“After I hit a home run I had a habit of running the
bases with my head down. I figured the pitcher already felt bad enough without
me showing him up rounding the bases”—Mickey Mantle.
Who are these baseball players today who pause to admire their homeruns
before running the bases? What happened to the days when a baseball player simply
put his head down and ran the bases after “going yard”?
And what do these gestures to the sky
signify? Do these baseball players really believe there is a supernatural being who inhabits the exosphere, watches baseball games, and cares enough about them to help them hit a homerun (or strike out an opposing
batter)?
These baseball players are not playing with “heart and emotion.” They are
playing like the delusional, histrionic narcissists that they are. It is most unfortunate that their idiotic expressions of emotion are witnessed by countless young fans who idealize them.
-Glen Brown
-Glen Brown
“Hit a home run - put your head down, drop the bat, run
around the bases, because the name on the front is more - a lot more - important
than the name on the back”—Ryne Sandberg.
P.S.
ReplyDeleteThe gist of my brief commentary on some baseball players is also applicable to football players, et al.
It's all narcissism all the time. It's the Cult of Personality as Living Colour so brilliantly captured in their 1988 hit.The media promotes and glorifies the behavior as it sells add space. Advertisers love it as it helps to sell product. Politicians love it as it helps them identify demographics they can manipulate into votes. The rich and powerful use it to concentrate wealth and control politics. Free thinking, humble, dedicated, independent minded individuals are harder to manipulate. Why would we want to encourage people to think beyond themselves? It's way more complicated to get people like that to do what you want them to do.
ReplyDeleteJust got home from a Boomers baseball game in Schaumburg, no histrionics, just a wholesome night of baseball with kids runnung the bases and having happy birthday sung to them. $10 a ticket. This is where it is happening. Can't remember the last time I went to any major league game. I used to love it, too.
ReplyDeleteHot dogging with Jesus is the new normal.
ReplyDeleteMickey Mantle is dead. Narcissus lives.