April 9th was our 43rd wedding anniversary. Drake got me the new iphone 5s, and we went out to dinner at the only great place on this side of town. Days like this one get me thinking about milestones in my life. The first thing that popped into my mind was this: Anniversaries are a traditional milestone like birthdays or holidays. Milestone is one of those words that has completely changed in meaning over the centuries. Originally, it was literally a stone placed by the side of the road to mark the number of miles to reach a specific destination. I assume the stone was marked or chiseled with the number. These stones have morphed into mile markers on the sides of our roads, and we've changed the meaning to milestone.
There's nothing interesting about a stone by the side of the road. The milestones I'm interested in are the ones that mark significant events in a person's life. A wedding anniversary for us is a day for reflection of our life together, and thus after more than 40 years together, we revisit many milestones on this date. The visit is sometimes nostalgic, fond, wry, painful, or with grimace. After 45 years together, Drake and I know some milestones can't be so easily quantified. Sometimes the most negative milestones have positive outcomes which are hidden from view. For example, the pain in my feet has let us have health insurance, so we could retire earlier than anticipated. I think milestones are less interesting than the outcome they trigger. There are milestones whose outcomes lasts for years. One of the best qualities of a successful marriage is having someone to endure with as well as celebrate with as you move through these milestone outcomes.
An example of an outcome determined by a milestone is parenting. The simple milestone is the addition of a baby being added to your life. The result of the milestone, or outcome is parenting. Unanticipated milestones in your life when you're young often sometimes have disastrous outcomes. That knowledge makes parents stiff with worry over rash, impetuous teen decisions. Our early marriage could have easily (and probably should have had) a disastrous outcome. Children gleefully mark anticipated milestones. "It's only ten days until I'm seven!"
Each choice made in a lifetime changes life forever. The trip you don't take. The job you win. The club you don't join. The person you meet by chance. I can avoid the 'if only I had' mentality because of the parallel multiple universe theories in science. Somewhere in some parallel universe I'm sitting in a totally different house, in a different city, with more children, a different husband and a completely different life because I took alternative paths throughout my life. Every choice you make has alternatives. That's why I love the idea of multiple universes. Important choices needs to be reasoned. Us control freaks don't know any other way, but I'm never paralyzed with indecision because I don't believe there's only one right choice. My other self in each of those other universes is just as happy as she wants to be. I think of all those other parallel realities as the ultimate in free will.
Reflection makes life worth living. Milestones are handy hooks to kick start that process. Anniversaries are a way to engage in important thoughts with the most important person in your life. That nice bottle of wine we had with dinner didn't hurt the process any either.
Friday, April 11, 2014
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Heckling
Heckling is a part of sport. I don't particularly like it because it's negative. You would never hear a heckler praising a player consistently throughout a game. By definition a heckler is a person who tries to disconcert others with questions, challenges or gibes. We had an up close and personal experience with a heckler at the Spring Training game between the Rangers and the Oakland Athletics this week.
My only other experience had been seeing and hearing a heckler on television. Robert Szasz, a Ray's fan was so loud he was audible on the Texas Ranger television broadcasts when they visited the Tampa Bay Ray's baseball dome. Over an eight year span, the broadcasters would put him on camera since everyone watching could hear him anyway. I couldn't help but notice every seat around him was empty. Szasz would pick out one opposing player to heckle whenever that player came up to bat. He was never profane, but he knew how to stick the needle in over and over. Otherwise, he was quiet.
Most players just shrug off heckling as being part of the game, but occasionally, a player will react to a heckler. A heckling incident outside the ballpark actually led to Alex Rios, currently the right fielder of the Rangers, being sent from Toronto to Chicago. In 2009, during a game Rios went 0 for 5 - striking out all five times he came to the plate. Later that evening he went to a charity event and upon leaving, rejected the request of a child asking for his autograph. An older fan heckled him suggesting Rios should consider himself lucky anyone would even want his autograph after his performance at the ballpark that day. Rios became incensed screaming profanity over and over at the heckler. Even though Rios apologized the next day, the entire event was blown up, hashed over, and dissected ad nausea by the media. Not long afterward, Rios was released on waivers to Chicago. Of course, there was speculation that the ugly heckling incident was part of the cause. Hecklers have been offered incentives in the form of autographs and signed merchandise by their victims to cease and desist. They've been prominent in professional soccer and drunk, heckling fans have made some games unsafe to attend because of the fear of life threatening violence.
On Monday we went to a Spring Training game against the Oakland Athletics. Recently, the Athletics have fielded some wonderful Cinderella teams using the "Moneyball" model to stock their teams with lower cost players who perform well enough as a team to get into the play-offs. This model, now famous because of first the book and then the movie, is helping teams in smaller markets with fewer cash resources to compete with market giants with plenty of cash. The Athletics have won more than 90 games in the past couple of years. When the Texas Rangers managed to start winning that many games, they built a huge fan base who have streamed into the Ballpark at Arlington making that venue an attendance leader in the league. Perversely, no one really goes to see the Athletics play even though they are fielding an exciting, winning team. According to Drake, they have one of the two worst stadiums in baseball (the other being the Rays). Not only is the Athletic stadium old, but the foul territory is so humongous, no fan is really close to the action no matter how expensive of a seat purchased. Baseball fans like to be up close and personal - one reason Spring Training games are so enjoyable. Thus, you have to be pretty rabid to be an Athletic fan. We ran into one of those.
