Yesterday morning on my commute in to work, this guy gets on the train at Amityville and starts ranting about the New York Yankees pitcher, Joba Chamberlain. He's no stranger to me. I see him everyday and he usually talks sports with his riding buddy from Babylon. But for this ride, he put his vitriol in high gear and opened up loudly over the fact that the Yankees manager, Joe Girardi, pulled Joba from his first major league start after only 2 and a third innings. "How could he do that?" asked our intrepid man from Amityville. "He gave up two runs and only threw 62 pitches."
If you live in New York and follow sports, it's very difficult to avoid the Joba Chamberlain saga. Let me spare you the gory details -- he came to the Yankees in August 2007 with lots of high-praise and promise. He broke in as a reliever and was promoted to a starter. His claim to fame in the pros is being on the mound in Cleveland during Game 2 of last October's American League Division when he was attacked by a swarm if bugs called midges . Big deal, right?
What struck me about the whole scene was not the content of his discussion, but visceral disgust in his voice over what transpired. This guy was livid, blathering on to the guy from Babylon with phrases like:
"I can't believe this."
"This is outrageous."
"How could Girardi do that to him."
This went on for a good 15 minutes, within which he managed to work in a smattering of "In the old days, pitchers would throw doubleheaders..." statements, as if there was some lesson to be drawn from this nostalga.
Okay, dude, we get it.
What I wanted to know then and now is why all the hulabaloo? What vested interest does this guy have in the New York Yankees that compels him to tell everyone and his mother about his disgust with Joba being pulled from the game?
I never asked him these questions, but yet, there I was expecting the answer to reveal itself. From the volume of his voice, the only logical reason I can deduce from his tirade was that he is passionate about his team. I guess that's why we call them fans.
But the question I wanted to ask him, but didn't was, who gives a flying fuck?
He was reading the newspaper you see to the left, which, like the other printed rags in New York and around the country rightfully blared on its front page the news of Obama's historic victory as the Democratic Party's presidential nominee. I wondered why he didn't flip to the front cover of his copy of The News and talk about that. Given what's at stake in this election, you would think that the Obama-McCain match up is much more important than the fate of a rookie pitcher.
Boy was I wrong.
It dawned on me at that this is yet another example of how little politics is discussed in public circles. Yeah. We go at it here in blogosphere, and the discussion generated by our QWERTY keyboards is quite lively. But raise the point on the train or in some other public setting and you are likely to be branded a social pariah, a trouble maker, or a rabble rouser.
Don't get me wrong here. I couldn't tell this guy apart from Adam, if not for his rant on Joba. For all I know, he could be the nicest, kindest and most politically-active Obama supporter in the world. You wouldn't know it from the way he was dressed. He had a green polo shirt with a PGA Tournament emblem, complimented by a pair of tan khakis and soft leather uppers with the Dockers® logo. But given the fact that my wardrobe choice that morning was not that far off from his, it's a fathomable possibility.
Like me, he appears to be a person who is gainfully employed in a corporate job, a homeowner, husband, and father to great kids. He's probably someone who is feeling the pinch of the rising costs of goods and services, including $4.15 we pay for regular unleaded gasoline in Suffolk County.
You would think that he would rather discuss Obama (or McCain) because we're sinking in the same boat; that he would want to turn over his newspaper and smile (or rant) at the man pictured on the front page because finally, a viable candidate has emerged who is committed to taking on and reversing the destructive policies of current sitting administration. Finally, we have someone who speaks for those of us who are not in the top 1% (or even 20%) of income or accumulated wealth. Finally.
In my mind, I'm screaming, "SAY SOMETHING ABOUT OBAMA!"
But not my man from Amityville. Yesterday, it was all about Joba. With his newspaper open, he slapped at the picture of Joe Girardi, lamenting the fact that the Yankees let Joe Torre go. "I'm so disgusted," I heard him say. That's when I checked out.
But just as I was about to bury my head back into the CISSP study guide I was reading, I heard his buddy from Babylon ask him about how Hideki Matsui did that night.
Amityville: He went two-for-four with an RBI.
Babylon: Awesome. I have him on my fantasy team.
And there you have it. These two guys talk about sports non-stop because it's a concept that they can wrap their heads around. I'm not saying that these guys are dumb, but when you contrast the sports of politics and baseball, the differences are quite stark.
Politics is a sport that has real consequences to you and me. The rules are, at best, difficult to understand, and more often than not they engender a sense of hopelessness because for lots of people, like my man from Amityville, don't have the time and or the energy to make the leap between an issue like the Iraqi occupation and their personal lives. It's too much work.
