Hey, I have a joke for you.What did Cody Ross' five fingers, say to the Mets' face?
SLAP!
Wow. I guess King Kong ain't got s**t on Cody Ross.
I mean, what else is there to say except that it was an ugly loss experienced by the Mets tonight in Miami...the ugliest loss in Miami since Filthy Sanchez had a late night craving.
Or should I say that it was an "Uggla" loss?
The only drama left by the sixth inning was whether Miguel Cabrera would go postal on Heath Bell for having the audacity to pump his fist towards nobody in particular after striking him out. This from someone who performs a routine with Alfredo Amezaga straight out of "Dancing With The F***ing Stars" in the dugout after some meaningless run batted in or something. I guess it's asking too much to be motivated to dive during an All-Star game watched by millions...but heaven forbid you pump a fist down by six runs with 74 people in the stands.
The nerve.
I hope that Miggy's bitching in the field towards Met third base coach Manny Acta was met with a gentle reminder to think before he says something stupid.
Cabrera's tantrum aside, I must give the Marlins full marks for joining the Mets in wearing the hats of the various New York City service organizations to mark the fifth anniversary of the tragedies of September 11th. That, my friends, is a class act.
Two years ago, the Mets played a game that where each team had nine runs and eleven hits after nine innings (a game which ended with the final score of 11-9). Monday night, Dave Williams was knocked out after giving up nine runs, and eleven hits.Makes you wonder sometimes.
I'm not good at the serious and the somber. Most of you who come here are likely looking for light-hearted blogging snacks rather than full course manifestos. I'm happy to provide such snacks.
However, I will say this: We say a lot that life puts sports in perspective. There's no denying that. But I also believe, and I'm not the first to have written this, that sometimes sports puts life in perspective. Because real life, on most days, is a bitch. And what is life without our diversions, like sports?
It's a bitch, that's what it is.
And as we remember and reflect on a life post 9/11 with tributes and moments of silence and reminders and reflections, what I remember is that there are people giving their lives...in death and in hard work...so that people like me can go on enjoying their diversions like sports...and not have to constantly worry about what a bitch life can be sometimes. At this point, five years later, it still doesn't take an anniversary to remember that. I hope I'll never need the arrival of a day on a calendar to jar that remembrance.
With hats and flags, the sports world remembers, and appreciates, those efforts.
So do I.
20 comments:
I want to echo jabair. I had a hard time going back downtown. I had to go at night for a work function a year after it happened, but did not go near the site.
A couple of months ago though, I had an meeting across the street from the site. The feelings that washed over me as I walked by St. Pauls, and then actually saw the site are very hard to describe.
They need to build, bigger and better than before.
Now.
I work in Battery Park, about 8 blocks south of the WTC, and I was here that awful day. To this day, every time I hear a loud noise outside I jump. (and it doesn't help that they're doing a ton of blasting out in Battery Park these days - something to do with the subway tunnel I think).
I've never been in the "let's build them back up, as big as they were before, if not bigger" camp. I mean, would you want to work there? I've always said that the only thing that belongs there is a memorial, not more office buildings. I realize this ship has already sailed, but if it were up to me, I would've devoted the entire site to a museum of sorts, with a separate display (with photographs, etc) for each person who lost his/her life that day.
One other thing I need to vent about - every time I see some brain-dead tourist walking around down here with a knit hat that says "Ground Zero", like it's the Yankee logo or something, I want to slap him silly. I saw a little kid with one once, and I almost said something to his parents. It's not the Statue of Liberty, it's a giant open grave. Really bothers me.
Rangers fans vs. Islander fans vs. Devil Fans....
Mets Fans vs. Yankee Fans...
Giant Fans vs. Jets Fans....
364 days a year, this is something that consumes are lives...we talk it, breathe it and sometimes we live it....
September 11: we all became one...that is why sports makes it easier to deal with life because every September 11th, especially for me who saw the towers go down from my job in Long Island City five years ago, life on that day is and always will be a bitch..
Nice touch Metstradamus....
beezermess - very nice.
MD...to add to your wonderment, at the end of the sixth inning on Sunday, the line score looked like this:
LAD: 9 11 0
NYM: 0 1 0
Toasty Joe- where do you work in BP? I work down there as well. I also lived in BPC, one block southwest of the WTC, for 10 years - '95 through '05. Ran for my life that day.
The site, in its current state, serves as a haunting reminder to any person who lives/works down there. Ask anyone who was downtown on 9/11 and they'll tell you it feels like it happened yesterday. I'm relieved that the 5th anniversary came and went. When the rebuilding (memorial, buildings, PATH station, etc.) is finally completed, maybe we can start to move past this. At the very least, those memories can start to become historical, as opposed to every day reminders.
How lovely it would be if Professional Sports wasn't a whorehouse of religious nuts, flag-wrapped political perverts vying for power, and endless ceremonies on the US "changed forever" (really?--will anyone care in 2107?--do we kill Brits now because they burned the White House down in 1812? Gimme a break!) The only thing "changed forever" is the incredible march toward fascism in the US (and that WON'T really be forever, as all empires die) and the profits of the 9/11 profiteers. (And many tragic deaths of soldiers and civilians.) Too bad Pat Tillman was fragged; too bad Reggie White just happened to die before he could expose the Christian Right's agenda to evangelize all of pro sports. And too bad an otherwise funny blog thinks a stupid, symbolic hat chucked on a ballplayer via an upper-office command means shit. (Remember--a la 1963, the NFL was itching to play the Sunday after 9/11--the Giants and Jets said "NO way--we're sniffing in dead bodies and there's a morgue by the Meadowlands).
