Weekly Post #1: A-Rod

A Cruel Bargain for A-Rod and Boys With Baseball Dreams

I'll start the semester off with a great read about A-Rod. And now I'm not posting this because I grew up rooting for the Yankees; rather, I think this article and the steroid issues address one of the major themes we'll cover this semester: the fallen hero. Forget what you think of the over-paid geezer, A-Rod has an impressive baseball resumé and relationship with the game. But then things changed.

What are your thoughts on the idea of A-Rod as a fallen hero? Was his trajectory unavoidable? Is the pressure to be better, faster, stronger partly to blame for his fall?

Welcome to Awesome!

1. Let's start with some laughter. Why? Because.
2. Some baseball news we must talk about .... HoF Voting 2013 and now in 2014 and the veterans committee selection
3. Course intro ... fun stuff
4. What do you expect from this class? Why did you take it (be honest)?
5. Where do we find baseball in our lives every day? Think about phrases and idioms we get from the game.
6. Take Me Out to the Ballgame: When is this song played during a ball game? Why? (Hint: Taft)
7. Casey at the Bat written in June 3, 1888 and published in the SF Examiner (words & recording)
8. Inning 1, Chpt 1 (25 mins)

Shoeless Joe Essay

Formatting
Double spaced
File name: Name_Shoeless Joe.pdf

Submission
dropitto.me/mcollie
Password: EnglishRocks

Shoeless Joe: 214-233

Con't from prior class:

Richard
Shoeless Joe
Mark
The Field
John Kinsella (father)

For the aforementioned characters, please answer the following questions:
1. What does this character reveal about Ray?
2. What role does this character play in Ray's dream?
3. What is this character's relationship to baseball? American dream?

__________________

1. “I know that some of us, and for some reason I am one of them, get to reach out and touch our heart’s desire, like a child who gets to pet the nose of an old horse, soft as satin, safe as a grandfather’s lap. And I know, too, that when most people reach out for that heart’s desire, it appears not as a horse but as a tiger, and they are rewarded with snarls, frustration, and disillusionment” (218).

Personally: What does this passage make you think of? Textually: How does this relate to the major action of the novel?

2. “A collector’s dream” (217). In what way is Ray a collector? What does he collect?

3. “Fact and fantasy swirl together” (218). What role does self-delusion have in dream fulfillment? Is Ray delusional? Salinger? Are we all, just a little? How does delusion relate to our ability to believe and have faith?

4. “We sleep.” …“And wait.” … “And dream … Oh, how we dream” (221). Dream of what?

5. Look at Eddie’s baseball sermon on p. 227 and beyond:

What’s a sermon?

What are the gospels?

What did baseball offer Eddie?

What does the Field offer Eddie?

What’s the significance of using “the word” in his speech? What effect does the repetition have? What does the repetition allude to?

What does Eddie offer Ray?

Besides the love of the game, what’s the connection between the two men?

Last weekly post #14: Bryce Harper and the swing

Here is a fabulous multi-media piece on Bryce Harper's swing. Regardless of your affinity or dislike for Harper, I'm hopeful you can appreciate all of the data collection that went into this article.

No need to bring this back to our novels or discussions in class, what do you think of the article? Any cool things you learned? Are you dying to becoming a sports statistician? Why do you think sports reporters and fans are always looking to compare current players to previous greats? Are we a nation always searching for our next hero? Is it only within the context of stats that we're able to define a great? So many questions ...

Shoeless Joe: 186-214

Annie

Karin

Eddie Scissons

Salinger

Richard

Shoeless Joe

Mark

The Field

John Kinsella (father)

For the aforementioned characters, please answer the following questions:

1. What does this character reveal about Ray?

2. What role does this character play in Ray's dream?

3. What is this character's relationship to baseball? American dream?

As time permits ... another short story!

Shoeless Joe: 157-186

Let's read a little story called Thrill of the Grass.

Discuss.