OK, a news headline just went by, and I honestly had no idea what it was or why I would care, so I looked it up so you wouldn’t have to.
Here’s the headline: Michael Pineda ejected for having pine tar on neck.
Here’s what is going on with that: Michael Pineda is the pitcher for the New York Yankees. Two weeks ago, he was spotted with pine tar on his palm, but he didn’t get kicked out of the game until TODAY, when he apparently had pine tar on his neck. Did he wipe his neck with his hand? Does he STORE the pine tar on his neck to later put it on his hand so that he might pitch better with it?
Your guess is as good as mine.
Here’s why we care about this: apparently PINE TAR helps you get a better grip on your baseball, and if you are a famous millionaire baseball pitcher, this matters because PINE TAR gives you an unfair advantage over the other players, and that is not acceptable. Especially if you store said pine tar on your neck, where it can be plainly seen by people in authority.
Here’s the exact definition of what pine tar actually is (in case you were curious like I was): Pine tar is a sticky material produced by the high temperature carbonization of pine wood in anoxic conditions (dry distillation ordestructive distillation). The wood is rapidly decomposed by applying heat and pressure in a closed container; the primary resulting products are charcoal and pine tar. (from Wikipedia)
Here’s where you can get some on Amazon, in case you’re a baseball pitcher (NOT PROFESSIONAL) and want to get it so that you can pitch better.
And so, we all learned a little something today, didn’t we?