Dan Antion

Play Ball – Maybe – #1LinerWeds

“These are great seats. We’re gonna whoop those crows again. Baseball is back!”

Here in the US, our “motherhood and apple pie” sport is a few weeks away from making an attempt to have a season…or sorts. Baseball, yes, this is a post about sports, but I haven’t had one since April, when I briefly mentioned the NFL Draft. The reason for the “maybe” in the title is several players are opting to sit this short season out, some are sidelined by the virus, some might protest and some don’t want to leave their families to play 60 games in less than 70 days.

No matter. Major League Baseball will literally be the only game in town, at least when the diminutive season begins. People will be watching, screaming (at TV sets), drinking and gambling to their isolated heart’s delight. Given the way the teams will play (10 games against each division team and 5 games against the same geographic division in the other conference (American League/National League), my favorite team will not be on TV around here. The Pirates are in the NL’s Central Division, so, 40 games there and 20 against the AL Central teams. But, as MLB’s Commissioner says:

“Major League Baseball is thrilled to announce that the 2020 season is on the horizon”

Amazingly, as you can plainly see in today’s gallery, I think the birds in the park heard this news.

This post is part of Linda G. Hill’s fun weekly series One-Liner Wednesday. If you have a one-liner, I’d encourage you to join in on the fun. You can follow this link to participate and to see the one-liners from the other participants.

“Hey guys. I just flew in from the crows’ camp. The game is on.”
“OK, let’s go! We can get some batting practice in before the crows get here.”
“Let’s go!” – “What’s your hurry. There are some good grubs here. The concession stand isn’t going to be open.”
“What’s that sign? 6 feet apart? How’s that going to work?” – “Don’t worry, that’s for the humans.”
“We’re going to need some runs, let’s get our best hitters ready to roll.”
“I have to round these guys up. Last time, we got cocky and lost the game.”
“Those little guys agreed to a rematch. We have to outhit them this time.”
“Let’s go guys, the fog is lifting.”
“Rosco, let’s go! Last time, you filled up on grubs and got thrown out at first three times.”
“Hey Jinx. The little birds are lining up at the plate. Let’s go, you’re pitching.”
“Pitchers can’t be late. I better get going.”
“Wow, Jinx is in pretty good shape. I think we got those little guys today.”
“OK, the crows are heading this way. Let’s get a little fielding practice in.”
Caw-ling today’s game is none other than Slow Joe Crow. Too slow to play, but sharp eyes.
“These are great seats. We’re gonna whoop those crows again. Baseball is back!”
“It’s fun watching you work. Is that supposed to be funny?”
Maddie noticed that it’s not raining on her deck. I, however, was getting wet.
“Hey. Can a girl have a little privacy, please?”

60 comments

  3. I believe all of the birds are “safe.” No pandemic outs or restrictions. Lots of at grubs…I mean, at bats…and a few home runs into the trees. A feathery good game of bird ball!

    I don’t know that holding a shortened MLB season is a good idea. I fear for the safety of the players. I hope they’re health is not compromised over this.

    Are you heating up out on the east coast, Dan? If not, it’s coming your way. Happy Wednesday!

    Liked by 1 person

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    • The only good thing about the short season is that the travel will be minimal and they have so many back-to-back-to-back… games that maaaaaaybeeee the players won’t have time to go out and do stupid social stuff. For what these guys get paid, it would seem you could tell them to lay low for 70 days.

      If it goes well, the NFL might learn some lessons. I worry about all of them.

      We have been in the high-80s and 90s for three weeks. We got a little relief these past few days, but heat is heading back our way.

      Take care, Mary – stay safe!

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  6. I think crow baseball might be the only sport on the horizon. I just read they cancelled most spring training again. Just don’t see how they can safely hold any sporting events right now.

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    • It’s going to be hard. Baseball would seem to be the easier of the major sports to keep safe. I haven’t a clue how they will do football, unless they keep the teams in a protective bubble when they aren’t playing.

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      • I read they want to keep all the baseballs teams in one hotel, away from their families. They won’t be able to use the pool and common areas or shower in the locker rooms. That’s almost bubble-ish.

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        • And with the pace they will be playing, they won’t have much time to mess around. Still, a lot of these players are in their 20s and early 30s. Athletic Males in their 20s with money – how does that end with watching reruns in a hotel room?

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  7. Dan, I just don’t have a sports bone in my body! I have no interest in whether baseball has a season or not, except for the sad fact that more people will be out of work if they don’t. And I just don’t see how the players can be kept adequately safe no matter what measures they take.

    However, if you record your feathered friends playing baseball, I would love to see that! 🤗

    Glad Maddie found the dry part of her deck. After all, you could sit with an umbrella!
    🐾Ginger 🐾

    Liked by 1 person

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    • It’s going to be very difficult to keep these people safe, Ginger. It’s a big risk for not much of a season played in empty stadiums. I feel bad for the people that make their living off the fans. I know when we go to Pittsburgh for a game, you can easily lose track of how much money is being spent everywhere around that ballpark.

      Maddie was really cute. It wasn’t raining hard, but we were both getting wet. She walked up on the deck and plopped in the dry spot. I had been working, and I was about to take a shower when the Editor asked me to take her out, so I figured, what the heck.

      Take care!

