Softball: The Nativity Factor
Dear People,
Darryl’s team beat my own 15-7, in large part because Tom O. shut down our best hitters with a rarefied assault of variable-velocity spinballs that practically cried out "Just try and hit me out of the infield, you pitiful sack of feckless bat-wielding retards." That kind of ’tude stings, and stings hard, but just for the record, my side had all the best catches, including a physics-defying snag by Alan Miller just inside the sloped tundra of deep center left, AND a stunning Willy Maysesque over-the-shoulder bobble-and-grab by Ehud, midway down the 3rd base line.
This latter feat was so stirring that I nearly broke down and wept, and indeed, I still get chills when I think that the Huud sports this kind of deistic dexterity while simultaneously rewriting everything we know about the entire world of potassium channel voltage sensors! All I can say is that between the proteins and the fielding, we are blessed by the towering presence of that rarest of all studs: The Renaissance Mensch.
In any case, and as some of you may know, this weekend marks the 2010th anniversary of the birth of Jesus, give or take a decade. Now normally I would say that’s reason enough to take a week off so we can quietly reflect on the sundry gains and challenges of the holiday season, but then it suddenly occurred to me that when the Christmeister was actually born, Joseph and Mary were fortunate enough to be in the presence of three totally intriguing wise guys from the East—St. Balthasar the Astronomer (likely from present-day Yemen), St. Melchior the Philosopher-King (from what is now central Iran), and St. Gaspar the Stickball Coach (from the Haifa University Department of Biblical Athletics).
No, I’m not about to claim that ancient Hebraic stickball is in any way linked to, or as wondrous as, the softball we play and cherish today. However, I also happen to think that good ’ol Gaspy was there for a reason, and if that places the story of the Lord squarely in the great aerobic traditions of email-organized sport, then I for one am not to going to apologize for that, no matter what those nasty Christmas-dissing secularists would like you to believe. I think you see my point, and therefore there will be a game at Codornices this Sunday at 11AM, IF I get enough commits by this Friday morning…Raymond
12/24/04
Softball: Salubrious
Dear People,
There will be a game at Codornices this Sunday at 11AM, and as of now, there are still three slots left. There are reports in the non-God-fearing liberal media of possible rain for that morning, but I think that’s the kind of pessimism one should expect from their ilk, and personally, I’m betting on rich blue hues of cloudless glory. If I’m wrong or conditions are ambiguous, you’ll need to check email/voicemail.
Please bring $2 for the field, which for this week only includes a complimentary post-game platter of seasonal legumes and dark leafy greens….Raymond 845-7552
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