A TALE OF TWO CITIES

A tourist eating (enjoying?) scorpion on a stick in China

For sports junkies, the last couple weeks have been glorious, especially for the locals. The Olympics in China and the American Legion Baseball Regionals/World Series in Shelby occurred simultaneously. Personally I enjoyed both. I suppose comparisons are inevitable. And since I am the one who writes the column, I guess it’s left to me to construct such comparisons.

Let’s start with the opening ceremonies. China’s offering in Beijing was spectacular, but lasted way too long. Due to my short television attention span, I witnessed little of it. The opening ceremony for the Legion World Series was relatively short and remarkably impressive, considering I witnessed it live. How those skydivers land on a target I’ll never know. But they do and they did that night.

A little Chinese girl stole the world’s heart when she sang some sort of patriotic melody at the Olympics opening ceremony. Not so fast. Turns out the powers that be decided the real singer wasn’t cute enough so they inserted a girl with a “pixie smile” and she moved her mouth at the appropriate moments. At a couple Legion games, very young girls Jordan Beaver and Emily Wilson sang live and in color versions of The Star Spangled Banner that brought tears to the eyes of even the hardest of hearts.

I never could figure out the television schedule for the Olympics. Unless you wanted to stay up until 2:30 a.m., tape delay reigned since Beijing is half a world away. I would read online in the morning about the events then watch them 10 hours later, already knowing the results. And you had to tune in for three hours to get ten minutes of the sport that interested you.

Meanwhile, ten minutes from my driveway, I could enjoy some of the best baseball in the country. And when I wasn’t there, I could listen on the radio and watch live on the Webb-Cam. Okay, one of the games lasted until 3:30 a.m., but it was rain delayed, not tape delayed. Plus the locals won.

I threw out the ceremonial first pitch before one of the Legion games. By the way, I thought it was a strike regardless of the opinion of the radio announcer, who had a bad view. Meanwhile, a member of the Chinese national team was being ejected for throwing a baseball at an American’s head during an Olympic game.

How ‘bout the food? Grilled chicken sandwiches, Barbecue ribs, funnel cakes and homemade ice cream tickled taste buds at the Legion games. In China, delicacies such as fried rice balls, mung bean milk, scorpion on a stick, seahorse, and boiled dung beetles are favorites at the local markets.

Let me be clear. I’m not picking on the Chinese. They did a splendid job hosting the Olympics. Nor am I busting on the athletes. The Redeem team (our USA basketballers) impressed me with their patriotism and appreciation of the opportunity they were afforded. And I am extremely proud of how all my countrymen performed.

But I’m just as proud of how well our local boys fared in the baseball regionals, and I won’t soon forget how our community came together for two weeks and put us on the Legion Baseball map for many years to come. If you were involved in any fashion, you deserve a gold medal.