Nice writeup about Mexican wrestling by the NYT, backgrounding Nacho Libre, which will soon rest by Anchorman and Zoolander in my DVD collection. No, this is not what Ed is doing while "studying to be a priest in Rome."---
My dad is one of the nicest people I know. Correction. My dad *IS* the nicest person I know, and not the kind of nice that's annoying and grating, but the kind that really makes you feel great for having talked to him. It's really genuine and heartfelt. And it occurred to me that he does and says these little things that make people feel great.
For example, he was emailing with the mother of our two boarders that stay with us on the weekends during the school year. She and her husband are very grateful to our family for taking care of their kids while they are in Korea, and my parents are good about keeping them up to date about what's going on at school, etc. Apparently, in the course of email correspondence, my dad signed off by using the Korean word for "sister-in-law" to refer to the boys' mother, and that moved her to tears. In a phone call to my mom, she explained that it touched her that my parents would view them as truly a part of family, especially since they are already brimming over with gratitude at how my parents lovingly treat their sons. Anyway. I never give my dad enough credit for doing things like that, making people feel welcome and comfortable and loved.
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My baseball team sucks. Too many mental errors, which is showing up in defensive lapses and lack of execution on offense. We're playing like the 2004 White Sox, with lots of homers, ok pitching, and shoddy D (Jose Valentin, may you die the death of a 1000 groundballs hitting you in the chest).
- Brandon McCarthy is being ruined in the bullpen. Can't really blame this on anybody when you can't crack the best starting rotation in the majors, but he's not handling the irregular workload as a reliever very well. There really isn't anything to do except wait for him to get better. It mainly means that his changeup has lost effectiveness, which just happened to be the cookie he threw to Ronnie Belliard (4-time All-Fat Team selection) last night.
- Rob Mackowiak is a crappy centerfielder. I've seen more line drives get into the gaps this past week since he took over for BA then ever. I think it's best to shore up the defense to support the not-so-Cy-Young pitching, get back to playing the run prevention game that this team was supposed to be built on. I understand that Anderson's robust .164 is ugly, but the defense has been airtight. I don't get where the "I don't care what he hits, long as he catches everything" mentality of a few weeks ago disappeared to. If he's not getting sent to the minors, then he needs to play close to everyday, for his own development and for the sake of a suddenly flyball-happy staff.
- On the other hand, Juan Uribe needs to sit his ass down. Anderson at least has the excuse of being a rookie, but an established veteran hitting .208? He's got the worst approach at the plate I've ever seen, right now, like a colorblind, attention-defecit turnstile. And his defense has been showing some cracks, too, particularly the boned grounder during the Cubs series. I'm all for Alex Cintron getting some more ABs.
- What's happened to execution? Bunting guys over, advancing runners, sacrifice flies? Everyone is seriously homer happy. Once you get past Dye in the 5 spot, pitchers get to cruise for 4 outs.
And, the Sox still have the second best record in the AL, just 2.5 back of the D's, so no one feels particularly sorry.
By the way, the Royals are becoming the Jake Plummers of fantasy sports. To wit: I used to pick up the defense that Jake Plummer was playing that week because I knew it was a guaranteed 2 INTs, a few fumbles, and a chance for a defensive score. Now, when my fantasy baseball team needs some pitching help, I just check the schedule to see who the Royals are facing.
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June already. And still no work. Should be an interesting three months until September. I could be in another state (WA), another country (KOR), completely penniless (loans), cut off from everyone, or working outside of teaching (youth ministry). I really honestly thought that this sort of up for grabs spontaneity ended by the time you're 30. If uncertainty builds character, then I've got enough to squeeze out 5 lb blocks of it every morning.
But strangely enough, I'm still pretty happy.
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"We cannot peer into God’s mysterious plan – we see only piecemeal, and we would be wrong to set ourselves up as judges of God and history. Then we would not be defending man, but only contributing to his downfall. No – when all is said and done, we must continue to cry out humbly yet insistently to God: Rouse yourself! Do not forget mankind, your creature! And our cry to God must also be a cry that pierces our very heart, a cry that awakens within us God’s hidden presence – so that his power, the power he has planted in our hearts, will not be buried or choked within us by the mire of selfishness, pusillanimity, indifference or opportunism.
Let us cry out to God, with all our hearts, at the present hour, when new misfortunes befall us, when all the forces of darkness seem to issue anew from human hearts: whether it is the abuse of God’s name as a means of justifying senseless violence against innocent persons, or the cynicism which refuses to acknowledge God and ridicules faith in him.
...The God in whom we believe is a God of reason - a reason, to be sure, which is not a kind of cold mathematics of the universe, but is one with love and with goodness. We make our prayer to God and we appeal to humanity, that this reason, the logic of love and the recognition of the power of reconciliation and peace, may prevail over the threats arising from irrationalism or from a spurious and godless reason."
Pope Benedict XVI, 5/25/06 at Auschwitz
