Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

Brother Jim notes that this whole discussion of "Time to call Hospice," "That sucks," "Well, on the bright side, Strasburg's ulnar collateral ligament is intact" (at least according to one of those pesky MRIs) is getting a little surreal. Hard to argue with that.

Monty Python's Life of Brian. "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life!"

I can only say that my primary frame of reference for end-of-life issues is Monty Python (despite actual reading of somewhat more contemplative literature on the subject) while my primary frame of reference for life issues is baseball (in addition of course to the love and support of family and friends and the goodness of humanity and all that) so where are you going to go?

Regardless, it was clear when Sally and I watched Strasburg slink off the mound on Wednesday night, muttering into his glove, that I was not the only guy in Washington preoccupied by health issues this week. Despite the circumstances, we owe the Nats organization huge thanks for accommodating my mobility issues with elevators, cheerful young men pushing wheel-chairs, and a swap of our field-level seats for accessible club-level chairs that looked directly over Strasburg's sad march down to the dugout after only 42 pitches. 

Wasn't much of a game, either, at least at first -- an hour-long rain delay followed by some anemic baseball until a give-and-take in late innings and ultimately a Ramos' walk-off single in the 11th, when we were long in bed. And by that time, I imagine Strasburg was on the phone to his family, keeping things in perspective. A $175 million, seven-year contract extension will help with that as well.

But this was supposed to be his season, and it sure looked that way early on. The news of his contract extension in May was cause for great rejoicing in Washington, and after his stint on the disabled list, those 42 pitches -- well, 40 pitches, number 41 looked tragically hinky -- in August seemed a road map to the World Series. He is certainly allowed a grimace.

We shall forgive Stephen Strasburg if he doesn't choose this moment to look on the bright side of life. 

And as for the reaction of F.P. Santangelo, Nats color guy extraordinaire, well what do you hire color guys for? "So this is about the worst possible thing that could happen."

Yes and no. For another perspective on that, there's Falluja and Tikrit, and Orlando, and yes, the more immediate issue in our household of how I'm doing. 

Could be better, no doubt, but I'm in good hands.