Face it, Tiger… you just hit the jackpot! While this line is known as the first words Mary Jane Watson uttered to Peter (Spider-Man) Parker, they also seem apt for this blog post. For I now present to you two scintillating articles from the distant past of 2008 – articles that did not transfer to this blog along with the other articles from my previous blogs. As has been done twice before, I am adding missing articles to this blog in order to have as complete a repository of my blog posts as possible.

The first article features a story about a minor league baseball team from Macon, Georgia. Where the independent South Coast League Macon Music baseball team plays. Or, at least, I think they do – hard to say for sure, as their web site doesn’t seem to be working at the moment.

Anyway, on June 13th, 2008, the Macon Music hosted the below described event, harkening back to the days of the classic and brilliant PR/Baseball man Bill Veeck. This article seemed like a good one to re-present, as Mr. Spitzer is now apparently throwing his hat into the political ring once again.

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Anyone Wanna Go To Macon on June 13th?

May 13, 2008

You might see former New York governor Eliot Spitzer at a minor league game (classic – the Macon Music – someone’s got a great sense of humor) that night. They’re having “Eliot Spitzer Night” and all are invited. The South Coast League team in their second season will play that game at Luther Williams Field near downtown Macon.

If your name is Eliot, Spitzer or Kristen you’ll get a buck off your admission. Same deal for fans from the Big Apple and “fans who have ever resigned any position.”

I once “resigned” from being an assistant coach for my son’s baseball league. I think that qualifies me for the discount.

Attendees could also win a trip to New York and a one-night stay at the Mayflower Hotel. Other fan friendly gimmies include the ninth fan getting a prize and the 871st fan getting a gift certificate from the team store.

Sounds like a deal to me. Shotgun!

Source: A twisted mind (mine, natch) and this article.

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Please note: At the time of writing, the links in the above article were actually working. I have fixed most of them, but the last one was not recoverable. I swear, this is a true story!

And now, presented with some minor edits (namely to add some pertinent links), here is the second, promised article. I noticed that I was much more brief in my early days of blogging. I often try for shorter articles, and then it just balloons and takes on a life of its own.

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Report: Duncan Not In Control Of His Actions; Has Voldemort Returned?

March 15, 2008

A report has surfaced that New York Yankee Shelley Duncan (no, not Sandy Duncan) was not in control of his actions when he slid spikes high into Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Akinori Iwamura and incited a spring training fracas.

Reporter Cho Chang of the Daily Prophet has reported on her blog that Duncan was under an Imperius Curse, but she did not specify as to who was controlling him at the time of the incident.

Yankee officials declined to comment specifically, saying only that “that Imperius Curse doesn’t exist. It’s a creation of the Ministry to scare children at bedtime.”

The Ministry of Magic has remained mum, issuing a short statement indicating that a full investigation is ongoing and that they have already questioned a number of suspects.

One fan who attended the game said “The muggles present mistook the Dark Mark for a fireworks display. Mark my words, the Dark Lord will return.”

More than a few bloggers referred to this quote and have speculated that Yankee manager Joe Girardi is also under the curse. The speculation is rampant that Hank Steinbrenner is the one who cast the spell. Or spells.

Steinbrenner dismissed these rumors as “poppycock” and stated “I have but one goal – to restore order. And I’ll use whatever charms and magic tricks I have in my arsenal to return the Yankees to greatness. This Imperius stuff is pure nonsense.”
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As I recall at the time, not too many people recognized the satiric nature of this blog post. Perhaps few will recognize (or, more likely, appreciate or care about) this now. But, I am at least certain that more people will be familiar with Harry Potter now than in March 2008.

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