Much like the characters in Not Another Teen Movie, I attended John Hughes High School. For the record, I identified in some way with all of the characters in The Breakfast Club, but the one that I identified the most with was Andy. This surprises people, I know.
Anyway, RIP John Hughes. To say you will be missed is an incredible understatement.
One Year Ago Today, I crossed the last state border of the AT, from New Hampshire into Maine. At this point, there was *only* 281 miles to go!
I remember the border crossing distinctly, because there was a tent right there, with a southbounder huddled in it. She wanted to get as far as New Hampshire, then pitched her tent because she couldn’t stand the torrential downpour anymore. I should have taken this as a sign of things to come. More on this later.
Earlier that day, Forest Gimp, Catfish and I spent about an hour huddled by the trail, at the edge of the treeline, waiting for the lightning to stop. Catfish and I had been caught above the treeline when the lightning started, and did some sprinting (across very slick wet rocks) while trying not to sh!t ourselves, to get back below treeline, and we didn’t want to relive that experience.
But the next day, August 1st, our first full day in Maine, we took advantage of a mini break in the rain to scramble through the Mahoosuc Notch, which was an absolute blast. A mile-long boulder scramble through a steep ravine. Over, around, sometimes under. Unbelievably fun. I want to do it again! Here are some photos (one, two, three).
On this day of days, I am remembering a day back in October 2007, at a free concert in Golden Gate Park, listening to Billy Bragg introduce his song “The Space Race Is Over.” It’s a beautiful song. He was talking about the origins of the song, which was a conversation he had trying to convince his 12-year old son to do his math homework. I’m paraphrasing:
Well, I told him that without maths, we would have never gotten to the moon. But it kinda didn’t register with him. I don’t think he had any idea, really, that we’d even been to the moon, or what it meant to people, what it might have meant to me, that July, when I was a 12-year old boy staring up at the sky. I mean, that was a time when anything seemed possible. I mean anything. Ending hunger and injustice, that sort of thing. I mean, people forget how amazing it was, and how amazed we all were. You Americans were brilliant. You could just do things, and it would just blow us away. And now, well, sad to say, you just blow us away…
It’s a beautiful song:
When I was young I told my mum
Im going to walk on the moon someday
Armstrong and aldrin spoke to me
From houston and cape kennedy
And I watched the eagle landing
On a night when the moon was full
And as it tugged at the tides, I knew deep inside
I too could feel its pull
I lay in my bed and dreamed I walked
On the sea of tranquillity
I knew that someday soon wed all sail to the moon
On the high tide of technology
But the dreams have all been taken
And the window seats taken too
And 2001 has almost come and gone
What am I supposed to do?
Now that the space race is over
Its been and its gone and Ill never get to the moon
Because the space race is over
And I cant help but feel weve all grown up too soon
Now my dreams have all been shattered
And my wings are tattered too
And I can still fly but not half as high
As once I wanted to
Now that the space race is over
Its been and its gone and Ill never get to the moon
Because the space race is over
And I cant help but feel weve all grown up too soon
My son and I stand beneath the great night sky
And gaze up in wonder
I tell him the tale of apollo and he says
Why did they ever go?
It may look like some empty gesture
To go all that way just to come back
But dont offer me a place out in cyberspace
Cos where in the hells that at?
Now that the space race is over
Its been and its gone and Ill never get out of my room
Because the space race is over
And I cant help but feel were all just going nowhere
I thought I’d take a few moments to attempt to put my many layers of feelings about this issue on paper.
When Beckham first moved to this league, I had very mixed feelings. I hate it when aging European-based players mention MLS as a way to get a last paycheck. This is old thinking, based on the old NASL of Pele and Beckenbauer. MLS is a lot smarter – built for long term financial stability. There are severe financial constraints on each team. But the powers that be recognized that big names can have a multiplier effect in terms of media exposure and revenues. So they created a rule that allowed each team the opportunity to sign one player outside the pay constraints. And LA took the opportunity to sign Beckham. They threw a ridiculous amount of money at him, and have more than gotten it back. Very good ROI. To that extent, it was an unbridled success. And no, I don’t think Beckham did it only for the money. He was genuinely interested in coming to LA, genuinely interested in contributing to the building of the league.
The problem comes with expectations. Beckham has long been the most famous footballer in the world, but he was never close to being the best. Top 50 in the world, at his peak, maybe, and that’s not bad. The irony, though, is that Beckham is so overrated that he’s actually underrated. He’s a damn fine football player. He’s on the downslope of his career, but just barely. He’s a fitness nut, and contrary to his public image, he’s no primadonna on the field – he’s always gone in hard for tackles, worked on defense, and gained the respect of his teammates. But when you’re getting paid more than 10 times the leagues official MAXIMUM salary, then the people want more. When you’re on a team where two players take up more than 60% of the salary cap, that’s a problem. It’s just not going to happen. So the haters will say that he’s overrated and washed up. The eurosnobs will say that his teammates can’t hang with him, don’t have the tactical sophistication to understand his passing, and they’ll point to his success at AC Milan as proof. There’s a shred of truth to this last one, but remember, AC Milan is an aging team in a league known for bunker defending, which means everybody has space and time to play. I would look good playing for AC Milan.
