Paging Steve Lake | Stephen Rodrick really brings the funny in a hilarious piece in Slate on "the ultimate sports freeloader: the backup catcher." Among Rodrick's lacerating and completely true observations:

Backup catchers are harder to kill than cockroaches and just as unsightly. The fraternity is the athletic equivalent of Skull and Bones: Once you're in, you've got membership until you're 40 or bat below .180. ...

[Their salaries are] chicken feed compared to Bonds and Sheffield, but it's more than they'd make as PE teachers. ...

A switch-hitting backup catcher is like an uncoordinated 7-footer in the NBA -- somebody always figures they can use one. ...

It helps to be white, have a receding hairline, own a dirty pair of shin guards, and possess a world-weariness that belies the reality of the easiest job in sports.

Wonder if Todd Pratt's ears are burning right about now... .