Baseball Cards * Series 2: The Nicknames of Chris Berman, PFT Commenter, & Big Cat
A Rose By Any Other Nickname
When I get up in the morning, I’ll say one of two interchangeable phrases to myself, “I have to get these chores done,” or, “You have to get these chores done.” Figuring out who the I is may seem obvious, but who is the you that I’m talking to?
The fact that I’m talking to myself as if there is another self hidden inside, and not being befuddled by its ubiquitous apparent presence, is peculiar enough. But that the one self can also be critical of the other self’s actions, is stranger still. “Why didn’t yougo to the gym? Your belt has run out of holes. You would’ve felt so much better if you’d gone.”
Perhaps the other self resides in a permanent mirror, always following us from the front, a shadow of constant doubt and subversive reflection. Maybe the mirror is the visual illusion of another self, and the voice in our heads is the imperceptible illusion. Or maybe, instead of two selves, they each represent one half of our consciousness, the reasonable half and the unreasonable half. Maybe it’s that our three-dimensional self takes up too much volume in our three-dimensional head, so we turn down the sound, and flatten it to a piece of paper. Or—I promise this is the last Or—they’re flattened out the same way the wonderful performances and amazing accomplishments on the baseball diamond that are seemingly best preserved on cardstock. With the image on the front and the straightforward statistics on the back, they represent the two selves as one, both separate and together.
In series 2, the cards are an homage to the raucous raconteurs of the highlight reel. They are the ones who turn the inaction of being a spectator to a kinetic performance of wordplay wizardry, beyond the vibrancy of the colors of the uniforms. Of course, while they need the athletic acuity of the players on the field, they aren’t independent of each other. Rather, they’re dependent on the other to remain relevant. Sports and its commentary are inseparable, and they should be celebrated as one, just as the apparent selves within us should be. In my opinion, both ecosystems thrive when the cycle evolves around smiles, wit, and multi-self-deprecation.
This series features 12 subjects, with 2 designs for each. They’re rooted in the nicknames born from Chris “Boomer” Berman’s Fastest 3 Minutes on ESPN (the voice of my childhood), and the nicknames of PFT “Eric Sollenberger” Commenter and Big “Dan Katz” Cat during their Fastest 2 Minutes on Pardon My Take (the voices of my arrested adulthood).
While Chris Berman cleared the path to highlight freedom by clearing his thrrrrrrrroat, PFT and Big Cat have furthered the verbals jukes of his whoops!, borrowed and applied his from to the multi-jerseyed Josh Johnson, and were in cahoots with Berman for a Purdy excellent nickname. It’s such a fun time to be alive.
Here are the cards I designed for Mr. Berman, Mr. Commenter, Mr. Cat, Barry Sanders, Brock Purdy, and Josh Johnson. Enjoy :)