Our game started really nice with a fun family of three generations coming to their only Spring Training game sitting right in front of us. They had flown in from Chicago with their 17 year old son to visit grandma, get out of their beastly winter weather, and to take in a Ranger game - the son's favorite team. I had snapped pictures of them, and we were enjoying discussing Spring Training and the Rangers. We settled in for the game, and suddenly from the row behind us and slightly to the left, a woman with a voice like a foghorn and a scream that made my ears respond as if I were too close to a jet plane engine, began to heckle - constantly. She could have been tolerated if she had followed the traditional heckler pattern of goading one particular player as he batted, but she had her mouth spewing out idiotic comments punctuated with piercing screams (for no reason I could ever figure out) almost non-stop at every Ranger hitter as well as people on her own club. Initially, I thought, "Well, she'll wind down after an inning or so. She's just excited to be here." After three innings, my patience was wearing thin, and everyone within 50 feet of her were becoming agitated. Other fans began saying, "Can you tone it down?" "Please stop screaming." "You're too loud." Drake confronted her to no avail. Others were giving her 'the glare' which she seemed to feed upon. The more people asked her to modify her behavior, the more obnoxious she became. She seemed defiant as well as triumphant she personally was ruining the game experience for everyone around her.
Finally, I walked to the Sun Dance volunteer manning our aisle and explained the problem. As soon as I began to explain, another woman standing at the top of the aisle joined in. She was standing in the concourse unable to sit in her seat because the woman's non-stop screams were so earsplitting her ears hurt. Within 10 minutes a stadium official came down and asked her to shut up. Innings 5, 6, and 7 passed with only a few foghorn comments and screams; she didn't entirely quit, but she wasn't constantly screaming. She did achieve one of her puzzling goals. Everyone around her was on edge wondering if she would start up again. Then, the 8th inning arrived, and as feared, she cranked back up. I'm sure she figured there was nothing that could be done to her at this point. The woman from Chicago sitting in front of me actually left her seat and went to the concourse to stop herself from punching this stupid woman into next Tuesday. Believe me, we were all thinking about it. At the end of the game, as I was walking up the aisle, I realized she had two elementary school children with her. They both looked miserable. At top of the aisle were two police officers. That's how tense the situation had become. They were there to break up a possible fight. I can tell you it was a narrow thing they weren't needed. I think if she had been male, there would have been fisticuffs.
It takes nerve to fly in the face of a group. After all, humans are a herd animal. Our social groups start with the core intimacy of our families and extend out. The people sitting around one another at a baseball game become a social group because of the shared experience. There's always a lot of verbal communication. Think of the guy who yells, "Hey, Ump, get an eye exam!" when he thinks the strike should be a ball or vice versus. People who cheer for the same team exchange points of view about players, pitches, calls, and managerial strategies. In Spring Training there's usually some good natured, low key ribbing as well as questions about the opposing team's off season moves. People around me ask about how a player has 'done' at the plate over the course of the game since everyone can see me keeping meticulous track of every pitch, hit, run, error and so forth in my score book. It's social; it's what baseball junkies love, and usually pretty quiet so as to not interfere with anyone else's enjoyment of the game. I might needle Elvis Andrus for his Abraham Lincoln beard once while he's in the batting circle, but even he's smiled at my jokes about it as the fans around me have laughed.
The Oakland heckler was a different animal. Her goal was not enjoyment but disruption and discomfiture of the rest of the group. The irony is she really didn't even understand baseball that well. Her comments were repetitive, as well as inane showing very little understanding of the strategies of the game. She actually exhorted her A's to 'score a point'. Drake rolled his eyes on that one. When she couldn't think of anything to say, she just screamed. Literally. She screamed as if she was being stabbed by a serial killer.
Since that afternoon I've thought about what could have possibly motivated her. She seemed to have utterly convinced herself because she bought a ticket she could do anything she wanted. She actually said to the people around her, "You can't do anything to stop me because I bought this ticket." Hmmm. Free speech rights are taken pretty seriously in the USA. Yes, technically, she had the right to say anything she wanted. However, I question her right to negate the value of the seats around her. When does her right of free speech intersect with my right to enjoy sitting in the seat I BOUGHT? Her performance was less about the game, and less about free speech than about her power grab in a social situation. I've always thought people who feed on disruption or making other people uncomfortable or angry must have little control in their own lives. Their self esteem must be so low or their daily situation so debased that these type of stunts are the only way they can exercise their free will and feel any sense of personal empowerment.
What makes this kind of situation so volatile (think of the police officers), is the increasing loss of civility, lack of cultural agreement to a set of overarching societal rules, and our sense of personal isolation. This person was untouchable. On that point she was right even though she really didn't know why. Confrontations among strangers these days can easily spiral into violence. We are only willing to challenge a disruptor when we are sure the peer group around us will give back-up. The 'rules' we all subconsciously agree upon when we are in the herd have dwindled. They no longer include courtesy for others. Once upon a time the courtesy 'rule' was inflexible; now it's optional. Finally, we have all adopted the credo 'not my problem'. We pass the homeless person hoping they don't approach us. We look away when a toddler is yanked around in a grocery store. We ignore people we see who are crying. We don't attempt to soothe anger or frustration in others. We shrug and move away. Thus, when 'trapped' as we all were at the Athletics game, we became the puzzled, frustrated, and finally angry victims of this lone heckler with no real options to control her.
My only other experience had been seeing and hearing a heckler on television. Robert Szasz, a Ray's fan was so loud he was audible on the Texas Ranger television broadcasts when they visited the Tampa Bay Ray's baseball dome. Over an eight year span, the broadcasters would put him on camera since everyone watching could hear him anyway. I couldn't help but notice every seat around him was empty. Szasz would pick out one opposing player to heckle whenever that player came up to bat. He was never profane, but he knew how to stick the needle in over and over. Otherwise, he was quiet.
Most players just shrug off heckling as being part of the game, but occasionally, a player will react to a heckler. A heckling incident outside the ballpark actually led to Alex Rios, currently the right fielder of the Rangers, being sent from Toronto to Chicago. In 2009, during a game Rios went 0 for 5 - striking out all five times he came to the plate. Later that evening he went to a charity event and upon leaving, rejected the request of a child asking for his autograph. An older fan heckled him suggesting Rios should consider himself lucky anyone would even want his autograph after his performance at the ballpark that day. Rios became incensed screaming profanity over and over at the heckler. Even though Rios apologized the next day, the entire event was blown up, hashed over, and dissected ad nausea by the media. Not long afterward, Rios was released on waivers to Chicago. Of course, there was speculation that the ugly heckling incident was part of the cause. Hecklers have been offered incentives in the form of autographs and signed merchandise by their victims to cease and desist. They've been prominent in professional soccer and drunk, heckling fans have made some games unsafe to attend because of the fear of life threatening violence.
