Softball: The Agony and Ecstasy in Stark Narrative Relief
Dear People,
My team rallied from the edge of a morale-crushing 10-0 5th-inning abyss to beat Jim McGuire's on the last hit of the game, 12-11, and for the record, that hit was mine---A transcendent 2-on 2-out blast over Saadia's shell-shocked little head in catastrophically shallow left. Why he was playing so short is between him, Jim and the Lord, of course, but I assume it's because of the tactical imperatives triggered by our game-winning runner waiting giggly at 2nd. That, and perhaps the fact that I actually hadn't hit a fly ball beyond where the Saadster was standing since the fall of the Soviet Union.
I mention all this since even I happen to believe that when you're the unexpected hero of your own aerobic tale, there's simply no need to focus on anybody else's ghastly lack of eptitude (their 'ineptitude,' if you'd be so kind as to allow me a coinage). For one thing, it's just not the way I roll, and regardless, I don't think Jim himself can be blamed for the late-inning collapse of his entire team. Indeed, the poor lad had just returned from six long, grueling and softball-bereft weeks in the Indonesian bush, and when his 2-out 1-on 8th-inning strikeout with destiny is seen in that light, I think it's only fair to ask: Who amongst us has not gone down swinging against one of Mitch's blistering 5-MPH sugarballs?!
Yeah, premature is the competitive schadenfreude that sprouts in the absence of some basic solemn reflection. And therefore there will be a game at Codornices this Sunday at 11, IF I get enough commits by this Friday morning. . .Raymond
PS: A Brief Return to the Aging Issue:
This league is replete with nearly a dozen whip-smart Cal biologists who do honorable research in everything from the succulents of the Amazon to proteomic channel gates, and needless to say, their presence in our humble little community greatly elevates both our collective IQ and the level of play. This makes it all the more frustrating that whenever I tell them that they should immediately drop their current areas of study in order to focus on the cellular biology of stories like the links below (of which several have appeared in the last few months), they all look at me as I were a certified lunatic.
To be clear, I have no quarrel with succulents or gates or any other areas of scientific inquiry. Still, I would like to gently suggest that if these biopeeps of ours could help us all achieve the dream of corporeal youth for the next 500,000 years, perhaps they'd actually enjoy the extra time for both research and softball, and in so doing, add a tad of nuance to their unanimous assertion that such a desire is pervo. . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr1nF4RhqT8
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/14/brooke-greenberg-syndrome-x_n_2473161.html
8/22/13
Softball: The Dignity Problem
Dear People,
There will be a game at Codornices this Sunday at 11, and as of now there are still seven slots left. So if you're on the fence, please transcend your abulia and tell me you'll be there (Lest I be forced to needlessly grovel for players on Saturday, thereby debasing every one of you in this entire league). Indeed, you're even welcome to commit any of the darkly inscrutable non-community people you know, so long as they're of good cheer and kindly.
Please bring $4 for the field, which for this week only includes a rare 3rd edition reprint of Collier's classic Urdu-Navajo Bilingual Dictionary…Raymond 845-7552