Dodge Globe Blogs

My mother likes to say that I inherited my love of books from her, partly because she worked at the Denver Public Library until shortly before I was born.

I think my love of books does come from my mom — not so much because she worked at the DPL, but because she taught me to value the books and the riches that they hold.

 Sorry things have been quiet on the blog front lately. The entire staff is wrapping up our annual Progress section, which is about 60 pages of local content.

Keep an eye out for it April 30 and keep checking out blogs.dodgeglobe.com for new updates.

Matt McCarthy played baseball on some of the worst teams in Yale history and never expected to make a living off his pitching ability.

But shortly after he graduated from Yale, McCarthy was invited to join the New York Yankees predraft workout. That led to a spot in the 2002 Major League Baseball draft, where the Anaheim Angels picked him in the 21st round. The Angels later assigned him to extended spring training and a slot on their minor-league team, the Provo (Utah) Angels.

McCarthy's professional baseball career was under way.

    Once again, the show must go on, despite snow and wind.

While reporting on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Dan Baum started pondering a complex question: Why were New Orleans residents so devoted to their city, one of the most corrupt and poverty-stricken in the United States?

Baum's new book "Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans," tries to answer that question by telling the stories of nine New Orleans residents both before and after Katrina upended their lives. And for the most part, it succeeds.

I'm not really a basketball fan.

I played — or rather proved to be an effective bench-warmer — ice hockey in college for one season my senior year up at the University of Kansas. I'm a nervous wreck if I can't catch my Colorado Avalanche games.

But nothing compares to March Madness.

When I first took the job at Boot Hill and we formed the Boot Hill Repertory Company (which later became the Depot Theater Company) it seemed like a good thing to get involved with the state theater organization, the Association of Kansas Theatre.

Although the timing hardly ever worked out for me to go, the Association had yearly conventions and the three-day affairs were filled with performances, adjudications, workshops, exhibits, and parties. The times I was able to attend, I was impressed with the number of community theaters entered and impressed with their work.

Sure, times are tough and there’s no money to spare, but I’d like to suggest one worthy cause for your consideration.

Swing by the Carnegie Center for the Arts between now and April 11 and take in the Student Art Exhibit. I think you’ll be favorably impressed by the work of area students.

Athletes get the roar of the crowd. Actors and musicians get the curtain call. Academic achievers get the good grades. Making art is mostly solitary work with the resulting piece being the reward.

"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

Unlike Kansas farm-dweller Dorothy Gale, who dreamed of a better place "somewhere over the rainbow," I, on the other hand, dreamed of a sports reporting job at a daily newspaper and landed right here in Kansas at the Globe.

Yeah I know it's corny and cheesy, but I'm not in Cincinnati anymore so Dodge City here I am, and here we go.

Hey, baseball fan.

Are you jacked? Amped? Hyped? Psyched? Do any of these superfluous sports-isms describe your attitude toward the Second Coming of Bud Selig's Home Run Jesus, otherwise known as the World Baseball Classic?

I'm guessing no.

Are we done with big league baseball at this point? Is it the roids? The copious crotch adjustments? Or is it just overall fan malaise surrounding the precursor to what is a ridiculously long baseball season that leaves no room for excitement for the international baseball event that is, by the way, currently taking place.