Long Gone Daddy in the U.S.A.

~~~



My first car was a 1975 Plymouth Valiant. It was my dad's commuter car, then it was shared by my three brothers and me. From the age of 13, I used to sit behind the wheel of that car and plot out how I was going to steal it. It was a sedan, but I was planning a coup. The '75 Valiant didn't look like much. Even though ours was the higher-priced Valiant Brougham Thank-You-Very_Much, it still looked like a car your mom might pick out for you. But the Valiant had a nasty little secret life. It was lightweight, had power steering, and a Mopar V8 318 under its prim hood.

I would routinely do 80 mph driving up the steep and twisted incline of Fisher's Hill, just because I liked to surprise other drivers.


This car thought it was that car.

I know what you're thinking; Here comes the comparison of my old sleeper hot rod to the 2007 Washington Nationals. After all, they've beaten all expectations and have won 10 of the last 14 games. They went 3 of 4 against the Reds, officially pulling themselves up & out and knocking the Reds down & in to the basement of the National League. Nobody thought that they could.

Obviously, a parable is coming.

The thing is, it's Friday and a three day weekend is looming lazily but overwhelmingly in the cloudless sky. If you asked Jesus, he'd tell you that parables are effective, but, (sighhhhhhh), I dunno ... they're a hassle.

I'm sure you're weekend is probably already getting crowded, but let's just take a moment and raise a glass, because life is good. Here's to Mopar, Jesus, the month of May, sexual encounters on burgundy crushed velour seats, the game of baseball, and long weekends. Mostly though, here's to the tens of thousands of 18 year old maniacs who should have been committing misdemeanors and scraping together gas money but instead were experiencing the worst the human race has to offer just before they drew their last breath. Saying "thank you" is the wrong way to express how we feel about these men and women. Like describing the Milky Way galaxy as "pretty big", it's almost inappropriately demeaning - negating all the things that are not here because they are not here. I'll say it just the same.

Thank you.




~~~K. Provost~~~

May, 24, 2007
Washington - 4
Cincinatti - 3
19 - 29

IBB: Logan (by Belisle).
HBP: Batista (by Majewski).
Pitches-strikes: Bacsik 100-64, Traber 4-3, Cordero 13-7, Belisle 116-79, Salmon 12-7, Coutlangus 9-6, Majewski 13-7.
Ground outs-fly outs: Bacsik 7-12, Traber 1-0, Cordero 2-1, Belisle 11-7, Salmon 1-2, Coutlangus 1-0, Majewski 1-1.
Batters faced: Bacsik 29, Traber 1, Cordero 3, Belisle 30, Salmon 3, Coutlangus 2, Majewski 3.
Inherited runners-scored: Majewski 1-0.
Umpires: HP: Tim Welke. 1B: Jim Reynolds. 2B: Gary Cederstrom. 3B: Lance Barksdale.
Weather: 83 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 15 mph, R to L.
T: 2:29.
Att: 19,541.