Crazy morning…
Last night my neighbor, Erik, who has emphysema and wears an oxygen machine, was taken away by a fire truck and ambulance. The first responders all wore light blue PPE gowns and some sort of mask with filters. Then this morning, another neighbor, same scenario. I’ve only seen this happen once before on this block, when my old neighbor passed away, 8 years ago.
I do have an unusual demographic around me. There’s MaryAnne the 68 year old woman across the street and on the other corner the 80 year old man and his younger (60s) wife. But it’s still disconcerting: I saw Erik’s wife Joyce at the Fred Meyer last week.
I had seen an ambulance/fire truck situation last week a few blocks away on my neighborhood walk and I’m not trying to be dramatic ( I guess I don’t have to try) but it feels like this virus is closing in around me. I am trying to make peace with that. I guess I’m going to get this thing one way or another and either I’ll get very ill or I won’t. Isn’t that supposed to be the final, most healthy, outcome from grieving? Aren’t we in a moment of grief?
I started a loaf of sourdough spelt bread and took a walk.
It was nice and quiet until I hit the hill near the park: a jogger, a walker, a casual laborer waiting for his ride (I see him here almost every morning). Then down the hill two more guys, walking together, no masks. Across the bridge it was quiet but on the other side a group of 6 women walking together, one wearing a mask – the first mask up to that point.
There I saw two Downy Woodpeckers. They were making babies in the trees, chasing each other all over the branches. That was a special treat. I’ve heard them tapping on the trees all over the place but this was this first time I’d seen them with my eyes and they were extremely close – so close I had to back up to get a picture with my phone/scope setup.
And right while I was trying to take a picture, two more guys came up to me. I pointed out the Downy and he said “you’re birding? I’m a birder.” He looked more like one of the homeless dudes I see in the park so I just nodded. Then he said “do you use e-bird?” – which is the app I use to count birds – and I said yes to which he replied, are you “Tim Ba…” and I was dumbfounded. He knew my name (ish, it’s hard to pronounce): I just needed to move away from this dude so I said “well, good luck” and split with my pup. I need to check my e-bird settings and display a less public name.
It was like that the rest of the walk: people everywhere, birds everywhere as well. People out in their yards, a guy was even dancing in his driveway like MC Hammer on crack, all before 0900: it feels like people in my neighborhood are starting to just give in to the inevitable.
And when I got home, Arsenal were in the news: the players are back at training. It is socially distanced training, all the players and staff have been tested for COVID, they will keep getting tested, and football will return behind closed doors very soon, it’s inevitable.
The club also announced season ticket holders will get a refund/credit for the unused portion of their season tickets. I wonder how many of the folks demanding that the players give back portions of their salaries are going to donate this unused portion of their season tickets back to the club? I bet a lot of them will, they are Arsenal till they die!
Qq
I love my club, it’s history (in which I played a teeny, tiny part) in the Emirates move, but right now I couldn’t care less if football comes back this year.
My brother was in the hospital (non Covid-19 related) yesterday, he’s okay now, we lost two family friends recently (non-Covid related) and my old friend, Emmanuel who introduced me to Nigerian music and many, many good times passed away of Covid 19. People whom I knew and loved who’ve passed away in the last 30! days DOESN’T take away my love for all things Arsenal but makes it a more distant passion than it’s ever been.
Looking at news from across the pond and thinking of you, Tim. I mean our politicians failed their responsibility to us out of the usual disdain, bluster, racism, entitlement and poisonous ideology, but you guys have all of that plus this strong libertarian current running through your politics … I don’t see the UK descending into dog eat dog (as much as parts of British society would like to see that) but when COVID hits the more rural parts of the US I’m not so sure.
Sorry to be so bleak. But I feel these days that its got so bad that an ordinary act of love feels like a genuine act of resistance.
I think it’s important to try not to succumb to the fatalism. Keep baking that bread out of love and hope.
Stay safe, Tim.
