I have to watch an awful lot of TV that I don't want to. Spongebob Squarepants used to be "it." And, at first, I hated it. Didn't get it. But then I was forced to watch it enough to get the occasional chuckle out of certain episodes and we'd all watch it together with some degree of group zeitgeist. For example, the episode where Plankton sues Crabbs for his slip and fall was (for a lapsed Attorney) very amusing. Or the F.U.N. episode. Or the employee-training themed episode called POOP (people order our patties).
Some of it was funny.
Today, they're on to something called "Adventure Time." With a weird-looking animation style and inane plotlines. A dog with stretching legs. Kid with a weird hat.
I DON'T F*$^&NG GET IT!!!!!
Moving on....
It's Spring and that means baseball. I love it. I follow 4 teams, which some folks don't like. Some guys are very dogmatic, you live here therefore you must root for this team that is near us and only this team.
Nah. No thanks. I mean, I do, but no thanks.
In order of affection they are : The Boston Red Sox, LA Dodgers, and a practical tie between the Orioles and Nationals.
My Grandfather loved the old Washington Senators for most of his life. But he married a gal from Worcester, Mass. His solution was to pull for both teams even though they played in the same division. Easy enough, I guess. The old Nats moved in 1961 and again in 1971, so I had no DC team to pull for. Most of the baseball I watched with him was Sox games, and the occasional Cub game on WGN (Lord, why take Harry Caray?). There was nothing like taking the subway to his house after school on Spring afternoons, splitting a pizza, and watching the Red Sox. Of course, Buckner's infamous play (and the Sox' subsequent loss to the Mets) was his last memory of the team. He was born in 1919 and died in 1987, never seeing his Sox win it all.
I'd seen Fenway as a kid, and got up there again a few years back. Really one of the few baseball "shrines" left. There was really no topping the 2004 ALCS and Series win over St. Louis. The 2007 win was great, too, I'm not complaining.
The Dodgers were one of my dad's teams. He grew up in Southern Virginia and had no home team. He apparently liked the Yankees in the '60's and had memorized the "Murderer's Row" lineup. He'd also talk up Koufax and Drysdale, who were in LA. I kinda dug the uniforms and made it to Dodger Stadium with my wife a few years ago. The park had a retro feel to it, like a slice of 1962. Duh, it was built about then. Plus, they play Randy Newman's "I Love LA" after Big Blue wins. The Dodgers can be a lot of fun.
As a young boy growing up near Baltimore I thought it was pretty cool to be placed on the Orioles little league team. Back then, the Birds were a pretty tight outfit. I remember the '79 and '83 World Series, and can recite most of the starting lineup from the 1983 Series-winning Oriole team that beat Philly (I'm not looking this up: Bumbry, Singleton, Ripken, Murray, Roenicke, Lowenstein, Dauer, Dempsey,...um...Ford, Sekata..dammit..). The O's have fallen on hard times, somewhat mysteriously. They have a tremendously loyal fan base and a fantastic park to call home. I know the press and fans slam ownership, but that's only a partial answer - he doesn't throw the lousy pitches or swing at bad ones. Something stinks down there on Eutaw Street, and I'm not sure what it is. Even though I'm firmly in the tank for the Red Sox, I'd prefer to see a good, strong team in Baltimore over the fairly unwatchable product they've got now. It's sad.
There were salad days in my sports-viewing life where I thought I lived in Titletown USA. The Bullets won a title in 1979. The Dodgers won in '81 (Fernando!) and '88. The O's won in '83. The Redskins won in '82 and went again in '84. The Sox made it to the Series in '86. I thought it'd last forever.
Of course, like everything, it didn't. This is the great circle of life those damned lions talk about.
Kinda like the Nationals and their spunk, when they moved here in 2005 from Montreal. The new park is great but a little sterile for me. I think it'd be fun to see them build a contending team down there in DC. We'll see. Plus, it's my grandfather's team - risen from the dead. So, I watch just about every game on TV. I miss him a lot sometimes.
Because I'm too cheap to buy the MLB extra innings package, I mostly just watch Oriole and National games, and then whatever's free. I can't justify the expense for the freedom to log even more TV time on the Sox and Dodgers. I typically log about 40 innings a week, depending on what's going on at home - which feels like a lot. I love the game, my kids...not so much.
They can go watch Adventure Time, and someday they can explain to the world what in the hell that show's all about.
It's Patriot's Day, the marathon's on, and I'm hoping for a Sox win (not holding my breath, looking like a down year for all 4 of these teams....Never the Yankees!!!)
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