Reviews - GEORGE VECSEY

Scientific Fact: Watching Super Bowl Makes Time Pass – 6

1/31/2014

R.A. Dickey Reminds Us of Knuckleballs (Photo, 2013)

I have consulted with noted Talmudic and Jesuit scholars and am assured it is all right to watch the Super Bowl as long as one thinks pure thoughts of spring.

Say to yourself:

“I am watching it for the ads.”
“I am watching it for Renee Fleming.”
“I want to join the water-cooler conversation on Monday.”
“The TV just went on by itself.”

It looks as if the blizzard I predicted for this week hit the South instead. Oops.

New York is unscathed. Gov. Christie hasn’t shut down any bridges or tunnels, so far.

And six of us were on the East Side of Manhattan the other night, had a lovely meal at Teodora on E. 57 St. – and there was not a trace of Super Bowl in that part of Big Town. Not one button or chant.

Just repeat: Pitchers and Catchers. Pitchers and Catchers.

Ed martin

2/1/2014 04:50:41 am

see Dickey in a Toronto uniform reminds menof "knuckleheads."

(those who traded him.)

George Vecsey

2/1/2014 07:29:53 am

They didn't bring back Hawkins this year, either.
Different...but the same.

Alan D. Levine

2/1/2014 05:27:57 am

George--You've said it all. Just fifteen days to go--and counting.

George Vecsey

2/1/2014 07:33:10 am

Alan:
I'm going to do a baseball riff most days from now til then.
Like throwing a log on the fire.
Or lighting a candle in the darkness.
Thanks
GV

Alan D. Levine

2/1/2014 08:24:09 am

No, thank you.

Alan Rubin link

2/1/2014 08:01:04 am

George

No better way to get past the end of winter. It is snowing in Hinsdale, MA right now.

Just got home from a youth soccer session at the Fieldhouse in Canaan, NY. A baseball group came after us. Both sports are there most days of the week.

http://www.thefieldhousecanaan.com/

A nice trip down memory lane.

Ed Martin

2/1/2014 08:59:40 am

Here's a photo/memory to help out in the cause.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=554307294632694&set=t.100001939736590&type=3&theater

George Vecsey

2/1/2014 10:07:58 am

Ed, that is nice. I've been flipping through photos for my current series on baseball. It's interesting (or sad) to watch the evolution of spring training sites from funky old parks to moderate-security institutions where players sign autographs through fences. But still, the warmth and pace of spring training will be welcome....Thanks for the addition. GV

Brian Savin

2/5/2014 12:32:26 pm

Thank you for this.

Yepi Group link

6/1/2014 09:46:55 pm

I enjoy reading through your article..

Comments are closed.

QUOTES
"....the monsters arrive."
"They come in a deafening, surging swarm, blasting from lawn to lawn and filling the air with the stench of gasoline and death. I would call them mechanical locusts, descending upon every patch of gold in the neighborhood the way the grasshoppers of old would arrive, in numbers so great they darkened the sky, to lay bare a cornfield in minutes. But that comparison is unfair to locusts.
"Grasshoppers belong here. Gasoline-powered leaf blowers are invaders, the most maddening of all the maddening, environment-destroying tools of the American lawn-care industry."

---The great Margaret Renkl, from Nashville, one of my favorite NYT bylines, Oct. 26, 2021.
(She describes our Long Island enclave to every decibel, every stink.)
lwww.nytimes.com/2021/10/25/opinion/leaf-blowers-california-emissions.html
---
"The day after my 80th birthday, which overflowed with good wishes, surprises and Covid-safe celebrations, I awoke feeling fulfilled and thinking that whatever happens going forward, I’m OK with it. My life has been rewarding, my bucket list is empty, my family is thriving, and if everything ends tomorrow, so be it.
"Not that I expect to do anything to hasten my demise. I will continue to exercise regularly, eat healthfully and strive to minimize stress. But I’m also now taking stock of the many common hallmarks of aging and deciding what I need to reconsider."
--Jane E. Brody, my pal in the NYT newsroom, oh, a few years back, in the Personal Health column, Sept. 13, 2021.

Scientific Fact: Watching Super Bowl Makes Time Pass – 6

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