Favoriting Therese: Playlist from January 26, 2016 Favoriting

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Tangents, parenthetical asides, and digressions.

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Favoriting January 26, 2016: In which I try answer the Big Question, "Sports. Why?" (Fill-in for Sportsy Talk)

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Artist Track Album Label Approx. start time
Yo La Tengo  Meet the Mets   Favoriting Yo La Tengo Is Murdering the Classics  Egon  0:00:00 (Pop-up)
Walt Whitman (Quoted)  Walt Whitman on Baseball   Favoriting Baseball: A Film by Ken Burns OST  Elektra  0:01:51 (Pop-up)
 
Belle & Sebastian  The Stars of Track and Field   Favoriting If You're Feeling Sinister  Matador  0:05:45 (Pop-up)
Therese takes Calls  About Sports   Favoriting      


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Listener comments!

Avatar 6:03pm
Matt from Springfield:

YLT "Meet the Mets"! Had a bit of a Beach Boys vibe to it, if that's possible!

Hi Therese! Look forward to your Sportsy Talk! Sportsy Rainbow!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:03pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

So. Therese. Do you think the Patriots should've gone for a field goal with three minutes left in the Broncos game Sunday?
Avatar 6:04pm
slocker:

Where do I find a skipping tutor?
Avatar 6:04pm
Cheyenne:

oh hey Therese!
Avatar 6:04pm
Carmichael:

I guess ol' Tom is not so terrific. BWAAHH HAAA!
Avatar 6:05pm
Matt from Springfield:

Schadenfreude schared, Carm! :)
Avatar 6:05pm
Jeff:

I'm not, not really,
Avatar 6:05pm
Studio B Ben:

You aren't missing anything, Therese, that you don't get from reading a good book about an underdog winning the day.
Avatar 6:05pm
Cheyenne:

you get to sweat a lot and possibly hurt yourself! sports sure are cool!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:05pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

"The least trusted name in sportsy talk radio"?
  6:06pm
Cliff:

So.....why did Bronwyn and Jim pick you to fill in for them?
Avatar 6:06pm
Matt from Springfield:

I am an inside kid, uncoordinated mess as well!
But I *excelled* in the past two days at Snow Shoveling! I excavated cars, reconnected sidewalks, and for the finish I added trails to the community mailbox, since delivery resumed today!
Avatar 6:06pm
Cheyenne:

This is an excellent song about sports tho.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:06pm
Revolution Rabbit Nov63:

Therese - I *hate* Sport. *Hate* it. But I think what people like about it is *exactly* that it's meaningless (after all, I dig Godzilla, funnybooks & Rock'n'Roll)...
Avatar 6:07pm
Jeff:

Was one of those songs from that movie about Englishmen running outside in their underthings?
Avatar 6:07pm
Studio B Ben:

We could talk about Undertale. A skeleton wears basketballs in it. That's Sportsy.
Avatar 6:08pm
Cheyenne:

I used to do a zine called "OllyOllyOxenFree" that was about games, but not sports. I like games more than sports.
  6:08pm
Snake Plisken from DC:

I suppose the most dangerous game is a sport.
Avatar 6:08pm
Matt from Springfield:

@RRN63: I'm *kinda* interested in hearing about some sports, much less so others. But I can appreciate those who are, because after all: Every Sport Tells A Story, in some way or another. That's where some people get their jollies.
Avatar 6:08pm
Carmichael:

Did Bobby Fischer qualify as an "athlete"?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:08pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

I wonder if Abe Vigoda (RIP) participated in sports as a lad.
Avatar 6:09pm
Cheyenne:

MATHLETES COUNT! (....get it??? ....nevermind)
  6:09pm
Snake Plisken from DC:

Ritter Sport?
  6:09pm
Cliff:

Yeah, jeez, I can't believe Abe Vigoda really is dead this time.
Avatar 6:10pm
Matt from Springfield:

@Carm: That gets into the "game vs. sport" question. Chess is a game, equestrian-ship involves exercise, but is more of a game (gaining points). Now *racing* (track/NASCAR/horses/etc), is that a game, or a sport?? Now I'm more confused than when I started...