Yesterday afternoon on ITV (UK) they showed the Liverpool game from 1989. I can only assume they still feel obliged to show sport on a Saturday, even when there is none. Much happier times obviously. It’s funny, but no matter how many times I watch Michael Thomas run through on goal right at the end, I’m still frightened he’s going to miss. Was it really 30 years ago? Feels like yesterday.
Interesting to see how football has changed. No patient build up. Basically, when you had the ball, you got the ball up into the attacking third as quickly as possible. When the opposition had the ball, you kicked lumps off of them. No rolling around in mock agony. Players just got up and got on with it. No tattoos. No exotic haircuts. The boots were black and had 3 stripes on the side. Shorts were short. The Arsenal side was made up from local London lads who had come up through the youth set up and a few unknowns George Graham bought from the lower divisions. No expensive superstars. Not one. What was evident was the passion with which they played the game. It was palpable and reminded me of what I loved about watching football in the first place. You somehow identified with the players who went out there and played for your team. It felt almost tribal.
Now the financial football bubble has well and truly burst, I couldn’t help but wonder if it would all go back to that. A part of me quite hopes it does.
funny, here in the states, they showed a replay of arsenal vs. liverpool from 5 years ago. i don’t remember the game but that team featured coqzorla so i expected arsenal to win, which they did, 4-1 and the one liverpool scored was a penalty conceded by hector that ospina nearly saved.
wenger built that team and it was so good. like i said, it featured coqzorla but also giroud, alexis, monreal, and mesut. i felt, with coqzorla, arsenal could beat any team in europe; they allowed mesut to shine. too bad those two couldn’t both stay fit for the majority of a single campaign. the really sad part is who would have thought arsenal would be where they are a short 5 years later…and mesut would be the only player still left from that team.
I couldn’t agree more.
Apart from anything else, it was great seeing Steve Bould with a full head of hair!
Rocky Rocastle of course. He had everything. Bags of skill, but as strong as an ox. You wouldn’t fancy a 50/50 ball with him. He came from the same south London estate as Ian Wright, just down the road from me.
Still breaks my heart that he died so young.
My abiding memory of David Rocastle was the goal he got at Old Trafford. He was running through from midfield and he saw Peter Schmeichel off his line, so went to chip him. The ball cannoned off the crossbar, hit Schmeichel on the back of the head and went in the goal. An outrageous bit of skill, while running at full pelt, followed by a great comedy moment. As the goalkeeper had previously racially abused Ian Wright (allegedly), then there was a bit of retribution thrown in. It was also against United at their ground. What more could you want?
Josh
The 14/15 and 15/16 teams were arguably the most technically skilled teams Arsene ever assembled. Ozil in his prime, Cazorla, Wilshere, Ramsey, Giroud, Alexis, Nacho, Kos. Those teams probably had some of the best passing and creativity stats in the world but they were never all that successful in terms of results especially in 15/16. The 15/16 team had the advantage of playing against the weakest top of the table in this century but was trophy free, lost again in the first knock out round of the CL, collecting only 71 points and score only 65 goals which was the fewest goals of any Arsenal team in this decade.
Josh.
Those teams had arguably as much technical skill and passing ability as any team in the world. The problem was they lacked firepower and they didn’t have nearly enough goal scorers. They needed a CF like Auba. Great passing and technical skill does not mean a whole lot when you don’t have players are good at turning the passes into goals scored.
We would have been in a much better position to get results if those teams would have had a CF like Aguero or Harry Kane. I think the The fact that Giroud could only score in low to mid teens when he was playing with Ozil and Cazorla indicates that he was never very good at scoring goals which is what those teams really needed
Bill/Josh,
I’d have Cazorla from that team every single time. The rest? They had their moments, but that was about it. Did they play well as a team? Not particularly. Did they have a winning mentality? Almost certainly not. A decent enough cup side. Not a patch on the team that went a whole season unbeaten.