Nobody wants to bro it down with Nick Swisher

It hurts. Sometimes I’m a sensitive guy. Some of the things people say, they get under your skin a little bit but hey, I’ve been lucky to be here for the last four years, and we’re not going to go out like this. I’m one of those guys that you give me a hug and I’ll run through a brick wall for you. Right now it seems like there’s a lot of … I’m trying to find a way to word this the right way, it’s tough. It’s really tough. Because you want to go out there and you want to play for your city, you want to play for your team. Just right now, it’s just really tough.

Nick Swisher.

Oof, poor Nick Swisher. Can someone just pull this guy in for a hearty bro-hug to lift his spirits a bit? Maybe a Red Bull and vodka?

Seriously, though, it does suck that baseball players are expected to speak to the media after every game, but heaven forbid they open up and share their feelings when they’re emotional instead of filling the paper with platitudes, they get crushed by fans and media alike for being spoiled babies or unclutch or not True Yankees or whatever.

Look at the comments on that article. Not a single Yankee fan defends Swisher, who has spent the last four years of his career playing at least 148 games a season and posting a 120 OPS+ for the Bombers. I get that he’s well-compensated for it and that boos come with the territory. But so does he, apparently, and that doesn’t mean they don’t sting when they ring down from the rafters.

Jets seek maximum heartbreak, reel us back in

I don’t have to explain why the Jets’ passing game looks a hell of a lot more efficient on the same day they run for 252 yards, right? The Jets’ offensive line looked as good as they have all season, manhandling a Colts front featuring a hobbled Dwight Freeney and missing Robert Mathis.

Gang Green’s defense looked great, too. Antonio Cromartie’s interception and a few key stops early helped the offense put up 21 points in the second quarter, and the Colts couldn’t do much once they had to force it. Kudos the to the Revis-less Jets secondary for keeping up with the Indianapolis receivers, penalties notwithstanding.

A good game for Shonn Greene to quiet his doubters (this one included), though I suspect he’s hardly the only NFL running back who would put up huge numbers running through the holes he had. Someone buy Nick Mangold a steak dinner.

Spoken like a former center, I know.

Travis Snider live-tweets a sandwich adventure

Beyond having made arguably the best catch in Citi Field’s short history, Pirates outfielder Travis Snider frequently tweets his meals under the awesome handle @lunchboxhero45.

I’m not sure how I missed this, but Snider recently live-tweeted a trip to Primanti Brothers, the Pittsburgh-area sandwich establishment famous for piling french fries and cole slaw on their sandwiches. NotGraphs has the full story.

Aside from how much I appreciate Major League Baseball players sharing their awesome sandwich adventures with fans, Snider’s experience gives us all something to strive for. He presents his trip to the Pittsburgh landmark, if a bit tongue-in-cheekily, as a means of thanking Pirates fans for their support in his first season with the club. And it sort of rings true: What better way to show a city your gratitude than by dining with its people at one of its most popular local haunts?

There are probably a bunch of better ways, but still, what a life goal: To someday be so famous and appreciated that eating a sandwich someplace represents a legitimate gesture of acknowledgement for all that city gave you. “You’ve been a fine host, New Orleans, so I will eat this po’ boy in appreciation.”

Friday Q&A, pt. 2: The randos

https://twitter.com/LisaAnnNg/status/256756661333671936

I would be a man in a solid gold suit with diamond buttons. I’m allowed to keep this stuff, right?

Since that doesn’t seem in the spirit of the question, I think I’d want to go with something incredibly elaborate and not really all that funny outside of the context of showing up to some Halloween party. Like what if you were at some friend’s Halloween party, and there’s one guy dressed as Zach Galifianakis in The Hangover, one guy with a fake goatee saying he’s his own evil twin, a couple dressed as Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez, and a girl dressed as a sexy chicken or whatever, and then there’s just one dude in a full-blown, cinema-quality Predator costume?

