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The Nation's Pulse
Hot Fun in the Summertime
Just don’t give me an All-Star break.
Summertime means many things to many people. For some it’s time for a few days to get together with family and friends to beat the heat; to others it represents an opportunity to travel and unravel their busy lives; and for kids, it signals the beginning of twelve glorious weeks of a freedom they will never know again after they are grown. But for baseball lovers, the approach of the second week in July portends the most dreaded days of the long, hot summer.
Worse for fans than a weekend of rainouts, and more painful even than forced soccer-viewing, comes the three-day drought that is the All-Star Break. Now I know I don’t speak for everyone, but to most of us, the so-called Midsummer Classic is nothing more than an unwelcome distraction from the real game. Worse, is the addition of the Home Run Derby, the pervious iteration of which was a mildly entertaining TV show from the late 1950s that is remarkable today for the gentlemanly conduct of the players and their ability to speak in complete sentences.
However, many fans welcome the frivolity that accompanies the annual pause in hostilities we call pennant races. And maybe a short respite does prove the old adage about absence making the heart growing fonder; kind of like Republicans in the majority. But, if you’re like me — an obnoxious, arrogant Yankee fan — or any other for that matter, you’d just as soon skip the whole thing and resume the season at once. And inasmuch as even the baseball powers that be acknowledge — by trying to assign it significance by bestowing World Series home field advantage on the victors — the All-Star game is generally a big snooze, you’d be better off finding something else to do. But what?
Read a book on Ronald Reagan. Although the Gipper has been gone some six years now, his legend continues to grow in leaps and bounds, especially when compared to the current occupant of the Oval Office. Who can forget those lovely summer images of the Reagans at their beloved Rancho Del Cielo? So pick up a volume on the Dutchman; there have been a dozen or so written in the past year alone, proving once again, that history will render the worthy well.
Take a trip to Washington, D.C. Although the weather can be oppressive, there’s nothing like being in DC when most of the hot air has departed for points west. The city is a great gift to the American people, courtesy of those who brought you the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, which are conveniently housed in the National Archives. Go and see them soon, as their content may soon assume the museum-piece qualities of the actual documents.
For those of you who miss perusing the daily box scores, you might want to keep track of the score of a match in progress for the last few months: Barack Obama versus the U.S. Court System. So far, the big O is down three to zip on his deepwater drilling moratorium, with another turn at bat due in November when he goes against the people of Arizona’s desire for self-determination and the protection they have not received from the federal government. Also on deck are lawsuits from 20 states seeking to overturn the squeaker of a victory obtained by Obama and his party on healthcare “reform.”
And finally, you can, as will I, look forward with guarded glee toward the coming election cycle which will, just like the pennant races, be heating up after the Congressional break. You can while away the days digesting delicious reports of the upcoming extended House recess, like this one from the Washington Post’s Perry Bacon, Jr.:
House members, originally scheduled to spend five weeks of recess in their districts this summer, will get to leave Washington a week early — Aug. 2 instead of Aug. 9. The time is not likely to be spent on the beach. The schedule change could be dubbed “the fierce urgency of winning reelection.” It will provide wary Democrats in contested districts one more week to campaign and one less week to be in Washington casting votes their GOP opponents could turn against this them.
Yes, the political Hot Stove League we’ve all been watching will be smoking until the summer heat burns off into the cool of the autumn, while we await what may prove to be two tremendous Fall Classics.
Note: RIP George M. Steinbrenner, the ultimate baseball capitalist.
Ken (Old Texican)| 7.14.10 @ 8:59AM
I'm going to do a lot of praying for our country this summer.
I'm also going to kick a lot of lazy butts out of their easy chairs on election day.
" Go yee therefore and do likewise."
canuckistani| 7.14.10 @ 9:58AM
Steinbrenner became the icon of what is wrong with America: blind greed at the expense of every other ethical or moral fiber of our character. (I do give him credit for making the dead Yankees into a powerhouse again, but I do so begrudgingly)
I watched the All-star game with an eye to nostalgia, when we all knew the owners were crooks and thieves, but the players had a charm about them that drew fans into the game. Today, they are as far removed as the owners always were. Now we count baseball statistics in dollars, revenue streams and advertising fill rates versus on field stats that children learning the game always embraced as their way of getting into it.
I won't miss Steinbrenner, but I do miss the game, and I miss being able to empathize with players.
The tiniest of victories came last night when A-Rod did not get voted in, nor did he make a plate appearance. Little victories.
I am a socialist when it comes to baseball thse days: the game needs a hard cap, balanced schedule and an end to interleague play. Hopefully Steinbrenner's progeny will be less inclined to stick it out, sell to corporate interests and let the rest of the league into the game.
Anthony| 7.14.10 @ 12:13PM
No my friend, you're a socialist, PERIOD. You neither understand what truly motivated a man like George Steinbrenner, nor do you appreciate what it takes to demand on being the best.
Steinbrenner took a fading dynasty ( thank you CBS) and turned it into a Colossus. Thanks, Boss, RIP.
FlaJim| 7.16.10 @ 10:36AM
George Steinbrenner almost single handedly rescued baseball after taking over the Yankees in 73 by making the game interesting again. MLB was in danger of crashing and burning.
