National Pastime, National Treasure

The Mets-Cardinals playoff game is rained out tonight in St. Louis, so this is a good opportunity to catch up with another favorite topic, our troops.

This past weekend, the Navy's Blue Angels were in San Diego for the annual Miramar Air Show. Although I've watched the Angels flying their magic for over 20 years, as I live very close by the air station, I never actually went to the event. So seeing the jets up close was a treat. (The crease in the photo at right is the centerfold in my program book.)

I walked all over the show grounds and enjoyed talking to as many service personnel as I could. It was so refreshing to hear from the young men and women of our armed forces, who are actually doing the heavy lifting in this war, and not listen to the twisted, filtered MSM reports that always try to make things appear as black as possible. I spoke with troops from the Midwest, the Rockies, the South, the East Coast, as well as hometown kids from California. These inspiring young people were smiling, personable, excited about their jobs and eager to step into the breach for our country. Several had been to Iraq more than once and were looking forward to going back yet again.

One young Marine I talked with had not yet been to Iraq but is scheduled to ship out next month. I asked him if he really wanted to go. "Heck, yeah, ma'am! That's what I signed up for!"

To a person, each and every one demurred at being thanked for their service. They are a national treasure, and I told them so. We would certainly be in deep trouble without them.

There is a price to be paid for this national treasure we call our military. Some of our troops are not blessed with a homecoming to their loved ones. Many leave small children behind. A friend and reader who is a Navy veteran suggested I post a link to the Snowball Express. As the holidays approach, please consider the Snowball Express as one of your charitable contributions for the season. We can never repay what has been taken from these children of heroes, but we can provide them with a day of smiles at Disneyland.

It seems such a small thing to do, but it at least extends our appreciation and our gratitude.

The Priority of Baseball

There are loose nukes in North Korea, earthquakes in Hawaii--both disasters are President Bush's fault, according to Kos--but let's stay focused, people. The Mets won 12-5 last night in St. Louis.

The Detroit Tigers swept the Oakland A's, so now the only question is who they'll play in the World Series, the New York Mets or the St. Louis Cardinals.

Let's go, Mets!

A Tough Loss

Watch therefore; for you know not what hour your Lord is to come.
~ Matt 24:42

There will be no "next season" for Yankee pitcher Corey Lidle. Today's tragedy underscores the precious fragility of life and the inevitability of our mortal fate. Death has no regard for age, occupation, health, wealth, or future plans. It comes when it will. Today's tough loss, to use a baseball term, is something beyond our human ability to control.

Do you know how to make God laugh? Tell Him what you're going to do tomorrow.

The Game of Reality

Detroit is leading Oakland, 5-0 in the 5th. There's still a lot of baseball to go in this game, so Tiger fans, conserve your energy. Meanwhile, MSM seems downright depressed that North Korea's nukes have knocked horny gay politicians off the front pages. Check out this gloomy quote, from CNN's Jeff Greenfield:

So does the North Korea test trump the Foley scandal? Here's one point to keep
in mind: there's a month to go before Election Day. The North Korea story may
well fade by then...the Foley follies are likely to stay front and center for
weeks.

The "Foley follies" have already been “front and center for weeks”! How much longer can MSM flog this broken zipper of a story? An unstable nation has hit a home run news item, and seamy e-mails simply can’t score against that fact. Nor should they.

MSM would do well to take a lesson from baseball. In baseball, situations change in a split second, and players need to respond to the moment. What seemed like sudden death at the bottom of the ninth short hops into a revitalizing rally in the space of one slider. Easy winners sometimes lose, in dramatic and humiliating style. Longtime losers find themselves line-driven into unexpected victories. In baseball, players understand when it’s time to shake it off, suck it up, let it go, wrap it up, or take it home.

MSM needs some spring training in the game of reality. Watching the MLB playoffs is a good place to start.

The Obvious Answer

The San Diego Padres lost the division series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday night by a score of 6-2 in Game 4.

I hold President Bush fully responsible.

Poem for the Pummeled

Padres, you're tormenting me--
We know that you will not sweep three;
Boomer may have dropped the ball,
But Padres, just where were you all?
Game 2's no time to take a snooze;
We're singing the St. Louis blues!
We're set up for a Cardinal's win,
Dreaming of what might have been.

Playoff Memories

The (heartbreaking) San Diego Padres are scheduled to play Game 2 against St. Louis tomorrow at Petco Park. Baseball playoff season always puts me in mind of the time I worked in Shea Stadium's office and was lucky enough to be smack in the center of playoff and World Series excitement.

