"Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now."
My Boog Pages
Tuesday, November 9
The Dream Is Over
...and not just for John Kerry. Just before the election, the University Little League Twins (a bunch of kids from Fort Worth) took to the field to try their luck against the mighty Braves in the league's championship game. The Braves were by far the best of the six teams this year, routinely roughing up opponents by double-digit scores. We gave them a scare a few weeks ago, leading after the third inning (the halfway point), before they pulled away for the win. But the Twins got on a good roll in the playoffs, beating the Cardinals and the Brewers by a combined score of 20-16, including comebacks in both games. The Braves won by even larger margins.
As the Texas afternoon darkened towards nightfall, as the scappy upstarts faced off against the arrogant powerhouse, all the Twins' faithful had the same question in mind: can we beat them? I told everyone who would listen that we were going to win, and much like Bob Shrum, I truly believed we would. But it wasn't to be, as our team fell by a final score of 1 to 0.
That's right. 1-0.
This was the best little league game I have ever seen. There were close plays on the bases, a runner thrown out a home, even a couple of double plays, and a dramatic stab of a line drive by shortstop Matt Sullivan which saved at least one run in the bottom of the fourth.
Unfortunately, the Braves put two men on base with no one out in that inning, and we did a good job to hold them to only a single run. Our lineup couldn't get anything going in the bottom of the inning, and the game ended with a runner doubled off first (some of the kids don't yet know when to run and when to stop).
Still, a great season. The team improved and had a lot of fun, and I'm already excited about spring ball.
In Other News, there was apparently some sort of election last week. The results are beyond dispute. As reported by the worldwide media, there used to be only one moron in America. Now there are 58 million.
The carping of the "liberal elites" from both coasts, denigrating the Bush voters as gun-toting gay-hating bible-thumping sister-marrying retards, has a familiar ring to it. It reminds me of nothing so much as the cries of New York Yankees fans saying things like "One down, 26 more to go!" (fyi, this is not the first title for the Red Sox). The translation is the same: you won, but we're still better. To which I say, come on guys, you just lost. Don't act like losers.
To be fair, Kerry was caught on the horns of a dilemma when it came to foreign policy - the issue which ultimately decided the election. He couldn't unambiguously come out in favor of the war without running the risk of alienating his base. But he couldn't capture the moderate votes he needed to win without supporting it. In the end the majority weren't convinced.
Remember that there are many voters not happy with either candidate. I support gay marriage and voted for Bush. My wife opposes it and pulled the lever for Kerry. You're only given two options, and you have to choose the one that suits you best, because neither will probably suit you perfectly. As long as the Democrats stop alienating the many churchgoing moderates who voted for them in the red states, they can run such a candidate (not named Hillary) in 2008 and reverse the Republican gains.
