The Daily Dose/Monday, February 15, 2021

The Daily Dose/February 15, 2021
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy

Leading Off
Notes from around the human experience.

DEARLY BELOVED: Baseball, your game is dying. Or, more accurately, it continues to die. World Series TV ratings have been tanking for years, but does baseball stop letting games end after midnight? No, it does not and as a result, you’ve lost both new and old ones. Your recent actions are merely helping it along. 

Dry, Technical Matter: First, adopting most of the rules from last year was a mistake. Specifically, the rule putting a runner on second to start an extra inning. It was OK last year when everything was a fiasco and you were only playing 60 games with no guarantee you’d get them all in. Now, it makes the game seem like a beer league. 

The Fifth Inning Stretch: We’re not entirely sure if we like or dislike the 7-inning doubleheader rule. On the one hand, any less time we’re obliged to watch the Pittsburgh Pirates play the better but boy, what happens when someone throws a 7-inning perfect game? Are you going to put that in the record book? 

Rulebook 101: The rule requiring a pitcher to face three batters (unless he’s injured or the inning ends) is bad, cutting right to the very fabric of the game. By not allowing a manager to change pitchers when he wants you are giving the offense an advantage it is not entitled to.

As Long As We’re Whining…: And the one you didn’t adopt – a DH in the National League – was a shame. Nobody wants to see pitchers bat and to continue to make them take their cuts in one league and not the other is silly. 

Boy, You Guys Really Are On The Rag Today: Also, your destruction of the minor leagues gets mixed results.

On the one hand, the 800 some-odd players losing jobs probably wouldn’t have made the big leagues anyway – they were merely lineup card filler for the two or three that would. But gee whiz, did you have to do away with the names of the leagues? The International League in particular because it’s the second-oldest professional sports league in the country, but there were others with long histories, too. Couldn’t you have written them a check for their names before they cleared their offices out and closed their bank accounts?

The Bottom Line: And this whining doesn’t even include the fact the game itself is nothing but swinging for the fences and that baseball this week tacitly admitted to farting around with the baseballs to control how many home runs were hit. Baseball is now nothing more than another TV program to watch, like a sitcom or a Movie of the Week and is probably not as interesting. 

Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually. 

The Diary of a Nobody –  Sparrow delivers quality service to some who does not appreciate it. Today’s Diary. 

…and then he repeats his request for something other than white…I wanted to smack him. 

“I’m sorry, sir…Everything is in white.” 

He scowled as if white blankets carried COVID and I asked for his room number and told him I’ll deliver them…He said he didn’t really want to bother me…Again, I wanted to smack him…DUDE, I’M HERE TO SERVE YOU!!!…It’s OK, it’s how I earn my living…If I didn’t like it I’d do something else so, please, muster the self-esteem to accept and enjoy it. 

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On This Date
The long march to today. 

In 1898 – The American warship the USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana Harbor, killing 261 sailors and Marines. Despite the fact the explosion was caused by an internal explosion, American newspapers, eager to outdo the others, engaged in reporting whatever the hell they wanted, spurring support for military action against Spain, despite the fact Spain had nothing to do with it. The Spanish-American War began in April, lasted three months and resulted in an American victory. The Maine had been sent to Havana to protect US interests during the Cuban War of Independence. 

In 1953 – Tenley Albright becomes the first American woman to win the world figure skating title at the World Championships in Davos, Switzerland, finishing ahead of silver medalist Gundi Busch of West Germany and bronze medalist Valda Osborn of Great Britain. Albright, who had won the silver medal at the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo and won the gold at the 1956 Cortina ‘Ampezzo Games, had suffered from polio as a child and later served as a vice president of the US Olympic Committee 

In 1964 – The Tams are at #1 on the Cashbox soul chart – one several chroniclers of American charted music over the years – for the first of three consecutive weeks with What Kind Of Fool (Do You Think I Am). It was the first of five Top 40 soul hits for the group and remains their only #1 song. The song also peaked at #9 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and a version by Bill Deal and the Rhondels peaked at 23 on the Hot 100 in 1969. Billboard did not publish a soul chart between November 30, 1963, and January 23, 1965.

Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever. 

There is no retreat but in submission and slavery.
Patrick Henry
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death speech
3/23/1775

Answer To The Last Trivia Question
Knowledge is power.

The youngest driver to win the Daytona 500 was Trevor Bayne, who was 20 years and 1 day old when he won in 2011. It remains his only NASCAR Cup Series win. 

Today’s Stumper
Match wits with Gaylon. It’s not that hard. 

Who was the first American man to win the world figure skating title? – Answer next time!

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