Hey Sports Fans

Did I ever tell you that Sidd Finch (NY Times, requires registration) was my 7th Grade Art teacher? Well it's true. I can't believe that he still gets recognized for this 20 years later, even in England.

A quick excerpt:

It still happens on the Wrigley Field concession lines. It happens as he walks down Michigan Avenue. It even happened, in all places, while sipping a lager in an Oxford pub.

"Sidd Finch! You're Sidd Finch! Hey Sidd, can I get your autograph?"

After 20 years, for Joe Berton, the line remains a little blurred. Ninety-nine percent of his waking moments are spent as Joe Berton, mild-mannered junior high school art teacher in Oak Park, Ill. But that other 1 percent, he is still Sidd Finch, baseball's greatest pitching prospect.

It was 20 years ago this week that Sports Illustrated ran one of its most celebrated articles, "The Curious Case of Sidd Finch" - in which George Plimpton crafted a 14-page exposé on a bizarre, out-of-nowhere Mets phenom who fired baseballs at a stupefying 168 miles an hour.

Hehehe. This happened after my junior high days, but I remember my grandmother calling me up and asking me if I remembered him. It's kind of hard to forget someone obsessed with fantasy statuettes who gave you free reign in art.