Baseball And Politics And A Little Basketball
Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the changing colors, the holidays, and sports. It’s a great time of year for sports. Fall sports: Football season is getting underway. Baseball season is headed into the playoffs. And this year, basketball is also holding their championship playoffs. (What do you mean by “hockey?” I’m not sure I’ve heard of it.)
And then there is politics. I love watching politics like some people love watching WWE professional wrestling. I know most of it isn’t real. And most of the speeches are for the cameras.
But, still I’m a fan.
Except not this year. My woeful Mariners performed exactly as expected. They were terrible. I knew they would be and they didn’t disappoint. Which is to say they did disappoint but in a non-disappointing way. The league championship series are currently on.
I find I don’t care. It’s the Yankees, Marlins, A’s, Astros, Braves, Dodgers and a couple of other teams. One of them will be the World Series champion of this weird pandemic shortened series.
But, my disinterest in baseball is dwarfed by my feelings about the presidential race. We have the Olympics every four years. . .well, of course, not this year, but generally we have the Olympics every four years. We also have the World Baseball Classic every four years. And I guess Soccer has a big four year tournament of some kind as well.
The point is that I look forward to the presidential election like folks follow the World Cup. It’s politics, but it’s also entertainment. The position papers, the speeches, the debates, it’s all calculated. And just like Super Bowl Sunday we have the first Tuesday in November. After which we have a winner.
I’m not really interested in baseball playoffs partly because none of the teams I like are in the playoffs. I mean, I really don’t want the Yankees to win, but other than that I don’t really care.
I find my interest in politics this year waning for the same reason. I really don’t want Biden to win, but actually, I’m not thrilled about Trump either. Sure, eventually the season will be over and there will be a winner. But unlike Super Bowl Sunday, it appears we won’t have our results the first Tuesday in November. It won’t even be worth it to stay up late and wait for the West Coast returns to come in. The results won’t be available for days or weeks, as we wait through a protracted count of paper ballots.
Ironic that during this period where I have lots of extra time on my hands, I’m not interested in spending that time watching my normal Fall entertainment.
Oh, and basketball? I normally enjoy basketball. This year? Not so much.
I found I don’t like mixing politics with my sports viewing.
Bring on Thanksgiving.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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