JAMES EARL! Quit beating that poor girl!

[DOUGHBOYS]

I am not a hard man to please. Give me a bag of Doritos, a Dr. Pepper 10, notes on ball players, and a computer or tv and I'm a happy camper. Today, I was channel surfing and paused at a talk show.
Are they serious?
There were five people in a semi-circle facing the camera talking about if it was ok for Beyonce to lip-sync the National Anthem.
Really?
And I catch shit from my friends when I bring up fantasy baseball?
These five people are getting large amounts of money and being watched by millions of people. And they're talking about how a song was delivered.
Why is the sustainability of Mike Trout less trivial than a damn lip-syncing?
C'MON!

Listen....

Mann: Ray, people will come, Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway, not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. "Of course, we won't mind if you have a look around," you'll say. "It's only twenty dollars per person." They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it; for it is money they have and peace they lack.

Mark: Ray, just sign the papers.

Mann: And they'll walk out to the bleachers, and sit in shirt-sleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game, and it'll be as if they'd dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick, they'll have to brush them away from their faces.

Mark: Ray, when the bank opens in the morning, they'll foreclose.

Mann: People will come, Ray.

Mark: You're broke, Ray. You sell now or you lose everything.

Mann: The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again. Ohhhhhhhh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come.

Mark: Ray, you will lose everything. You will be evicted...C'mon, Ray.

Ray: I'm not signing.

I know it's not fair to have Beyonce compared to James Earl Jones.
Go ahead pick a voice.
Look Beyonce is cowering in a corner. James Earl Jones just pounded her vocal cords with his.
Beyonce not singing the National Anthem will pass as fast as Moonlight Graham helping a girl choking on a hot dog.
Rat's ass to the nonsense!

Baseball is a mere two months away. Two months from now I won't be channel surfing. I'll be watching a baseball game and I won't care who sings or doesn't sing the National Anthem.
It's not why we come.
We come to watch the game.
It's the one constant through the years.


Right now, they seem to be watching stupid talk shows with stupid people talking about stupid stuff.
But, in two months, there'll be something relevant.
They'll come through the doors, and pay money, and walk around the bleachers, and enjoy a shirt sleeve day outside.
It'll be baseball season.
A time where every team has a chance.
A time for watching Americana.
A time for hope.

[DOUGHBOYS]

Ok, so maybe our weather and time of year had a little to do with that rant.
Yes, I am tired of winter and sick of seeing snow.
Locally, we have had two days where our temperature got over freezing.
18 of 23 days below zero.
It may have prompted this rant. I don't know.
Or maybe it's the thought of grown up people concerned over whether a song is live or on Memorex (sorry young readers)

I may have to enter another draft.
Drafts do not make Spring arrive any sooner, but it sure helps the time go by during another godforsaken winter's day.
Thank you for listening.

[Navel Lint]

They'll come through the doors, and pay money, and walk around the bleachers, and enjoy a shirt sleeve day outside.
It'll be baseball season.
A time where every team has a chance.
A time for watching Americana.
A time for hope.

People sometimes ask me, how can be I a Cubs fan?

How can I pay money to see a team that never wins?

I've been this way my whole life and it's not easy to put into words............but your words above come real close

[DOUGHBOYS]

Moody today and missing the sights and sounds...

They'll come through the doors, and pay money, and walk around the bleachers, and enjoy a shirt sleeve day outside.
It'll be baseball season.
A time where every team has a chance.
A time for watching Americana.
A time for hope.

They'll be able to hear the crack of a bat. Like an old friend they haven't seen in six months.
They'll be able to sit back and let the sun drench them.
The smell of hot dogs wafting through the air.
Not just hot dogs.
Stadium hot dogs. They don't make 'em like that any where else.
Only here at the ball park.

And while a fellow walking past screaming, 'Beer Here!!' may seem like a nuisance to most.
Here, it is part of the scenery.
A part of a mural.
A moment in time.
And to stop him and say, 'yeah, one here' is sublime.

By the time we've reached our seat, we've already got our money's worth.
Other folks don't know that.
Or even understand that.
If the home team wins, all the better.
We should walk into a ball park as we would a church.
It IS a cathedral.
Most, just don't know it.
But, for the few that hold baseball near and dear, we know.
We know that there is nothing like it. What takes place on the field could be secondary.
A warm hot dog in one hand. A cold beer in the other.
A child half wearing or half eating a sundae.
Surrounded by our kind. Baseball fans.
THAT is what I miss right now.
And in two months....It'll be there.
And I'll do my own form of praying in that cathedral.

[Edwards Kings]

I'll be watching a baseball game and I won't care who sings or doesn't sing the National Anthem.

Great as always and I am with you 99% but are you sure about not caring who sings the National Anthem?

[Captain Hook]

Wayne - Thanks (NOT) for sticking that image in our heads

Dan - what is really stupifying is that all these clowns - the ones on your tv screen and the ones all over the internet - are foaming about Beyonce lip-synching .....she was not lip-synching, she was singing over a previously recorded track ..... big difference

And yes we all need some baseball - fortunately there is an app for that - it's called a draft and hopefully we get up soon

[Edwards Kings]

My bad, Perry. Take two 2009 La Jota Howell Mountain Merlots' and call me in the morning.