Television showrunners are notorious multitaskers, with the most successful able to toggle easily between the roles of CEO and auteur. But Louis’s work on Louie requires a whole different level of personal oversight. The show is based on his life. Louis is the director. He’s also the only writer, the sole editor (he no longer shares duties with the co-editor he had last season), not to mention the person who oversees music (when the music guy’s budget ran out, he decided to do it himself). He also hired his own casting team: Last season, he turned down FX’s offer to help out and doesn’t inform them about casting in advance. But perhaps the most unusual aspect of the show is that Louis C.K. gets no notes from the network during filming, no script approval—an ­unheard-of “Louis C.K. deal” that has made him the envy of comics and TV writers alike. [via NY Mag]

And that is why this is one of the best and most exciting comedy shows ever on television.

But perhaps Manny was never more himself than when he was an adolescent, playing for George Washington and Washington Heights. Maybe that was Manny at his most essential, when more than at any other time he could live by what later became his maxim: “See the ball. Hit the ball.” One of the home runs: George Washington was playing Brandeis High School at home. The Brandeis pitcher, Kiki Valdez, was one of Manny’s best friends. His first time at bat, Manny clobbered a home run. The second time he came up, he tapped home plate with his bat, the way you would see him do it later in the majors. He was ready, as perfectly balanced as a ballerina, as Mandl put it. Then he called a timeout, taking his right hand off the bat. But the umpire did not give it to him. Everyone who was there swears Manny did not have time to get his right hand back on the bat, that he swung with one hand. I can’t really say that I saw it. Maybe I was too busy taking notes. The ball went over the left-field fence and all the way to the old handball courts on the street below. It had to be more than 400 feet. His teammates and the fans were screaming: “Oh my God! Oh my God!” Mandl, coaching third base, tried to maintain his cool. He may have muttered an astonished expletive under his breath as he waved home Rafael Gonzalez, who had been on first, followed by Manny. In those days Manny did not indulge in major league theatrics. He simply ducked his head and ran home, into the arms of his teammates.

(Source: kgtl)

“Talks hurt Derek Jeter-GM relationship” [via ESPN]

…the GM did the job he was paid to do, telling Jeter the team needed him to improve his fielding in the offseason. According to the book, Cashman was under the impression that Torre had already approached the shortstop about the need to improve his range and, ultimately, about a possible move to center field.

Jeter shocked Cashman by telling him Torre had mentioned no such thing. The GM assured Jeter that the team had issues with his declining range. “You mean to tell me we were trying to win a championship every year,” the shortstop told Cashman, “and there was a way for me to get better to help us do that, and nobody told me? … I want to do everything I can to get better.”

Jeter had NO idea he had shitty defense. If only somebody had told him!

To think that this idiocy contributed to the Yankees’ multi-year “slump”…is just orgasmic.