What's nominative-determinism?, you may ask. Possibly not your first question, but you may get to it. You might have asked, before that, what Google alert does Althouse maintain that gets her there? (Answer: "boffin"!) Anyway:
The theory of nominative determinism suggests that a person’s name can help form their choices in life, influencing the character they develop or profession they adopt.Examples: "Poet William Wordsworth, caricaturist and Disney animator Mr T Hee, and sprinter Usain Bolt..."
Which reminds me, chez Meadhouse, we're supporting the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS, because of Prince Fielder, whom we like not because of nominative determinism, but because he's an ex-Brewer.
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There's no joy in our house. Both the Nats and the Orioles are gone.
So -- it's not just because you hate the Yankees?
Meade has been a Reds fan since about 1972, so their defeat was the difficult point around here.
Now, you look for little things to justify supporting one team over the other.
I don't hate the Yankees.
There is an algorithm for selecting your nominative determined team choice. Hating the Yankees is high on some fans algorithms. Mine goes: Local Team, Regional/Conf Team, Local Player now with other team, any team playing the Yankees. Hey, that's just how I roll.
Nominative-geographic-determinism:
Dick Hertz from Holden, Massachusetts.
I was thinking it had something to do with the "grin with a suit behind it".
I like the underdogs San Francisco and Detroit.
A first baseman doesn't make a Fielder.
And vice versa.
"I don't hate the Yankees."
How Althouse really lost me.
I like the underdogs San Francisco and Detroit.
Detroit last appeared in the World Series in 2006.
The Giants WON the World Series in 2010.
The Yankees WON the World Series in 2009.
The Cardinals WON last year.
There is no real parity in baseball.
Before I could drive there was a member of the Jaycees in my town who used to drive me to the Ill State Jaycees Tennis Tournament named "Roe Haddock." If EVER there was an example for a case for justifiable homicide had he offed his parents for saddling him with that moniker that would have been one! LOL!!
My son said last night that he guessed he'd have to root for the Tigers now. He hates the Yankees.
God, I loath the Cardinals!
They are everything my Cubbies should be, and are not.
Cards down 6-0, come back to win elimination game. I went to bed and missed the comback. You folks may not know it, but the Cards are the Yankees of the National League.
So, I know who to root against. Who do I root for?
Just wait, Theo Epstein will soon have those Cubs in the World Series.
I read the article. That is a weird non-coincidence of nominative-determinism. Who the hell decided how to anglicize that guy's name? His parents? Really? Are they comedians? Did he murder them yet?
I'm flying to Seattle to watch the World Series with my dad who is 85 and can't remember how to find ESPN on his remote control anymore. We'll be rooting for the ex-Mariners, Freddie Garcia, Raul Ibanez and Ichiro.
I am genetically a natural Yankees fan, having grown up in the 50s in the age of Mickey Mantle, etc. (I've observed that about 10% of any group will be natural Yankees fans whether defined by geography or anthropology) In my small college town in east-central Illinois it broke down pretty much 10% Yankees, 50% Cards, 30% Cubs and 10% White Sox. So if my Yanks don't get by Detroit I''ll have to root for the Cards..
Funnily enough, the town was oriented predominantly to St Louis despite the fact that St. Louis radio stations were hard to receive and the Chicago ones came in loud & clear, so everyone listened to the Cubs games w. announcer Jack Brickhouse. Same for the newspapers where everyone read the Chicago "Trib" and the old Herald-American; few read the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. And most traveled over two 1/2 hrs over2-lane roads (before the interstate was completed when I was in HS) to St. Louis to see live games despite the fact the ICRR (Ill Central RR) ran right thru Mattoon, Ill., up to Chicago only an hours ride away. a 20 min drive away even by a winding 2-lane (in those days, now 10min w. the straight-shot 4-lane) It's funny how cultural attachments/orientations work..
If nominative-determinism were true, he'd have been named Prince Hitter (fielding is not his strong suit).
