This it is that transcends all dorking and all thinking and all being:
it is opening day:



Well, beat the drum and hold the phone - the sun came out today!
We’re born again, there’s new grass on the field.
A-roundin’ third, and headed for home, it’s a brown-eyed handsome man;
Anyone can understand the way I feel.

Chorus:
Oh, put me in, coach - I’m ready to play today;
Put me in, coach - I’m ready to play today;
Look at me, I can be centerfield.

Well, I spent some time in the mudville nine, watchin’ it from the
bench;
You know I took some lumps when the mighty casey struck out.
So say hey willie, tell ty cobb and joe dimaggio;
Don’t say "it ain’t so", you know the time is now.

Chorus

Yeah! I got it, I got it!

Got a beat-up glove, a homemade bat, and brand-new pair of shoes;
You know I think it’s time to give this game a ride.
Just to hit the ball and touch ’em all - a moment in the sun;
(pop) it’s gone and you can tell that one goodbye!

Regards,

Tom Watson

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)

http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1/

Lost interest in baseball when the Dodgers left Brooklyn.
Shortly thereafter it stopped being The Game of Baseball
and became Corporate - sucked all the fun out of the game.

charlie b

(if my mother knew the value of my baseball cards she
gave away when I went off to college she'd have died.
Think of the Hall of Famers who had their rooky year
between 1953 and 1956 and the greats who were nearing
the end of their careers (Musial, Williams, ...)

On Apr 2, 11:37 pm, charlieb wrote:
Lost interest in baseball when the Dodgers left Brooklyn.
Shortly thereafter it stopped being The Game of Baseball
and became Corporate - sucked all the fun out of the game.

charlie b

No one is more whimsical than you, charlie.

Hah! ;^)

Robert

Tom Watson wrote:
This it is that transcends all dorking and all thinking and all being:
it is opening day:

Actually, THE season ends this weekend. G

Bring on the Cup!

"charlieb" wrote in message
...
Lost interest in baseball when the Dodgers left Brooklyn.
Shortly thereafter it stopped being The Game of Baseball
and became Corporate - sucked all the fun out of the game.


I had the same feeling but it was after the big strike when the ticket
prices skyrocketed.

What sucked me back was minor league ball. I ended up buying season tickets
for $225 and that included free parking and free beer before the game.


--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.

"Roger Shoaf" wrote in
:

*trim*


I had the same feeling but it was after the big strike when the ticket
prices skyrocketed.


*snip*

This is something I don't understand. Why have prices so high so the
teams can only half-fill the ballpark? Lower the ticket and concession
prices and more people will come. It's basic economics.

Puckdropper
--
Wise is the man who attempts to answer his question before asking it.

To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm

Puckdropper wrote:


This is something I don't understand. Why have prices so high so the
teams can only half-fill the ballpark? Lower the ticket and
concession
prices and more people will come. It's basic economics.

It's simple.

It is not the fan in the seat but the TV camera that controls the
franchise, along with box loges that can be rented for thousands of
dollars per season.

There is no better example than Art Modell and the old Cleveland
Browns before they left Cleveland.

The Browns played in Municipal stadium, located right downtown, next
to a freeway, with seating for over 80,000 when configured for
football. (Also home to the Indians before Jacobs field was built)

Season tickets extended between the 30 yard lines.

IOW, at least 50,000 seats were sold for the season before the first
game was played.

Don't think they missed a sell out crowd in at least 30 years.

The only way to obtain season tickets was to have them left to you in
somebody's will when they died.

Talk about loyal fans. The Browns won the championship only once in
Cleveland, with Modell at the helm.

Every season, I made a few $, betting against the Browns.

It was money in the bank.

So what happened?

Modell saw a way to improve the bottom line, and moved a team he had
bought with other people's money, a team he had owned for almost 40
years, to Baltimore.

Baltimore had suckered the locals into paying for a new stadium a few
years earlier, so Modell got what he wanted.

After the Browns left, they demolished Municipal stadium, and suckered
the locals into paying for a new stadium, built on the site of the old
one.

The new Browns owners, got a sweet lease deal, nice new loge boxes.

The fans got screwed.

Here in L/A, the Rams, formerly from Cleveland(they moved from
Cleveland to L/A after the 1945 season), moved to St Louis almost 10
years ago.

The NFL is all bent out of shape.

L/A will not kiss their rear end to get a new team.

There is already more to do in L/A than time to do it.

Who the hell need a bunch of spoiled brats called a football team,
especially on their terms.

Pro sports always had a money side to it, it is just more sleazy now.

