Reason Number Eleventy-Something...

...why I'm not a famous writer/blogger. It's because even when I'm on to something neat, I fail to get the flash of inspiration necessary to take it to the next level. Unlike, say, Joe Posnanski, who upon discovering I Write Like, submitted some of his own prose*, but didn't just stop there.

* He got David Foster Wallace, too. One can make the case therefore that I write like Posnanski, which actually makes me feel a little better.

He also submitted some passages from other authors, as I had, with similar results. Then he had his eureka moment:

In any case, I thought it might be fun to take the dozen or so most famous quotes in American sports, plug them into "I Write Like" and see what comes out.

So, he started submitting famous quotes from sports figures, just to see who would pop up. There are some truly funny comparisons, such as this:

The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided.
– Casey Stengel

For being one of the most quotable men in the history of American sports, Stengel doesn’t really have many pithy quotes … few that would serve well as, say, titles of books. Maybe "Most games are lost, not won," would work as a book title. But Stengel was more of a storyteller … his lines take a little bit of a setup.

This is a good example of a Stengel quote: "Being with a woman all night never hurt no professional baseball player. It’s staying up all night looking for a woman that does him in."

Great quote. But it takes a little setup.

I think his quote about a manager’s job is probably as true as anything ever said about being in charge of people. It is just as true in and out of sports.

I Write Like: Oscar Wilde

It occurs to me that Wilde and Stengel would make one hell of a conversational tag team. The matchup of Ted Williams and Ernest Hemmingway seems apt, too. On the other hand, I'd guess that Satchel Paige has probably started looking behind him to make sure his authorial counterpart can't catch him. Read the whole thing to find out why. Some of the comments are hilarious, too.

I Write Like … Who?

Three Rides

The heat has let up some, but the humidity is still hanging in there, alas. It's been raining most of the day, so I spent the evening indoors rather than pushing the mower or riding a bike. Still, I rode plenty this week, managing to get in rides Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

( Chain reaction... )

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( Lightning... )

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( Attack of the killer dragonfly... )

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The rides brought me to 225 miles for July, just 37 miles short of my all-time best for the month with eight more days to go. I could do that this weekend if the weather cooperates.