10/16/02
Softball: Progeny
Dear People,
Congratz to all on last week’s charming 20-12 exploration of ground-breaking familial aerobicism, dominated as it was by the first mother-son pairing in the entire history of our consistently maverick community. Although my own team sucked and sucked badly, I was so taken by the sight of Darryl and his beloved mum leading their side to victory that I felt nary a patina of shame. Of course, my delight was somewhat tempered by the curious interplay which marked the pair in question, and in all candor, the entire experience makes me fear for the very future of the American family.
Still, let the record show that Lee Gale was a spirited last-minute recruit who only wanted to make her little tyke proud, and while her initial 25 courtesy-pitch attempts to make contact with the ball were somewhat unsightly, the fact is that she had more raw resolve than anybody who’s ever played this game. Sure enough, on her 4th at bat she finally slammed a grounder a full 10 feet down the 3rd base line, thus garnering what was probably her first actual hit since the Cuban Missile Crisis!
I can’t overstate how giddy I felt, for her own flesh and blood was about to immediately follow her to bat, thus seeping the entire field in a nearly Hitchcockian sense of recreational drama. Indeed, the burgeoning Gruen family pride was probably more than enough to guarantee that Darryl would drive his mama home, and honestly, just sensing that brought me clavicular goosebumps.
Alas, though, and for reasons I can’t possibly understand, Darryl took Andy’s very first pitch and grounded it directly toward short, thereby guaranteeing that Lee Gale would be forced out at 2nd less than a minute after her grand adventure had truly begun. She ran her little heart out despite the inevitable, and frankly, I couldn’t help but think that this poor woman had once endured 35 hours of labor to birth her only son, and this was how he now repaid her! Of course, I soon realized I was being overly callous and bitter, and so I discretely turned to the Galemeister for emotive grace and perspective on the delicate bond between mother and child, gently asking her if she had somehow felt let down. "Look, the little bastard has been a disappointment since the get-go" she sternly whispered, adding "Next time I’m getting a schnauzer."
Oh sure, her reaction was a tad more brusque than I had anticipated, but in retrospect, it made me appreciate the nearly cosmic way in which this magically subtle game clarifies what is noble and true for all of us. For me, it is that life itself is shaped by the metaphoric bounce of capricious balls, while for Lee Gale, it is simply that a pint-sized generic mutt would have been substantially better than Darryl. Neither are "universal truths," but I think we can all agree that both are stark ontological statements of profoundly sublime beauty, and therefore, there will be a game at Codornices this Sunday at 11AM, IF I get enough commits by this Friday morning…..Raymond
10/19/02
Softball: Upscale
Dear People,
There will be a game at Codornices this Sunday at 11, and as of now there are still FIVE slots left.
Please bring $2 for the field, which for this week only includes a complimentary post-game stein of chilled Cabernet Sauvignon ’95, served with your choice of whole grain or Twinkies….Raymond 845-7552
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