I must admit, I was fully prepared to see a response like, "Oh, new SoSHers are still making friends with other SoSHers, just not with you."
Can't say I blame anyone for that. Except myself, of course.
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Green Fields of the Mind
- Thread starter BoSoxLady
- Start date
Can't say I blame anyone for that. Except myself, of course.
I always wanted to go to a bash, but the numerous posts with "I was so drunk that..." made me feel I wouldn't have fit in. But fellowship is good, and I believe I understand that. It's just that I find Facebook evil.
Don't worry, you're not the only teetotaling Facebook-avoider here.
Unfortunately, while I used to be in western MA as well, I'm now in Minneapolis.
My life is full of "wish I went to, but didn't" events from the fun days of the 1990s/early 2000s internet.
I had a blast at many Bashes, both the big annual ones and many smaller ones, without a drop of alcohol. Boston, Pawtucket, Pittsburgh, Cincy, Philly, Phoenix, etc, etc, etc.
Not that it matters but I am not actually a teetotaler, although I have mostly stopped having anything but non-alcoholic beer now that my husband has to avoid alcohol. I just don't like excess, or reveling in drunkenness. If I got the wrong impression, it wouldn't surprise me, but those post-Bash posts are what decided me to stay away.
But returning to Sosh today: I may not physically hang out with Soshers, but I enjoy the heck out of so many of them virtually, and am actually fond of a few, though they don't know it!
And getting back to the lovely thoughts of Mr. Giamatti, it's been almost 24 hours since I have seen a baseball game and I am already more than sad about that.
But returning to Sosh today: I may not physically hang out with Soshers, but I enjoy the heck out of so many of them virtually, and am actually fond of a few, though they don't know it!
And getting back to the lovely thoughts of Mr. Giamatti, it's been almost 24 hours since I have seen a baseball game and I am already more than sad about that.
Sixteen years, couple thousand posts, met one other SoSHer in person in that time. Generally don't post unless I have something to say. This is my 10th post this year, so yeah not much to say. Is what it is, I'm not local to many here and focus is elsewhere.
I do enjoy the Green Fields revisit each year, as well as the post mortems as teams are eliminated.
I do enjoy the Green Fields revisit each year, as well as the post mortems as teams are eliminated.
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I'll bump it. The sadness of the end of one season gives way to the excitement of what's to come over the offseason into the next.
Wherever BoSoxLady is, I hope she's doing well.
Wherever BoSoxLady is, I hope she's doing well.
On September 1st this year I moved to Greenfield Ma from suburban NJ to (re)start the next phase of my life, including a new home and a new job. Its an interesting and diverse community. As the poet J.Garcia once noted, "what a long strange trip its been" And it was for me and the '22 Red Sox. Circumstances kept me further apart from the Sox this year than any other time of the past 60+ years. In some respect it wasn't a bad year to take a sabbatical. However I look forward to the spring of '23 being more settled and when the Greenfields again sprout and grow and fill us with hope joy and optimism. That is the Greenfield of my mind. Go Sox.
Seconded…
‘These are the truly tough among us, the ones who can live without illusion, or without even the hope of illusion. I am not that grown-up or up-to-date. I am a simpler creature, tied to more primitive patterns and cycles. I need to think something lasts forever, and it might as well be that state of being that is a game; it might as well be that, in a green field, in the sun.’
I liked it when one year, maybe it was last year, someone else posted Green Fields, not knowing it was a tradition that Cheri post it. What I liked was that she immediately jumped in and posted like "hey, that's my job, and reposted it." I like assertion.
It’s really a lovely piece, about the last day of the 1977 season, but it sent me down a rabbit hole of regret about Bob Bailey and Bernie Carbo. I had always thought Bailey was acquired at the tail end of ‘78. Turns out he was a seldom-used member of the roster throughout ‘78, closing his thoroughly cooked career with a 1-24 skid (0 for September) before Zimmer send him up to face Gossage with a man on in the 7th on October 2nd. Utterly no chance.
And then there was Carbo, who could have handled Gossage’s heat, banished to Cleveland - not a trade, a “sale” - in June of ‘78 because Zim couldn’t stand him.
Designed to break your heart indeed.
And then there was Carbo, who could have handled Gossage’s heat, banished to Cleveland - not a trade, a “sale” - in June of ‘78 because Zim couldn’t stand him.
Designed to break your heart indeed.
With Eck leaving, this year has a particular sting. I watched a ton of games over the last few weeks. It was all I had.
I think that was two or three years ago. Last year, many of us waited to see it from her but we didn't, so @BroodsSexton had to bump the thread she started. I did it this year. It is a tradition, after all.
I love listening to Giamatti read it himself. It's perfection. I tear up every single time. I consider myself blessed to have been able to listen to it four times after my team has won the World Series. Who would have ever thought?
Appropriate intro to my User Name. Watching a spring '78 game against KC from behind first base with a bunch of law school friends. Late innings, several beers into a pleasant hazy feeling, I watched Bailey try to catch up with Hrabosky high heat. As he swung and missed at strike 3, I blurted out that now I understand where the phrase "swings like a rusty gate" comes from.
Breaks your heart, but does gives you pleasant memories.
Not so buried for some of us on the wrong side of 60. It, unfortunately, resonates as I contemplate the fact that there will not be an endless summer, nor an endless succession of seasons to enjoy.
I think I might have been the offender on that one, though I can find no record of it.
English major here with a quick note: because it's prose, it's not a poem; it's an essay.
Other than that, total agreement over here, too.
Fair, I'm being loose with my language for sure! It definitely has a more poetic feel than your average essay, but you're absolutely right that it's not actually a poem.
I remember a couple things about the weekend Giamatti describes in his essay.
1. Saw that Saturday ending at the Model Cafe in Brighton, after watching Pittsburgh, defending national champs, annihilate BC*.
2. The next day's meaningless game was rained out; not sure if it even started, but the highlight for sure was Rick Dempsey's rain delay act https://www.mlb.com/news/funniest-moments-in-orioles-history.
*The QB was future Patriot Matt Cavanaugh. Jackie Sherrill was the head coach, taking over for Johnny Majors. Two of his assistants were Jimmy Johnson and Dave Wannstedt.
1. Saw that Saturday ending at the Model Cafe in Brighton, after watching Pittsburgh, defending national champs, annihilate BC*.
2. The next day's meaningless game was rained out; not sure if it even started, but the highlight for sure was Rick Dempsey's rain delay act https://www.mlb.com/news/funniest-moments-in-orioles-history.
*The QB was future Patriot Matt Cavanaugh. Jackie Sherrill was the head coach, taking over for Johnny Majors. Two of his assistants were Jimmy Johnson and Dave Wannstedt.