1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Plaschke: Compare and contrast

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by poindexter, Aug 9, 2009.

  1. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    Bill Plaschke, writing about an old scout in today's LA Times:
    The old scout has a shuffling gait from years of chasing prospects, deep wrinkled skin cancer from doing it in the sun, declining vision from describing it all in tiny handwritten notes on crumpled paper.
    Even more compelling is what he doesn't have.
    No wife, no children, no air conditioning in his cluttered, ancient house on a hill near Dodger Stadium, and no more expense account from his bosses with the Seattle Mariners.
    During the middle of this week's national high school showcase Area Code Games at USC, the old scout excuses himself from his folding chair to return to his battered convertible parked on a nearby street.
    Unable to afford the campus lot, he has to feed the meter.
    In what might be his last summer of work, while chasing what might be the last player he signs, the old scout has a warning.
    "I'm beat up and broke down," Phil Pote says, laughing. "If you don't slow down, you will end up like me."

    http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-plaschke9-2009aug09,0,3506666.column

    Now, Bart Simpson, introducing a segment of "Bart's People", his saccharine news segment as part of Kidz Newz, episode 5F15 (2002):

    Joe Banks, eighty-two years young, has come to this pond every day for the past seventeen years, to feed the ducks. But last month, Joe made a discovery. The ducks...were gone. Some say the ducks went
    to Canada. Others say, Toronto. And some people think, that Joe used to sit down there, [camera moves to another nearby pond] near those ducks. But it could be, that there's just no room in this modern world, for an old man...and his ducks.


    and, from the same episode:

    Of forgotten veterans. Their guns are quiet now. Their helmets lost, or pawned. And yet here they are, making flags out of old clothes. Sure, they may not have the right number of stripes. And the colors are all wrong. And some purists will tell you the American flag doesn't contain the word "Jordache". But you know, if they run this up the flagpole, I'll salute. I'm Bart Simpson.


    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  2. king cranium maximus IV

    king cranium maximus IV Active Member

  3. That was one of my favorite episodes.

    I have some friends that love Plaschke. I find him cloying and sappy.
     
  4. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    It's a poignant column about someone who's done a lot of good in a game that he has given up everything for and been cast aside by. For some reason, old scouts seem to be a demimonde Plaschke goes to a lot, but I suspect the vitriol that will show up here will for the most part have nothing to do with the merits of this story.
     
  5. da man

    da man Well-Known Member

    Are you ripping this column? 'Cause I like it.
     
  6. poindexter

    poindexter Well-Known Member

    It has the trademark Plaschke kicker:
    Unlike virtually every other scout alive, he doesn't use a computer...

    Computers suck. Paul DePodesta used a computer.

    Plaschke uses a quill pen to write his columns.
     
  7. BYH

    BYH Active Member

    Next up: TJ Simers writes about how the old Union Pacific doesn't come by here much anymore.

    Then Jeff Kent emerges from his house and starts throwing cats at TJ.
     
  8. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    OK, other than your SABR head rearing, what's wrong with the column?
     
  9. Computers and scouting aren't mutually exclusive. Case closed.

    Absolutely no interest in reading another Plaschke screed on his pet false dichotomy.
     
  10. da man

    da man Well-Known Member

    Is that really a screed about the evils of computers in scouting? If it is, that link isn't working because that's not the same column I read.
     
  11. dooley_womack1

    dooley_womack1 Well-Known Member

    As I said, merits of this piece aren't being judged. I really don't think it's so much about what view of baseball is correct as it is a slice of life.
     
  12. RedSmithClone

    RedSmithClone Active Member

    I thought this was a great piece too. Not sure why there's so much hate.

    Is Plaschke a Republican?
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page