My Sports Tees And Miscellaneous Caps, Part 1

A while back I counted the number of t-shirts (and jerseys as well) in my closet from the local sports teams and posted it on Facebook. The count is now updated as I bought another one recently: 41 Phillies, 10 Eagles, 12 Flyers (and Phantoms, from before they moved to upstate New York and back down to Lehigh Valley), and only 2 from the 76ers. A couple of them are over 20 years old (one looks it), while most of the rest are from around 2000 or later. I've decided to post pics of all of them, as well as my baseball caps (not all of them are sports-related, and I don't yet have a count). So over the next few weeks, assuming I keep up, you'll be seeing them.

I'm sure most of them don't have interesting stories or anything, but if I can remember anything I'll mention it.

Also, now I'm really regretting not keeping the old shirts and caps I had from the Phillies World Series championship in 1980 and Eagles first Super Bowl appearance a few months later.

So...

This is one that I bought somewhat recently. Not sure where. It's one of those shirts that's made of material designed to keep you dry when it's hot. I wore it the other day just because I hadn't worn it before and it was still pretty hot out. (Generally I wear the sports shirts only if I'm going to a game, or for every game the Eagles play and for every playoff game of any team.) Seeing as how it's 2XL and I've lost weight, though, I'm not sure the material would've made a difference even if I had been running around performing amazing athletic feats.

And this is the one I wore to Tuesday night's game that I teased online, asking if anyone could guess the last word in the sentence. This was from a few years ago when the Phils were just dipping into social media. They held what I'm sure was their first social media-related ticket promotion: with a code from Twitter, etc., you got an offer for a ticket in the Rooftop Bleachers (not the greatest view), this t-shirt (front and back depicted), and I think a food and beverage credit as well, all for $20 or $25.

This is my most recent purchase. $7 at Marshalls.

This one I've had for many years. I thought I'd share it since Pat Burrell was added to the Phillies' Wall of Fame last weekend. It's a prime example of my Sports Shirt Jinx: if I buy a shirt of a specific player, either he leaves via trade or free agency, or he gets hurt/slumps badly and his career goes downhill. That started, if I recall, with my Scott Rolen t-shirt (which I no longer own). I will probably buy a Cole Hamels t-shirt when they're marked down to $10 or less. Consider it a retroactive jinx, but it's okay as he'll get on the Wall of Fame quickly.



And finally, this is one I purchased a while back (I think at Modells, definitely at a discount or clearance price) but never wore, until last night's game. Size: Large. I can finally fit into an L again (as long as they aren't a really tight cut)!

The Gays (And Others) Can Be Snarky

This pic spoils a moment from the recent Muppets movie.
If you still haven't seen it, as Scott Rolen once said,
"Sorry about your luck."

I can't help but be both amused and a little disappointed at the reactions to the news media's running of the story that actor Jim Parsons of "The Big Bang Theory" is gay. Now, he didn't make some big announcement about it. He didn't hold a press conference or do an interview with some gay publication. The information was made public in a New York Times profile of the actor, who's about to hit Broadway in "Harvey." Parsons previously did a stint on the stage in "The Normal Heart," a play about the rise of AIDS in the 1980s. Here's what the Times revealed, almost at the end of the story:

“The Normal Heart” resonated with him on a few levels: Mr. Parsons is gay and in a 10-year relationship, and working with an ensemble again onstage was like nourishment, he said.

That's all. But because he's never actually revealed this in an interview or talk show appearance or whatever, the rest of the news media is running "Jim Parsons comes out" stories. And that's understandable, even if it's sort of a misleading headline.

The reaction I've seen on my Facebook and Twitter feeds has mostly run along the lines of "Who didn't know that?" or "When was he in the closet?" -- again, I understand it, to an extent. It's been talked about and rumored and even assumed. But there's also, to me, an undercurrent of "This isn't news -- why is the media bothering to report this?"

Well, it IS still news and, more importantly, it still needs to be said by people such as Jim Parsons.

Scott Rolen In A Gay Bar*

Harry and me in 2003

On my flight out to San Francisco on the 13th I finally finished reading "Harry the K: The Remarkable Life of Harry Kalas," by Randy Miller. It's a must-read for Phillies fans, Philadelphia sports fans, baseball fans in general, fans of Kalas' work for NFL Films, or anyone interested in a fascinating biography. Miller's book is not a fluff piece. He spares no details in telling the life story of the late Phillies broadcaster. Harry was a drinker, although he never let it interfere with his work. And he was a womanizer. He was living with, and had a son with, the woman who eventually became his second wife years before his divorce from his first wife became final. He cheated on both wives for some time. Yet, for all his flaws, he was beloved by his family and friends, not to mention Phillies fans.

But that's not why you're reading this, are you? You read that headline and want the dirt, you naughty little minx. Well, you may have guessed that the following tale comes from Miller's book.

The team traveled to Pittsburgh for a series in June 2001. The night before the series was to begin, a group of Phillies personnel was at the hotel bar, including Kalas, fellow broadcasters Larry Andersen and Scott Graham, and third baseman Rolen (who eventually moved on, of course) and his fiancee. At 1 a.m. the bartender announced that it was last call -- early for Pennsylvania, since the bars are allowed to stay open until 2. The group, except for Graham, wasn't ready to call it a night.

So the bartender directed them to a nearby block where bars were still open: