This evening two rivalries went head-to-head for the viewing loyalties of Bostonians: the Red Sox/Yankees playoff game in New York and the Bush/Kerry debate in Arizona.I generally have a lowtolerance for both baseball and political rhetoric, but in the end the debate prevailed and I settled in to listen to iton the radio.
However, consuming a presidential debate alone isn’t healthy (it’s like drinking in this regard), so I took the hot tip I got from Rebecca, one of my Kennedy School of Government informants, and joined the packed-out crowd of political junkies watching the debate at Harvard.The audience responded to the candidates with cheers, boos, hisses, and an occasional Yeehaw, texas style, making the event an interactive affair and agood people-watching venue when the debate lagged.
On my biked ride back, I stopped on the Anderson bridge, as I often do, and stood staring at the still black waters of the Charles, which were broken only by the reflections of lights from the boat house, the dark forms of trees lining the river, the passing headlights of cars on Memorial Drive. I stopped caring about either contest for a while and just enjoyed being where I was, on a bridge between Cambridge and Boston, enjoying a mild fall night, about to get on bike to cruise home. I couldn’t stay long since it was already late, but it was nice, for the moment anyway, to feel something with out rivals.
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3 responses to “(Red Sox vs Yankees) vs (Bush vs Kerry)”
We listened to the debate on the radio also. It’s the first one I could bring myself to sit through–though I doubt I could have if I was watching. Our equivalent of K-school yeehaws was provided by live feed from Daily Kos, which made it really hilarious (the "buggy and horse" reference prompted an INSTANT quip of "there goes the Amish vote" — I have no idea how they think these things up so quickly. I was sad the Sox lost, though, and wish I’d had your mellow look into the Charles to center me again. We have the smoke from a huge fire burning in the northwest to turn our sunsets purple instead.
I think pairing radio with live web feed seems like a healthy combination. The Amish quip is genius. As for the Red Sox, they will never get my attention because I grew up a Vikings fan and I’ll never put myself through that kind of constant disappointment again. I’m breaking the cycle now: no more co-dependent relationships with sports teams that have chronic near-miss issues.