Beckham claims that he is motivated by playing on the English national team in one more world cup. I believe him 100%. In order to accomplish this, he believes that he needs to play more games than MLS offers, and to play games during MLS’ long winter break. He’s probably 100% right on both of these counts. He also believes that the English manager doesn’t think highly of MLS, and thinks he needs to be playing at a higher level. On this, Beckham is also 100% right, the English manager doesn’t rate MLS, but the English manager is wrong. Sure, MLS is not the Premier League, but it’s not a backwater either. Beckham knows it, too. That’s why he came. But he’s not come out strongly, saying “stop calling MLS a third-rate league.” He should have. That would have gone a long way.
Also, let’s not forget the fact that at the time Beckham signed with the Galaxy, he had about zero chance of playing in WC2010. He wasn’t getting off the bench at Madrid. It was the fact that he was getting games regularly in LA, and doing well, that brought him back into the national team radar. If not for MLS, Beckham wouldn’t have even had a WC dream, and this is something he never speaks about publicly. And that’s what pisses me off the most. It’s revisionist history.
The things that Donovan said about Beckham, virtually nobody is denying them. Donovan showed a little lack of maturity and lack of sophistication by saying them publicly before saying them privately, but these things happen. In some ways, that’s why we love Donovan. Those are his warts. Beckham showed a lot of class, by saying little upon his return. He’s a classy guy. And it’s not just image. But he’s also a wounded beast, and that’s what came out when he lashed out at the fans yesterday. Athletes should never engage with fans – no matter what. Remember basketball’s Palace Brawl?
So where do we go from here? I don’t see it getting any better. It’s going to be an exceedingly uncomfortable season. At the end of which, LA should play hardball with Beckham, force him to buy out his contract, so he can play in Europe and in the World Cup. Beckham really could have been the guy to help build soccer in this country. But he’s blown his credibility, and MLS should go ahead and burn that bridge.
I have opinions.
The fourth estate hasn’t been the same since you left. You will be missed.
I went to see the new Harry Potter movie on Wednesday, and was very pleased. You might have heard me say this before, but I’m not a big fan of over-the-top apocalyptic action movies. I’ve never seen Independence Day, or Armageddon, and probably never will. I often compare two Pierce Brosnan James Bond movies – Die Another Day, which is probably the worst James Bond ever because of invisible cars and space lasers – and The World Is Not Enough which is one of the best because it operates on a human scale with personal rather than intergalactic conflicts. Anyway, sure there’s some magic and stuff blows up, but in the end, The Half Blood Prince is a very intimate movie, with lots of human-level conflict. Unlike, say, the previous Potter, and surely the next one, too. So I liked this movie. It was also fun going to opening night, seeing the lobby packed with people in costume, including a very scary-looking Dementor, and also sitting in a theater packed with young kids, who were perfectly fine with all the magical violence but were squirming in their seats about all of the kissing (this is the Potter movie where both Harry and Ron discover their hormones).
Also this week, I finally got around to watching Synecdoche New York. I must say I was very predisposed to like this movie. I’ve liked just about everything Charlie Kaufman has written, and the cast is fabulous. But, sad to say, I really didn’t like this movie. No payoff. Clever for clever’s sake. Why did it get such good reviews?
Is happy the right word? Yes, I’m one of those geeks who likes to make the distinction between “celebrate” and “commemorate.” So what do you say about Bastille Day, the day the Parisian mob stormed a prison in order to liberate four forgers, two lunatics, and an “aristocratic deviant?” About 100 people died. Officially, in France, 14 July is the celebration of “Federation Day,” which happened in 1790, on the one-year anniversary of the storming of the Bastille. This event brought about the First Republic, and the landmark declaration of the rights of man. It also brought about The Terror.
Anyway, enjoy the day, in whatever way you choose…
Today I revisited one of my favorite hikes: Stinson Beach to Mt. Tam’s Pantoll Ranger Station and back to Stinson Beach on a different trail. On my way back to Oakland, I decide to stop by the REI in Berkeley; I wanted to check out bear cannisters since I’m probably doing a High Sierra hike in August. So, literally the second I exit the freeway and turn onto Gilman Street, a Green Day song comes up on my iPod shuffle. Love it!
BTW, today was all about remembering how much I love hiking. I’ve been doing much more running than hiking lately. But man, I still love hiking.
You’ve heard this from me before. The trail is an accordian. Because everybody hikes their own hike, you never know when the trail will bring you back together with someone you haven’t seen in weeks or months. And I freakin’ love that.
So there I was chilling in Williamstown, MA. I had just seen Beth Orton the night before over in North Adams, and was on my way to the most excellent Williams College Museum of Art. I decided to stop in at the great outfitter there, because I was in need of a new thermarest. So I step in the door and am greeted by the TN Twins (Josh and Josiah), whom I hadn’t seen since Standing Bear Hostel at the north end of the Smokies, and Start, whom I hadn’t seen since Hot Springs, North Carolina. About 1200 miles ago. Very cool.
Josh just came to visit me in Cali, and little Josiah is getting married later this year.
My dad sent me a CD of the photos he took (and other people took) with his camera. My cousin Mark was kind enough to put it online here.
