With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.
The good life, as I conceive it, is a happy life. I do not mean that if you are good you will be happy - I mean that if you are happy you will be good.
Too much sanity may be madness and the maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be.
I enjoy paying taxes. With them I buy civilization.
May 30, 2007 - 12:22 p.m.
Who wants to do my laundry for me? Nobody? Well then I’m going to have to just find some time for it. I was going to do it last night but then something came up. Now I’m jumping ahead of myself. I better back up.
My plan for yesterday was to go into the school to hand in my students’ final examination booklets and an idiotically redundant printout. I enter my grades online. For reasons I can’t comprehend I am supposed to then print them out and hand them in. They are exactly the same grades that are on the computer than I just submitted electronically. They are the same grades that I entered on the grade book that I handed in on paper. Why print out what is already in the school’s computer? If they want a copy why don’t they just print it out themselves?
As long as I was there I attempted to break into my locked filing cabinet. A tire iron was my chosen instrument of destruction. It didn’t work. I am going to have to try again. What I need is two levers working together. I am going to see what I can find.
Before I left I got a call from Roy. He had an extra ticket to last night’s Met game. I told him I’d go. I find it hard to turn down a game and more importantly I haven’t seen Roy in too long. He picked me up at home after work and we drove to the Bayside train station. We grabbed some pizza then hopped the train to Shea.
The Mets were playing the Giants. There was a large advanced sale because Barry Bonds is on the Jints. The there were also a lot of no shows because Barry didn’t play last night. Why is Bonds a big deal? Two things. One is that he is going to break Hank Aaron’s lifetime Home Run record this season. The other is that he is implicated in the steroids scandal. He is by far the most hated player in baseball. I love him. He was my favorite non-Met since1988. He was by far the best player in baseball before the time he is accused of taking steroids. Steroids have never been demonstrated to improve performance. He is simply the greatest player it has ever been my pleasure to see.
Bonds didn’t play but that didn’t make it a bad game. On paper it looked like a great game. The Mets had my favorite pitcher going, Oliver Perez. He was great in 2004 and pretty much awful since then. He still has tremendous stuff and I was confident that Rick Peterson the Mets’ pitching coach and resident miracle worker could set him straight. I was right. Going into last night’s game Perez had the fourth best ERA in the National League. Going for the Giants was Tim Lincecum (yes that is spelled right), a prototype “phenom;” a 22-year-old rookie that throws pure lighting. He’s 5’10” 160 lbs and can throw the ball 100mph. The fastest he clocked last night was 99mph but the Shea Stadium speed gun is notoriously slow. The game lived up to its promise.
In the first inning after I was talking up Perez to Roy he promptly gave up two solo home runs in the first inning, not on auspicious start. Lincecum on the other hand was perfect for three and two thirds innings. Then Carlos Beltran drew a walk, so there went the perfect game. The next batter up was Carlos Delgado. While I was calling on Beltran to steal to try and force something Delgado made it all academic by blasting a ball 405 feet onto the Mets scoreboard to tie the game.
The Mets later scored another run and things were looking good as Perez retired 14 straight batter. Then he gave up another home run to tie the game. That was it for both starting pitchers, neither got a decision though they pitched brilliantly except for a few mistakes.
The game was so good it couldn’t end after the scheduled nine innings. In extra innings Roy and I moved down from the upper deck to the loge. We watched the end of the game from loge boxes, incredible seats. The Mets managed to load the bases with one out without scoring. The Giants threatened but didn’t score. Then came the 12th inning. The Mets brought in Joe Smith to pitch. I talked up Smith to Roy. What does he then do? He walks the first batter, Vizquel. He then threw a wild pitch advancing the runner to second. A sacrifice moved Vizquel to third. Smith then hit Sweeney. Winn grounded out and the go-ahead run scored.
Things were looking dark in Mets land but there was a ray of home. The Giants brought in their closer, Armondo Benitez. Benitez used to be on the Mets. He was tremendous, as long as it wasn’t a big game. When the pressure was on him he failed, He always failed. As the Mets were his old team and he was booed that meant there was pressure. I told Roy, “The game is in the bag. Put it into the books.” Benitez did not disappoint. He started off by walking “The Most Exciting Player In Baseball, Jose Reyes.” Reyes is of course a threat to steal. Such a threat that he unnerved Benitez and Benitez balked. That is when a pitcher does something irregular to deceive the runner and the runner is awarded the next base. Reyes moved to second. He was sacrificed to third. Then Beltran blew his chance to be the hero by meekly grounding out and wasn’t able to drive in Reyes. I still didn’t give up hope. Reyes started dancing off third and the improbably happened. Benitez balked again! Yes the Mets tied the game in on a balk. I hope somebody snapped a picture of Benitez after that. It would be captioned “despair.” He was totally broken. I was elated but felt sorry for him. Delgado then put him out of his misery by hitting another home run. Yes the Mets came from behind to win in 12 innings. It was one of the best games I’ve ever been to. Have I mentioned that I love baseball?
I have a busy schedule. Tonight I’m back at Shea for another game, this time with Alan. Friday I’m driving down to Atlantic City to see Leah. On Thursday and Friday I’m seeing Red Molly. I better get some laundry done this afternoon or I won’t have any clothes to wear. I guess that means I better finish this off.
I know this is two baseball entries in a row and I’m going to another game tonight. I’ll find something else to write about. I promise.
The International Jewish Banking Conspiracy - October 07, 2008
On the Road to Westchester County - October 06, 2008
Inside the Madison Square Studio - October 05, 2008
I'm a Bosniac and I'm debating like I've never debated before - October 03, 2008
Islands in the Stream of Consciousness - October 02, 2008
Email me: GordonLew at gmail
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. Horvendile May 30, 2007
