2/7/07
Softball: A Time to Toch
Dear People,
Jonny’s team crushed my own 18-13, but my side had the best PAG (Personal Aerobic Growth). For example, Steve Seskin broke out of his 30-year slump by blasting three solid singles, each and every one of them at least five and a half feet up the first base line! Oh sure, he’d soon have to learn anew that getting on base involves certain tactical responsibilities—like continuing to run if your teammate is darting for the very base that you’re standing there daydreaming on—but hey, there’s no shame in causing a sacrifice-double-pickle, especially if you’re the one who gets to score from 3rd.
Even better, Nikki solidified her dominance at 2nd by catching a series of deadly line drives with both grace and aplomb. She even stopped Matt’s blistering 5th-inning grounder with a curiously effective pincer-trap comprised exclusively of her own sternum and chin! Yeah, perhaps it’s a cliché, but softball is nothing if not pain’n glory.
Of course Dave K knows that well from rich, lean experience, and yet even though Raul’s rocketing throw to 3rd ended up smashing directly into his dreadfully unfortunate latissimus dorsi, the Davester hobbled onward to safety with the stoic pride of a determined amature cellist. Indeed, a cellist who had just finished performing a grueling Shostakovich concerto with the Berlin Philharmonic. That’s right. Pain. Glory. Harmony. Tone. And no, I’m not writing that just to cynically segueway into the fact that if I had to think of just one 20th century composer whose early quartets most fully capture the somewhat stark beauty of lingering athletic pain, it would have to be that master of really not-so-pleasant modern composition, the great Ernst Toch.
Now look, I’m not writing that just because the dude was my grandpapa. For one thing, I’m well aware that this is a softball list, and if there’s one thing I‘ve already learned from trying to promote my stupid siblings, it’s that there’s a time and place for sport, and a time and place for the merely familial. I hear ya. And yet, just by coincidence, I happen to be strolling through the web yesterday when I came across the following article, which I think we can all agree explores the rich musical context that will soon allow us—and I mean ‘us’ as a sophisticated, softball-playing people—to hit, field, flourish and boogie:
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976899265
In all candor, I don’t know if Tochmania is about to sweep the world. But I do know that if every person on this list went out and convinced 100 other people to buy all 46 Toch-related CDs on Amazon.com, the residual athletic karma would guarantee that Nikki and Dave K would never again be hurt while playing our beloved pastime. I think you see my point, and I think you know what you need to do (if nothing else, for those beautiful battered souls, Nikki and Dave K). And therefore there will be a game at Codornices this Sunday at 11AM, IF I get enough commits by this Friday morning….Ray
2/11/07
Softball: Sunday 9:05AM: Just back from the Homeland/Despair…
Dear People,
As you know, my only charge is to give you the best damn aerobic release that $3 can buy, week after week after pitiful sedentary week. Unfortunately, this week you’re on your own, since Codornices is both officially closed and a contemptible lagoon of festering malarial mud-gunk. Yuck.
Even worse, I am in no state to organize another activity since I am fluish, weak and my back is all achy-pooh. I’m going back to sleep. However, if there is anybody out there who wants to organize a vigorous round of bowling, darts or pizza ’n beer, feel free to use this list.
Patience…Raymond
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