This note on blackbirds comes from Frank Bruni’s “For the Love of Sentences:”
In the BBC Countryfile Magazine, Nicola Chester examined an industrious specimen of nature: “Blackbirds are ostensibly a woodland bird, and can be heard loudly and furiously flinging leaves about to find insects, eggs and grubs beneath hedges and shrubs, like a teenager who has lost something on the bedroom ‘floor-drobe.’”
And this one:
In The Times, Annie Karni followed up on the visibly tense exchange between Senator Mitt Romney and Representative George Santos: “After the speech, Mr. Romney, a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, told reporters that Mr. Santos is ‘a sick puppy, he shouldn’t have been there,’ in what could be construed as the Mormon equivalent of an eviscerating, curse-filled diatribe.”
Baseball’s Tim McCarver died yesterday in Memphis at age 81, after a lifetime in the sport, first as an All-Star catcher, mostly for the Cards and Phils, and then as a groundbreaking Hall of Fame announcer. He was the favorite catcher of Hall of Famers Bob Gibson and Steve Carlton. He once quipped that when he and Carlton died they’d be buried 60 feet 6 inches apart from each other. (Carlton is still living.)
McCarver was born on October 16, 1941 in Memphis. He married his high school sweetheart, Anne, on December 29, 1964. They had two daughters, Kelly and Kathy, and two grandchildren, and stayed married until death did them part.
McCarver won the World Series twice with St. Louis (’64 and ’67), and came in second in the MVP voting in 1967 to teammate Orlando Cepeda. His 10th-inning game-winning HR against the Yankees in Game 5 of the 1964 World Series was pivotal. On July 4, 1976, McCarver hit what is known as a “Grand Slam Single” when, after hitting a grand slam, he passed his teammate Garry Maddox on the base path (a no-no). McCarver later claimed to have said to the umpire, “I didn’t pass him, he lapped me.” Asked how Maddox could have done that, McCarver replied, “Sheer speed.”
He revolutionized announcing by analyzing the “why” of plays rather then just the “what.” In that fashion he brought a lot of “inside baseball” out to fans. He was criticized in Sports Illustrated (unfairly, IMO), by being described as someone who “when you ask him the time, will tell you how a watch works.” But even my Zoey can tell you the time. What’s special about that?
Here’s a famous example. With one out in the bottom of the ninth of the seventh game of the 2001 World Series, the Arizona Diamondbacks had the bases loaded with the score tied against the Yankees’ Mariano Rivera. McCarver noted that Rivera pitched inside to left-handed hitters, often giving up broken bat hits to shallow outfield, and that it was dangerous to bring the infield in in such circumstances, as the Yankees had. On the very next pitch, the Diamondbacks’ Luis Gonzalez hit a blooper just a few feet into the outfield grass behind the drawn-in infielders, winning the Series for ‘Zona. [Wow.]
I was watching a game he was announcing once and the pitcher threw over to first four or five times to keep the speedy runner close. “Speed slows down the game,” McCarver noted, channeling Yogi.
He was very close with the daunting Bob Gibson. In all the years he caught Gibson, McCarver always acceded to Gibson on what to pitch (fastball, curve, etc.). He said he was afraid to ever disagree with him. He went out to the mound once to talk with him, and Gibson just said “Get back behind the plate where you belong — the only thing you know about pitching is that you can’t hit it.”
McCarver was from Memphis and occasionally would come out with some verbiage from his past that was racist. Gibson would explain to McCarver why that was hurtful and worked with him to get him “cleaned up,” so to speak. When Martin Luther King, Jr., was killed (in Memphis, of all places), Gibson was devastated. He told McCarver to leave him alone — that as a white man McCarver could never comprehend Gibson’s feelings. But McCarver wouldn’t let go — he said he was going to stick with it until Gibson made him understand what it meant to him. (Gibson died just shy of his 85th birthday in 2020.)
Thanks for all of your honest and good work. Rest in peace McCarver.