@Cheyenne: AUGGH!!!! ;)
Avatar 6:13pm
Matt from Springfield:

Danne, where are ya??! :)
  6:13pm
Cliff:

Cheyenne: I was a mathlete! And I was on the Lego Team too!
Avatar 6:14pm
steve:

after 2-3 years without touching them i recently put both of my skateboards out on the curb. kinda sad i guess?
Avatar 6:14pm
Matt from Springfield:

I was a mathlete also! And, a "theater athlete"! (Since we called improv comedy "theater sports" ;)
Avatar 6:14pm
BadGuyZero:

Hiya!
Avatar 6:15pm
Matt from Springfield:

BGZ!
Avatar 6:15pm
steve:

we had "Math Olympiad"
Avatar 6:15pm
BadGuyZero:

Are you a mathlete?
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:16pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Our school district had annual "Math Track Meets" when I was in high school.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:16pm
Mike East:

I played fantasy football one or two years...I was trying to convince myself that I liked sports. Turns out, I don't. I much prefer watching PBS cooking shows on Sunday afternoon and listening to Jonesy. But to each his/her own. Gotta be yourself, man. Sometimes its not always clear who that is and it takes some time to figure it out.
Avatar 6:16pm
Carmichael:

I love sports AND rock-n-roll. Bicycling and distance running, specifically.

Alice Cooper started his first band in high school while he was on the track team, a bunch of 2-milers rocking out at night!
Avatar 6:16pm
Matt from Springfield:

Academic decathlete! :)

@Ken HP: May I ask, what the "track" was??
  6:18pm
blahblahSports:

Already this is better than the regular sportsy talk. Normally I have to shut it off.
  6:18pm
Cliff:

I used to like watching the Olympics when ABC broadcast them. But then NBC took it over and made it all jingoistic.
  6:18pm
@djelrock:

Simply put, in order to enjoy sports you need to be able to suspend reality for however long the game is and only the drama that's being fed to you matters. Just like a movie.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:19pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

M_f_S - It was in name only. We'd take four or five written math exams (metric system, geography, algebra, etc.) and at the end they'd hand out awards to the top schools and individuals.
Avatar 6:20pm
Matt from Springfield:

@Cliff: Is Bob Costas a factor in that?

@djelrock: That's a good way of putting it.
Avatar 6:20pm
Matt from Springfield:

@Ken HP: Pshaw, they were just trying to be clever! :)
  6:21pm
Kevin:

ever think you'd be praying for a Larry d. perv call?
Avatar 6:21pm
Carmichael:

But with NBC we get to hear and see Bob Costas in his mock turtleneck, waxing philosophically about the Herculean struggles of our legendary athletes. <sarcasm mode off>
Avatar 6:21pm
Matt from Springfield:

I think this caller is a self-aware robot, trying to cut into a conversation it already programmed.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:23pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

In 10th grade or so, they had us run a 100-yard dash. When my turn came, I sprinted down the track and came to a stop right on the finish line. I didn't know that you were to run full speed past the line. I received much ridicule for that.
Avatar 6:24pm
Matt from Springfield:

Another Super Bowl of Old Hands (Broncos & Peyton) vs. New Blood (Panthers & Cam Newton). That's a narrative you can use.
  6:24pm
Cliff:

Bob Costas wasn't so bad, but it was just the NBC coverage in general was always focused on the American atheletes and would only focus on the events where the Americans were likely to win. ABC had more of an international focus to their reporting.
Avatar 6:25pm
Jeff:

Mathematics.
Avatar 6:26pm
Matt from Springfield:

