Montreal Pre-Season Baseball Games

Coupla years ago, I wrote about the wonderful Cincinnati Reds when they chose to venture up North of the border to engage in a friendly match between the Blue Jays inside of Montreal's Olympic Stadium. As a Montreal baseball fan who's currently without a team I appreciate greatly when teams choose to do this, I must say.

For the Reds one See: Here: (https://writingsonsubjects.blogspot.com/2014/09/montreal-baseball-project-marches-on.html)

In that article, I remembered the great man Barry Larkin, the great man Chris Sabo, the great dog Spuds McKenzie, and this and that. I love remembering shit, man it's fun...

 Remembering is nice.

I guess I should now remember the Pittsburgh Pirates teams I grew up watching as a child unit.

I remember Sid Bream's face like it yesterday, I remember Jose Lind turning double plays as if it happened yesterday, and I remember Doug Drabek striking guys out like it was yesterday just the same.

But....

... Is there a time where the past just doesn't even fucking matter anymore? Maybe I should stop thinking about the past. Yes, I am wicked excited to see the legend Al "Scoop" Oliver, star of both the Pirates and of the Expos, who will be there in Montreal at the end of March and yes the past is amazing and great ...

... but sometimes the future is fun to think about too.

Maybe this Pittsburgh Pirates article shouldn't be about Jose Lind, Sid Bream, and pre-steroids Barry Bonds which my memory R-E-M-B-E-M-B-E-Rs greatly ... but maybe I should join the current test of the times and think about shit that is going on right about a time called ... Right About Now.

This following Pittsburgh article shall focus on two current Pirates instead of Pirates from the eighties. Because, Hey, it's not 1989 ... it's like 2017 right now,

Alright let's go:


Pirates I wanna SEE

One of the human persons I paid tickets for to see in live human flesh to play in the Montreal exhibition game is a man who I saw in the WBC LIGHT IT UP ... the great 5 tool man ... Andrew McCutchen.

This guy reminds me of Dawson but with walks. He's fast, can hit, can do it all, and has an eye too. He's legit a five tool player ... in the WBC he was exceptional, a true and utter Star in every sense of the word.

Now he has short hair, last time I visited Pittsburgh many years ago when he was younger Cutch had wild dreads.  Either way you slice it, or any way his hair is, this man is a 5-Tool All Star in every sense of the word.

I think if he keeps going on the path he's going that Cutch will get into the Hall of Fame, man. I think so.


The Other PIRATE I PAID MONEY TO SEE 


Yo, like seriously, and humanly honestly, I bought tickets to see these games because I want to see Raines (my childhood idol) give a speech, to see Andrew McCutchen ... but also ...

I bought tickets to see the Korean superstar Jung Ho Kang! He's basically one of the first true superstars from Korea (and maybe even the best so far) to become a MLB super star ... and YES, one of the reasons I bought tickets to these games was to see Korea's super star in the live and in the flesh!

So why is he being detained and not allowed into North A fucking Merica for!?

See: (https://sports.yahoo.com/news/report-jung-ho-kang-denied-u-s-visa-may-not-play-for-pirates-in-2017-161103692.html)

I've seen athletes do the most insane of things and not be deported ... what da tong dung fuk did Jung Ho Kang ever do to anyone?

Come on now, this immigration shit is getting so silly. There's no way that Pirates superstar Jung Ho Kang is a threat to Pittsburgh society. That's absolutely ludicrous. Get real.

Humans get borned on somewhere, they didn't choose where the heck their idiot parents had sex at ... like in a car in Spain or an airplane in the air in like French Indo China or whatever ... and then those love-sex-babies they got birthed and became human adult-verbs basically, doing what they do, what the fuck they feel like doing. I was born in Canada but I could care less, you know? It's not like as a non-existant pre-baby I asked my jabroni parents to do sex and shit and make me in the geographic location they currently resided at, you know? Your dumb parents have sex and make you alive ... and then you are forever beholden to their physiognomies, backgrounds, genes, hopes, dreams, and shit.

There is not ONE historic example of a baby whilst in mothers-womb putting a quarter in the umbilical-telephone and calling up their parents and saying ... "Yes, hello? Future parents? It's me your slimy baby calling you to tell you when and on what geographical longitude/latitude I would like to be born on ... so yeah, get on that please. K thanks, bye."  That has never happened in history because it is genuinely IMPOSSIBLE (though I've seen something quite similar in the film "Petey Wheatstraw: The Devil's Son in Law" but that was but mere fiction.)

Humans are just human .... they just wanna do the do.... if this guy, Jung Ho Kang (강정호) , wants to play baseball for the Pirates then just let him. If he wants to be a Major League Super Star then just let him do it ... he probably trained big time to do that, you know? Why because he was born somewhere but now wants to make a living somewhere else does that make a person evil or something?

I don't think so.


Conclusion 

I bought tickets to those Pirates games for many reasons, to support the fan attendance number to make Montreal look good for expansion, to re-live past moments in that building, to see Stroman who did good in the WBC, to see Cutch who did good in the WBC ... but also to see Jung Ho Kang.

They should be good again this year ... they have 40K+ sold for each game already.

World. Baseball. Classic.

Yeah!

