Deepening

[muckefuck]

Here it is, the fall I've been waiting for--just one month later than usual. I'm going to arbitrarily say the foliage is peaking now even though quite a few trees are still green. That's been pretty typical over the last decade: We don't get early frosts any more so the colours don't clump; each tree just goes when it's ready. And it's not like they're even grouped by species. There are sugar maples which are bare and those which have barely begun to yellow, sometimes within paces of each other. The last of the locusts seem to be catching up to their vanguardiste kin, however.

Tomorrow I hope to rake some leaves and plant some stuff. I've really lost interest in the garden over the last several weeks. Maybe it'd been different if I'd managed to get some direction from monshu on what to plant where during the brief window he was home and maybe not. Now my preoccupation is just to get things out of pots before a hard freeze. Oh, and get the bulbs and corms into the ground. They're actually the reason I've been holding off. If I'd planted them end of September, they'd probably be sprouting by now.

***

I'm still in something of a state of disbelief about the Cubs' World Series victory. It's not that I ever wished them ill, nor that I didn't think it would ever happen (it was pretty clear that the management had finally decided it was time to use the pots of money they have to buy a victory). It's just, I dunno, anticlimactic? Like there should be something epic to the end of a 108-year championship drought and this wasn't it. On the shuttle this morning, a guy was talking about the Sox' victory in 2005. Now that was epic. I still remember staying for the bitter end of Game 3. (10 innings? That nice. Try 14.)

I'm glad it went to seven games, I'm glad they came from behind, I'm glad they blew a comfortable lead in Game 7 just when I was beginning to lose faith in their ability to keep things interesting. But someone it doesn't all add up to a once-in-a-lifetime thrill (especially since I know they're quite likely to make it to the playoffs on a more regular basis after this). By then again, why should it? They've never been my team and they never will be.

Comments

[leiny.livejournal.com]

One of my long time Cub fan friends was talking dynasty. I was like baseball is by far the hardest sport to truly have a dynasty. There is the Yankees but even that's fading. Talent rises and leaves for other teams. They'll have good teams but multiple world series victories? I think not. With all the times the Braves made the series in the 90's they only walked away with one championship.
And yes the 05 Sox were epic. I made a casual joke on my fb about how the Sox were 11-1 in 05 while the Cubs were 11-6 this year and got a ton of shit for it, mostly by new 'not from Chicago' fans. I sure hope the fans don't lose their sense of humor or the spirit of the Sox/Cubs rivalry.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

OMG, someone else still reads LJ these days?

I think your snark fell firmly into the "too soon" category, which explains the pushback. I've been trying to be good about letting the Cub fans have their day because--as you point out--this may be it for another generation.

Speaking of rivalries, I'm wondering if one of the consequences of this year could be a genuine Cards-Cubs rivalry. Growing up in St Louis, we never really thought about the Cubs because they always faded well before the playoffs. Now there's a real possibility we could end up facing them in the NLCS one of these days.