Baseball is different. The rules are well-defined and there is always a definitive outcome with little or no personal ramification. It's easy to get mad or happily giddy about what's happening on the field of play because it's just play. Once the game is over you either head back home or turn off your television, momentarily happy or sad over the outcome. There are no long-term effects once the game is over.
As I was walking off the train at Penn Station, I happened to catch this Non-Sequitur cartoon in the newspaper left behind by the guy from Babylon, which sums up my man from Amityville's political apathy.
David Wiley Miller, you are a genius.
One More Article / Un Altro Articolo
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Over the years teaching at La Scuola d’Italia NY, I have learned that
children are not just students; they are careful observers of the world,
full of q...
6 months ago
Do you think anyone told Obama yet, how many states are in the United States of America?
ReplyDeleteThat is an easy jab.
I am sorry I can't vote for someone who wants to take away my job and benefits.
How many is that Wyld? 51? ;-)
ReplyDeleteIt was any easy jab, and one that's easily ducked. As far as your vote, that's why it's called a democracy.
The problem of people talking about anything but the real stuff seems to be a common one. I've taken to printing out Alternet and Common Dreams articles and just dropping them off in waiting rooms and other places where they might be picked up and read.
ReplyDeleteYou may be on to something there, Susan. Thanks for the tip.
ReplyDeleteThat's an excellent idea. As you said, we talk about it, so we know what's going on, but many aren't political junkies - not sure whether they're smarter or dumber than us, heh - so they easily gravitate to the simpler realm of sports.
ReplyDeletePlus, the way our system is set up doesn't exactly engender feelings of 'yay, politics!' I'm all for winner-take-all in sports. In life, not so much.
I must quibble about one thing: There are no long-term effects once the game is over.
I still haven't gotten over The Drive and The Fumble. ;-)
I think your man from Amityville was on my train to Cannondale last week and he scared the bejesus out of me until I realized all that vitriol and passion were about the Yankees and not some terrorist threat to my own personal neighborhood (I swear he sounded like the world was ending and the end was going to start right under my seat).
ReplyDeleteI think two things about this. The first is that our politics are so polarized and so scary that most of us have a hard time touching the edge without falling right into the void and losing all sense of rational and perspective. The second is about (for me) this sudden influx of really angry people going on about what might very well be quite innane - how much easier is it to vent the fears and frustrations on something that really is completely meaningless (ohgod Mr. S., I'm sorry, I didn't really mean that, but since you got rid of Torre I'm just really, really MAD) instead of looking at what's really bothering us.
And lastly, I fail to see how studying the CISSP guide is going to help you become an engineer of the choo choo variety. I took the practice test and failed it miserably!
Randal, you were talking about Susan's idea, right? If so, yeah, then I'm with you. In fact, I just added those RSS feeds to my reader so that I can keep up with these alternative news sources. As for your sports quibble -- what about the shot?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH5YA5qJnpo
This one had to hurt bad, too, but it was probably a bandaid yank hurt compared to the Drive and The Fumble.
Alecto, it would seem that every train has their Amityville man, no? He was at it again this morning, too, with the sports talk but with much less vitriol. This time I picked up on his use of the word "we" in reference to his beloved Yankees as if he were a part of the team or his fortunes rise and fall with their success/failure.
I can't imagine that the sum of this man's life is utterly bound to his sports teams, but the language he uses is convincing me otherwise.
As for the CISSP exam, the choo-choo job is still but I pipe dream. I have to work my audit job under the guise that I will be at it for quite some time because I've heard zero/zilch from the LIRR. Don't feel so bad about the failing the practice test. I'm not doing so hot at it either.
Paisano: MENATLLY ILL FROM AMITYVILLE!!!
ReplyDeleteBrilliant post. I'm linking it to my last one in my catch-all section for after-thoughts ("El Espiritu De La Escalera")
Having grown up in the city but living outside the US, I'm going to cut these guys some slack. Everywhere else in the developed world of capitalist-democratic-republics, people either don't talk about politics because the debate is so small and only involves instrumental things such as which company gets which government contract or the country has a broad range of views and many newspapers and talking ideologies is a part of everyday life. Why that's different from the USA is that either way of handlign politics on a person to person level, all of the toxic issues in the USA have been more or less resolved in a manner far to the left of the left wing of the US Democratic party. For exmaple, if you're an Ultra Right Wing Fuerza Nueva fan in Spain you can debate an Ultra-Left Wing Anarchist over beers because no blows are going to be exchanged. You each have your national health and your university educations paid for. Your Euro is strong. Your privacy is respected. Your country is not at war.