On Monday we went to a Spring Training game against the Oakland Athletics. Recently, the Athletics have fielded some wonderful Cinderella teams using the "Moneyball" model to stock their teams with lower cost players who perform well enough as a team to get into the play-offs. This model, now famous because of first the book and then the movie, is helping teams in smaller markets with fewer cash resources to compete with market giants with plenty of cash. The Athletics have won more than 90 games in the past couple of years. When the Texas Rangers managed to start winning that many games, they built a huge fan base who have streamed into the Ballpark at Arlington making that venue an attendance leader in the league. Perversely, no one really goes to see the Athletics play even though they are fielding an exciting, winning team. According to Drake, they have one of the two worst stadiums in baseball (the other being the Rays). Not only is the Athletic stadium old, but the foul territory is so humongous, no fan is really close to the action no matter how expensive of a seat purchased. Baseball fans like to be up close and personal - one reason Spring Training games are so enjoyable. Thus, you have to be pretty rabid to be an Athletic fan. We ran into one of those.
Our game started really nice with a fun family of three generations coming to their only Spring Training game sitting right in front of us. They had flown in from Chicago with their 17 year old son to visit grandma, get out of their beastly winter weather, and to take in a Ranger game - the son's favorite team. I had snapped pictures of them, and we were enjoying discussing Spring Training and the Rangers. We settled in for the game, and suddenly from the row behind us and slightly to the left, a woman with a voice like a foghorn and a scream that made my ears respond as if I were too close to a jet plane engine, began to heckle - constantly. She could have been tolerated if she had followed the traditional heckler pattern of goading one particular player as he batted, but she had her mouth spewing out idiotic comments punctuated with piercing screams (for no reason I could ever figure out) almost non-stop at every Ranger hitter as well as people on her own club. Initially, I thought, "Well, she'll wind down after an inning or so. She's just excited to be here." After three innings, my patience was wearing thin, and everyone within 50 feet of her were becoming agitated. Other fans began saying, "Can you tone it down?" "Please stop screaming." "You're too loud." Drake confronted her to no avail. Others were giving her 'the glare' which she seemed to feed upon. The more people asked her to modify her behavior, the more obnoxious she became. She seemed defiant as well as triumphant she personally was ruining the game experience for everyone around her.
Finally, I walked to the Sun Dance volunteer manning our aisle and explained the problem. As soon as I began to explain, another woman standing at the top of the aisle joined in. She was standing in the concourse unable to sit in her seat because the woman's non-stop screams were so earsplitting her ears hurt. Within 10 minutes a stadium official came down and asked her to shut up. Innings 5, 6, and 7 passed with only a few foghorn comments and screams; she didn't entirely quit, but she wasn't constantly screaming. She did achieve one of her puzzling goals. Everyone around her was on edge wondering if she would start up again. Then, the 8th inning arrived, and as feared, she cranked back up. I'm sure she figured there was nothing that could be done to her at this point. The woman from Chicago sitting in front of me actually left her seat and went to the concourse to stop herself from punching this stupid woman into next Tuesday. Believe me, we were all thinking about it. At the end of the game, as I was walking up the aisle, I realized she had two elementary school children with her. They both looked miserable. At top of the aisle were two police officers. That's how tense the situation had become. They were there to break up a possible fight. I can tell you it was a narrow thing they weren't needed. I think if she had been male, there would have been fisticuffs.
It takes nerve to fly in the face of a group. After all, humans are a herd animal. Our social groups start with the core intimacy of our families and extend out. The people sitting around one another at a baseball game become a social group because of the shared experience. There's always a lot of verbal communication. Think of the guy who yells, "Hey, Ump, get an eye exam!" when he thinks the strike should be a ball or vice versus. People who cheer for the same team exchange points of view about players, pitches, calls, and managerial strategies. In Spring Training there's usually some good natured, low key ribbing as well as questions about the opposing team's off season moves. People around me ask about how a player has 'done' at the plate over the course of the game since everyone can see me keeping meticulous track of every pitch, hit, run, error and so forth in my score book. It's social; it's what baseball junkies love, and usually pretty quiet so as to not interfere with anyone else's enjoyment of the game. I might needle Elvis Andrus for his Abraham Lincoln beard once while he's in the batting circle, but even he's smiled at my jokes about it as the fans around me have laughed.
The Oakland heckler was a different animal. Her goal was not enjoyment but disruption and discomfiture of the rest of the group. The irony is she really didn't even understand baseball that well. Her comments were repetitive, as well as inane showing very little understanding of the strategies of the game. She actually exhorted her A's to 'score a point'. Drake rolled his eyes on that one. When she couldn't think of anything to say, she just screamed. Literally. She screamed as if she was being stabbed by a serial killer.
Since that afternoon I've thought about what could have possibly motivated her. She seemed to have utterly convinced herself because she bought a ticket she could do anything she wanted. She actually said to the people around her, "You can't do anything to stop me because I bought this ticket." Hmmm. Free speech rights are taken pretty seriously in the USA. Yes, technically, she had the right to say anything she wanted. However, I question her right to negate the value of the seats around her. When does her right of free speech intersect with my right to enjoy sitting in the seat I BOUGHT? Her performance was less about the game, and less about free speech than about her power grab in a social situation. I've always thought people who feed on disruption or making other people uncomfortable or angry must have little control in their own lives. Their self esteem must be so low or their daily situation so debased that these type of stunts are the only way they can exercise their free will and feel any sense of personal empowerment.
