"Oops."
Don't pretend like you haven't said it. Don't pretend like you haven't felt it, even if nobody was around to notice your most recent of mistakes.
It defines humanity as much as opposable thumbs.
The ability to make a choice - and often incorrectly - felled Jim Joyce, an umpire with more than two decades of experience.
Yet, it will be seconds that define his career, seconds spent denying Armando Galaragga of baseball immortality.
With only one out needed to ensure a perfect game, the 28-year-old Venezuelan, with nothing more than inconsistency defining his career to that point, secured the weak ground ball that should have redefined his name in baseball almanacs.
He sprinted to cover first base as Miguel Cabrera ranged to his right and made a clean throw to the pitcher - newly vaunted to elite status.
It was 27 up, 27 down for perfect game No. 21 in baseball history, No. 1 in Tigers' history - until it wasn't.
A fraction of a moment yielded celebration, before Joyce threw a massive wet blanket over the crowd and crowd-by-extension following live via technology of choice.
The first instinct is to question your own eyes. An experienced professional standing just feet away called Jason Donald safe.
Then the sickness set in. As if any one region of our country needed more sickness and shock, here the fates handed Detroit and its Tigers fans just a bit more.
How could it be? The Tigers even had that signature moment, a rangy catch by rookie center fielder Austin Jackson, which immediately drew comparisons to the owner of baseball's all-time greatest catch, Willie Mays.
His Detroit teammates were downright giddy. Laughing and jumping in the rare kind of way that reminds you behind all the pomp, circumstance and dollars, baseball is a game played by children masked by big boy bodies in big boy clothes.
After that out - the first of the ninth inning - there was no way it could be broken up.
And, really, it wasn't. Except it was.
Neither Donald nor the Cleveland Indians dugout could believe what transpired. The team was given a golden ticket it didn't deserve, and possibly didn't even want.
Outside of Miguel Cabrera evoking his star status and a brief question of the call from old(est) school manager Jim Leyland, the stun sat for about a minute after the call as only the disapproving fans voiced displeasure.
That all changed pretty quickly.
With instant replay the swift judge and jury of all things sports - and convenience store robberies - and the clubhouse just steps from the dugout, Galaragga's teammates quickly had confirmation of what they already suspected. Soon, a distraught Jim Joyce would too.
“It was the biggest call of my career, and I kicked the shit out of it,” Joyce said, his own worst expletive-filled critic after the game. “I just cost that kid a perfect game.”
But most remarkable was Galaragga's reaction. From reaction to shock to an accepting smile.
He knew what others would know seconds later and he didn't have a word to say about it. Joyce was the one with all the words after the game, more disparaging of himself than Galarraga could ever be.
A composed Galarraga after the game said simply, "Nobody's perfect."
Perfectly put.
Joyce apologized to Galaragga and the two embraced, though it was the burly, mustached umpire that likely needed it more.
Alexander Pope, one of the greatest poets who ever lived, once offered "To err is human; to forgive is divine."
Though many of us will never know perfection in a baseball sense or otherwise, divinity isn't a bad consolation prize.
And nobody can take that away from him.
____________________
So, those are my thoughts. Let me know what you think.
Here are a few more snippets from other (much more talented and rightfully higher-paid and more esteemed) sports writers. Click on the writer's name to read the full article.
"Galarraga pitched a perfect game on Wednesday night in Detroit. I’ll always believe that. I think most baseball fans will always believe that. But, more than anything it seems that Galarraga will always believe it. The way he handled himself after the game, well, that was something better than perfection. Dallas Braden’s perfect game was thrilling. Roy Halladay’s perfect game was art. But Armando’s Galarraga’s perfect game was a lesson in grace.
