Thursday, June 25, 2009
Royales 4
Astros 5
W: Wright (2-1) | L: Bannister (5-5) | S: Valverde (6)
HR: Twinkie 2
astros.com
AP via Yahoo!
Game Zone
I’m going to admit right out of the gate that I didn’t see very much of this game. I know what you’re thinking, “But Ty, how can you write a recap about a game you didn’t see?” Well, I’m here to tell you that it CAN be done, and it has been done. But I’m not going to try to do that this day, despite the ‘opportunity for artistry’. I hate chicken salad.
I did happen to see both of Lance’s 2-run deposits out of the corner of my eye. Congratulations on quadruple figgers, Elvis!
I remember when Elvis died. I was 14, almost 15 and it was a huge, dark day. Elvis had become a cartoon by this time and I was musically a million miles away. I was only aware of the brilliance of his talent from the context of my parents and people I knew who really dug him. But I recognized how huge it was that he was gone. I sat in my room with the radio on, Elvis is everywhere, and stared at my Farrah Fawcett poster.
I wonder what it’s like to be 14, 15 right now. Today, for most of us, we lost huge icons from our youth.
Farrah. Just the utterance of her name would give me a stiffy in 1977. Just about every male friend I had displayed her poster in his room, and a few female friends as well. The fact that she was from Texas, and was a Longhorn, just made her better. In my mind, I still see Jill Munroe tossing her hair in the opening of Charlie’s Angels. She shone bright for a brief time in this teenager’s life.
Rest well, Farrah.
In the late 60’s and early 70’s, nothing was more important of a possession for me than my 45’s. I was a collector. I hate to say it but baseball cards just didn’t do it for me. I had stacks and stacks of 45’s and would spend hours ‘programming’ my own radio station. This is where I most fondly remember the person they would within a decade call the ‘King of Pop’. In 1979, I was unable to appreciate the impact and innovation of Off The Wall, being heavily entrenched in hard rock and the emerging new wave scene. But in 1970, I could fully embrace the sugary soul-pop of The Jackson 5. I can’t get ABC out of my head right now. The string of hits were in heavy rotation on KILT and in my bedroom. His greatest accomplishments may have been in the decades that followed but they won’t be as endearing to me as that booming voice from a mere 12-year-old.
Even moreso than Elvis, the genius of Michael Jackson’s talent has been overshadowed by indiscretion and self-destruction. It will be interesting to see how his legacy is handled by the very estate that followed his every move. I know I’ll have a tough time getting past the last 15-20 years.
Rest well, Michael.
