mine growing up was “Tick,” I think because my parents would call me Ricky-Ticki-Tavi growing up. I never really liked it, but my dad convinced me to put it on the back of my practice uniform for basketball because I would stick to the players i was defending like a tick. My childhood was mostly my dad convincing me i liked things i didn’t really like.

2. What I got out of Buck saying that was that he wanted to defuse the tension in the room. I imagine that situation hurt him quite a bit, but he’s not a guy who likes to hold grudges. That comment was probably just to make him feel better, which I would never be able to do. His patience with people is unreal.’

4. I loved the Nancy story. And the little boy Buck showed around in Washington, and his dad beaming with pride. And the little boy who Buck told not to use “that word.” I get the impression a lot of people that met Buck would realize later how important their meeting with him was.

I will arrive home and my book will be there.

Have you started talking about what the next book will be?

How about The Brothers K, by David James Duncan? It is perhaps the best “baseball themed” fiction I have ever encountered (not that I am a “baseball themed” fiction expert).

It also helps that it is already on my bookshelf and the whole month long waiting for amazon to deliver business could be avoided.

Nicknames were still popular. we had a guy on our football team name ‘weasel’ White because of the shape of his face and because he was mean as a hell. Most of the nicknames we had were pretty stock. Our basketball center was ‘Stretch Howard’, we had a guy on the football team named Beasley (because he was really smart and nerdy).there were some others ‘Doc’ (his dad was a vet), Stormy (his dad called him that, real name was Carl). I grew up in a rural, all white, fairly fundamentalist area so we didn’t ‘cool’ names like our urban black counterparts.

My son’s teams (1988-1996), were ethnically diverse, but nobody that I can think of had a nickname. certainly there were none on any of the many girls soccer teams I coached either.

I know a couple of guys from my oldest daughter’s group (27,28,29 yrs olds) – Beef, Biff and Mr. Fred (real name Isaiah) but that’s about it.

I think I’m on page 40. Maybe 40. I haven’t picked it up in a week because I’ve been extremely busy and we’re trying to buy a house. I doubt I’ll catch up to the rest of you, unless I lose my job in the next couple weeks. So enjoy the book!

It’s like I’m back in college.

Back in the 90’s when everyone was convinced the NBA had overtaken baseball, I remember someone suggesting that the old fashioned creativity of NBA nicknames reflected the change—the Mailman, the Admiral, the Round Mound of Rebound.

But like a lot of indicators of baseball’s drop in the national consciousness I don’t think it holds up. The nicknames are out there if you look for them. Pronk, The Big Unit, King Felix, the Greek God of Walks, Jarod Saltalamachia’s teammates call him Pits because his name stretches from pit to pit on his jersey, some call Berkman Fat Elvis, Carlos Lee El Caballo, Zambrano El Toro and Valverde Papa Grande.

I liked the Nancy story. Paige, you old dog!