Levels X | Young Uncles | New Narrowbacks Fan | Yanks&Jets Banter | Critiquing The Critics | YouTube Rabbithole
Alright @YouTheReader,
In ‘24, His or Her Words, Not Mine has Levels by Avicii on in the background. It’s a happy song so I figured that would be better to throw up on people’s social media timelines every Thursday. If you ever find anything funny on the internet, have a story of your own you want to share, have your own insight on your favorite sports team, or even a Guinness recommendation, whatever it may be, please feel free to shoot over a text, direct message on social media, or email WeekToWeekNotes@gmail.com. You all have no idea how helpful you all are with this on Thursday’s pieces and just in general, it’s greatly appreciated!
The vocal sample to this tune comes from Etta James’ “Something’s Got a Hold on Me”, originally sung in 1962.
Moving on…
Oh yeah, with His or Her Words, Not Mine….
Large Font italics are readers like you.
The small font is me.
*Earlier this week I received a message from a fellow under 30 uncle with a toddler for a nephew…*
Whenever A***** leaves now he says “Goodbye J**”…. It melts my heart.
Hahaha that actually must be pretty cool.
It really is.
Little things.
Mine still hasn’t asked me to have a catch. He’s still working on trying to hold his head up.
New Narrowbacks Fan
Nancy G is now a fan of The Narrbowbacks, confirmed!
NY Yankees & Jets Banter
Large italics are Yankees and Jets fan insiders.
The small font is me.
3/1 ‘24
Interesting Saleh wasn’t going to go - but now he is. I don’t think philosophy changed - I think someone told him he had to go.
Yup, he might’ve thought it was optional and they made him go.
Oh boy
Yikes, still hoping Rodon can figure it out. He shaved his mustache.
He shaved his mustache 😂 I had this realization the other day. Carlos Rodons pitching style reminds me of JA Happ. That is not a good thing. But he basically throws the mid-90s fastball and mixes in a decent slider here and there
Wow that’s a great comp with Happ. Throws a little harder but same feel when he’s on the mound.
The no mustache is not helping
Funny but interesting- if gambling is legal - and a player cheats can they (and maybe the league) be sued?
I'm not sure about suing a player, that is interesting. A Jets fan tried suing the Patriots over Spygate lol
That’s awesome
This is awesome too - Vin Scully was literally a national treasure…
Vin Scully’s History of Home Plate
One of the best parts about baseball is the announcers. Being that there is a ton of downtime in baseball, legendary announcers like Vin Scully (Fordham Ram Class of 1949) sometimes become storytellers. In the middle of the Top of the 4th inning of a ballgame, Vin Scully said…
“You ever think about the home plate? You ever wondered, where in the world did they come up with the idea of a plate? Well, if you do some research it’s kind of interesting. Before 1900, home plate was a 16-inch square, all the other bases are 15 square inches, so it was just another base. They turned it so that one point of the base would be facing the pitcher, but that didn’t seem to work. Over the years, believe it or not, they used a lot of things to be called home plate. At one time, back oh 1869, home plate was actually circular and 12 inches in diameter. Way back then, home plate was made of wood, some made of cast iron, some even made of marble, or believe it or not, a plate. A real dinner plate and that’s why people call it the home plate. Kinda interesting. 1 ball and 1 strike.”
That’s great, the whole history lesson then leads it into “1 ball and 1 strike” like it’s nothing.
That was my favorite part too
@YouTheReader: In early August of ‘22, Bill Russell and Vin Scully had then recently passed away. “Born in the Bronx in 1927, Vin Scully is considered by many to be the greatest baseball broadcaster of all time. He started calling Dodger games in 1950 when they were still in Brooklyn and 67 years later retired with them out in LA. Scully was the voice for the majority of Jackie Robinson’s career, Don Larson’s 1956 World Series Perfect Game, Hank Aaron’s record-breaking 715th career homerun, and the last time the Mets won the World Series (Buckner game). You don’t even have to be a fan of the sport to just automatically associate his voice with baseball, it was that distinct.” (Source: Week 1, August '22)
3/2 ‘24
Sign them both for 20 years
Retweet^
Insane
(@YouTheReader: LeBron James has now scored 40,036 career points. Magic Johnson scored 17,707 and Larry Bird scored 21,791 so they combined for 39,498 total points. Jordan has 6 rings!)
3/3 ‘24
Juan Soto seems pretty good at playing baseball….
…and Caitlin Clark is pretty good at playing basketball.
Yes, Soto seems solid lol and wow, I didn’t even realize that was for both men/women, she is unbelievable.
Nooooo…Not good!
Dang. Feels like this always happens with Thibs’ teams.
That is a killer
lol
Also, the Brunson thing did not look good.
Interesting this kid is getting time at 18?
