Best Comments of 2009

I hadn't really thought about this until recently, but this was the first year since I started writing this blog that I posted consistently throughout the year. So, the process of sorting through all of its comments for 2009 was a little more difficult than I imagined it would be. Of course, that's a good thing, as it means there were more comments than I realized, even looking past the fact that a considerable number of them were my own.

But, I still managed to compile a list of my five favorite comments of the year. When I first had this idea, I thought it would be about the most humorous comments, but as it turned out, that wasn't my major focus.

5. In what was probably the only time he read this blog, New Paltz, New York writer Terence wrote this in response to my September 7 post about local brew pub the Gilded Otter:

"Nice to see what non-locals think of the Otter. I agree that the food is excellent, but my taste in beer is fairly narrow (a limited selection of wheat beers tickle my tongue, but nothing else elicits excitement) so I've never been sure if they had decent beer or not. Next time you're in town, stop into Bacchus if you just want a selection of a hundred or so old familiars - they don't brew, but they have plenty on tap and in stock."

But, the part of his comment I really liked was this clever description of the difference between "hippy" and "hippie:"

"Incidentally, if you had typed 'hippy' you would have been saying something about the IPA's pelvic width rather than its social philosophy. I'm a writer living in New Paltz, so I need to know the difference between 'hippy' and 'hippie' for reasons of survival!"

Thanks, Terence.

4. In response to my November 5 post, "That Old Familiar Feeling," which of course was about the Yankees' World Series victory, Casey wrote:

"The Yankees make October more interesting. I hate them, and you know that. But last October just wasn't the same without them. I guess it is that I like seeing the Yanks lose on the big stage."

In a certain way, this really put it in perspective for me, and made me realize that it would have been that much better had the Yankees defeated the Red Sox in an epic seven-game ALCS on their way to the World Series, giving me hope that there still is something to root for. Casey then went on to say:

"Congrats to the Yanks."

That kind of sportsmanship is pretty unique in the world of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry.

3. I love nostalgia, so I thought it was great when Joey Pants made this nostalgic connection to my June 30 post, "The Pride of Dutchess County," in which I wrote about the discovery of a monument to Hall of Famer Dan Brouthers in his hometown:

"Great post. As a Wappingers Falls native this is very interesting to me.

"I grew up playing Little League in Wappingers. Where exactly was Brouthers Field? We played on a field down Channingville Road, less than a mile away from St Mary's.

"Looking at the picture it doesn't look like the field I played on. Shame that it's gone."

2. In a September 22 post, I reminisced about a team I admired from afar, only to realize that one of my regular readers (Dan Day) had an up-close-and-personal experience with the 1982 Milwaukee Brewers, affectionately known as Harvey's Wallbangers:

"I'm a little late to be reading this post (and a number of others) but I thank you for it. Our young family was living in Milwaukee then, and I remember the series vividly. Somewhere in a shoebox I have photos of the Goodyear blimp making its way along the shore of Lake Michigan as it flew past our neighborhood on the way toward County Stadium.

"I'm pretty sure that Brewers logo was designed by a fan in a contest. Curiously, back then I thought it was kind of a cheesey (Wisconsin pun not intended) rip-off of the Montreal Expos logo (m-e-b, as in Montreal Expos baseball).

"Now, I am delighted whenever the Brewers wear the old-style pinstripe uniforms with this old cap.

"Thanks for dredging up some good memories."

Thanks again for sharing this memory, Dan.

1. In what was probably my favorite comment of the year, Lee called me out for referring, in my April 11 post about the new NESN guy, to New York Yankees' broadcaster John Sterling as a yahoo:

"Now wait just a goddamn minute...

"John Sterling's a lot of things, but he ain't no yahoo. Pompous? Sure. Effusive? OK. Bloviative? Of course. Blind-as-a-bat? Totally.

"It's dangerous to compare other broadcasters to Sterling, because he's not really a "broadcaster" in any common sense of the word—he’s about as objective as a silly straw. If you're tuning in to Sterling/Waldman for a description of the game, you're a lot better off with MLB Gameday."

Hilarious, although you might have to be familiar with Sterling to really appreciate it. Thanks Lee, and thank you to everyone who has commented on, or simply read, my blog this year.