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  8. Tee-hee! The best sports post ever, Dan. So this is where Jinx has been! Fun to see the crow team together again. I didn’t remember Rosco — great name. I need to look up the publication anniversary of “Brother Love – a Crossroad” and do a post linking back to this one.
    MiMi looks so appropriately taken aback. LOL. Spot-on caption. Hugs on the wing.

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    • When you asked if I had seen Jinx, I hadn’t seen any crows for a couple weeks. Then, boom! They were cawing up a storm. Slow Joe Crow has been around forever (as a name, taken from Dr Seuss) but Jinx is the new hot player on the team.

      MiMi wasn’t happy with me. I had a slightly more awkward shot, but she refused to let me use it.

      Take care!

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  9. In 1879, John D Rockefeller called an emergency meeting of the Standard Oil Board of Directors.

    “Gentlemen,” he told them, “we are in trouble.” He then went on to describe Edison’s light bulb.

    “We don’t understand,” his board told him, “we are in the oil business.”

    “No,” he replied, “we are in the illumination business.”

    At the time, Standard Oil made most of its money on kerosene. The lesson here, is that one must know what business they are in. Major league sports believes that they are in the major league sports business – but they are not. They are in the entertainment business.

    While MLB is at times entertaining, there are too many times when it is not and empty seat speak to that.

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  11. We’ll see how this all pans out for MLB. The NBA and NHL are going with a few Hub cities to play all their games to limit travel and potential spread of the virus.
    MLB on the other hand thinks it’s OK to have players bouncing around from city to city. This is a major problem for the Blue Jays because the border is closed to all non-essential travel and it’s likely to stay that way for a while yet. Not sure how they’ll get around that.
    At this point I’m really not missing professional sports at all, but I know that a lot of people will appreciate having them back so I hope they can figure out how to do it safely.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • I read that they were talking to the US and Canadian governments. Of course, “talking to a government” and “getting something decided quickly” aren’t usually found in proximity to each other. Safely would be the key word for me, Norm.

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  14. Well, half a loaf is better than none, as they say. I’m looking forward to whatever I can get from it. Did you see where the minors were totally canceled for this year?

    I wonder if, when the Pirates go to Chicago, they’ll play the Cubs and the White Sox while they’re in town? I have a similar question about the Braves going to New York. Have you seen the schedule yet?

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    • I haven’t seen a schedule. I had read, earlier, that the five game series would be played straight through. I’m not sure how the inter-league games are being played. Are all five in one city or are they mixing it up. If they’re all in one city, then 5 at the Cubs and 5 at the White sox would make sense.

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          • That’s what I figured. The question is, will they have two two-game series (home and home) against the other league teams, or do one series like that and play two road series and two home series (e.g. Braves play road series against the Red Sox and Yankees, home series against the Orioles and Blue Jays, and go 2 and 2 with the Rays)? Guess we won’t know the answer to that until we get our hands on the schedule…

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  15. So good to see the boys are back. Although, I am a bit worried about Rosco. Looks like he might have a weight problem. These captions are a riot, Dan. Our minor league team is taking advantage of our scrapped season. The ball field is a disc golf field, movie theatre and Air BNB. And they still claim to be losing about $3 billion in revenue. Sure you don’t need to send your birds down here for a little training? Oh, and Maddie is dry and you’re getting wet? What seems to be the problem? :D Have a good one, Dan.

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    • I knew you’d like seeing the birds back on the ball field, Lois. Rossi does look like he’s got a little pudge going. But grubs are good for you. I think they’ll be staging some events at our minor league stadium but I’m sure they’ll also be crying poverty. I feel bad for the players. Those guys don’t make much to begin with.

      Maddie had no problem with me getting wet. We are sitting as I type this, and we’re both getting wet here and there. Not enough to nudge her back inside.

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  16. A lot of folks were super excited to hear this news even if it is a shortened season. I’m grateful I’m not in one of the players’ families, though — I wouldn’t want to have to make the decision about whether or not to play.

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  18. Back in high school, I used to listen to the Cardinals games on the radio. But we’ve pretty much lost interest in sports now, although I make an exception for hockey (and cycling once it gets going again). The political overtones are turning we off as well, so we won’t mind not having cable and not being able to watch games of any sort.

    janet

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  20. Loving the bird baseball. So cute that Jinx sneaked in there.

    B’s grandma sure loved baseball. She was a die hard fan who even liked to listen to games on the radio. She’d would have loved any kind of season. I sure hope all the players are safe. Pun intended.

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  22. I’m not convinced about these truncated and diminished seasons. Surely the population can survive without it for one season, especially if it means the literal survival of players and their families. But, to be fair, I’m not much of a sports fan so it’s neither here nor there for me if it runs or not. The Aussie Rules footy started back recently – without crowds – but nobody seems very happy with the compromised season so I wonder, why bother?

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    • Baseball will be a test, but NFL and college football will be the real challenge. There is a huge impact on the economy from those sports. I don’t see how the season can approach anything close to normal, but the loss of revenue will be enormous.

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  23. Looks like that crow will have a birds-eye view of the game. Baseball is the only sport that can conceivably be played during covid restrictions. My friend’s son was so excited to make the college football team this year, and now it’s canceled. Dang, lots of disappointments.

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