Off the box.

Lew

B A R R Y wrote:
Tom Watson wrote:
This it is that transcends all dorking and all thinking and all being:
it is opening day:

Actually, THE season ends this weekend. G

Bring on the Cup!


What season? Woodworking HAS no season. (From my point of view, it, and
girl-watching, are the only games in town. And, in Detroit,
girl-watching takes a break in the winter.)

;-)

Bill

--
http://nmwoodworks.com/cube


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Wow... a lot of bitterness, jaded attitudes and hate here on the
subject.

With all that has been expressed, I hope you guys never watch a game
as it would probably make you ill drumming up all the bile you have
collected over the years.

To me, baseball is timeless. For the most part, it transcends the big
owners, the snotty overpaid players, and the bad attitudes of the
unions.

Baseball it baseball. It was here before us, and will be here after
us. The bitterness and rancour of fans has always been part of the
game, just as much as the enthusiasm of others has been. Someone
always thinks they were screwed, somewhere, somehow, someway.

As for me, I cannot wait to get out to our minor league team's first
at home game. The field will look great, the uniforms will be clean,
the little open stadium will be clean, and our announcer for the last
15 years will be there to open up the game. One of the elementary
schools will parade their kiddos out to sing the Star Spangled Banner,
and the crowd will be hushed and reverent (we ARE a military town)
while this goes on. And the slate will be clean on wins and losses
once more. An open field for everybody.

On the first day of the season I will see other season ticket holders
that I haven't seen since last year. The hot dogs will look like hot
dogs, not tubes of mystery meat in a soggy bun. The beer will be
fresh and cold, and the night will be too.

So count me in with Tom. I don't care about the players, the owners,
or their respective shenanigans.

It's baseball season! Time for BASEBALL!!

Robert

"Lew Hodgett" wrote in message
link.net...

There is no better example than Art Modell and the old Cleveland
Browns before they left Cleveland.

Green Bay comes to mind, when the owners were talking about a sale of the
team the fans formed a buyers group and purchased the team with stockholders
getting first crack at the tickets.

The NFL saw this as a threat to their manipulation of one city against the
next, and voted to ban sales of franchises to fan based groups.

--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.

Lew Hodgett wrote:
Puckdropper wrote:

[snip]
The fans got screwed.

Here in L/A, the Rams, formerly from Cleveland(they moved from Cleveland
to L/A after the 1945 season), moved to St Louis almost 10 years ago.

The NFL is all bent out of shape.

L/A will not kiss their rear end to get a new team.

There is already more to do in L/A than time to do it.

Who the hell need a bunch of spoiled brats called a football team,
especially on their terms.

Pro sports always had a money side to it, it is just more sleazy now.

Off the box.

Lew
I wrote a letter to the sports page of the times extolling the virtues
of NOT having a team here. Your line about there being enough to do in
LA is spot on. In addition, you have to know that local and state
governments are going to subsidize a billionaire owner and the NFL in
some way (sweetheart land deal, infrastructure, etc.). Plus TV coverage
will take a dump. You have a crummy team, the stadium will not sell
out, and there will be no TV coverage of your local team or any other
game. NFL stay away from LA.
grumble,
jo4hn

" wrote in
oups.com:

Wow... a lot of bitterness, jaded attitudes and hate here on the
subject.

snippage

So count me in with Tom. I don't care about the players, the owners,
or their respective shenanigans.

It's baseball season! Time for BASEBALL!!

Robert



I agree with you both!

At headquarters this week, in more meetings I didn't need, there was more
talk about football than I thought would be possible on Opening Day.
Depressed me seriously.

That, and my teams got clobbered.

Made the looooong flight home just peachy.

Gametime tonight is 7:05!

Patriarch

On Wed, 04 Apr 2007 13:44:45 -0500, Patriarch
wrote:

" wrote in
roups.com:

Wow... a lot of bitterness, jaded attitudes and hate here on the
subject.

snippage

So count me in with Tom. I don't care about the players, the owners,
or their respective shenanigans.

It's baseball season! Time for BASEBALL!!

Robert



I agree with you both!

At headquarters this week, in more meetings I didn't need, there was more
talk about football than I thought would be possible on Opening Day.
Depressed me seriously.

That, and my teams got clobbered.

Made the looooong flight home just peachy.

Gametime tonight is 7:05!

Patriarch


There is no substitute for the sound of cleats on concrete, walking
out towards the field out of the tunnel.

There is no substitute for the smell of Neatsfoot oil and leather.

