We just GOT this beautiful, pristine ballpark, and they’re going to put FOOTBALL in it!
On Saturday, I flipped on the old TV in my upstairs home office, the one in front of the recliner I keep there, intending to glide off into a nap while half-watching something…
… and there was football on my TV!
It’s still August, people! I don’t get but a handful of TV stations — just the local broadcast tier — and if there’s going to be sports on one of them in August, it should be baseball! But was there a single MLB game on my limited set of choices? No. More’s the pity, because there are few things more restful on a Saturday afternoon than non-playoff, regular season, workaday baseball.
But wait — there’s the Little League World Series! But no. Those overexcited little kids running around don’t have the right sort of languid, professionals-doing-a-job approach that I prefer when I’m in nap mode.
So I snoozed with the TV off, the way cavemen did in their home offices.
Monday night, I’m in the kitchen and my wife turns on the TV in the next room, and for a second before she changes the channel, I could swear I heard football again! She says I didn’t, and there wasn’t any on the guide, so maybe I’m just getting jumpy. But it sounded like football!
Look, people, I know you’re all going to be going on about football at full volume 24 hours a day after Labor Day, which is bearing down on us, and that’s just one of the miserable facts of life in the season that would otherwise be my favorite time of year. (I’ll see leaves turning and feel a delicious coolness in the air, and someone will say, “Football weather!” and ruin it.) I’ll deal with it, and look forward to the World Series.
But let me have the rest of this week, OK? Stop encroaching on the last week that should be football-free.
And for sure, don’t give me more news like this:
Six local high school football teams will face off this fall at Spirit Communications Park, the $37 million home of the Columbia Fireflies minor league baseball team….
Aw, come ON, people! We just got this ballpark! I just went to my first game there last week, and you’re telling me next week there’s going to be football there? Really? You didn’t think there was enough football going on in enough places in September, you had to sully this place, too?
When does it stop? Yeah, I know — February, right? I’ll start counting the days…
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Dang, I wrote this yesterday — when there was still one more day of August still to go — and just now noticed I had never hit “publish.”
Sorry. I AM trying to provide y’all with content, you know…
“I know you’re all going to be going on about football at full volume 24 hours a day after Labor Day,”
Sorry to burst your bubble, but the Gamecocks first game is tomorrow night… and there are several good games on Saturday (Alabama vs. USC, LSU vs. Wisconsin, Notre Dame vs, Texas). Labor Day is no longer the “kickoff” of the season.
Arrrggghhh!
By the way, your comment got held for moderation — probably because the content was OBSCENE!
Have you been to a Fireflies game yet?
Yes, just last week. I said so above. I enjoyed it.
That’s when I took that picture at the top…
Sorry. I just finished my trial, and I’m still a bit weary. It’s been a long two days.
I hope you won.
And hey, I don’t expect anyone to memorize every word I write…
But why did you ask? Did you want to talk about the Fireflies? I’m up for that. 🙂
I only asked because I’ve been twice with the whole family. Both times I went were situations where I didn’t have to pay for tickets. The first time, about a month ago, a friend was just trying to get rid of his tickets, and I figured what the heck. It was a really nice first experience.
The place is well-staffed, has lots of amenities (including bounce houses for my kiddos) and every seat is a great seat. I also appreciated the selection of beer they had available.
The second time was an event for Eagle Scouts who are SC Bar members. It was the game against the Augusta GreenJackets that was rained out. (Was that the one you went to?) We had a great time visiting with some friends, and then got the kids to the bounce-houses (of course). When the rain came, it came down hard. I have a great picture of the big thundercloud above the ballpark right before it opens up.
Anyway, I was against the ballpark as you may recall. Having been there, I have to say it has been done really well, and I hope it succeeds. However, I will say that I don’t know if it will continue to succeed after the novelty wears off, and especially if the surrounding area isn’t correctly developed. I know there are plans in the works for all sorts of stuff, but mostly that seems to all be on paper.
