Shade your eyes from the loud, bright sunlight when you’re hanging outside. Comes in handy when you’re looking for birds, planes, and superheroes.
RIP Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert, the only film critic I even know the name of, passed away today at the age of 70. With former co-host Gene Siskel, he popularized the “two thumbs up” system for rating movies. This rating system was ubiquitous and a succinct way to find out whether or not a movie was worth seeing.
Hear him talk about the origin of the thumbs up/thumbs down:
Rest In Peace to a true Hand It! legend.
Base Coaches: The Masters of Simon Says
Simon says touch your elbow.
Simon says touch your nose.
Simon says touch your chinny chin chin.
Shake my hand.
GOTCHA. Simon didn’t say, ya dunce.
Bonus
Simon Says: Where my keys at?
Umpires Are Assassins
“HHHEEEEEEIIIYYIIYIYIKKKKKKEEEEEEE”
The war cry of the guy behind the guy behind the plate. Controlling and calculating, umpires are the deadliest people on a baseball field. Home plate umps are the worst offenders, so they have to hide their identities behind caged masks.
A finger gun is used to pick the next victim. This is the “strike” signal.
![Photo taken by flickr user randomduck (flickr) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://i0.wp.com/upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/61/Barry_Bonds_strike.jpg/800px-Barry_Bonds_strike.jpg "Photo taken by flickr user randomduck (flickr) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons")
After choosing a victim, the umpire calls a “strikeout” by starting an imaginary chainsaw.
Sometimes, victims attempt to escape. Umpires put a swift end to this tomfoolery by spreading their wingspan as wide as possible to appear larger and more imposing. The victims are fooled into thinking they are “safe” for the time being…
Once the umpire can no longer control their urges, they pounce.
Baseball Gesture Week – Catchers
Baseball is back. America’s pastime is chock-full of hand gestures. Hand It! is celebrating the opening week of the 2013 season by exploring instances of gesture use in this great sport.
Catcher Signals
Pitchers may control the tempo of a baseball game, but the man behind the plate chooses the notes. Catchers are the ones who signal what pitches should be thrown to batters. Catchers employ a few different systems for calling pitches, one of which is the use of their fingers. For example, showing one finger could mean “throw a fastball.”
Two fingers may demand a curveball.
Pitchers can shake their heads to silently say, “no, I don’t want to pitch that.
To which the catchers will reply with another option. This trio is looking for a slider.
(Shaking off too many pitches will make the catcher sad and irritable and ruin any chance the pitcher has of getting protection if an angry batter charges the mound.)
Hand It! 