(More) Words

After yesterday's rant, I want to write about a lovely use of the spoken word.  I want to bask in the aura  of someone using the language in thoughtful ways.  I want to recall the comfort of knowing that verbs and nouns will agree while perfectly positioned among interesting clauses.

Bob Costas, the man whose post was hi-jacked over the weekend, earned this post on Saturday night.  He's a baseball guy and a smart guy and I can overlook his failure to visibly age because, like Mary Carillo, he makes sports watching an enjoyable experience.

His encyclopedic knowledge satisfies TBG's No Stupid Sports Talk rule.  He appears genuine in his enthusiasm, and his boyishness just adds to his charm.  But it's what comes out of his mouth that makes me smile.

"A likely reprise of the Game 1 match-up...." left me dancing with reprise and unable to tell you anything more about the match up.  He could have said repeat; I appreciate a man who resists the urge to dumb it down.  Reprise is such a lovely word.

And then there's his delivery.

He describes a team's "ghastly post-season resume."  There's no hint of the drag queen in the remark; it's straight up Edgar Allen Poe.  It was even better to hear him pause for my smile; he knew those of us listening with half an ear had been drawn back to his words.

"As I'm sure you know,"  began his discourse on a truly arcane bit of baseball trivia.  He was sure that we knew, so TBG and I both listened, shaking our heads, wondering why we'd never heard the story before, feeling vaguely out of the loop.  There was that pause.... a small, amused chuckle.... and then, deadpan, "To be perfectly honest, I had no idea."

He's one of us, laughing at himself.  He's at the mic, with ESPN's baseball nerds throwing inane trivia his way, and, because baseball is a whole lot of empty air time waiting to be filled, he's not above having a little bit of fun with us.

It doesn't hurt that he loves my Cubbies, that the Cubbies won both home games.  I probably would have smiled even with  Bill Walton calling the game.  How lucky I was to share the weekend with Bob Costas, instead.

Spring Training, many years ago