Baseball itself now resembles the "vibrancy" of the global south. George Will was waxing poetic about baseball when it was filled with players like Mike Schmitt and Ryne Sandberg. Now even the white players celebrate like Latins, wear bling on the field, and generally act like homosexuals outside a night club.
Before Will dies and the revolution advances a step, I hope his Cubs get bought by a Saudi and they ban hot dogs and beer at Al-Wrigley Field.
Another thing I could add is that Baseball is played 90% of the time by three players: the pitcher, catcher, and batter. The rest of the team just waits and does nothing most of the time. That's not very "democratic", that's elitist. A minority runs the show while an apathetic majority waits for something to happen. I am not sure that is what Will wanted the metaphor to mean.
Good Article. There are many of these older "conservatives" whose ideas are not relevant anymore. This is why Chas Kirk's loss is so deep a wound to MAGA's future........................Ask Steve Scalise (R, LA) what he thinks about a baseball analogy........Thanks.
George Will seems Stuck on Reagan. The GOP needed to be Ronald Reagan forever. Reagan’s corpse would still be President and the 1980’s never ended. Just keep being Reagan forever. The ideas the same and everything. The Cold War never ended either.
"At least, that’s how George Will imagines it. American democracy did not always work this way. Violence was common in the antebellum era. One election result led to the Civil War. It did not look like baseball at all."
These points describe antebellum baseball as well.
Actually, for decades, baseball was played with a background level of violence that would shock us today: players beating the crap out of each other on the field, spiking each other hard on routine plays, headhunting by pitchers, fans literally assaulting umpires. Like most writers of a certain vintage, Will seems frozen 40s-60s ACELA baseball
The post-WWII era was a time of political calm if you're talking about the two parties in Washington.
But for the common citizen it was a time of political upheaval. Supreme Court decisions outlawed ways of life that had been in place since time immemorial, especially related to racial segregation and women's place in society. Schools began to teach a radical ideology. Far left terrorists set off dozens of bombs every year.
The two parties in Washington handle our government, not the Weather Underground. We had social turmoil in the 60s, but it wasn't accompanied by turmoil within our government. We had several elections in the second half of the 20th century where it was hard to distinguish between the parties (Ike vs. Stevenson, Kennedy vs. Nixon, Ford vs. Carter)
But nothing touches George Will’s neighborhood of Chevy Chase. Houses old and beautiful, >90% with BLM and We Believe signage out front. His column at the WaPo uncanceled and his sinecure secure.
In the midst of his ideological musings, Will should have spared a thought for the cheap land, high wages, and ethnic homogeneity that were actually the cause of the genteel politics he misses. It also helps to win a World War and be King of the Planet.
What are your thoughts on the whole Jay Jones situation? I think it’s emblematic of the Latinization of American politics. The Democrats nominated a bloodthirsty psychopath and no one in the party is willing to revoke their support.
I always preferred Joe Sobran's THE REPUBLIC OF BASEBALL.
Sobran wrote it over 35 years ago and yet it continues to remain relevant and applicable.
In it he makes a few jibes at George Will. According to Sobran, George Will argues "being an intelligent fan is 'a form of appreciating that is good for the individual’s soul, and hence for society.' Feeble rationalization. Like any true baseball lover, Mr. Will wouldn’t care if baseball dissolved your moral fiber and got you arrested by the secret police. Baseball justifies itself, like music. It doesn’t have to be good for you, like a sermon, into the bargain."
Sobran again, "A key difference between baseball and democracy is that in baseball the winners don’t get to rewrite the rules. And it never occurs to the losers to blame the rules for their losses. Our deepest norms of order can still be seen in operation on the diamond when they’ve been adulterated everywhere else."
Baseball itself now resembles the "vibrancy" of the global south. George Will was waxing poetic about baseball when it was filled with players like Mike Schmitt and Ryne Sandberg. Now even the white players celebrate like Latins, wear bling on the field, and generally act like homosexuals outside a night club.
Before Will dies and the revolution advances a step, I hope his Cubs get bought by a Saudi and they ban hot dogs and beer at Al-Wrigley Field.
So good Scott. I forgot about this guy but as soon as I think of Will I think of beautiful losers by Sam Francis.