There is no substitute for the sound of an ash bat cracking a sphere
of horsehide and twine.

O'Doul stands tall on the ten inch mountain of pride and shame, waving
off the heavily armored troll that waves a single finger, pointed to
the right on the left handed singles hitter that burned O'Doul three
and a half chances out of ten last year.

He similarly waves off the curveball inside indicated by the two down
fingers, most urgently showing an inside path.

O'Doul shakes his shaggy head again and nods towards the troll. It is
to be a challenge from the first. A piper - hard and fast and
smearing the edge of the black - ...on the outside.

O'Doul had been dreaming of this pitch to this batsman for four
months. He did not care much for the statistics (although his catcher
did, and understood them, too)

O'Doul reared back. At his full extension his knuckles seemed to drag
the ground behind him.

He windmilled forward in what can only be described as a balletic
recovery from sure embarrasment - and delivered the hardened globe to
the vulvic confines of the troll's mitt.

"Steeeeeerike One", screamed the umpire.

The catcher, and the batter - were amazed.

O'Doul thought this to be a fine way to start the day, the game, the
season.

....








Regards,

Tom Watson

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)

http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1/

wrote:

As for me, I cannot wait to get out to our minor league team's first
at home game.

A totally different experience than the major league(pick the sport).

Minor league baseball, Div III, college, high school, you pick it,
they are a joy.

Anything but the Majors.

Lew

On Thu, 05 Apr 2007 00:20:58 GMT, Lew Hodgett
wrote:



Anything but the Majors.

Lew


Except for those days when you are fortunate enough to see Koufax
pitch.

Except for those days when you are fortunate enough to see Ted
Williams bat.

Except for those days when you are fortunate enough to see Willy Mays
haul one in.

Except for those days when you are fortunate enough to see whatever
the current equivalent of "Tinker to Evers to Chance" is, and watch
them turn the double play.


Because, on those days - there is poetry and meaning and ability that
transcends all the bull**** - and that's why they call it the "Bigs".


(for those who are not mindful of Tinker, et al:

"These are the saddest of possible words:
"Tinker to Evers to Chance."
Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds,
Tinker and Evers and Chance.
Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,*
Making a Giant hit into a double--
Words that are heavy with nothing but trouble:
"Tinker to Evers to Chance."

In 1910, New York newspaper columnist Franklin Pierce Adams
immortalized the Cubs double play team Joe Tinker (SS), Johnny Evers
(2B), and Frank Chance (1B) in verse, cementing their legend and
helping them gain election to the Hall of Fame as a trio 36 years
later.


What a great game.



Regards,

Tom Watson

tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)

http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1/

On Apr 4, 8:37 pm, Tom Watson wrote:


What a great game.


How can it be? Makes no sense! Defence has the ball!!!

Naaaaa "The Season" started March 18, Albert Park, Melbourne, Oz.
Kimi won...what a day! Even Ralphie got a point.

If it doesn't smell and scream, it ain't no 'sport'.

....but that's just my humble opinion.

r

On Wed, 04 Apr 2007 20:37:40 -0400, Tom Watson
wrote:

Except for those days when you are fortunate enough to see Koufax
pitch.

Except for those days when you are fortunate enough to see Ted
Williams bat.

Except for those days when you are fortunate enough to see Willy Mays
haul one in.

Except for those days when you are fortunate enough to see whatever
the current equivalent of "Tinker to Evers to Chance" is, and watch
them turn the double play.

Left field bleachers Wrigley Field when they were less than $5.
Watching Ernie who played both Tinker's and Chance's position for the
lovable losers, and if you have half a billion lying around the
Tribune company has Da Cubs for sale.

Mark
http://home.mchsi.com/~xphome/

"Markem" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 04 Apr 2007 20:37:40 -0400, Tom Watson
wrote:

Except for those days when you are fortunate enough to see Koufax
pitch.

Except for those days when you are fortunate enough to see Ted
Williams bat.

Except for those days when you are fortunate enough to see Willy Mays
haul one in.

Except for those days when you are fortunate enough to see whatever
the current equivalent of "Tinker to Evers to Chance" is, and watch
them turn the double play.

Left field bleachers Wrigley Field when they were less than $5.
Watching Ernie who played both Tinker's and Chance's position for the
lovable losers, and if you have half a billion lying around the
Tribune company has Da Cubs for sale.

I don't think half a billion is going to quite get you there. Probably have
to add another $100-500 million on top of that.

todd

"todd" wrote in
:

"Markem" wrote in message
...

