You're LATE, Jet!

[in_the_blue]

Look, I'm not gloating. For 7+ innings that was a nail-biter of a game. It was fabulous, and all (two) Cleveland Indians fans ought to be really proud of their team.

Baseball is a game of mathematics, of percentages. All of it can be distilled into ratios for the record books. What it doesn't always take into account are things like home-field advantage and fan adoration. But those who watch it and play it know these things matter immensely: even living 3000 miles away, there's nothing like seeing your team win on their turf. I used to make the trek up to Seattle every year to watch the Red Sox play there, but even though I love the team, it's not the same. I cut my baseball teeth on Fenway Park, which is one of the most precious, beautiful, old, crappy baseball fields left in the country. I hope they never move, even though there's no parking and it's a giant pain in the ass to get there and you're going to have your bag stolen as you walk through Kenmore Square and over the Mass Pike. But still, it's a beautiful place and I'm thankful I ever spent as much time there as I did.

Before I go on and wax poetic endlessly about the Red Sox, I'd like to take a moment to recommend a book. If you consider yourself a baseball fan and you happen to be female, or just like females, you might want to read Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend: Women Writers on Baseball. This is one of my favorite collections and one of the only books that's ever inspired me to write poetry about baseball. That poem (fortunately) is lost to the archives of time, but every fall I'm reminded of it, and of how much I love the game and this book. It doesn't matter which team you like and root for: the collection (essays, poems, fiction) is fabulous and contains works from women as diverse in style and scope as Marianne Moore and Shirley Jackson and Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Anyway.

Happy Monday? My plans for the day just got canceled. I think I'll go unpack my stuff and set it up in my new office. I'm pretty confident I get web access up there...

Comments

[acusa-dora.livejournal.com]

Fenway is totally magical! All I can say is that the Sox were great. They deserved to win. I was leaning in the direction of Cleveland just because they were the underdog and they had a good season, but they put their good pitchers in the last two games and they lost. Plain and simple. I'm totally for Boston now.

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

Hah, the Sox are great. I could tell you stories, but man. That was some fun to be able to watch because trust us, we Red Sox fans have had our share of heartbreak. I love seeing them do well.

[wakeupnew]

Thanks for supplying something for my pretty-blank Christmas list. :D

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

I think it's out of print, but there are copies on Amazon from resellers.

And... you might like the two articles Sara points to just below.

[arasnaem.livejournal.com]

Saw this (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/john_donovan/10/22/alcs.pedroia/index.html) and this (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/the_bonus/10/19/bonus.youkilis/index.html) and thought of you.

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

Aww! Those are both great articles! Thank you.

[arasnaem.livejournal.com]

You're welcome.

After the second one, I totally had to look up "Yooouuukkk". Great read. He's so...grounded!

[wakeupnew]

Those two articles delight me in so many ways. Thanks for linking! (And Gwynne, thanks for pointing me back this way.)

[arasnaem.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed them. I particularly loved the background on Youk's family.

[jules1278.livejournal.com]

I love you.

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

I love you too! It's a mutual admiration society!

Ten points if you can read the Japanese in the icon.

[sff-corgi.livejournal.com]

Does it count for anything that I like movies about baseball, oddly enough? Love Bull Durham all to death, for instance.

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

ALL baseball counts.

[govcampbell.livejournal.com]

Our principal had made a freindly wager with the gym teacher, who is an Indians fan, that he would wear at Sox jersey if the Sox won, and the principal would wear an Indians jersey if Cleveland won.

Strangely, the gym teacher was absent from school today...

[in-the-blue.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha.

Classic.