Category Archives: Sports

Super Bummed

Posted on by
Reply
Donald Trump Caricature by Donkey Hotey

Well, there is no joy in Mudville this morning. The mighty Chiefs were defeated. Hell, they were just plain routed! I blame the orange baboon’s chef’s kiss before game time. There is a maxim about what happens to everything that he touches. A maxim that was proved true yet again. Meanwhile, in the rival city of brotherly love, it was party down time. There Kat Flandermeyer‬ compiled a transcript of highlights from last night’s Philly police scanner. You had to laugh, because otherwise you might cry. Between rotating DJs and civilian horses rearing, it was a night of pure chaos. An example of what we as a country have to look forward to in the next four years. We are headed to an America where urban cowboys cannot take their civilian horses out for a ride.

There is currently an undetermined number of DJs, at least two, perhaps three, they are rotating—Large, LARGE crowd coming—The barricades are falling— “We have too many we keep losing the barricades” is being repeated with increasing levels of panic lol—I DONT EVEN KNOW IF THE CREW CAN MAKE IT THROUGH THE PEOPLE TO GET THE DJ—We lost the barricade at chestnut. We lost a lot right now! —I keep hearing “we can start clearing the crowd out” as if that is an attainable goal— “Uh, this is an estimate but I got no less than 5000 people heading your way” “Uh… thanks” — “Broad and Locust is lost” Like this, is the zombie apocalypse—I’ve been avoiding the medic calls but broad and walnut just got a second “man down in his alcohol” —Disregard second man, he has apparently gotten up out of his alcohol and continued partying—we have a man with a boombox who keeps poking out of a store, “keep an eye on him” — “I got about thirty people on top of a trash truck” I NEED to see this—I now have seven or eight people on horses, the fireworks are spooking them and they’re rearing up… they’re civilian horses. 

Footballers

Posted on by
Reply
Footballers, Erich Bödeker, 1970

Last night we met some Scots, first at dinner and then later at 3 AM, when we heard them singing outside our window. Tonight is the big game, Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 versus Croatia 🇭🇷. Croatia is favored, being the better playing team and having a home field advantage, but the Scots are here in force to back their team. We came upon the Scottish gathering point, where their march to the match begins. We spent the day in quirky little museums, like the Museum of Broken Relationships and the Naīve Art Museum, where the footballer’s statues came from. We will find a sports bar to watch the match over dinner. The march to the match passes by the hotel and then the Hangover Museum.

Update: It was zero to zero when we left the streets, but it was 1-1 when we finally got the game on the Telly. Croatia took a late game 2-1 lead and Scotland seemingly tied the score at the last minute, but a penalty denied them that.

Take Me Out of the Ballgame

Posted on by
2
Baseball Has Marked the Passing of Time

The other night, we socialized with the neighbors at the Cozy Inn. George, always a stalwart at these events was there too. He regaled the night’s pretty good crowd, with the news of his cabin. A few months ago, he had had a fire and inquiring minds wanted to know. He has reached a settlement with his insurance that include plans for the new cabin and a bill of materials. He still has to select a contractor, but teardown of the old cabin should begin in a week or two. The new place will be slightly larger than the old one, in order to accommodate the county’s new ADA regulations. It will be a framed building and not a log cabin.

I do not know how we got on the subject, but more interesting, at least for me, was George’s recounting of his father’s geriatric softball career. His dad had joined this league with a minimum age of 75 and played until he turned 103. Even more amazing, he played catcher, which is generally considered to be a younger man’s position. George is a tall man, so I figure that his old man was one too. His dad passed a few years ago at 107. The most amazing aspect of this story is that in all of the years of defending the plate, George’s father had three opponents die in his arms there. Me being me, I had to ask, were the runner’s safe or were they out? This question evoked a round of chuckles, and it was eventually agreed that they had all made it safely home, sweet home.

Fort Sumter

Posted on by
6
Fort Sumter

South Carolina’s license plate says, “First to Fight,” still rebelling after all these years. North Carolina’s says, “First in Flight,” in honor of the Wright brother’s feat. Fight or flight are two instinctual defense mechanisms, but I am not going to go there, because Anne has just won the license plate game. Rhode Island was the last holdout. She restarted the game and then saw another Little Rhody plate. This means that Rhode Island will not be the last holdout. Come on Hawaii!

There was sad news this morning that my childhood hero Willie Mays had died. I came of age in the world of baseball rooting for the San Francisco Giants. My brother and I would follow their games daily on our newly acquired transistor radios, cheering on Mays and the Giants and jeering their arch rivals the LA Dodgers. For a while we lived on base, near old Candlestick Park. Once our mother took us to a game there. Our dad dropped us all off and then went to work. We were waiting in line outside of left field when a towering home run from Mays’ teammate Willie McCovey came crashing down in the parking lot near us. The game was sold out and that home run might have been all the baseball that we saw that day, except that it was a double header. After the first game, some businessmen were leaving early, and Mom scored us box seat tickets for the second game. This was my brother’s and mine first MLB game.

Today’s itinerary was nautically themed, we first visited the aquarium and then Fort Sumter. The aquarium had lots of silent fish and screaming children. Sumter is on an island, so we took a ferry there, another three-hour tour. There were no working bathrooms at the fort. This message was repeatedly drilled into us. I surmise that the real reason during the Civil War that this fort fell was not that it could not holdout any longer, but the defenders couldn’t hold it any longer. 😉 

Super Bowls, Past and Present

Posted on by
Reply
Sioux Headdress

Last night’s Super Bowl is now one for the record books. Overall, it was a good game. The Chiefs won. The first half was a bit of a sleeper and could have been skipped. I guess that is why they tacked on a third half at the end. The commercials were rather meh. Taylor did not get engaged. Beyoncé broke the internet, again. Did I miss anything? I guess that I was still keyed up over the close game, because afterwards, I watched a movie about football. American Underdog is the story of Kurt Warner and the role that he played in winning the Super Bowl here in Saint Louis. This biopic stars Zachary Levi as Warner. Levi is more famous for his more recent Shazam superhero movies. Costarring is Anna Paquin as Brenda Warner. The movie dwells on Warner’s football beginnings, with emphasis on his stint playing arena football. Eventually, he was noticed by the Rams. After a tryout, he was signed. When the Rams’ starting quarterback was injured, he stepped in and stepped up to lead the team to victory, as part of the so called “Greatest Show on Turf.”