Heresy

If you wish to drag me up in front of a House Un-American Sporting Committee and accuse me of harboring unnatural thoughts against the American Sports Scene, I will not protest and will go quietly, canceled bleacher ticket in hand.

You see, I am not a fan of post-seasons.

Yes, I know that October baseball, January football, and March Madness are supposed to be the be-all as well as the end-all; but for me, those “second seasons” lack the most important element that makes the first season so gratifying: intimacy.

We rabid denizens of the bleachers live with our teams for months at a time.  We follow and bemoan the injury reports; we look carefully at each day’s line-up; we live and die with each at bat, each success or failure, and every twist of fate. We are married to our sport in ways that may make spouses sputter, children chide and friends fade. 

Then comes the post-season. Suddenly, everyone seems interested. The internet jumps to new life, the ratings go through the roof and the commentators raise their voices even higher. Excitement abounds and profits follow. What could be better?

It’s as though your beloved spouse went to some sort of miracle working spa and came home a new person, looking like the person you married all those years ago. But what if you were perfectly happy with the old spouse? What if all the excitement tended to wipe away all those shared memories for something that was supposedly better? More exciting? More, well, more?

No, I guess I’m just of creature of long-term, shared memories. When the newly-minted, wonderfully-exciting post-season of the moment starts up, you will find me under the bleachers, reading a book, wishing that it was the middle of the season, a time when old fans like me felt properly at home.

 

Millerton resident Theodore Kneeland is a former teacher and coach — and athlete.

Latest News

All are welcome at The Mahaiwe

Paquito D’Rivera performs at the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington on April 5.

Geandy Pavon

Natalia Bernal is the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center’s education and community engagement manager and is, in her own words, “the one who makes sure that Mahaiwe events are accessible to all.”

The Mahaiwe’s community engagement program is rooted in the belief that the performing arts should be for everyone. “We are committed to establishing and growing partnerships with neighboring community and arts organizations to develop pathways for overcoming social and practical barriers,” Bernal explained. “Immigrants, people of color, communities with low income, those who have traditionally been underserved in the performing arts, should feel welcomed at the Mahaiwe.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Living with the things you love:
a conversation with Mary Randolph Carter
Mary Randolph Carter teaches us to surround ourselves with what matters to live happily ever after.
Carter Berg

There is magic in a home filled with the things we love, and Mary Randolph Carter, affectionately known as “Carter,” has spent a lifetime embracing that magic. Her latest book, “Live with the Things You Love … and You’ll Live Happily Ever After,” is about storytelling, joy, and honoring life’s poetry through the objects we keep.

“This is my tenth book,” Carter said. “At the root of each is my love of collecting, the thrill of the hunt, and living surrounded by things that conjure up family, friends, and memories.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Clued in

The first play in four years returned to the Webutuck Auditorium Friday, March 28. The production of Clue was put on entirely by students from the Webutuck Middle School and starred an ensemble cast of, from left to right, Jacob Dean as Mr. Green, Caroline Eschbach as Mrs. White, Brooke Bozydaj as Yvette, Liam Diaz as Wadsworth, Nolan Howard as Colonel Mustard, Mariah Bradley as Miss Scarlett and Lois Musgrave as Mrs. Peacock who is pictured on the floor of the stage.

Photo by Nathan Miller