Just Saying, Is All… | The Untold Story of the 2009 World Series
October 29, 2009 · Ryan Alberti · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
Old glory never dies—it just repeats itself into oblivion.
The World Series isn’t what it was. It’s also, thankfully, still what it is. As America limps its way out of the Great Recession, there’s reason to doubt whether We the People will ever regain our position of global preeminence—which would be worse news if we couldn’t at least find peace in the praxis of our national pastime.
Habit is what you do without thought.
Ritual, on the other hand, is what you do to stop thinking.
I’m not trying to oversell the Series. Nielsen ratings don’t tell lies, and we’re all too old to pretend that Game One was as relevant on Wednesday as it was 50 years ago. But there’s a fine line between maturity and cynicism. In a world where tomorrow is less a promise than a threat, the savviest veteran knows well enough to enjoy today before it’s gone.
Permanent ignorance is bliss.
Temporary ignorance is a blessing.
If you need an excuse to tune into Game Two, let it be that there’s so much else you want to tune out before Game Three.
Baseball fans are notorious for living in the past. Bill Mazeroski, Kirk Gibson, Joe Carter—we remember World Series icons with obsessive clarity, as if they were forever rounding the bases in triumph. The truth, of course, is that heroic champions are no less perishable than hegemonic civilizations. Realists will dismiss our nostalgia as a form of escapism. I’d counter that escape is the only realistic option when you have nowhere to go but down.
It’s good to dominate the stage.
It’s better to appreciate the performance.
We Yankees may never again swing the Big Stick like we did in our prime, but that shouldn’t stop us from speaking loudly about our favorite New York sluggers .
Tradition is the best remedy for the pain of decline. Even our children can show us how to celebrate victory; only our ancestors can teach us how to survive defeat. The untold story of the 2009 World Series is that our games continue to matter, if for no other reason than that we continue to play them. Every waning superpower is haunted by the specter of history’s last out. The one with a robust sporting culture can at least look forward to the spectacle of tonight’s first pitch.
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Ezra never got burned by a subprime mortgage, but he did know a thing or two about the tenuousness of sacred houses :
And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.
Which is a fitting introduction to this year’s Fall Classic.
Because some collapses preclude the possibility of rebuilding, and those whose fate it is to live amidst the ruins face a choice between mourning in vain or only just saying, is all…
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