I've had a love-boredom relationship with baseball all my life. Growing up in Clearwater, the Spring Training home of the Phillies, I tried hard to be a Phillies fan. I saw Robin Roberts pitch. I got a cap with a funny-looking P glued to the front. The P eventually peeled off and so did my interest in baseball.
Fast-foward a long, long time. When our kids were little they started collecting baseball cards, featuring players I'd never heard of. We started watching games on TV, and when a player I never heard of came to bat, we all checked to see if we had his card. My interest in baseball began to perk up.
I bought a history of the rules of baseball and learned that the game goes 'way back. If you could resurrect your great-grandfathers and take them to a game, the game would look to them a lot like it did back when. Soldiers played baseball during the Civil War. The National League was started in 1876, the year Custer and the Seventh Cavalry were wiped out by the Indians.
I decided the history of baseball was more interesting than current events starring the Phillies and our hometown team, the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays' franchise is going into its eleventh year and for ten years, they never had a winning season.
Until this year. Boy, this year! At the moment, they are the winningest team in Major League Baseball. If they hold on to their lead tonight against the Red Sox (5-2, top of the ninth), they will be 1 1/2 games ahead of the Red Sox.
Can the Rays make it to post-season play? Sure they can. Even a blind old hog can find an acorn now and then. But this year they have the talent to surprise everybody.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
stormy Monday, and Tuesday, and . . .
Driving to work on Monday, I started thinking about the lyrics to "Call it Stormy Monday:"
They call it stormy Monday, but Tuesday's just as bad.
Wednesday's worse, . . .
I couldn't remember the line about Thursday (which is, "Thursday's also sad") and it was too far from Friday to see the eagle getting ready to fly.
The summer weather pattern has started up in Florida and we are having stormy Mondays every day of the week, which is fine by me except I ought to mow the lawn twice a week to keep up.
Some miscellaneous gripes before heading down the River of Steel to work:
Our governor's honeymoon is over. Now that he's a semi-serious V.P. candidate, the nature of his political whoreness has become painfully obvious. He's advocating drilling for oil in the Gulf, off the Florida coastline, which nobody here wants to see. Yesterday he announced a Big Deal with U.S. Sugar to buy lots of swampland for a couple billion dollars, which is being touted (or pimped) as a conservation measure. The state is laying off workers, crimping on its criminal justice system, and cutting back on vital social services, but it seems we have a water management district that is rolling in cash and doesn't know where else to spend it.
Locally, we have a Big Business (no, not the Rays, yet) that is threatening to leave town if the city and county don't come up with a bag of economic incentives. There's a secret deal cooking. This will be another exercise in government subsidies by people who otherwise call themselves "conservatives."
Further south, a young man lost his left arm to an 11-foot alligator in a canal. He survived because he's strong enough to keep hold of a cable despite the alligator's subjecting him to four or five "death rolls." On national TV this morning, he said he's grown up with alligators and they've never bothered him before, but he's noticed they have become more competitive, that is to say, more aggressive and more likely to become man-eaters, in the last few years because Florida is up to its ass in alligators. We have a surplus of the slithery reptiles because the animal rights advocates have been buying up about two-thirds of the annual permits for 'gator catching and not using them. So, we have more of the protected critters occupying a smaller and smaller habitat, and they've lost their fear of humans.
I could go on, but somebody might miss me at work. I don't want to miss seeing the eagle fly on schedule.
They call it stormy Monday, but Tuesday's just as bad.
Wednesday's worse, . . .
I couldn't remember the line about Thursday (which is, "Thursday's also sad") and it was too far from Friday to see the eagle getting ready to fly.
The summer weather pattern has started up in Florida and we are having stormy Mondays every day of the week, which is fine by me except I ought to mow the lawn twice a week to keep up.
