Picayune Extra: Dialogue with readers and some visual humor on Twitter
And what happened to those kids from "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"?
I’m grateful for the support that paid backers of the Sentinel have provided and I’m hoping that traffic picks up in the comment community under each weekly issue.
I resisted allowing comments for the first two months because my experience with open, unmoderated threads hasn’t been great over the years. But I’ve opened up comments for supporters with the thought that those those literally invested in the respectful but vigorous exchange of ideas to which this newsletter is devoted would make it a lively and useful forum. But nine comments in the first week — four of them mine — was a disappointment.
Join the conversations this week! Or at least help me out by taking a quick click survey for use in Thursday’s issue of the Sentinel: What do you think Jussie Smollett's sentence should be?
Technically the judge could send him away for 15 years — the maximum for each of the five felony counts on which he was convicted — but that seems highly unlikely.
The Tribune discusses the options here and the Associated Press has this rundown.
I’ll discuss the results and offer my thoughts in Thursday’s all-readers’ issue.
The chatter box
Notes and comments from readers along with my responses
James T. —It seems like a minor thing but why is a Major League Baseball pitcher dinged with a base on balls in the stat book when it’s the manager’s decision to give a free pass to the batter? Especially given that the pitcher is no longer required to actually throw 4 balls.
That does seem unfair, though I've seen the argument online that intentionally waking someone is a direct result of the pitcher getting into some sort of jam in the first place. It would be rare to walk a lead-off hitter intentionally, for instance, so it’s not exactly a neutral act. But given how a walk in the record book suggests something about a pitcher’s accuracy, I agree it should fall under a different category.
James’ comment came out of the item last week about sports statistics in which I said I thought it was unfair for a quarterback to be dinged for an interception when the receiver coughs up a good pass right into the hands of a defensive back. This drew the following response on Facebook:
Danny M. — Let’s say the quarterback throws a terrible pass right into the defensive back’s hands. D-back flubs it and, after a couple of ricochets, the ball ends up in the receiver’s hands who then runs and scores. Does the QB get credit for the completion and touchdown?
These all should be judgment calls and based in part on the outcome of the play, as is true in baseball. If a second baseman boots a grounder right back to the pitcher who throws out the runner, there’s no error on the play even though the fielder blew it, just as when a pitcher throws a 3-2 pitch in the dirt but the batter swings at it and misses, the pitcher gets credit for a strikeout.
In Danny’s example, I would give the quarterback credit for a completion. But I remain uncomfortable with the idea that every time a thrown ball results in a touchdown, the quarterback gets credit. This little flip by Bears QB Justin Fields to Jakeem Grant in Sunday night’s game resulted in Fields being credited for a 46-yard touchdown pass:
That’s misleading. I did like how tackle Teven Jenkins gave Grant the full upsie-daisy after the play, though:
Marc M. — Gambling is a vice. Like all vices there are some people that use moderation and understand the limits to the entertainment value and a large number of people that damage themselves. It makes sense for government and the media to shift to a more libertarian view on vices, but I object to the redefinition of vices and the active promotion of vice. The fact that something should be acknowledged and tolerated is not the same thing as approval and promotion. With gambling, I am disgusted by the advertising that positions casinos as glamorous, sophisticated, and part of a family-oriented entertainment; sportsbooks as part of the core fan experience; and lotto as a path to wealth. It is particularly sad that the gambling revenue picked from the pockets of many of the bottom half of the income ladder is going to fund the bloated pensions of public employees. Guess that is better than pretending that it is for the kids. Can't be long before prostitution is added. Who knew that Las Vegas was a “model city”?
It seems there is no middle ground where the law would treat gambling like smoking —allow it and tax it but prevent advertisers from celebrating and promoting it. I know I sound like a bluenose when I offer fussy aversions to the government’s enthusiastic embrace of the public’s weakness, greed and credulity, but I’m learning to live with it.
In last week’s comment thread, Pete P. posted a link to the pre-verdict Black Lives Matter statement on the Jussie Smollett trial, calling it “a white supremacist charade” and adding “In an abolitionist society, this trial would not be taking place, and our communities would not have to fight and suffer to prove our worth…. In our commitment to abolition, we can never believe police, especially the Chicago Police Department (CPD) over Jussie Smollett, a Black man who has been courageously present, visible, and vocal in the struggle for Black freedom. While policing at-large is an irredeemable institution, CPD is notorious for its long and deep history of corruption, racism, and brutality.”
Pete notes that BLM takes “Smollett’s word over the Chicago police. That would require believing that his conspirators are also under the sway of CPD. And of course believing the ridiculous story in the first place (which, to be fair, many people did).”
Patrisse Cullors, one of three co-founders of BLM, describes the modern day abolitionists’ goal as “communities without prisons and the police,” which I think it’s safe to say would get a “Yeah, no,” from the vast majority of people, even most of those who display “Black Lives Matter” signs in their windows these days.
There is a gap between supporting the call that says police, the courts and society should afford equal value to Black lives and a call to ignore the facts of a criminal case and to get rid of cops and prisons. One can say that Black lives matter without endorsing the suite of positions of the Black Lives Matter organization.
Ya’ gotta see these tweets!
I often run across tweets that are too visual in nature to include in the Tweet of the Week contest (the template for the poll does not allow the use of images). Here are a few from the past week that I’ve liked:
This image was posted by @JustMeNina76:
And this strip was posted by @ElvishCartoons
Two dishwasher jokes in one week!
A not so fine four-fendered update
To mark actor Dick Van Dyke’s 96th birthday Monday, several fans posted this video from his 1968 movie “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” a childhood favorite of mine despite its completely daft plot.
It sent me down a where-are-they-now rabbit hole about the child stars — Heather Ripley (Jemima Potts) and Adrian Hall (Jeremy Potts). Both are now 62.
Ripley “blames Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for ruining her life and claims kids’ classic destroyed her family” according to a 2018 headline in the Sun. She left the film industry after coming to believe that her sudden stardom broke up her parents’ marriage. Various articles report that she worked as a waitress, chambermaid, optician and massage therapist before becoming an anti-nuclear activist. In 2006 the BBC reported she was living on public assistance.
Hall returned to a normal life after his star turn, but then went to drama school when he turned 18, the Sun reported. He had “a moderately successful career in West End theatre,” then quit acting in his late 40s to become a drama teacher.
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Comments are open below, but I’m really hoping for participation Thursday!
In baseball, intentional walks have become less and less common over the past 50 years. They will likely decline more if the NL gets the DH, which it probably will. I won't bother changing the scoring rule on them now. Baseball has bigger issues to address.
For some stats, see https://blogs.fangraphs.com/the-continued-decline-of-the-intentional-walk/.
I like the visual tweets - maybe that should be a thing every few weeks!