Thoughts on Recent Readings

Recommended: The Pacific is a delicious set of short stories by Mark Helprin. The prose is lyrical and provacative and the insights woven through each story are original and shared. The characters are unique, yet easy to identify, their lives are brewed in the earth, the sea, the air, our experience, and the spiritual. In fact, the life well-led, the characters who have found a dash of peace in the shifting sands of disappointment and mortality, are those who define their existence and find comfort within the broad parameters of the spiritual.

Disappointment: A Million Little Pieces. Redemption is redemption and one should never quarrel with the methods by which a person makes their peace. However, with that said, the current topselling A Million Little Pieces is worth ignoring unless, of course, you still need a dose of the anti-hero to help form your alternative universe. James Frey's autobiographic tale is story of the ultimate anti-hero, a narcissitic nihilist full of piss, vinegar, and more than enough anger to spoil everything he comes near. Frey pulls himself out of a death spiral to enter a rehab center where he eschews the programmatic approach to sobriety because he's smarter and better than the system--it's the perfect postmodern ruse, angry loner who has one foot on a bannana peel and other in the grave mends his way in the nick of time to show the establishment that foundations are corrupt, that meaning is useless, and the anti-hero knows more, knows better, and is capable of taking his vile, nihilist, narcissist temperment, turning it on a dime, and finding life, love, and success. Yeah, right.  

Fantasy Baseball Season Recap

The Choppers took first place in their rotisserie league in June and were never threatened. The next best team was 11 points behind. Bennie Molina was added the roster at the All-Star Break to complete a roster that had A-Rod, Michael Young of Texas, Mark Texaira of Texas, and the great Albert Pujols. Contreras of the White Sox was added to the pitching staff on Labor Day and added three wins September.

The D-Hacks struggled early and finished strong. They made the six-team league playoffs by finishing fifth. The D-Hacks defeated the league's 2nd place team in the first round of the playoffs but fell in the second round to the league's first-place team. The D-Hacks took an early lead in the second-round game but couldn't finish and were swamped by the eventual league champions. Relegated to the Consolation Round, the D-Hacks lost the third place series and finished fourth in the league.

Both teams were skippered by veteran manager Dick De Bacle. "Am I happy with 4th place?" De Bacle snorted. "Expletive no." "Next year both teams are moving up to tougher leagues. I want to see what these Choppers are made of."

In other team news, De Bacle's contract has been extended through the 2008 season.

ASU vs USC: Caliente como Infierno

Brother Paul, nephew Mike, and I went to the ASU vs. USC game yesterday and were treated an exellent match with the powerful, best-in-the-nation Trojans coming out ahead of 38-28 score.

ABC dictated that the game begin at 12:30 pm, which is fine, except that this is Arizona and this is early October and the weather is dry and warm, bordering upon hot. Temps were in the mid-90s and kick-off and rose throughout the day. There wasn’t a speck of shade in the stadium for the first half and there was none for the entire game where we sat, high in the north end zone’s upper deck. Players, coaches, and fans all roasted. It was hot, bright, and for the most part windless, and, since football is an all-weather outdoor sport, it was a beautiful day for a ball game.

The plucky Sun Devils had the heavily-favored Trojans down 21-3 at the half. The Trojans looked lethargic and the Sun Devils had a bounce in their step and mayhem in their eyes. An upset seemed within reach.

USC Coach Pete Carroll is, perhaps, the most ebulliant, bouyant, boyish major college coach in the land. He exudes a bonhomie that many of his taciturn colleagues, who receive far too much credit for victories and shoulder far too much blame for losses lack. Carroll came to USC from the NFL, where the uber-competitive and joyless world of strategy, tactics, and interchangeable, disposable gladiators wasn’t a good fit for his managerial style and demeanor.

Carroll inherited a USC program that hit bottom. Within a season he took the talent that had lain fallow and created a contender. The atmosphere around Trojan program became lighter, friendlier, more jocular, if you will. In a heartbeat, USC was the place to play if you were a West Coast 5-star stud.

What impressed me yesterday was the combination of strategy and tactical precision with which the Trojans played the 2nd half. The first play was an innocuous three-step drop and quick, precise throw to the sideline for a completion by Heisman winner Matt Lienart. Innocuous yes, but genius by design because it made the ASU defense pursue to the boundary. The first few plays repeated the tactic, misdirection and then a quick throw which made the ASU defense pursue to the boundary. USC scored in short order and then repeated the strategy and the result throughout the half. The ASU defense, which spent a majority of the day on the field on hot, sunny day eventually wore down. The many, many stars from USC took over, dominated the second half, and the Trojans banked their 26th consecutive victory.

Well done SC. Well done Sun Devils. The Sun Devils never gave up even when the better team, the tipped balls, andt he heat took a toll on their ability to compete. SC is breathtaking collection of athletes and coaches.

It was a pleasure to view the game in person.