The Boys of the Hot Florida Summer Play Ball

Major League baseball spring training has now departed the halcyon fields of Florida and the real boys of the hot summer have arrived for Florida League Class A+ minor league ball, the Jupiter Hammerheads (Marlin’s affiliate) and the Palm Beach Cardinals (St. Louis’ affiliate) playing at our home turf of Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, FL.  We missed the first Weds. night game of the “Silver Sluggers” promotional circuit, still the best baseball deal around, 30 bucks total for a ticket to every Weds. night game of the season which includes a soda and peanuts.  They used to include a hot dog instead of the peanuts (or pretzel or popcorn) but I suppose cutbacks eliminated this perk.  However they give out an “Official Silver Sluggers membership card” which I guess they think to us seniors is as exciting as getting a Captain Video ring when we were youngsters. 

They’ve also cut back on places to sit and eat near the concession stands (actually, there are no more picnic tables there), requiring you to haul your food and drink to the seat and they don’t even provide a cardboard tray.  Hey, it’s good for you old people to learn balance your food as you walk up the steps! We used to arrive early, have a bite before the game at a table, then watch a little infield practice and then sit back and watch the game.

Roger Dean Stadium is showing its age and rather than providing some seating for eating and sprucing up the place they’ve ignored their new competition of the Ball Park of the Palm Beaches. Right now the BPofTPB is hosting only Spring Training but if they get a minor league team there, Roger Dean Stadium will be affected.

Still, it was a glorious Florida night to take in our first game of the season and serendipitously the visiting team was the Tampa Yankees, the Class A affiliate of the MLB team I most closely follow, the New York Yankees.  Much has been said about the Yankees building their team of the future from their farm clubs rather than signing multiyear contracts with aging free agent stars.  Well, after last night, don’t depend on the Class A affiliate but look to the Trenton Thunder (AA) or The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (AAA).

 

Regarding last night’s game, credit goes to Junior Fernandez the Palm Beach Cardinal’s pitcher who is only 20 years old but has been pitching professionally for three years already.  He’s high up on the Cards’ prospect list and for 6 and a third innings he had a perfect game going against Tampa until the Yankee’s #19 prospect, second baseman Nick Solak, got a single with one out in the 7th. Solak also chalked up a double later in the game and those were the only two hits the Tampa Yankees had.  Meanwhile, they managed to play a downright sloppy game, their two errors leading to three unearned runs which left Yankee starter and #13 prospect Domingo Acevedo with the loss, although his 99 MPH fastball was humming, leading to 6 strikeouts in 6 innings.

The much touted Yankee shortstop prospect (#4) Jorge Mateo had a lackluster game going 0 for four and his infield play was unimpressive.  Maybe it was just an off day, but he’ll have to play better than that to make the parent team one of these days.

Although the game was unremarkable (except for the nearly perfect game), the night was wonderful, enjoying the Florida breeze and the cadence of baseball.  I’ve seen many Class A ball games and I’ve always said that they are as professional as MLB in every way.  Last night was the first disappointment in that regard as, at times, the Tampa Yankees looked like a bunch of sandlot players.  But as they say, wait ‘till next week!

Orphan Master’s Son Revisited

It’s time to revisit Adam Johnson’s prophetic, Pulitzer Prize winning novel about North Korea, The Orphan Master’s Son.  It was nearly four years ago that I reviewed it in my blog.  I was stunned by the novel and now, with the United States and North Korea marching to the drum beat of conflict yet once again, with dire consequences of such a face off, this novel is must reading.  Unfortunately, Donald Trump doesn’t read but instead relies on Fox and Twitter.  If he read this novel, he’d understand why withdrawing support for the National Endowment for the Humanities is a grave error.  From Johnson’s imagination and research, there is probably a greater truth regarding the North Korean persona than most government reports, not to mention TV coverage.

