Safe Haven

Baseball is far and away my favorite sport. I fell away when the St. Louis Blues hockey club was good in my childhood, and because my brother harbored not-too-farfetched dreams of being an NHL goalie. But "The Boys of Summer" (cue the Henley ) are my obsession. Still, football (American, that is) has a place in the hearts of two brothers who watch pretty much every sport, and who, to this day, maintain that they could announce any of them should the need arise. (Call us, seriously.) But football needs a kick in the pants to approach "Distirbingly Misplaced Affection" status. And one man has kept me between the navigational beacons of "Casual Fan" and "John Madden" for the balance of my life...Brett Favre. That's right: the one that every self-respecting football fan is supposed to hate, because the current crop of announcers gets all in a lather at the sight of him, and because he's retired and unretired more times than Rocky Balboa. Well...

Hey, what's with all the Mormon TV commercials? Are those noted missions going more poorly? I can't dignify that theology by a link, but I'd be glad to tell you about it. It features attractive people (read: hot) telling us about all the perfectly normal roles they play in life and work, a humorous anecdote, and then the person says, "I am [name], and I am a Mormon." That last line ruins it all. Anyway, I should say some good things about Mormons, before I tear into them/it again. I'd venture to say, nearly all Mormons are extremely nice. Maybe it's fake in some cases, but everyone I ever knew that was remotely Mormon seemed/seems very kind. They're generally quite moral in their living, which may well be in stark contrast to the movement's early leaders. BUT...these commercials seem designed with this thought: "If we make them seem normal and well-adjusted, the evangelicals won't notice we don't believe Jesus is God." More pointe...

A brief note on baseball if I may: With apologies to Jim Palmer or whomever (wrong? AKR, get on the grammar case, stat) who noted with appropriate snark that the minimum qualification for a "quality start" in baseball (6 innings pitched, with no more than 3 earned runs allowed) still means a 4.50 ERA, (not particularly effective overall) I would say that today showed us that the stat isn't completely worthless. Chris Carpenter, a prototypical pitching "ace" if there was one, showed it again. He wasn't terribly sharp today; he couldn't locate, or place, any of his various pitches in the preferred location; he surrendered 2 runs in the first inning, 1 in the second. Yes, the Cardinals still lost; yes, Carpenter would surely entirely blame himself; yes, I am a homer...BUT, anyone who watches a baseball game knows: if your pitcher finishes 6 innings, surrendering 3 runs or less, you're definitely still in the game. Two bad innings...and 4 zeros following...