Frank, re: "I suspect this preoccupation with man's greatest sporting event must mystify our friends in other lands."
Perhaps not ..... remember, the rest of the world has soccer.
Just try and get a ticket to the Manchester derby between United and City ..... Among the impromptu activities of the 'Christmas Truce of 1914,' near Ypres, German and British troops played soccer ..... Not all of it is positive, there are a few cases of anger in the stands, among fans of rival teams, that turns ugly, even deadly ..... There are plenty of examples of preoccupation with futbol around the world.
I was thinking how soccer is an odd game, because, other than the goalkeepers, you cannot use your hands or arms--and yet humans have evolved these limbs. It's such an odd stipulation--to have athletes not be able to use two, nowadays-significant, limbs, not to mention the opposable thumbs.
Then I recalled Bob Newharts's baseball routine, "Nobody Will Ever Play baseball" and found it recorded at this site: 2004 Sayville Varsirt Baseball Team
I was thinking in terms of whether or not someone in foreign lands could understand our passion for the phenomenon that is a major sporting event such as the World Series ..... which is why I said, 'Yes, they could' ..... in refernce to their passion for soccer in general, and the World Cup in particular.
By the way, returning to writers and baseball, which - I think - got this discussion started ..... I'd like to mention W.P. Kinsella ..... "Shoeless Joe" may be his best=known work, but my personal favorite is a collection of short stories called "Dixon Cornbelt League."
No apologies necessary, Jeff. I was just being flip. I fear the passion for soccer completely eludes me. But then basketball doesn't do much for me, either. Football's OK, but baseball - that's uniquely wonderful.
Could this be a coincidence? Could it be that on the 50th anniversary of the publication of On the Road, Kerouac's Red Sox played Neal Cassady's Colorado Rockies in the World Series? If you think not, then is it a coincidence that a batsman named Mike Lowell, whose last name happens to be the name of Kerouac's hometown, was named the MVP? Or that this was the 103rd World Series, and on page 103 of my copy of On the Road, Kerouac writes, "I was going home in October. Everybody goes home in October"--what Lowell did in Denver. Coincidence? Further on that same page:
"The bus roared through Indiana cornfields that night; the moon illuminated the ghostly gathered husks; it was almost Halloween . . . . I cut right along. I wanted to get home.
"It was the night of the Ghost of the Susquehanna."
Is it a coincidence, then, that the Susquehanna rises as the outlet of Otsego Lake in Cooperstown, the home of Baseball's Hall of Fame, where Lowell, now, will become immortalized?
Ahhhh, thank you for posting the link! I, too, am an unabashed baseball nut and Boston Red Sox fan.
ReplyDeleteOne of my many paeans to baseball is here.
Frank, re: "I suspect this preoccupation with man's greatest sporting event must mystify our friends in other lands."
ReplyDeletePerhaps not ..... remember, the rest of the world has soccer.
Just try and get a ticket to the Manchester derby between United and City ..... Among the impromptu activities of the 'Christmas Truce of 1914,' near Ypres, German and British troops played soccer ..... Not all of it is positive, there are a few cases of anger in the stands, among fans of rival teams, that turns ugly, even deadly ..... There are plenty of examples of preoccupation with futbol around the world.
h, but Jeff, that is my point: The rest of the world has soccer.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking how soccer is an odd game, because, other than the goalkeepers, you cannot use your hands or arms--and yet humans have evolved these limbs. It's such an odd stipulation--to have athletes not be able to use two, nowadays-significant, limbs, not to mention the opposable thumbs.
ReplyDeleteThen I recalled Bob Newharts's baseball routine, "Nobody Will Ever Play baseball" and found it recorded at this site: 2004 Sayville Varsirt Baseball Team
.
My apologies, Frank .... I DID miss your point.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking in terms of whether or not someone in foreign lands could understand our passion for the phenomenon that is a major sporting event such as the World Series ..... which is why I said, 'Yes, they could' ..... in refernce to their passion for soccer in general, and the World Cup in particular.
By the way, returning to writers and baseball, which - I think - got this discussion started ..... I'd like to mention W.P. Kinsella ..... "Shoeless Joe" may be his best=known work, but my personal favorite is a collection of short stories called "Dixon Cornbelt League."
No apologies necessary, Jeff. I was just being flip. I fear the passion for soccer completely eludes me. But then basketball doesn't do much for me, either. Football's OK, but baseball - that's uniquely wonderful.
ReplyDeleteCould this be a coincidence? Could it be that on the 50th anniversary of the publication of On the Road, Kerouac's Red Sox played Neal Cassady's Colorado Rockies in the World Series? If you think not, then is it a coincidence that a batsman named Mike Lowell, whose last name happens to be the name of Kerouac's hometown, was named the MVP? Or that this was the 103rd World Series, and on page 103 of my copy of On the Road, Kerouac writes, "I was going home in October. Everybody goes home in October"--what Lowell did in Denver. Coincidence? Further on that same page:
ReplyDelete"The bus roared through Indiana cornfields that night; the moon illuminated the ghostly gathered husks; it was almost Halloween . . . . I cut right along. I wanted to get home.
"It was the night of the Ghost of the Susquehanna."
Is it a coincidence, then, that the Susquehanna rises as the outlet of Otsego Lake in Cooperstown, the home of Baseball's Hall of Fame, where Lowell, now, will become immortalized?
Elaboration for the occasion of Halloween here:
ReplyDeleteThe Ghost of the Susquehanna vs. the Curse of the Bambino
.