The Strange Saga Of The El Mercado Jags Jersey

Fans of Sad City know that we love the El Mercado grocer and often frequent the various dining establishments within. Over the course of the last year and a half there has been one thing inside the El Mercado that has endlessly confounded us. One store in the market sells various non-food wares. The vendor sells t-shirts, cell phone cases, sunglasses, mini flags and religious paraphernalia. There is also a handful of futbol (soccer to us) team jerseys for sale. Makes sense, since soccer is, by a wide margin, the most popular sport just about everywhere in the world except the United States.

Batman: Park Street's Man Of Mystery

Another shot of the mysterious Batman who patrols Park Street. Who is this man and why does he patrol Park St dressed as Batman? Sad City isn't bright enough to answer these types of vexing questions. Is he a bored millionaire from Scarborough Street? Is he a crime reporter from the Hartford Courant? A player from the Hartford Colonials looking for side work? Only time will tell if the identity of Batman will be revealed.

Sad City Readers Take On The Park River

(Ed. Note Sad City spent last summer trying to navigate the Park River. While we never got underground, some readers recently made the journey and sent us a description)


Cruising the Park River in Hartford became a minor obsession for me ever since I first
read about it on Sad City. I never knew that a river once ran through Hartford, let alone
that it is now encased in a massive cement conduit that goes underneath the city.

And that’s no surprise. Most people have never heard of it, even the longtime area
residents. But everyone’s eyes widen when they hear that it’s possible to canoe in an
underground river. And absolutely everyone called me crazy when I told them that I was
going to do it. It is, after all, basically a sewer.

Batman: Dark Knight Of Park Street

Last month we were able to get a shot of Batman standing outside of a Hispanic Laundry on Park Street.  While we wondered and many hypothesized what the Dark Knight might be doing on the streets of Hartford, Batman himself vanished back into the shadowy underworld from which he came. Until now.  Just a couple days go we again spotted the caped superhero, again roaming Park Street.  This time we were able to get a close up shot of the local hero in action.

Has Batman relocated from Gotham to Hartford? Is he only protecting Park Street? Where is Robin? Where will the Dark Knight be spotted next?

Park River Legend Grows

Much has been written here about the Park River and Sad City's various attempts to urban kayak the length of Hartford's lost river. Still nothing could have prepared us for what Mark Spencer reported today in the Hartford Courant;

Brian Morelli was standing on a ridge above the narrow river, about 75 yards below, when he heard a loud splash. He turned and saw a foot-high wave roll across water. But what happened next left him staring in a trance.


"This big seal came out of the water with a fish and proceeded to eat it," he said.

Hypnotic Al Terzi Video

Earlier this afternoon, while researching an upcoming story on our favorite news cyborg, we stumbled on this mesmerizing gem. It's a weird photo montage of Al Terzi and Michael Terzi, who we assume is Al's late son. It's set to a weird royalty-free music track and features the most interesting use of video transitions this side of the star wipe.

We tried to do some digging to determine the origins, but all we found were dead ends. The URL at the end of the video is a dead link. Google was unable to translate the text posted with the video. All of the other clips are just as nonsensical. Our only theory is that "bajykulew" is a robot trying to leverage search traffic for Al Terzi, because we all know that EVERYONE runs searches on Al Terzi.

If anyone can figure this one out, please clue us in.