Sunday Morning Post (V.2, #38) – The End of the Season

Today marks the end of the COVID-19 shortened baseball season.  Regular play did not even start until mid-summer, which meant that the teams had to double their efforts to make the play offs.  Sadly, my home team (Philadelphia Phillies) will not have to worry about a post-season play.  Thank you, bullpen.

This is also normally the day when most clubs have a fan appreciation day where they thank the loyal baseball aficionados for coming out week after week, rain or shine, fabulous or mediocre or worse, to cheer on the home team.  Only this year the teams were forced to close the stadiums to actual flesh and blood fans.  No cheering, no boos, no hot dogs and peanuts sold and consumed.  

Fan Appreciation Day celebrations will be very awkward this year.

The teams have tried their best to boost player morale and give some semblance of normalcy on televised games by filling the stands with cardboard cutouts in each seat.  This was an okay compromise, I suppose, but there were some drawbacks.  For one thing, there was apparently no consensus on scale from one seat to the next.  One seat would show a human sized to fit the seat perfectly while the cutout next to it would be a head shot which filled the entire seat and no hint of a body attached to it.

Also, the cutouts in the seats did not have to be human.  I may have imagined this, but I thought I saw the cutout of a thoroughbred racehorse in one of the seats during a Phillies/Tampa Bay Rays game televised this weekend.  So apparently even animals were permitted in the stands this season. This should be some consolation to the descendants of William Sianis, who was thrown out from the 1945 World Series at Wrigley Field because his pet goat was bothering the other fans.  This season a billy goat cutout should have been propped up in a seat for the Chicago Cubs.

Today also marks what would have been my father’s 86th birthday.  He only made it to 71.  Thank you, cigarettes. 

I am remembering him today and the times he was able to take me to Connie Mack Stadium for a Phillies game.  They are wonderful memories and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.

(Thank you for reading. Hopefully, sometime soon, we can all play ball again.)  

 

Sunday Morning Post (V.2, #37) - The Wonderful/Notorious RBG

This will be a short entry this week, just a small tribute to a remarkable American.

We lost Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg this past week.  This was not the ending for which we had hoped.  We progressives knew she was sick and hoped that her indomitable fighting spirit would see her through for a few more months until after the election.  The cosmos, fate, whatever had other ideas and took her before we could get to Election Day/Week.

Today we can mourn and at the same time be grateful that her suffering is over.  We can be grateful for her accomplishments in the name of women’s and civil rights.  We can remember her struggles as we continue the fight against injustice.

There is not much more to say other than Rest In Peace.

(Thank you as always for reading.)

Sunday Moring Post (V.2, #36) – Satire From The Experts

I will be taking a break this week.  Yesterday I was released from what is turning out to be my annual hospital stay.  I was kept overnight for observation after having a catherization and angioplasty.  I am grateful that’s all I needed.  I dreaded the thought of being told I needed an open-heart procedure post-cath.

My exit order emphasized that I should rest.  No problem there.  I would love to comment on the President having another bad week, but that would only push my blood pressure through the roof. 

In the meantime, this “Best of” video popped out on my YouTube list.  This was satire when reality was still reality and there was a nice, clean, neat division between real life and WTF.   Please enjoy.

(Thank you for reading.  Warning:  do not imitate Maurice Chevalier at home.  Leave this to the professionals.)

Sunday Morning Post (V.2 #35) - Let the Circus Begin: The Side Shows

Just some incredible happenings to one of the candidates this last week cannot be overlooked without comment by this blog.  Of course, it is the candidate who has displayed a remarkable talent for deflecting attention away from his flaws.  In the process he creates his own side shows which manage to distract us from more important topics.

This past week, we learned that the First Lady has used her private e-mail server for government business.  Does she not know (or care) that in her husband’s paradigm this is tantamount to committing a felony?  Oh, right.  That thinking only applies if you are a Democrat.

Our response: Lock her up! Lock her up!  Lock her up!

****

In more recent days, some more details have emerged about an incident from earlier in the President’s term.  There have been so many outrages by this guy that we actually forgot this one happened. This incident happened during the President’s trip to Europe, when he had the opportunity to honor the World War One dead with leaders from the European Union at Aisne-Marne Cemetery.

The day brought inclement weather, which prevented our leader from making a big incredible entrance on a helicopter.  As we recall, the Secret Service deemed a ground trip by motorcade too risky and fraught with security concerns.  Result: our leader did not attend ceremonies to honor the fallen from 100 years ago.

Now we have learned (as the late Paul Harvey would say) “the rest of the story”.  We have now heard, from four different sources no less, that on the day of the event the President expressed his reluctance (or perhaps relief) that he wouldn’t have to go to a cemetery that was full of “losers” and “suckers.”  The President’s critics were not surprised at this revelation.  The President has responded that these details published in the Atlantic Monthly are not true and he would swear on anything or anyone that they weren’t true.

Bible, Mr. President, Bible. The word you’re looking for is “Bible”.  Or better yet swear on “a stack of Bibles” which will really make points with your Evilgelical base.  FYI, Mr. President, the Bible is that book you held rather awkwardly for your photo op earlier this summer in front of St. John’s Church across from the White House.

You remember that night, don’t you, Mr. President?  That was just after someone in your administration ordered that police route peaceful protestors from Lafayette Park with tear gas.  Oh, right!  I forgot you don’t care.  My bad.

****

The President has previously taken every opportunity to stop mail in ballots for the November election citing massive fraud without offering massive or even any evidence that fraud has occurred. Now, in recent comments at two separate events last week he has suggested that people vote by mail and go to the polls in November to test the system. Gee, Mr. President, this really sounds like you’re telling people to vote twice and thereby commit the fraud you claim already exists.

In any case, it is also not a practical suggestion for people to show up at the polls after they have knowingly voted by mail-in ballot.  This will cause confusion and more crowding at the polling locations which could prevent or discourage people from standing in the long lines to vote.  Regardless of how your administration spins this, it is still a bad suggestion.  Not to mention felonious.

Bad, Mr. President, bad!

I also can’t help noticing that these events last week occurred in smaller venues than you have had in the past.  You used to fill up stadiums and arenas, but now you can only draw enough people to fill, what, an airport hangar?  At the risk of twisting the knife into your ego, I must point out that not even Bruce Springsteen’s popularity has fallen off as much as your popularity has fallen.

Ah well, until next week, when undoubtedly the side show will continue...

(Thank you for reading. Happy Birthday, Warrior Queen!)