Harvest moon. Lunar eclipse. Ted Hughes. Psychology. Three games won. Three games won? Yes. Three games won. Bambino’s Curse has it all.
You know, I’m trying to avoid the self-referential, chip on the shoulder, Red Sox fan attitude that so infuriates the rest of the world, the “It’s all about us” attitude, but what fans other than Red Sox fans would find themselves so wedged between this historical Scylla and Charybdis? No team comes back from 0-3 except our team who came back from 0-3, round and round the whirlpool cum cesspool of possible imagined outcomes spins and spins in my mind.
How did this happen?
And what of this moon?
Tonight, for Game 4, I’m meeting up with David and his wife Maria at a Red Sox bar in Hoboken – the same one where I overheard the “smotheration” conversation.
To cynics, all of this means “nothing”. That’s the “it’s just a game” crowd. But those people don’t count. They’re party-poopers, and “it’s just a game” adds NOTHING to the conversation.
I know it’s just a game. I know. I know.
But what a game.
![“There were so many things I wanted to say, stream-of-consciousness things, designs and patterns while listening to music. I felt I might be able to say [them] if I had an unending canvas.” — pioneering experimental animator Mary Ellen Bute #botd
I wrote about Bute - a fascinating woman whose experimental shorts were shown before features in the 1930s - meaning literally millions of people saw her work. I wrote about her feature film adaptation of FINNEGANS WAKE - and her career in general - for @filmcommentmagazine. As a fellow member of the James Joyce Society, albeit 80 years apart - I feel like I was born to write a piece like this. Just sorry Dad wasn’t here. It was in the print version of the mag (RIP) but it’s online too. Link in bio/stories.
#maryellenbute #finneganswake #animation #jamesjoyce #femalefilmmakers #femalefilmmaker](https://www.sheilaomalley.com/wp-content/uploads/sb-instagram-feed-images/404275042_3458325717738885_453663892225035689_nfull.jpg)
Good luck!
I’m retreating to my sofa cushion fort until gametime.
It’s great. I’m happy so far, but it’s all just so…weird. LIke you said below, there’s a sense of unreality to it all, like walking around in a dream. I certainly didn’t realize until today that there was going to be a lunar eclipse tonight; that is just a little TOO freaky.
But anyway, GO SOX!!! :-)
I resisted posting this previously when the favourite poems thread was on the go – not soul-enriching compared to the examples then – but still a great powerful poem.
Wind – Ted Hughes
This house has been far out at sea all night,
The woods crashing through darkness, the booming hills,
Winds stampeding the fields under the window
Floundering black astride and blinding wet
Till day rose; then under an orange sky
The hills had new places, and wind wielded
Blade-light, luminous black and emerald,
Flexing like the lens of a mad eye.
At noon I scaled along the house-side as far as
The coal-house door. Once I looked up —
Through the brunt wind that dented the balls of my eyes
The tent of the hills drummed and strained its guyrope,
The fields quivering, the skyline a grimace,
At any second to bang and vanish with a flap;
The wind flung a magpie away and a black-
Back gull bent like an iron bar slowly. The house
Rang like some fine green goblet in the note
That any second would shatter it. Now deep
In chairs, in front of the great fire, we grip
Our hearts and cannot entertain book, thought,
Or each other. We watch the fire blazing,
And feel the roots of the house move, but sit on,
Seeing the window tremble to come in,
Hearing the stones cry out under the horizons.
For Sox fans the storm is finally lifting and ‘this house’ is coming into harbour.
Well, as I write this, it’s the 9th inning with 2 outs. It’s interesting you should mention the eclipse — this type of eclipse will make the moon appear — red!
I was in Hoboken tonight; I had no idea there wasa Red Sox bar there. Live and learn.
Sheila, you amaze me! How many people could be so knowledgable of eclipses, film history, literature, and baseball.
Congrats on your teams championship!
World Champions
Oh, God. Oh. My. God. It happened. It FUCKING HAPPENED!
I can hear them screaming and saying, “I love you guys.”
We love you, too, Sox. Good show.
Well what the fuck do you know?
They did it. :-)
Congrats, Sheila :)
No better feeling than your beloved team winning a championship after so many years.
Enjoy the memories for a long, long time.
I don’t even know what to say. Wow. I almost can’t believe it. They actually did it.
sheila:
i was nine when the sox played the reds in the world series. my mother made me go to bed in the middle of each game because it was a school night!!!!! tonight, with 2 outs at the bottom of the ninth, i woke my nine year old daughter, removed her warm toasty body from her bed, plopped her in my lap in front of the television so that she could witness history. even my husband, the mets fan, opened his eyes between snores to congratulate! can you believe it?
Unbelievable
D-Lowe wins game 7 against the Yanks, AND the game winner of the Series? I have to run, as monkeys are currently flying out of my ass….. UPDATE: Annika and the Commissar have some thoughts, while the Irish Elk…
Congratulations Sheila! Your eyes must be spinning around in your head.
During the game last night, one of my friends called to say “go out and look at the moon”. Sure enough, in about the 5th inning, the moon was almost covered by the eclipse and looked really strange. I thought this is the ultimate supertitious baseball moment – it was like you could physically see the curse being broken.
I’m very happy for all you Red Sox fans!
Congrats, RED! The color of the day no doubt. I’m so happy for you and the entire RED Sox Nation. The following is from metafilter.com, in case you plan on buying any lottery tickets today.
World (er… MLB) Champions once more. The last time the Boston Red Sox lost was in the 86 World Series. The last time they won was 86 Years Ago, when they beat the Chicago Cubs in the 1918 World Series. (The Cubs finished that season with 86 wins.) This year, after retiring the Anaheim Angels 8-6, they lost three straight to the New York Yankees in the ALCS and seemed to be on the verge of failing once again. Eight straight wins later, they finally manage to eighty-six the Curse of the Bambino. posted by Mr Stickfigure at 8:52 PM PST
tom –
I am a geek enough that I belong to a “Hoboken Red Sox fan” baseball club – we rotate bars, and watch the games in solidarity. Because we have kicked such serious ass over the last week … pretty much anywhere you go in Hoboken right now is a major Red Sox bar. We went to Liberty Cafe – on 14th – with about 20 huge TVs.
I can’t even describe the scene.
I’m working on a post about it … but it will be incoherent.
You guys – everyone who came here to post about this victory – you all ROCK. What a team, what a freakin’ team.
I’m quite glad this happened. I love to see all these smiling faces. Victories like this remind those who have forgotten what a great sport Baseball is.
The picture of the two gentlemen hugging in celebration is quite a touching image.
I’m sure there will be movies written about this.