And you might think it’d funniest if you stayed in character as the Predator the whole night, and maybe camouflage yourself against the keg and shoot the Bieber guy’s arm off. But I think the best way to play it would actually be to act like nothing’s up, not really explain why you have such an extensive Predator costume and behave like any old bro at the Halloween party. I’m envisioning a Predator playing flip-cup.

https://twitter.com/Devon2012/status/256754907749703680

Well, the best season entirely depends on your station in life. As long as you’re still going to school, summer is by far the best season because it’s the one in which they don’t make you go to school. Once you’re not in school, summer’s really only good because of baseball and practically everything else about it kind of sucks. There’s a bunch of stuff to do, but it’s usually too hot to want to do anything. And you still feel obligated to do the stuff because that mindset of summer-is-when-you-do-fun-stuff has been programmed into you since childhood, so even if you want to just sit at home and watch baseball in the air conditioning, you look out the window and you say, “oh, sunny summer day,” and feel like a schmo for not doing anything. Then you go outside and you’re already so sweaty that it’s embarrassing to be outside. Oh, and the air conditioning’s really expensive.

The winter is also better when you’re a kid than when you’re an adult. When it snows and you’re a kid, sometimes they don’t make you go to school. And you were planning on going to school that day, so when you find out you’re off it’s a bonus-time scenario*. (And I actually liked going to school, for what it’s worth.) When you’re an adult and it snows, you’ve got to deal with it, and that’s a huge pain in the ass. Alternately, you could opt to live in a city and not deal with it, but that means negotiating disgusting city slush for several days.

Fall is cool because it has this time when football and baseball overlap. But since fall technically includes early December and early December can sometimes suck most of all, I’m going with spring on this one. There’s the promise of baseball, then baseball, and it’s before baseball has destroyed you for the year. The weather’s bearable and you’re psyched to be outside because you’ve just been all holed up for the winter. And there’s, you know, flowers and stuff. It’s poetic.

*- “Bonus time” was a concept frequently discussed among my roommates in college when we were justifying our laziness. Essentially, if you’ve got something scheduled (class, most likely) and that thing is canceled, you are not obligated to do anything productive in the time that thing was supposed to occupy even if you are busy. It’s bonus time. You didn’t expect to have this time in the first place, so why not watch Ghostbusters again?

Unfortunately, bonus time doesn’t really work out so well in real life when there’s never an end of the semester pending.

https://twitter.com/metschick/status/256754560243220480

It’s the pork bomb, almost by default. While I eat a lot of sandwiches in the pursuit of sandwiches worthy of review, this has been a pretty busy week of watching playoff baseball that kept me mostly eating at home. And my typical workday lunch is a combination of two Boar’s Head deli meats and a cheese on whole-wheat bread, which gets the job done but is hardly notable. Often the selection is dictated by what’s on sale at Fairway. This week I had Ovengold Turkey, Chipotle Chicken and Vermont Cheddar. This is all fascinating stuff, I know.

I would like to take this opportunity, though, to note that my rather pedestrian-sounding lunchpail sandwiches have been improved lately by the continued inclusion of Silver Spring mustards. The most recent addition to my mustard arsenal is their Peppadew Mustard, a sweet and spicy condiment based on a trademarked South African variety of pepper that was only discovered in 1993. I haven’t had the peppadew on its own, but its mustard offspring is delicious.

Also, I had a very good chicken tikka wrap at a contemporary Indian takeout place on 28th and Lexington — “Curry Hill,” as it’s cleverly known. If you count that as a sandwich, it was probably that.

Things I ate this week!

https://twitter.com/tomthirtysix/status/256754949642412032

Wait, Freeport, N.Y.? Where!? I’m really letting the Long Island South Shore Taco Bell scene slip away from me. Sad.

But yeah, there are Taco Bells in strip malls — there’s one in Queens I’ve wound up at a couple of times after I got lost trying to avoid traffic. They’re not as good as Taco Bells with drive-thrus, obviously, because who wants to stand up?

