I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
Edgar Allen Poe

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
- H. L. Mencken

Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
-Bertrand Russell

What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
-James Branch Cabell

May 02, 2018 - 11:40 a.m.

The Hammer of the Gods

Look at my face; do you see how disappointed I am? I didn't blog yesterday and there were no howls of disappointment. "No Wise Madness" should have been trending on Facebook and Twitter. I usually explain myself when I don't write but yesterday I didn't. I expected to see wild theories. "Was he abducted by aliens?" "Does this have to do with the Mueller investigation?" "Is he busy at a meeting of the Illuminati?" All I can tell you is that I can't tell you the reason.

Last night I went to the Met game. When I went to my last game with Alan he asked which game from the Atlanta series I wanted. I did some calculations and decided that Noah Syndergaard was most likely to pitch on May 1. I was right! I like when I'm right; I'm not always an idiot.

I got to the game early, like I planned. I wanted to go to the Mets Hall of Fame. When it opened I was impressed; now less so. It wasn't open the first season and there were no nods to Mets history anywhere, it was all about the Dodgers. The Mets owner grew up a Dodger fan and that's what was important to him. There was such an uproar that the second season they put in lots of Mets history including the Hall of Fame. Having anything was impressive. Now I see how small it is and how little is there; nothing like the Yankee Hall of Fame, albeit the Yankees have a lot more history. I still enjoyed it and took a selfie with the original Mr. Met. I wonder if the current Mr. Met is worried that after he dies they will stuff him and put him in a museum. I know I would be.

When Syndergaard takes the mound, they play Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song. I thought that was an unusual choice. That song is a lot older than he is and players hardly ever choose hard rock. By chance, I'd like to say I planned this, but I didn't, the night before I watched Thor Ragnarok. Syndergaard's nickname is Thor. In the movie, what is Thor's theme music? Immigrant Song. It makes perfect sense, here's the first verse.

We come from the land of the ice and snow
From the midnight sun, where the hot springs flow
The hammer of the gods
We'll drive our ships to new lands
To fight the horde, and sing and cry
Valhalla, I am coming!
It's the best walk up music on the team. I love Led Zeppelin. Too bad Thor's pitching was less than his usual divine. The first four batters got hits. The Braves batted around in the first and scored three runs. He settled down after that and gave up no more runs and lasted six innings. He did not have his normal stuff and struck out only three, he averages well over a strikeout an inning. I should have been checking his velocity but didn't. It still counts as a quality start. The Mets faced the 20-year-old Mike Soroka making his first major league start. He did pitch divinely giving up but one run, a solo homer to Cespedes, in six innings. Not a bad major league debut. The Mets did manage to score and get the tying run in scoring position in the ninth but lost 3 – 2.

My phone rang in the bottom of the ninth with runners on second and third and none out. I just missed the call but saw it was from Jane. This got me scared. She's a Met fan, she'd be watching the game, and knew I was there. It had to be an emergency. Luckily, she also texted and found it was good news. Her friend Steve, who lives on City Island was at the game. She got us in touch and he drove me home. That saved me an hour. We didn't know each other, and he wisely suggested we meet at the Apple. That has become the designated meeting spot for everyone at City Field. It was the old apple from Shea Stadium, it rose out of a hat when a Met homered. Citi Field got a new one. To make it easier I told him I was wearing a bright red wind-breaker with the hood up. I figured that would be easier to spot than another Met cap. This was my first Met game this season where it was over 50° when the game was over. I just wore a t-shirt most of the game and put on the wind-breaker in the late innings when it dropped below 70°.

Steve proved a pleasant companion for the ride home even if he was born in 1986, the last time the Mets won the world series. Sure, make me feel old. I don't really, I have plenty of friends that age and younger. We talked baseball, teaching, he teaches social studies, City Government, and mass transit.

Time for breakfast. I'll try and not miss any more days blogging. It's not always under my control, sometimes the fate of the world is in my hands and I can't blog about those things; secret identities do no pair well with blogging. I've said enough already.

I almost forgot something. What would the Daily News headline be for Syndergaard pitched a no-hitter.

I'll give you one paragraph to think about it. Did you come up with something? See if it's as good as mine.

Noah-Hitter!
Please don't hurt me.


I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.





Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
Wise Madness is Now In Session - May 28, 2018
The NFL and the First Amendment - May 27, 2018
On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
Oliver the Three-Eyed Crow - May 25, 2018



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Horvendile May 02, 2018
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