In my youth, my family spent time at the flea market. My mom would sell things we no longer needed and I would search for more items that eventually would no longer be needed. It was a vicious cycle. During my forays into the capitalistic system, I discovered baseball cards. They're rectangle pieces of cardboard with glossy pictures of players on the front and the previous years stats on the back. I would search all of the tables and stores for my favorite players, my baseball heroes. I always dreamed of being on a card, having my stats on the back, and maybe being some child's baseball hero. Unfortunately, I possessed a below average skill set, except for my base running. I would like to share one memorable, heroic moment from my Little League days. I'll let two legendary announcers tell it to you.
Vin Scully: The home team is down 3-2. Runner on third. Two outs. Bottom of the ninth. The number 9 hitter, Philip Qualls is up to bat. The count is 3 balls, 0 strikes.
Mel Allen: It would not be wise to walk him. He's antsy on the base path and has caused chaos before. If he gets on, expect him to take second.
Vin: The windup and the pitch. Ball four. He's hustling down to first base.
Mel: The catcher is up and tosses the ball to the pitcher. The pitcher drops the ball and it rolls down the mound.
Vin: Qualls is off! He's running like a scolded dog. This may not be the wisest move. It's a short throw to second for the pitcher.
Mel: And he's safe! The runner on third is sprinting towards home. Safe! The score is now 3-3.
Vin: Look, Mel! Philip is headed to third. The catcher with the throw to third base.
Mel: He overthrew the third baseman! The ball has sailed into left field.
Vin: Philip is up. And now he's running, kicking up chalk and dirt as he churns his legs towards the winning run.
Vin: The leftfielder scoops up the ball and fires it toward home plate.
Mel: Play at the plate. Qualls slides. And he's safe! By inches, but he's safe!
Vin: And the home team has won the game on some very brash and heads up base running.
Mel: A heck of a play! Goodnight, everyone.
"I don't really collect cards anymore, just a box and some cardboard. Memories embedded in the dust, in the fighters that age just like us, living somewhere off in a drawer." - Macklemore
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Snow Days
I love snow days. I always have. As a kid, I would race to the tv to see if school was cancelled. Once the school cancellation was announced, it meant a day of sledding, snowball fights, and making snowmen. Then after being outside all day, I'd come inside to a nice cup of hot chocolate with mini marshmallows floating on top. I would always eat the marshmallows first and hope that I could convince Mom to give me more; I rarely won the battle of the marshmallows.
As an adult, snow days are more complicated. I still love playing in the snow with Elisabeth and still coming in to a nice cup of hot chocolate. But, now my favorite part of a snow day is right before the snow starts. There's something about the quiet and the still of it all. Yesterday, I was outside watching the birds and just enjoying it all. Not a sound was to be heard, no birds tweeting, no dogs barking, not even the sound of a car engine. Everything was very peaceful, almost like I was the only soul in the world.
Not all snow days were like this. It was March 13 of 1993, and the Blizzard of 1993 was in full effect. A lot of people were without power and water. My family was lucky, the only utility we lost was cable television. Little did I know that the loss of cable would plunge my world into madness. As noted above, I wasn't afraid of going outside to play in the snow, but I couldn't play outside all of the time. So, in the time I had to be inside, we watched movies on the VCR (look it up kiddos). Somehow my sister discovered the movie "Troop Beverly Hills". She latched onto that movie. It seemed every time I looked around, the movie was on. I was being slowly tortured and humane practices were not being used. By the time school started back, I could almost recite the whole movie from heart. For once, I was over joyed to be back in school.
Yesterday, I came from the shower and what did my ears hear? The sounds of that retched movie coming from my living room tv. My daughter had discovered it on Netflix. So far, she has only watched it the one time. I have one mission now, I must contact the programming director of Netflix and demand it be removed. Either that or cancel all of our tv services. Hmmm. Hard choices.
As an adult, snow days are more complicated. I still love playing in the snow with Elisabeth and still coming in to a nice cup of hot chocolate. But, now my favorite part of a snow day is right before the snow starts. There's something about the quiet and the still of it all. Yesterday, I was outside watching the birds and just enjoying it all. Not a sound was to be heard, no birds tweeting, no dogs barking, not even the sound of a car engine. Everything was very peaceful, almost like I was the only soul in the world.
Not all snow days were like this. It was March 13 of 1993, and the Blizzard of 1993 was in full effect. A lot of people were without power and water. My family was lucky, the only utility we lost was cable television. Little did I know that the loss of cable would plunge my world into madness. As noted above, I wasn't afraid of going outside to play in the snow, but I couldn't play outside all of the time. So, in the time I had to be inside, we watched movies on the VCR (look it up kiddos). Somehow my sister discovered the movie "Troop Beverly Hills". She latched onto that movie. It seemed every time I looked around, the movie was on. I was being slowly tortured and humane practices were not being used. By the time school started back, I could almost recite the whole movie from heart. For once, I was over joyed to be back in school.
Yesterday, I came from the shower and what did my ears hear? The sounds of that retched movie coming from my living room tv. My daughter had discovered it on Netflix. So far, she has only watched it the one time. I have one mission now, I must contact the programming director of Netflix and demand it be removed. Either that or cancel all of our tv services. Hmmm. Hard choices.
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