8/1/01

Softball: Judaica (The Subtleties that Dominate)

Dear People,

Congratz to all on last week’s somewhat less than exhilarating 27-9 aerobic evisceration. As captain of the losing team, I was prepared to look deep and hard into my naked soul, in hopes of a post-game realization that could "explain" the unseemly collapse in question. Obviously the fact that our best players were hitting with torpor and jejunosity did not advance the cause, and regretfully, our 5 errors per inning did little to mitigate the offensive slump. Nevertheless, I sensed there was something much more fundamental at work, and as I walked toward my car in the lonely post-frisbee twilight hour, my beloved pitcher Ehud came up to me, and in his gentle demeanor, I suddenly saw the dark explication that had set the preordained fate of the game before.

Ehud’s voice was frail and somber, and in his hand he carried a small bag of fruit and butter cookies, and an unopened bottle of gargling water. Naturally, I asked him if his throat were parched, and he said that in fact he had the thirst of 1,000 stalks of drought-cursed corn, but that obviously he could not drink or eat until after sunset. I cocked my head in curiosity, and then it suddenly struck me that he was observing Tisha b’Av, my 9th favorite Jewish day of remembrance, and in this case, a time for recalling the destruction of the Jerusalem temples in 586BC and 70AD (Yes, those same religious monuments that form the backdrop for the current "era of good feelings" in Israeli-Palestinian relations).

Needless to say, the Huudmeister’s revelation hit me like a ton of all-kosher bricks, for it suddenly occurred to me that perhaps half my team had been playing under the solemn strain of self-imposed hunger, thirst and spiritual distraction (I myself had had nothing to eat since early that morning, and yet my restraint was as absolute as it was unconscious). Oh sure, one can speculate that Mikey’s team was as observant as my own, but the simple fact is that I distinctly remember that Mikey himself, captain and Hebraic role model for his entire contingent, spent most of the early innings gnawing on crispy strips of pre-cooked snacking pork. No, my friends, I think we can agree that the evidence is clear, and that had my team not been, for want of a better term, "better Jews," we would not have lost by 16 runs, but rather, won by 5 or more. And therefore, there will be a game at Codornices this Sunday at 5:00, IF I get enough commits by Friday morning…..Raymond


PS: For those interested in a sizzling though ultimately pointless debate on whether or not great golfers qualify as great athletes (as opposed to great basketball players), you may want to visit…

http://milkyway.ssl.berkeley.edu/davea/athlete.html

This is a page from the personal website of David Anderson, director of SETI@home, computer-scientist extrordinaire, and occasional softball dude.


8/3/01

Softball: Greens

Dear People,

There will be a game at Codornices this Sunday at 5:00, and as of now, there are still four slots left.

Please bring $1 for the field, which for this week only, includes a complimentary tureen of Swiss chard and kale…. Raymond 845-7552

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