Autumn isn’t really based on dates on a calendar. My belief is that it has different lengths in different places. This isn’t original. People say they like where they live because “it has four seasons.” The best way to determine the beginning of fall is that wild onions start growing in my front yard. When …
Tag: baseball
Though You Didn’t Ask … I Tell
Many are the pursuits in which I spend too much time. Deleting “spam” comments on my websites, for instance. Occasionally, I read some of the nonsensical ones just for fun. A favorite spammer word is “fastidious,” perhaps because it takes fastidious – and diabolical, for that matter – people to post offers for cheap NFL …
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
Claim you’re making / More than you are / Hitch your wagon / To a star / The truth is incidental / To what you gotta say / Those who can’t play ball / Are prone to fade away. Riggs Hellams completed his session with the fungo, and now all he had to do was …
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (Final Part)
The final series of the season was upon the Portland Loggers, and the opposition was the Los Angeles Dodgers, who, with ninety-three victories, boasted the second-best record in the National League. They were twenty games ahead of the Loggers and five up on the San Francisco Giants. The best pitcher in baseball, lefthander Clayton Kershaw, …
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (Part Seven)
Life is short / Give it your all / Keep your focus / On the ball / Be aware of all the detours in your way / And never be afraid when it’s time / To walk away. Three games remained in the regular season. The Los Angeles Dodgers were in town, division champions already, …
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (Part Six)
The prevailing view was that Riggs Hellams was turning the trick. Leland Mortenson, slugging right fielder, was coming around. With a couple weeks to go, he was closing in on thirty homers. His strikeouts were down. He seemed happier. Those in the media who followed the team were warming to him, depicting Mortenson as …
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (Part Five)
Get your licks in/ While you can / Keep your future / In your hands / Don’t let the damn authorities / Dictate what you do / Always keep it in your mind just who’s / Screwing who. Riggs Hellams found an old acquaintance standing, arms folded behind him, in uniform near the …
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (Part Four)
Hide your money / From the man / Plant your head / In the sand / If you ain’t got insurance / Claim treatment as your right / And if you want to go to war / Send poor kids off to fight. “What in hell did you do? Piss him off?” Gary Sjakich leaned …
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (Part Three)
Waste your money / On a bag of weed / Take out options / You don’t need / The first time that you compromise / Well, now you’re on your way / And when you pass out on greed / That’s where you’re gonna stay It was a Sunday afternoon in Cleveland, the first …
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (Part Two)
Since I was just a boy / They’ve said the truth shall set you free / Sometimes it seems the truth is just a source of misery / The line is long and weary gathered at the gates of hell / Just heed the devil’s call / Don’t ask, don’t tell After a visit to the …
Nightrider's Lament 