Offtopic catbird seat and humor break. (Connection #16745306)

[joeallonby]

on 10/6/03 7:17 PM, Prsamsa at aol.com at Prsamsa at aol.com wrote:




I just wonder what if any connection being in the Boston area has
on the Redsox, since baseball is--pretty much a blue-collar game?
                                              though
one that college people love too, the symmetry of it, I think, the
relaxation
of it, the infinite varieties of plays and ways to score--the easily kept
stats,
the binary nature of it.

And I can't resist this, from talking with friend Jack yesterday.

Cubs and Bosox make the world series.  NOW, one jinx will be broken,
definitely, infinitely.  The series is close.  3 wins each.  They go to the
7th game, and it's tied.  Still tied in the 9th inning.

                                                                        And
then the world ends.

LOL, Perry,
"Samsa."

Ahem.....Have ya spent much time in Southie, Dot, or JP? Hang out in Doyle's
much? (I'm on my way there now, to celebrate.) Boston is a town where your
mail carrier is working on his master's. The Red Sox are a religion here
partly because of the dual nature of the game itself, the team in
particular, and the odd working class meets academia vibe of the town.

Baseball is at once pastoral and quaint, and also modern and mathematical.
The nature of the game turns managers (coaches in any other game, but there
are reasons for this) into statisticians and river boat gamblers. Good ol'
boys who crunch the most obscure numbers and analyze excruciatingly specific
situations. Then they go with their gut. The hot bat. The reliever with
something to prove. Pedro Martinez, with his shoulder tacked on with duct
tape, striding from the bullpen like a matador as fierce as any bull because
there is no tomorrow.

The Red Sox aren't so much a team as an epic poem. They were once the
dominant club in baseball. They won five World Series in six years. They won
the first World Series. The original superstars of the game played for the
Red Sox, and not just Babe Ruth. We had Cy Young, Tris Speaker, and Lefty
Grove. Frazee didn't just sell Ruth; he dismantled the entire team. The
Yankees have been the dominant team ever since.

The Red Sox are not lovable losers. That distinction belongs to the Cubs and
White Sox. We could throw the Houston Astros in that mix too, except they're
not quite so lovable. The Sox have consistently been the second best team in
baseball. They don't win the World Series because they rarely get there.
They constantly chase the guys next door, just a bit down I-95, who have
much better resources. Being a Red Sox fan is sort of like being a Shiite.
It inspires the same sort of fanaticism. Just for example, look at the
length of this post to a list dedicated to Thomas Pynchon. Isn't that a bit
irrational? Then again, Pynchon inspires fanaticism in some of his readers.
And baseball brings me to Underworld to Delillo and back to Pynchon so shut
up Terrance.

Then you have the makeup of this particular version of the Sox. Yes, there
are the superstars Garciaparra, Martinez, and Ramirez. But the endearing
quality of the team comes from the "Dirt Dogs" like Trot Nixon. Millar,
Mueller, Walker, and most certainly David Ortiz are the heart of the Red
Sox. They are all journeymen players who were not given a chance with other
teams. They are the guys that blue-collar Boston loves. They are the guys
who come to the local taverns after the game just to hang out with the
people.

By the way, if you think the stats are easily kept, what is Manny's on base
percentage with runners in scoring position with two outs, three balls, in
the seventh inning against a left-handed pitcher at night on the road? I
know people who can answer that question in under a minute. If you think the
game is relaxing, try sweating out the ninth inning of a close game with the
Sox bullpen.

My phone has rung three times since I started typing this. What do you think
they are calling about at this hour of night?

Baseball is a religion. The Red Sox Nation is a cult-like sect. Fenway Park
is a temple. We are fundamentalists. Get ready for Armageddon in the Bronx.
The Yankees will fall in five.

Joe 


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