on the Great American Pastime vs. the Making America Great Pastime
Everything that is good about America has been on display in recent days.
Cheering. Celebration. The joyful outcry of supporters and the respectful acknowledgment, even best wishes, of the opposition.
The celebrating of a battle hard fought but deservedly, and graciously, won by one side. Not to mention deservedly, and graciously, accepted, even applauded, by the other.
Two foes who showed skill and commitment and passion and enthusiasm in their quest, but, even more importantly, style and sportsmanship…and class. Heroes one and all.
But, also on display, some of America’s unspoken heroes. The supporters of both sides who unwaveringly showed commitment and loyalty and devotion and cheered and supported their side with passion and energy but, even more importantly, with style and sportsmanship…and class.
Because in America, that’s what we do. We support and endorse with commitment and loyalty and devotion and we cheer our favorites with passion and energy but, even more importantly, with style and sportsmanship…and class.
And when our side is victorious, we celebrate passionately but respectfully, boisterously but graciously. Joyfully but compassionately.
And when our side is not victorious, we commiserate but we congratulate, we share disappointment but we don’t denigrate. we express our pride in our side but we show each other, and the world, that America is a nation of style and sportsmanship and class.
In the great American pastime, there is competition and camaraderie, there is heated interaction but there is no hatred, there is astounding power at work but no abuse of power allowed.
Americans fill seats in stadiums all over the nation eight months out of every year and inspire their team by standing by them and up for them, cheering them on and building them up.
Not by putting the other team down, or slandering them, or reviling them, or threatening them, or outwardly, outrageously, even viciously hating them.
Everything that is good about America was on display in recent days….in Chicago…. and in Cleveland….not only as the competition came to a dramatic conclusion, but all through the process of reaching that conclusion, every moment of every day that two foes battled to be named champion,
And when the outcome was determined, when the victory was a done deal, the victorious lit up the night with the light of celebration and accomplishment and pride.
And the opposition paid their respects with congratulations and courtesy and an inner determination to avoid wasting time and talent on bitterness and bile and get about the business of being just a little better next time.
There were no fistfights in the parking lot. There were no T shirts with foul, reprehensible words on them. There were no threats of lawsuits. There were no veiled threats or hints implying it would be okay to assassinate the other team’s catcher or pitcher. No manager had to be rushed out of the dugout by the Secret Service because of a commotion between rival fans down the first base line. There were no late night outbursts on social media about this player’s cheating wife or that player’s fat girlfriend with blood coming out of her ears or her…whatever. There were no threats of violence or revenge or even profanity soaked promises of retribution in the form of jail sentences for the victorious, because they most certainly had to have cheated to win. They couldn’t possibly have simply been the better team. This whole lousy, stinking, effing campaign, all 162 plus 7 games was B.S.….cause, come on, wake up, everybody knows that the whole effing system is…rigged. We need to reject this outcome. Those bastards need to pay for their sins. We need to lock them up….lock them up….
Everything that is good about America has been on display in recent days.
Four days ago, in particular.
Two days from now? Not so much.
Maybe it’s time to think about moving the polling places out of the gymnasiums and the cafeterias.
And setting them up just behind home plate.
on drawing a line starting right after standing in line
In 33 hours, the polls will open. In 47 hours, the polls will close. And, soon after, hopefully, but, in a worst case scenario, at least by the time you wake up with Dan and Kelli at 5:30 Wednesday morning, America will have a new President-elect.
Traditionally, radio and TV news shows wrap up pre-election programs with some predictable offering of “ the American people will have spoken” and “a new day will dawn”… “ a new chapter begins” or, even, in the most hopefully patriotic versions, something along the lines of “and we’ll all put the battling and bickering behind us as we come together as a nation and get behind the will of the majority.”
Yeah. Those were the good old days, huh. The key word, there, by the way, was “traditionally” :Because I don’t think anybody listening to me right now thinks for a second that there’s the slightest chance that this nation is going to be coming together anytime soon. Because there has been absolutely nothing about this election year that has been traditional.
And while it’s not for me to say how you should or will feel about it, I’d be willing to put pretty good money down that if we all agree on nothing else we can agree on one thing. There’s not a whole lot to be proud of this time around.
I said at the beginning of the show tonight that the “battle” between Chicago and Cleveland on the baseball diamond this past week brought out the very best in what America is capable of.
The “battle” between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton has done exactly the opposite.
Agreeable disagreement? Uh, have you even READ your Facebook page today?
Passionate but fair debate on the issues we face as a nation? Issues? Really? What is this “Issues” of which you speak?
Finding common ground? You’ll have an easier time finding a parking space at Toys R Us for the rest of the year.
I read an article this morning about another controversial news making issue in which the author offered up this little Hallmark card-ism.
“we need to remember there’s a fine line between polite disagreement and unbridled rage”.
And that, right there, shines a light on the problem with all of this. THAT line, between polite disagreement and unbridled rage, shouldn’t be fine at all. It should be a mile deep and at least as tall as a Mexico wall.
But it’s not. It’s almost invisible now.
No matter what the subject up for discussion is. Whether it’s about emails or locker room talk, whether it’s about what that fine line author was writing about, the country music fans ready to storm the village with torches lit because Beyonce and the Dixie Chicks showed up and sang on the hallowed CMA stage,
Or whether it’s just down home, back yard every day Delamarva stuff like one candidate’s helpers stealing campaign signs out of yards…or where and when and how the punkins should be sent a chunkin’, there’s no longer a line between polite disagreement and unbridled rage.
And if you think I’m exaggerating…. Just log on to your Facebook page and start scrolling and reading. Or your Instagram page. Or your Twitter account….. Or just listen to a couple of hours of talk radio. Especially starting a few seconds after the election is called for whoever it gets called for.
In 33 hours, the polls will open. In 47 hours, the polls will close. And, whatever the outcome, every single American…all of us…we, the people, could FINALLY find something about this gnarly mess of an election year to take pride in…..
IF… after standing in the line to cast our vote, we walked out of that polling place determined to help widen and deepen that other line….the one between polite disagreement…and unbridled rage….
join the conversation
Sunday nights at 7
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