Thursday, July 17, 2008

Baseball Theology

Out

After watching the full 15 innings of the All-Star game, including this amazing throw by Nate McLouth of the Pittsburgh Pirates to Russell Martin of the LA Dodgers to get Dioner Navarro of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, I want to explain some of the reasons I think baseball is a wonderful game.

This is a game to be savored, not gulped. There's time to discuss everything between pitches or between innings. ~Bill Veeck

Baseball is for the leisurely afternoons of summer and for the unchanging dreams. ~Roger Kahn

When watching other sports you're always afraid that by getting up to do something in the other room you'll miss the action. If you're not always closely attentive you'll miss the amazing shot by the point guard, or the hard check by the left defenseman, or whatever. With each pitch and with each play there is time to think, talk about it, get nervous about it, and then savor it. And then if you miss it, there's always enough time inbetween pitches to watch replays of it.

You can't sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You've got to throw the ball over the goddamn plate and give the other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all. ~Earl Weaver

Baseball is unique. There are no other sports (beside baseball's cousin cricket) where the defense has the ball. No team can ever say, as Vince Lombardi once did, that they never lost, they just ran out of time. Every team has their chance. Strategically it's fair.

Baseball fans love numbers. They love to swirl them around their mouths like Bordeaux wine. ~Pat Conroy

Baseball can be statistically measured in ways that other sports just can't. There are even stats that most people haven't heard of, such as Batting Average for Balls in Play, or Defensive Zone Ratings. With the rise of Sabermetrics, anything and everything can be measured, analyzed, and considered. If you haven't read Moneyball, it's worth a read.

The great thing about baseball is that there's a crisis every day. ~Gabe Paul

Baseball is played every day. Day in, day out. It's there. Not every third day, or once a week or once every two weeks, but every day. It reflects the daily grind. To truly excel in life doesn't require greatness every so often, but consistency and dedication and work every single day of your life.

Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer. ~Ted Williams

At the same time, what is most important is that you keep trying. Most batters don't get a hit. Most fielders don't touch the ball in an inning, the important thing is that you are ready and always there.

Baseball? It's just a game - as simple as a ball and a bat. Yet, as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes. It's a sport, business - and sometimes even religion. ~Ernie Harwell, Broadcaster for the Detroit Tigers, "The Game for All America," 1955

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Just some Political thinkings

"I run because it angers me ...... All you Minnesotans take a good hard look at all three of us. And you decide: If you were in a dark alley, which one of the three of us would you want with you"
-Jesse Ventura, July 9, 2008

Yes, Jesse Ventura is at least seriously contemplating running for Senate in Minnesota.
I'm not sure what to think. A comedian who isn't really funny, a wrestler who tries to be serious but fails, and a schmoozer. Can I just say I love Minnesota? Politics there are fascinating to watch. You have to wonder what goes through a Minnesotans' mind when they see these three and realize that they are picking between them to have one of them represent them in the U.S. Senate. How it just makes me smile.

Then there's also this in response to Ventura's quote:

First of all, Ventura just told us that he's angry, and we know he's pretty huge. And if I remember correctly from watching the WWF as a kid, he's kind of shiftless and unpredictable. For all I know, he'd take advantage of the darkness of the alley to whack me with a folding chair.
For all of you voting in Minnesota. Just don't get whacked by a folding chair. Then again, my Governor was also in The Predator.