What makes this kind of situation so volatile (think of the police officers), is the increasing loss of civility, lack of cultural agreement to a set of overarching societal rules, and our sense of personal isolation. This person was untouchable. On that point she was right even though she really didn't know why. Confrontations among strangers these days can easily spiral into violence. We are only willing to challenge a disruptor when we are sure the peer group around us will give back-up. The 'rules' we all subconsciously agree upon when we are in the herd have dwindled. They no longer include courtesy for others. Once upon a time the courtesy 'rule' was inflexible; now it's optional. Finally, we have all adopted the credo 'not my problem'. We pass the homeless person hoping they don't approach us. We look away when a toddler is yanked around in a grocery store. We ignore people we see who are crying. We don't attempt to soothe anger or frustration in others. We shrug and move away. Thus, when 'trapped' as we all were at the Athletics game, we became the puzzled, frustrated, and finally angry victims of this lone heckler with no real options to control her.
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Lexophiles
Once an English teacher always an English teacher. We're a fraternity, well, actually more of a sorority, and the real attraction of the profession is our love affair with words. I've never met an English teacher who isn't entranced by language. The worst of us can't understand why love of language isn't everyone else's obsession. (Remember the English teacher who insisted on dissecting poetry to the point it wasn't enjoyable anymore?) The best of us try to subtly instill the love of language. You can decide on which end of the spectrum this blog belongs.
The best English teacher I've ever been personally acquainted with, shared these language gems with me. I got distracted away from writing this blog by Spring Training. (FYI to Ranger fans: The Rangers are very frustrating to watch this spring.) Anyway, here are some plays on words that intrigue 'lexophiles'. I had to look this word up, so I'll save those of you as clueless as me: Lexophile means: A lover of words especially in word games and puzzles. My husband and daughter are a pair of these creatures, so this condition seems entirely normal to me. We've always been the only people I knew who would pull out reference books between bites of food at the dinner table to settle some question or look up an answer during a discussion.
These lexophiles are not people, but instead are sentences with double ententes or puns worked into them. Apparently, each year there is a contest at http://allpoetry.com/contest/2628792-Contest-for-Lexophiles to see who can construct the cleverest of these gems. For your enjoyment, here are this year's submissions. The winner in 2014 is the final one.
When fish are in schools, they sometimes take debate.
A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months.
When the smog lifts in Los Angeles, U.C.L.A.
The batteries were given out free of charge.
A dentist and a manicurist married. They fought tooth and nail.
A will is a dead giveaway.
With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress.
A boiled egg is hard to beat.
When you've seen one shopping center, you've see a mall.
Police were called to a daycare center where a three year old was resisting a rest.
A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.
When a clock is hungry, it goes back four seconds.
The guy who fell onto a upholstery machine is now fully recovered.
When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she's dye.
Acupuncture is a jab well done. That's the point of it.
Those who get too big for their pants will be exposed in the end.
The best English teacher I've ever been personally acquainted with, shared these language gems with me. I got distracted away from writing this blog by Spring Training. (FYI to Ranger fans: The Rangers are very frustrating to watch this spring.) Anyway, here are some plays on words that intrigue 'lexophiles'. I had to look this word up, so I'll save those of you as clueless as me: Lexophile means: A lover of words especially in word games and puzzles. My husband and daughter are a pair of these creatures, so this condition seems entirely normal to me. We've always been the only people I knew who would pull out reference books between bites of food at the dinner table to settle some question or look up an answer during a discussion.
These lexophiles are not people, but instead are sentences with double ententes or puns worked into them. Apparently, each year there is a contest at http://allpoetry.com/contest/2628792-Contest-for-Lexophiles to see who can construct the cleverest of these gems. For your enjoyment, here are this year's submissions. The winner in 2014 is the final one.
When fish are in schools, they sometimes take debate.
A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months.
When the smog lifts in Los Angeles, U.C.L.A.
The batteries were given out free of charge.
A dentist and a manicurist married. They fought tooth and nail.
A will is a dead giveaway.
With her marriage, she got a new name and a dress.
A boiled egg is hard to beat.
When you've seen one shopping center, you've see a mall.
Police were called to a daycare center where a three year old was resisting a rest.
A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.
When a clock is hungry, it goes back four seconds.
The guy who fell onto a upholstery machine is now fully recovered.
When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she's dye.
Acupuncture is a jab well done. That's the point of it.
Those who get too big for their pants will be exposed in the end.
These are rather like one trick ponies. I know after I read them once, I was done with them as soon as the smile left my face. However, I found myself much more fascinated with thinking about what kind of person writes these. I spent about 5 minutes wondering if I could write one of these, and at the end of that brief period was unwilling to invest any more time or effort. I suppose people who come up with these either have epiphanies or very little else to do with their time. Then I turned to the idea of the judges - my favorite was the one about the 'egg' - I mean, really, what is the judging criteria? Isn't the BEST one a totally subjective choice? Finally, I realized I'd been thinking and writing about these for over an hour. Sigh..... The mark of the true lexophile - the person, not the sentence.
Friday, March 7, 2014
Spring Training! It's Rangers, Rangers, Rangers
Most people look forward to Christmas; Drake looks forward to Spring Training. He could skip Christmas gladly. He hates everything about Santa, presents, trees, lights and decorations, but he loves everything about baseball. While I'm a Christmas aficionado, Drake is a baseball guru. I've never met anyone who knows as much about the game as he does.
Spring Training 2014 kicked off this week. Friday was our first game. The Rangers lost 11-1, and Drake could have cared less. One of his great delights is seeing the 'prospects'. Now, you have to be a die hard to get excited about who is going to be playing on your AA ball club. He also likes to speculate on what he terms the 'reclamation' projects. These are guys who are either ancient or whose careers have been sidetracked by injury, or some self-inflicted problem. This year there are two guys trying to re-enter baseball: Jose Contreras, a 42 year old Cuban defector on the comeback trail, who underwent Tommy John surgery at age 40, and Tommy Hanson who fell into the steroid trap and got caught. Contreras got lit up like a Christmas tree on his first outing, but he was much better on his second when he mixed in his off speed pitches with his somewhat anemic fastball.
