Slate and the Missing Moldovan

Brian Phillips at Slate has a cute piece up this morning on Masal Bugduv, "Moldova's finest," who happens to be, well, you know, imaginary (link). Phillips makes a heroic attempt to suggest there's some deeper meaning here although I'd say it is much more in the way of just enviably clever writing. But he set me to thinking--fake ballplayer lost in the underbrush of the not-quite-first-tier league tables. Where have I heard that before?

Well, actually, I suspect lots of places: this is probably an easy scam to perpetrate, and the lesson is straightforward: fans take themselves way too seriously, while there is really way more in the way of sports info than any of us can, or wishes to, assimilate.

And in particular it brings to mind the late, great, A.J. Liebling who gleefully recounted how, in his days as a neophyte sports-tracker at the New York Times, he created a wholly imaginary placeholder to flesh out the box scores and such. New Yorker writer David Remnick recalls:

Some nights, according to Liebling, [his creaation] officiated games throughout the city. Liebling claimed that when this crime was discovered his boss fired him for being irresponsible. He told the story repeatedly, and with relish, and it may even have been true.

I have always loved that story, not least because I was once a baby sports-tracker and I doubt there is any of that ilk who hasn't fudged the roster at least once. I also remember fragments of a story about a "Chinese all-American halfback," which I had thought also involved Liebling but Google doesn't recognize it.

Phillips also discloses that "Masal Bugduv" apparently isn't even Moldovan, which is par for the course. My impulse was to assume that there's something here saucy or at least impertinent. I couldn't dope it out; I even tried spelling it backwards, recalling "Llareggub," the cozy Welsh village in Dylan Thomas' "Under Milk Wood," but no dice (go on, try it)." It turns out that there is something saucy or impertinent, but its Irish. Should have guessed.

Oh, and one final note. Did I mention that Liebling's imaginary box score personality was "Ignoto," Italian for "unknown?" Faithful readers of Underbelly will reccognize that Ignoto is alive and well and contributes regularly at this venue.

==
*Don't you wish you had written:

"...bikini pictures of [soccer] players' girlfriends (who seem to roam the earth together in a giant conjugal yacht, like the Beatles in Yellow Submarine)."

"...the old scout's adage says, even the most talented young striker will struggle if he has no corporeal being."