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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy has retired from the Dayton Daily News after covering the Cincinnati Reds for 37 years. Hal's blog, though, will continue to be a must-read for Reds fans. He'll share his thoughts on the team this season and will file updates from Great American Ball Park. You also can catch Hal in print every Sunday in his popular Ask Hal columnHome > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2008 > April > 26 > Entry
Stuff from real life
What you see during an eight-block walk to the ballpark on a bright, cloudless San Francisco day with the temperature in the 80s:
Traffic on Third Street was stopped when a long parade of marchers filled the street, singing and chanting. They were protesting rape. Huh? Who is the world is FOR rape?
During a short cut through a public botanical garden, I watched a man and his big faun-colored dog stop at a drinking fountain. The man turned on the water, not for him, but his dog, Gretchen. The pooch put her front pays on the rim of the fountain and slurped from the faucet a couple of times and jumped down.
The man felt the stream and detected it was warm. He ran it a while until he got cold then said, “C’mon, Gretchen. It’s cold now.” The dog put its paws back on the fountain and slurped away.
Meanwhile, as I watched this, puffing my cigar, a security woman walked up and said, “Sir, there is no cigar-smoking in the botanical garden?” Meanwhile, Gretchen slurped away.
I was thirsty. I didn’t drink. And I put out my cigar.
When I got to the park, Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker and his son, Darren, were getting out of a car. Baker walkekd over and said, “I just visited my aunt and my father. Both are in bad shape. My dady (Johnny Baker Sr.) is coming to the game tonight, but I know he won’t be able to stay the entire game. Man, it’s tough. It’s really tough.”
Baker said when he and Darren left Dusty’s father, Darren looked up and said, “Daddy, grandpa can’t talk.”
Sometimes - well, most of the time - baseball is not as important as real life. Baseball is a diversion. Life is reality. Too many of us forget that.
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By Tim
April 27, 2008 1:18 PM | Link to this
Alan, Opinions and impressions are funny some times. I didn’t detect any hate or venom in Aaron’s post, but did in yours. So there ‘ya go. It’s often difficult to discern tone and intent in the written word. Great post as always Hal. I love baseball, but try to keep it in perspective. BTW, I now refer to the man formerly known as EE, as EEE.
By Deaner
April 27, 2008 10:29 AM | Link to this
Excellent blog Hal.
By Aaron
April 26, 2008 11:15 PM | Link to this
I didn’t spew any hate Alan. I JUST CALLED IT LIKE IT IS. And if you don’t think Hal is making references to extreme liberalism in SF than you didn’t read this blog post.
By Mr. Redlegs
April 26, 2008 10:07 PM | Link to this
I think the really important issue here is: what kind of cigar did you have to put douse? If a dog can drink from a public fountain but the aroma of a Hugo Cassar torpedo is offensive, well, what kind of world do we live in?
By ShockMonkey
April 26, 2008 10:02 PM | Link to this
Hey Hal, I could have told you there’s no smokin’ in the city. Where you from…Dayton? smile Lovely weather so enjoy the performance Mother Nature is giving us Hal. As for the Reds, Belisle just gave up a run scoring hit to the pitcher. Some things never change.
By Alan
April 26, 2008 9:12 PM | Link to this
Aaron, how do you live with such HATE in your life? No one reading a sports column or blog wants to read the venom you are spewing. Save your rantings for an appropriate time and place because this sure isn’t it.
By Aaron
April 26, 2008 8:47 PM | Link to this
Hal, they weren’t PROTESTING rape, they were obviously just trying to make it a bigger issue, get it more in the public conscience. I know Cincinnati has an anti-liberal slant, but there is nothing wrong with just trying to get an issue some attention, and if it makes victims of such crimes feel like progress is being made than that is a good thing, right? Just like in Cincinnati they are having a funeral for a dead soldier. They are inviting all kinds of members of the government — the very government that continues to finance a hopeless crusade for OIL not for freedom because no one in their right mind is envisioning strip malls and ballparks in the middle east. This is all about grabbing oil resources and controlling them. And you can bet in SF they aren’t gonna have a funeral where the government that enabled the death merchants can show up and pretend they care while scoring bonus points. GO REDS!
By bigted
April 26, 2008 6:09 PM | Link to this
Hal, have you ever heard of this team having internal problems? How long does a entire team stay in a hitting slump such as this?