The Seventh Inning Stretch

I am sure I have written about this before, but watching New York Yankee baseball always brings this to mind:  the seventh inning stretch.

As a salute to America, the weekend baseball games of Major League Baseball include a rendition of "God Bless America" during the seventh inning stretch. Many of the television stations that televise these games show this...

At Yankee Stadium in New York City, "God Bless America" is performed during every seventh inning stretch.

It is good that "America's Pastime" salutes America in such a patriotic, respectful way...

Major League Baseball Yankess and Red Sox

I am a rare baseball fan:  I am both a Yankees and Red Sox fan... When the Yankees play the Red Sox, I am a Yankees  fan.  Otherwise, when these teams are playing others, a cheer for the Yankees or the Red Sox.

Tonight is the opening of Major League Baseball, 2010. The Yankees are playing the Red Sox at Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox...The Yankees were in the lead, the Red Sox tied, then went ahead.  This post will be issued before the game is ended, so who knows who will win.

There are records for the longest game:  August 29, 1967 The Yankees and the Red Sox are both involved in the longest game ever played (by innings) at Yankee Stadium. New York recorded a 20-inning, 4-3 victory over Boston.

While not making the record for the longest game in Major League Baseball, both  the Red Sox games, and the Yankee games are known to be longer that the average game.. Generally, a Major League Game runs between 2 to 3 hours.  Whenever these teams play, the games run 3 or more hours...

The Red Sox Yankee rivalry is fun for many other reasons, including bench clearing brawls... But, mostly the games are fun because a four or five run lead does not mean anything, and the team that is down is not out until the final game out.   And there are often extra inning games...

I am glad that Major League Baseball is back, and I hope to watch a lot of Yankees and Red Sox games this year...

West Side Story

I am watching West Side Story http://www.westsidestory.com/ on TV tonight. It was made in 1961, based on the 1950s play. It is a favorite movie of mine.  Every time I see it, I am struck at how timely it still is.   Of course, it has been timely since Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet. 

The love story is not lost on me... But if I focused on the love story, I would cry throughout the entire movie.

When I watch West Side Story two themes run through my mind:   The first is that there are so many places in the movie where an intervention would have made things turn out different. And at each instance, I cringe.... The corruption and prejudice of the police, the stupidity of the social worker, the passiveness of the store owner, the lying, angry, and vengeful acts. The bullheadedness at the rumble that something violent HAD to happen.

The second is how timely the theme is:  We have gang problems.  We have prejudice problems. We have inter-racial problems. True, they are less divisive and more subtle than 40 years ago.  But, They are still there.

I once watched the movie with a friend. He had not paid attention to the words of "America"  The irony, sarcasm, and juxtaposition of the have and have nots was not something he had noticed...

I also cringe at the "Officer Krupke" song... This is a classic rendition of passing the buck. From one professional to another.  And, frankly, it is still happening today.

Coffee and Cigarettes

I recently traveled to New York City for a family get together/celebration. I had occasion to use the Long Island Railroad, and on one part of the trip, sat next to a woman who was traveling to visit relatives on Long Island. Her speech was heavily accented, and what the accent was, I am not sure. We chatted some, it was a pleasant interchange. She made a very interesting observation:



We were talking about the changes in the city. She mentioned she had only taken an "air ride" once before. I had previously heard the term, but was not sure what it meant. I think, though, it meant the kind of train in which we were riding: smooth, little ambient noise, compared to the clacking, whooshing roar of some of the other trains and subways.



This woman also talked about how much cleaner the city was... I had to agree, although it has been 10 or 12 years since I was in New York City, and then, I was in lower Manhattan...But, I will say that my forays to Central Park, the Empire State Building, Grand Central Station and Time Square during this trip left me with the impression that the city was not as dirty as I had recalled.



The most interesting observation of this co-traveler was about coffee and cigarettes. She noted that years ago everything was filled with cigarette smoke: subways, trains, restaurants, etc... She commented now, that everyone has coffee with them... I began to think about it, and in many ways, she is right: think of how many Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts as well as local, non-chain coffee shops there are...And, what would happen to someone if they were denied their caffeine fix for a day..



I have long since said that people in AA change one addictive behavior for (an)other(s). I think AA members use coffee, cigarettes,and sometimes mints or other suckers to keep me from drinking. I think this woman's observations were right on target: The city is noticeably cleaner, but we now have caffeine addicts running around, trying to find another substitute and using caffeine as their "drug of choice."