Nothing to see here

Today I have nothing. Not a thing to say, write or communicate. Actually, let's re-phrase that… I definitely have a lot to say, a lot to write and a lot to communicate, but just not here. Hey, you never know who is watching or reading. You know who I'm talking about. Yeah, of course you do. And if you are one of those people who I am talking about, click here.

Anyway, baseball season starts in earnest at the end of the week and for me, gearing up for my seventh year of hanging up at the ballpark, it feels like the last week of summer vacation. It's OK, though. Some people like school.

Still, a baseball season is a long road. A grind as they say. Others call the season a marathon, but as someone who has run 13 marathons, a baseball season is nothing like a marathon. Not even close. I understand the analogy, though.

And since the "marathon" is ready to begin, let's taper down and chill out on the intense baseball talk for a while. That's what marathoners do before a race – they take it easy for the final week to 10 days so they go in fresh, strong and ready to go. The thing about the taper, though, is that by the second or third day you're just chomping at the bit. You are so ready to go that it's hard to keep the pace slower than 6-minutes per mile in those short and easy workouts. Then there are all those hours left to fill that used to be spent working out. What do you do then? It's such a conundrum.

So in this taper week, where it appears likely that Big Jon Lieber, who injured his oblique muscle while swinging a bat, might start the season on the disabled list, here are a few things to check out before the long season begins.

To start, check out George Packer's expose on Iraqi translators in last week's The New Yorker. It's definitely one of those typical, sprawling New Yorker stories, but it is beyond riveting.

Speaking of riveting, my favorite radio show host (and interviewer), Terry Gross, has one of those podcasts that all of the kids are talking about. Her show, of course, is called Fresh Air with Terry Gross and it's produced in Philadelphia, but more importantly, it's portable and easier to listen to without missing an episode. George Packer was on last week and Booker T. Jones of Booker T. and the MGs was on Monday. Check it out here.

Guess what? From the "No duh" category, not only are you what you eat, but also you are also what you drink, too.