Grand old game

As the Major League Baseball trade deadline approaches, the Pirates, in serious contention, are a buyer not a seller this trade season and my thoughts turn to the grand ol' game of baseball.

While at a local eatery of the quick variety, I noticed a young Little Leaguer dressed in his uniform. The uniform was of major league quality: a heat resistant top with a very cool script of the home team on the front; the child's surname in block letters on the back; a black, outlined in white, block number; a matching hat...fitted; long gray pants just like the pros wear and Nike cleats.

Times sure have changed. When I played Little League my uniform was some kind of flannel hybrid, with a black stripe along the pant legs and "Bures Ford" splayed across the back...no number...no name...a car dealership.

No matter how we try to kill the game with free agency in the millions of dollars, artificial turf, tied all-star games and strike shortened seasons, the game survives. Forget soccer (America has post World Cup...right?) the beautiful game is baseball.

It's a game that's geometrically appealing in its lay-out and structure --- 9 innings, 3 outs, 3 strikes, 9 players. Keeping score at a baseball game and checking the players' stats is the closest I come to having any interest in numbers or math. The stats matter and form the foundation for discussion on who are the greatest players.

I've just come inside from playing catch with the neighbor kid --- it got too dark to see the ball; we're looking into lights, he's already asked his Dad.

How wonderful is playing catch? We talked about the Pirates and our favorite players; he shared how his traveling Little League team is 0 and 12 and how they've been "mercy ruled" for over half their games. (For the uninitiated, the mercy rule is when a team is trouncing their opponents so convincingly and leading by more than 10 runs after 4 innings the game is called...mercy). My catching buddy thinks this is a stupid rule and as he philosophizes, "It's not like were' trying to lose, can't we just keep playing for fun?!!?"

Baseball is timeless and playing catch is grace.

Part of playing catch involves pop-ups and grounders and bringing the throw in from the outfield as we imagine ourselves in those game situations. Sometime during catch, one person will pretend to be the pitcher and the other naturally crouches in the catcher's stance. The neighbor kid assumed the role of the pitcher...sigh...yes, baseball is timeless...unfortunately, my aged thighs and knees are not...

sj;

Get out!

Happy Birthday, Henry David Thoreau! Many of us first met Henry in our high school English classes slogging through his literary classic, "Walden Pond." Having taken another look at the book not from an assignment, yet, from wanting to, I found I really enjoyed it and there was a lot to appreciate about Henry.

Thoreau was a a big fan of sauntering --- which is walking around at a moderate, reflective pace thinking, observing, just being. In celebration of Henry's birthday, I invite you to saunter some today. Walden found much inspiration in nature and sought to live simply and in rhythm with the natural world. If your sauntering today leads you to the woods and you become inspired to build a cabin and take up residence, be sure to bring along writing materials, I hear that makes for a great book.

With our ever decreasing green space and our over-connected-all-the-time society, I think Throeau would shout, "Get out!" In part from incredulity and urging us to get outdoors and look and smell and go barefoot and splash in streams and sit underneath trees. At the risk of sounding pretentious, an op-ed by Timothy Egan in yesterday's New York Times entitled, "Let 'Em Eat Dirt," is a plea for parents to allow their kids to get muddy, eat dirt and run freely in the great outdoors. Egan's inspiration for the column came from watching a little boy playing in a muddy tide pool and then runnning off in pursuit of a butterfly and the author's friend remarking how rare it is to see children just outside being with all the cool stuff in nature -- no date-planners, no scheduled play dates, no helicopter parents.

I'm thankful for a great childhood where days were spent swimming in the creek, walking in the woods, playing catch in the field, digging in the garden and eating meals outside. This upbringing has served me well. Now a suburban dweller, I am making it a point to take daily walks near the river and to make time to just be outside in nature, with trees, the music of birdsong and animals that scurry loudly in the leaves.

The sun is shining, the weather is warm, the landscape is green....what are you waiting for? GET OUT!

sj;

Animal instinct

I consider myself an open person, as long as you're not hurting anyone feel free to do your own thing. In fact, I like the folks who dance to their own full orchestra. That said, I must confess that I do not understand nor do I get the entire Furry deal. For the uninitiated, the Furries is the name given to the persons who attend the Anthrocon conference, which is an annual gathering of persons who identify with animals and wonder what it would be like if animals could walk and talk to the point where they dress up and walk around as said animal.

Pittsburgh has become the host city for the annual Furry Convention. Last week, one could see numerous individuals walking around the city with three-foot tails attached to their pants or wearing animal ears atop their head or completely costumed as the animal of their choice. Many sport blue and white tails, purple heads with green horns or do a full-costume wolf in courtier clothing.

I admit that I don't get it.
I admit that I remain incredulous at the amount of press this gathering received. Even the local NPR station ran a story.
I admit that I don't know how they fill a full three days of a convention. What are the workshops? "How to be a blue fox in a red and gray world"

Personally, I enjoy narratives about animals given human characteristics found in the good story, well told. Perhaps the best to do this is the author whose birthday is today, 11 July --- E.B. White who wrote "Stuart Little" and the classic, "Charlotte's Web" for which White received much of his inspiration living on his farm in Maine.

The more I think about it the more I realize that this gathering of tail-wearing, big-animated-head sporting folks is in large part what "Charlotte's Web" is all about --- friendship. So, if these Furries find a connection, hang-out with friends they perhaps see only once a year at the convention --- then more power to 'em.

I probably will never get the whole animal identity thing, yet, friendship and finding folks with whom one can be one's self and belong --- that I get.

sj;