8/7/01

Softball: The Strain of Competing Virtues

Dear People,

Congratz to all on last week’s stirring 18-15 paragon of highly contentious yet honorably finessed final-inning aerobic fireworks. The local tabloids will no doubt focus on the raucous debate that ensued as the tying run came to the plate with two on and two outs in the bottom of the 9th, yet this sublime denouement of triumph and tragedy was so much more than feisty recreational yacking.

Regardless, let the record show that as Alex’s spindly pinch-runner legs darted down the first base line in a last gallant attempt to keep his team alive, I was completely unaware that I was blocking his perfectly linear rendezvous with destiny. To his credit, he could have barreled directly into me, perhaps causing severe trauma to both my spleen and tiny little testes, but instead, he chose to not see me as an "enemy first baseman," but rather as a fellow human being with my own inherent worth, aspirations and hodensäcken, and for that I am eternally grateful.

Of course, while Alex’s decision to "slow down" showed a disturbing lack of athletic zeal, his immediate protestations of the resulting game-ending out were surely seeped in the rich curry of utterly righteous indignation. The invectives, bickering and targeted mooning that followed only served to put the moral ambiguities of our noble institution into stark relief, with its brutal contradictory values of safety and runage.

I honestly believe that we are a better people for having allowed the unsettling compromise of a "do-over," though alas, the pop-up that followed clearly rendered the entire brouhaha as little more than an utterly meaningless exercise in recreational abstraction. The reality is that Frank’s team lost, and then lost again, and that is a historical fact that no amount of kindness or integrity can ever make otherwise. Pity.

In any case, and as most you know, this weekend marks the 91st anniversary of that uncanny New York afternoon when the Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates played to an 8-8 tie in which both teams had 38 at bats, 13 hits, 12 assists, 2 errors, 5 strikeouts, 3 walks, 1 passed ball & 1 hit by a pitch. Personally, I still get chills when I think of the majestic symmetry of the greater whole, and therefore, there will be a game at Codornices this Sunday at 5:00, IF I get enough commits by this Friday morning….Ray

8/9/01

Softball: Science

Dear People,

There will be a game at Codornices this Sunday at 5:00, and as of now, there are still three slots left.

Please bring $2 for the field, which for this week only, includes all grazing fees, ample free parking and a complimentary hand-crafted stem cell line (!), individually culled from one of only 61 available sources…. Raymond 845-7552

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