4.30.07 The art of chatter
This entry was posted on 4/28/2007 11:14 AM and is filed under uncategorized.
The Rhodes baseball team is renowned for the volume and the positive character of its dugout chatter. Most other teams tend to be quieter or, when they get noisy, are as likely to be abusive as encouraging. This makes me a huge fan of Rhodes chatter.
What have I learned about chatter from my time in the Rhodes dugout, both on good days for the team (of which we have had many this season, with more to come) and on other days?
First and foremost, good chatter is hard. I know because I've been trying. As someone from the era when "Hummmm babe" and "Swing batta batta batta" constituted the soul of dugout wit, it's been a struggle trying to catch up.
For a while this season I tended toward overelaborate sentences that typically trailed off into quiet incoherence. Then I realized that good chatter is like Homeric poetry--it relies on the frequent repetition of tropes (for example, "wine-dark sea" and "swift-footed Achilles" in the Iliad and the Odyssey; "whaddya say" and "hey now" for chatter). Eventually it dawned on me that all I needed to do was string together a few of these catchphrases to come up with a line of serviceable chatter. To pitcher Chris Catalanotto, for example: "Hey now, one-eight, whaddya say, whaddya say, eighteeeen." To hitter Matt Beesley, "Good take, two, whaddya say, two-man." I've been trying to work "Big Train" into as many lines about Robert Flanagan as possible, but so far it hasn't caught on.
I know I'm sounding too academic about all this but bear with me a little longer, I'm not through yet. Positive chatter, I have noticed, tends to sort itself into four categories. One, the stock of my trade, is upbeat but essentially mindless noise: "Hey now, double-two, come now, kid" (to John Robert Bizzell).
Another is encouragement to do something specific, as in "Base hit, PT, whaddya say, eleven" (to Patrick Tolivar), or "Lot of confidence, eight, win the battle" (to Daniel Vanaman).
The third is conveying useful information in upbeat form: "Keep it up, baby, you've got that 0-2 count" (to a pitcher) or "Baaaaacckk" (to a runner when the pitcher tries to pick him off).
Finally, there's chatter whose purpose is to activate more chatterers: "Let's get it up, boys--lot of chatter."
In jotting down examples of chatter as I heard ithem during today's first game against Austin, I realized that my notebook had developed the look and feel of free verse. And so, with apologies to every doe-eyed poet who ever walked the earth, I offer the following. Call it "Baseball: Rhodes vs. Austin, April 28, 2007," by the Rhodes Baseball Team:
Whaddya say, whaddya say now, kid,
Have an at bat, baby.
Working hard, working hard, come now, kid.
Own it, baby, own it.
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
All you, all game--hey now, kid.
Let's go, lots of life, baby.
Right guy at bat, now win the battle.
Hey, right man for the job, lot of confidence.
Have a day, baby, have a day.
Comeonbaby, comeonbaby, come on babyyyyyyyyyyyyy.
The End.
What have I learned about chatter from my time in the Rhodes dugout, both on good days for the team (of which we have had many this season, with more to come) and on other days?
First and foremost, good chatter is hard. I know because I've been trying. As someone from the era when "Hummmm babe" and "Swing batta batta batta" constituted the soul of dugout wit, it's been a struggle trying to catch up.
For a while this season I tended toward overelaborate sentences that typically trailed off into quiet incoherence. Then I realized that good chatter is like Homeric poetry--it relies on the frequent repetition of tropes (for example, "wine-dark sea" and "swift-footed Achilles" in the Iliad and the Odyssey; "whaddya say" and "hey now" for chatter). Eventually it dawned on me that all I needed to do was string together a few of these catchphrases to come up with a line of serviceable chatter. To pitcher Chris Catalanotto, for example: "Hey now, one-eight, whaddya say, whaddya say, eighteeeen." To hitter Matt Beesley, "Good take, two, whaddya say, two-man." I've been trying to work "Big Train" into as many lines about Robert Flanagan as possible, but so far it hasn't caught on.
I know I'm sounding too academic about all this but bear with me a little longer, I'm not through yet. Positive chatter, I have noticed, tends to sort itself into four categories. One, the stock of my trade, is upbeat but essentially mindless noise: "Hey now, double-two, come now, kid" (to John Robert Bizzell).
Another is encouragement to do something specific, as in "Base hit, PT, whaddya say, eleven" (to Patrick Tolivar), or "Lot of confidence, eight, win the battle" (to Daniel Vanaman).
The third is conveying useful information in upbeat form: "Keep it up, baby, you've got that 0-2 count" (to a pitcher) or "Baaaaacckk" (to a runner when the pitcher tries to pick him off).
Finally, there's chatter whose purpose is to activate more chatterers: "Let's get it up, boys--lot of chatter."
In jotting down examples of chatter as I heard ithem during today's first game against Austin, I realized that my notebook had developed the look and feel of free verse. And so, with apologies to every doe-eyed poet who ever walked the earth, I offer the following. Call it "Baseball: Rhodes vs. Austin, April 28, 2007," by the Rhodes Baseball Team:
Whaddya say, whaddya say now, kid,
Have an at bat, baby.
Working hard, working hard, come now, kid.
Own it, baby, own it.
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
All you, all game--hey now, kid.
Let's go, lots of life, baby.
Right guy at bat, now win the battle.
Hey, right man for the job, lot of confidence.
Have a day, baby, have a day.
Comeonbaby, comeonbaby, come on babyyyyyyyyyyyyy.
The End.
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5/1/2007 5:40 PM
John G Cleanthes wrote:
Hi Mike,
Since I was exposed to your website I really look forward to your daily blogs. I really enjoy the one on chatter. Today our local paper feature story was on chatter in the dug out. I will send you the article or maybe you can check it out at www.lohud.com. It was written by Jake Thomases of the Journal news . His E-Mail address is jtthomas@lohud.com. I guess the bus ride was not what everyone expected. I hope the boys know what kind of year they really had. When I spoke to Jeff on Monday he feels that they have a real good shot at getting a invite to the big dance. Well it really isn't the big one but it is to the boys at Rhodes. I hope they do get invited because I promised my son I would go to the first round were ever it is. Lokking forward to spending more time with you when we meet again. Keep those blogs coming.
Jeffs Dad
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