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Tuesday, September 19, 2006

What’s graphic about the graphic arts?

I was going to shift gears today and blog about baseball, because it has become increasingly apparent that the major leagues are headed for a crisis of world-historical proportions, and they need my help now.

The crisis is this: the entire National League sucks.  With the exception of the Mets, who have finally, finally ended the fifteen-year long national nightmare that was the Atlanta Braves’ domination of the National League East, the National League does not have a single team worthy of playing in the postseason.  And don’t try to tell me that the amazing Padres have blistered the league by winning 23 of 44 since August 1 (true!), or that the surprising and almost-.500 Marlins are a formidable 40-35 at home (also true!), or that the redoubtable Cardinals would be kind of good if they had some pitchers (maybe true!), or that the sparkling Dodgers managed to squeak by the amazing Padres last night. Give it up already.  None of those teams should be allowed in a playoff.  Yeah, we understand that the National League has been flirting for some time with ways of sneaking a 79-83 team into the big dance.  But that’s precisely why this madness has to stop.  Now.

Meanwhile, in the American League, the defending-champion and always-entertaining White Sox and their charmingly non compos mentis manager are going to be squeezed out of the fun by a lethal combination of hungry young Twins and Tigers, late-blooming A’s (I keep asking Oaktown Girl this every year, but when is someone going to inform that club that the season begins in April, not August?), and juggernaut Steinbrenners.  It’s just not right.

So I was going to propose the following solution: at the end of the regular season on October 1, the Mets and the AL leader (currently the Yanks) will get a bye, while the White Sox play the Tigers and the A’s play the Twins.  But extra special box seats will be reserved for the Cardinals, Dodgers, and Padres, so that they don’t miss out entirely on the action.

But it turns out that I can’t blog about any of that, because the impudent and talented (not to say “spunky") Chris Clarke has gone to the enormous trouble of publishing the graphic novel edition of What’s Liberal About the Liberal Arts? I’ve included a hyperlink to this important document on the right sidebar, under the new heading, “Adaptations into other media.” (I use the plural “adaptations” because I’m still hoping that a certain commenter whose initials are N.L.—no, not you, National League! you suck!—will come up with the opera version by the end of the year.) But I thought I owed it to Chris, and to Literature, to table my perfunctory baseball blogging and direct you to this beautiful and inspirational story of brave and hardworking teaching assistants at the People’s Revolutionary State University.

Thank you, Chris.  On behalf of everyone at PRSU, I am deeply touched.

Posted by Michael on 09/19 at 10:43 AM
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