I’ve been a little under the weather this week – tentative cough, occasionally runny nose – but it’s been enough to put me in bed most afternoons, where I’ve been systematically going through the pile of old New Yorkers and watching telecasts of spring training games. By the way, I’m not sure all the new rules to speed up the game are beneficial for people who like to read while watching. The mics on players while they’re in the field are another distraction; I had to look up from a paragraph the other afternoon to hear Aaron Judge speak with affection about his two dachshunds.
Despite all this, I was making progress through the pile – and enjoying a great sense of accomplishment – when yesterday I picked up the anniversary issue (a dog replacing Eustace Tilly on the cover) and found a long piece by Lawrence Wright on his hometown of Austin and an almost equally long piece by David Remnick on Salman Rushdie. I finished them both, making occasional jumps in the latter, and look forward to dispatching the remaining issues this afternoon. I don’t get the MLB Network and there are no games on ESPN.
