Missing Arlington National Cemetery

"I am too tired to go; you go without me." So, off went my friend, without me.

The JFK Memorial was alright, but my friend walked and walked much further than that. He managed to see a couple of major funerals with the casket in a carriage drawn by six white horses, with military accompaniment in full regalia.

The first was the commemoration of a mass grave from a US plane that went down in 1942. The second was for Brigadier General Jackson. My friend got fairly close, sitting in a tree at one point, before security asked him to give the families more privacy.

It was an amazing experience for him. I felt a little bad for missing out, but apparently I helped give him the idea to search out the military funerals when I first showed up in DC wanting to visit the cemetery. Probably my staying home to sleep this morning made it possible for him to keep walking all morning and seeing the most amazing funerals he had seen.

An evening at RFK

My flight into Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington, DC whetted my appetite for that evening's activities. On my plane's descent, I had a lovely bird's eye view of RFK Stadium in east DC. My friend and I quickly revamped our plans to attend the Washington Nationals' game that evening against the visiting Florida Marlins. The reason? D-Train.

The Washington area Metro system is outstanding, allowing my friend and I to take the train to RFK, only a few minutes' walk from the Stadium-Armory stop on the Orange Line. The ticket scalpers were out early and some sidewalk vendors offered cheaper souvenirs to early bird fans. There was a buzz of excitement around RFK. The reason? D-Train???

All right, let's get to D-Train. I really wanted to see Dontrelle Willis pitch. He is one of the top young talented pitchers in baseball today. His appearance is almost comical, with his hat cocked a little to his left and with his arms flailing in recoil after the delivery of his pitch. His high leg kick during his windup is reminiscent of some of the old flame throwers like Gibson and Marichal. And D-Train has remained a star since his exciting debut with the Marlins four seasons ago.

He did not disappoint me in this game. He threw heat. He pitched himself into and out of jams. He flailed the air with those long arms as he threw his body off the mound, giving it every effort he had. I was also impressed with Willis' at-bats. With a .235 season average, he is not an easy out at the plate. Each time he batted, he made good contact and showed great speed running to first. He left the game in the mid-eighth with the lead, after throwing over 100 pitches.

Alas for D-Train, the Nats stole the show and the ballgame from Florida in the bottom of the ninth. A timely double that bounced around the left field corner by young Jesus somebody brought in two runs for a walk off win. I had been cheering for D-Train. I had been cheering for Miguel Cabrera of the Marlins when he batted. And I had been cheering for several of the Nationals at various times during the game, especially for first baseman Dmitri Young, who once led the major leagues in home runs (it was only once, for a day or two, when he hit three on opening day, then was passed and never led again).

But this game ended so suddenly and with such excitement, I just cheered and cheered. Our tickets were only 5 bucks. But the experience of seeing D-Train in action, Dmitri at the plate and witnessing a walk off finish made for a very entertaining evening at RFK.

PS: What's with those racing and dancing Presidents?

The final watershed

It was a good thing for the pumpkin custard. My tears had dried by then. Earlier on in the Thai meal across from the GoTrain Station in Oakville, Ontario on Labour Day 2007, I had to shift my thoughts a bit to keep from blubbering all over the fine linen.

This was, after all, the final instalment in taking daddy's little girl to school. And the term "final" has such a finality to it. First, a very brief history.

Instalment one was Labour Day Sunday 1998 when my wife and I dropped off our eldest daughter at a college 4 hours away from our home. I quite literally wept all the way home that day, not really out of sadness, but more out of the realization of the watershed moment, that our family would never be the same from this moment forward.

The second instalment was kind of an odd situation. The respective daughter had not moved away from home (well, not really). Actually, I was saying goodbye to her at her new home, while my wife and I were leaving town for our new home, with our collective prior residence being occupied by tenants. I will always remember the look my daughter gave me just before I closed the car door. During the six hour drive that ensused, whenever I revisualized my daughter's loving gaze, I just cried.

Which brings us to the current daughter leaving home. She actually was on her own last year with daughter #2, but she had come to live with her mother and I this summer to work in the big city. It was tough to say goodbye to her now, but I was so excited for her that she had thrown caution to the wind and moved wholesale to Ontario.

Now that I have left Oakville, I really miss her, but I know I will be back again to see her, and to try some more of that pumpkin custard.

And they thought no one would ever break the 2001 single season record for home runs...

