Dear People,
I look back on last weekend with a crestfallen sense of opportunity lost, for as you may have noticed, the trenchant rains failed to materialize, and Kleeberger basked under crisp blue skies at the designated time. Sadly, I had called the game off for a simple lack of quorum. I sometimes shake to the very marrow of my bones when I think that there are over 100 people on this list, and yet for these last few weeks, it has been difficult to get a mere 14+ of you to dedicate yourselves to the cleansing challenge of aerobic renewal. Sometimes I wonder about the fragility of the human spirit when I get letters back like "Ray, please forgive me, but I have the flu," or "Ray, I would love to, but the dog has gingivitis, and you know how that is," or "Dude, seriously, I live in Portugal, so stop hassling me." For me, that last excuse is the most vexing.
Ironically, as much as I want to turn the tide on this distressing lull in athletic passion, the fact is that this week I have to come clean with you; My "Legends of Baseball" wall calendar has nothing noted for the entire upcoming weekend. Nothing to galvanize the communal heart.
Luckily though, I did happen to notice that on my "Countdown to the Millennium" fact-a-day desk calendar, it turns out that this Saturday, January 30th is the 736th anniversary of the establishment of the Yuan dynasty as the successor to the southern Sung Dynasty, by none other than Kublai Khan, grandson of the great Mongol conqueror Genghis Khan. As most of you certainly know, medieval historians now believe that Rounders, the original 19th century British stick game that later evolved into baseball, was in truth a variant of a much earlier Mongolian game called "Gobibawl," originally brought to the West after Marco Polo's initial visit to Kublai's summer dacha. And when viewed in this context, I think you see my point.
Thus, there will be a game this Saturday, January 30th, at 1PM at Kleeberger North, IF I get enough commits by this Friday noon. I think you realize that as a group, making me beg for players is no longer a tenable situation. So make that commit. Do it for Kublia Khan, whose dominance of 13th Century Asia resulted in the rich Mongol soils upon which Baseball legends like Sammy Sosa and Tommy Lasorda inspire us today......Raymond