Miscellaneous Me

The August edition of Miscellaneous Me contains a number of short stories to wrap up the summer and welcome in the fall/football season.

- I sat on the beach with my dad a few weeks back, watching two seagulls battle over territory. They were really going at it, biting at each other's beaks, locked in a tussle. The fight was finally decided when one bird was scared away, not by the other bird, but by a little boy swinging a shovel. Ah, the circle of life.

- It was reported this month that Hall of Fame baseball player Lou Gehrig may not have had Lou Gehrig's Disease. A study was showing that he may have instead had a disease similar to ALS. I don't think this needs a follow-up joke or analogy. Lou Gehrig not having Lou Gehrig's Disease speaks for itself.

- Avon Barksdale was in Remember the Titans. This amused me for some reason.

- In the fourth novel of the Harry Potter series, world famous seeker Viktor Krum attends Hogwarts School for the semester to participate in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Quidditch is the only wizarding sport that exists and he is the most famous Quidditch player in the world. Is there even a real-life equivalent to this? The closest thing I can imagine would be if LeBron James came to your high school to compete in a science fair. A big enough deal was not made of this.

- Leroy "Satchel" Paige is probably the greatest pitcher who ever lived. He wasn't allowed in the major leagues until his 40's so we will never really know. All we do know are the stories. Satchel would purposely walk the bases loaded just to strike out the side. He would tell his outfielders to sit down in the grass during innings because he wouldn't need them. Satch would then strike out all three batters. Talk about being an entertainer. Now we're so easily impressed by quality starts thrown. I'd like to see Ubaldo Jimenez call in his outfielders next start.

- My family went to dinner at a restaurant on Long Beach Island. The restaurant ran out of two different entrées, two different dessert dishes, and tea all in one night. Yes, they ran out of tea. They still had paper to write our check on though.

- I called the Kansas City Chiefs my 2010 NFL sleeper team more than a month before Bill Simmons hopped on that bandwagon. I'm not saying he stole my reasoning and conclusion because there seems to be a limited chance he read my column about it. But, in the very least, if I end up being right, can we remember this? If I'm wrong, then I of course don't care.

- This summer has been home to quite a baseball story that has gotten pretty much ignored. The early part of the year saw everyone and their uncle going crazy about 2010 being the year of the pitcher. I was on board with it as well. However, a more impressive story has developed: dueling triple crown battles. Albert Pujols and Joey Votto each stand in the top three in the NL in all three triple crown categories. Miguel Cabrera also stands near the top in batting average, home runs, and RBI's in the AL. Not only might this negate the belief of it being the year of the pitcher; but this also allows me to bring up Colin Cowherd's insanely stupid rant from earlier this year about how Joey Votto did not deserve to make the all-star team.

- Who made a quicker vault into fantasy stardom, Chris Johnson or Kevin Durant? They are both number one in their respective sports after attending college only three years ago.

- Pre-season football is the epitome of summer. So much is made of something that should just be enjoyed at a relaxing and calm pace. People need to learn to appreciate it for what it is: scouting for late round fantasy sleepers and nothing more.