What would we be without wishful thinking?
Suggested soundtrack: “Tweezer,” 12-16-1999, Raleigh, NC
So yeah, strange days continue. The president is inciting sedition and insurrection in Midwestern swing states while far-right protesters who want the right to go out and expose themselves to a potentially deadly pandemic are holding up signs reading “MY BODY MY CHOICE” without *squints* a single trace of irony that I can detect.
Photo of a Texas protester, taken by Sergio Flores/Getty Images, via Axios
Insert thinking face emoji here.
Look, on one level, I get it. This whole situation sucks (understatement!) and of course I want the economy to recover, for everything to find some (new?) level of normality, for all my hard-working friends and family to get back to work and find new jobs.
But, also, science. It’s a really tough spot but we have to be safe more than anything right now.
And with so much time on our hands and growing desperation for a return to how things were or could be, there’s been a lot of wishful thinking. A week or two back, potential tour dates for a potential Fall Tour briefly floated around Twitter, showing what dates would be if the band had to cancel their Summer Tour, sourcing…. sketchy at best.
(Original H/T to Sarah)
For the most part, it… kind of makes sense if you really try to fit a square peg in a round hole? It mostly follows the same itinerary of the summer tour schedule except with a few towns swapped out (New Orleans subbing for Arkansas stop, Chicago arena run for Deer Creek in Indiana) and a few new venues in originally scheduled cities to account for the different season (Hershey, PA).
But it also makes no sense, too. For starters, Summer Tour hasn’t been canceled. Yet. It will be but that looming decision hasn’t been made. Even if the worst-case scenario of no shows by ANYONE until next fall isn’t realized, there’s no way Summer Tour is happening. The Phish lot can get crusty enough as it is at the end of a long, sweaty slog; you don’t need to throw in a virus that no one has a vaccine for to convince me it’s not the wisest idea to go forward.
And with Dead & Company canceling their tour on Tuesday, it feels like Phish (and every other summer tour) getting canned is inevitable.
Again, I get it. We want this so bad. Especially Phish fans who are a special breed of obsessive.
But those rumored dates are, I’m guessing, just wishful thinking. This sucks but it’s necessary.
Same goes for MLB. I wrote a bit about the Arizona Plan last time and, since then, a similar plan that just put teams at their Spring Training facilities in both Arizona and Florida emerged. That makes a little more sense as at least there’s a pre-existing infrastructure for this (Spring Training every year) versus trying to squeeze everyone in Arizona. And, then, on Monday, a plan to throw Texas in to the mix emerged.
But none of the ideas work (at least to me). Remember the fear about hot temps in the summer in Arizona and playing in open air Spring Training stadiums? Well, Florida is just as hot while also feeling like you’re living under a wet blanket while Texas is basically like Arizona. Plus, even if you could get everyone under a dome or someone circumvent the DEATH HEAT issue, there’s still the logistics of keeping everyone healthy and separated and it already sounds like a nightmare. For their part, MLB has denied these plans have been discussed but I don’t believe that for a second.
So, no, that’s not happening. And the closer we get to July 1, which is seeming more and more like the point of no return for having something resembling even a semi-normal season, the more likely it is we may not have a season.
I hope I’m wrong. Am I? Feel free to email and comment and tell me what you know and think!
But there is a small ray of sunshine — weird, surreal sunshine — that’s starting to peek through in the form of actual baseball and it’s coming from the other side of the globe.
That’s right, folks, Taiwan Baseball is HERE! Unlike every other sport anywhere in the last *checks notes* seven weeks, the Chinese Professional Baseball League started their new season last week and it’s actually gaining the attention of sports fans in the Western Hemisphere. Including me.
Teams are named after corporations and they’re currently playing baseball with — technically — no fans in attendance. I say technically because, well, see for yourself.
Glorious.
Taiwan sports network ELEVEN SPORTS TAIWAN has been broadcasting some games online for fans — with English announcers — and I’ve managed to catch some bits here and there.
So, yes, real live baseball. And as if they needed to PROVE to us it’s real live baseball, there was even a GOOD OL’ DONNYBROOK between the Rakuten Monkeys and the Fubon Guardians.
For now, I’m going to stick with the Rakuten Monkeys as my team of choice from the CPBL for now other reason than their nickname. Even if the Monkeys being 5-0 to start the season makes me a front-runner, so be it.
HELL and YES I want to root for a badass fighting monkey. Even if the games air at 6 am ET.
You can check out games at the above-shared Eleven Sports Twitter page and you can check out the full schedule for the CPBL here.
For what it’s worth, the South Korea baseball league, the Korea Baseball Organization, is already into their version of Spring Training and will be starting up May 5 while Japan’s pro league, the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization, was again delayed with a June start date possible.
Phish Show For Non-Phish Fans: March 1, 2003, Greensboro, NC
This show capped the end of the late winter 2003 tour, the first extended tour of the short-lived 2.0 era (2003-2004). The 2.0 Era, IMHO, is a mixed bag with some of the greatest stuff Phish has other done sitting right alongside some of the worst, as the band was hitting its nadir thanks to inner turmoil and Trey’s drug problems. This show, though, is a great representation of what 2.0 Phish could be at its peak, at least to me: at times, a more aggressive, more raucous energy and Trey’s guitar lines remind me of someone wielding a buzzsaw like a scalpel. Most great bands go through different phases and Phish is no different. Highlights for me are the “Chalk Dust Torture” opener and the “Rock and Roll” cover that opens the 2nd set.
Great Classic Baseball Game To Get Us Through Another Week Without Baseball: The David Freese Game, October 2011
First, it’s worth noting two things. One, this story (from the old Deadspin crew) about why mundane games are better for rewatch than “classic games.” Two, this Twitter account which offers up some terrific old “mundane” games (though there’s nothing mundane about some of them) to watch.
Anyway, as a Cubs fans, it pains me to pick a Cardinals game but there’s no denying the utter insanity of Game 6 of the 2011 World Series, an 11-inning 10-9 win for the Cardinals over the Texas Rangers, and the way in which David Freese was catapulted from role player to all-time postseason hero.
That’s all for this time but there are some fun little bits lined up for the coming weeks plus, again, REAL BASEBALL.
Stay home, stay safe, and GO MONKEYS.