And when my young daughters ask, “Why didn’t he get mad and scream about how he was robbed,” I think I will tell them this: I don’t know for sure, but I think it’s because Armando Galarraga understands something that is very hard to understand, something we all struggle with, something I hope you learn as you grow older: In the end, nobody’s perfect. We just do the best we can." -- Joe Posnanski
"And history is forever altered. One step changed the headlines from `Perfect game!' to `Imperfect ump!,' just like that the pendulum swinging from joyous to angry, one symbolic step the difference between the perfection humans aren't meant to achieve and the imperfection we've perfected." -- Dan Le Batard
"It's too bad for a lot of people, in a lot of ways. It was the most-imperfect ending to the most-perfect game ever thrown by a Tiger, and on a memorable night indeed, there was no other way to explain it." -- Bob Wojnowski
"Expanded instant replay in baseball always was a matter of when and not if. It was going to take a generation of people who grew up comfortable with technology moving into decision-making positions in major league baseball. Jim Joyce just put that timetable on fast forward." -- Tom Verducci
If the title sounds random, I apologize, but that was my weekend.
I've had my share of dull weekends here and they don't bother me for the most part. I look at my time here in Oklahoma as developmental years, even more so than college. So, if I'm hanging in on a Friday night, it's not the end of the world.
This weekend though, none of that.
Friday night was a pinata-smashing, strong margarita-drinking good time. It's rare that I get to spend quite so much time with co-workers because of our schedules, but that was fun.
Saturday was a mixed bag of awesome. Gina and I took a walk at Martin Park, which is something I've been wanting to check out for awhile. Nice short trails will probably make for a good jogging locale this summer. That's my main goal for the summer is to see a bit more of the state parks, so starting with a small OKC park was a good start.
From there, we went to Pops in Arcadia, which is a national tourist attraction on Route 66. They have hundreds of different kinds of soda. Hundreds. Go back to when you were 13 and feel that rush of excitement as you re-read that sentence!
So, we each grabbed a half-dozen options (all glass bottles) and cracked open a couple out at the car as we waited for "Dave, party of two" to ring across the speaker.
We took a few pictures (I'll see if I can add those later since Gina's never on Facebook) and met this organization that is running throughout the entire country. I'm sketchy on the details, but I'll do a blog post on that later too, pretty cool stuff.
All in all, cheap (but pretty good) food, lots of soda and my first buffalo burger and I was quite satisfied. I wish they had more "family stuff" a la miniture golf or something. There's a TON of land there, so it would be easy enough to build. Either way, when family comes out to visit that will be a number one destination.
After some world class pigging out, we took our mild food comas back home briefly before heading out for some roller derby action with Sarah, one of our station's editors.
Now, I'm kind of ashamed to admit that I saw Whip It in theatres. But, real roller derby is no cliched joke targeted at semi-rebellious 13-year-olds.
We saw the Tornado Alley Rollergirls - one of our resident roller derby teams in a double-header. I was impressed. It took a little bit to catch on to the scoring system and everything, but those girls have to get bruised head to toe by the time they're finished.
I will say, it wasn't quite the counter-culture I was expecting. There were plenty of piercings, fake blood and tattoos, but there were also plenty of AARP types (presumably with daughters competing) and a section of what would equate to make cheerleaders, though they weren't much different than your typical sports fans.
There were about 1,000 people there and it was a packed house. Overall, a really cool atmosphere that I wouldn't mind getting a little bit more familiar with.
Among my more favorite roller derby names were: Elsie D. Poundsystem, Wicked Sick (love a good Boston reference) and Lady Gore Gore. Creative and tough bunch there.
That was about it for the night as some later plans went awry. But all-in-all, one of the busiest weekends I've had in awhile.
I'll have more thoughts later this week on the 24 finale and maybe I'll comment on the LOST finale, which is the only episode of the series that I watched.
The initiation wasn't over.
Last Sunday, that annoying screech prompting an announcement of the emergency broadcast system - the one that's always a warning back in Massachusetts - went off again, about an hour after I took a walk.
It's a good thing I went when I did.