Friday Q&A, pt. 1: Baseball stuff

https://twitter.com/jenconnic/status/256755203183874048

I have some terrible news for you, Jen: The world’s going to end regardless of whether the Mets sign Dickey and Wright. Scientists believe that in about five billion years, our sun will explode into a red giant roughly 250 times its current radius. Briefly, experts thought there was hope that Earth’s orbit would widen enough during the transition to avoid a fiery death, but the current thinking says that a “tidal bulge” caused by the Earth’s own gravitational pull will drag it into the swelling star. Sorry, I know that’s a bummer but the upside is we’ll all be long dead by then.

https://twitter.com/arrabin56/status/256755516552933376

Hmm. Are we considering contract statuses? I’d probably work like hell to extend David Wright’s deal and then protect him if I could. After Wright, it’d be Ruben Tejada, Ike Davis, Jon Niese and Matt Harvey. If I couldn’t get something completed with Wright in time for the draft, I guess I’d cross my fingers and hope an expansion team wouldn’t want to draft a player only under its control for one more season and add Zack Wheeler to the list.

https://twitter.com/Ceetar/status/256756581692211201

Oh man, how great are condiments? I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this before, but I had some stomach issues when I was living at home after college and my mom’s friend recommended some new-age feel-good book about how to deal with them. But it turned out the whole book was just this lady lecturing me with her opinions about why everything delicious is bad without providing evidence. And, look: I know Taco Bell is not optimal if you’re having stomach issues, so spare me that. But that’s hardly something you need a book to figure out.

Anyway, I put the book down for good when she started a chapter with, “Americans use too many condiments.” What does that even mean? Do Asians not use too much hoisin and soy sauce and sriracha? Do Europeans not slather their french fries in mayo? Americans use just enough condiments, lady, and if that’s barbecue sauce eating away the lining of my stomach then so be it.

Oh, to answer your question: It’s Sriracha. They already have Cholula, I know, and anyone familiar with the old background photo on TedQuarters knows I go through a lot of Cholula. But I’m hardly a one hot-sauce man, and the prospect of a giant tub of Sriracha with a tap attached has me salivating here in the office. (Note: Cholula is an SNY sponsor, but the Cholula bottles on my desk long pre-dated the sponsorship.)

https://twitter.com/OddMetsJerk/status/256757968060694529

I have no idea, but I wasn’t looking a gift horse in the mouth or trying to figure out what exactly a gift horse is and why it has its mouth open. I scooped up a few and I’m heading out there with some Orioles-fan friends this afternoon. People: Did you even watch last night’s game? A 1-1 tie through 12 innings in a playoff game? That’s awesome baseball no matter what team you favor. If you have the means and can slip out of work early, I don’t really understand why you wouldn’t head to the stadium tonight. Get on it, though; tickets are already up to $25.

Also, I’ve found it can be great fun to go to a Yankee game and carry on like the worst type of Yankee fan. Boo A-Rod and go absolutely crazy every time Derek Jeter does anything. If you’re subtle enough, no one will even know you’re doing it ironically.

The longer the NHL lockout lasts, the more beautiful, unidentifiable animals die by crossbow

I know I don’t talk hockey here much, and as a dedicated carnivore I’m certainly in no position to open up any ethical debate over hunting. But I did find this Tweet from Canucks winger David Booth a bit upsetting, because he spent time he would presumably be playing hockey killing some massive, amazing looking animal that I honestly cannot identify. And I watch a fair share of Animal Planet. Is that a mountain goat?

Via Adam Rotter.

Brian Wilson’s beard now too large to be captured in still photographs

Spotted this on the AP wire today. The photo ends, but the beard keeps going. At some point you have figure that would become unwieldy, no? How do you eat without accidentally dipping that thing in barbecue sauce? How long does it take to dry after you shower?

Wilson has been accused here and elsewhere of being something of an attention whore. But I’ll say this much for him: He’s dedicated.