Remembering Mark Buehrle's Perfect Game

I was one of the fortunate 23,000 or so fans in attendance at Mark Buehrle's perfect game. The sheer fact that I was a witness to history still seems surreal today. It was so totally amazing and simply a perfect day to watch baseball. I was with my little brother and my dad and the game was apparently some sort of work outing. They were cheap seats, so unsurprisingly we were watching the game from the balcony. My other brother was at home, so we decided to buy him a White Sox pen, and on our way, I unexpectedly received proof that I was at the perfect game. A photographer decided to take a picture of me and my little brother. He gave us a slip of paper with a link to the website. Typically, I would throw away something as seemingly forgettable as that, but I felt that it may be a good idea to save every memento from this baseball game.

Even in the first inning, I was watching intently. My dad bought me and my brother some peanuts, but we never did finish them. I didn't want to miss a second of the action so I just held the peanuts in my hands. Most people go to the game and lounge around and hang out with friends. I was invested. I watched every pitch Buehrle made and every play the White Sox did. When Buehrle went 1-2-3 in the first inning, I surprisingly was expecting a perfect game. I always had this belief that a perfect game really is an inning by inning deal. Getting through the first inning perfect was enough hope for me to believe that there would be a perfect game. But the odds were against me. So far there were only 17 perfect games in about 27000 regular season matchups. I doubted that I would see Buehrle pitch a masterful perfect game, despite his pedigree. Then my day was made when White Sox first baseman Josh Fields hit a grand slam in the second inning. I was telling myself that as long as the White Sox win, this will be a good day. But each inning passed and Buehrle continued his streak. After about five innings, I whispered to my brother that Buehrle was perfect through five innings. Had I told any die hard fan this, he would have punched me square in the face. The first rule of perfect games was you do not talk about the perfect game in the middle of a perfect game. But I neglected this rule, and apparently so did Hawk Harrelson, the boisterous and biased White Sox commentator. But I would not be celebrating on my own for much longer.

By the sixth inning, more and more people realized that Buehrle was pitching a perfect game. More mumbling came from the crowd that Buehrle was perfect. So naturally, when Buehrle went to the mound, more and more of the crowd stood up in support of the southpaw. When the eight inning rolled around, the entire stadium was filled with cheers. Every out was greeted with cheers. Every called ball was greeted with boos. I remember gasping on one foul ball that nearly was safe. When the ump called it foul, I, along with my fellow fans, sighed in relief. But as we know, that wasn't even close to the most stressful moment of the game. That would be the opening batter of the ninth. At this point, I was telling my brother how awesome it would be to get the perfect game. Against the hot hitting Tampa Bay Rays, it would be amazing for contact pitcher Mark Buehrle to defeat a good hitting club in a hitter's park. I then told him that Gabe Kapler, who was up to bat, would probably be the second least worrisome person in the lineup other than backup catcher Michel Hernandez. But Kapler knocked one deep. I watched the ball travel and saw Dewayne Wise watching it too. Then he leapt at the wall, put the mitt on the ball, and then grabbed the loose ball with his free hand. I whooped and hollered along with the crowd. I was amazed at the catch, but it wasn't until later that I realized how spectacular the catch really was. Then he struck out the next batter for out number 26.

Then there was batter number 27 Jason Bartlett, the shortstop for the Rays. He was also a great hitter, and he got Buehrle down at a 2-1 count. Then it happened. Bartlett softly grounded the ball out to Alexei Ramirez, one of the best defensive shortstops in baseball. All he had to do was make a routine throw to first and history would be theirs. He made the throw and the crowd watched the ball intently. Fields, who hit the grand slam in the second inning, caught the ball cleanly and ran towards Buehrle. The entire crowd burst into cheers, myself included. And those peanuts from the first inning? They were still clutched in my hands, as the superstitious person that I am. Everyone shouted "Buehrle! Buehrle!" It didn't matter whether we were still in U.S. Cellular Field or on our way to the parking garage or the CTA Red Line. Buehrle was the hero of the day. Even two years later, I remember that feeling of breathlessness while watching history in the making. Even right now, while I'm writing this, I smile when I think of July 23rd, 2009. The game on tap was my White Sox versus the Tampa Bay Rays pitting Mark Buehrle against Scott Kazmir. 10 years later, people may start to forget the minor details. But no one in attendance at that game will never forget Buehrle and his perfect game, making our perfect day.

The Last Airbender Series: The Southern Air Temple and the Importance of Sports

With the latest hoopla with the US's run at the World Cup or Derek Jeter's 3000th hit, it seems more and more obvious that sports are a mainstay in society. But if you look at related news surrounding these incidents, you can see that sports are not just spectacle for us. There is definitely something important about sports that changes and affects people. If you look at the Avatar game mentioned in this episode called "Airball", you see that sports separates people from real life. It transports them into this perfect world where we can escape the trouble of the real world.

