This Will Get Baseball Fans Through the Next Month -3

1/28/2014

Click

One day soon, but not soon enough,
Weary of the vapid sitcoms
And offensive commercials
We will grab the clicker
And summon the Grand Kabuki
Of baseball.

A jittery old pitcher
Scuffing at the mound.
A kid we don’t know, pinch-hitting
For the first time in the majors.
Mutual insecurities
Banging up against each other.

We will be transfixed by this duel between strangers
And we will dump Carmelo chucking it up,
And snowboarders, and bad movies,
The stupidity of 800 channels.

As my friend Ford writes,
Sitting out the winter in coastal Virginia,
Reading Blake, waiting for AA ball:
Hang in there.

Altenir Silva

1/28/2014 11:13:38 am

My dear George,

I loved this poem. In the year of World Cup, my expectations are more in Yankees bullpen than the goals of Neymar. And the most amazing, I feel no guilt about it. I love baseball.

Regards - Altenir (from Copacabana - Rio - Brazil)

George Vecsey

1/29/2014 12:06:30 am

Caro Altenir: Desfrute de Copa do Mundo.
Os Yankees ainda vai jogar depois.
Meus regareds a tua família,
George

Altenir Silva

1/29/2014 11:09:21 am

Dear George,

I'm kidding... I'll enjoy the World Cup. But before that, we have the Super Bowl. With all due respect of the Manning's family, I will root for the Seatlle Seahawks.
Muito obrigado.
Forte abraço - Altenir

Brin Savin

1/28/2014 01:28:26 pm

William Blake, eh?

"On my American plains I feel the struggling afflictions
Endur'd by roots that writhe their arms into the nether deep."

And lo the Mets yet further sinketh
to lull their fans into eternal sleep.

George

1/29/2014 12:10:34 am

"The tigers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction."
Does that in any way apply to the poor Mets?
Whatever. I love to say it.
GV

Brian Savin

2/5/2014 11:46:41 am

Cool, touche. (I've been away awhile)

Comments are closed.

QUOTES
Welcome to World Cup 2022, the most absurd thing that the routinely absurd world of sports has ever produced.
Those extreme descriptions were what virtually the entire world, save for those who had walked off with bags of cash from Qatar, called the awarding of soccer’s greatest event to the incredibly tiny, incredibly wealthy country back in 2010.
Twelve years ago, many were convinced this event couldn’t possibly happen: staging the world’s biggest sporting event in a country the size of Connecticut, one with zero soccer culture and even less soccer infrastructure? The tournament couldn’t possibly take place in 120-degree heat, and FIFA, the governing body of soccer, most certainly wouldn’t upend football leagues around the world to change the traditional summer schedule, could it?
And, for God’s sake, what about the beer?
Those were just the logistical concerns. The moral concerns are far more distressing. FIFA, so busy paying lip service to equality, couldn’t possibly expect the world to embrace a country where you could go to prison for being gay, where women’s rights are severely curtailed and female victims of sexual assault could go to prison, charged with engaging in extramarital sex. And all those questions came before the global realization that the World Cup was being built on the backs of migrant labor: modern-day slaves held in Qatar with virtually no rights, low wages and no ability to leave. Migrants make up 90% of Qatar’s stated population of 3 million. The country’s native-born equal about 300,000, or roughly the size of Anaheim.
---Ann Killion, columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle.

This Will Get Baseball Fans Through the Next Month -3

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