The homer he hit the other day was impressive. Between him, Arias, and Volpe we could have a very exciting infield in a couple of years
(@YouTheReader: George Lombard Jr. was the Yankees ‘23 MLB Draft 1st Round pick who they took 26th overall. At 18 years old, he plays SS for now. He is 6’3”, 190 lbs., and still just a kid so who knows where he will end up playing on the diamond by the time he makes The Show but the fact that he can play SS now is a great sign. He is the son of a former MLB Player who is now the bench coach for the Detroit Tigers. Last season Lombard started out in Rookie Ball in the Yanks farm system where in just 4 games he collected 5 hits and 5 walks (.417 batting average & .588 on-base %). This got him swiftly promoted to Single-A ball in Tampa where in 9 games he had 41 plate appearances with 9 hits and 8 walks, which is good for a .415 OBP. At 18 years old, he is definitely one of the younger players to be included in the Major League level spring training, a great sign.)
3/4 ‘24
It won’t happen (and probably shouldn’t). Amazing tho that Sam Darold is still only 26 years old?
JD/Saleh prob don’t want to admit they messed up, Sam prob is over the Jets. Would make some sense tho
That is very true. They need to have a very good off-season and then win a playoff game or they’re probably both done.
3/5 ‘24
I think I would prefer this to getting some B-grade receiver who will be cut by the end of the year
Agreed, would rather them go for vet lineman. Saw the Chiefs also might be in on Smith so hopefully Rodgers is appealing
Agreed - insane.
He’s going to be great
A great sign that he’s this locked in, 90+ pitches even if spring training is absurd.
If you don’t love this kid, you shouldn’t watch this team.
I want him to be good so badly
No doubt
He’s going to be good
3/6 ‘24
Yikes, hope this doesn’t turn into the next Jeff Weaver, Carl Pavano, Jaret Wright, Javy Vasquez…
Ridley Scott’s Gladiator came about when Dreamworks showed him this painting made by French painter Jean Leon Germoe, which was made back in 1872…
The director was determined to make the film as realistic as possible rather than about Ancient Rome cliches like swords, sandals, grapes, and wine. The costume designer of Gladiator, Janty Yates, made over 10k costumes for the cast and extras. There were even 30k pieces of armor created for the movie. Most of the filming took place in Malta, an independent archipelago that used to be claimed by Itay and Spain. They made a replica of the Colosseum that was 52 feet tall and took 7 months to build, costing them $1 million alone.
As soon as Ridley Scott was convinced to make the movie, he had his eye on Russell Crowe to play Maximus. There were other rumors that Mel Gibson turned down the role because he was too old at the time to play Maximus, but Scott denies he was ever offered. The other options in mind were Hugh Jackman and Antonio Banderas. Crowe hated the script and even would get into on-set shouting matches with the screenwriter, William Nicholson, “Your lines are garbage, but I’m the greatest actor in the world, and I can make even garbage sound good.” Nicholson would later acknowledge, “In Russell’s defense, my lines were garbage.” Crowe took the role when he met with Ridley Scott, “Ridley’s pitch was basically – ‘we’ve got a $100m budget. It’s ancient Rome. You’re playing a General. And you’re being directed by me.” The role took a toll on Crowe as due to the action scenes he lost feeling in his right forefinger for 2 years while also aggravating Achilles, breaking his foot, cracking his hip, and popping his bicep tendon.
Joaquin Phoenix also had a major role in this film as Emperor Commodus. He was Ridley Scott’s first choice as well with Jude Law as his 2nd option. Phoenix wasn’t accustomed to playing the bad guy in movies so there was trepidation. Unlike Crowe’s gladiator character, Maximus, who was made up, Emperor Commodus was a real person. In real life “the Gladiator Emperor” was even more cruel. It was said that when he was born, his mother slept with a Gladiator and then bathed in his blood, which is how Commodus got his nickname. Emperor Commodus would fight real gladiators in the Colosseum arena, but his opponents would always be stabbed in the back before the fight (like what happened in the movie.) After playing a character like that, no wonder Joaquin Phoenix would take on The Joker role. Don’t worry, despite the movie reference, I promise not to do a Critiquing the Critics on The Joker - it’s a bit too dark for Week to Week Notes.
Very honorable for Stephen Hunter of the Washington Post to type such a review from his couch.
I concur with Andrew O’Hagan here. We need more good cowboy pictures about history.
Gotta love Nell, her common sense takes are always looking out for the children.
Kirk was correct. In 2000, they hadn’t made an Ancient Rome type of movie in decades. The script of Gladiator was written by 3 different stories by 3 different writers that took over 40 years to make.
This one hurts Roger, c’mon Gladiator was a good movie!
YouTube Rabbithole
Gladiator (2000) - My Name is Maximus Scene | Movieclips