@ST/
LOL, you're right about the Cards--although a good--probably even better--case could also be made for the Dodgers in that role.
I didn't know the meaning of boffin. It's English slang for some kind of computer techno-geek. The name boffin doesn't jibe with nominative determinism. Boffin sounds kind of cool, like a guy who's into twins or climbs mountains free style without ropes or metal instrutments. A boffin should not be a computer repairman.....The Yankees are the team for conservatives. When the Yankees win, the world is as it should be. It would have sent the wrong message to our children if Washington had proceeded further. Bad enough that they made the playoffs.
I have my Michigan connections. My mother grew up there, and I've lived there for 5 years of my life, I even went to 2 or 3 games at Tiger Stadium back in the 1970s. Best game-viewing experience I've ever had. (The only other baseball parks I've been to were those of the Yankees, Mets, Brewers, Red Sox.)
The Nats have a presidential race at every home game. The problem is that the race is fixed. Teddy Roosevelt always wins. Did the Expos ever get to the playoffs?
I was kind of hoping for a Nats/Orioles series, now a Giants/Tigers final (can't really go for the Yankees or Cards). As for a winner, probably the Tigers - Verlander, Cabrera and Fielder - and a history of watching them from when the Brewers were in the AL East.
@Ann re: stadiums. I'll reveal my fossil-hood by saying that I've attended games @ a) The original 1950s Busch stadium three stadiums ago, b) at the pre-Houston Astros "Colt 45" incarnation at their orange-painted all- open-metal bleachers outdoor temp stadium--as well as the Astro-dome when it was new w. Glass center part of roof and original huge screen (1965) and c) original Yankee Stadium, stadium, d) old Milwaukee County Stadium (GREAT brats!) e) Cincy Reds old Crosley Field, and f) Both old Cominsky Park (smelling of equal parts beer & piss) AND Wrigley Field pre-lights/advertising and finally, g) both Dodgers Stadium and old SF Candle-Stick park...looks like I'll never make it to Boston or Baltimore at this stage, tho, (sigh..)
I support any team that's playing the Yankees.
Cards down 6-0, come back to win elimination game. I went to bed and missed the comback. You folks may not know it, but the Cards are the Yankees of the National League.
I stayed tuned in for the comeback.:) There were too many innings left to give up on the game. I felt sorry for the nats fans since they were all set to party, one strike away, and some of the kids in the stands looked awfully sad. But, I like when the midwest wins. Except I don't want the Tigers to win the WS because they're in the same division as my Indians and I'll never hear the end of it from Tigers fans.
The Cards have won a lot of titles, but they can't just buy a playoff spot like the Yankees do. On top of that, all of the Yankees titles in the 90s and 2009 were tainted by them having so many roiders.
It's too bad that Tiger Stadium is gone from the corner of Michigan and Trumbull. It was a great place to watch a game because the seats were up close. I remember being able to get box seats right by the dugout for six dollars each back in the 80s. You'd cut out the ticket order form from the newspaper, send it in with your check, and they'd mail back the tickets.
Back in 1984, we thought that the time since the last World Series win (1968) was a long time. It has now been 28 years.
Rep Dick Swett is a neighbor of Mitt Romney's in New Hampshire.
He was defeated b Richard Bass...
Pres Bill Clinton appointed Dick Swett Amabassador to Denmark.
Except I don't want the Tigers to win the WS because they're in the same division as my Indians and I'll never hear the end of it from Tigers fans.
LoafingOaf and I have something in common!
I've been an Indians torture victim since about 1975.
Crap. My real name, featuring a series of letters not often seen in standard English, is often mis-pronounced as "Zero," even though it's spelled nothing like the number.
I grew up about fifteen miles from Yankee Stadium. When I was ten years old, the Reds swept the Yankees in the World Series, beating them as thoroughly as any team has ever been beaten. I still cringe at red. If only Don Gullett left the Reds to join the Yanks in '76, rather than waiting for '77...
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