Happy Bastille Day!

And if anyone wants to use the "cheese eating surrender monkeys" line here, I would remind them that after the fall of France (due to an over-reliance on the Maginot Line, not any failing of the French Army) a huge number of French citizens continued to resist. The passed intelligence to the Allies, sabotaged rail lines, aided downed Allied aviators, and risked torture and death in the face of overwhelming odds in order to fight the hated Boche. Thousands of Maquis and other Resistance fighters did die, and thousands more Free French Forces paid the ultimate price to liberate the Motherland.

Viva la France!

On the cusp of the All-Star Game

Terrence Mann's speech from the end of Field of Dreams

"Ray, people will come Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course, we won't mind if you look around, you'll say. It's only $20 per person. They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they'll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come."

Someday, I'd love to visit the real Field, and stand on the mound. I'd look in to see the Dodger's best power hitter glaring at me with two down and a full count. I'd check the runners at first and third, set, and throw a cutter right at the knees. He swings for the bleachers and all that is heard is the sound of a ball hitting leather and the umpire calling "Striiike Three!"

What's your Field of Dreams moment?