I don’t know why there isn’t more talk of moving Lew Ford into the leadoff spot. At this stage of his career Shannon Stewart is no longer a prototypical leadoff guy; he’s pretty clearly lost his wheels and isn’t much of a threat to steal a base or beat out a groundball, both areas where … Read more
Look, man, I’m not saying every McDonald’s manager is a 265-pound white woman, I’m just telling you that that pretty much describes every one I’ve ever worked for. You really think Tina’s 265 pounds? If she isn’t, she’s not much more than a couple Big Macs away. Shit, man, why don’t you ask her? That … Read more
By now you have heard about the flap over at The New York Press, where editor Jeff Koyen walked the plank for a tasteless feature called “The 52 Funniest Things About the Upcoming Death of the Pope.” The general consensus seems to be that his main transgression was publishing a spectacularly unfunny piece by a … Read more
The first author of The Scarlet Letter In one of the last words before the “Buy Congress Now and Pay Later” bankruptcy bill passes the Senate today, here’s Paul Krugman. All that remains now is for the DeLay controlled House to add the part about poor people having to wear a scarlet “D” (for Debtor) … Read more
A genius to me is somebody who does something wonderful I can’t begin to comprehend, and with his latest virtuous and ambitious enterprise John Bonnes (a.k.a. Twins Geek) fits the bill. If you’ve been reading John’s blog over the last few seasons you know that he’s among the more balanced and rational of the baseball … Read more
We happened to be sharing a table with Star Tribune critic Chris Riemenshneider over the weekend—although we prefer to stay incognito, the better to avoid a punch on the nose for previous infractions and faux pas. Where were we? In the choked air of the Fine Line Music Cafe, after receiving a pair of press … Read more
Tell me again Dr. Frist what you’ll do for me The outcry is mounting against the new bankruptcy bill making its way through Congress. In case you haven’t been paying attention, the credit card companies, in particular, are behind the move to deny bankruptcy protection to the victims of what amounts to organized crime. Molly … Read more
My family’s been hunting snakes down around Lake Pepin for generations. My old man’s from one of the longest lines of snake hunters in the entire country, in fact. My mother’s own family was famous in those parts for creeping in caves, and the snake hunting, I gather, was sort of a natural off-shoot of … Read more
One of the continuing mysteries in my life is how anyone can take Ann Coulter seriously. She’s the living example of how so called authors can take a smidgen of material and turn it into the most bald-faced lies…and get away with it. Thank God for Al Franken, who knows a lie when he sees … Read more
Time Out Chicago has finally launched, to lukewarm response from at least one critic. It’s hard to imagine anyone in Chicago getting exercised about a new magazine or newspaper. The city has been so awash with new pubs in the past five years, readers are probably asking themselves what more there is to say about … Read more