When Life Imitates Norman Rockwell @ AMERICAN DIGEST

October 29, 2009

When Life Imitates Norman Rockwell

"I got it!" "No, I got it!" "No, we got it!"

"The New York Yankees’ Nick Swisher climbed a wall to try and catch a ball in Game 1 of the World Series..." (via Photo Journal - WSJ )

As long as we have the World Series every Autumn, I will continue to believe to the adamantine rock bottom of my soul that God blesses America and has an exceptional plan for this nation.

Look at the moment above captured in Game 1. It could be hung in the Norman Rockwell Museum and not be a tittle of a jot out of place. In every face (except Swisher's) is an expression of pure joy as they all realize that on its way to them, at that very moment, is every baseball fan's most cherished dream from childhood: The chance to catch a fly ball in a World Series game in the stands.

In another few instants only one will come up with it, but in this moment all have a chance at it and all are transported at the opportunity to transcend themselves and enter into something bigger, brighter, and finer than their lives would otherwise be.

And that's the way it is in America. That's why we see many footprints leading in and few coming out. For with all our quarrels, our disagreements, our struggles, and our incessant bickering, this remains a land where you can always get another turn at bat, where you can always, right up until six months after death, get another chance to swing for the bleachers. And where, even if you aren't a player in "The Show," you can buy a seat out on the right field line and wait there for the crack of the bat, the rise of the ball against the sky, and... it's coming, it's coming.... and whap, you got it. You're in "The Show."

And in that moment life, the universe, and everything else comes down to one great roar of joy from yourself and the rest of the crowd.

Baseball, the World Series, a high fly ball in an Autumn sky, and America. Nothing else like them ever was. "I got it!" "No, I got it!" "No, we got it!".

Via KA-CHING! Posted by Vanderleun at October 29, 2009 3:43 PM

Only in America
Can a guy from anywhere
Go to sleep a pauper and wake up a millionaire

Only in America
Can a kid without a cent
Get a break and maybe grow up to be President

Only in America
Land of opportunity, yeah
Would a classy girl like you fall for a poor boy like me

Only in America
Can a kid who's washin' cars
Take a giant step and reach right up and touch the stars

Only in America
Could a dream like this come true
Could a guy like me start with nothing and end up with you

Only in America
Land of opportunity, yeah
Would a classy girl like you fall for a poor boy like me

-Jay and the Americans

Nice post, Gerald

Posted by: bill at October 29, 2009 5:55 PM

Why is it called the World Series, when just about nobody outside the USA plays the game? Maybe it's because so many Americans think the USA IS the world.

I also find it interesting that for at least two of the major spectator sports in the USA, you have to be a genetic freak to play the game at high level. (Basketball and American football - one of the most misnamed games ever - of course.) And that at least one of those requires vast amounts of apparatus to get off the field alive.

Bit more snark; I find it funny that rounders and netball are two of the most popular games in America. (Yes, I know the rules are slightly different.)

Posted by: Fletcher Christian at October 30, 2009 1:26 AM

Fletcher,

At the risk of taking this a bit too seriously - while the teams are all North American, Major League Baseball is full of players from other countries. A great number of players have actually used baseball to defect from Cuba to the US. Some of the league's biggest stars are Japanese, Venezuelan, Dominican, etc. Perhaps it was not so much in the past, but these days the World Series is, indeed, a World-wide contest, as the home countries of those foreign players care very much about the outcome.

Posted by: Andy at October 30, 2009 7:21 AM

"Why is it called the World Series, when just about nobody outside the USA plays the game? Maybe it's because so many Americans think the USA IS the world..."

You need to get out more, Fletch. A few years ago, the most common name in the Majors was Martinez. It might still be, or it might also be Rodriguez. No matter. Baseball may not be quite as widespread as soccer (football to you, I suppose), but it's certainly more so than cricket, which is pretty much confined to places where Britain once ruled (except for Canada; baseball is the bat sport of choice north of the 49th Parallel). There are serious baseball leagues in Latin America, Japan, Taiwan, and Korea, as well as in North America. Who knows how world politics would have turned out if Fidel Castro had made it as a pitcher with the White Sox? Baseball's easier-to-play derivative, softball, is even more popular globally. For instance, here in the concrete jungles of Jakarta, I play in a softball league that is made up mostly of Indonesians. They play well, too.

Point taken on the number of inordinately large men in basketball and American football. But I got to share a flight from NZ once with the Springboks, who had just played the All-Blacks the previous night. Most of them weren't exactly normal-sized either. But I felt pretty sure that the plane wasn't going to get hijacked:-). And FWIW, I think that's part of baseball's appeal: you don't have to be 6'10" and 300 pounds to play it. Look at Ichiro Suzuki, one of the best hitters in the game today: 5'9", 160 lbs., as average as average gets.

Posted by: waltj at October 30, 2009 8:39 AM

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October 29, 2009

When Life Imitates Norman Rockwell

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