Baseball

I love baseball.

Something about it just makes me happy.
Actually, many things about it make me happy. Its a complicated and often nonsensical game, yet it's governed and monitored with a rigid mathematical system of statistics. There's no fixed time limit so games are more laid back and length is almost completely a factor of relative skill of the teams. Yet as laid back as it is no sport I know of in this country, and especially in this city (Boston), is capable of so many heart wrenchingly exciting moments. The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat... I think perhaps it's the suspense that often lends baseball it's edge... You just never know. (But it's a banner industry and the aim of all fantasy league players to try and predict...)

As awesome as it is to get caught up in the rush of a well played game between rivals or a gripping playoff bid, I think the parts I personally like most about baseball is its connection with the seasons. In earliest spring, as the trees bud out and daffodils bloom baseball is also born again. In the summer it reaches maturity and the season shows its character, some teams flower and others fade away. As summer fades and fall begins the leaves on the trees change color just in time for baseball's biggest show. Its a perfect excuse to get outdoors, to feel the atmosphere of the stadium, to jump up at the sound of a well hit ball.

For me baseball is not so much about dissection of past games or prediction of future ones but about the living entity, the feel of the sport. I think this is the part that makes baseball a national pastime... the tangible effects of sun on the skin, smells of fresh cut grass and popcorn. The cool taste of a coke or a beer to wash down a hot dog. The pop and sting of a ball in the mitt playing catch with dad in the backyard. The first successful curveball. The hiss and crackle of static on the radio or the laughter of a group of friends gathered to watch a game on TV. To have an everyday opportunity to witness the birth of legends and heroes.

In today's majors, awash with steroids, stats and money I fear we might begin to loose sight of these things that make baseball so much a part of our national psyche in the first place. We may become jaded with the game because we've become jaded with the system and lost in the numbers. Since obviously this would be a shame I think we should all make a concerted effort to remember what it's all about. And I have a prescription to help you along the way....

For one of my birthday adventures The Girl organized a trip to see the local AAA baseball team, the Pawtucket Red Sox, (or paw sox). Even I was surprised to discover that this much cheaper alternative to a big league game was just as exciting. All of the important elements of the game were in place, from obnoxious fans to the stadium announcements to patterns mowed into the outfield. It is easy to put asside the fact that you don't know any of the players, that you might not be watching the highest caliber of play. It was more about friends and a day out and about a game well played. This was fun. This is baseball.

So get out and watch your high school team, go see a minor league game, check out your local college schedule, play wiffleball in the backyard with your friends or join a summer league. Have ag good time. Smile! Enjoy the game!

ohh.. and... GO RED SOX!!!

St. Patrick's Day +1

So, Being a relatively new resident of the city of Boston I didn't really know what to expect from this rather strange holiday.

Actually, I still don't. I read in the paper that the police were cracking down on public drinking... The radio DJ's on my favorite morning show were extolling the virtues of people who were cleverly managing to drink before 6AM while they were waiting to get into a bar that opened at 8AM... I went to a party this weekend (that was fantastic... thank you everyone) that was, among other things, a booze fest with Irish food (read corned beef and potatoes). It was a Tuesday night and on my walk home from the subway at 10:15pm there were people wandering from pub to pub all over town. I'm dating an wonderful Irish woman who doesn't really think the holiday is all that...

So... My observations lead me to the conclusion that several things are important about this holiday.

1. The Color Green
2. Drinking
3. Drinking
4. Something to do with Ireland(?)
   

I'm left with one question. What is St. Patrick's Day all about? What is it celebrating? I'm sure I learned this in grade school but I only vaguely remember. Also... the questioning part of me wonders how it ended up being what it is today?

