One Win Away

When I was knee-high to a grasshopper and television was broadcast in black and white, I remember joining my dad in the living room of our home to watch the New York Yankees play ball. I fell in love with the game and legendary players like Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford, Roger Maris, Tony Kubek, Mel Stottlemeyer and Mickey Mantle.  Back in the day, games were called by LA Dodgers HOFer Pee Wee Reese and St. Louis Browns’ HOFer Dizzy Dean on NBC and by Pee Wee and Curt Gowdy on CBS.  My dad would always laugh when ‘ol Dizzy would say, “He slud into third.”

Throughout the 1970’s and 80’s the Braves were pretty much the worst team in baseball, but when Ted Turner decided to buy the team in 1976 he began broadcasting the Braves’ game on TBS and after a while the Braves became known as “America’s Team” garnering fans everywhere as Pete Van Wieren, Skip Caray, and Joe Simpson called the games. 

I lived in Atlanta for four years when the Braves started their miracle run to the World Series.  The Braves won 14 titles from 1991-2005.  The Braves won the 1995 World Series against the Cleveland Indians.  Their decade of dominance ended shortly thereafter.

Last year, the Chicago Cubs, the team with the longest title drought in baseball history defeated the Cleveland Indians.  This World Series I’m rootin’ for the Astros.

Thousands of people lost their homes and dozens lost their lives when Hurricane Harvey deluged Houston with 52 inches of rain.  The Astros faithful are still picking through their rain-soaked belongings and homes.  The Houston players and coaches say they are on a mission to give their fans something to celebrate.

Some nights you never forget.  After more than 400 pitches and more than five hours, the Houston Astros managed to make one Dodger lead after another disappear.  They emerged with a 13-12 10th-inning victory in front of a Minute Maid Park crowd of more than 43,000 ecstatic fans─a testament to the magic of the World Series and the timeless power of baseball.  

Our national pastime has on more than one occasion helped a nation in need of healing.  For three nights in 2001 in the Bronx, anxiety and gloom momentarily gave way to a unifying moment following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

God, I love the game of baseball.

HOUSTON ASTROS: World Series Game 6 Trailer (Edited By: Me) #EarnHistory pic.twitter.com/lVQnM0Fztg

— Bonda (@BenOndaTop) October 30, 2017

What A Big Church You Have There

I want to underscore that I am not bashing Christianity or religion. I am merely pointing out the disappointment I felt after learning Houston’s most famous pastor did not open the doors of his megachurch to evacuees of Hurricane Harvey as many other houses of worship did.

As the hurricane was forming in the Gulf of Mexico on August 17, Joel Osteen was recording a podcast, presumably with Harvey in mind. "The good news is He's going ahead of you right now, lining up the right people, the right supplies, the right opportunities.  He has solutions to problems you haven't had," Osteen said.

Download Joel’s PODCAST today and listen to “The God Who Goes Before You” Click here! https://t.co/eeXK2KQPk8 pic.twitter.com/h1vz4VCYTM

— Joel Osteen (@JoelOsteen) August 25, 2017

Those solutions were not on display at Osteen’s Lakewood Church.  It’s ironic a brewery which put beer production on hold to can safe drinking water for flood victims came out looking better than a pastor of a megachurch.

The Very Epitome Of Political Bigotry Aimed Directly At People In Peril

Wednesday wasn’t a particularly good day for a left-leaning political cartoonist.  Matt Wuerker was on the receiving end of a blistering firestorm over the illustrator’s depiction of Texas flood victims praising angels sent by God while a Coast Guard chopper’s crew member mentions their role on behalf of the federal government.

If you want to know what .@politico thinks about the victims of #Harvey, here is the cartoon they just tweeted, then deleted. pic.twitter.com/9cr0Ne2Z06

— Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) August 30, 2017

Oh no, another hurricane-related tweet disappearance

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) August 30, 2017

@wuerker Elderly patient waiting to be rescued in Port Arthur. Is she part of the Secessionist movement, you political bigot? pic.twitter.com/vaKsEaEHyj

— PoliticalClownParade (@PoliticalClownP) August 31, 2017

Here’s what Wuerker, who attended Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon and lives in Washington, DC said about his political bigotry:

“As a political cartoonist, I try to get people to think—to consider the ironies and subtleties of the world we live in. This cartoon went with an extreme example of anti-government types—Texas Secessionists—benefitting from the heroism of federal government rescuers.  It, of course, was not aimed at Texans in general, any more than a cartoon about extremists marching in Charlottesville could be construed as a poke at all Virginians.  My heart is with all the victims of Hurricane Harvey’s destruction and those risking their lives to save others.”

Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey expressed his opinion on Wuerker’s “sneering ridicule”:

“In his usual sledgehammer style, he includes a Gadsden flag to slam conservatives, Confederate imagery to smear Texans as racists, and then also includes a gratuitous slap at people of faith.  It’s a smug, arrogant, and utterly tone-deaf attack on hurricane refugees in the midst of their crisis, exploiting their tragedy to ride his hobby horses all over their pain.”

Then the sun rises on another day of political bigotry; only this time from French magazine Charlie Hebdo.

A scant two years ago, the controversial satire magazine was the victim of radical Islamist terrorists who killed twelve of the magazine’s staffers.

Charlie Hebdo joined the jackals with its most recent cover mocking victims of Hurricane Harvey with art of Neo-Nazis drowning in the flood waters and the words “Dieu Existe!” and “Il a noyé tous le Néo-Nazis du Texas!” (God Exists!  He drowned all the Neo-Nazis of Texas!”)

So, this is their thanks for the Texans who were among the thousands of Americans who died liberating France from the Nazis in World War II?  That’s funny coming from a nation who threw down their guns becoming little more than speed bumps for Nazi Panzer tanks.

Traitors!

So much for "Je Suis Charlie," I guess... #CharlieHebdo #FrenchTraitors pic.twitter.com/tRc6f2np0M

— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) August 31, 2017