I have a small reporter’s pad on my desk that I’ll sometimes jot random words and ideas down for possible post ideas on here. Sometimes it’s true inspiration, the muses speaking to me and the posts write themselves. I get to bed at a reasonable hour when this happens. Then there’s 98% of the rest of these ideas, where I have to stare at what I wrote and try to remember just what the hell I was thinking of. This week I wrote three disparate things on there, and with a reasonable bedtime looking less and less likely tonight, I’m just going to dive right in. What, you expected me to write about the NBA playoffs? Revis Island taking up residence in Tampa Bay?
First thing written on page: “Beef panang, orange chicken, pad see ew with tofu, chicken sate…” oh right, this was the Thai food I ordered.
Third thing: “Wonder Dog.” At the risk of dating myself, as a kid I took a ball to an Oneonta Yankee game (back when Oneonta was home to the Yankees’ New York-Penn League affiliate) looking for autographs of possible future major leaguers. We kids were allowed on the field after games, access that seems impossible to consider these days. At any rate I got a bunch, got home and noticed to my embarrassment that I had gotten one name on there twice, meaning that I had committed a kind of “you ballplayers all look the same to me” gaffe…but the player was nice enough to just sign the ball again and politely refrain from belittling me.
That player was Rex Hudler, who did make to the majors and forged a decent career as a kind of utility journeyman. When I moved to Los Angeles, there was Hudler as the Angels’ color commentator, and the man I felt bad about pestering for an autograph twice turned out to be super annoying! Hopped up like Tony Robbins, an unabashed homer, full of really, really dumb catch-phrases that would rival John Sterling’s. You decide which is the worse nickname for Tim Salmon: Kingfish, or Sockeye? He did get busted for smoking weed in his hotel room after a road game, which made him seem cooler for a minute, but then he tucked his tail between his legs and issued a limp apology…just because he was scared for his lucrative job or something. Sell out!
Then again, maybe this explains how he signed my ball twice without realizing it.
So why did he merit inclusion on my idea-pad? Because I had a Kansas City Royal game on in the background the other day on MLB.TV, and there was that pumped up voice, now getting excited about the Royals! The Royals! If Rex Hudler can get excited about the Royals, then he truly is a professional’s professional…so don’t mind all the Fire Rex Hudler sites out there, Wonder Dog, toke up and enjoy some of that BBQ.
Grote2DMax, a man who’s always an inspiration, is up tomorrow.