The British are better at it - they have mathematicS (maths), while we only have mathematiC!
Avatar 6:26pm
steve:

i feel like my brain is wired in a way that makes me want to see one team or competitor win if i watch a sporting event for more than a few minutes. no matter what it is. its hard wired... its illogical and i can't explain it.
Avatar 6:27pm
Carmichael:

These callers sound suspiciously like the SUW demographic.
Avatar 6:28pm
Matt from Springfield:

@steve: I don't care for NASCAR (my uncle and late grandfather were hugely into it), but if I went to a race with them (like Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas VA, like a "minor league" stock car track), I'd pick one car at the beginning and root for it during the race. Even if I didn't know anything about the driver, I'd find it fun to watch his progress.
  6:29pm
froyo:

@Carmichael blizzard threw off people's schedules
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:29pm
Greg from ZONE 5:

Therese! Whaaaaa?!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:30pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Does WFMU have staff softball games anymore? There are pictures of games from many years ago.
Avatar 6:30pm
Matt from Springfield:

@froyo: Heh, after the long, isolated weekend, they're finally ready to continue Friday evening :)
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:31pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

@Greg - The entire Sportsytalk staff is on assignment this week.
Avatar 6:31pm
Carmichael:

Jim probably got someone pregnant again ...
Avatar 6:31pm
Matt from Springfield:

Even Westchester should be "upstate", to a hardcore NYC resident.
Avatar 6:31pm
BadGuyZero:

Is there such a thing as a geothlete?
Avatar 6:32pm
Jeff:

I really liked Bob Costas as an interviewer when he had his "Later" show from '88 to '94... then he left to go back to the the sports-industrial complex.

I thought it was a terrible shame that someone with any sort of talent or personal charm was wasting himself on all that endless content-free sports chatter.
Avatar 6:33pm
Matt from Springfield:

@BGZ: We had Geography "Bees", like Spelling Bees.
So..."Geogra-Bees", maybe???
Avatar 6:34pm
Matt from Springfield:

YES Jeff! Let's talk about the dangers of the "sports-industrial complex"! Bring a political talk edge to this Sportsy talk!
  6:34pm
Cliff:

This is kind of like meta-sportsy-talk. :)
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:35pm
Mike East:

my daughter has a GeoBee coming up in a few weeks.
Avatar 6:35pm
steve:

why isnt competitive long distance walking a sport? that's something i could get behind.
Avatar 6:35pm
Matt from Springfield:

Good point, a lot of people want someone to be "The Best" in something - that explains sports championships, Olympics, award shows, etc. That explains a lot, actually. Thanks caller!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:35pm
Mike East:

when she first told me about it, I said, "What the heck is a Gob?"
Avatar 6:36pm
Matt from Springfield:

@steve: It IS an Olympic sport!! 20, 50 km speed walking events. But, I don't think those will ever be broadcast on TV, if that's what you're wondering.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:37pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

I once enjoyed watching golf on TV. Ken Venturi covering the 17th hole, for example. Then they changed the format to follow the leader's foursome for the entire round. I totally lost interest in the sport when they started doing that.
Avatar 6:37pm
steve:

wow i had no idea Matt!
Avatar 6:38pm
glenn:

i don't have a ridge. a bit of a receding hairline, maybe.
Avatar 6:38pm
Matt from Springfield:

@Mike: Awesome! I don't know if they'll include physical geog questions at this point (like what is an "archipelago"?) but that was a frequent weakness for me as opposed to political geog (countries and states).

G-O-B, beats the "G-O-P" any day! :D
Avatar 6:39pm
Matt from Springfield:

@steve: Check out 2016 Rio, maybe some highlights of walking and cross-country running will be available online.
Avatar 6:41pm
Carmichael:

I just read that Abe Vigoda was a gifted handball player in his youth.
Avatar 6:41pm
Carmichael:

This guy's never gonna shut up ...
Avatar 6:42pm
BadGuyZero:

I'm baffled trying to figure out what this caller is talking about.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:42pm
dale:

love his dissertation. but he can stop it now.
Avatar 6:42pm
glenn:

feminists and baseball. check out baseball life advice by stacy may fowles.
Avatar 6:42pm
Matt from Springfield:

