The circle of baseball life continues anew. Or the diamond. Pick your geometric shape.
First pitch: 3:15 Central
Weather: National Weather Service now gutted, conservative Christian meteorologist Paul Douglas thinks this is insane, low 60s if we can trust this stuff anymore
Opponent’s very good SB site: Viva El Birdos
TV: The Crypto MGM Grand Online Sure Bet Network sponsored by Apple Roku Paramount Extended TV Plus in conjunction with Draft Kings Premium Play
Radio: Not yet banned for being free but I’m sure they’re working on it (you can click on the link to find radio stations in your area)
Hello, you fellow boogerheads. Alas, my enthusiasm for the Twins, this season, is… not much more than the level of interest I have in the Westminster Dog Show, or which bot wins the Oscar for Best A.I.-Generated Screenplay in 2035. Or which bot wins Westminster in 2035 for Best CyberDog, for that matter.
Manfred’s expansion of the playoffs has made the regular season practically meaningless to me, and while I was glad the Twins won one ALDS game in 2023, they did so in 2003, also. By my count, that’s two REAL playoff single game wins in the last 22 years. So color me unenthused.
This will be the first season in about 22 years where I didn’t buy a baseball video game. I just don’t have time to play them. I’m more focused on watching offbeat library things like a 1925 documentary (which was really good, by the way) and writing about them. I wanna make use of my library before they all die. The library is the last place where you can watch whatever they have and whatever you want to see, without the streaming services deciding what’s forgotten and what isn’t.
Some decades ago, I forget exactly when, I read a “letter to the editor” in the Strib that essentially boiled down to the following:
“If a streetlight is built in my neighborhood, that serves everyone. But too much government spending goes to things which serve special interests. I don’t need libraries; I buy books on Amazon. I pay for my children to attend private schools; I should not have to pay twice for other children to attend public schools. I pay for vacations to places that interest me; I do not see why we need state parks I don’t want to visit.”
Yup. And that mindset has, now, triumphed utterly. Probably permanently.
And, by the way, when I saw my doctor two weeks ago, she said even high-priced insurance plans were denying coverage left and right. Denying coverage for things like generic drugs. So much so, she contacted the state Attorney General’s office.
Which was smart — I like her, even if she’s a former Marine who runs marathons, everybody’s gotta have a hobby — but I don’t think it will accomplish much, in the end.
That “who cares if people poorer than me have anything” mindset is coming for us all. Just some of us faster than others.
I’ll still be into whatever weirdness baseball inevitably offers, that stuff’s always great. But I’m not excited about this. I’m more focused on when (not if) our Immortal God Emperor Overlords will kill Mrs. James’s Medicare. It’s a matter of time. Good thing that once you’ve had a stroke, you’re immunized against having another! That’s how it works… right? Right.
So, our starting pitchers today…
Sonny Gray is a total unknown to me, and I think he’s Kevin Slowey using a fake name. Pablo López thinks he knows how to fly jets. 2024 digits:
Do the Cardinals want more public stadium money? Who doesn’t! Maybe they can draw enough fans this year to keep hot dog vendors from struggling.
Incidentally, this is a fun read by George Bowles at Viva El Birdos, where he quotes beatnik author Ken Kesey on baseball:
“Spring training might not count for much in the big scheme of things, but watching these men work, watching them fight against the cold reality of their own doubts, it makes you believe. And maybe that’s what spring training is really about – not the numbers or the stats, but the hope that rises like steam from the morning Jupiter grass, telling us that baseball, real baseball, is just around the corner.”
Bowles seems like a neat guy. Probably wouldn’t hang out with me, but that’s alright, I don’t always want to hang out with me, either.
And while I don’t agree with having any hope, for anything, if some of you do, that’s OK, too.
GOTWINSGO!