Every Cub Fan Gets to Fly the W

It's always nice when an organization shows itself not only mostly classy in its operations but also interested in its fans as human beings. So the Chicago Cubs' presentation of a World Series championship ring to hard-luck fan Steve Bartman is a good way to start off a week.

In 2003, Bartman tipped a foul ball headed out of play in a playoff game between his Cubs and the Florida Marlins. Left fielder Moisés Alou had a play on the ball, but couldn't catch it because of Bartman's interference. Umpire Mike Everitt ruled that whatever disruption had been caused by Bartman, it was not official interference because the ball had already broken the plane of the edge of the field.

Bartman was quickly reviled when the Cubs fell apart in that game and lost again in the next, ending their run at a National League title and delaying the end of their historic title drought for another 13 years. He left the game under police escort and his home also had to be guarded by police after several people posted his home address on Major League baseball message boards. Then-Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich suggested he enter witness protection -- a half-joking remark that probably made Bartman feel pretty good once Blagojevich became a guest of the federal government for his own attempted interference.

Bartman stayed reclusive in the ensuing years. He resisted most calls for interviews and chose not to take part in any fund-raisers or similar efforts by folks with good intentions who wanted to try to make it up to him for the abuse he endured because of his mistake. The Series ring seems to be the peace offering he chose to accept, however, and he even released a statement that the WGN story quotes. But it's all he's saying about it, though, pointing out that he will decline all interview requests and make no more statements.

The Cubs organization and Bartman himself all seem interested in how to be respectful, dignified and grown-up about the whole Foul Ball Incident. Baseball is indeed an amazing game and its fans can bring forth reasons many and varied why it is the best game.

But it's just a game. So let's remember to put it in its proper place and leave the ruination of lives and the obsessions over unimportant matters where they belong: Twitter.

Real Life

In today's reprint, Charlie Brown is reminded how important it is to not live in the middle of the fantasies we develop.

And also that he should get the ball over the plate.

Thanks -- I Think?

The Federal Aviation Administration needs to take a look at the shrinking size of airline seats as well as the space between them. I say that, you say that, and anyone who has to fly very often says that. So does Patricia Millett, but she has the advantage of being a sitting federal appeals judge so the FAA has to listen to her.

It's sort of a good news-bad news situation. On the one hand, the smaller seats and reduced size in between them is one of the many reasons flying today sucks. On the other hand, the issue that concerns Judge Millett is flight safety rather than passenger discomfort. So if the airlines can prove that sitting us in one another's laps doesn't compromise the ability of passengers to leave the plane in an emergency, then they can continue pushing us closer and closer together as well as away from their services.

But maybe the FAA will wake up and realize it's supposed to be the consumer's watchdog and tell the airlines to spread out a little. Hey, if the Chicago Cubs can win a World Series, anything is possible.

Life Goes by Faster Than a Speeding Bullet

One of the neat things about the internet is that when people get cool creative ideas for mash-ups -- like, say, combining super-heroes with 1980s movie posters -- they can post them for everyone to see, rather than have them available only to people who might attend a convention or something.

Such as the work of Andrew Tarusov, a sample of which is above (Browsers, beware. Some of the rest of Mr. Tarusov's work is rated R and above, and his Deadpool poster is NSFW. It's also stupid, but that opinion could be flavored by the fact I've never thought much of that character). The poster for Sixteen X Candles is another pretty good one; it plays well off the Wolverine/Jean Grey/Cyclops triangle.

Last year I bought a nice little piece that put some of the X-Men into the same poses as The Breakfast Club poster. It's by an artist named Dan Buller, and if you look at his page you'll see that morphing ensemble casts into those five famed detentionees is one of his major motifs. The one I purchased is below:

These Are the (Hic) Voyages...

Space, apparently, is full of booze.

Well, technically it's full of alcohol molecules, but those molecules are so far apart you'd need a glass light-years in size to scoop up enough to have any real taste or kick.

Kind of like American commercial lager.

Fake Views!

An enterprising Photoshopper replaced the dinosaurs of some Jurassic Park scenes with cats. They're pretty well done and a couple of them are hilarious. But we have to call foul on #10, since there's no way on this or any other planet that a cat would just sit there while getting rained on. Because rain is frequently made up of water, and we all know how cats feel about water.

Strong Bad Hardest Hit

Adobe has announced it will accept reality and stop updating or offering its Flash web app in 2020. As the article notes, not very many people will miss it.

But as my headline notes, the wacky cast of Homestar Runner depends on Flash for their existence. The site doesn't update much any more, but here's hoping they find a good replcacement and start making some more funny cartoons.