Pregame: Welcome to the Memory Hole
This is Memorial Day at the ball park as the Jumbotron, keeps reminding us, a day to remember and honor the soldiers. As the nexus between the military-industrial complex and professional sports is well-known, no reason to rehash it all on this weirdly warm afternoon as the crowd stands for the Star Spangled Banner. It’s Memorial Day, I tell myself, so remember.
One thing worth remembering is war. Although the Jumbotron waves the electronic flag and shows images of soldiers and veterans, there is no mention of the war(s) where those soldiers are fighting. Strange to forget about war on Memorial Day, but it is what it is. And don’t get all down on the Giants. The print edition of the New York Times this morning managed to forget the war also.
And neither the Times nor the Chron nor Fox TV remembered that at 7:06 a.m. on Sunday morning, the spending for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq surpassed one trillion dollars.
Inning One: A Tale of Three Pitchers
Pitchers’ duels are not wars, but a human competition that tests the mind as much as the body, the feet as much, maybe more, than the arm.
Today on the mound for the Rockies is ultra-dominant Ubaldo Jimenez, from Dominican Republic. At 6’4″, 200 lbs., Jimenez is currently the best pitcher in the league, almost untouchable in his first ten games this season.
Two pitchers will start today for the Giants: Tim Lincecum and The Freak. At 5’11”, 170 lbs., with long hair and a laid back Seattle style, Lincecum could pass for the quintessential Mission hipster. Lazy with men on base, often appearing to be bored or confused with the proceedings, Lincecum labors slowly, cautiously, as if he’s suddenly surprised to find himself tangled up in an existential instant somewhere between waking and sleep.
Then there is the third pitcher of the day, the best pitcher in the National League for the last two years, The Freak – Tim Lincecum’s alter ego, the Mr. Hyde to his Dr. Jekyll. Although he has the same physical qualities, the Freak is no slacker. And he’s in shape guys, a pitcher’s shape, long almost stringy muscles in his torso, power in his legs. When Lincecum is The Freak, he works quickly, he looks snarky, he throws strikes and his pitches break with a wicked delight. Tim throws a lot of balls, issues a lot of walks and can’t help getting himself in trouble.
Inning Two: Picasso Does Grunge
“Is that Alcatraz?” asks a Colorado reporter, pointing to the East Bay. “No,” says another, “that’s Oakland. It’s worse.” After a sharp first inning, The Freak apparently gave the ball to Lincecum, who walks the first two guys in a disjointed performance, then gets two out before giving up a two-run single. “You pay for your mistakes,” says this old guy next to me, who writes notes with a pencil on a scorecard. “Are you the Old Baseball Writer,” I asked, “who writes his articles on napkins while the rest of us pound hopelessly on laptops?” He smiled, sort of, and said “No, I’m not Picasso.”
Inning Three: Where Have You Gone Milo Minderbinder?
Remember the mercenaries? We call them contractors today, but why don’t we remember them? They’re are sort-of-soldiers, paramilitaries, and there are more of them in Afghanistan than U.S. troops. At least as many in Iraq (numbers are hard to come by, but some figure at least 250,000 in both countries). Young men and women doing dangerous work, often on the front lines (even when they’re not supposed to be) recurring problems of discipline and accountability, just like real soldiers. Sure, they work for private companies, like Dyncorp and Blackwater (now XE); just remember who picks up the check.
Inning Five: Strange Interlude
Tim Lincecum loads the bases in the fourth, but the Freak shows up to save the inning. Now Tim gives up a single, a double, another run. Where’s The Freak? Who knows, but after a conference on the mound, a strange occurrence. The Panda runs over from third and kicks at the mound before running back. Lincecum then kicks at the mound, not like he’s kicking a can, but like he’s answering The Panda, or maybe indicating something doesn’t feel right. He gets out of the inning, but doesn’t last the sixth.
Inning Seven: Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
One of the war issues rarely if ever remembered, or reported, concerns the immigrant, legal and not-so-legal, soldiers fighting in Afghanistan, Iraq, etc., hoping their participation will result in U.S. citizenship for them and their families. At least no one asks Mexicans or Nicaraguans to prove their citizenship on the streets of Marjah (ok Marjah doesn’t really have “streets”). Officially, only legal immigrants can fight for the U.S., though recruiters often disregard such distinctions as they target low-income Latino youth to meet their quotas. In addition to poverty, recruiters also look for low educational achievement, perhaps because immigrants cannot “perform jobs that require U.S. citizenship, such as intelligence.”
Inning Nine: The Time is Out of Joint
Except for The Panda who doubles in the ninth, the Giants mercifully don’t drag this thing out by hitting, walking or otherwise showing up on base only to stay stranded. The hot bats of the weekend are a memory. Even Buster Posey has come back down to the landfill. Maybe an anti-war protest, like the anti-SB1070 protest on Saturday night, would have sparked a Giant uprising. The players could have used a spark.
The soldiers certainly don’t need any more war. Afghanistan, in its ninth year, may or may not be the longest war in American history, but according to the man in charge (McChrystal, not Obummer), it won’t end any time soon. OK, that’s Afghanistan and Iraq, how about Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Indonesia, Philippines and parts unknown? Young people blown up, poor peasants bombed, an economy bled dry. This is security?
Postgame: Happy Feet Wanted
“Tim, what’s up?” “I was out of sync.” “Is there anything you can do to get back in sync?” “I’m going to concentrate on my footwork this week. It all begins in the feet.”
So does withdrawal.
Like the juxtaposition of war and baseball. So much can be done with sports reporting that is usually so rote in US media. How about a piece on cost of attending game and who attends?
x/pat