I'm not watching the game tonight - I'm crashing deadline on a novel, and have yet another road trip coming up in two days - but I did watch the pregame festivities whilst cooking and eating dinner. Now, I freely admit to being a sentimental gorp when it comes to baseball, but there were some moments there - Willie McCovey hoisting himself out of his chair to acknowledge the thunderous cheers of the fans, Kevin Youkilis grinning to himself at the mandatory booing he received as he ran out to his position, Manny Ramirez enthusiastically embracing Ryan Braun, the roars from the crowd for Reggie and Whitey Ford and Yogi as he grinned from radar-dish ear to radar-dish ear - that were magic.
And most of all, when the camera just sat there on Willie Mays, watching him drink it all in.
It put such a big goddamned smile on my face, I didn't even mind when Tim McCarver started talking about how the NL's big strength was in batting average, or how he conveniently forgot George Sherrill was an All-Star, or generally was Tim McCarver.
Tonight? Not the point. Let him enjoy the game in his own way.
Me, I got to see Robin Roberts, whom I didn't know was still alive. And Maz. And Ernie Banks telling the National Leaguers to get off their asses and win one, already.
And Willie.
2 comments:
Good grief, Rich, you picked a hell of an All-Star game to skip! I was completely hoarse by the 15th inning after yelling obscenities at both teams for leading professional clinics in How To Strand Baserunners. My MVP (and this is not just because he's on my fantasy team) was Aaron Cook, who miraculously pitched out of a no-out, bases-loaded situation that Dan Uggla created almost completely by himself.
I plead deadlines.
Also, I watched enough of the first inning to see Utley boot Jeter's grounder, and I felt compelled to shut the game off before hearing Tim McCarver talk about how that proved that Jeter was clutch and a gamer and positively ginchy.
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