Wednesday, October 28, 2009

All the National Pastimes

At the opening of the World Series tonight, there will be a moment of convergence for American culture's defining elements--politics, war and baseball--as Michelle Obama and Jill Biden stand next to a wounded veteran making the ceremonial first pitch.

Tony Odierno, who lost his left arm in Iraq five years ago when a grenade smashed his Humvee, now works for the New York Yankees. His father, Gen. Raymond Odierno, is the Commanding General of the Multi-National Force in Iraq.

From the perspective of an octogenarian, there is a flood of emotions at the prospect of seeing the nation's first African-American presidential wife at the center of a field filled with mostly black or Latino players who, in his childhood, were not allowed in the major leagues.

Back then, baseball, war and politics at the highest levels were for WASPs only with the rest of us relegated to watch from the stands or work in the trenches.

Now we are all out on those fields of dreams, but how well are we playing the games?

3 comments:

Holte Ender said...

I don't know about the rest of us, but you're playing a pretty good game. If you're a fan, enjoy the World Series.

Fuzzy Slippers said...

Wonderful post. I, too, am proud that we have a black president (I just wish he were conservative ;)).

Jerome Doolittle said...

A pleasure to come across a blogger even older than I am (76).Back to the subject, however, the new crowd can't do a worse job than ours, but it probably won't do much better, either. Unfortunately, we're all only humans.