Feldman's Faves: August 3, 2021

Good Morning BL5 – I hope everyone enjoyed the long weekend.

Since we haven’t been “together” for a few weeks, I want to take a moment to congratulate Melanie on her wedding to John (the pictures are beautiful), Emily and Noam on the birth of their adorable son Riley, and Mark and Sari on the marriage of their daughter Abby – only four more weddings to go for the Spiros…..Wishing everyone only the best and many more happy occasions and celebrations.

With baseball back home (finally) and the Olympics in full throttle I am focusing on summer sports this week.

K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches By: Tyler Kepner - A few years ago at the All Star Game Jacob Degrom threw nine pitches in one inning and struck out the side. It was one of the most spectacular innings of pitching I had ever seen – in fact it was simply one of the greatest moments in sports I had ever seen – it was magic. I think about that inning all the time and when I saw that there was a book written about pitching I knew I had to read it – and I am happy I did. As Kepner suggests, I read the book with a baseball in my hand. As a former pitcher myself (without even one good pitch in my repertoire) it was really interesting to read about how each pitch from a fastball, to a splitter to a curve to a screwball (thank you Fernando Valenzuela) and of course the cutter (Mariano the Great) became prominent in the game of baseball and the personalities of the people that threw them. Great stories about Bob Gibson (throwing at batters), Roger Clemmons (Mr. Splitter), Phil Nekro (the Knuckle King) and many more are described in fascinating detail. My favourite chapter was about the history of the spitball….These guys were all masters and the storytelling here masterful as well. Here is a good review from the NYT - https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/21/books/review/baseball-history-in-10-pitches-tyler-kepner.html

Throughline - Olympics: Behind The Five Rings - I love watching the Olympics and I am very happy they are happening, but why on earth would any city want to host these games? I just don’t get it. Other than the IOC and NBC who make huge money I don’t see the logic for any city making it work. The legacy of the 1976 Olympics in Montreal is DEBT. In the “modern era” (.e., in 1992), only Barcelona (and maybe Vancouver….) seems to have made it work from a financial and post-games perspective. Athens was a disaster as was Rio and I have to imagine that Tokyo and its people are not going to win here. But in any case, I’m glad they are happening and I am glad they are NOT happening in Toronto. Here is a summary from the PODCAST itself: “The Olympics originated in Ancient Greece, and were resurrected in the 1890's after a 1,500 year ban. Since then, the International Olympic Committee has been behind every Olympic Games. In this episode, we explore the story of how the IOC turned the Olympics into a huge commercial success and whether the cities that host the games end up winning or losing”: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/throughline/id1451109634?i=1000529656086

Thank you for your ongoing engagement and participation.

And remember to stay safe, stay healthy and to docket daily.

Jon