Lee Strasberg was a brilliant and innovative director, a great actor, and a legendary teacher for actors. Stephen Strasburg is the young baseball pitching phenom for the Washington Nationals of the Major Leagues. Togo Yoshido is credited with discovering the works of Zeami, the flower in drama and the principles of Noh. Eri Yoshida is the eighteen year old Japanese "knuckleball princess" who currently pitches for the Chico Outlaws of the Golden League. The Majors its not - but she is far enough along with her skills to compete with men and to be considered professional.
Last night the Outlaws were in competition with the Tucson Toros - and I was there. But Eri never made it out of the dugout. Cameras were ready, and binoculars were aimed at the bullpen in anticipation. In fact I've never seen more interest in the bullpen than on the playing field until last night. I suppose Eri can throw the ball from the mound across homeplate, but she looks tiny. She must have a hell of a knuckleball though. And I'm not sure if I am happy or sad that I didn't see her pitch last night. But I did have a hell of a lot of fun at the game and it was exciting, even though the Toros lost in the freakin ninth inning!
It was the ballpark on a summer evening. My daughter took me there for Father's Day and I ate hotdogs and hamburgers and drank beer (six dollar beers in a plastic cup). All in all it makes me think I did something right with her upbringing. Had I done things wrong, she might have said "Hey Dad, I'm going to take you to see a play for Father's Day." Scary.
No comments:
Post a Comment