Monday, May 30, 2011
"Now Tied For First" Said In A Negative Tone For The First Time In '11
So we lose and we're back into a tie (percentage points behind) with the Yanks. Too bad Lester's been struggling and too bad the O couldn't pick him up again tonight.
I only saw a little of the game on TV (caught a lot on radio) but for the first time, I kind of liked the stars/stripes hats--but only from afar, not in the closeups. The white panel hats were a staple of the cheesy baseball uniform era, and the ones I ended up being stuck with throughout Little League and beyond. Every single year in the 80s it was your color on the brim and back of the hat, and a single letter in a foamy white field in front. I also had a Pac-Man hat like that. Baby blue. It's not my fault assholes took this style and ruined it years later.
As for the actual stars and stripes thing, I'm still just not seeing why all this patriotism has to be tied up in knots with sporting events. Why can't people go to a parade, do the Yay America thing at the designated time and place, and then go to the ballpark for just a ballgame? One which might involve players from different countries and even entire teams based elsewhere anyway. Even if I was super patriotic I think I'd still feel this way. I mean, does every event have to take place in conjunction with salutes to that country's flag? I know baseball is America's pastime and all that, but people have been, for example, urinating since the beginning of people, and I don't salute the flag every time I take a leak. American cheese is America's cheese, but when I eat it, I don't even think about troops or "our freedom." Are those some awesome and relevant examples or what?! Any fan has the right to go to a game decked out in their country's colors, but I'm sick of the whole thing being forced upon all of us. It doesn't make sense--I go to dinner, I just ingest food. I go to a Broadway show, I just see a play. I go watch men hit a ball with a stick...and I'm told to take off my hat and sing songs about deities I don't believe in and listen to yahoos say "woo" really loud when they hear "land of the free" as if we're the only people in the world with a desire to make our own decisions in life, many of which involve horribly ill-timed texting. It's not like the patriotic stuff is in the rulebook--it's just something someone decided to do once, and it caught on. I like my country. Like, Dotty. Maybe one day I'll love it unconditionally and wear a tri-cornered hat to work, and maybe one day I'll despise it and just move to Tahiti or Greece or Vermont. But no matter how I feel about it, I'd just prefer to separate sports and state. If anything, use the opportunity to promote togetherness, not standoffishness. Fat chance, I know.
Fun fact: Today isn't even a holiday in Canada, yet MLB makes the Blue Jays wear special patriotic hats. I wonder if they're really forced to wear those, or if they're FREE to just wear their normal hats. See how I capitalized "free" there?
I only saw a little of the game on TV (caught a lot on radio) but for the first time, I kind of liked the stars/stripes hats--but only from afar, not in the closeups. The white panel hats were a staple of the cheesy baseball uniform era, and the ones I ended up being stuck with throughout Little League and beyond. Every single year in the 80s it was your color on the brim and back of the hat, and a single letter in a foamy white field in front. I also had a Pac-Man hat like that. Baby blue. It's not my fault assholes took this style and ruined it years later.
As for the actual stars and stripes thing, I'm still just not seeing why all this patriotism has to be tied up in knots with sporting events. Why can't people go to a parade, do the Yay America thing at the designated time and place, and then go to the ballpark for just a ballgame? One which might involve players from different countries and even entire teams based elsewhere anyway. Even if I was super patriotic I think I'd still feel this way. I mean, does every event have to take place in conjunction with salutes to that country's flag? I know baseball is America's pastime and all that, but people have been, for example, urinating since the beginning of people, and I don't salute the flag every time I take a leak. American cheese is America's cheese, but when I eat it, I don't even think about troops or "our freedom." Are those some awesome and relevant examples or what?! Any fan has the right to go to a game decked out in their country's colors, but I'm sick of the whole thing being forced upon all of us. It doesn't make sense--I go to dinner, I just ingest food. I go to a Broadway show, I just see a play. I go watch men hit a ball with a stick...and I'm told to take off my hat and sing songs about deities I don't believe in and listen to yahoos say "woo" really loud when they hear "land of the free" as if we're the only people in the world with a desire to make our own decisions in life, many of which involve horribly ill-timed texting. It's not like the patriotic stuff is in the rulebook--it's just something someone decided to do once, and it caught on. I like my country. Like, Dotty. Maybe one day I'll love it unconditionally and wear a tri-cornered hat to work, and maybe one day I'll despise it and just move to Tahiti or Greece or Vermont. But no matter how I feel about it, I'd just prefer to separate sports and state. If anything, use the opportunity to promote togetherness, not standoffishness. Fat chance, I know.
Fun fact: Today isn't even a holiday in Canada, yet MLB makes the Blue Jays wear special patriotic hats. I wonder if they're really forced to wear those, or if they're FREE to just wear their normal hats. See how I capitalized "free" there?
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What I hate about the "patriotism" on display at Fenway and in sports (and in the public arena) in general is that it's only a certain "type" of patriotism. The mindless type. The rah-rah, always support your leaders, "love it or leave it," never question war--type. That's why I hate seeing all that stuff forced into every other Fenway game. The baseball type of "patriotism," I suspect, is exactly the kind of blindness the founding fathers would've hated. It's also just flat-out intellectually and morally bankrupt.
