The solemn reality
Tara:
Did you realize the 2012 Red Sox OBP is only .330?
Susan/Circle:
Nobody's down with OBP anymore... it's like so 2004.
Tara:
Sigh. Remembah the days of watching Bill Mueller wear down pitchers with a relentless attack of patience?
Susan/Circle:
From the friggin nine hole no less!
Tara:
Sigh.
Susan/Circle:
Why do I get the feeling that the first paht of my life will be defined by waiting and hoping for a World Series victory while the second paht of my life will be awash in the nostalgia of trying to hang on to the evah fading memory of that achievement?
Tara:
Et in Arcadia ego.
Isn't this sort of the natural result of Moneyball? The 04 Red Sox focused on OBP because those guys could be had cheaper. Once everybody caught on the price for a high OBP went up, so the Moneyball disciples have to find a new undervalued way to win. I think the issue is that they have not found that next market anomaly.
Posted by: COD | 2012.05.25 at 09:19 AM
Et in Lyricus Bandboxum ego?
Posted by: Bob | 2012.05.25 at 09:19 AM
Anyone want to buy one slightly used video game company?(employees not included)
Posted by: Harwich Rich | 2012.05.25 at 09:31 AM
De jure, de facto, de fideli, dum spiro spero.
(very loosely translated)
By law, and the way things are, I am failthful and while I have breath, I hope.
And while the above is hyperbolic, I wouldn't mind another WS win. I would love to share something like that with the hubby.
Posted by: pseudosanity78 | 2012.05.25 at 09:32 AM
Favorite word from yesterday's Harvard Commencement Latin oration: "Linsanitatum." Look it up, bitches.
Posted by: ParkerStPete | 2012.05.25 at 09:37 AM
Magna Carta. Master Charga. Summa cum laude. Magna cum laude. The radio's too loudy
Posted by: soxinsix | 2012.05.25 at 09:45 AM
Question for h.b.- I was wondering, just to satisfy my own curiousity, do you ever write something that you particularly like or find humorous and then come back and read the comments later in the day and found that we Creepies have sort of hitched out wagons to something completely different, that maybe you didn't even see in the process of writing/creating?
This seems to be a pretty diverse group and some of us are sometimes like kids with ADD cracked out on too many SweeTarts - but do you ever find yourself chuckling at some of the things your readers come out with; are there times you say to yourself 'I wish they would have picked up on such and such?'
Posted by: pseudosanity78 | 2012.05.25 at 10:01 AM
pseudo- just a guess, but I'd say the chances of that are higher than the Sox' OBP at the moment. But hey- that's what makes us creeps so damned entertaining and a must read
Posted by: buckner was framed | 2012.05.25 at 10:09 AM
Pseudo,
That happens all the time. It's part of the fun.
Also as I've mentioned before, sometimes I'll write something I think is fantastic and, based on the comments, it'll fall flat. Other times I'll write something I absolute hate and I'm embarrassed by and lo and behold several of you creeps will comment "best strip evah!"
But I don't get bothered by it either way. It's really a good lesson in just letting go and falls into that whole Reader Response Theory of literary criticism, i.e., "recognizes the reader as an active agent who imparts 'real existence' to the work and completes its meaning." So once I publish it, it's really yours and not mine.
Posted by: h.b. | 2012.05.25 at 10:17 AM
//So once I publish it, it's really yours and not mine.//
Good to get that in writing, HB, because I've been selling them on t-shirts and hats for years.
Posted by: Bob | 2012.05.25 at 10:20 AM
Nuke Laloosh couldn't leverage countless years of late night video gaming and a junior college education into business success. Quelle surprise.
Posted by: yazbread | 2012.05.25 at 10:25 AM
HB, my Jesuit classics professor, Father Hamilton would be proud of concluding a string with a Latin quote.
Also, totally agree with the philosophy. I once heard someone describe works of art as "arrows" that you create and shoot off into the world.
Posted by: Jack Wrong | 2012.05.25 at 10:38 AM
"All worthy work is open to interpretations the author did not intend. Art isn't your pet -- it's your kid. It grows up and talks back to you.”
-Joss Whedon
Posted by: COD | 2012.05.25 at 10:45 AM
And somtimes the art gets hijacked by people who don't understand its greatness, like the idiots at SciFy that pulled the plug on Whedon's Firefly...
Posted by: Steve in MD | 2012.05.25 at 12:06 PM
Another question- Do you sometimes find it hard being an anonymous author? Have you ever found yourself in a social situation where someone is praising your work and you're just bursting to say 'I KNOW it's better than buggery, because I did that! It's MY baby!'
I mean, it's been eight years now, it has to have come up at some point.
Posted by: pseudosanity78 | 2012.05.25 at 12:08 PM
Pseudo,
On 2nd question... sort of but not in the "I want credit part."