Some miscellaneous gripes before heading down the River of Steel to work:
Our governor's honeymoon is over. Now that he's a semi-serious V.P. candidate, the nature of his political whoreness has become painfully obvious. He's advocating drilling for oil in the Gulf, off the Florida coastline, which nobody here wants to see. Yesterday he announced a Big Deal with U.S. Sugar to buy lots of swampland for a couple billion dollars, which is being touted (or pimped) as a conservation measure. The state is laying off workers, crimping on its criminal justice system, and cutting back on vital social services, but it seems we have a water management district that is rolling in cash and doesn't know where else to spend it.
Locally, we have a Big Business (no, not the Rays, yet) that is threatening to leave town if the city and county don't come up with a bag of economic incentives. There's a secret deal cooking. This will be another exercise in government subsidies by people who otherwise call themselves "conservatives."
Further south, a young man lost his left arm to an 11-foot alligator in a canal. He survived because he's strong enough to keep hold of a cable despite the alligator's subjecting him to four or five "death rolls." On national TV this morning, he said he's grown up with alligators and they've never bothered him before, but he's noticed they have become more competitive, that is to say, more aggressive and more likely to become man-eaters, in the last few years because Florida is up to its ass in alligators. We have a surplus of the slithery reptiles because the animal rights advocates have been buying up about two-thirds of the annual permits for 'gator catching and not using them. So, we have more of the protected critters occupying a smaller and smaller habitat, and they've lost their fear of humans.
I could go on, but somebody might miss me at work. I don't want to miss seeing the eagle fly on schedule.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Father's Day
When Shakespeare wrote that "the good [that men do] is oft interred with their bones," he never met my father. Dad left a good name that was remembered long after his death, even back in the small Kentucky town he came from. When I wish I had someone to talk to about a problem, I can think of him and what I believe he would tell me, and I'm comforted.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
a whole new view of things is coming up
In about four weeks, daily living will get very interesting for me.
Between now and then we have one Rays game to go to (if not more), a mini-trip back to Palm Beach County to see sights we haven't seen in years, and a trip to Boston for the Fourth of July, the birthdays of two people close to our hearts, and a Red Sox game at Fenway Park.
When we get back, it will get really interesting. I will take out the contact lenses I have worn since tenth grade -- well, not the exact same lenses, of course -- which replaced glasses I began wearing in the first grade. I may as well flush the contact lenses down the toilet because I don't plan to wear them ever again. Instead, I will allow my eyes at least three weeks to get accustomed to their normal (lousy) shape, and then I'll go in for cataract surgery.
Yep, that's the kind of surgery for old people, and for people like me who develop cataracts. I've been expecting this for eight or nine years, ever since my ophthalmologist told me I was beginning to develop cataracts, but I figured it would happen in five or ten more years -- you know, when I become an old guy. That good doctor has since passed on to his reward but another doctor in his office has told me that I am now a candidate for the procedure. (That's a code word that means the insurance will pay for it.)
My optometrist put it to me bluntly: One eye is 20-40, the other is 20-70, and he can't make lenses that will do any better for me. The cloudiness in my left eye? That's not caused by a dirty, oily, greasy contact lens, which was my theory. It's caused by a cataract which will do nothing with the passage of time but get worse.
The clincher was this: Since I know I'm going to have it done sooner or later AND I know I will be able to see better afterwards . . . why wait?
I had no good answer. Back to see my ophthalmologist again. Now we are serious. I had several questions, one of which was (and I don't want to insult you, doctor, but) can it be done over if something goes wrong, such as putting the wrong artificial lens in the wrong eye, or I'm seeing 20-100 when I come out of it? Answer: Yes, there are several possible ways to deal with such problems, one of which is replacing the bad lens. Another could be Lasik surgery to fine-tune the results.
So, I'm sold. I'd do it tomorrow if we could. Instead, I'm to wear eyeglasses to get around for a week, then see him again, then see him again two weeks after that. He does surgeries on Mondays so it could be the first or second Monday in August when he does the left eye, and another two weeks before the right eye. Meanwhile, I'm Mr. Magoo without the glasses and a guy looking through binoculars, turned the wrong way, with the specs on.
