By Doc Elder
For any of you who have ever listened to me broadcast an athletic contest, you know that I don’t just confine myself to describing the action on the field. On the contrary, I let my imagine run wild as I traipse through film, literature, and pop culture to find just the right analogy to properly convey what is taking place in the game.
“True dat,” you’re all saying. But whether you’re all saying that’s a good thing or a bad thing is open to debate. You either think that my flights of fancy give my broadcasts a lyrical charm, or you wish you could get teleported into my broadcast booth to strangle me for digressing so much. If you fit into the latter category, you have my permission to move onto the next article in The Chase because I’m going to momentarily detour wildly away from the world of sports to use an analogy about Greyhound baseball from the world of music.
Thanks, faithful readers, for staying with me. I hope it will be worth it.
If you listen to my broadcasts, you know that I quite often identify the three greatest American singer-songwriters of all time as Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and Bruce Springsteen. I think their songs will still strike a responsive chord—no pun intended. Who am I kidding? Of course that was intended—with Americans 100 years from now in a way that no other singer-songwriter will be able to achieve. In thinking about Greyhound baseball, I’m reminded of two Springsteen songs that I think are pretty apropos right now.
The first song that comes to my mind is “One Step Up and Two Steps Back.” That’s exactly what the ‘Hounds have done the last two weekends. If you’re a pessimist, you see only the two losses that they suffered against West Texas A&M and then the two losses at the hands of Texas A&M-Kingsville. Fair enough—those games put four more tallies in the loss column for the ‘Hounds.
I, on the other hand, look at the two steps up. The wins against West Texas A&M and Texas A&M-Kingsville came against the two best teams in the Lone Star Conference, and both of those wins happened on the road. Those two wins kept the ‘Hounds within striking distance of a spot in the LSC playoffs. If they get to the playoffs, they will be there for only the second time in Greyhound baseball history.
That leads me to my second Springsteen analogy, and those of you who are fans of The Boss already probably have guessed where I’m going with this one. The team that made it to the LSC playoffs in 2009 featured Greyhound greats such as Freddy Carmona and Jereme Johnston, and represented our Glory Days. And just like Bruce says in his song, those fantastic moments passed us by. I’m not sure I agree with New Jersey’s favorite son that it was as quick as the wink of a young girl’s eye, but it went by pretty rapidly.
I’m hoping that a lot of you will come out the next two weekends to root for the ‘Hounds in person and help them get some much-needed wins. Four wins in the next two weekends should help them climb the standings to third-or-fourth place and a playoff berth.
So let me close by using one last Springsteen analogy: Come on out for the rising. Am I good or what?