Thank you, Sara, for the favor.
Sara’s newest novel, Hardball, stars her well-known detective V.I. Warshawski and will hit bookstores on Sept. 22. You can order your copy here.
Posted 9/11/2009
Cheering the Tigers in Minnesota
by James Motz
What’s this – a dome? This field is a joke!
Everything all fake, bunch of mirrors and smoke.
Where’s the blue skies and warm sunny feelings
Instead of blue plastic, “Baggies” – a ceiling?!
Neck twisted left for eight innings to see
The man in gray swing and miss for strike three!
You call that working the count? Must I
Suffer the insult of cheering that guy?!
The whole thing unfolds, painful to watch.
First a single, a double, couple of walks.
The lead for our team, thought to be safe
Now just about gone – and I’m outta faith.
The fan to my right stands up and cheers,
He’s awfully close to our un-empty beers,
But how can he resist from rubbing it in?
The mighty Tigers have a crappy bullpen!
“Break out the brooms!” He takes up the shout.
Whole lousy place ready, there’s really no doubt…
There! Crede kills us again, no surprise.
Every time, losing to a team I despise.
Cramped in my seat, I glower. “This sucks!”
Says my friend who spent over sixty bucks
To drive from Wisconsin to watch them win.
Now he goes home disappointed again.
Another lead blown, and all the fans scream,
And in my new town, down goes my old team.
The teeth are grit hard, tears beg to be wept,
My beloved Detroit Tigers got swept.
.
Posted 6/2/2009
Triumph of the Willis
by James Finn Garner
It brightens baseball’s heart, Dontrelle,
To have you back and pitching well.
Your fastball cutting like a knife,
Endangering the catcher’s life,
Your off-speed floating up and down,
Your hat too big like Charlie Brown’s.
Your rookie year is long behind–
Was that the thing that messed your mind?
We all get old, last time I checked.
That doesn’t mean your life is wrecked.
You’ve got the stuff, now find the guile,
And you’ll be here a good long while.
.
Posted 5/20/2009
Instant Replay Creates Perfect World
By James Finn Garner
.
Now that cameras can detect and correct
Our errors and human frailty,
I call for a replay of
Fidrych talking to the ball,
Reggie hitting in October,
Bob Gibson staring,
Koufax stretching,
Veeck laughing,
DiMaggio’s war years,
And Hank Greenberg’s,
And 1994, which could have saved the Expos,
And spared us the Nationals,
And Cap Anson shutting his damned mouth
And Buck O’Neil playing for the Cubs,
Satchel Paige for the A’s,
And Cool Papa Bell for the Cardinals.
.
Posted 5/14/09