Pennsylvania Autumn

Driving back from New York City last weekend, I noticed that the trees in Pennsylvania had already begun to turn. There wasn't a ton of color, and most of it was at it or near the tops. But reds and oranges were poking about the green.

It didn't seem normal to me. Last Monday when travelling it was still technically summer. If you were to draw a line directly east from Detroit, I would have been south of it. There's been no sign of fall colors here.

Don't get me wrong. It was nice to see and broke up the journey, which is great when traversing Pennsylvania. It always seems to take an inordinate amount of time to cross, even though it's only 310 miles. I drive just about that far (306 miles) on the freeway going to Hessel in da UP. Why does it feel longer on Interstate 80 through the Keystone State?

The simple answer is that it's Pennsylvania and not Michigan. I'm used to Michigan, so the time doesn't seem the same. But I appreciate Pennsylvania's effort to make the journey more pleasant.

Farewell Hessel 2021

About two hours after this posts I'll be leaving Hessel for most likely the last time in 2021. I suppose something might crop up which would allow me another trip to Michigan's glorious Upper Peninsula - a drain snake delivery or the like - but I don't expect it.

The funny thing is that I'm not melancholy about it, which is odd for me. It's usually a downer of a trip, the last one of the year or season or whatever you want to call it, but I'm really trying to find and keep a better outlook on things. This includes the idea that, hey, life goes on. Enjoy what you have and deal with reality. Every day truly is a blessing.

So I'll let Hessel go for this year with one final observation. It amazes me how much less activity there is here after Labor Day. I mean, Hessel isn't exactly crowded by any metric in the summer save for a boat show which does draw around 10,000 for its single day. But other than that, there aren't all that many people here even in the height of summer. Yet I can still see, and it is very noticeable I assure you, how much the activity drops off after Labor Day.

Sitting on the front porch reading, I might not see another car in an hour. The number of walkers are down. The handful of stores and restaurants don't have anywhere near the activity they have from May until the first of September. The Presbyterian Church next door has fewer cars; the Catholic Church I attend significantly fewer people. It astounds me.

Ah, well. Such is life I suppose in a tourist area.

What if they played a football game and nobody showed?

This afternoon, as I write in fact, there is a big football game in Ann Arbor between in-state rivals Michigan and Michigan State. At one point in my life I would have been drooling over the match up. Today, I have no intention of watching a single down. I won't say I don't care, but I don't care nearly so much as I once would have.

I've watched very little of my beloved Detroit Tigers this past season, and I saw very little of the Red Wings last year or so far this year. I've watched hardly any of the Major League Baseball playoffs which are currently going on, and baseball is the greatest game there is by far. I only pay enough attention to the NFL to see how my fantasy league picks are doing, and I'm not sure I should be bothering with that. I've missed the last two Super Bowls, and probably will not watch the next one unless I like one of the teams playing. I'm not sure I'll watch even at that. Even curling, a game I've played for thirty years now and whose season for me begins October 26th, doesn't have the appeal to me that it has in years gone by. I love the curlers, of course, and everyone I've met through the game; they're my greatest friends as a single group. Hell, they're my greatest friends, period. Only family is closer. But the point is that I find increasingly that sports are, well, a waste of time and energy.

Some of it has to do with the games as they now stand. They need improvement, and could make themselves better with a little effort. I've complained about that before, primarily about football, yes, but they all could use a heaping dose of integrity quite frankly. Why can't baseball give Armando Gallaraga his perfect game? It would be so easy to do, no one would argue, yet MLB doesn't do it. How can we expect sports to teach sportsmanship if the powers that be won't serve simple justice? Justice very easily served, I might add.

I've gotten tired of game officials blowing calls where the response is, essentially, oh well. That isn't fair play. And shouldn't sports be about fair play? Unless winning is indeed everything, at which point, damn the whole lot of it.

I've blogged before about my Grandpa Joe's attitude: drop the ball for all it matters. He's right to the point that sports shouldn't be so dominant in our culture although wrong, to be sure, so far as you should play your best if you do choose to play. But I've reached the point where the only games I care about were the ball games with my kids as the grew up, and pitching, catching, and batting with my granddaughter now. Tossing the ball around with Pops back in the day. The rest? It's just kinda become noise.

A lot of the fault is with me. I know that. Sports meant too much to me for too many years and it may well be that I'm overcompensating in this reaction. Still, that doesn't mean that I and the world as a whole haven't reached the point where sports and games have become bread and circuses, especially at the highest levels. That idea works fine in a completely secular world.

And that, perhaps, is what bothers me the most. I fear sometimes that we've become too much of an eat, drink, and be merry world, and that that's becoming institutionalized through sports. I can't help but wonder if we'd be better off if they become mere diversions rather than passions. Because as it is, and as I've said it before and recently, I feel that anymore the games play us more than we play the games. That speaks ill of both us and the games we watch.

Send Sarah!

The McCain campaign has decided to give up on Michigan. Whether this is a good move or not I can't comment on; I doubt myself that he can carry my home state and not knowing the exact nature of his resources, he may well have the right idea in spending them elsewhere. But I am reminded of his view on attacking Pakistan (Pak-ess-tan, as Barack calls it): never tell an opponent what you might do.

Don't overtly give up on Michigan, Senator. This will only help the Obama campaign paint you as uncaring about its plight. But if you need to reallocate resources, then attack Michigan on the cheap. In this case, send your vice presidential nominee as she encourages you to do. Send Sarah here.

Face it, John. She's the best thing you've got going for you right now. You don't inspire many folks, including me. I was only intending to vote for you because the alternative was completely unpalatable. But Governor Palin is sincere, homespun, fresh, and without that Washington political glare. She plays to an audience better than you. Use that, as you had started to but for whatever reason backed away from, becuse it's your best chance.

Send Sarah to Michigan. And Ohio and Pennsylvania and Virginia and Florida. Send her before the voters send the wrong message to you.