It's a typical day in paradise. We had a sunny morning and I alternated with swimming in the pool to reading the Florida papers about the Marlins' latest five inning win.

The rain shortened win is another example of the trouble with Florida baseball. To really make MLB viable down here, you will need to have a domed stadium. You can't ask the fans to shoot dice to determine if they will get wet watching the game or whether they will get to watch a game at all.

In any case, the Marlins won again and so did Willis, the young pitcher from the Fan's post yesterday. He really seems like the real deal and is now 7-1.

After I was done reading the paper and the boxscores, I was able to turn to my other reading. Vacations have always been a time for me to catch up on reading, one of the true pleasures in life. My days at the Jersey shore in the summer were always times to read and I have a fairly ecclectic selection of tastes. Even then I would read anything from Tolkien to Mickey Spillane.

And there was always a sports book thrown in that mix. I liked biographies especially which earlier in my life were of the heroic variety. Books about Connie Mack or Lou Gehrig were typical. Later, the books got grittier and more gossip-like. "Ball Four" of course, was the big breakthrough of that ilk. Bouton's book captured my imagination when I was in junior high and gave me a new appreciation for baseball players.

The funny thing was that he was vilified because it was thought that his honest look at baseball and its players would eat away at the reverence fans had for players. But that wasn't the case for me and Mantle was my idol too. Bouton's book actually made Mantle more appealing and approachable as an idol.

One funny memory of that book was a execration that impressed my juvenile mind as the coolest I'd ever heard. If you've read the book, Bouton had a manager who often said, "horseshit." I remember trying to find the right circumstance to use what I had learned.

The occasion came later at a junior high basketball game I attended and watched with interest. One of the refs in the game made a call I totally disagreed with and I shouted my newly learned swear phrase at the top of my lungs. I was unnerved when all action stopped and the entire population in the gym were staring at me. I quickly learned that the results weren't as cool as I had hoped.

Another great read was the series of books written by Ron Luciano, the clownish umpire. Luciano's books were hilarious and if you can find copies on Ebay or someplace, I recommend them highly.

So far, on this trip, I have read a book by Mike Shannon called "Tales From The BallPark." At first I had thought that Shannon was the same one who played for the Cardinals back in the 60's and 70's. Shannon was one of my favorite Stratomatic players of that time. "Tales" is somewhat entertaining as Shannon gives 225 pages of one page snippets of true things that happened in MLB. I was somewhat disappointed by the books lack of depth but it was an okay read.

Now I am reading a very engaging history of ESPN written by Michael Freeman. A rags to riches story, ESPN is not without its blemishes, particularly sexual harrassment, throughout its fascinating history.

Of course, that kind of thing needs to be examined so that it doesn't repeat itself but the book also fairly represents ESPN's affect on American sports culture. Sports fans never had it so good.

The book mentions Fox Sports as being an able rival and Keith Olbermann as being the best reporter there is (a form ESPN star). That's crap as nearly all of the ESPN achors are more entertaining and more likeable. I'll never switch.

I'll be very interested to read about Chris Berman as he's always been my favorite. I wonder what dirt we'll learn about him! It won't matter of course, which goes back to the point made during my discussion of Bouton's book. He's still great and you know what? I'm not perfect either.

See you down by the pool.