On Roger Clemens’ Return to Baseball

This is absolutely insane. Roger Clemens has signed with an independent league baseball team. Fifty years old, five years since he last threw off the mound, Roger Clemens will be pitching for the Sugar Land Skeeters of the Atlantic League. I’ve taken a look at the Skeeters’ schedule. They’re in York the week of LaborContinue reading “On Roger Clemens’ Return to Baseball”

On the Need for a Nationals Novelty Song

I grew up a Chicago Cubs fan. The Cubbies are still my first love, though when I moved to Maryland six years ago I adopted the Nats as my local team (passing over the closer O’s) because the Nats needed the love. The Cubs have given me many things over the years — they’ve givenContinue reading “On the Need for a Nationals Novelty Song”

On the Virginia League

I was probably eight or nine when I went to my first baseball game. The Harrisonburg Turks vs. the… Somebodies.  The New Market Rebels?  The Winchester Royals?  I don’t remember at the span of thirty years. There’s a baseball league in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, the Valley League.  It’s a collegiate summer league, not a minorContinue reading “On the Virginia League”

On ReDeus: Divine Tales

The gods of ancient Greece and Rome. They were myths, right? The stories of the Vikings, about the nine worlds and the trickster Loki and Ragnarok, those were just stories, weren’t they? The spirits of the British isles, they weren’t real, were they? What if they were true? What if the gods we think ofContinue reading “On ReDeus: Divine Tales”

On Fixing Baseball’s All-Star Game

Last night, like roughly 10 million Americans, I watched baseball’s All-Star Game. The game was over about fifteen minutes after it started; the National League jumped out to a 5-0 lead at the end of the first and the American League never seriously threatened. Still, I gutted it out and watched FOX’s coverage until theContinue reading “On Fixing Baseball’s All-Star Game”

On Sending a Story Into the Wild

Three weeks ago I mentioned that I was writing a new short story. If you followed me on Twitter on Saturday and Sunday, you may have noticed that I was writing furiously on the story. I had a deadline to meet, after all. Yesterday I finished the story. The first draft weighed in a littleContinue reading “On Sending a Story Into the Wild”

On My Independence Day Plans

July 4th. Two epochal, world-changing events have fallen on July 4th. The first comes on July 4, 1776. In Kent that day, Horatio Hornblower was born, and he would become one of the Royal Navy’s greatest heroes, distinguishing himself at an early age and playing a significant role in the defeat of Napoleon. The secondContinue reading “On My Independence Day Plans”

On Baseball’s National Anthem

I get e-mails from the History Channel. I must have signed up for their newletter at some point in the past, but I couldn’t say when that was. Normally, I just delete them, unless the subject line looks interesting. And yesterday, I got a very interesting one. To me, anyway. “Forgotten Baseball Poet Receives StarContinue reading “On Baseball’s National Anthem”

A Tale of Two Baseball Caps

Yesterday, the Stars & Stripes Washington Nationals Baseball Cap arrived. Baseball teams started wearing patriotic baseball caps on national holiday weekends a few years ago. (And yes, the Toronto Blue Jays have their own patriotic cap, with the Maple Leaf instead of the Stars and Stripes.) Despite my love of the Cubs :cubs: I don’tContinue reading “A Tale of Two Baseball Caps”