My favorite parts of the whole thing? -- Everyone's having to dress in green, green decorations, green everything. So much Green all together makes me feel like fresh fields, springtime and sunshine which = Happiness. Second, all the homeless people on the way to the subway today were decked out in items discarded from yesterdays festivities... Shopping carts were draped in green flags and 4 leaf clover cutouts. Green plastic hats, beads and masks were in abundant evidence over stained coats, softening otherwise rough countenances. How could you not smile? I'm calling it St. Patrick's Day +1. I think perhaps seeing these people benefiting and having a good time would have made St. Patrick the most proud of his modern legacy.

lighter than air...

Taking a stroll yesterday to do some small errand I invented in order to take a stroll yesterday, I was captivated by the beautiful day.  The sun was shining, the air was crisp and cool but tasted brand new and fresh.  It was still and calm and despite the traffic and the construction it was peacefully alive.  If I stood still, breathed deeply and looked up so that all I could see was the tip tops of Boston's skyline and the deep blue of the sky it was as if - just for a second- the world stood still and became relaxed.  While this undoubtedly generated some odd looks from passersby, I hardly noticed.  It is a gift to be able to find a moment for yourself in the hustle and bustle of American life. 

During one such moment, to my utter delight, I discovered I was not alone at all but sharing my patch of sky with a glorious Red-Tailed Hawk...  

Anyone who knows me will know that I love birds of all kinds.  However within the bird realm 

the raptors are my favorites...  The sleek and deadly hunters that drift with effortless ease on currents of air... So free, so beautiful.

Even on the streets of Boston, with no wilderness for miles in any direction this wonderful bird, feathers fully spread to catch the hint of an updraft off the pavement and rooftops, spiraled as effortlessly around a building as its cousins do around mountains.   When it alights on a rain gutter or window ledge to survey its domain of brick and tar it is no less proud than its cousins who alight on treetop or cliff edge and look out upon field and forest.   A supreme example of adaptability and finding a place in life that I think could benefit a lot of people these days.  One that I try and live by - trying to find a 'home' in everyplace I've ever been. 

For just a moment this master of the skies took me with it. Up, up, drifting right and down, following the streets and dodging cranes, back left and up the glass face of a building.  For a moment it showed me its world and made me lighter than air.

Lovely weekend for Love!

I acknowledge completely that its a commercialized holiday based somewhat loosely on a decapitated saint.  (I'm still not sure how that happened.)  Regardless I still love valentines day!  What other holiday is dedicated purely to the ideas of love and happiness.   I have friends that argue that you don't need a designated day to be happy, and that often the effect is lost on those who are single...  

Second point first...  I've never found being single on Valentines day to be a downer though... you just have to think about it differently.   Boy-girl love is not the only kind (though its awesome when you DO have it, I'm not going to lie) that can be appreciated.   There is also love of family, and friends, the love of happiness itself.   Valentines day to me is a reminder that there is a great deal OF love in the world, and a great deal TO love in the world.  Its an excuse to wander a beautiful city.  To see the lights from a hundred windows refracted and reflected on the surface of a harbor (like along the harbor walk in Boston).  Its a great day to hang out with friends, have breakfast with family... sit around the table and chat about life.  To pass out valentines reminding strangers on the subway to smile!

As for not needing a day to be happy...  of course I agree!  One should make every effort to be happy all the time!  However, riding the subway to and from school its impossible not to notice that people rarely are happy, or take the time to notice the joy in other people or other aspects of their life.  They're too busy trying to forget that they're crammed on a train, or stuck in an office, or too cold or too hot.  I don't think it hurts to have a day were people are forced to remember that beauty exists and that it should be embraced in whatever form it takes...

There was an editorial in the Valentines day edition of the NY Times that I liked written by a former Jewelry store owner. It spoke to the idea of what a valentines day gift should be.  The short version is that the point of a gift is that it comes from the heart and it shouldn't at all matter how much it costs.  I wanted to share it because I believe it to be true.  Make a card, write a story, sing a song.  People will appreciate it more if they know it comes from your heart and that you mean it....   This is what valentines day is all about to me...