#776 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Thursday October 19)
Good morning,
LOOKING BACK IN TIME
The other day, I viewed an exhibit of photography through the 20th century. There were photos of the great and the prosaic, of landmarks and nondescript buildings. Many of the iconic sports figures, entertainers, and world leaders were on display.
I turned one corner and there as Charlie Chaplin, early in the 20th century, before the peak of his fame, staring out at me. I turned another corner and there was a young Katherine Hepburn, lying on the grass, shielding her eyes from the sun. There were many others of these portraits of people now long gone, in their youth with their lives in front of them. They look so innocent and unaffected. It served as a reminder that we move from child to wide-eyed young firebrands to adults and parents really in the blink of an eye.
While it wasn’t in the collection, I thought of the photos of John F. Kennedy on the morning of November 22, 1963, early in the motorcade, right before then-governor Connally turned to him to comment about how all the Texans loved him. Similarly, there are the photos from the early weather reports on that clear sunny September 11, the World Trade Center towers in the foreground. And I thought how history is so unpredictable, both in its wonder and in its cruelty. Here, frozen in time, forever waving from his car, was the young president, full of vim, vigor and life.
I’m not exactly sure where I’m headed here, except to acknowledge that life is a wonder. That we are alive is the result of a series of accidents—our parents meeting, one sperm swimming a little faster than his pals, the very complications of the human body that work in tandem to keep us functioning for our brief time on this earth. We will be gone soon enough and our remains will continue on this rock’s journey throughout the emptiness of space for an eternity (well, until the sun gobbles up the earth some four billion years hence).
I suppose I’m really saying that we are a miracle. Our time is short. And the future is unknown. We should live our lives to the fullest, deposit bits of ourselves in the hearts of others, and leave the world behind us a tiny bit better for having had us here.
THEY PLAY THE GAMES FOR A REASON
The Dodgers are out of the playoffs, but so are the Braves and Orioles. Of the #1 and #2 seeds in the playoffs, only the Houston Astros survived (and now they’re struggling…). The others are the #4, #5 and #6 teams in their leagues. The five winningest teams in the major leagues are out of the playoffs.
This should not be surprising. Baseball is a game of streaks and series. Even the best teams will go into a slump. Part of the beauty of baseball is the length of the season, which tends to ferret out the poseurs and leave us with definitive victors after months of competition. It is also great in that the outcome of any single game is not nearly as predictable as an NFL game. It is somewhat sad to see that the very thing that makes baseball what it is—a game of inches, breaks, streaks, and slumps—also results in some great teams sitting out the rest of the playoffs.
In the “old days,” the two best teams played 162 games and then met in the World Series. Even when the major leagues were expanded to four divisions, those four had survived a season-long campaign and finished as champions of their respective divisions.
In an effort to keep the interest of fans of teams that were “out of it” during the dog days of the summer, baseball kept increasing the playoffs to include “wild card” teams. This made sense when baseball expanded to three divisions in each league. In order to make for a playoff, the best second place team (generally in the most competitive division) was the Wild Card team. You still had four teams in each league that battled out an entire season and earned the right to vie for the championship. They competed in a “Division Series,” with the winners meeting in the “League Championship series.” Those winners would meet in the World Series to determine the “World Champion.”
Now it’s gotten out of hand, with three wild card teams and a long slog with enough dead time to put out the fire of even the hottest team on a roll. With so many people in the year-end tournament, we increasingly are going to see good teams—but perhaps not great teams—rising to the top. It seems a bit unfair to work all season only to have a ticket to a tournament, rather than having the “true champions” have a reasonable path to the World Series.
JIM JORDAN
Yes, yes, I know. I need an editor. My reference to Jim Johnson on Tuesday should have been to Jim Jordan, the Republican nominee for Speaker.
Have a great day,
Glenn