Hanson's pitching so far has been mixed.
Speaking of surgery, Dr. Frank Jobe, the innovative surgeon who devised the elbow ligament transplant surgery that saved the pitching career of the Dodger, Tommy John died this past week at the age of 88. In 1965, with Dr. Robert Kerland, he opened an orthopedic clinic which specialized in treating injuries suffered by professional athletes. Their clinic was the beginning of an entire field of careers now under the umbrella of 'sports medicine'. Jobe was associated with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and in 1974 the Dodger pitcher, Tommy John, was the first player to undergo the transplantation technique now named for him. Dr. Jobe saved the careers of many famous baseball players. When he operated on Tommy John, he didn't have high hopes - estimating a one percent possibility that John would be able to resume his career as a professional baseball player. John astounded everyone by winning an additional 164 games AFTER the surgery. Nowdays, Neftali Feliz, who underwent 'Tommy John' surgery over a year ago, has an 85-92% of recovering his career. Feliz seems to have his speed back, and he is working on his control. Here's hoping.
The high profile new addition to the Rangers, Prince Fielder, seems to be the consummate professional baseball player. He conserves energy until he needs it, and then turns it on like flipping a switch. He hasn't shown any fielding gaffs at first base, and has in fact, made a couple of outstanding plays. Michael Choice, the young prospect that Craig Gentry was traded for, reminds me of Leonys Martin of a few years ago. He's already showing a very mature bat ready for the majors, but still somewhat unsure of himself. The major league batting ability is what separates ballplayers. There are lots and lots of excellent baseball players who will never rise higher than AAA because they just can't consistently hit major league pitching. Frankly, I don't see how anyone can. If you've ever seen a major league pitch from the perspective and speed of the batter, you'd be baffled too.
The big buzz has been Ian Kinsler's ill thought out remarks about the Rangers. http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10544839/ian-kinsler-intends-become-elite-second-baseman-detroit-tigers-espn-magazine Having read this, it seems to me to be a classic case of baseball player naivete. Kinsler was unable to adjust to the shake up of the team he loved playing with (Hamilton leaving, Young being traded, etc.), and furthermore, Kinsler was unable to step up to a leadership role inside the clubhouse and maintain field performance. To top it off, he seems to believe be could stay at second base because 'he'd payed his dues' while ignoring the realities of the talent pool of the Rangers. We all need to find a scapegoat when we fall short of expectations, and Jon Daniels was a handy target for Kinsler. Ian Kinsler got reminded of the hard fact that baseball is a business, and as a player, he's really of no more importance to the organization than the guy who works on the assembly line at the Ford plant. In other words, he's replaceable when business objectives change. Club house chemistry doesn't rank nearly as high on the general manager's list of what's important as it does on the player's list.
We have just started ST, and so far the Rangers look right on track. The starting pitching is still worrisome. Matt Harrison was in Texas this week getting MRI's on his back - again. Nothing seems to be wrong, but his back is till giving him fits. Colby Lewis is back on the mound, and his first outing was a disaster. He couldn't even finish out an inning. And don't get me started on Derek Holland - out until mid-season after an accident playing with his dog! On a brighter note, Darvish looks terrific, and Ross, Tanner and Scheppers all are pitching strongly as they vie for a starting job. Drake still thinks we should be trying to trade for David Price to shore up our starting line-up.
Everything else is going well. Players are happy to be back at work. Choo, the new outfielder taking Nelson Cruz' spot, is showing signs of being a terrific lead off hitter. Elvis has tweaked his shoulder - a result of not playing winter ball, I'm guessing. I think he's learned he needs to be a bit better shape coming into ST. Speaking of Elvis, he's sporting a full beard which makes his look about 40 years old. It's horrible, and I've been amusing myself my ragging him about it everytime he hits the on-deck circle. Profar has been getting his batting timing down, and he's also been nursing a minor shoulder injury that's keeping him out of the field. Those two injuries have been giving the guys hoping to be signed as the Ranger's utility infielder a real work-out in front of the coaches and manager, Ron Washington.
The only real annoyance this Spring Training is that we've seen three losses! It seems like when we don't see the game (away from the home park) when the Rangers have an exciting game and win. As Drake points out the casual fan is alarmed by these Spring Training losses. In his opinion, this is of no importance. The team is playing all these pitchers, most of whom are not up to major league standard, but who need the experience or reality check of what pitching in the BIGS is all about. In reality, there are very few open spots on a winning team like the Rangers, and early Spring Training is about the top players getting physically tuned up for the long season ahead, and giving experience and 'look see' at the top prospects in the organization. For Drake the hardest thing is to see these young prospects trying to break into the big leagues, or aging veterans trying to snag that utility spot. They have very few chances to shine. I think he takes their disappointments or successes right straight to his heart. That's what makes it fun to go to the games with him as well as his ability to see and point out what 99% of us miss when we watch baseball. Stay tuned Ranger fans.
Spring Training 2014 kicked off this week. Friday was our first game. The Rangers lost 11-1, and Drake could have cared less. One of his great delights is seeing the 'prospects'. Now, you have to be a die hard to get excited about who is going to be playing on your AA ball club. He also likes to speculate on what he terms the 'reclamation' projects. These are guys who are either ancient or whose careers have been sidetracked by injury, or some self-inflicted problem. This year there are two guys trying to re-enter baseball: Jose Contreras, a 42 year old Cuban defector on the comeback trail, who underwent Tommy John surgery at age 40, and Tommy Hanson who fell into the steroid trap and got caught. Contreras got lit up like a Christmas tree on his first outing, but he was much better on his second when he mixed in his off speed pitches with his somewhat anemic fastball.
