The Arrogance of being Alex

I know, I know; parts of the world are blowing up, literally. Libya, Japan, my March Madness bracket, the number of catastrophic events confounding the senses is truly mind numbing, indeed. So, in an attempt to bring some semblance of order to this chaos, we turn to spring training baseball games. Sports remains our oasis, our redoubt, our sanctuary where the rules are enforced and we know what the rules require of every particpant during the playing of sporting events. In this Knowable Order, we find sanity in a world gone mad with violence, human tragedy and the obliteration of whole cities by a single ocean wave.

To regain my own perspective and creative muse, I traveled to Tampa, Florida this week to attend a number of Phillies games, most noteably yesterday's contest with the NY Yankees. U can imagine my surprise, horror even, when Yank designated hitter, Alex, "Feed me Popcorn on national TV", Rodriguez left the line-up after the sixth inning and proceeded to walk out to the right field warning track with his personal trainer to run sprints from the foul line to the center field wall - all during live play of the seventh inning with his team batting. Just try to visualize my incredulessness when Alex's disregard for the integrity of baseball, his disdain for the efforts of his teammates and callous indifference to the safety of the Phillies outfielders went unstopped by the Phillies' manager and the umpires working the game. When this "I'm Bigger than the Game" display ended with A-Rod walking back to the visiting clubhouse, personal trainer in tow, all I could think of was the defeated british army surrendering to General Washington at Yorktown while the Brits' band played the catty tune "The World Turned Upside Down".

All I can say at this moment is now I know that even Sports can not save humanity from itself. Indisputably, therefore, we need leaders who put all their energy, focus and attention on stopping the mass slaughter of innocents in Libya, Yemen, Barrain, and yes, in Isreal, where thousands of Palestinians celebrated openly upon hearing of their "brave freedom fighters" murdering a sleeping family (including two babies under two years old) of Jewish residents in the West Bank. We need our President to step up to the plate and stop running practice laps in the outfield while the game unfolds just beyond his grasp. Sure, we have finally imposed a no fly zone, following the leadership of the Arab League and France, but most probably too little, too late. Please Mr. President spend less time on your jump shot, your pitching wedge and foreign travels. Stay home and work on perfecting your Commander in Chief skills. Thanks, just asking ...