The Writer's Life 11/29 - Music, Fish, Football

Barry Zito, 38, retired from baseball in 2015. The lefty spent 15 seasons in MLB. He had a big, sweeping curveball that baffled hitters more often than not. As a member of the A's in 2002, he went 23-5, had a 2.75 ERA, and earned the Cy Young award. He caught a lot of flack for failing to perform to expectations after signing a huge seven-year deal with the San Francisco Giants, although he was a member of the staff during the 2010 and 2012 championship seasons. Overall, he finished 165-143, ERA 4.04, a career of which anyone would be proud. Why bring this up? Zito has embarked on a new career as a country singer. Here is a link to his first video. To my chagrin, I was unable to find out if he wrote the song, which I found surprisingly strong. Judge for yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux5ogOeD3Uc

What were they thinking? That phrase has become more common in the digital age, when someone's mistake often goes viral. A Japanese amusement park was blasted on social media when it opened a new skating rink that had 5000 dead fish - 25 different kinds - frozen into the ice below the surface. Officials claimed the fish were dead before the water was frozen, but that failed to quell the furor. The rink has been closed. Didn't it occur to any of the powers that be to use something like colorful rubber fish? Here's a pic:

NFL: The Patriots still seem significantly better than any other AFC team... In the NFC, the Seahawks are again confounding fans and experts. How do you win at New England and two weeks later score only five points in a loss at Tampa Bay?... As for the Giants, they seem like the weakest 8-3 squad in the history of the league, but they have a chance to prove their detractors wrong this weekend in Pittsburgh... Dallas looks Super Bowl bound... Atlanta is playing well, but the Falcons have a woeful playoff history... When Matt Barkley was drafted by the Eagles out of USC three years ago, I thought he would quickly become their starting QB. Last Sunday he rallied Chicago beautifully in the second half. The Bears would have tied had a wide open receiver not dropped a pass in the endzone. Was it a blip, or has Barkley found himself?

The floating book shop was rained out today and will likely be so tomorrow as well. One of the things I did to fill time was fill out Christmas cards, which I won't mail until the 15th.

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