But I can't go into what makes it difficult/complicated without some big reveals that might make the anonymity come crashing down.
Posted by: h.b. | 2012.05.25 at 12:38 PM
Dear Circle,
Do not get caught in the geezer trap - geezin' 'bout the good ole days. They were fine times indeed, some of the finest ever. But that was then. Make new good ole days. Only way to do that is suffer through some more shit on the way to less shit.
Sincerely,
Anonymous bus rider
Posted by: Jeff in NC | 2012.05.25 at 12:41 PM
hb- will you unmask when the site finally comes to an end? Like the FJM guys did?
Posted by: Natalie | 2012.05.25 at 01:00 PM
Talk about taking the discussion where you didn't think it would go, that latin quote strangely reminded me that I should go back and reread Thomas à Kempis.
Posted by: Bry M. | 2012.05.25 at 01:04 PM
Oh, jeez (when the time comes) if you come out as CHB I think all my orifices will seal shut and I will explode.
Posted by: pseudosanity78 | 2012.05.25 at 01:07 PM
FRIDAY AM AT BREAKFAST: RECKONING
Spouse: I don't get it.
Me: What?
Spouse: How and why do governments invest in startups?
Me: If you can't do anything, teach.
Spouse: Huh?
Me: If you can't teach, teach gym.
Spouse: Hey, be nice.
Me: If you can't teach gym, get a job in RI gummint investing in startup gaming companies that all VCs AND Massachusetts already took a pass on.
Spouse: OK, I'm off to teach my gym class.
Me: Don't forget your bloody sock.
Spouse: Don't spend all day playing Kingdoms of Ramalamadingdong.
Posted by: SAC | 2012.05.25 at 01:11 PM
Yes all will be revealed.
Don't worry, I'm not the CHB.
Posted by: h.b. | 2012.05.25 at 01:36 PM
Steve - It was Fox that screwed up Firefly - not SciFi.
Posted by: COD | 2012.05.25 at 01:48 PM
You people forget that I had Stefan Fatsis interrogated at a CIA rendition facility in Poland: Wojciech Jaruzelski's (former) finest got enough out of poor Stefan that I was able to identify h.b...despite his best efforts to conceal his identity during the interview.
Posted by: Jason O. | 2012.05.25 at 01:54 PM
There's a part of me that's very interested in who the 'who' behind the scenes might be. But there's another part (maybe bigger, I dunno) that maybe doesn't want to know. Because in the end, I think the material stands alone and is just good and has brought me so much joy (and sometimes brought me to tears) since '04.
Posted by: pseudosanity78 | 2012.05.25 at 02:02 PM
Will the revelations come all at once...or perhaps with hints dropped in the last few weeks of creepy existence?
I think I'm more excited about who the real HB is then the fate of this year's team. Someone pass the bong, this bus needs to get moving again.
Posted by: sonomasox | 2012.05.25 at 03:22 PM
It could be worse. We could be Cubs fans.
Posted by: ponch | 2012.05.25 at 03:56 PM
If HB decides to reveal his identity from a Boy's Club in Greenwich, I'm gonna pee my Depends.
Have a great long weekend all. Hopefully we'll have something fun to yak about on Monday.
Posted by: Bob | 2012.05.25 at 04:39 PM
Bob has the best one liners evah! Never fail to laugh (even if I don't always comment on it).
Posted by: h.b. | 2012.05.25 at 04:40 PM
*COD, I stand corrected - it was Fox. One of many shows...
Posted by: Steve in MD | 2012.05.25 at 07:08 PM
Now them's some salty balls.
Posted by: Bob | 2012.05.26 at 10:19 PM
...and they're not even chocolate ;O
Posted by: Harwich Rich | 2012.05.27 at 11:36 AM
The Red Sox are 0-5 this season in games they've had a chance to get above .500.
Posted by: Bob | 2012.05.27 at 05:48 PM
Gave up two in the ninth. Sweet.
Posted by: yazbread | 2012.05.27 at 07:21 PM
Fuck that guy Papelbon...who needs him, amirite?
Posted by: Kaz | 2012.05.28 at 09:46 AM
So Memorial Day is here, the Sox are in last place, still under .500, and BV is still employed. And so the bus rolls on. Smoke 'em if you got 'em. Oh, and Go Celtics.
Posted by: soxinsix | 2012.05.28 at 09:50 AM
Lots of blame to go around in that one, besides Aceves blowing his third save. Leaving the bases loaded without scoring in the 8th, for example. On the plus side, they finally got a quality start from Bucholtz.
Posted by: Steve in MD | 2012.05.28 at 01:01 PM
We will have more Friday strips this season, if you know what I mean.
Posted by: rolo | 2012.05.29 at 06:57 AM