Aang returns to the southern air temple for the first time since running away. He first acts excited about finally returning to the air temple and seeing all of the monks, air bison, and flying lemurs. But he walks into a lifeless temple, and he sees the airball field and he convinces Sokka to play. Of course, there are many interesting questions during this scene. One of the big ones is how Sokka managed to get on top of the pole. Another is how the game is actually played. But in that moment, Aang is completely and utterly happy. This scene, seemingly pointless or merely fun, is juxtaposed with Katara hiding the Fire Nation helmet. Though this is almost certainly reading way too much into this scene, it seems that the writer is suggesting that airball is a way to hide the truth. It is a way to avoid realizing that the Fire Nation army destroyed the Air Nomads. But isn't there some truth in this? The concept that sports are a way to escape from our everyday problems is a common idea and something actually discussed in How I Met Your Mother. But how about bigger problems like this genocide? Well according to this, it seems to be true. And today seems to be the best example. Japan won the World Cup. This win is so important because of what happened to Japan, still recovering from the devastating earthquakes and tsunamis. Though they still have to rebuild, Japan could celebrate their team's win despite all of the tragedy.

Like life, the story of Aang continues when he realizes what happened to his people. It shows that sports are merely a distraction, a diversion from the troubles of the real world. We can't wrap ourselves around sports or else we will never return to the real world. Sports are not supposed to consume our lives, but sometimes it's nice to escape from it all by immersing ourselves in sports. It gives us peace of mind, if even for that one game, that one championship, that one moment.

Beauty and the Beast Review

I recently watched Beauty and the Beast on Broadway in Chicago. Though the musical was not a Broadway production (it was non-equity and it showed), it was still a very enjoyable time at the theater. Of course, this musical was benefited by a classic story and great songs. The talent level was lower than the usual Broadway show, but the actors definitely earned their stripes. They did not have the most melodic voices or most honed acting skills, but they were very charming nonetheless. That was the big thing about this musical. It was never going to attract the audience with flair and boisterousness. It would have to convince us that it really was the little engine that could. Everything else was not top notch. The ending was affected by a shortage of players and the sets were minimalist at best. The acting and singing was good, but not great, though this musical's Gaston did sound like Gaston. But it had charm. It was witty (although sometimes it was a little too tongue-in-cheek) and it was cute. It was not a showstopper, but a musical that after watching made you feel good. It charmed you and entered your heart, even if it was not the best. It did lack the resources of a typical Broadway play, but it made do, and the result is something worth seeing.

Transfomers: Dark of the Moon Review

After seeing this movie, I can only say that Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a lot better than Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. I mean this, and I think that this will be the highest grossing movie of the year. But, it still leaves much to be desired.

First, the good about the movie. The movie was rather witty, with many tongue-in-cheek remarks that an astute viewer could catch on. No more jive talking Autobots. Brilliantly hilarious turns by Alan Tudyk and Ken Jeong. Tudyk played Dutch, the do-everything assistant to John Turturro's former agent Seymour Simmons (another gleefully over-the-top performance for Turturro). Jeong played Jerry Wang, a former NASA member. He did what Ken Jeong did best. Despite little screen time, he churned out the laughs with his sheer wackiness. And of course, the destruction of Chicago. The unbelievable destruction of Chicago was some of the greatest F/X generated apocalyptic scenes ever. Bay literally out-exploded himself on this one.

Now, the bad. Despite solid actors like Frances McDormand and John Malkovich joining the fold, the acting in general was weak. This was absolutely the case with Megan Fox's replacement Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.  Don't get me wrong. Megan Fox's Mikaela was not a great character. But Huntington-Whiteley's character Carly was not a suitable replacement. At least Mikaela looked sultry rather than vapid. Carly had one improvement. She was British. She was a weaker, less emotional, and less alluring character compared to Mikaela. She was another case of Michael Bay adding spectacle to the movie. I had trouble with Bay's directing. Though he did overuse cliched tropes like slow motion, I think that my biggest problem was that he could not focus. He would use unnecessary cuts and angles to make the movie seem more kinetic. But in my opinion, he did not need to. Just look at the battle scenes between the Autobots and Decepticons. Despite everything already going on in the scene, he added to the motion by jumping between battles. He never gave us a good view at what he wanted to show us. We wanted to see fighting, but Bay's erratic directing never allowed that to happen.

This was a very entertaining movie. But it wasn't good. This movie never drew me in. Instead, it took all of its special effects, all of its explosion, all of its fighting, and all of its spectacle and then bashed the audience over the head with it. This led to an incredibly detached experience. Even when there was supposed to be an emotional connection between the audience and the character, the loudness and showiness of the movie kept us out of it. But if you came to see that movie, you didn't expect something to draw you in. You wanted to be bashed over the head. That's what made it entertaining. You were so detached that you could enjoy it and then seemingly forget about it.