We had more tornadic activity heading to the metro from the northwest. Though that dissipated, all hail was breaking loose and heading our way.
I was able to take my friend Gina's covered parking spot, which saved my car from looking something like an uneven golf ball, but within minutes the weather went from grim to destructive, as captured by these guys.
Heavy winds howled through the apartment complex and those dreadful plunks starting sounding. At its worst, it sounded like I was inside a popcorn popper and I wondered if the hail would break my windows. It didn't, but some with windows facing the storm weren't as lucky. One person's sliding porch doors were broken.
When it was all said and done, these bad boys were left. Several bigger than golf balls, all capable of doing damage to windows, cars and people, just ask this unfortunate guy.
Several back windows were smashed out completely, many windshields broken too.
I escaped with relatively minor damage thanks to the covered parking, but a couple pieces of hail sniped my right tail light. Now I get to take part in my most favorite activity since flossing, filing an insurance claim.
Good times.
- In other news, I'm still not ready to talk about the Boston Bruins. Give me another week and I'll try to sum up what this offseason will look like. Not now.
- The NBA Draft Lottery was last night and, as seems to be the case every year, the worst teams got screwed. Seriously, the NBA should just pull the ping pong balls right in front of all of us. I know they like the whole drama of the reverse countdown thing, but a little transparency would be appreciated. No need to fuel the conspiracy theorists.
- I spent a lot of time looking at the new fall lineups for the networks. Some good looking shows, but I'll save that for another time. Until then, I'll have to enjoy the final two episodes of 24, which will air next week.
- Last, I just found this list of service members who've died in and around Afghanistan. The number just raised over 1,000. It is truly staggering to look at. One of the few times when pagination would actually do this list a disservice. It's still a shame that we're resorting to these methods as human beings, but that will never change.
Pop quiz, hot shot. You hear a tornado siren blaring from the comfort of your apartment. What do you do?
Moving to Oklahoma has meant 10 months of adjustments, but I finally got my first tornado experience. It's estimated that 10 tornadoes touched down in Oklahoma last night.
Ten. Tornadoes.
After the tornado siren at the police station across the street first went off, I realized that now was not the best time to catch up on the new Family Guy episode I missed.
I knew better. I mean, there was talk about tornadoes all day and I'd skipped the gym just for that purpose. Hey, someone's got to make sure my cat's food supply doesn't fly away.
But, a tornado siren carries with it a stern warning to pay attention and cease all animated programming.
There was a tornado reported two blocks away from my apartment complex but apparently it never touched ground. The rule of thumb is if the twister looks like it's two-thirds of the way to the ground, it's on the ground.
I never actually did engage in what our phalanx of meteorologists call "tornado precautions," though I probably should have.
That would have involved getting in my bathtub with a bunch of heavy pillows and blankets - and maybe a granola bar...it was dinner time after all - and/or trying to put as many walls between you and sheer, merciless death. Of course, living in an apartment, that would be about three walls at any given time. There's a reason trailer parks get hammered when tornadoes roll through.
But I did none of those precautions.
Instead, I put my cat in the bathroom - though most weaker tornadoes likely would have no effect against his moon-like mass - and watched from my back porch, sometimes inside the sliding door, sometimes out.
Probably not a great idea, but I survived.
Right now, there are five people reported dead and many others injured as the Norman area (where the University of Oklahoma is) in particular got slammed. Most of the real damage started south of the city and scraped across the state.
Today at work, I was told this was my "initiation." Nice. I didn't even need one of those frat boy paddles or anything.
I can't say I ever feared for my safety or anything like that, but it's much easier to joke about when it's not right in front of your face. There are many people now without homes and thousands without power.
The forces of nature are nothing to mess with. It was pretty remarkable to watch. I think a lot of times we forget how destructive a force nature can be.
I was pretty lucky that a tornado didn't touch down nearby. I can't say what I would do if my apartment was hit. Maybe move back home? I'm not sure.