As for his greed, that story line arose out of NYC. Here in Tampa, his home, he will be sorely missed. He was a great philanthropist and contributed millions to youth sports. Thousands of coaches and children benefited from his benevolence.
Canuckistani, I've met Hank Steinbrenner, George's son, and there'll be no big changes in operations since he's been running the team for 10 years anyway.
Lisa, I'm glad I'm not alone in considering the All Star game a big yawn. I'd rather watch paint dry but prefer watching the grass grow so I can be outside. No danger of passing out from paint fumes, either.
Purple Lips| 7.14.10 @ 10:47AM
A wise man wrote last week that these days players are not acquired or traded -they are rented. Most fans haven't a clue how the owners finance thier player acquisitions. Matt Haliday, for instance signed a 10 year $100 million contract with the Cardinals last year. What people don't understand is that the Cardinals will be stretching out payments not 10 years, but 20 years. And the $100 million is just the beginning. They will be paying for his health care indfefinitly, not to mention that they've indemnify him, will pay out revenue sharing, pensions, etc... And A-Rod's huge Texas contract ($250 a decade ago) was still being paid out by the Rangers despite the fact he hasn't played for them in years. How these contracts are put together are as about a complex as Credit Default Swaps. How any of this is calculated against the so-called salary caps is anyone's guess.
Rumor has that Albert Pujols will be demanding a 10 year $300 million contract next year.
I stopped watching and following baseball 2 years ago.
Doctor Right| 7.14.10 @ 11:19AM
Purple Lips:
I stopped watching several years ago.
Baseball used to be a great game. Now it sucks.
And moronic owners like George Steinbrenner helped bring about it's downfall by offering absurd salaries to grown men for their ability to hit a little leather ball with a big stick.
The out-of-control salaries that accompany free-agency have killed medium and and small market teams.
The astronomical rise in ticket prices to cover the cost of free agency has made a trip with the family to the ballpark into a near $400 afternoon.
Additionally, the rise of corporate luxury boxes has also frozen out the average fan who just wants to see a game.
Call me a purist, or a curmudgeon even, but when I see those corporate weenies drinking wine(!) and pecking away non-stop on their wretched blackberries during a baseball game, my blood boils.
If I had MY way (which, thankfully for the rest of the world, will probably never happen), all stadium seating would be wooden benches. The concession stands would serve NOTHING but beer, pretzels, hot-dogs, and coke (for the kids). We wouldn't need to play rock-n-roll music between every inning, and every pitch - the outfield organ will do just fine, thank you. And smoking - including cigars - would be encouraged!
This would be sure to drive away the yuppie rabble who don't really care about baseball, but like the "social scene"...And it would bring back the average fan.
Revenues would tumble...And so would salaries...And then ticket prices.
And we could dream again of a possible Milwaukee-Kansas City World Series, instead of yet another [insert national league team] vs. Yankees/Red Sox snooze-fest.
Yup. Baseball sucks.
Al Adab| 7.14.10 @ 11:29AM
Love baseball. To understand America one must understand baseball. Remain however, bored by All Star Game. Just a showcase exhibition and little else. Good to watch the players but the hype is overdone. Same with NBA and Pro bowl.
Hook 'em Horns!
RCV| 7.14.10 @ 12:03PM
On this we can agree! Regular everyday baseball is America at its best. The All Star Game is like the Superbowl - a spectacle, not sport.
Bob Miller| 7.14.10 @ 12:51PM
Now that batters are less juiced with drugs, the pitchers have come back into their own and the game is getting more interesting.
Sam| 7.14.10 @ 3:49PM
There is one reason I like the All-Star game- the pride and the stage. The pride because it's about time the NL got theirs back and finally won. The stage because the sports media is biased in favor of the big market teams so the All-Star game is one of the few times small market stars get attention. Like my boys Adrian Gonzalez and Heath Bell...Go Padres!!! You may see us atop the west come October!
Appleby| 7.14.10 @ 9:29PM
Baseball is boring. You can go out for a beer and a smoke in the 5th inning and come back in the 8th and nothing will have happened.
I was a baseball fan for the two years when the Blue Jays won the World Series. Then came the Lockout and I dropped baseball. Later came the hockey lockout and I dropped hockey.
Millionaires v. Billionaires and to hell with the fans -- it costs more than $500 for a family of 4 to attend a Leafs game and the Leafs have won nothing since 1967. Blue Jays tickets can be had by the handfuls for practically nothing. Nobody goes to the games.
Its boring.
will| 7.15.10 @ 11:14AM
Agreed, the spectre of "Inter-league"play has ruined the once heralded mid-summer classic, as has the NBA-ization of the sport. It was however, quite refreshing to see a player with infuriating modesty, a dearth of off-field distractions and an alarming lack of jewelry win the MVP. Enjoy it while you can!
shipley130| 7.16.10 @ 4:49PM
I sort of predicted a crash in the fall of 2006. When I bought a house in Arizona, I mentioned to my realtor that housing prices were out of control. Needless to say, I got the stink eye from her about that comment. Fast forward to 2 years later, and Viola!