Down 2-1 in the series, and 5-0 in the bottom of 7th in game 3…we need some karmic assurance. I don’t have any, but I do have a link to one of the greatest pieces of sports writing ever: John Updike’s 1960 essay on Ted Williams’ last at bat “Hub Fans bid the Kid Adieu.” Simply brilliant, and the opening lines will bring reflexive nods of agreement and approval from any New Englander who reads them.
Fenway Park, in Boston, is a lyric little bandbox of a ballpark. Everything is painted green and seems in curiously sharp focus, like the inside of an old-fashioned peeping-type Easter egg. It was built in 1912 and rebuilt in 1934, and offers, as do most Boston artifacts, a compromise between Man’s Euclidean determinations and Nature’s beguiling irregularities.
Even as I write this the Red Sox have runners on first and third with nobody out in the 7th. Here’s to hoping. Oh yeah, and even if you’re not a Boston or baseball fan, do read the Updike article, it’s a wonderful piece of essay writing.
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