MLB.com wrapup
Bonds' blast lifts Giants
No. 760 delivers win
By Tom Keller / MLB.com

Barry Bonds hit his 760th home run of the year to help the Giants beat the Marlins for the second day in a row. Bengie Molina and Rich Aurilia each drove in a run, while Matt Cain picked up his fifth win of the year.

(Italics added)

A champion in every sense of the word

Duck defender
The StarPhoenix
Published: Thursday, August 09, 2007

Everybody knows Scott Niedermayer is a great hockey player. Turns out he is a true duck defenceman in every sense of the word. In conjunction with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Anaheim captain recently sent letters to Chicago city council members urging them not to repeal the city's ban on foie gras, which is made from the fatted livers of ducks and geese. "As an Anaheim Duck, I hate to see real ducks tortured so that a handful of wealthy chefs can serve their diseased organs," Niedermayer wrote.

© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2007

756

"We've got everything here that you could want..."

... So said the souvenir vendor at the Seattle Kingdome one long July evening in 1997. As I stood there expectantly with my nine-year old daughter, who was also a keen consumer, I requested to buy a Mariners' pencil.

"I'm sorry, we don't have any pencils." Hmmm. "Well, would you have a Mariners' fridge magnet?" I asked. Looking slightly embarrassed, the vendor replied that they had no fridge magnets either. I glanced over at my daughter who was grinning from ear to ear at the irony of it all.


I was disappointed that evening for another reason. Our vanload of would be baseball fans had taken so long to get going in Maple Ridge, B.C. that morning, and we had stopped for the most leisurely of lunches at Denny's somewhere in northwest Washington, and there was a screwup with our family's reservations at some cheap motel on the south side of Seattle that, by the time we arrived at the ballpark, we had missed Junior's batting practice.

Despite the shortage of pencils and magnets at the souvenir stand, my daughter and I did manage to purchase the first of what would become her daddy's treasured collection of colorful team baseballs and mini-bats, long after she lost interest. Later during the exciting inter-league game between two west coast teams, the same daughter requested a cotton candy from the mobile vendor whose display resembled Sideshow Bob's tonsorial. My wife lamented that I was, in effect, buying the kid whatever she asked for. My response was: "Yeah, but what's your point?"

However, that same child who bought a few items at the ballpark was deeply disturbed later on, at the sight of a homeless person crying as we passed by him, on the way to our van.

Why all this reminiscing about one ball game that happened so many years ago, about which I have forgotten a lot of the details? Well, some other details came back to me on this historic day. On that happy occasion in the Kingdome in 1997, I got to see A-Rod in action, before I realized who A-Rod really was, or who he would become. And, I also got to see Barry Bonds, before I realized what an amazing presence he would become in baseball. On this day 10 years later, both men lit up the sportsworld with their milestone achievements, the youngest to reach 500 home runs, and the second man to hit 755 homers.

Back in 1997, A-Rod was a beautiful (he still is) young shortstop playing in the Pacific Northwest, prior to becoming the famous 252 million dollar man. I don't remember what he did in that game, but I do recall how the Mariners fans just loved him. (Side note: I still regret not purchasing that $34 cardboard standup of A-Rod the last time I was in Times Square)

I remember watching Barry Bonds hit a few balls into the third level of the dome during batting practice. I had never really liked Bonds when he starred with Pittsburgh, mostly because I was not a Pirates fan. I have since grown to appreciate his skills as a San Francisco Giant and shared some disappointment with him as he sat alone and quiet in the dugout following his team's seventh game loss to the Angels in the 2002 World Series. However, on this 1997 day in the Kingdome, I was in total awe of him. (Side note: I have a Barry Bonds bobblehead doll in storage at my sister's apartment in Baltimore, just waiting to come home to Calgary with me next month, along with some assorted Expos memorabilia)

There were six home runs that day, three each. That means that there were three fireworks displays after the Mariners' homers. I think Griffey hit one of them. I also remember watching the Big Unit sitting in the dugout with his long legs crossed. Oh, why did the Expos trade him? But I digress...

Ten years later, on a sensational Saturday in August when Alex Rodriguez hit his 500th home run in the morning and Barry Bonds tied Hank Aaron's all time record in the evening, the words of the souvenir woman were just as apt today, as before the game 10 years ago where we saw A-Rod and Barry on the same field: "We've got everything here that you could want!"