The USA is a dying empire in super big trouble and everybody is freaked out. Who wants hassles? Isn't it better to find common ground with strangers over baseball?
Kelso, thanks for weighing and for the link. Much appreciated. Your point about political discussion is well-taken. Other countries can have political discussions because they've eliminated the toxic issues from the discussion. What I missed in this post is also the culture factor itself. We are a nation of immigrants that held hard to its cultural roots. I may cover this aspect in another post, but the summary is that we we are still very much a culturally divided country. I believe it's those cultural divisions that keep us from creating and funding programs like universal healthcare and education. We are still very much a hodge-podge of different cultures that looks after its own.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately it's a common scenario. People sublimate their real concerns and anxieties and instead put all of them into their sports teams. Or worrying about Britney Spears' latest escapade. And I guess some people just aren't into politics.
ReplyDeleteBut as to the larger issue of why people don't talk about politics more in social situations is probably somewhat a matter of politeness - they don't want to say they support someone specifically unless they know whether the other person or people are on the same side. I know I've done the little "dance" of trying to feel out the sentiments of someone I don't know that well before expressing a political opinion. It's always a relief to find out they're a Democrat! But then during this primary season you then had to go to the next level and find out if they're for Clinton or Obama before feeling you can open up!
I believe in the old days people were told to never discuss politics or religion in polite company in order to avoid arguments. Guess some people still feel that way.
Mauigirl - you're right about the politeness point. It didn't occur to me when I wrote the post that it may be the reason, but that is likely the case in many conversational settings where the political and religious leanings of each participant is unknown. It's probably what kept me from asking the guy from Amityville "but what about Obama?"
ReplyDeleteSpartacus: Other countries have cultural divisions of all sorts and the basics like health, education, welfare, food, housing, privacy, sane criminal justice practice still obtain.
ReplyDeleteSpain is a perfect example again because it's a very wealthy modern nation...strong ecnomically, strong socially, political process based upon democratic principles, but a Castellano and a Catalan are as different as a White person and a Black person in the USA.
These folks were at each others' throats as recently as 1974, now, it's irrelevant. Nothing strange in thier intermarriage or anything like that.
OK, you and I are of different ethnic tribes and we've probably met 35 years ago but we haven't met as adults, but we grew up in the same environment at the same time and are so close because of that experience that we could fart in the same Coke bottle. That doesn't make you less Puerto Rican and me less Jewish. It means we've ADDED great elements of each culture to our toolkits.
Look how fast NYC got off of any anti-Arab shit after 9/11. I never saw it on 9/12 even. Why? Because every New Yorker of any culture has Arab friends.
As long as people are open to friendships outside their little group I don't think a sense of subcultures is such a bad thing.
Again, NYC is not America. It's NYC. Look at how people who've never met an Arab Muslim in their lives HATE them. There's the problem.
WYLD: My father's a Navy veteran and the only time his benefits were cut were by Bush. I don't understand also why your benefits are worse than his? During whoever, Reagan,Bush Sr, Clinton, his VA benefits were exellent.
ReplyDeleteHe got a 4-year free ride to a private university after his service.
From how he and I read the Obama/McCain argument over the veterans' package, it was McCAIN who told OBAMA that what OBAMA wanted in terms of VA and so-called GI Bill Of Rights was "too expensive."
Now, we only discussed an article that appeared on the AP and one more with a little more coverage in the NY DAILY NEWS.
You are closer to the issue than I am and closer than he is, so if you have differnt info with numbers and facts, I'll gladly read it and show it to my old man.
My mind is open although it doesn't always seem that way.
I second Maui's point about politeness--aren't we all taught that you should never talk about politics or religion in polite society? Yet these are the very tools being used by those in power to strangle and divide us. Perhaps it's time we stopped worrying about politeness and started protecting ourselves from being ass-fucked without lubrication by the government. Maybe if we shared more in public, we could find common ground with those strangers out there.
ReplyDeleteIt's scary to think of it when you've got some sports-crazed psycho like Amityville Guy ranting next to you--I mean, who wants to piss HIM off, right? But still--perhaps we can all work to find something (whether it be "I'm tired of soldiers dying in Iraq!" or something unequivocal like that) to say in such situations that will get the conversation going.
I've done a little of what Susan does--printing out articles and leaving them in random places--but I need to do it more.
