"That park with winds that we call Aeolian Arrows
falls on all heads but this green monster is a travesty!" yelled Zeus, referring
to the ballpark that invented
the little league home run years before the high pressured league was begun
for little children.
Indeed, the Boston Red Sox fig-limb
carriers would have the most shots at the shortened fence over the duration
of six months.
Zeus always went for the visiting
team since he was still seething that the "Tea Drowners" had traded his favorite
limb carrier
the great Babe Thunderbolt.
One dazzling piece of revenge he
displayed on them was the day he had Bucky hit a home run over the green
monster to win
the game and send the Yankees to the world Serious.
Zeus was fully aware that the jinx
god "We Got It Made" was about to do his opposite maneuver to aid him, for
most if not all of
the poor masochistic Beantown fans
watching with contempt thought the game was all over and in their hip pockets
with their
wallets.
"But what about all those other parks
that cheat too?" Euphrosyne said, displeased that many good fans had been
saddened
by the big blast - not to mention
all those ballplayers who had cried in disbelieve and anguish seeing their
victory snatched by
the jaws of defeat.
"Cheat? What do you mean,
cheat?" Nike said feeling a little threatened that she was having to do with
instilling in these
particular humans the idea that any means to victory was justified. Oh, how
she loved the deviousness of it all!
"Yes, I remember one day at the house
that Thunderbolt built and all I was doing was betting on bunts - that is
when the skill
was still doable - whether the ball
would stay fair or go foul and only after losing to Ares constantly with me
always betting the
ball would go foul but instead I
noticed after eight rounds the first and third base lines had been banked
up giving the Yankees
a big advantage because they had three excellent bunters who ran like me!"
Hermes said.
"There is something to that. Did
you know some teams tell their ground crew people not to cut the infield
grass so giving their
wing-footed runners that little
extra time to beat out grounders?" Poseidon said making all the Greek gods
in their box seats
high in the sky turn their attention to him.
"And what about teams who have
mostly, I think they call them "single-hitters, and make their fences nearly
out of sight so
creating spacious areas in
which their balls may fall safely and at the same time frustrate their opponents'
four hundred and
fifty foot drives to be caught on warning tracks?" Thalia said excitedly.
"Hey dudo, what about those teams
loaded with sinister-handed pull hitters? They all have right field fences
not much further
than three hundred feet away!" Hephaestus said firing out his words in all
directions.
"Hey who said life had to be
fair? Who said that thing playing itself out on what once was virgin forest
has to be fair too? It's
only a game for Zeus
sake!" Nike said, afraid that if all these little hills were subtracted making
for level playing fields for all
would definitely affect her victories. Her precious sacred victories. ....
(C) copyright 2001 by Jerry Vilhotti. All rights reserved.
Illustration: Copyright 2001 by Evelyn Sichi