The American world of baseball descended upon the Gateway to the West this week. There was carousing and merriment. There were displays of power, of cunning. And in the end, as always, the AL defeated the National League. Bringing us these events employed a small army of analysts, interviewers, and announcers, and yet, it was Obama who looked, felt, and sounded like the only one that belonged on tv. To baseball fans, perhaps the All Star Weekend provides a pleasant respite in a rather lengthy season. An oasis to remind everyone it’s just a game; that baseball’s the sport best enjoyed on a sunny afternoon with a hotdog and an optimistic child. For the rest of us, it’s a mile marker that football’s almost home from it’s yearly nude hike on the Appalachian Trail.
The day after baseball’s All Star Game makes me feel a lot like ol’ Chuck Noland from “Castaway”. There are literally no relevant sports being played (unless, like me, you’re gleefully watching Adam Morrison blossom in the NBA’s Summer League) as tumbleweeds roll through the sports landscape. We must not dwell on the sportslessness of today, but look forward with a fight song in our hearts, and a gleam in our eye. Throughout the echoey chasm of today Chuck Noland’s words ring true: I gotta keep breathing. Because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?
Baseball’s All Star Game is my Groundhog Day, in that it signals the approaching end of my apathetic winter. Fantasy football invites sprung up in my email last week like so many blooming dandelions. Training camp is but a fortnight away. Preseason can be accurately described as “next month”. The suns shines brighter as a season full of possibilities lay before us; we are ALL on longer winning streaks than the Lions, gang!
I don’t mean to bash baseball, I really don’t. It’s provided a lot of joy in my life, even if most of those good memories involve Kevin Costner. Alas, the snow of summer is melting and the spring of autumn is near. I anxiously await my opportunity to spend some time back in the Carolinas, talking up Panthers with assured bravado and getting nothing but glassy eyed nods in return.
As a quick aside, can I just say how frustrating it is to find Tony Romo so damn charming?
new post up at CubicleGM: http://tinyurl.com/njsv22
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
What’s missing from the All Star game cannot be retrieved by “home field advantage” for the winner. It’s the US vs. THEM of the AL vs the NL from players who spend their whole careers playing in one league or the other. Bah, Curt Flood!