Words of the Day 2025-07-04

“I was thrown into the deep end of live commentary, and it did not go well” [The Telegraph]. “[O]ver a two-hour period commentating at Ashton Gate [Stadium, Bristol], I can confirm it really is incredibly difficult. The timing is militaristic, the language is incomprehensible to the untrained ear (me), and the assault on the senses is ferocious. While commentating last Saturday, with the match unfolding in front of me, I had nine voices in my ears, through the same pair of headphones: the television director, the producer, the PA (production assistant), the referee, TNT’s actual pundits, my own voice, and the sounds of the crowd around the stadium. It was like listening to a nine-part vocal harmony, all out of sync and, crucially, not in harmony, while also trying to offer clean and crisp commentary of my own.” • I would imagine every shouting head is subjected to a similar cacophony.

“Why America Needs Cricket” [Hedgehog Review]. “You are facing the two-time Cy Young Award–winning Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell from a distance of twenty-two yards, armed only with a three-foot-long paddle and your own nerve. To enliven the proceedings, Snell interacts with you not from the traditional, essentially static position but after a twenty- or thirty-yard headlong sprint from the outfield to the pitcher’s mound, at the climax of which he hurls a cherry-red leather ball in the general direction of your ankles. In most cases, the ball will hit the turf, deviate sharply left or right, and rear up like a skipping rock somewhere toward your unprotected midriff. For good measure, Snell will periodically vary the routine by dropping the ball in shorter, with the result that it bounces off the grass and bears in on your head…. Other than avoiding serious injury, your primary job is to score runs—the currency of the game—by striking the ball to the field boundary, or far enough from the eleven fielders to allow you, the batter, to run to the other end of the twenty-two-yard infield before the ball can be returned…. After all the players required to bat on both sides have done so either once or twice, a ritual that can take from a few hours to as long as five days, the total number of runs accumulated determines the winner—unless time runs out first and the result is a draw. There, in a nutshell, is cricket…” • Second-most popular sport, globally, after soccer (football). Every so often I entrap myself in a YouTube vertical, and recently I’ve been watching a lot of Shane Warne clips:

“Sliding mitts are baseball’s ‘must-have,’ even if at youth levels, they’re all fashion, no function” [Associated Press]. “”It’s all about the drip,” [Pittsburge Pirates star Andrew] McCutchen said with a smile. Even if the ‘drip’ (Gen Z slang for stylish clothes and their accessories) emphasizes fashion over function, particularly when it comes to the gloves — which look a bit like oven mitts — that are becoming just as ubiquitous in the Little Leagues as they are in the major leagues. Former major leaguer Scott Podsednik (career stolen base total: 309) is credited with ‘inventing’ the sliding mitt during the late stages of his 11-year career. Tired of having his hand stepped on, Podsednik worked with a hand therapist for a solution. The initial mitts were relatively simple. A 2009 picture of Podsednik sliding into second base shows his left hand covered in what looks like a padded modified batting glove, all wrapped in black to match the trim on his Chicago White Sox uniform.” • Stealing bases is good, though! Meanwhile, phrase of the day: “the drip.” One tries to keep current.

“Golf Course Living Linked To Higher Parkinson’s Risk?” [Psychiatrist]. “At least half of would-be retirees want to spend their golden years on (or at least near) a golf course. But maybe that’s not such a good idea. A new population-based study argues that living near golf courses could dramatically drive up one’s risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. The culprit? Incidental exposure to pesticides lingering in the air and seeping into the water supply. More specifically, those living within a mile of a golf course had more than twice the odds of receiving a Parkinson’s diagnosis than those who lived more than six miles away. The risk remained higher for people living up to three miles away. Finally, the connection started to fade after three miles, suggesting a potential threshold effect. ‘Our results showed a clear dose-response relationship,’ the researchers wrote. ‘People living closer to golf courses were at significantly greater risk for Parkinson’s.’”

“Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning” [Mario Vittone]. “Parents – children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why.” • Now that the pools, after Memorial Day, have opened up…