ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ SHAKESPEARE AT THE BAT]
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]
PROGRAM: [Java]
PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ SHAKESPEARE AT THE BAT]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]
Baseball season is (almost) upon us. Although in Boston it seems to be a twelve-month ritual. I mean, for crying out loud, one Patriots season ended (I’m gonna guess it was that one where they lost to the Broncos), the local sportscaster Bob “Freaking” Lobel was reassuring everyone that the loss was okay because pitchers and catchers was just around the corner! I mean, the gall! Me and my Dad, who aren’t really big baseball people, were just disgusted. Partially for the loss, and mostly because we didn’t want your baseball mixed in with our football.
My old roommate was a massive baseball junkie, so I guess living with him for nearly eight years made me, by proxy a baseball junkie. Those were good times. We’d come home from a nightcap and catch the ESPNEWS feed of all the day’s baseball action. But Mike was a fanatic. Bascially, if something had the picture of a mitt, baseball or bat on the cover, he would probably buy it. Mike bought a seven DVD box set of the 1975 World Series, not so much for the Carlton Fisk 12th inning walk off game-winning home run game, but more so to analyze all three Bill “Spaceman” Lee pitching performances.
Seems like baseball is the de facto sport in crosswords. Sure SHAQ is entering into nigh-crosswordese levels, and the odd football player, golfer, and race car driver shows up now and again. But it’s mostly baseball stats and players that riddle the grids. Your guess is as good as mine as to why that’s the case. I have my theories. A lot of the crossword establishment has come from New York (and, like in Boston, baseball is a religion in New York). I also guess that with the length of the season coupled with baseball’s rise to popularity initially through the radio format — and the fact that you can’t have dead air — that it just naturally lended itself to being “literary” from the beginning. (Have you seen the baseball section of your library/bookstore? It’s nuts!) I’m probably wrong with both of these theories. Dan Okrent, I know you’re a regular reader here; please chime in and set the record straight!
So I figured, while you’re setting up your roto leagues, why not pull this baseball classic off the shelves? And if you’re so inclined, pick up a book of one of my novelty sports crosswords books. New ones are: Cardinals, Cubs, Dodgers, Mets, and the current World Series champs Phillies. Plus the old favorites Red Sox, and Yankees. Enjoy this one, and new puzzle on Wednesday.
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