October 2008

The Phillies and the the Rays for all the marbles. Hands up, those who saw this one coming..

Funny, but when I think of the Philadelphia Phillies, I think more of the 1980 version than the one that crumbled to the Blue Jays in 1993. There was something kind of cool about Tug McGraw, Steve Carlton, Mike Schmidt and Pete Rose but also something kind of common and dirty.

That era of Philadelphia sports seemed to optimize the grungy nature that seems to exude from their sports teams - no Philly team has ever been accused of “too much finesse”.

I suppose that really fits a city with a strong - notoriously obnoxious - working class.

They say about New York City: If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. I would amend that slightly for Philadelphia: If you can make it there, you obviously have excellent survival skils.

And, just so everyone thinks I hate Philadelphia - I don’t, more accurately the town scares the crap out of me - the city has produced the best in at least one category: mascots. While there are other pretend chickens and crabs and songbirds the Philly Phanatic is tres bien, occupying lofty space in the highest echelon of dressed-up creatures. The Phanatic has that slight evil nature and the obligatory potty humor that makes the concept of mascots (theoretically ) bearable.

I didn’t intend today to be the longest driving day but a number of factors led to that (none of them important enough to explain here). At the end of the last U.S. day of this trip I’m in a place called Meadville Pennsylvania, which is just south of Erie.

Today was the most surreal and interesting day of the whole trip - at least the driving part of it.

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It’s probably more due to the very nature of the United States, where lots is always happening , but everywhere I go I’m two steps from a major event.

My first Saturday in Austin I sidestepped the Texas vs. Oklahoma blockbuster (Texas is in serious contention for the national title) then I’m in Tampa area for the historic first game of the American League championship series. Yesterday I’m driving through Gainesville about five hours prior to their Gators taking on SEC rival LSU (I must have passed three hundred cars with Gator memorabilia displayed).

Last night I end up in Rock Hill, South Carolina which is but a stone’s throw south of Charlotte, North Carolina and, wouldn’t you know it, NASCAR ran their race there last, of all places in big ol’ U S of A they could have been at this point

Add to that the fact that both VP candidates passed through the Bay area while I was there and I’m starting to wonder if there something bigger happening here. Then again maybe not. I’m used to near misses.

Attribute it to a simple case of not being able to miss what you’ve never had but it’s amazing that how one of the most basic of all human rights - and it is a right - is constantly passed over in basic American doctrine. That being the concept of adequate healthcare for all of its citizens.

It’s incomprehensible, and frankly disgusting, that a nation which proclaims itself to be such a shining example of all that’s right in this world cannot even provide the most basic care to a large portion of its own people. And that would simply be because the American ideology, as it relates to health care at least, is just wrong.

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The road trip continues and for the three people that have been following this religiously it might be time to think about another religion.

Truthfully there hasn’t been a lot to write about. Yeah you have two national elections taking place; the hockey season’s starting and the baseball playoffs are in full swing and I’m not diligent about keeping people updated? Blame it on the heat I guess.

Today’s subject is the sanctity (sanity?) of marriage.

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Every aspect of life is ruled by a sense of balance. While you would like every day to be super fantastic, you will face times when you wonder openly about why you even bothered to get up. You hope for great times but you learn to expect something a little more realistic and, shall we say, reasonable. You simply can’t have everything.

The Chicago Cubs would aptly qualify as not being able to have everything. While all the other perennial sports team “losers” have found ways to their respective Promised Lands, the Cubs appear to be forever destined to the role of lovable losers.

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So I got out of Austin at (for me) and ungodly 8 am. Headed east along Interstate 10 (an Eisenhower 5 Star no less) and headed through Houston, then Louisiana, then Mississippi, finally stopping for the night in a small - but nice - place called Moss Point, Mississippi.

Louisiana is very impressive, pretty much from the point you enter it (again, that sounds dirty). Keep in mind east Texas is pretty parched this time of year but western Louisiana is pretty well as green as it should be. Must be the low-lying landscape.

The most beautiful part is the stretch between Lafayette and Baton Rouge where you ride, what must be a five mile (or more) bridge that glides elegantly over the bayou (see the pic above). Part of what gets to you is utter beauty of the area but what also amazes you (me, at least) is how much work would have gone into getting this done and how many backs were broken so that people like me can be astonished by the work ethic of one of the previous two generations.

If this trip wasn’t so budgeted by both time and money I would have stopped and stayed in Gulfport Mississippi. The place was kind of screaming to me but I knew if I stopped, I’d stay and overspend and indulge in every way I can think of. Gulfport, you and have a date at a later date.

Musical note (no pun intended): On the way to Austin I had an epiphany about what kind of music works best on a road trip. The answer, at least heading to a music festival, seemed to be old rock. So many times the random MP3s pulled out were 60s and 70s hits galore, making me like Abby Hoffman was riding shotgun (as a notably stoned navigator). The music just fit the bill. Interestingly I’ve been playing more contemporary stuff on the second leg of the journey which also seems to fit. Not really sure why that is.

Tomorrow I see Mobile, Alabama and Tallahasse, Florida. Hope I’m dressed nicely..

Well today was a work day. Spent most of the time in the hotel, although I did get out a couple of times.

Checked out a used bookstore. Got the jeep washed (damn midnight birds) and got a chance to see Whole Foods for the first time. Cool place. Great stuff. A little pretentious though. Still I can’t think of another store I’d like to be locked in afterhours (although I guess any music store would qualify but you I think you get the reference).

Heading east tomorrow, through Houston. Hoping these gas shortages I’m hearing about in the southeast don’t affect me (the Jeep’s damn tough to push).

So Paul Godfrey is finally resigning as President of the Toronto Blue Jays. Anyone who’s watched this team over the last eight years knows Godfrey’s been about as effective as all the Toronto Maple Leafs GMs put together (which isn’t saying much).

Godfrey always felt he was something of an innovator (you’re no Paul Beeston, Mr. Godfrey) but he was little more than an accountant with really bad perma-stubble.

And yes he is the architect of the John Gibbons debacle and the J.P. (I’m no Theo Epstein) Ricciardi long-running experiment. Bottom line, Godfrey has brought nothing to the organization except the ability to present onions as apples.

Thank the Tampa Rays for toppling this tenuous empire. For too long, Toronto management - and many of their fans - always used the lame excuse that “if we weren’t in the same division as the Yankees and the Red Sox we’d be right in the playoff hunt every year.” Well I have news for all of you with this laughable excuse: You ARE in the AL East and, to earn a playoff spot, you do have to beat at least one of these two juggernauts to qualify.

And guess what? The Tampa Bay Rays are also in the AL East, and you know what? They beat all four of the other teams in the AL East (that would include both the Yankees and the Red Sox for those who are counting) and claimed the division title. And good for them.

So Jays’ management, time for a new excuse..