Metstra: Amen, brother. The hats WERE classy, and I salute the Marlins for joining in the observation.
Anon - Basedon your post, I'm guessing I share your feelings about the current administration, but to attack Metstra for praising the gesture made by the Mets and Marlins is misplaced. If all those organizations did after 9/11 was wear hats, I could see complaining, but the Mets in particular donated a lot of time and energy toward 9/11 relief efforts. And if, for example, seeing one of her late husband's baseball heroes wearing a NYFD hat brings a firefighter's widow some pride and much needed joy, explain to me why that's "stupid."
Oh, and your comment about Pat Tillman is both sophomoric and ignorant. If you read SI's incredible, comprehensive piece last week, you'd learn that he died under friendly fire going back to save part of his own platoon, who, as a result of some horrible tactical decisions by their commanding officer, was left exposed to a Taliban ambush.
Five years after 9/11, Bin Laden is still on the lose, and the Adminsitartion seems quite happy about that. Fear and hate sells. (And helps you get close enough to flip elections.)
SI? Reporting? Good? Where were they two years ago when all the BushCo. disinfo was being propagated?
I feel sorry for all 9/11 families. I've known people who died in the tragedy, though I suffered no family loss. But a hat? How about some real justice? Five years of mega-peckered flight suits is B.S.
When I was young, Buddy Harrelson and Wayne Garrett took time off DURING the season for Nat'l Guard duty (Vietnam 1970). Now we have millionaires wearing hats, sacrificing zero.
Talk is cheap. get the Nationalist crap out of sports. Get the religious crap out of sports. Get rid of the National Anthem and God Bless America--stop the indoctrination. Sports is for sports.
It is not SI's job to take Dubya to task for all of his many mistakes (and believe me, I'm no fan). What SI did do last week is present a comprehensive re-creation of Pat Tillman's life and death. You should read it if you are still silly enough to go around telling people he was "fragged."
And your point about Buddy Harrelson vs. today's "millionaires wearing hats" is confusing. Didn't Pat Tillman do exactly what you're saying Harrelson did?
Finally, I did not realize it was the Mets' job to smoke out Bin Laden. I can't believe how much time they wasted printing those stupid hats and helping 9/11 relief efforts when Fred Wilpon and Omar Minaya should've been spearheading a strike into Afghanistan. Shame on them and their empty gestures.
Let's get rid of the flag, too. And the soil. Let's go jump in the ocean. Rage against the machine!!!!
This is what happens when I stray from the subject matter. When am I going to learn?
Anonymous, First off, thanks for reading and thanks for actually thinking I'm funny. You're right...in the long run, hats mean nothing. All I'm doing is acknowleding a gesture by a non-New York team that wasn't expected or necessary. Can't a gesture be just a gesture and not juxtaposed against or held to the standards to more important things? That, to me, lacks perspective.
I'm not denying you your opinion, but we're not trying to solve the world's problems here on this blog, my friend.
Thanks for your reply, Metsradamus. Your blog is brilliant. If anything, like David Zirin, go beyond...
However, nothing happens in a vacuum. Sports is a big part of the national psyche. It's a major means to also spread "social control." (See Carlos Delgado.)I didn't go to Shea on Sunday to engage in a recruitment ad; I didn't watch the Giants game that night to see more shilling for failed wars by demented politicians. I was nauseated that Al Michaels wasn't brought to task for spreading "Swift Boat" lies two years ago. (But then you know what ABC pulled on Sun & Mon nite with their "mockumentary.") Blogs should engage this.
Tillman's death was a cover up. Ask his parents and brother what they think about SI's article.
The SI article addresses the cover-up - in fact, it's one of the centerpieces of the article. And I'm sure Tillman's mom was quite happy with it, since the author interviewed her and Tillman's best friend, who was asked to keep quiet about the circumstances of Tillman's death. Clearly you didn't even read it.
I don't think that either the Democrats or the Republicans have been particularly thoughtful in their use of that day. Hatred is hatred, whether you have it for a political party, a religion, a race, etc, etc...I don't understand how wearing hats that were previously worn by the victims of the worst tragedy in history promotes or negates the wars our country is involved in...I just don't see it.
I also don't see how singing God Bless America or the National Anthem at a sporting event represents something ugly. Don't they sing national anthems in other countries? During sporting events? Didn't we also sing these sam anthems when a democrat was president...what difference does it make who is president?
Should the rich guys playing baseball have to give their money to the war on terror? Should they have to apologize to anyone for wearing a NYPD hat?
In my opinion, and that's all it is...you can love baseball and not be ashamed and you can love America and not be ashamed. And you should be able to do it without being accused of being a dupe to some larger conspiracy.
Correction...the worst tragedy of war in the history of this country.
Oh, and Miggy looked a little scared of Manny Acta!
Hey,
I don't know why but I can no longer see any updates past the two carlos' one back in august. I thought something was wrong with the site, but i checked it using a different computer and got a whole bunch of newer stuff (including this entry). Does anyone know what i can do about this?
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