Hanson's pitching so far has been mixed.
Speaking of surgery, Dr. Frank Jobe, the innovative surgeon who devised the elbow ligament transplant surgery that saved the pitching career of the Dodger, Tommy John died this past week at the age of 88. In 1965, with Dr. Robert Kerland, he opened an orthopedic clinic which specialized in treating injuries suffered by professional athletes. Their clinic was the beginning of an entire field of careers now under the umbrella of 'sports medicine'. Jobe was associated with the Los Angeles Dodgers, and in 1974 the Dodger pitcher, Tommy John, was the first player to undergo the transplantation technique now named for him. Dr. Jobe saved the careers of many famous baseball players. When he operated on Tommy John, he didn't have high hopes - estimating a one percent possibility that John would be able to resume his career as a professional baseball player. John astounded everyone by winning an additional 164 games AFTER the surgery. Nowdays, Neftali Feliz, who underwent 'Tommy John' surgery over a year ago, has an 85-92% of recovering his career. Feliz seems to have his speed back, and he is working on his control. Here's hoping.
The high profile new addition to the Rangers, Prince Fielder, seems to be the consummate professional baseball player. He conserves energy until he needs it, and then turns it on like flipping a switch. He hasn't shown any fielding gaffs at first base, and has in fact, made a couple of outstanding plays. Michael Choice, the young prospect that Craig Gentry was traded for, reminds me of Leonys Martin of a few years ago. He's already showing a very mature bat ready for the majors, but still somewhat unsure of himself. The major league batting ability is what separates ballplayers. There are lots and lots of excellent baseball players who will never rise higher than AAA because they just can't consistently hit major league pitching. Frankly, I don't see how anyone can. If you've ever seen a major league pitch from the perspective and speed of the batter, you'd be baffled too.
The big buzz has been Ian Kinsler's ill thought out remarks about the Rangers. http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10544839/ian-kinsler-intends-become-elite-second-baseman-detroit-tigers-espn-magazine Having read this, it seems to me to be a classic case of baseball player naivete. Kinsler was unable to adjust to the shake up of the team he loved playing with (Hamilton leaving, Young being traded, etc.), and furthermore, Kinsler was unable to step up to a leadership role inside the clubhouse and maintain field performance. To top it off, he seems to believe be could stay at second base because 'he'd payed his dues' while ignoring the realities of the talent pool of the Rangers. We all need to find a scapegoat when we fall short of expectations, and Jon Daniels was a handy target for Kinsler. Ian Kinsler got reminded of the hard fact that baseball is a business, and as a player, he's really of no more importance to the organization than the guy who works on the assembly line at the Ford plant. In other words, he's replaceable when business objectives change. Club house chemistry doesn't rank nearly as high on the general manager's list of what's important as it does on the player's list.
We have just started ST, and so far the Rangers look right on track. The starting pitching is still worrisome. Matt Harrison was in Texas this week getting MRI's on his back - again. Nothing seems to be wrong, but his back is till giving him fits. Colby Lewis is back on the mound, and his first outing was a disaster. He couldn't even finish out an inning. And don't get me started on Derek Holland - out until mid-season after an accident playing with his dog! On a brighter note, Darvish looks terrific, and Ross, Tanner and Scheppers all are pitching strongly as they vie for a starting job. Drake still thinks we should be trying to trade for David Price to shore up our starting line-up.
Everything else is going well. Players are happy to be back at work. Choo, the new outfielder taking Nelson Cruz' spot, is showing signs of being a terrific lead off hitter. Elvis has tweaked his shoulder - a result of not playing winter ball, I'm guessing. I think he's learned he needs to be a bit better shape coming into ST. Speaking of Elvis, he's sporting a full beard which makes his look about 40 years old. It's horrible, and I've been amusing myself my ragging him about it everytime he hits the on-deck circle. Profar has been getting his batting timing down, and he's also been nursing a minor shoulder injury that's keeping him out of the field. Those two injuries have been giving the guys hoping to be signed as the Ranger's utility infielder a real work-out in front of the coaches and manager, Ron Washington.
The only real annoyance this Spring Training is that we've seen three losses! It seems like when we don't see the game (away from the home park) when the Rangers have an exciting game and win. As Drake points out the casual fan is alarmed by these Spring Training losses. In his opinion, this is of no importance. The team is playing all these pitchers, most of whom are not up to major league standard, but who need the experience or reality check of what pitching in the BIGS is all about. In reality, there are very few open spots on a winning team like the Rangers, and early Spring Training is about the top players getting physically tuned up for the long season ahead, and giving experience and 'look see' at the top prospects in the organization. For Drake the hardest thing is to see these young prospects trying to break into the big leagues, or aging veterans trying to snag that utility spot. They have very few chances to shine. I think he takes their disappointments or successes right straight to his heart. That's what makes it fun to go to the games with him as well as his ability to see and point out what 99% of us miss when we watch baseball. Stay tuned Ranger fans.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Yellow, yellow, yellow, yellow! It is not a color. It is summer!
A friend of mine wrote a poem for Drake and my 10th Wedding Anniversary. We've been going through our remaining 'stuff', and I ran across it. I haven't seen or read it for a long time since it got packed into storage in 2009. This poem was a labor of love from a dear friend both Drake and I have known since we were 18. I sent it to him, so he could revisit some of his early work. This guy has been a writer since we were in our 20's. Concurrently, he has also managed to snag a B.S in Metallurgical Engineering, a Master's in something, and a PhD from Cambridge University - yes, the one in England. He's also traveled all over the world. He didn't care much for his poem upon his re-visitation calling it doggerel. (A verse of little literary value.)
