Softball: Across the Universe
Dear People,
In a 10-inning masterwork of the American aerobic experience, Pace's team crushed mine on the last hit of the game, 20-19. It was a vital and wondrous match from the get-go, most notably because three heroic Australians flew in from Melbourne just to add a compelling global overlay to our tragically foreignless rosters. Truth be told, I initially feared that they might panic amid the sport's somewhat confusing cultural traditions, for as a modest dabbler in clinical psycho-anthropology, I happen to know that although Aussies believe they are normal, they are in fact the most exotic and inscrutably nutso peoples on the face of the earth.
Nevertheless, Nicky, Ali and Lachlan came to play, and play they did, with a riveting recreational focus that all but transformed the game. Nicholas was the moral lynchpin of my entire team, and the fact that he also happens to be my second cousin only added to the swelling familial pride by which I assess my own social identity. Indeed, his hitting and fielding were both so utterly devoid of the familial humiliation that I usually endure when my sibs play that I plan to seriously study my family tree in order to understand just how in fact we're supposedly “related.”
In any case, Ali was also a stirring fillip for my side, with her signature blasts to left, her native-like command of the catcher's role, and the clarity of stoic resolve with which she persevered after being brutally beamed in the shin (Incidentally, Ali from Melbourne is not be confused with Ali from Dallas, who played on Pace's team with her usual good cheer and dominating je-ne-sais quoi, but without the jet-lag, accent or bruise). Finally, there was Lachlan, who not only led the Paceter's contingent with three hits and four RBIs, but was also in fact the game-ending run! As per my prerogative, he will be deported by the end of the week.
The point is that it would've been easy to dismiss these kindly but curious aliens as not worthy of our league, yet I for one was determined to transcend all those insidious stereotypes. Oh sure, they'll always prefer their cherished childhood pastimes of cricket, rugby and professional kangaroo ball, but in the end, I believe they showed us that in its finest form, sport itself is borderless and pure. And therefore there will be a game at Grove Park this Sunday at 11, IF I get enough commits by this Friday morning…Raymond
PS: FWIW, my response-one of 9,300+ letters and half-way down-on the annoying ontological problem. . .
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/29/my-take-im-spiritual-not-religious-is-a-cop-out/comment-page-112/
10/12/12
Softball: Danville
Dear People,
There will be a game at Grove Park this Sunday at 11AM, and as of now there are still four slots left.
Please bring $4 for the field, which, as always, includes my personal pledge to you to keep the game-time malarkey, bunkum and guff to an always tolerable minimum. . . Raymond 845-7552