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| Why are these men smiling? |
For those of you who spent your holiday season locked in your house, avoiding the cold and dodging the chill of interpersonal interactions, you likely caught some or all of the replay of the 1992 World Series on Sportsnet.
(At least if you were in Canada. For the 20-ish percent of you who come here from the U.S., at least you can take solace in your leaders swerving before they went off the Economic Precipice. Nice work there. And for the other 2% that come from various and sundry places around the world, wish you'd been there.)
From the traffic on Twitter and some of the notes I received since the airings, it sounds like the replay of the Series brought back a lot of great memories, some new insights and helped to build anticipation for the coming season. If nothing else, it was great to watch baseball for a few days and avoid the orgy of teenage hockey tournaments. For me at least.
And now, a special treat. Following the Series, I spoke with Sportsnet.ca managing editor Mike Cormack for what was supposed to be a short recap, but turned into a longer gabfest. It's split into two easily digestible parts below, each about 20 minutes long. Go stick it in your ear.
Part 1 - http://bcove.me/qi3b777p
Part 2- http://bcove.me/0dndhbxf
Apologia, corrections and other addenda
For those who wish to indulge me, here are a few notes to go along with the audio program.
1) Excuse me for breathing: I've had trouble breathing through my nose for most of the holidays, plus I rushed home to record this and was still catching my breath when we set the reel to reel in motion. Just before we started recording, Mike asked if I needed a second to catch my breath, and I was all like "LET'S DO THIS!" I should really listen to the professionals, lest I sound like an obscene caller.
2) Also, excuse me for losing my breath: I have a bad habit of pacing when I talk on the phone, which include walking up and down stairs. Combine my ongoing respiratory distress with my general lack of fitness, and you can hear me gasping for air like a fish on a boat bottom at several points in here.
3) Excuse the crying baby: I really wasn't neglecting my child to record a podcast. Honest.
4) On Cooper bats: I wrongly assert that the Cooper bats used by many of the Jays were made of maple. Turns out, they were actually ash. Oops.
5) Excuse my verbal ticks: Especially "um" and "so". And pensive pauses. And any others that I'm not self-aware enough to identify.
6) Excuse my malapropism: I don't think that "crossed a precipice" was what I meant to say. Talking is hard sometimes.
7) Excuse the Debbie Downer moment: We're all excited for the 2013 Jays. Sorry I smeared my ongoing anhedonia all over next season before it even starts.
8) Finally, a word of thanks: To Mike Cormack and the digital folks at Sportsnet for doing the hard work of editing and posting this while I just prattled on endlessly.
I hope you enjoy. Feel free to share your thoughts or to let me have it in the comments.
9 comments:
Rewatching the series obviously left you breathless.
Another apology: "Humourish". That was not called for.
I mean, it was called for. Just, kinda corny. Like something Bill Geist would say.
First rule of being on the radio is never to apologize for anything. The only way listeners ever notice stuff like the things you mentioned is if you call attention to them.
Glad you finally beleive that you must spend to contend. If they were not so cheap last year we would have Prince Fielder hitting cleanup this season and they could have a real shot at winning it all.
I also have a habit of pacing while I talk on the phone. Not sure why that is.
But I enjoyed listening Tao. Thanks.
Tao, I'm glad you brought up the Jack Morris delivery, because it really seemed like he was flying open the way to the plate. A stark contrast in comparison to pitchers today.
Thanks for this.
Would it be selfish to ask (if you do this sort of thing again someday) to provide MP3s? Some of us like low-tech portability for our baseball content. :)
I thoroughly enjoyed your podcast conversation on the '92 WS, Tao. A comment about your discussion on Kelly Gruber and post-season slump and the early end to his career: in his defense, it might have been nice for you or Mike Cormack to mention that he was playing with a pretty bad injury.
http://mopupduty.com/the-greatest-jays-3b-ever-kelly-gruber/
He had a "bone spur embedded in {his} spinal cord", which wasn't disclosed at the time.
I do remember at that time, Cito being asked by reporters during the WS whether he was concerned about Gruber's slumping bat, and Cito's response was that he didn't care if Gruber didn't get one more hit - Cito was putting him in the lineup for his defense. He was right. Gruber's post-season glove-work did turn out pretty spectacular.
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