I told someone the other day the hardest thing to write is humor. (Faithful blog readers, think: "Intrepid Pigeon Fighter".) My friend made me realize I was wrong; poetry is the hardest thing to write. How many poems survive for more than 50 years, yet there's nothing more inspiring than good poetry. Almost everyone has a favorite poet or poem. I'm a poetry fan.
I think it comes with the English teacher territory. Did you notice the Robert Frost poetry quote on my blog about the road less traveled? He isn't my favorite poet. Up there, but not my favorite guy. My fav is William Carlos Williams. One of the things I love about Williams is he was a rural doctor during the day and half the night while he wrote amazing poetry in his spare time. He believed poetry was all about creating images that touched your senses, and he thought there shouldn't be hidden meanings in poetry.
Back to my friend....he also stated he's lost his poetry muse. I fear I never had one of those to lose. I can barely find my prose muse. It's a struggle to write when I'm in the mausoleum known as Sun City. Life is really dull here. No one wants to hear I exercised five times last week and am up to swimming 30 laps every other day. Saw the doctor, and I got good health news, mostly. Is there anything more boring that talking about your health? Nope. Shoot, I could just facebook or tweet my blogs from the snooze that is this place. "Today, I ate peanut butter." What do you think? Riveting?
So, do yourself a favor. After you finish reading this drivel (Prose of little literary value.). Google your favorite poem and re-read it or visit. www.poetry.org and pick another. You want to be ready for National Poetry Month (April).
I told someone the other day the hardest thing to write is humor. (Faithful blog readers, think: "Intrepid Pigeon Fighter".) My friend made me realize I was wrong; poetry is the hardest thing to write. How many poems survive for more than 50 years, yet there's nothing more inspiring than good poetry. Almost everyone has a favorite poet or poem. I'm a poetry fan.
I think it comes with the English teacher territory. Did you notice the Robert Frost poetry quote on my blog about the road less traveled? He isn't my favorite poet. Up there, but not my favorite guy. My fav is William Carlos Williams. One of the things I love about Williams is he was a rural doctor during the day and half the night while he wrote amazing poetry in his spare time. He believed poetry was all about creating images that touched your senses, and he thought there shouldn't be hidden meanings in poetry.
Back to my friend....he also stated he's lost his poetry muse. I fear I never had one of those to lose. I can barely find my prose muse. It's a struggle to write when I'm in the mausoleum known as Sun City. Life is really dull here. No one wants to hear I exercised five times last week and am up to swimming 30 laps every other day. Saw the doctor, and I got good health news, mostly. Is there anything more boring that talking about your health? Nope. Shoot, I could just facebook or tweet my blogs from the snooze that is this place. "Today, I ate peanut butter." What do you think? Riveting?
So, do yourself a favor. After you finish reading this drivel (Prose of little literary value.). Google your favorite poem and re-read it or visit. www.poetry.org and pick another. You want to be ready for National Poetry Month (April).
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Shopping Tales
When you have crappy taste and questionable ideas of what colors 'go together', you can imagine my stress when shopping. Now, when I pick out a clothing item, I generally stick with brands I know. That's at least one-half of the battle. Drake just rolls his eyes when I pick the shocking lemon yellow t-shirt. He just can't believe some of my clothing choices.
Examples: The Christmas gift I wanted the most from him in 2013 was a Flying Squirrel shirt from the Richmond Double A baseball team. I mean who wouldn't want a bright red t-shirt with a flying squirrel stamped on it. The picture sort of looks like the squirrely version of Mighty Mouse. (If you're too young to know who MM is, google him!) Another one of my fav t-shirts is my black shirt with silver emblems advertising the Austin Girls Roller Derby League. I got it at a game. I got a great blog out of that Mother's Day gift, and an even better t-shirt.
Clothing picks have a limited financial downside. Usually, for me anyway, it's less than a $20 risk especially when I shop on-line. In the past, I have had no trouble at all with the non-clothing items I've selected on-line. I've bought cameras, TVs, kitchen devices, beds, bed frames, chairs, as well as the easy stuff like books and CDs. I was confident of my prowess until I started shopping for area rugs for the Arizona duplex.
WOW! Did you know there are more than 5000 choices for rugs on-line? Even using filters and narrowing, narrowing, narrowing, there were more than 1000 to look at. I began to have rug fatigue. Still, I slogged on.
Finally, finally, finally, I managed to pick one. Then I ran it by Drake. That process is pretty much how all shopping goes at our house. I look, and look and look and winnow, winnow, winnow. Then, Drake gets involved. So, I was pretty confident with my choice verified by Mr. Tasteful himself. Then the rugs arrived. Boy, what a disappointment. They were thin and cheap looking, and as the icing, they were damaged. For brand new rugs, they looked like they'd spent about three years in the lobby of a heavily used motel. Feeling without a choice, we decided to return them. Usually, that's when the real 'fun' starts. The process was a pleasant surprise. I have to give Overstock.com high kudos - they made it easy, and even gave me a prepaid shipping label, so we didn't have to pay the return shipping. That's not trivial when the package weighs almost 50 pounds.
Back to rug shopping. This time, I'm less worried about the quality of the rugs ordered than I am about our outside the box choice. Waiting on pins and needles, but at least now, I'm an old hand at returns. Here's crossing my fingers. I'm curious: What's your shopping story?
Examples: The Christmas gift I wanted the most from him in 2013 was a Flying Squirrel shirt from the Richmond Double A baseball team. I mean who wouldn't want a bright red t-shirt with a flying squirrel stamped on it. The picture sort of looks like the squirrely version of Mighty Mouse. (If you're too young to know who MM is, google him!) Another one of my fav t-shirts is my black shirt with silver emblems advertising the Austin Girls Roller Derby League. I got it at a game. I got a great blog out of that Mother's Day gift, and an even better t-shirt.
Clothing picks have a limited financial downside. Usually, for me anyway, it's less than a $20 risk especially when I shop on-line. In the past, I have had no trouble at all with the non-clothing items I've selected on-line. I've bought cameras, TVs, kitchen devices, beds, bed frames, chairs, as well as the easy stuff like books and CDs. I was confident of my prowess until I started shopping for area rugs for the Arizona duplex.