Assuming all goes well, I should be "normal" before Labor Day, whatever that means. My eyes haven't been normal since I was in kindergarten.
Between now and then we have one Rays game to go to (if not more), a mini-trip back to Palm Beach County to see sights we haven't seen in years, and a trip to Boston for the Fourth of July, the birthdays of two people close to our hearts, and a Red Sox game at Fenway Park.
When we get back, it will get really interesting. I will take out the contact lenses I have worn since tenth grade -- well, not the exact same lenses, of course -- which replaced glasses I began wearing in the first grade. I may as well flush the contact lenses down the toilet because I don't plan to wear them ever again. Instead, I will allow my eyes at least three weeks to get accustomed to their normal (lousy) shape, and then I'll go in for cataract surgery.
Yep, that's the kind of surgery for old people, and for people like me who develop cataracts. I've been expecting this for eight or nine years, ever since my ophthalmologist told me I was beginning to develop cataracts, but I figured it would happen in five or ten more years -- you know, when I become an old guy. That good doctor has since passed on to his reward but another doctor in his office has told me that I am now a candidate for the procedure. (That's a code word that means the insurance will pay for it.)
My optometrist put it to me bluntly: One eye is 20-40, the other is 20-70, and he can't make lenses that will do any better for me. The cloudiness in my left eye? That's not caused by a dirty, oily, greasy contact lens, which was my theory. It's caused by a cataract which will do nothing with the passage of time but get worse.
The clincher was this: Since I know I'm going to have it done sooner or later AND I know I will be able to see better afterwards . . . why wait?
I had no good answer. Back to see my ophthalmologist again. Now we are serious. I had several questions, one of which was (and I don't want to insult you, doctor, but) can it be done over if something goes wrong, such as putting the wrong artificial lens in the wrong eye, or I'm seeing 20-100 when I come out of it? Answer: Yes, there are several possible ways to deal with such problems, one of which is replacing the bad lens. Another could be Lasik surgery to fine-tune the results.
So, I'm sold. I'd do it tomorrow if we could. Instead, I'm to wear eyeglasses to get around for a week, then see him again, then see him again two weeks after that. He does surgeries on Mondays so it could be the first or second Monday in August when he does the left eye, and another two weeks before the right eye. Meanwhile, I'm Mr. Magoo without the glasses and a guy looking through binoculars, turned the wrong way, with the specs on.
Assuming all goes well, I should be "normal" before Labor Day, whatever that means. My eyes haven't been normal since I was in kindergarten.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Charlie Chan
I've been hanging around with a low grade fever and a touch of bronchitis for a couple of days. I went to work today and will go tomorrow on the theory that spreading the germs will allow them to leave me sooner. Meanwhile, I've been watching Charlie Chan movies.
Charlie Chan had a aphorism for every situation, whether it was his honorable son-in-law calling from the hospital to report on the status of Charlie's about to become a grandfather, or advice to his Number One or Number Two sons, or a retort to a police officer who wanted to move too hastily.
Naturally, using Google, you can find them all. Here are a few of my favorite Charlie Chan aphorisms from the two movies I saw tonight and a couple I want to see:
Magnifying female charms very ancient optical illusion. (Charlie Chan at the Circus, to his Number One son)
One ounce of experience worth ton of detective books. (Charlie Chan at the Circus, to his son)
Ancient ancestor once say, "As mind is fed with silent thought, so should body absorb its food." (Charlie Chan in Honolulu)
Opinion like tea leaf in hot water - both need time for brewing. (Charlie Chan in Honolulu)
Waiting for tomorrow waste of today. (Charlie Chan in Egypt)
Charlie Chan had a aphorism for every situation, whether it was his honorable son-in-law calling from the hospital to report on the status of Charlie's about to become a grandfather, or advice to his Number One or Number Two sons, or a retort to a police officer who wanted to move too hastily.
