NP: Bruce Springsteen, "Hungry Heart"

I don't really have a strong opinion about the whole Geraldine Ferraro flap from this past week, but Andrew Sullivan flags Ezra Klein pointing out that "to say that if he were different, things would be different is to say nothing at all."

This brings me back to a particular day outside the garage of my childhood home in New Jersey, shooting baskets with friends. Never mind the fact that, by putting the basket on the garage roof at a height that had little to do with what it would be in an actual gym, my mechanics were always pretty hopelessly messed up. I don't blame my crap basketball "career" on that. Or on just that, anyway. Lack of peripheral vision and a vertical leap of about an inch and a half also loomed large.

No, this particular episode had me taking a jump shot from back by the stairs. It had exactly the right distance, but was about two basketball lengths to the right of the hoop. But, again, the distance was right. So my observation at the time was "hey, if that was on target, it would have swished."

I think my friends from back then would still make fun of me for that comment. Wouldn't all my shots swish if they were on target?

Anyway, welcome to how my neural pathways work. Scary, huh? Presidential politics and backyard basketball?