The United States of America has just been crowned for the first time ever .... the winner of the World Baseball Classic. I have previously written one time on the subject,


See here: Why The Americans don't Win the World Baseball Classic (Feb. of 2013)


In that one, we looked at what I believed were factors at play as to why the United States of America, the supposed King of Baseball, doesn't beat teams like Japan and the Dominican in this Olympic style tournament. It talked about homeruns, and of Terry Crowley I think at one point, and a comedic interlude involving the great Earl Weaver was in there if memory serves me right.

It looks like that 2013 article can finally be laid to rest now that the USA has been crowned the champion of this illustrious tournament.

This tournament has it all, it's Worldly, it's Baseball, and it's CLASSIC. I don't know what more anyone can ask for. The Worldhood of Baseball is inherently Classic and over the last few weeks it was on full display for all to see. Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Dock Ellis once referred to Baseball as a Country .... insinuating that Baseball was in and of its own self ... a Nation.

After this tournament ... I have come to agree with the great sage Dock Ellis (rest his soul), after seeing so many regions and physiognomies united under the flagship of Baseball and how beautiful it was ... I have no choice but to agree with Dock Ellis on this matter. On display was the dynamic flair of Puerto Rico, the consummate efficiency and attention to detail of Japan, the talent powerhouse which is the Dominican Republic, The diaspora teams who may be American now but who gladly suited up for their parents or grandparents homelands, the determination and reliability of Canada and Mexico (USA's most trusted allies), the heart and soul of Venezuela  ... and last but certainly not least the birth land of baseball itself ... The United States of America.

When the dust of this gentlemanly tournament settled we saw for the very first time ever ... the land where Baseball was first born .... was once again crowned as the Champions of it.

.....and it probably couldn't have come at a better time.


Deep Divisions

I've been reading Broadcast Icon Dan Rather's poignant essays he posts to social media of late and I think he has his finger on the pulse of the current deep, almost historic, partisan divisions in America's political landscape of today. In a recent one he described the political climate of the times as,


 
"...consumed by the churning political hurricane that is America today. The deepening divisions that are pulling at the fabric of our nation are on raw display. This is my country that I love with all my heart. We are a weakened nation, in our own estimation, and that of the world. If this was happening in some distant land, we would shake our heads and thank our lucky stars that we are Americans. But this nightmare is happening here, and we have no choice but to confront that disorientating truth."

-Dan Rather, March 4th of 2017


The political bickering, the slander, the fighting, the trickery, the slings and arrows being volleyed to-and-fro ... has this really become depressing to the point where the very fabric of it is on the verge of tearing? Reading the papers, yes, that seems to be the case .... but ... Americans should remember something in times such as these .... and that's .... that there's another side to this coin. Yes, America is the land of Freedom and of Law .... and yes, we know its political stability and Laws are sacrosanct to itself and its function ... but .... America isn't just a political sphere .... there's another side to the coin which embodies America ....

What's on the other side of that Coin, you ask?

When you walk down the road and see children playing and laughing .... That's on the other side of the coin.

When you continue down that same road and your foot gets stuck in a crack and you tumble down to your knees .... yet, .... there's an arm and a hand immediately outstretched to help you back to your feet .... that's on the other side of the coin.

It's that local pizza store you stop at every friday night to buy-a a slice-a of the pizza pie!

Its that park right by where you live, that every time you enter foot in it and look around, you have to stop and wonder for a second if this is a Norman Rockwell painting which has come to living breathing life or if it truly is a real park that exists in total reality, who's sights and sounds are so real they hurt. A reality that echoes in your heart and the powerful truth that dawns on you that you exist in this real life painting who's beauty is captivating .... that's on the other side of this coin too!

It's the feeling, the feeling at this park, when you step onto the field and look at the sun and say "WOW" .... that's there too.

You know what else is on the other side of this coin? The coin that represents America? Well, there's first base ... then there's second base .... oh, then there's this thing I like to call third base .... and then we all know what comes next don't we ...

..... IT'S CROSSING HOME PLATE AND SCORING THE WINNING RUN IN THE BOTTOM OF THE NINTH TO WIN GAME SEVEN OF THE WORLD SERIES!!!!

That's right America, Baseball is on the other side of this coin. It's been there the whole entire time.

America's not just about some sly fox up on capitol hill greasing some pocket or wheelin' some deal! America is not just about some tycoon up on the beltway buying off some other tycoon! No, you rightly must understand that it's not! It's not just about some salesman trying to sell you some crap or other! It's more than just about the richest man in town trying his darndest to fleece the second richest man in town through some hoodwinkin' carpetbaggery! It's not only about some official up on stupid idiot street trying to line up his next scam! NO! That's only half of the coin named America ....

... the other half of America is the part that you look at and say "WOW! YES! I'm proud of this!" and even in these trying and turbulent times of political uncertainty up there in the Land of Politicians ...

... there's still powerful and inspiring moments of glory to be found in another land ... the Land of Baseball.

Now whaddya say America!? CAN YOU GET DOWN WITH YOUR OWN BAD SELVES!!?!?!??

Yeah!


(Congratulations as well to Puerto Rico for taking home the Silver Medal. Puerto Rico and all the Boricua should also, yes indeed, get down with their own bad selves. Wepa!)