July 2009 Archives

It has been too exciting a week for Rays fans, a week that has featured moments that capture the essence of every phase of a longtime (Devil) Rays fan.

Yes, there are some longtime Rays fans.

There was the pain and disappointment of the blown games, eventually lost by one run on Monday and Wednesday nights. There was the taste of victory despite ourselves, on Tuesday night (another one-run game). There was the absolute futility and terrible play of the last-place Rays during Mark Buehrle’s perfect game on Thursday, and the keeping-up-with-the-best-in-the-AL-East magnificence of 2008 on Friday night, when Matt Garza kept an equal step with Roy Halladay and the Rays finally won in the 10th.

But today, wow. Today is a new era, I hope. Today is a day that might forever keep me hoping, thinking, as bad as these players appear to be, they have an ability to win that can be tapped when you least expect it.

I don’t know if Rays fans realize the size of today’s comeback. Perhaps in an age of huge-scoring games, eight runs doesn’t seem like much. But it was TWO SEPARATE eight-run deficits the Rays found themselves behind; first, 8-0, and then 9-1. And yet in just three innings the Rays erased that deficit against one of the better pitching staffs in the majors, against a team that does not make defensive mistakes.

And yet… it should have been easier. Three times the Rays were thrown out at second due to shoddy baserunning, and once at third. The Rays took a task of overcoming the largest deficit in franchise history and actually HANDICAPPED themselves, as if to say, FFFF challenge me.

Watching and listening to today’s 12-inning win was a surreal experience, one that featured me actually playing piano during stretches, just to put myself out of my misery. And if there is any one emotion that encapsulates the (Devil) Rays fan experience, it is that: misery. It always ends with a loss, of course, unless it doesn’t, but until it doesn’t, it always does. But for just one day, in the shadow of five remarkable experiences, this one is larger than we realize.

I can’t wait for tomorrow.

I have started to re-upload the Classic Hits by Microsoft Songsmith series. They are being more vigilant about shutting them down, though, so embedding may or may not be working. I will update when I have finished with all 32. Thanks to everyone who expressed their desire for me to get them back up!

Today is the anniversary of our nation declaring its independence from Great Britain. It is not, however, “America’s birthday.” Let’s break this phrase down a bit.

Listen to the annual July 4th song while you read.

When the word “America” is used in a phrase like “America’s birthday,” it is a metonym for “United States of America.” Obviously, the geographic hemisphere that accounts for the Americas had a birthday several million years ago.

The United States of America as a nation did not exist until the ratification of the Constitution of the United States of America. We have come to understand Constitution as a word meaning “the document that outlines the basic laws and organization of something” but at the time, they really meant that this was what constituted the new nation they were creating.

The United States of America was born 17 September 1789. That’s its birthday. From the moment independence was declared in July 1776 until that date, the thirteen independent colonies were nation-states, autonomous and sovereign, loosely connected first by the Continental Congresses and then the Articles of Confederation. And while the phrase “united States of America” appears in the Declaration of Independence, it was not referring to any such organization, but instead the fact that the States had decided unanimously to declare their independence.

We must remind ourselves that the word STATE means a self-organized governmental entity.

July 4th is the anniversary of our (using our loosely since only a few of us have ancestors who actually acquired their independence on that day, or at least declared it) independence. Our independence, once it was finished being fought-for, enabled us to give birth to a nation that was the United States of America.

July 4th is an anniversary. September 17th is the birthday. Both are important.

Also, today is the day gluttons gather in New York. You already know how I feel about this event, and who I will be cheering for.