Naturally, using Google, you can find them all. Here are a few of my favorite Charlie Chan aphorisms from the two movies I saw tonight and a couple I want to see:
Magnifying female charms very ancient optical illusion. (Charlie Chan at the Circus, to his Number One son)
One ounce of experience worth ton of detective books. (Charlie Chan at the Circus, to his son)
Ancient ancestor once say, "As mind is fed with silent thought, so should body absorb its food." (Charlie Chan in Honolulu)
Opinion like tea leaf in hot water - both need time for brewing. (Charlie Chan in Honolulu)
Waiting for tomorrow waste of today. (Charlie Chan in Egypt)
Friday, June 06, 2008
swing and a miss
Rays pitcher James Shields takes a swing at Coco Crisp after Crisp was hit by a pitch and charged the mound. June 5, 2008, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Rays, again
When I foolishly predicted the Cubs and the Rays would meet in the World Series this year, I said the Red Sox were the only team to keep the Rays out of it.
The Rays just finished a series in Boston and got swept, again. The team that beat the Red Sox at home can't keep it together at Fenway, although they do seem able to hold their own in brawling. (Note to coaches: Please teach the Rays how to connect with their punches).
Meanwhile, the Cubs still look good. They are 9-1 in their last ten games.
New prediction: Cubs and Red Sox in the World Series. One team with a curse, one with a broken curse. This will be the Series that should have occurred in 2003.
The Rays just finished a series in Boston and got swept, again. The team that beat the Red Sox at home can't keep it together at Fenway, although they do seem able to hold their own in brawling. (Note to coaches: Please teach the Rays how to connect with their punches).
Meanwhile, the Cubs still look good. They are 9-1 in their last ten games.
New prediction: Cubs and Red Sox in the World Series. One team with a curse, one with a broken curse. This will be the Series that should have occurred in 2003.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
more Rays, Cubs
Further evidence that nobody reads this blog: A few days ago I predicted that the Rays and the Cubs will be in the World Series this year, for the first time since 1945 (Cubs) or since forever (Rays). Nobody has responded (such as by saying, "are you nuts, or what?").
Of particular interest, the Cubs and Rays continue their winning ways, proving that this blog does not have the effect that Sports Illustrated covers have had on athletes' careers.
As of this morning, the two teams in MLB with the best win-loss percentages are the Cubs and the Rays. Only two teams have won 8 of their last 10 games - the Cubs and the Rays.
This happy dream could end over the next three days, when the Rays play the Red Sox. They are 3-3 against each other. They each swept the other in their home stadiums (stadia?).
In two weeks, the Cubs come to St. Petersburg for three interleague games. You can guess where I'll be for at least one of those nights.
Speaking of Sports Illustrated, does anyone out there have the issue with the comic-book cover, showing a Rays player swinging a Yankees player around over his head? If so . . . how much do you want for it? I might be interested . . . at our local Borders book store they sold out within 45 minutes of that issue's hitting the stand.
Of particular interest, the Cubs and Rays continue their winning ways, proving that this blog does not have the effect that Sports Illustrated covers have had on athletes' careers.
As of this morning, the two teams in MLB with the best win-loss percentages are the Cubs and the Rays. Only two teams have won 8 of their last 10 games - the Cubs and the Rays.
This happy dream could end over the next three days, when the Rays play the Red Sox. They are 3-3 against each other. They each swept the other in their home stadiums (stadia?).
In two weeks, the Cubs come to St. Petersburg for three interleague games. You can guess where I'll be for at least one of those nights.
Speaking of Sports Illustrated, does anyone out there have the issue with the comic-book cover, showing a Rays player swinging a Yankees player around over his head? If so . . . how much do you want for it? I might be interested . . . at our local Borders book store they sold out within 45 minutes of that issue's hitting the stand.
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