D.C. Droppings -- XV

Twilight Zone

Like many people, I think, I wake up at the same time every morning without aid of an alarm. I wake up at 6, just so I can have the pleasure of not having to actually get out of bed till 7:45. I snooze, I dream, I listen to Morning Joe. And then when I am ready to throw something at his image on the TV screen, I am ready for the day.

This morning, for the first time in memory, I slept right through my internal body alarm clock. Or did I? Subconsciously, I must have thought it was Saturday. Anyway, I was awakened by one of those all-too-frequent leg cramps. When I finished grimacing and massaging my calf, I glanced at the clock radio. It was 7:45.

Phony Patriotism Zone

I just can't get off this soapbox, given how many baseball games I attend. But at Nationals Park, and I presume everywhere Major League Baseball (they have the term copyrighted), there are fireworks, the singing of the national anthem and at the drop of a helmet "God Bless America."

I was surprised at the playing of GBA today because it was not a Sunday or a holiday, the only days when it is played in all MLB stadiums. Which of course is further evidence of its false patriotism. Why not every day? It was played because today in D.C. it was "Navy Day." The ceremonial first pitch was thrown by the Navy's oldest SEAL. It was five feet wide of the target.

Why not some other patriotic songs like "America the Beautiful," "America," "Coming to America" or "This Land is Your Land." I usually head for the bathroom during the Nuremeburg-reminiscent GBA performance during the 7th inning stretch. But now they are piping it into the men's room. I didn't even have to pee at that time, but I went, anyway, and began singing "This Land," while other guys in reaction pumped up their own volume to GBA, proving that patriotic song-singing is the province of drunken men who couldn't wait till after the song was played.

At Nationals Park, every game, management points out on the big screen "our heroic" servicemen upon whom they bestow VIP tickets. It used to be war wounded from Walter Reed. Now that they have run out of wounded, they are parading run of the mill GIs out there and demanding that fans pay tribute.

I used to defend democracy when I was a journalist, and I am a loyal employee (contractor) of the United States government. Why don't I get publicly lauded? Not that I require it. I am heroic just for going to games played by a team that has a good chance of being the worst in history.

God Bless Latin America

So, at today's pro-war rally masquerading as a baseball game, 31 players were in the lineup at one point or another. Of them 38 percent have Spanish (or Portuguese) surnames. There were two Gonzalezes, two Hernandezes and a Taveras and a Tavarez. Also, players named Gomes, Herrera, Gomes, Guzman, Nieves and Belliard.

Oh, did I mention that the Nationals manager is Dominican?

Well I am all for diversity, but I am also fair. He couldn't manage a bodega and should have been fired in April