Here’s how I began my review…

North Korea is an enigma (to me at least).  Only a few months ago the young North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was saber rattling nuclear missiles, threatening not only South Korea, but American bases in the Pacific as well.  Bizarrely, at about the same time, basketball celebrity Dennis Rodman visited the country and the new leader (apparently Kim Jong-un likes basketball).  Rodman thinks he played peacemaker.   How weird to see the heavily tattooed Rodman sitting side by side with the young chubby cheeked dictator.

Did I really want to know more about the circus-like-train-wreck of North Korea?  However, the accolades for Adam Johnson’s The Orphan Master’s Son were overwhelming, calling to me. So, I’ve read it and can understand why it deservedly won the Pulitzer Prize for Literature last year.

This is a compelling novel, such a good story, and so well written.  But can life in North Korea really be as Johnson writes?  While no one can say whether his depiction is accurate, it is fiction, and it succeeds as an allegory of universal themes. 

The entire account can be read here.

There IS Something About A War!

From the cocoon of craziness, a Presidential butterfly has emerged.  It took just one look at “those beautiful babies” for Donald Trump to extol his virtue of “flexibility,” and do what he condemned his predecessor for even contemplating, a direct strike in Syria without Congressional approval.  It was the perfect confluence of opportunity, being able to engage in a low risk strike to deliver a long overdue message to Assad, throwing raw meat to the public thereby looking Presidential to prop up his approval ratings, while burying the Russian election tamping (and Trump’s possible connection) to the back pages of the Internet. A trifecta of fortuity!

Yes, there is nothing like a war.  Even Brian Williams was waxing poetically on MSNBC “we see these beautiful pictures at night from the decks of these two U.S. Navy vessels in the eastern Mediterranean, “I am tempted to quote the great Leonard Cohen: ‘I am guided by the beauty of our weapons.’” 

Oh, the thrill of launched Tomahawks, beautiful to behold!  Stephen Sondheim’s priceless pasquinade “There’s Something about a War” (from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum) says it all. The complete lyrics can be heard in this YouTube link but here is just a small excerpt to make the point. 

….

There’s something about a war.

Something about a war

Something about a war

That makes this little old world all right.

…

A warrior’s work is never done.

He never can get a rest.

There always are lands to overrun

And people to be oppressed.

There’s always a town to pillage

A city to be laid waste.

There’s always a little village

Entirely to be erased.

And citadels to sack, of course,

And temples to attack, of course.

Children to annihilate,

Priestesses to violate…..

Or maybe some of the Village People’s Macho Man lyrics are appropriate in this instance:

You can best believe that he's a macho man

He's the special god son in anybody's land

hey, hey, hey, hey, hey

Macho, macho man

I gotta be a macho man

Macho macho man

Yes let’s all get into the spirit of it.  Not that the Pentagon’s decision (with Trump’s approval) to send the message was the wrong one; something finally had to be done in response to the reported use of chemical weapons, but to get caught up in this one action without having an end game or more importantly a compassionate plan for Syrian refugees, is typical of this chaotic administration. 

Obama tried to involve Congress in the decision to intervene in Syria but the very people now sagely approving the recent attack would not give Obama authority.  Obama, in retrospect, should have just made a preemptive strike without bothering with the Constitution.  He was damned either way.  Trump was already tweeting back in 2013 “The President must get Congressional approval before attacking Syria-big mistake if he does not!”  Or the one which is even more telling is from 2012: “Now that Obama’s poll numbers are in tailspin – watch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran. He is desperate.” 

Who’s desperate now? But as we have been conditioned, no real push back on any of this.  He’s flexible! It’s okay!  There is nothing like a war!

Maybe if Trump is constantly exposed to pictures of Syrian children he will reverse his anti-refugee policy, so antithetical to what this nation stands for.  As one Syrian refugee put it:  Who gets to pick their country?

While hiding behind the shield of being a humanitarian, Trump has flexed his “strong man” muscle, even to the delight of some of his naysayers who have been calling him crazy.  One can only hope that he continues to listen to the professionals in the National Security Council.  Give him credit for removing Bannon from the NSC.  One has to be grateful for morsels of sanity.

