Writing Funny

July 11

I always wished I could write funny. I am pretty funny in person. In some company I am hilarious. There are things I say when talking to myself that make me laugh out loud. But on the list of people who can write funny, I'm way close to the bottom.

My friend Justin Kahn has a blog that is so funny I have linked this one to it. Justin is teaching his readers the concept of irony, which I have attempted to deal with on this very blog. I'm saying that I appreciate humor, but like many people, I am less proficient at producing it than I sometimes think I am.

I have a lot of friends who can whip off something funny with apparent ease. This is a portion of an email I received yesterday, and I reprint it for you sports fans since I so seldom deal with any sports and even less often do it with humor. You may be missing humor and sports, particularly if this blog is the only thing you ever read. And I included it so you don't think all I ever think about is Fairhope back when the earth was cooling.

In case you weren't aware, two major sporting events took place yesterday. At Wimbledon, Roger Federer, a Swiss and by far the best tennis player in world today, beat Rafael Nadal, a young left-hander-run-down-everything Spaniard, who did beat Federer in the final of the French Open a few weeks ago. Why win at Wimbledon and lose in Paris? Because the French Open is played on clay, where Federer's powerful game is neutralized by the slowness of clay, whereas at Wimbledon the surface is grass. Thought you'd be interested knowing that.

The other big event was the finals of the World Soccer Cup played in Germany. Sixty million TV viewers worldwide watched on. That's more than the Super Bowl. After regular time and an overtime period, and being tied a 1-1, Italy beat France in penalty shots 5 to 3. Host country Germany came in third after a win 3-1 over Portugal. Thought you'd be interested in that too.

There was the Appalachian doily knitting finals as well in Possum Hollow, West Virginia, but no winner was decided. It seems that one of the finalists accused the other of cheating -- I'm not sure how one can cheat in those contests, but maybe you can -- and since honor was at stake, the accused pulled out a crochet needle and thrust into the chest of the other. Rather than disqualify the stabber, which one would think would be the logical thing to do, the match was suspended. The judge ruled that impugning your opponent's honor was a grave offense and as is crochet needle stabbing, so the two offenses cancelled each other out, meaning there will be a knit-off at a later date. Thought you'd be interested in that as well. I was, that's why I was watching in the knitting channel.

It's not exactly irony, class, but it'll do if you're looking for a laugh, which I usually am. I am glad to share the sporting news too, and admit I detect a touch of irony in the "Thought you'd be interested in that."

I also recommend, if you're looking for a laugh, a trip via the new link to Justin's blog. After all, he's the only reader of this blog who has knowingly ordered an autographed copy of Meet Me at the Butterfly Tree. For more information on the writer of the sports news, you'll just have to take a guess, but I assure you it wasn't me.