the zen of catchers

It seems that I've discussed before with maggiesox the mystique of the catcher and why it is that so many catchers are so darn sexy, particularly Jason Varitek and Doug Mirabelli. (Mmm ... Mirabelli!) The other day I was listening to the Sox game on the radio and the announcer said something like, "Varitek calls the game, of course, but he sometimes looks to the dugout for a sign calling for a pitch-out or similar."

And it hit me, that's why the catcher is so hot. Because he's the mastermind! He's the guy controlling the entire game. Think about it: the catcher calls the pitch (and even if the pitcher shakes it off, the catcher still gets to call it, even if it's his second or third choice -- and if the pitcher keeps shaking him off, the catcher can go have a talk with him), the pitch determines the outcome of the at-bat, and the at-bats, in aggregate, determine the outcome of the game. Okay, it's more complicated than that, but in theory.... (Sometimes, for example, the catcher doesn't get the pitch he asked for. But that's not his fault.)

I always come back to the movie "Bull Durham" which, despite the fact that I hate Kevin Costner in almost everything else he's done, is to me the epitome of the baseball movie and in particular the perfect demonstration of why the catcher is so sexy. Because let's face it, in that movie, all the (male) sex appeal resides within Costner's character. Tim Robbins' character? Not so much. Sure, you'd fuck him, but mostly because he's "cute" and "sweet" and impressionable. Not because he makes you drool and pant with lust. And what is it about Costner's character that makes him so sexy? It's his experience, his world-weariness, the fact that he is the boss even when Tim Robbins wants to pretend like he ain't. Case in point: the scene where Robbins keeps shaking off Costner's pitch calls, because he wants to throw his fastball, so finally Costner tells the batter that the fastball is coming, so of course the batter smashes it. Moral of the story: You must listen to your catcher, for he knows better than you.

So the same pertains to Tek and 'Belli. They are hot because they're in control. The whole game is in their hands, and they know it, and they're up to the challenge. Even when they bat they have that sense of control -- Jason has a way of immediately striding out of the batter's box when he disagrees with the call, which is body language full of confidence and authority; and Dougie has a way of flipping the bat around in between pitches, it's hard to describe, but it's just a casual sort of confidence in the way he handles the bat, which leads you to think about the confidence with which he handles the catcher's glove and calling the pitches (and also leads one to think about the way he might "handle" other things, like one's body parts ... ahem!).

(I must of course pause here to make an exception for Jorge Posada, who is not in any way, shape, or form sexy. Sorry, nuh-uh. There's an exception to every rule, and in this case, it be Posada.)

Anyway, in sum, this is why the catcher is the sexiest of all baseball players. There will be a short quiz later.

car fear

I didn't think I had suffered any major psychological effects from last Friday's car accident (or incident -- does it count as an accident when only one car was involved and it didn't crash?). I drove to work just fine yesterday morning. But then yesterday evening on the way home, I did start to get a little fearful. Especially just as we were approaching the spot where it happened, I found myself constantly glancing at the hood of my mom's car and imagining that I saw it bobbling up and down like it was about to fly up. Of course I know that the odds of the same exact thing happening in the same exact place with a different car are very slim, but emotions don't operate on logic, do they?

Anyway, I think this is all normal. Every time I've had an accident/incident in a car, I've been a bit nervous afterward, especially in situations similar to the accident. Like after we got rear-ended a few months ago, even now when I'm coming to a stop at a red light, I look in my rear-view mirror and fret over whether the car behind me is slowing down fast enough. I think it's just that an incident like that brings to the forefront the fact that you try to suppress most of the time: that your car is basically a very large, very heavy piece of metal traveling very fast, and your control of it is tenuous at best, and its potential to do damage to your soft human bits is extreme.

I wish I didn't have to drive so much every day, and could sublimate that knowledge more thoroughly. But alas.

democracy inaction

So, a few months ago my state Senator (Senator for the State Senate, not the national Senate) died. It turns out that next Tuesday, a week from today, there's a special Democratic primary to select who should be nominated by the party to replace him.

Several things about this concern me:

1. I am in the affected district and registered to vote as a Democrat. I should have been notified about this upcoming election, but was not. (I found out about it indirectly through a friend.) I don't know whether it's that somehow I missed the letter, or that they simply didn't bother sending letters to notify relevant voters. Either way, it's upsetting.

2. I can find almost nothing on the website of my town about this election.
2a. The "Government" section has a link to the dead guy's page on the state's website -- and that page doesn't even mention the fact that he's deceased!
2b. Getting back to the city website, the "What's New" page has a link to a Calendar of Events, and on that calendar for August 30th the only item listed is "Bicycle Committee Meeting."
2c. I found my way to the Elections section of the city website, which tells me that there's a "Special Election Sept. 27" but says nothing about August 30. It even has a "2005 Election Calendar" which does not mention anything about August 30.

I suppose it's possible that this is all because the Aug 30 thing is a primary and thus they don't think it needs mentioning. But that seems all wrong to me!

3. Not surprisingly I also had difficulty finding out who is running, let alone anything about them. I did finally find a couple of news articles about a candidates' debate, which at least told me the names of the four candidates. One of them I recognize as my state Representative. I wonder what will happen to her Rep seat if she wins the Senate seat? That's a digression, but my overall point being, I had to do a lot of web-searching to even find out who the candidates are. That doesn't seem right either. (Admittedly I have seen a lot of signs around town with people's names on them. But they never say "Vote in the special election August 30th!" and heck, half the time they don't even say "Al Jones for State Senate," just "Vote for Al Jones.")

Edit: I finally did find some info about it on the state's website. Since the affected district covers more than just the one town, maybe they felt it made more sense to put the info on the state site instead. But still -- I had to dig around a lot on the state website to find it too, and the dates that really affect voters were not highlighted nearly as well as they should be IMO.

So overall I'm concerned and disturbed by the lack of info about this upcoming election. I'm not sure who or what agency would be the best place to direct these concerns, though. I would probably be composing a pointed letter, if I had any idea where to send it. I think I shall consult my mom on this question. She's usually in the know about such things.

update

Perhaps ironically, after writing my last post about the upcoming special election, I logged on to my tertiary email address and discovered an email from Planned Parenthood telling me about the election and which of the candidates are pro-choice. Is it ironic, or simply sad, that Planned Parenthood is more on the ball about informing voters than the state agency(ies) running the actual election?

tonight's Red Sox game

What the hell is this? The opposing pitcher looks like he's up past his bedtime for chrissake. I know they draft 'em young these days, but I thought you had to be old enough to, like, grow a beard, and drive, before they let you actually pitch in the majors. Yeesh.

I should so be in bed right now.