I’ll also note that I haven’t actually purchased a ticket. Not out of any sense of principle, but it’s just a priority thing. If tickets are free, and the whole family is on board – sure. Would I pay for a ticket for everyone? Probably not.
Just wondering what your impressions were of your experience.
I would probably enjoy the Spirit Communications Park (or Ouija Field, as I like to call it), if games weren’t held when it’s hotter than mid-70s, and they weren’t baseball games or most any other sport that doesn’t involve, say, horses jumping or doing dressage….I did prefer Wrigley Field in the temperate Chicago afternoon to sitting in my office, and frankly could ignore the field and chat…
It was actually nice last week — last Monday evening. My wife and two youngest daughters and I went, and we got a table down the first-base line, and ordered our dinner. I had a couple of beers.
It was the idea of my next-to-youngest daughter. I had taken her and her boyfriend to a meet-the-team event at Cap City back before the season started. She had the chance to meet and chat with one of the players — J.D. Rodriguez, a shortstop from the Dominican Republic — and has been his fan ever since. She calls him “J-Rod,” of course.
J-Rod had a good night offensively — he hit a homer. But he threw too high to the first-baseman twice. The first baseman managed to compensate and snag it both times, though. The first time it pulled him off the bag, but he spun and tagged the runner just before he arrived. The second time he got pulled off the bag, they missed the out.
But that’s why they put ’em in the minors, to work stuff like that out.
I never felt hot the whole time. It was pleasant. And no, this wasn’t the rain-out. Full game, the Fireflies won, 7-4.
Wait a sec — the roster says Rodriguez plays third base. I could have sworn that was him at short, though.
Maybe they put him in an unaccustomed position, and he failed to adjust for the shorter throw. That would make sense…
I don’t know is on third.
Increasingly in baseball, it would be Yo No Se.
I’m just hoping someone still gets the joke I’m referencing.
It’s a tough crowd here.
/taps microphone
Is this thing on?
Yes, I get it.
And I thought it was a great reference…
That’s one of the things that we should put on a test you have to pass before you can vote — if such tests weren’t unconstitutional, of course…
Some other things we could include:
What’s a TPS report?
What’s the preferred name of the guy who says, if any of you call me Francis, I’ll kill ya?
Where were you when you heard JFK had been shot? (That’ll weed out you youngsters.)
When Yankee Doodle stuck a feather in his cap, what did he call it?
Four score and HOW many years ago?
Who was Luke Skywalker’s father?
Would you ever, ever consider voting for Donald Trump?
And so forth…
Bonus question: Explain the infield fly rule.
Maybe I’ll use those when doing jury selection one day.
Your Honor, Juror number eight has not seen either Office Space or Stripes. I hereby move to strike him for cause.
In my experience, lawyers usually WANT someone who doesn’t know the score.
In any case, they always dismissed me when they learned I was a newspaper editor…
I may use “Explain the infield fly rule” to weed out potential suitors for my daughter when the time comes.
Admittedly, I wasn’t around when JFK was shot. Heck, I wasn’t even sleeping all the way through the night or rolling over when Reagan was shot.
I guess that makes me the youngest member of the commentariat by far. I just barely fit in to the tail end of Generation X.
It has been too damn hot for anything outside for the last 70 days, imho. I hate the heat.
But who’s on first? 🙂
Those questions are the sort Mossad uses to detect terrorists in Israeli airports. The sort of things that if you were who you say you are, you’d know.
We’ll see. We’ll get a ruling at some point. It’s a tough case. It’s one of the kinds that goes to trial because neither side is assured of winning, and neither side wants to back down. That’s why we have courts, though. I did the best that I could, and I’m happy with the side of the case that I put forward. I often take solace in John Adams’ quote of:
“We cannot insure success, but we can deserve it.”
I feel like my job as a trial lawyer is to do the best job I can to deserve to win. It may not always work out, but at least I can say I did everything I could.
Yup, you are a lawyer, not a magician, and you neither created the facts nor the law upon which they are to be adjudicated. Alls you can do is present the most favorable version of the facts and the law….