Great post, Spartacus.
if someone talks sports, i fall asleep
ReplyDeleteDG - It's true that this is are we are taught. Politics is verboten (sic) in polite conversation. But as I watch Countdown tonight and learn that McCain thinks that having the troops in Iraq is not too important, we need to re-think this position and quickly. Yes, let's do what Susan says and leave political information in people's cubicles or on train seats or where ever there are bound to be other eyes and ears. And, as you suggest, let's not be so shy with out opinions and introduce them without being confrontational and offensive. All good points DG. As for Amityville guy, I haven't seen him in a few days, but he doesn't scare me at all. He's all hot air.
ReplyDeleteDCap - C'mon...really? ;-) You mean to tell me your eyes glaze over when I write about the Mohawks? That's sports. (heh heh...)
I think I'll explain the problem with McCain's plans for South America here. I checked in with the military analyst at my place (I'm not going to violate his privacy but he is a retired General in the United States Army and is very serious). His read on the Democratic versus Republican plan for Veterans' benefits is that it's not close. The Democratic plan is much more generous.
ReplyDeleteIn the sense that Obama is looking to end the wars, not start new ones, well that's a different story. If you favor war, you MUST vote for McCain. I don't know enough about Iran which will likely be the 3rd front and the newest war to offer any opinions about the likelihood of success or failure.
In McCain's own words, he will be using Colombia and Peru as bases of operations to launch invasions into Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia. This is a plan for "reconquest". Be clear. If you want to draw a shit salary for the privilege of being led into a butcher shop, that right belongs to everyone.
Let me explain how difficult as task this will be. Let's leave aside the Peru-Ecuador-Bolivia part of it, because that's the smaller part but I'll get back to it because that offensive is less daunting than the other one and has propaganda value.
This is the big task that awaits. US forces must first set up bases of operations in the US "ally" Colombia. The only reason that Colombia is a US ally because the Colombian people loathe Americans with a passion I've never seen before anywhere. Panamanians just laugh at Americans. They don't think they're worthy of hatred; they just feel Americans are lame.
So, let's say Uribe welcomes US forces into Colombia. Well, it's not like his approval rating is 100%. There is a strong opposition and something of a red state/blue state thing there. IF for some reason, there were a no confidence vote an Uribe was bounced for Samper or Gaviria. US forces would not be welcome anywhere in Colombia.
But let's say that a US force even as big as 150,000 all told came in. They would be welcome in the small towns in areas where the FARC has no power. The big cities are the problem. There are 4 Bagdads in Colombia: Bogota, Medellin, Cali and Barranquilla.
Colombia does not have weapons of mass destruction but the number of guns and the amount of semtex in those cities is mind-bending. Furthermore, as in any large city with a kind of European way of looking at things, the residents of the big cities, rich and poor, are not going to feel like they are aiding an ally. They are going to fell like they are being occupied. The culture will not allow it. It would not be as easy a job as Iraq has been (MISSION ACCOMPLISHED) because there wont' be any fighting in the cities among Colombians but rather all Costenos, Calenos, Paisos and Antioquenos fighting against the US. Big city urban warfare in which the people are more or less like smaller Russians: well educated people, none of whom have any fantasy of living a full natural life, and think of what might seem the "softest" place for GI JOE to take. The wealthy Jewish areas and the country clubs. Think again. Wealthy Colombian Jews have PRIVATE ARMIES. Wealthy Colombian Jews have a lot of guns and a lot of Semtex. Wealthy Colombian Jews are not like Woody Allen. They are like Dutch Schultz. Muslim neithborhood? Same deal. But Muslims in South America are not the Muslims you've come to know and hate. They hate America and Muslim extremism equally but have no problem whatsoever with Jews. Well, if the Jewish and Muslim neighborhoods are going to be hard to deal with in 4 major cities, what neighborhoods does that leave exactly? The poor neighborhood on the outskirts. Don't worry. They don't have private armies or anything. They are a public army with even more guns and semtex.
If leaving Bagdad's Green Zone is a problem, think 4 cities just as big with fiercer people who have more weapons. And these are supposed to be your allies.
Let's say by some miracle of fate, GI JOE is able to occupy and subdue Bogota, Medellin, Cali and Barranquilla. Well congratulations for making it into the round of 32 and the chance for the remaining American troop who survived in tact plus reinforcement to try to cross over the heavily guarded very rough border into Venezuela. The big prize, right? CHAVEZ=SADDAM=HITLER, yeah?
Good luck is all I can say against a 600,000 man army in a country so wealthy that it could just buy 1/4 of the United State with a click of a computer mouse. It would be the worst disaster in US military history. You would be EXACTLY Hitler trying to take Stalingrad but with fewer men and fewer weapons. Iraq seems rather easy to me compared to this task.
