Quick Hits: Represent the 212; Moose as Lobbyist; Useless Information Dept.

- While he was at USC, Reggie Bush paid homage to his hometown by writing "619" on his eyeblack. Now those that live in New York City can show off their area code pride with "212" sneakers from Nike. We doubt the sneakers will be be quite as coveted as an actual 212 phone number (limitless availability and ugliness of sneaker). And while we're all for representing New York, what about 347, 646, and 718? 718's gotta have more street-cred than 212. Then again, those that actually have street-cred wouldn't be caught dead in these shoes. They're for the people that say...street-cred.

- Mike Mussina has taken up a cause. The 38 year-old Yankee pitcher has come out against the City Council proposal to ban aluminum baseball bats for city high school teams. Mussina, who is on the board of Little League Baseball, said through a press release from a bat manufacturer, "I can unequivocally state that non-wood bats are no more dangerous than their wooden counterparts." The bat ban wouldn't have any effect on Little League games. The city councilmember who sponsored the bill and the mother of an 18 year-old that was killed with a ball hit off an aluminum bat were both outraged at Mussina's statement.

- For those of you who like useless statistical information, here's a nugget for you. Marilson Gomes dos Santos, the men's winner of the NYC Marathon, finished 0.4% faster than the 2nd place finisher. That translates to 8 seconds and $55k in prize money. Jelena Prokopcuka's one minute margin of victory translates to 0.7% difference over 2nd place. Fascinating!

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By tien mao on November 27, 2006 5:47 PM

Comments [rss]

calculator

There are a lot of words with five consecutive consonants. For instance, "the heartthrob's lengthly itchproof jockstrap..."

oijeoije

Damn people from OHIO!! OHH MY GODD!!! hipsters!!!! Even though the people who complain about that shit are the very same people they complain against.

Or even worse, the "native New Yorkers" who gush from the eyeballs about how SO TRU they are, even though if it were 15 years ago they'd be praying to live in Jersey (of course they wouldn't be old enough to remember any of that).

nick

the marathon math may be wrong, but it would be even more interesting for the results last year when Tergat beat Ramaala by 32 hundredths of a second. That would be a difference of .005%. Five thousandths of one percent. In other nerd news, "thousandths" has five consonants strung together, more than any other English word. I think.

Toby

WCBS on their 11PM newscast had a fun little story which proved that the $100+ sneakers are just the same as the $15 sneakers. However, they didn't mention if they are made by the same underpaid overseas labor force.

att

Nowadays, having ANY NYC area code is enough "cred," because half the people around here refuse to update their original Heehawville, Idaho phone numbers.

calculator

From the article...

"The winner finished the race four-tenths of a percentage faster than the second fastest runner."

"In the men's division, the winner was only 1.3% faster than the next fastest runner..."

What a joke. NEITHER is right. IncreMental Advantage, huh?

good call

Landor is right. It should be 0.1% for the men. I can't believe that someone would take the time to write up such a stupid press release and get one of the central ideas wrong.

The reported numbers are 8s=0.4% and 60s=0.7% One of those is clearly incorrect to anyone who had math in elementary school.

Someone should call Alyson Goode and set her straight Tel: 609.919.1895 x102

Landor

The marathon math is wrong. I am very annoyed when reporters don't attempt to understand or verify the simplest math or science behind a story.