POSTAL codes popped up today, which led Joaquin to post this funny bit:
Are you guys following the JK Rowling controversy? I’m not, except as it pops up on Rex’s blog. She’s accused of being anti-trans and is receiving a lot of grief over it. There was a huge op-ed in the NYT today that comes to her defense. For some history, I read this timeline by Yahoo on how things got this far: https://news.yahoo.com/j-k-rowlings-transphobia-controversy-102506549.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall.
Rex was not at all convinced by the defense, to say the least, and continues to complain when a Harry Potter clue sullies the puzzle. Some commenters came to JK’s defense, e.g., this post:
“Oh Rex, we know that in your heart you mean well. Have you ever contemplated that issues, like human sexuality, may not be BINARY – that perhaps not every issue is black and white, has a right or wrong – but there is an entire rainbow of hues and colors in between. Consider for example, that one may be a member of the LBGTQ++ community and still believe that individuals born with male genitals may have an unfair advantage competing against others not similarly characterized in certain sports ? Oh, Rex, you preach tolerance of the gender fluid, yet you have such little tolerance for those with opinions contrary to your own. In any event, the hatred and venom don’t become you very well.”
[Ouch!]
Later, this appeared:
“‘I’m not racist, but I think there should be arenas where Whites should not have to be exposed to or compete with Blacks. I mean seriously, why should white people have to compete in sports with Blacks? Use the same bathroom as blacks.’ That sounds racist, because it is. Change Black/White to Trans/Cis, and it’s transphobic, and that’s what JKR has said. JKR is factually transphobic, and she goes out of her way to announce that.
“My niece is trans. She was bullied mercilessly as a youth for being exceptionally effeminate, then bullied mercilessly as a young adult for being trans. She is nothing but a lovely young lady who now suffers from PTSD from all of the past abuse. Every time some bigot goes on some pointless rant about random instances where maybe, some time, some where, a cis-gendered person might be inconvenienced by a transgender person, proposed new laws putting her back in some closet, she gets triggered again, in that the rich and powerful really are out to get her.
“It’s easy to not present yourself as obviously bigoted – Just don’t say things like ‘it’s just that there are places/times/situations where [people in category x] don’t belong.’ If you can’t stop yourself from saying such things, or spending hours dreaming up places/times/situations which you think confirm your claim, that’s your problem. Just don’t say so out loud, or if you do, don’t whine when people call you bigoted. Ok JKR?”
Owl Chatter says: Why can’t we all just get along and go back to hating the Jews?
Here’s Tom Lehrer on it (he’s still alive, at 94):
Since you are all so well-educated (and all know what a logarithm is), you have heard of, and probably heard, Chopin’s MINUTE WALTZ, which was in the puzzle today at 31A. But did you know what inspired it? According to constructor Jem Burch, it was inspired by Chopin observing a dog chasing its tail. (Woof!)
In connection with the Rowling business, someone noted that Chopin had been involved in some controversy in his time as well. But I couldn’t discover what it was after a short search, and someone else posted this:
“So I was wondering in what way Frederic Chopin was flawed so I googled ‘Frederic Chopin cancelled.’ Turns out it’s the name of the international airport in Warsaw and there have been quite a few flight cancellations lately.”
Here are some neat clue/answers in the puzzle today:
57A: “Lowlife” — SLEAZEBALL
17A: “Place subject to food stains” — SHIRTFRONT.
Here’s what Rex said about that: Not sure why that last one makes me happy. There’s something apt and almost quaint about it. I just like the idea that at some point, someone was like “ugh, saying ‘front of my shirt’ is too long, too taxing, I need something shorter … [snap] … I’ve got it! We’ll move the FRONT to the back and make it one word! SHIRTFRONT!
6D: “Ennui + wealth =?” ANS: AFFLUENZA
38A: “Whom the Irish may call a gossoon” — LAD
How about 54A? — “Real-life sucker.” It’s a VAMPIRE BAT.
They are creepy little buggers. True to their name, they hunt only when it’s fully dark and they live off the blood of mammals, including humans, when one is on the menu.
Yuck, can we please go back to looking for photos of Ana de Armas?
Here — this’ll get the bad taste out of your mouth —
42A: “Some Hanukkah servings,” — LATKES!
Here are some nice-looking ones with apple sauce. BYOSC (bring your own sour cream)
See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 