiel suffered another setback, missing the entire season due to a knee injury. This year, as a 28 year old, Ankiel led all Triple A players with 32 homeruns.
The St. Louis Cardinals once again brought Rick Ankiel up to the big leagues this week, this time as a power-hitting outfielder with a cannon for an arm. Ankiel made his return to the Cardinals’ lineup last night. Penning yet another unlikely chapter in the Rick Ankiel Story, Ankiel returned with a bang, hitting a homerun in the 7th inning. Cardinal manager Tony LaRussa said that except for winning the World Series, Ankiel’s homerun was the happiest moment he had ever had in uniform. Ankiel called the experience “unbelievable.”
"You almost can't put it into words,” he continued. “I couldn't have written that any better. No way. It felt so good I can't describe it. It's almost ... euphoric."
Ankiel’s homerun wasn’t his first in the big leagues. He hit others as a pitcher back in 2000. But he got the ball back from last night’s homerun, and he’s keeping it. As well he should - that ball didn’t come easy.
4) SPEAKING OF BASEBALL…As Hugh already noted, tonight in Philadelphia, Generalissimo Duane Patterson, the producer of the Hugh Hewitt Show, will be throwing out the first pitch to a crouching Philly Phanatic. The pressure will be on, especially considering the notorious rudeness of Philadelphia sports fans. Godspeed, Generalissimo. May you do better than John Kerry.
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