Let's say that McCain a military genius on the order of Alexander The Great, Alaric The Goth, Hannibal, Patton, Wellington, Montgomery and Zhukov all rolled into one and US forces gain some ground in Venezuela.
What would the Venezuelan respone be? Listen and do what Bill O'Reilly tells them to do? Not quite. The Venezuelan central bank would void itself of every US governement security it holds right into the market place and put a freeze on all USD transactions.
What's next? Well, I can only write as one person who's spent a fair amount of time in international finance. I would notice $400 billion USD flooding the market and I would join the stampede to get rid of every USD I had. I take any currency, commodity, property, intermediate product, finished product, great piles of dung that could be used to heat homes, whatever so long as it had some store of intrinsic value.
I certainly would not be the only one to do this. Every central bank around the world except for China and Saudi Arabia would do the same.
Well, so? As your leader put it. So, indeed. You'd be begging the Russians to drop nukes on the USA to make what was happening stop.
What would be happening? Well, the USD now has no value at all. The USA has a cost of capital of about 50% or more. Every city in town in the USA is in flames. There's no food or potable water. It's Blade Runner with no helicopters.
Do I care? Yes, I do care. I want world peace more than anything. The next wish I have is for world prosperity. I have no stake in seeing the economic holocaust destroy the US. I'm not exactly American but I was born there. Unlike D-CAP I love major league baseball. I would miss that a lot. I wouldn't miss my friends or family because I'm expecting this and have prepared.
My friends and family would be with me far away from the US. As for the rest, I kind of care, sort of, but not really. In the way I feel bad about those who died at Ypres or The Battle Of The Bulge...not I care more about those people. It would be like how most people feel about Darfur or RWanda. I'd think it was tragic. I'd still get up in the morning and shave and have breakfast and do my work, wherever I was.
Let's contrast Mr McCain's plan with Mr Obama's plan shall we? Mr Obama's plan for Colombia is to begin a truth-and-reconciliation process in support of Uribe in order to get the FARC and the Paramilitaries to get together, stop fighting and start negotiating. That has a familiar ring to it doesn't it? Oh, yeah, it was good old Mr "Baggage" himself, Bill Clinton who brought peace to Northern Ireland that way. Man, that Clinton was just a disgrace, wasn't he?
Obama on Venezuela. More or less like Clinton on Venezuela. Thanks for the crude oil. And for CITGO marketing. Pleasure doing business. See you next month. Bye.
Will someone please explain to me why there's even a question as to who should be president. Please. Explain it so I understand. The world is screaming for Barack Obama to be elected. Just so we don't ponder these scenarios every day and plan every day. It's wearying.
What would Obama be like as a president? I can't say but I know he'll try his best to find the peaceful and profitable solution to global problems. He will be looking to cool things off not start more wars. He will do the best he can with very difficult economic circumstances. He'll be up to the task of a tough job. He'll succeed at times and fail at times. What he won't do is burn America to the ground because of some obession with war.
By any measure you care to examine, Obama is McCain's superior. This election should be by all rights a pure landslide. An absolute ass-fucking. 69% Obama, 31% McCain. Obama by 200 electoral votes.
I think it will be Obama by 2% in the popular vote and will come down to 10 recounts in Ohio. Or McCain by 2%. Do ya think Obama's skin color and peaceable views might have something to do with it? I do. I think there will be 125mmm White Christians who will be infuriated by a close Obama win. And I can't guess what would follow that.
I know I'm whistling in the dark here and no one cares up there what happens in South America. But I have a proposition. You are allow not to care about anything at all. You are encouraged in fact to treat this as reality TV. But at least vote the way you would if a reality TV show requested a public vote. Look at the candidates' physical appearances and the sounds of their voices. You have a reasonably pleasant, kind of scholarly young man with a dark complexion and a nice baritone speaking voice. You have a withered and disfigured mean old man with a high-pitched squeaky voice.
What would you do if it were reality tv. You'd vote the shrivelled gimp off the island, silly!
Kelso - This is a long and rambling response that makes waaaay too much sense. But what is it with McCain and the neo-cons trying to wage war on two disparate fronts? Clearly, nothing good will come of attacking and occupying SA. Yet, as long as they stoke their gringo fears, this grim scenario you paint seems plausible. All this for oil?
ReplyDeleteOil and Orwell. Continuous war for continuous peace.
ReplyDeleteAmericans love war. This model Cheney worked out of a big enough force to get the CNN logos going but big enough to win, so they play to lose slowly and keep the public into it is perfect. And they can repeat it a lot of times. Of ooure they're going to lose all of these wars but what to they care?