WOW! Did you know there are more than 5000 choices for rugs on-line? Even using filters and narrowing, narrowing, narrowing, there were more than 1000 to look at. I began to have rug fatigue. Still, I slogged on.
Finally, finally, finally, I managed to pick one. Then I ran it by Drake. That process is pretty much how all shopping goes at our house. I look, and look and look and winnow, winnow, winnow. Then, Drake gets involved. So, I was pretty confident with my choice verified by Mr. Tasteful himself. Then the rugs arrived. Boy, what a disappointment. They were thin and cheap looking, and as the icing, they were damaged. For brand new rugs, they looked like they'd spent about three years in the lobby of a heavily used motel. Feeling without a choice, we decided to return them. Usually, that's when the real 'fun' starts. The process was a pleasant surprise. I have to give Overstock.com high kudos - they made it easy, and even gave me a prepaid shipping label, so we didn't have to pay the return shipping. That's not trivial when the package weighs almost 50 pounds.
Back to rug shopping. This time, I'm less worried about the quality of the rugs ordered than I am about our outside the box choice. Waiting on pins and needles, but at least now, I'm an old hand at returns. Here's crossing my fingers. I'm curious: What's your shopping story?
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Sun City, Neighborhood of Watchers
Phoenix' nickname is "Valley of the Sun". My nickname for Sun City is Land of Watchers. Here the art of watching reaches new levels. People watching should be a club here. All our neighbors know when we come, when we go, when we buy groceries, when we play bridge. These people know EVERYTHING. In any Sun City neighborhood, there's an awful lot of medical emergency traffic which is ordinary fodder for the watchers. Who could resist peeking out at the Sheriff's SUV, the ambulance with flashing lights and the fire truck complete with siren. Admittedly, they turn the siren off pretty fast, but the blue and red flashing lights wink away for quite a while. Sun City passed the 'peeking out' stage long ago. When anything unusual happens, doors fly open and out come the neighbors.
We had a premiere watching event on our very street this week, and it was right in front of our house. The neighbors across the street got a new HVAC (furnace/air conditioner). Usually that's not such a big deal, and would only rate a glance as you drove by in any other place in America. In the Original Sun City (where we live) all the HVAC units were installed on the roofs when the houses were built. To move the units to the ground, the entire duct system of the house would have to be rerouted as well as the roof replaced. Thus, roof installation of a new HVAC unit means a CRANE to lift it. I'm talking excitement here.
Under the cover of blog writing, I grabbed my camera and headed out the door to watch the entire process along with half a dozen of my other neighbors. No one was as bold as I, though. I showed those old watchers a thing or two as I strolled over to the crane operator.
"Hi. I write a blog, and I'd like to write an entry about you and your crane operation. Would that be OK? My name is Jan."
"Really? I'm Robert. Nice to meet you. Are you sure you want to write about me?
"Yeah, this is the most interesting thing to happen on this street since I've lived here. I think your job is fascinating. How did you become a crane operator?"
"Well, I started working construction when I was a teenager, and I sort of started by helping built scaffolding. I got tired of that work and starting learning how to operate one of these cranes."
"Is there a training course? How did you learn how to use it?"
"Oh, I just learned on the job. Somebody just showed me the controls one day, and then I started operating it. After a while, you get really good at judging distances." (I admit, I thought, YIKES!)
"How much does it cost to hire your crane? Oh, it's $100 an hour. Like this job, there was 30 minutes travel time, and the lift took about 30 minutes. It takes more time to get everything ready, than the actual lift."
"What the most interesting thing you and your crane have lifted?
"I think it was the big TV."
"Do you mean a real TV?
"Yeah. I lifted a huge TV through the patio door on the second floor of this big house. They wanted a really big TV in their bedroom. That lift was kind of fun."
Robert may have been thrilled with the big TV, but I found his lift of the enormous HVAC unit onto the roof of the house across the street to be pretty thrilling. We could have sold soft drinks and popcorn there were so many watchers. Oh, the excitement of Sun City.
http://www.youtube.com/edit?video_id=ZqqcMuBFZRw&video_referrer=watch
 |
| Getting ready to 'lift' |
Under the cover of blog writing, I grabbed my camera and headed out the door to watch the entire process along with half a dozen of my other neighbors. No one was as bold as I, though. I showed those old watchers a thing or two as I strolled over to the crane operator.
"Hi. I write a blog, and I'd like to write an entry about you and your crane operation. Would that be OK? My name is Jan."
 |
| This is Robert |
"Yeah, this is the most interesting thing to happen on this street since I've lived here. I think your job is fascinating. How did you become a crane operator?"
"Well, I started working construction when I was a teenager, and I sort of started by helping built scaffolding. I got tired of that work and starting learning how to operate one of these cranes."
"Is there a training course? How did you learn how to use it?"
"Oh, I just learned on the job. Somebody just showed me the controls one day, and then I started operating it. After a while, you get really good at judging distances." (I admit, I thought, YIKES!)
"How much does it cost to hire your crane? Oh, it's $100 an hour. Like this job, there was 30 minutes travel time, and the lift took about 30 minutes. It takes more time to get everything ready, than the actual lift."
"What the most interesting thing you and your crane have lifted?
"I think it was the big TV."
"Do you mean a real TV?
"Yeah. I lifted a huge TV through the patio door on the second floor of this big house. They wanted a really big TV in their bedroom. That lift was kind of fun."
Robert may have been thrilled with the big TV, but I found his lift of the enormous HVAC unit onto the roof of the house across the street to be pretty thrilling. We could have sold soft drinks and popcorn there were so many watchers. Oh, the excitement of Sun City.
http://www.youtube.com/edit?video_id=ZqqcMuBFZRw&video_referrer=watch
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