Warmth

I read a fact in Harper's Magazine (in that part in the beginning where they have a list of facts). It said: Percentage of blogs that haven't been updated in the past 4 months: 90% (it may have been higher but was at least 90). I think I know why! Writing on blogs is weird. It's like an email for 2-10 friends and random people searching for Hank Greenberg. Some blogs are really useful or interesting (and I truly appreciate these blogs. If I was a better blogger I would link to some of them). But how do you know if your blog is interesting or useful? And what if it is? Then you have a bunch of strangers knowing your every feeling about something really personal, like baseball. It's a lot of pressure.

But I don't want to become a statistic. Or, if nothing else, I don't want to leave 'a deep summer' with a bummersville dispatch from AT&T park sitting on top.

Sure, the Dodgers beat up on the Giants again today. Timmy looked really tired. I don't think he likes the heat (his sweat-filled hair looked like it was weighing him down). And maybe the Giants aren't going to make the play-offs. But there are more games to watch. It's still summer (according to the baseball calendar). The team is trying their best.

I listened to Vin Scully (voice of the Dodgers) again today while watching. He always has such good facts about all the players. Dodgers guys or their opponents, it doesn't matter to Vin, he wants to tell you something interesting. Sometimes it's as if he's conducted personal interviews with the players and their families. He's probably just getting it from a very simple program, but no other announcers seem to utilize whatever it is. Anyway. Today I learned that Freddie Sanchez was born with one club foot and one pigeon-toed foot. He had to wear a cast for the first year of his life (he probably looked something like this). The doctors said he might not ever walk and that he should plan for a life behind a desk. I guess Freddie showed them!

The exclamation point might make it sound sarcastic but I felt inspired and a little proud for Freddie. I'm sure there is a less dramatic, but still touching story for most of the Giants. Even Aaron Rowand overcame something. If nothing else, they all overcame the competition to get into major league baseball. And it's probably really tough out there, people yelling at you, internal and external expectations, the elements. It's just a game. It's just for fun, right?

Even Alice Cooper has a positive attitude:



"Sun Arise, each and every morning, each and every day, bringing back the warmth to the ground, fillin' up the hollow...every every every every day...whoa!"