Here's an excerpt from my book, Working Over Time, describing one such long-ago game day:

This year, 1973, was one in which the Mets made it into the playoffs at the
end of the season, and they proceeded to the World Series. It was the
waning era of day games. My office was located behind the press box.
It was a nice suite of offices, but there were no windows. We had the
radio on to listen to the game, but we kept hearing thunderous roars from the
crowd just yards from our door every time a play went our team’s way. We
took turns rushing out to the press box to check the action, but the game was
heating up and nobody wanted to miss any of it. In those prehistoric days,
before one could send all calls to automated greetings at the touch of a keypad,
somebody had to man the phones. That, of course, was my job. By the
second inning, everyone in my office had filtered into the press box to watch
the game. I was left with the occasionally ringing telephone and a severe
case of fan frustration at being left out of the baseball
drama.

This was a playoff game for the World Series, for heaven’s
sake, probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience, I told myself. I couldn’t
allow myself to miss it. Yet I would still need the job long after the
champagne corks had popped. My dilemma persisted; how could I watch the
game and continue to cover the phones?

Being young, determined, and
caught up in baseball fever, I hit upon a solution. What if the lines were
just plain busy? After all, it was World Series season, a naturally busy
time in our office. Could I possibly tie up all incoming lines to Shea
Stadium’s director’s office? I pushed in each of the four lines, one at a
time, popping them onto hold with a punch of the Big Red Button. Then I
went out to join my co-workers in the pressbox to watch the Amazing Mets battle
Cincinnati’s Big Red Machine.

If anyone was the wiser for my
shenanigans, no one ever said a word to me.
***************

For old time's sake, I always find myself pulling for the Mets when they make it to October ball. I'm especially enjoying this year, when the Mets are playing those arch rivals of the San Diego Padres, the Dodgers.

Changing the Subject

Okay, I'm sick and tired of dirty, slimy, lying, thieving, corrupt and disgusting politicians--of all stripes, ranks, and parties. I'm also completely fed up with sick, evil, demented, twisted, maniacal, cold-blooded killers--no matter how badly their feelings were hurt during their childhoods.

MSM, you've struck out with me. I'm going to skip the so-called news for a while and listen to the baseball playoff games instead. If there's any joy to be found in Mudville, the ballgame is where it will be. For the rest of the post-season, this will be a baseball blog. All the scandals and murders will just have to wait on deck, as it were.

The San Diego Padres are playing the St. Louis Cardinals today at 1:00pm Pacific time.

GO PADRES!

UPDATE: Okay, so maybe a baseball blog won't be a sure way for a Padres fan to dwell on good news. However, that's my game plan and I'm sticking to it. Cards 5, Pads 1 in Game 1. Poop!

Innocence Destroyed

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned
~ W.B. Yeats

Today we learned that there is no shelter from the depravity of our era. Even in the peaceful, pastoral environs of Pennsylvania Dutch country, where the insulated Amish community excludes electricity and automobiles from its lifestyle, the evil violence that scars our modern times finds a nesting place.

A lone gunman entered a one-room schoolhouse and brutally murdered three, no--four little girls. At least six more remain in critical condition from the execution-style shootings. The butcher killed himself; he was a local milk truck driver.

What is going on in our society?

There are as many theories as there are people you ask. Personally, I believe our culture has lost its soul. There is no right or wrong any longer; there are only "extenuating circumstances" and "outside factors" to justify any and all actions. There are no clearly recognized good or evil actions; there are merely "choices" and "alternatives."

One may point to the decline of strong family structures, the weakening educational system, the loosening of cultural restraints, or shrinking congregations in churches and synogogues, as aspects of our societal degeneration. All of these negative elements, and more, converge to produce the "mere anarchy" of which Yeats speaks so prophetically in his 1921 poem.

The "blood-dimmed tide" has indeed been loosed. And innocence has long since been engulfed in its deadly fury.

More on Angels

Before I leave the topic of angels, at least until the Christmas season, there is another angel commemorative date tomorrow, October 2--the feast day of Guardian Angels.

The idea of each person being assigned a guardian angel is intriguing. Although it is not Church dogma, I've always liked the thought of having my own personal angel. Lord knows, I've certainly needed one, as most of us have at times. When my kids were little, during bedtime prayers, we always recited the "angel prayer:"

Guardian Angel Prayer

Angel of God, My Guardian Dear
to whom God's love commits me
here.
Ever this day, be at my side
to light and guard and rule and
guide.

Amen.

Guardian angels are thought to be of the lower ranks in angel heirarchy. I'm not sure I agree. If I do have a guardian angel (and I believe I do), it certainly has a powerful constitution. I've survived enough potentially deadly circumstances that a platoon of archangels would be worn down to a nub if they had to deal with me. My sturdy little blue collar angel is doing a stellar job. Ever this day, be at my side--and please, stay there.