Trump Ennui

It is bad enough that he is omnipresent like a Cheshire cat on the airways, on line, wherever you turn, but to have him as a “neighbor” as well is pure overload.  I suppose he misses the gold-plated Mar-a-Lago and the opportunity to play on his own golf courses in the sun.  More likely, it is the procession which draws him here, the parade of pomp and preparation, and his brand being brandished.

Days in advance our local newspaper breathlessly announces his highness’ arrival, expectantly and cautionary as it causes total disruption in the area.  This coming visit involves Chinese President XI and his entourage who will be staying at the Eau Palm Beach which used to have the more hotel-like name of Ritz Carlton.  I once stayed there for a big corporate conference myself.  It’s palatial, but I suppose Trump’s Mar-a-Lago gives it a good run for its money.  So you can catch Xi at the Eau. 

Palm Beach County – and in particular Palm Beach itself – will be a traffic nightmare.  Thus far the expense of these numerous Trump visits is borne by the County.  Trump makes a big deal of donating his $78k quarterly salary to the US National Parks Dept, while cutting its parent Department of the Interior’s budget by $2 billion.  According to my math, it’ll take him more than 6,000 years of donating his salary to make up the difference.  Maybe I have an extra zero someplace, or missed a zero as it seems like a VERY long time but if he lasts 6,000 years in office, all the more power to him. It could happen as everything he does is amazing, big time, etc.

He refuses to pick up Palm Beach County’s expense of guarding him so he can play golf in the sunshine.  Perhaps the County’s officials should read “his” Art of the Deal and walk away from the table, go protect yourself, Donald.  It might be the only way they/we can get reimbursement for those expenses.  But the County officials like to delude themselves that as Trump’s visits put Palm Beach County in the limelight that will increase tourism and thus drive tax revenue.  Do you want to visit PBC because Trump is frequently here?  I guess Washington DC’s tourism is on the wane as the star is rarely there on weekends.

I can’t imagine why the Chinese delegation agreed to meet at Mar-a-Lago where Trump can flaunt his ego.  After all, there are very weighty issues to be discussed. Where does one get the idea that these can be easily discussed while teeing off on a golf course?  Why not stay in the White House where there is a bowling alley?  They can discuss the issues while joking about Trump’s 7-10 split.  Trump is a good golfer (my neighbor is one of his pros) and he probably wants to play games he can easily win.  Look at me!

This egomaniacal inexperienced President is now toying with one of the most serious international issues of his presidency, the growing threat of North Korea.  Making statements like, we’ll go it alone if China doesn’t act or Tillerson’s inexplicable dropping of the mike simply saying “the United States has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment," does not exactly inspire confidence.  We’re talking nuclear war here, folks, not jobs for coal-miners.  Not that the latter is unimportant but that is in an industry that is dying because of alternative energy supplies, including natural gas.  It’s going the way horse-drawn carriages when the automobile became dominant.  Focus on the right stuff!

The first 100 days are not yet over but it already seems like 1,000.  There are so many issues that keep me restless at night, day, whenever, the Syrian humanitarian crisis, the impending Korean disaster, decimating environmental budgets and regulations,  the gas lighting of fake news, Russia’s possible interference with the election and the general vulnerability that the Internet and social media create, the continuing inability of Congress to function, the callous consequences of misguided immigration and refugee proposals, impracticable building of a wall in the middle of the Rio Grande river while our Infrastructure is falling apart, tax reform which will inevitably favor the rich including the removal of the inheritance tax, unrealistic border taxes (and extremely difficult to articulate and manage), and I can go on and on, but what’s the sense? 

At mid-term elections I will cast my one vote, if we last that long – given the consequences of the ischemic seizure of our entire governing process and the self-serving dilettantes now at the tiller.  I’ve written often about DJT even though I mightily try to ignore him, my resolve weak due to ongoing embarrassment for our nation and, now, just plain fear. I write as a form of catharsis.