Posnanski at it again

Was that in the mag?

 

I would doubt it was in the mag. Too similar to the Crothers piece, and also it's posted on Joe's blog. For what it's worth, it's the best story I've read in the new year.

 

No, just on his blog on SI's site.

 

I hadn't seen your piece or those others you mentioned. Every piece I've read on Klotz and the Generals before this one skirts the issue and implies that it's a farce without coming out and saying it. If I'm wrong, then I stand corrected.

How can I hate the Globetrotters? Why do people hate the Yankees? The Globetrotters win all the dang time. I was in middle school the one time I went, and it bored the heck out of me. I didn't want the Globetrotters to pull out their tricks, I wanted to see the Generals break them up and make the Globetrotters pay for showboating. The loudest I cheered the entire night was when a guy from the Generals drilled a 3-pointer to go ahead 12-11 seven minutes into the game.

Like I said, my mom got upset because I never laughed once at the Globetrotters' routines. I just didn't think they were funny. Maybe I'm just joyless, but it's probably because at that point, having only seen the Globetrotters on TV against teams like Maryland and Michigan State, I didn't yet know games involving the Generals were a farce.

 

The Globetrotters have been doing their thing since 1927. If you're looking for an exposé at any point in the 21st century on how the sausage is made, I don't know what to tell you.

 

Remember when the Globies couldn't beat Martin Landau's team of robots until Gilligan and the Skipper suited up?

 

You know, I was going to somehow disagree with you, but you're right, and it's a bit inexplicable. I have not disowned by son (22) for claiming Simmons is his favorite writer in the whole wide world, but it's difficult.

I guess I must fall back on "he's a rare exception," and I suppose the other thing is he isn't writing narrative features like Posnanski. And I want to repeat, I love this post (hey, that's what it is, good writing and long or not; a blog post).

 

Most of Posnanski's posts fall more in line with Simmons without the ridiculous notion that he's always right and with a little report sometimes -- though not always.

He writes about baseball and statistical analysis quite a bit.

 

I've posted this many times before, but if you have not read it, carve out the time.

http://joeposnanski.si.com/2010/03/03/herschel/

Posnanski put more time/effort into that blog post than most of us do into most of anything we produce.

 

I am not exactly Mr. College Football, but that run against South Carolina where the three guys "had the angle" -- and then they most certainly didn't -- remains to this day one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in sports.

 

The interesting thing about that little time in the Globies' history, the team was struggling financially, and management, in its infinite wisdom, decided they were going to try to play serious basketball for a while.

Problem was, there were fans buying tickets expecting to see confetti waterbuckets and rubber-band free throws and instead, they got an actual game, and they were pissed. Globies stopped the serious basketball after a couple of years.

 

Like I said, I'm probably just different. If I'd seen the serious stuff, I would have enjoyed myself.