Whenever the P.A. guy at the Fenway games asks the crowd to pay tribute to all the brave men and women in the military, it reminds me of the end of "The Dead Zone" movie where Martin Sheen holds up a baby to protect himself from a possible sniping. You can't do anything now; you can't criticize the war, criticize the Patriot act, question the way the media portrays world events--because those babies are always being held up as human shields by the very powers that exploit them and use them to carry out their dirty work.
Also, what the heck was Francona thinking leaving Lester out there to throw a billion pitches?
Whenever the P.A. guy at the Fenway games asks the crowd to pay tribute to all the brave men and women in the military, it reminds me of the end of "The Dead Zone" movie where Martin Sheen holds up a baby to protect himself from a possible sniping. You can't do anything now; you can't criticize the war, criticize the Patriot act, question the way the media portrays world events--because those babies are always being held up as human shields by the very powers that exploit them and use them to carry out their dirty work.
Also, what the heck was Francona thinking leaving Lester out there to throw a billion pitches?
MH, you're right. 127 pitches without command of anything but his cutter was extreme.
I loved reading THE DEAD ZONE and then eventually, when it was released, seeing it on the screen. Sheen was great. This is one of the few Steven King novels (Cujo, Firestarter Stand By Me,The Green Mile)etc. that had a decent movie script.
I loved reading THE DEAD ZONE and then eventually, when it was released, seeing it on the screen. Sheen was great. This is one of the few Steven King novels (Cujo, Firestarter Stand By Me,The Green Mile)etc. that had a decent movie script.
I thought your head was gonna explode when the Sox announced that they may move the start time for Saturday's game from 7:05pm to 1:05pm to avoid a conflict with the Bruins' Game 2.
As for the Stars and Stripes hats, I thought they looked especially shitty this year. The red w/white panels completely clashes with the Sox' home uni (the old red caps from the 70's at least had the navy brim), and up close they look like freaking softball truckers' caps that you buy at a Walmart.
What really galls me is that they are only donating $1 per cap sold to the WBV Fund even though they're actually charging $2 more for one of these caps than the standard authentic cap. Raising money for charities that provide financial assistance and other services to returning veterans is an extremely worthy cause; MLB should be giving all of the proceeds to them instead of boosting their own profit margins selling these fugly pieces of crap.
As for the Stars and Stripes hats, I thought they looked especially shitty this year. The red w/white panels completely clashes with the Sox' home uni (the old red caps from the 70's at least had the navy brim), and up close they look like freaking softball truckers' caps that you buy at a Walmart.
What really galls me is that they are only donating $1 per cap sold to the WBV Fund even though they're actually charging $2 more for one of these caps than the standard authentic cap. Raising money for charities that provide financial assistance and other services to returning veterans is an extremely worthy cause; MLB should be giving all of the proceeds to them instead of boosting their own profit margins selling these fugly pieces of crap.
Mom here.
Or, MH, "Patriotism is the refuge of a scoundrel." (Thomas Paine, I think, but not sure.)
Or, MH, "Patriotism is the refuge of a scoundrel." (Thomas Paine, I think, but not sure.)
# posted by 
: Tuesday, May 31, 2011 11:46:00 AM
: Tuesday, May 31, 2011 11:46:00 AM
At least the Blue Jays' hats had the Canadian flag, right? If they were forced to wear stars n stripes that would be a bit awkward.
The patriotism on display for Memorial Day is not all bad. It's about honoring those who died in service, not all "rah rah love it or leave it."
And finally, yeah Lester should have been yanked much sooner. He clearly didn't have it.
The patriotism on display for Memorial Day is not all bad. It's about honoring those who died in service, not all "rah rah love it or leave it."
And finally, yeah Lester should have been yanked much sooner. He clearly didn't have it.
# posted by : Tuesday, May 31, 2011 11:52:00 AM
: Tuesday, May 31, 2011 11:52:00 AM
AJM--that's really funny because 5 minutes before I saw your comment, I looked at the sched compared to the Stanley Cup Finals one and noticed the Sox would be on the road the whole time except for Wednesday (where the game times don't conflict, and Saturday, when they do. So I was wondering if they were gonna change it and since they've already done that in the past for the Celtics I was prepared for it. Kinda lame but doesn't bother me that much--oh, actually what made me think to check those skeds was an email I got from the Paw Sox saying they're changing the time of one of THEIR games for it!
I think I mind all the military stuff more than I mind the patrioticness. I'm down with associating baseball with the good aspects of America, because America is, in a general sense, pretty ok, and it invented baseball, and baseball is the American game (not effing college football). I'm perfectly ok with all that. I just don't get why they're always telling us that the people in the military are "defending our freedoms overseas" and whatnot. It seems deliberately provocative. And those hats are just ghastly. Plus, when you start doing stuff like that, how do you back off from it later without seeming disrespectful? Recognizing every event with some unsightly uniform change is not a road I want to go down.
I don't salute the flag every time I take a leak. American cheese is America's cheese, but when I eat it, I don't even think about troops or "our freedom."
That's because you are a terrorist.
Really. You are.
I've seen the list.
That's because you are a terrorist.
Really. You are.
I've seen the list.
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