9/10/99
Softball: The Broadening Range of Potential Honorees
Dear People,
Congratz to all on last weekend's scintillating 25-18 manifestation of kinesiologically draining aerobic probity. In retrospect, so many individuals excelled at their athletic craft that I was left nonplused by the rarefied salubriositude of it all. Both teams played with stunning esprit de corps, as if they had been cohesive units since the days of Goslin and Gherig, and not in fact just hastily assembled configurations of dour and isolated souls, desperately seeking recreational solace from the stark reality of their pointless lives.
Regardless, as a member of the losing endeavor, I can honestly say that probably no more than a handful of us even noticed that had we not fallen into an inexplicable crisis of resolve in the 5th inning---an unsettling experience in which we gave up 12 of those 25 runs---we would have won by five rather than lost by seven. Of course, the history of true athletic progress does not rest on the technical sniffling of an embittered historian's asterisk, and thus I will be the first to concede that it is pointless speculation to ponder what would have happened had our pitcher not scorned my advice by sneaking in that reefer in the bottom of the 4th.
In any case, and as most of you know, this Saturday, September 12th, is the 61st anniversary of one of the most ignominious episodes in Baseball history: On that sultry September afternoon in Washington DC, Republican Presidential candidate Herbert Hoover showed up at a Senators-Yankee game in order to pose with the legendary Babe Ruth. However, the Babe slighted the aspiring Iowan, telling assembled reporters "Nothing doing, I'm for Al Smith."
Newsweek later reported that Hoover was visibly embarrassed by the brush off, and while I certainly understand Ruth's nuanced opposition to Hoover's support of the Kellogg-Briand treaty, I must confess that six decades later, I remain baffled by the crass partisanship of the Babe's behavior. Oh sure, it would have been nice to later have a President who thought the Depression was worth doing something about, but that's not the point. The real point is that the confluence of basic civility, sport and national politics is an ideal in and of itself, and I for one plan to promote its underlying tenets in the only way I know how. Therefore, there will be a game at Codornices Park this Saturday, September 12th at 11AM, IF I get enough players by this Friday noon. So make that commit; Do it for President Herbert Hoover, whose quiet emotional dignity withstood the blow of such an outrageously public insult, thus paving the way for a 34% drop in America's GNP over the following four years....Ray
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