Very interesting backstory to the song!
"You can't afford a ticket / Back from Baseball-gette City!"
Avatar 6:42pm
BadGuyZero:

Yay lady caller!
Avatar 6:42pm
Matt from Springfield:

Wow, now "Teenaged" Zoe!
Avatar 6:42pm
Kurt Gottschalk:

hi zoe!
Avatar 6:46pm
Jeff:

I'm right with you, Therese! I'd love to cut all those ESPNs out of my cable service and the bill!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:47pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Always Sunny in Philadelphia had an episode with the gang downhill skiing last night.
  6:49pm
Listener Robert:

Matt, "game" and "sport" are partly overlapping sets. There are games that are sports, sports that are not games, there are sports that are also games. Among games there are those that are competitive & those that are not competitive.

We had a discussion at the Junto back in the 20th C. about how to define "game". It's pretty hard. The only thing I insist on is that a game have boundaries in space & time. If an activity encompasses all time and/or space, it's not a game. So, for instance, one's life is not a game.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:50pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Sport of the future: competitive aging. Pharmaceutical and genetic manipulation companies vie to get behind the longest-living humans.
  6:50pm
Listener Robert:

Heck, Geo. Blanda was a heck of a QB at 39 YO, and was even competent at 49.
Avatar 6:51pm
Matt from Springfield:

@Robert: Thanks for those comments on the philosophy of "games".
  6:52pm
Listener Robert:

Besides space-time boundaries (also boundaries w.r.t. person), games (competitive or not) have to have a significant of artificiality & arbitrariness.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:53pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Scripted = Rigged ?
Avatar 6:54pm
Matt from Springfield:

Blacksburg! (We just talked of that last night... :)
The Carter homestead is all the way down in Scott Co, near Bristol and TN).
  6:54pm
Listener Robert:

Remember when the Mafia fixed a performance of Swan Lake? According to Woody Allen, at least.
Avatar 6:54pm
Kurt Gottschalk:

VANGELIS!
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:54pm
Mike East:

I don't mind folks who are real into sports, but it bothers me when they make the assumption that I care about it...like when they ask if I saw the Yankees game last night, and I say no, then they'll say, Oh, you're a Mets fan, then?"
The subtext being: "cuz the only other option is that you don't have a pair of testicles..."
Avatar 6:56pm
glenn:

and we know you have two kids, mike, so....
Avatar 6:57pm
glenn:

fuck the super bowl. spring training opens in 3 weeks.
Avatar 6:57pm
Pete from Boston (and NJ):

Watching sports is watching a story. Often it's a dull story, but that's like enjoying a bad movie. At its best, it's a really suspenseful story.

Once you decode how to follow the story, you are following it with other people who are as much a part of it as you.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 6:58pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

I just remembered: Yo La Tengo came into that name from a sports-related story. One of the outfielders didn't speak English, so the player in position to catch the ball would yell out "Yo La Tengo!" Well, something like that.
Avatar 6:59pm
Pete from Boston (and NJ):

It's good to have someone who gets your level of interest and walks you through it, so you get it and are then in the story, too.
Avatar 6:59pm
glenn:

also, sports is the only thing you can watch on a television, and not require sound. invaluable in a bar.
Avatar 6:59pm
Matt from Springfield:

@Pete: Yep, "Every Sport Tells A Story".
Avatar 6:59pm
BadGuyZero:

Nicely played, Therese!
Avatar 6:59pm
Matt from Springfield:

ALL RIGHT!! Thanks Therese for filling-in, you did a great service to the not-so-sportsy inclined!

Have a good evening, everyone!
Avatar 7:00pm
Pete from Boston (and NJ):

It was fun to clean the basement to.
Avatar Swag For Life Member 7:02pm
Ken From Hyde Park:

Nice work, Therese. Have a good week.
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