Nathan Being Overly Sentimental...
And 'lo, I am as one renewed. For I have been to the Cathedral of the American spirit, on this, the first of the great sacred days of the season in this fair season. As with life, baseball begins flawlessly. If you look deeper you might realize that your team has about as much chance of winning as someone who doesn't play percussion for Spinal Tap has of spontaneously bursting into flames. You might realize that baseball really does mirror America in that those with money tend to win more than those without it. But this would be dwelling on the negatives, it would be, dare I say, cynical to worry about this.
Instead, we sit together, united as one. People of all colors and religions and politics sit together and watch the first, and still greatest, professional sport in America. Others will point out that more people watch football. So? They have succumbed to the quick hit and the violence. They believe the propanda which indicates that unless something can be quickly broken down into sound bites and snippets it can not be good, that the process of the painting can not matter nearly as much as the final product. They prefer the lure of the quick seductive affair to the long haul of true love. I pity them.
Give me baseball. No man alive knows for sure the ultimate truths of the universe. Moses may not have parted the Red Sea, Jesus may never have existed and Mohammed may have never even gone near a mountain, but the mythology of baseball can be verified to the last decimal place. No other sport has the legends or numbers that baseball has. Even passing fans can tell you what 714, .406, 61* and 56 mean. 300, 3000, 500 and 30-30 are identifiable with only a minimum of context. America may honor and fete it's football and basketball stars, but the legends of baseball enter mythology. Even today, nearly 75 years since he last stepped on a field, Babe Ruth is still the most famous athlete in American history.
Oh, baseball is not perfect. At various point in its history it has experienced organized racism, organized gambling, drugs, the New York Yankees and a host of other ills. Always it has risen above them. Baseball, unlike any other sport, puts its problems in front of the public, often to its own detriment. While other sports hide their weaknesses, baseball is almost like family in that you can see everything, the good and the bad and the ugly. Baseball will last as long as America, and probably even longer.
Or maybe Nathan just overdosed on hot dogs and nacho cheese at the ball park today. Whatever. Let's go A's!!!