Hello Fellow Travelers!
I would be completely remiss if I didn't address one area of interest that has completely captured my attention these past three years; Baseball! I credit this game for keeping me sunny side up during what could have been a very dark time. Patient Spouse has tried to instill Baseball's sense of scope and history in me for years but it required a brain tumor (and Ken Burns) to really make me appreciate "the game within the game" since 2011.
My PS, his father, my father and most men I knew and knew of could all speak "baseball". It seemed to me that certain men extrapolated baseball statistics the way I could remember the closing theme to "The Beverly Hillbillies" and for some reason could detail the romantic backstory of just about any actor anywhere. It just stuck in my brain , I never claimed it was very useful information! It's just information that was stuck in my head. I was a pop culture Wikipedia before there was Wikipedia. Now whenever we have some obscure question about entertainment, we just Google it like anyone else, but my brain has an unfortunately limitless capacity for retaining popular trivia. Before there was Wendy Williams there was me. PS still checks with me to confirm or deny minutae in the culture. I, of course, use my trivial powers for even more trivial tasks (The Kardashians aren't losing a lot of sleep worrying about my uncovering a possible buttectomy (that's when your rear is surgically altered) There's no denying my vast grasp of all things trivial. If it's meaningless and you have a question about it I probably know the answer. Or I know someone I can ask. There's no denying this power. It just is. Baseball just is. On the surface it just seems like an easy way to spend an afternoon.
It's simplicity masks an elegance that is as hard to capture as lightning in a bottle. Baseball is accessible to anyone. Baseball doesn't care how old you are, how your health is or where you come from. A great play is poetry! If you can talk baseball, you can carry on a conversation with anyone else who watches the game.
Specifically, my trials and tribulations in brain tumor mania (This Sunday at the Cow Palace; Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!) paralleled the yearly (2014) journey of the San Francisco Giants who manage much like myself to somehow stay alive and not only survive but thrive. Is it adversity that makes them stronger? Or is it because they are stronger they crush adversity? I submit my one question, the only one that matters: Is it cancer? No? Then who really cares? Bruce Bochy? I don't think so. Joe Montana? I really don't think so.
Three of my in-laws were at Game #3, and I wish we could have gone too! I love that ballpark and Giants' fans are almost as entertaining to watch as the Boys of Summer themselves. AT&T Ballpark is just a joy to go to all the seats are good and all the food is great! So it's great to be a convert! While my father, PS's father and my PS himself have probably forgotten more about America's Pastime than I'll ever know it's great to know the game welcomes new fans! No matter how late in "the game" you decide to show up, you can still be a part of it.
Will they win Game #4? I direct you to my original question: Are you serious? Of course, they're going to win! Haven't you been watching?
I would be completely remiss if I didn't address one area of interest that has completely captured my attention these past three years; Baseball! I credit this game for keeping me sunny side up during what could have been a very dark time. Patient Spouse has tried to instill Baseball's sense of scope and history in me for years but it required a brain tumor (and Ken Burns) to really make me appreciate "the game within the game" since 2011.
My PS, his father, my father and most men I knew and knew of could all speak "baseball". It seemed to me that certain men extrapolated baseball statistics the way I could remember the closing theme to "The Beverly Hillbillies" and for some reason could detail the romantic backstory of just about any actor anywhere. It just stuck in my brain , I never claimed it was very useful information! It's just information that was stuck in my head. I was a pop culture Wikipedia before there was Wikipedia. Now whenever we have some obscure question about entertainment, we just Google it like anyone else, but my brain has an unfortunately limitless capacity for retaining popular trivia. Before there was Wendy Williams there was me. PS still checks with me to confirm or deny minutae in the culture. I, of course, use my trivial powers for even more trivial tasks (The Kardashians aren't losing a lot of sleep worrying about my uncovering a possible buttectomy (that's when your rear is surgically altered) There's no denying my vast grasp of all things trivial. If it's meaningless and you have a question about it I probably know the answer. Or I know someone I can ask. There's no denying this power. It just is. Baseball just is. On the surface it just seems like an easy way to spend an afternoon.
It's simplicity masks an elegance that is as hard to capture as lightning in a bottle. Baseball is accessible to anyone. Baseball doesn't care how old you are, how your health is or where you come from. A great play is poetry! If you can talk baseball, you can carry on a conversation with anyone else who watches the game.
Specifically, my trials and tribulations in brain tumor mania (This Sunday at the Cow Palace; Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!) paralleled the yearly (2014) journey of the San Francisco Giants who manage much like myself to somehow stay alive and not only survive but thrive. Is it adversity that makes them stronger? Or is it because they are stronger they crush adversity? I submit my one question, the only one that matters: Is it cancer? No? Then who really cares? Bruce Bochy? I don't think so. Joe Montana? I really don't think so.
Three of my in-laws were at Game #3, and I wish we could have gone too! I love that ballpark and Giants' fans are almost as entertaining to watch as the Boys of Summer themselves. AT&T Ballpark is just a joy to go to all the seats are good and all the food is great! So it's great to be a convert! While my father, PS's father and my PS himself have probably forgotten more about America's Pastime than I'll ever know it's great to know the game welcomes new fans! No matter how late in "the game" you decide to show up, you can still be a part of it.
Will they win Game #4? I direct you to my original question: Are you serious? Of course, they're going to win! Haven't you been watching?
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