Another thing I could add is that Baseball is played 90% of the time by three players: the pitcher, catcher, and batter. The rest of the team just waits and does nothing most of the time. That's not very "democratic", that's elitist. A minority runs the show while an apathetic majority waits for something to happen. I am not sure that is what Will wanted the metaphor to mean.
Good Article. There are many of these older "conservatives" whose ideas are not relevant anymore. This is why Chas Kirk's loss is so deep a wound to MAGA's future........................Ask Steve Scalise (R, LA) what he thinks about a baseball analogy........Thanks.
George Will seems Stuck on Reagan. The GOP needed to be Ronald Reagan forever. Reagan’s corpse would still be President and the 1980’s never ended. Just keep being Reagan forever. The ideas the same and everything. The Cold War never ended either.
"At least, that’s how George Will imagines it. American democracy did not always work this way. Violence was common in the antebellum era. One election result led to the Civil War. It did not look like baseball at all."
These points describe antebellum baseball as well.
Actually, for decades, baseball was played with a background level of violence that would shock us today: players beating the crap out of each other on the field, spiking each other hard on routine plays, headhunting by pitchers, fans literally assaulting umpires. Like most writers of a certain vintage, Will seems frozen 40s-60s ACELA baseball
Well, yeah, but half of that violence was from Ty Cobb...
TY COBB DID NOTHING WRONG
The post-WWII era was a time of political calm if you're talking about the two parties in Washington.
But for the common citizen it was a time of political upheaval. Supreme Court decisions outlawed ways of life that had been in place since time immemorial, especially related to racial segregation and women's place in society. Schools began to teach a radical ideology. Far left terrorists set off dozens of bombs every year.
The two parties in Washington handle our government, not the Weather Underground. We had social turmoil in the 60s, but it wasn't accompanied by turmoil within our government. We had several elections in the second half of the 20th century where it was hard to distinguish between the parties (Ike vs. Stevenson, Kennedy vs. Nixon, Ford vs. Carter)
True.
But nothing touches George Will’s neighborhood of Chevy Chase. Houses old and beautiful, >90% with BLM and We Believe signage out front. His column at the WaPo uncanceled and his sinecure secure.
A solid article.
In the midst of his ideological musings, Will should have spared a thought for the cheap land, high wages, and ethnic homogeneity that were actually the cause of the genteel politics he misses. It also helps to win a World War and be King of the Planet.
What are your thoughts on the whole Jay Jones situation? I think it’s emblematic of the Latinization of American politics. The Democrats nominated a bloodthirsty psychopath and no one in the party is willing to revoke their support.
So will a Greerhead pledge be watch more baseball, or watch less baseball?
And this children is why America's game is now football; in order to win, you're going to get hit along the way.
I would crucify the cast of little people big world if Scott told me to.
I always preferred Joe Sobran's THE REPUBLIC OF BASEBALL.
Sobran wrote it over 35 years ago and yet it continues to remain relevant and applicable.
In it he makes a few jibes at George Will. According to Sobran, George Will argues "being an intelligent fan is 'a form of appreciating that is good for the individual’s soul, and hence for society.' Feeble rationalization. Like any true baseball lover, Mr. Will wouldn’t care if baseball dissolved your moral fiber and got you arrested by the secret police. Baseball justifies itself, like music. It doesn’t have to be good for you, like a sermon, into the bargain."
Sobran again, "A key difference between baseball and democracy is that in baseball the winners don’t get to rewrite the rules. And it never occurs to the losers to blame the rules for their losses. Our deepest norms of order can still be seen in operation on the diamond when they’ve been adulterated everywhere else."
https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2021/05/republic-baseball-joseph-sobran.html
I never lived in George Will’s America, I don’t think I want to… very few did and few do now…
His America was Geographically the DC / Beltway area in the 1970s, and in his mind …
He made his bones denouncing Nixon.
The first true modern Conservative, Buckley didn’t denounce Nixon.
“Will wrote last year: “If demography is destiny, bring on immigration; we’re going to need it.”
He remains a professional turncoat, respected conservative indeed.
Baseball became a sabermetics min/maxed shitfest that is boring to watch, because people wanted to win.