Today's Musical Selection: "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" by Dionne Warwick
Hello there, all! It's a pretty warm Friday in the Fedroplex... summer appears to be here to stay now (as it usually is in July). We have copious quantities of heat and humidity to look forward to. Oh, goody.
What shall we talk about today? How about with my favorite Slate columnist, Mickey Kaus? I admit, this time Kaus has me completely stumped. He's been bashing Kaus with such regularity that I figured that he'd vote for Charles Manson ahead of Kerry. But now Kaus admits that he's given money to Kerry, and intends to vote for him! Now, granted, it wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement: Kaus believes Kerry will be a "be a failed, Carter-like President," but "we survived Carter and we'd survive Kerry (though it will be a long, hard slog!)." But still... does anyone who's been reading Kaus over the last several months believe that he's become a Kerry man?
I suppose this is good news for the Democrats, if even Kerry-haters like Kaus are so disturbed by Bush's overseas adventures that they'll back the Democratic standard-bearer. But still... is anyone else a little suspicious about this? I suspect it has a lot to do with Edwards, although Kaus hasn't fellated Johnny Sunshine since Kerry picked up. It's all bamboozling.
On the sports desk, how about the Brew Crew! They're a mere 1 1/2 games out of the wild-card slot with the All-Star break approaching. This is simply astounding. Normally, in Milwaukee, there is a time for the Brewers being 1 1/2 games out of the wild card. That time is April. The last time we were this close to the wild card this late in the year was 1996, when we finished 80-82 with an offense paced by John Jaha and Kevin Seitzer and a pitching staff fronted by Ben McDonald and Scott Karl. At the time, I was young and stupid enough to believe that the team had hope then. Now, I know that we're not going to contend this year, not really. But is there hope now? Call me stupid, but I'm willing to believe again. I think we're building this the right way. And maybe in another decade, I'll look back at Lyle Overbay and Doug Davis the way I now look at Jaha and Karl.
On second thought, why should I automatically assume we're out of it? Who in the National League is going to run away with the wild card? The Cubs? The Astros? The Reds? The Marlins? The Mets? The Braves? The Dodgers? The Padres? (Sorry, Frinklin.) As I see it, there's not a slam-dunk pick in that whole bunch. All of them have flaws: too old, too young, not enough hitting, not enough pitching, too many injuries. None of these teams have shown any signs of making it to the next level. So why should we automatically eliminate the Brewers? I'll be the first to admit that Milwaukee making the playoffs would be a huge, huge upset. But why not believe? We've suffered long enough. We deserve a playoff race to follow. Provided that we don't do something stupid like trade our best 5 prospects for "the final piece" we need to compete, I'm willing to believe.
Crazy whispers going on in Illinois, suggesting that Mike Ditka might step into Jack Ryan's place in the Senate race. I certainly hope this isn't true; what qualifications could Ditka possibly have? But if it does happen this way, give the Republicans credit. They do this right. When the Democrats take a stab at these mid-stream replacements, they tend to pick admired old politicians (Frank Lautenberg and Walter Mondale), while the Republicans tend to go for media icons with no political experience (Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ditka). As usual, the Democrats are hung up on the idea of good government, and actually trying to find someone who'd do a good job in office. Whereas the Republicans are smart enough to realize that voters don't care. The average voters is going to vote for the name he recognizes, regardless of how good a job this person might do in office. If you put your average senator up for re-election against, say, Michael Jackson, the Gloved One would win in a landslide. My party needs to stop pretending that politics is a meritocracy and learn how the game is played. Perhaps if the Republicans tap Ditka, the Democrats can convince Barack Obama to drop out in favor of Bill Clinton. (Knowing Obama, though, he's probably too hung up on integrity to consider something so imaginative.)
So, who's watching the Tour de France? I'm not. I actually watched a stage in the company of my parents Wednesday evening, and I recall thinking to myself, "These are the same people who used to make fun of me for watching NASCAR." The stage we watched was a time trial, which reminds me very much of the NASCAR races I used to watch, except the teams aren't even, strictly speaking, racing against each other. They're racing against a clock. For those not in the know, during time trials the teams are launched off at 3-minute intervals, and therefore you don't actually know who's won until the last team finishes. At least in auto racing, when the checkered flag drops, you know who won. You don't have to wait for the guy 23 laps behind with three wheels and no doors to finish.
The actual racing stages are somewhat better, but it's hard to take those seriously when the favorites can finish 25th and laugh it off. When Lance Armstrong captured the yellow jersey a couple stages ago, he admitted that he wasn't going to try to hold onto it, not until later on at least. Strategically, this makes sense: there's no point in Armstrong wasting his energy trying to beat people who aren't any serious threat to him for the overall race. But how much fun is that for the average fan? It's like watching the Lakers during the regular season. Why should you bother to watch the early stages, knowing that the favorites aren't even trying to win? How meaningful is it when some no-name guy from Spain captures a stage and admits that he can't win the whole thing?
This is not a knock on Lance Armstrong. I have nothing but respect for his athletic accomplishments. But you couldn't pay me enough to watch him achieve them. Sorry.
And with that, I'm rolling downhill toward the weekend. See you Monday!
Posted by Fred at July 9, 2004 05:07 PM