It’s bad enough that Tim Russert had been suddenly taken away, but now we learn that George Carlin is no longer with us. The 71-year-old comedian died unexpectedly Sunday night, after checking into a Santa Monica, CA, hospital complaining of chest pains.
You may be asking yourself, “That’s certainly sad news, but what does it have to do with sports?”
Then we would respond, “Have you never had the pleasure to enjoy Carlin’s routine on baseball vs. football? And where’s your sensitivity, you bastard!”
Anyway, here’s what we’re talking about:
Although George is no longer with us, we’re sure he would have gotten a chuckle out of comments made by Jerry Manuel about Mets fans.
The NEW YORK POST shovels up news that the interim manager had compared certain citizens at Shea Stadium to fertilizer.
During this Amazin’-ly bad season, Mets reliever Aaron Heilman has been hearing it from the home crowd, through harsh heckling & bountiful booing. Manuel came to the defense of his put-upon pitcher on Sunday by saying how Heilman has been holding up the harassment - through the use of farming phrases:
“It’s very, very fertile ground for growth in Shea Stadium. It’s fertile ground for a team’s growth and development. Sometimes, fertile ground has fertilizer.”
Realizing the crap he’d soon be taking from mad Mets fans, Manuel tried to sweeten up his scatological comparison:
“Fertilizer is a good thing,” Manuel said before the Mets’ (Sunday) afternoon contest against the Rockies. “It’s a good thing. You get the greatest results - get the most beautiful plants - when you put it in that type of fertile soil. That’s what we have the opportunity to do.”
Dumping off a load like that, Jerry would be a great fertilizer salesman.
6:55 am on June 23rd, 2008
George Carlin had just been named to receive the Mark Twain prize at the Kennedy Center in November. Needless to say, he had planned on sticking around for the ceremony. That’s just a damned shame. Fuck.