So check this out. This morning, I went to check the book sales of "Acoustic Kitty" on Amazon (Just $15.95! Cheaper than lipo! Buy now!). I typically find my book's page on the site by searching for my own name.
Well, this morning, when I did that, I didn't get one result - I got two. Intrigued, I clicked through to the other book, Latin American Sport: An Annotated Bibliography, 1988-1998 (Bibliographies and Indexes on Sports History). Now, I'm thinking, there's no way this is actually my name in this book. Must be some other yahoo named Bob Rybarczyk out there who got quoted. I'm hardly an expert on Latin American Sport, ya know?
So I view this book's page, and after five seconds of digging, I discover that one of the searchable pages of the book is an index page, and it looks like this (squint at the last name in the "R" section):
(Sorry for the lousy quality - I'm on my laptop and don't have good image editing software on it.)
Anyway, I look at this, and I recognize some of the other names. Well, okay, I recognize one other name - the one right above mine, Steve Rushin. I know his name because he used to write for Sports Illustrated. That tells me some of the peeps in this bibliographies are other writers. I also know that I once took kind of a cheap shot at Fernando Vina, the former second baseman for the Cardinals, in one of my columns. I can't remember what I wrote; it was something about his rotten on-base percentage maybe. Something like that. Well, Vina's Latin American, right? At least, he's of Latin American heritage. I could be wrong, but I think the dude grew up in Cali or something like that.
Bottom line, I'm wondering if this author cited me. I might buy the thing just to see. That's totally vain, huh? I think it is. But I guess if I weren't vain, I wouldn't be so pretty.
I'll report back. I can't help but notice that the book retails for a mind-crushing $105 - at 264 pages, that's 39 cents a page, homeskillet - but maybe I can snag a used copy.
Update: I see that the book was published in '99. My column debuted in '01. It's looking unlikely that it's me. I might order it anyway. Sometimes I enjoy doing pointless things.
4 comments:
Boy, if you enjoy pointless endeavors and wasting money, then might I suggest you head over to this website and empty your pockets!
http://www.canihaveyourdollar.com
Love your columns!
Mark Williams
What do you make for every book you sell? $1?
Think of it this way -- you'd have to sell 105 "Acoustic Kitty"s to make back the money you'd spend on this little exercise in vanity ...
Glad you're back, Bob. I look forward to reading your book. Got a myspace account yet?
I also wandered over here to inform you that on the rants n raves section on craigslist, someone's a bitchin' about ya! Sweet!
Maybe you can find it on interlibrary loan.
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