User-agent: * Allow: / Lymphoma, Family, Food, and Diabetes: Baseball, Baseball, Baseball…

Monday, July 5, 2010

Baseball, Baseball, Baseball…

I’ve been feeling pretty well although I still have a bit of a cough. But I felt well enough to take in some baseball games this weekend. We went to the Twins game on Saturday and that went well for 7 innings. The Rays scored 7 in the top of the eighth with the help of a pinch hit grand slam home run and went on to win 8-6. Bart Giamatti wrote that baseball breaks your heart and it was designed to break your heart. The game lived up to that.

We also went to the St. Paul Saints game on Sunday and they won 9-0. We were given tickets and sat on the warning track, yes, the warning track, in front of the wall. The area was “protected” by orange snow fencing and any ball hit in our area (not over the wall) would be ruled a ground rule double. We sat in the power alley and someone hit a home run, over our heads and the wall. We did not stay for the fireworks after the game.

I was thinking about Giamatti with the recent headlines during Elena Kagan’s confirmation about Chief Justice John Roberts' metaphor that a judge is like a baseball umpire who calls balls and strikes (balls and strikes was a really poor choice for this metaphor). Giamatti saw baseball as a metaphor for life in general (he probably would have chosen the infield fly rule for the metaphor). Where would Giamatti find a metaphor for cancer in baseball?

Who cares? I prefer to watch the game for the conversation. Maybe that’s the connection to cancer; the emerging patterns, connecting the dots, the creation of a story. Something happens on the field; we see it and wonder what might come next. Then another thing happens and the story gets another chapter. Then it becomes history. That’s the beauty of baseball and surviving cancer.

Eat Good Food, Be Kind, Tell the Truth

Click below for the collection of recipes or for an easy to print copy of a single recipe.

Collection of Recipes

Grilled Steak Sandwiches: I can't have hot dogs or most of the other fare sold at the ball park. I had a steak sandwich at the Twins game and it was good but I had to remove the cheese. This sandwich has no cheese and is topped with a marinated tomato, onion, and watercress salad.

The Friday Update: Just the Facts

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