Planting Butterfly Bushes...

So my dad and I were lamenting the loss of old Yankees today. We were discussing the Old Guard, with players like Tino Martinez (remember when he hit the Grand Slam and spent the whole rest of the inning jabbering on the bench and illustrating his hit with his arms like a mad man?), Chad Curtis (who used to throw the ball into the infield so hard that his small 5'8" self would flip over), Paul O'Neill (used to break bats and water coolers; his wife used to call him Mr. Happy), Brosius (who looked around like a bird), Chuckie (every throw to first was an adventure), and all those other guys. And there was also the time when Chuck and Shane came to the stadium from the barber shop. Knoblauch had his typical blonde tips and Spenser...had a whole head of platinum blonde hair. It was obvious that Chuck had tipped them to make it lighter or something. Ah, the ragging of the rookie. Anyway, now it's all about the stars: A-Rod, Lofton, Sheffield (whose fans wear chef's hats...how original), etc. I mean we have some of the older guys, like Derek (turned the big three-oh), Bernie, Jorge, Mo, and the like, but all the old spirit is gone.

And you know what? I even miss Al Trautwig, the old nerdy announcer that always tried to be cool and to play with the big boys. I mean today Michael Kay said, "And now we come to the three headed monster Quangormo! That's Quantrill, Gordon, and Mariano Rivera!" I mean who says that? If someone didn't have a really, really firm grip of the English language, I guarantee that they wouldn't understand half of what they say. "Giving chase is Matsui" - lovely syntax there. "Along with Jim Kaat, I'm Michael Kay" - are you both at once?

Wimbledon's on too. My dad always plays devil's advocate and pulls for the opposite of who I want: I wanted Henman, he wanted Arazi; I preferred Roddick, so he wanted Dent. Although Dent's a pretty cool guy: looks a lot like Pudge Rodriguez.

Speaking of, I think it would be brilliant if we got Nomar Garciaparra to play second for us next year. I'd love to see the look on Boston's collective face if that happened. Then we'd have Posada catching, Giambi on first, Garciaparra on second, A-Rod at third, Jeter at short, then a choice of Sierra, Lofton, Sheffield, Williams, and Matsui in the outfield. Nomar seems like a good guy too: his spirit might work with us. Even though we still go for big bucks so much (nice to see that George really does love us), the connection is still what makes us. There are some pretty goot players that just can't handle being a Yankee (*coughKennyRodgerscough*).

"Deadwood" had its season finale. I love that show. So now it's just "Six Feet Under". Mena Suvari is going to play Claire's new lesbian, punk performer friend.

I'm going up to Massachussetts these next two weeks looking at Amherst, Williams, Tufts, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Brown, and Wellesley. I'm seeing Brown, Amherst and Williams this week, I believe, and the other four next week (I could be mistaken).

Well, I should go. Oh, look! A butterfly just landed on you. Namaste.