Author Archive

Dayn Perry’s Winners Is Not the Loser

At present, yours truly has become somewhat addicted to the foremost social cataloging site for books, Goodreads. As such, I have spent a chunk of time cataloging a fairly comprehensive list of books that I recall reading. When I sorted said list by “avg rating,” there was only one book I expected to find at the very bottom — Winners: How Good Baseball Teams Become Great Ones (And It’s Not The Way You Think), by NotGraphs’ very own Dayn Perry. When Carson introduces Dayn on their various podcasts, he often lists one of Dayn’s books as being “less than serviceable,” and this is the book to which he refers.

But, hark! There is one book that I have graced with my time and my eyeballs that is even less serviceable, according to the Goodreads community:

Winners

Henceforth, let it be known that Winners is not the loser, but merely a loser.


Seeing 42 with My Mother, Who’s from Brooklyn

If you’ve spent more than five minutes with my mother, you likely have been told that she’s from Brooklyn. She’s not shy about telling you, whether you are someone she meets at church, a friend of my sister or mine, or a complete stranger that had walked into the Subway wallpapered with New York subway maps that she used to own. So when 42 was first announced, I knew that I would want to see it with her. And see it with her I did.

42-poster
One of the very well-done posters for 42.

When Jackie Robinson broke into the majors, my mom — who recently turned 70 — was the tender age of 4, so she doesn’t remember his debut. Growing up, I never really asked my mom too much about Robinson. I knew who he was, and I knew that she knew who he was and that she appreciated what he meant to baseball and this country in general, but that was about as far as it went. The only thing that my mother always volunteered about the Dodgers was that her time as a sports fan abruptly ended when the team tucked tail and moved to Los Angeles.

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Important Poll: Rapper or Cistulli?

Welcome to the latest edition of the most important poll in the history of the universe. In case you missed our inaugural edition, you can find it here.

I ask you this, dear reader, and I ask you quite frankly — who is responsible for the following quote:

“Been on the honor roll, sculptures of my body out in Nagano, my shawty features like Madonna, Lo designer.”

Was it from heavyweight chef-turned-rapper Action Bronson, who gained acclaim in part for having a voice that bears an eerie resemblance to that of Ghostface Killah from the Wu-Tang Clan?

Bronson
Action Bronson, who shares Cistulli’s passion for white watches.

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Important Poll: Rapper or Cistulli?

I ask you this, dear reader, and I ask you quite frankly — who is responsible for the following quote:

“Heard you got the cops with you. That’s a goddamn shame, you talk on your album, I thought you’d have a block with you.”

Was it from Styles P, a member of the Yonkers, N.Y., based hip-hop triumvirate known as The Lox?

Styles P
Styles P, who shares Cistulli’s love of hats with single block letters.

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