Obviously, there are much more important things to discuss: Covid, maybe inflation, maybe that Afghanistan is another Vietnam, maybe that we’ll all simply burn up or be blown away by a rather irate Mother Nature.
But I’d like to waste a few minutes of your time on probably the most pointless promotional game, outside of its impact on the teams playing, so far. Yes, I’m talking about the cornbowl, or as it’s euphemistically referred to: The Field of Dreams game, brought to you by The Football Team (Exhibition game this Saturday!)
Now before you get too peeved, I’ll admit that I’ve seen the movie, back in ’89, or whenever it was released, and it’s a nice film; warmhearted, heartfelt, feelgood; all that good stuff. We all have our baseball memories, assuming you have any interest in baseball, which, surprisingly, a few don’t. And I’ll confess that I think Shoeless Joe should be in the Baseball Hall-of-Fame.
Still…
I found the whole game, or at least its premise, to be fundamentally pointless.
The film is about seeking forgiveness and making amends, finding one’s place over the course of a lifetime of choices, good and bad. None of which comes to mind watching modern day major league ballplayers running around a dink ballfield for the purposes of a false nostalgia. Shoeless Joe Jackson will not return from the great beyond to be hitting for the White (Black) Sox. Nor will he be forgiven by the poohbahs who run the HOF.
And if any of the players suddenly find themselves longing to reconnect to paternal figures, whoever they might be, it’s unlikely an epiphany will strike them as they stride in through the corn.
It’s just another gimmick to boost the Fox Sports bottom line.
Modern day sports can’t seem to rely on the games they play to keep us fans entertained, and feel the need to put something like this out there for a few cheap emotions tugs to those of us plopped on the couch.
Still…
As I was watching I wondered why they didn’t heighten the drama (This is Fox after all) by having the big boys play on what a field like that would be for all us shmoes not blessed with MLB talent. You know, sandy sloping infields, pitching mounds with big holes where your landing foot hits, and outfields unevenly mowed with bald patches and divots just wide enough to turn an ankle or worse.
There’s a field of dreams for you!
And shouldn’t it have been the Sox against the Reds? For old times sake.
On the plus side, Iowa appears to be a good place for home runs as many were hit late in the game to make it entertaining.
Maybe next year it can be the Dodgers and the Astros.
©2021 David WIlliam Pearce
David William Pearce, Writer 