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.