Left field bleachers Wrigley Field when they were less than $5.
Watching Ernie who played both Tinker's and Chance's position for the
lovable losers, and if you have half a billion lying around the
Tribune company has Da Cubs for sale.

I don't think half a billion is going to quite get you there.
Probably have to add another $100-500 million on top of that.

todd


I figure it's probably on the order of billions. There's likely to be a
rich billionaire out there that's going to outbid all the others.

Puckdropper
--
Wise is the man who attempts to answer his question before asking it.

To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm

"Tom Watson" wrote in message
...
Except for those days when you are fortunate enough to see Koufax
pitch.

While at a minor league game on one fine Fourth of July The opposing team
had a pitcher suceed in pulling off a no hitter. While my team was the one
that lost, seeing this actually pulled off was a joy.


Except for those days when you are fortunate enough to see Ted
Williams bat.


Actually the fun part is to see the fear he would instill in the pitcher
that really needed an out somewhere around the 6th or 7th inning.


Except for those days when you are fortunate enough to see Willy Mays
haul one in.

Willy Mays was good. As someone that did see him haul in a few the long
ball was not really the most impressive skill he possesed. I would really
like the times he would have all the fielders playing deep, and pull off the
perfect bunt, and then proceed to steal a couple of bases. That would
usually demoralize the opposing team.


Except for those days when you are fortunate enough to see whatever
the current equivalent of "Tinker to Evers to Chance" is, and watch
them turn the double play.


Double plays are great things to watch regardless of the league they occur.


Because, on those days - there is poetry and meaning and ability that
transcends all the bull**** - and that's why they call it the "Bigs".


Sure, but I can say from personal experience that the same experience
happens in the minors. The kids in the minors get things together often.

Seeing someone get to first on a dropped third strike in the bottom of the
9th with two out and no one on is almost as good as the first time a girl
let you get to home plate. Seeing something like this happen and going on
to win is probably better.

--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.

"Tom Watson" wrote:

Except for those days when you are fortunate enough to see Ted
Williams bat.

Especially after Lou Boudreau implemented the "Ted Williams Shift".

Those were the days when Williams was also a spokesman for Sears &
Roebuck sporting goods.

Lew

On Apr 3, 12:37�am, charlieb wrote:
Lost interest in baseball when the Dodgers left Brooklyn.
Shortly thereafter it stopped being The Game of Baseball
and became Corporate - sucked all the fun out of the game.

charlie b

(if my mother knew the value of my baseball cards she
*gave away when I went off to college she'd have died.
*Think of the Hall of Famers who had their rooky year
*between 1953 and 1956 and the greats who were nearing
*the end of their careers (Musial, Williams, ...)

All mothers do something similar. My mother had a '40 Ford convertible
hauled away and cut up while I was away for a week. Simply because it
had no engine! A couple years later, she sold my '57 Chev convertible
while I was at Parris Island. Too scary to drive (actually, I'm pretty
sure my brother tore it up first, and it was back from the body shop
and traded in...on a '58 Ford two door, fer crissake).

Roger Shoaf wrote:

Seeing someone get to first on a dropped third strike in the bottom of the
9th with two out and no one on is almost as good as the first time a girl
let you get to home plate. Seeing something like this happen and going on
to win is probably better.

I played little league ball exactly one season. We lost our first game
(in part because of a fielding error I made) but we won -all- the others.

Wagars Market. Flat Rock recreation. 1963. 12-1, swept the playoffs.
Last-picked runts, mis-fits and new kids.

One dusty afternoon I caught the catcher napping ... and stole home. The
pitcher had thrown the pitch (I had run to about the 1/3 way point when
he checked the runner on first) ... and I shoulda been caught. But the
catcher never checked me ... because I was too slow to steal ... and
threw the ball back to the pitcher. I don't think I was actually
planning on stealing home until I saw him throw he ball back ... I was
just trying to distract them to get the guy off first to second. When he
threw the ball back to the pitcher, I went for the gold and the guy on
first headed for second base. The batter stepped away from the plate,
the catcher noticed me and tagged me out- fair and square ... except he
didn't have the ball anymore. The pitcher was running in with the ball
and a few choice words for the catcher. In the scuffle that followed,
they both got benched. It was late in the season and everybody knew by
then that you couldn't make errors playing our team. And the guy coming
from first base made it to third.

I'll be 55 in a week or two. Strange those moments we can recall, eh?

Now, ask me the name of my first girlfriend. Or the birth dates of my
sons. Or what I had for breakfast yesterday. ;-)

Bill

--
http://nmwoodworks.com/cube


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