King writes about the World Series in McSweeney's

BevVincent

McSweeney's reimagined newspaper



[table][tr][td]So the folks at the hipster lit journal McSweeney's are producing a celebration of newsprint, a reimagined newspaper sort of like what your Strib or PiPress would look like if designers designed one paper a month and publishers could afford Michael Chabon and Stephen King and charge $16 an issue.



Going by the just-released media kit, it looks pretty beautiful, and could be quite a meaty read as well. Check out the full, mouthwatering tease here. The 380-page San Francisco Panorama will be out in early December.[/td][td][/td][/tr][/table]

BevVincent

Extra, Extra



The buzz is building for McSweeney’s Issue 33 — or, as they’re calling it, The San Francisco Panorama, a Sunday-edition-sized newspaper with reporting from William Vollmann and Nicholson Baker, comics from Chris Ware and Daniel Clowes, and a book review section to make us advertising-based life forms jealous: 100-plus pages, including new fiction from George Saunders and a report about romance-novel cover models.



And since no Sunday paper would be complete without sports news, McSweeney’s asked Stephen King to write about the World Series. The result is as wonderfully cranky as you would expect from a Red Sox fan covering the Yankees. Its opening is below:

October 28, Afternoon

So here it is, Fall Classic time again in Baseball City, USA. Want to attend it with me? Fine. We’ll get there early, have some paralyzingly expensive ballpark snacks, and sample all the excitement.



According to the newspapers, ESPN, and FOX-TV (everybody’s favorite World Series provider), the Series is due to start at the new Yankees pleasure-palace in the Bronx, and then head 100 or so miles to Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, but we know better, don’t we? All the games will actually be played right here in Baseball City. Just stroll with me, I know the way. Ignore the hawkers selling pennants, the scalpers selling tickets, and the guys with flags who are willing to park your car on the tarmacs of defunct gas stations for a mere $250; we don’t want to be late for batting practice. And right here, at the intersection of Greed Avenue and Stupid Street, we find Bloat Stadium, that ever-popular baseball mecca. Don’t see many kids, do you? That’s because most of this year’s Series games will be played on weeknights and won’t get over until the clock approaches 12. Oh well, to hell with ‘em. This is the 21st century, and in the modern age, baseball is strictly for beer-swilling adults who don’t have to get up in the morning.



And here we are at the heart of the game — hardball Nirvana where the tube-steaks go for $6 (but for that you also get a damn fine bun), and a 24-ounce Heinie costs $12.50. Good old Bloat Stadium! What better place for the World Series, when you consider the fact that the Phillies’ payroll is three times that of their country-mouse National League cousins, the Pirates, who play in mostly empty PNC Park on the rustier side of the rustbelt? And the Yankee payroll is almost twice the Phillies’ — $208 million! Why, Alex Rodriguez — friend of Madonna, past user of questionable substances, dubbed Show Pony by my youngest son for his high-footing, ostentatious trot — makes more per year (33 million Bloat Bucks) than everybody on the 2009 Pirates roster! Is Greed Avenue a fitting address, or what?

willowlove

I just found this in a local library. This thing is huge--considerably wider (and much longer) than the local paper. SK's article--if you can call it that--has its own 8 page section: First page title and illustrations, last an advertisement, the rest text with illustrations.