PITCHERS AND CATCHERS

Pitchers and those who catch them are starting to report their respective camps in Arizona and Florida about now for Spring Training. Why is that so important? Let me tell you! Every kid who knows baseball, including my eight year old grandson knows that baseball season is close at hand.As a child growing up in Boston it meant that winter was over, spring is almost here. The days are getting longer and they are going to get warmer soon. (If you are living in the eastern half of the country now, you really know what I mean). What a great feeling - spring is in the air even if the air is still below 40 degrees.

The back page of the Boston Record-American reported daily on the signings of the players - in those days even Ted William only got a one season contract. Who is on the trading block and who are we going to get. I remember a six way deal that spelled the end of the Red Sox. Until 1967 the Red Sox did little in terms of winning so who played on the team was  important. They were important because they were our heroes. Ted, Carl, Mel, Walt, Johnny, Billy and Tony - all my heroes over the years. There were more. The voice of Curt Gowdy was like music to my ears as is Vinny is now to Los Angelenos!

Pitchers and catchers are like the first blue birds we see and hear. They proclaim that spring is here and things are getting better every day. The championship season is at hand and hope is coursing through our veins. Will this be their year? Your team is your hope. No matter where you live you wait patiently for the Sports Section to proclaim that pitchers and catchers are reporting. Each spring training game is the harbinger of the season to come. But each spring training game has players you never heard of or may never hear of again. So when our team loses we take comfort in knowing that the game doesn't really count. My team will be there opening day ready to play and to win! It all starts with pitchers and catchers reporting.

The Record-American is gone along with the one season contracts (and the fifty cent bleacher seats). Ted is no longer with us as with Curt, Tony and the others but the feeling never dies. Hope springs eternal, even for a kid of my age, especially when I hear that the pitchers and catchers are reporting!

EGYPT - WHY I BELIEVE IT IS A GOOD TIME FOR THE PEOPLE

As you know, or don't know because you are seeing my blog for the first time, I was in Egypt last May. It was a tour that started in Cairo and ended in Cairo but took us to Asswan, Luxor and other ancient cities along the Nile.This was my second time as the first trip was more limited and was 22 years prior to this one. I was already impressed from trip number one, but trip number two blew me away.

 Our guide was an attractive woman about 30. (I am guessing here). Emi has a great personality and and a way of making everything fun. While a devout Muslim she understood all the religions and their history in Egypt from the Coptics to the Jews. We had all of the above represented by the group. She wears traditional garb for prayers but the latest in western fashion during the day. Emi has a great sense of what things are worth and she negotiated well on behalf of her tourists.The point here is that she a representative of the youth of Egypt. The young dominate the population. About half of the population is under 30. But unlike Emi, they are not all well educated or have good paying jobs.

Eating at KFC can cost an average person a day or week's pay for one meal. There are KFCs, MacDonalds and Pizza Huts everywhere. Jokingly they call MacDonalds the US embassy. So, the population understands the western ideal while at the same time trying to preserve their culture and obtain some financial freedom as well as the freedoms we all take for granted. They are Egyptians first because of the their rich history, amazing culture and their efforts to preserve these for the world.

As they were demonstrating at the doors of the Cairo Museum I was recalling young families in traditional dress strolling through the gardens and then entering the museum see thousands of years of antiquities. There was no air of revolution, no unrest, no sense of unhappiness as the locals went about their business. So, what happened in the few months since we visited Egypt?

Unemployment, rising cost of food and services - and yes, poverty is everywhere. The trend, so it seems, was not upward but downward. With the ability to access the internet (I did it in every city we visited without restriction) and see what the rest of the world was doing and how they did it - especially Europe and the west. This is what they want for themselves and deservedly so.

It the west that they want to emulate. Not Iran or Saudi Arabia. I do not believe that they will have an Islamic government, yes, the members that make up the government will be Muslims, but the laws governing the people will developed by the people, written by the people. In talking to many different people throughout Egypt from Nubians to farmers to middle class business people (we spent time in many of their homes) the impression I get is let us be what we are in peace and let us provide for our families in ways we know how to provide.

We asked about the Muslim Brotherhood that has so many American believing that they will rule. In the recent meeting with the Vice President there were 52 representatives of different movements and only two of them were form the Muslim Brotherhood - and they were older! That fear is only in the US. They are small, they hate Al Queda and they want to exert political influence not military or religious influence.

Let the Eqyptians find what they are seeking. Let's help them get to where they want to go by supporting them. They are young, industrious and wanting a chance at life that we always enjoy. Here is hoping they get it!

Note this just in from Emi February 8, 2011, 1:34 pm:
Eman El Zoghbe people start going to there work and people not anymore afraid being in the street till let to guard their house but we still of course fight for our change by protest in the most active area in Egypt "Tahrir square "by the way tahrir means victory...and the change needs time and youth people became more stronger and not afraid of anythings even death......Im so proud proud.