Ballet and Baseball

Ballet
As Katrina's anniversary gift last month, I bought us tickets to today's local performance of the ballet "Sleeping Beauty."

This was my first ballet (I think), so I went in with low expectations for my enjoyment potential. The first act wasn't too bad, but the second act had no plot and was hard to follow, so I got bored. I think I still much prefer theater, but I told Katrina she might be able to get me to go back to the ballet again.

Baseball
In other news, I listened to an interesting book on tape on the way to and from the office this week: Bob Costas' "Fair Ball: A Fan's Case for Baseball." Although it's about seven years old, he still made some great points about baseball: its problems, its strengths and its needs for the future.

His No. 1 priority was finding a way to institute a salary cap (both for individuals and teams) and revenue sharing. He made a compelling case that the majority of owners and players, and the fans and the game itself, would benefit from this arrangement. The ultra-elite players and top few owners would be sacrificing, but doing so for the greater good, ultimately growing the game and making everyone involved with it richer.

His other big objection is to the wild card and the way it removes all hope of a real pennant race. When you think about it, he's right. The only way there is really a life-or-death battle for a division title now is if both teams are so mediocre that they have no hope of the wild card. His solution is to only allow three teams from each league into the playoffs and give the team with the best record in each league a first-round bye. This, he says, would restore the drama of real races for division titles, plus give a true advantage to the team that has the best regular season. It's an interesting proposal, to say the least.

I don't have the time or the memory to summarize the whole book here, but it comes recommended if you have a chance to pick it up at your local library.

Bonus joke for making it to the end of the post
On the way home from evening services tonight, I pointed out a little sign on the side of the road advertising a "psychic fair" last weekend. Without missing a beat, Katrina asked me: "Why do psychics need to advertise?"

Bonus news for making it to the end of the post
For those of you who didn't see on Facebook, our next ultrasound is scheduled for Thursday, so tune in later this week for official boy-or-girl news.