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DEL.ICIO.USA Countdown that’ll make you sick
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
The Tuesday Countdown:
10: So I can honestly say that when I set out on this career, I never thought I would write (or blog) about … airsickness bags.
9: But the other day in a column about the Braves’ slide, I wrote that the next game would be souvenir puke-bag night. Everybody except Steve Silberberg of Hull, Mass., knew it was a joke. Steve sent me an e-mail asking, “If there really is a bag, may I have one?”
8: I am not making this up. Steve has no life. OK, he has a life but he also has a collection that makes my Pez collection look quite normal. He collects airsickness bags. He has over 1,800. He said some guy in Germany has close to 5,000. “There’s an elite group of us, maybe 50,” Steve said by phone, laughing. “Most are Germans. I don’t know why.” I’m guessing all former Stasi agents gone whacko.
7: Steve said he started his collection in 1991 because, “I needed attention.” In real life, he’s a 44-year-old who puts together backpacking trips for overweight people called, “Fatpacking.” He also a former computer programmer, but said, “That’s nowhere near as gratifying,” as collecting airsickness bags. Well, I mean, who didn’t know that?
6: Steve’s collection can be viewed at airsicknessbags.com. He “specializes” in non-transportation (planes, ferries, busses) bags, like a promotional one from a Florida credit union that reads, “Sick of high interest rates?” He also has one from McDonald’s. “Somebody who works at the airport got it off the corporate jet,” he said. “You can’t get them in the restaurant.” Yeah. Bad publicity.
5: He admits he bought a bag off eBay, saying, “It was the low point of my life.” And this: “I almost didn’t write you because I’m embarrassed to admit I have this collection. I try to keep it quiet.” Good plan.
4: Really, when you think about it, would the Chris Reitsma Sick Bag be such a bad idea? Or just a general “Braves Bullpen Bag” with interchangeable sticker faces?
3: It’s June and I’m already sick of hearing about Notre Dame.
2: Nice try by Michelle Wie. But after the run she gave it in qualifying Monday, the surprise would be if she DOESN’T play in the U.S. Open some day.
1: The Braves are just two games out of fourth and 4 1/2 out of last. Hang onto your stomachs.
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By wayne
June 6, 2006 11:40 AM | Link to this
If I have to read one more article about how wonderful it is that Barry Bonds has moved into 2nd place, I’m going to vomit!!!
You would think that baseball would want to hush this issue. What better way to encourage kids to take performance enhancing drugs. It worked for Bonds. Seems to be keeping Dale Murphy and Andre Dawson out of Cooperstown.
By Brendan
June 6, 2006 12:14 PM | Link to this
Steve has a “Thrashers barf bag,” left over from the Curt Fraser-era. Trouble is, Steve didn’t realize that Don Waddell is every bit as “minor league” as Fraser was.
I think they should “re-issue” them.
By wayne
June 6, 2006 12:16 PM | Link to this
just for clarity, not taking drugs is why Dale Murphy and Dawson are not in the Hall. Both would have piled up HOF numbers had they taken that ‘flaxseed’ oil that Bonds took.
By Cliff Claven
June 6, 2006 12:55 PM | Link to this
Steve I believe has shown us something about contemporary mores and in a larger sense about our tolerence as a nation.
In 17th Century New England those who collected barf bags were either placed into stocks, stoned by the villegers or burned at the stake. Ironically enough this formed the basis for our contemporary barbecues.
One of the earliest proponents of change in the colonies Lord Rutherford Wellington (known later simply as the “Sauce King”) was probably the first to “fire grill” beef (his family was known throught England as the BeefEaters) changing what had previously been called cow meat into what is known now into “steaks”
It’s fact, you can look it up.
By Greg
June 6, 2006 01:13 PM | Link to this
Hey, at least theres still good baseball to watch. I go to UGA so I’m partial, but even if you like Tech you still have a team thats better than the Braves to watch. Georgia closer Joshua Fields looks like he’d be a better option in the 9th for the Braves than Reitsy. Maybe the death Ray will give us some hope.
By michael m beard
June 6, 2006 03:30 PM | Link to this
I am sick and tired of sportwriters talking about Bonds on perforance drugs. If he was white you would’nt hear anything about it. The whole game is to keep Ruth on top of the baseball world. Henry Aaron went through the same mess in the 70’s. You got white pitchers throwing at Bonds the way they did Jackie Robinson when he firt arrived in the majors over 50 years ago. Clemons and Big Mac has gottern large also.But if you are white you take care of yourself. You can’t turn on the tube unless you hear some know it all white sportscaster talking about Ruth. Most of them wasn’t even born when Ruth died. Talk and write about Mays and Aaron sometimes.
By houser1
June 6, 2006 04:06 PM | Link to this
m m beard—this isn’t a white or black issue. it’s a performance enhancing drug issue. if mark mcqwire were chasing the record after crying in front of congress, people would vilify him as well. it’s the difference between right and wrong not black or white.
By houser1
June 6, 2006 04:07 PM | Link to this
m m beard—this isn’t a white or black issue. it’s a performance enhancing drug issue. if mark mcqwire were chasing the record after crying in front of congress, people would vilify him as well. it’s the difference between right and wrong not black or white.
By Dirty Dawg
June 6, 2006 04:39 PM | Link to this
Michelle Wie is gonna make a career on ‘trying’ to get into a ‘major’…not about winning anything, just about trying.
Tell you what, somebody set up a match-play between her and Morgan Presser with a couple of mil on the line…Presser will kick her butt. What’s Wie done when it mattered? When the pressure has been on? Of course with all the money folks are throwing at her just for having an amazing golf swing, the thought of losing or winning a few bucks might not really effect her. How about if the loser vows to never again try to weasel her way into one of the ‘big boy’ tourneys…now that might make her pay attention.
By Head Coach
June 7, 2006 01:43 AM | Link to this
Jeff , thank you for a very funny and entertaining article. Hobbys can be both fun and expensive. My wife collects porcelain dolls and I collect antique baseball gloves ( anybody got an old Mantle signature model I can take off your hands for cheap ? ) Rummage , yard and garage sales rarely turn up anything. Thrift stores and antique stores can turn up the occassional gem , but Ebay is the place too shop. I guess I’ll have to barf in a garbage bag and throw beer cans at the TV when my Bravos lose , lol.
By jeff
June 7, 2006 10:17 AM | Link to this
Ken gives us a Ray of hope!