Either way, I'm crossing my fingers for the families that lost a hell of a lot more than I would have.
Check out a slideshow of images from News9.com.
So, last night I went with some friends to see the new Nightmare on Elm Street movie.
Why? Good question. I knew the reviews were awful (15% on Rotten Tomatoes) but I became a big fan of the original movies the last few years. In fact, last I checked, you can watch some of the movies in their entireity on YouTube. Nice.
The original movie was revolutionary for its time, blurring the difference between reality and the dream world before CGI took everything over. With technology the way it is today, you'd think a newer effort would achieve that effect with even more ease.
Not so.
The visuals were pretty impressive and Jackie Earle Haley did well enough - he's chronically underrated - but the script was awful.
Can we just get rid of the notion that evil villans laugh maniacally? It's cheesy. Cheestastic.
And as for blurring that line between the dream world and real world, it was more obvious than ever. Get this, if you're a tired teenager being chased by Freddy Kruger and you touch your face, beware, you've just fallen asleep. If you look tired, you're asleep.
I think what bothers me more than anything about this movie was that there was actually so much potential to make this an epic remake. The new Freddy backstory was definitely better - and creepier. But it was often written at the expensive of the better points of the original plotline (the relationship between Nancy and her mother).
The visual effects at times were very impressive. But they were overdone and the old school Freddy mannerisms were just annoying - Freddy, you're already a pedophile and a murderer, stop annoying theatre audiences by scraping your finger-claws against steel.
The dialogue was really, really bad. The stereotypical characters were even worse.
It's really too bad. I really had high hopes for this, but in the end combine any horror movie with the words "Produced by Michael Bay" and nobody wins, not even Optimus Prime.
1.5 out of 5 stars. So much potential, but so much Michael Bay.
#3 – Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Starring: George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson
Director: Wes Anderson
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 93%
Most family-oriented movies and animated movies in the Pixar mold base movies around their target audience (children) and provide winks and nods to the adults watching so they can follow along.
This movie almost felt the opposite.
Don’t get me wrong, kids will enjoy this movie too, but the excellent performances, witty dialogue, great voice acting and subject matter will likely click more with adults than the kids they might be bringing in tow.
Some have called this Clooney’s best performance of 2009. That’s pretty high praise. It's also easy to see why it could be the case.
If nothing else, give Wes Anderson a nod for venturing into the shaky ground of stop motion animation. It’s as much fun to watch as any of his previous films and includes more Jason Schwartzman awkwardness.
By the way, does any actor on the planet do anything better than Schwartzman does awkward?
Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.
#2 - Lucky Number Slevin (2006)
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Bruce Willis, Lucy Liu, Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley
Director: Paul McGuigan
Genre: Crime, Thriller, Noir
Rotten Tomatoes rating: 52%
Panned by some critics for being overly-stylized, I found Lucky Number Slevin’s black humor, frantic pace and layered story to actually be very enjoyable.
Josh Hartnett plays Slevin, a character in the wrong place at the wrong time, forced to pay competing mob bosses (Morgan Freeman and Ben Kingsley) outrageous debts. Throughout, the wildcard Smith (Bruce Willis) seems to be working both sides.
If you pay attention, you may be able to decipher some of the movie's impending twists and turns, but that doesn’t make the delivery of these twists any less affective.
In the end, the subject material in the film leaves you wanting more. You want to know more about the mob boss rivalry, the relationship between Slevin and Lindsey (Lucy Liu), and you want to know more about the other developments in the film. That’s not to say the movie’s proceedings weren’t adequately described. It means the characters were well-played and had a mysterious quality to them buried beneath all that stylized gusto.
Some have said this movie wants to be like Pulp Fiction and try to compare the two. There will never be another Pulp Fiction. And, while there will likely be another Lucky Number Slevin (in style/effectiveness, not a sequel), that doesn’t mean this film doesn’t deserve some kudos for taking some risks and delivering a gem.
Final Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.