Wilted Roses and Cheap Wine

These days of wilted roses and cheap wine, our leaders and their spouses should pay attention to the perception that is our reality. Vacation travel to Spain in this time and space is unlikely. First Lady Michelle Obama took her daughter, her friends and their daughters aboard Air Force II to Spain this week on holiday. They needed to get away from all the pain and suffering that their Barack had bought us. Perception beats reality to the finish line in our minds most days.

The Yard does not begrudge Duchess Michelle for her trip to Spain on Air Force II with her friends, the Secret Service and the $100,000 per day overhead it costs to stay at her $6500 day resort. We do wonder if the Obama’s made that trip previously when Barack was the junior Senator from Illinois. Apparently, her dear friend’s father passed away and she could not attend the funeral so she needed to take them on a Presidential jet to a foreign destination to make things right.

The Yard might have suggested that Michele and her Posse visit New Orleans. It is a place that her spouse pledged would be returned to its natural glory in the aftermath of the BP disaster. Michelle and her ladies in waiting could have spent money in America stimulating one of our most troubled economies rather than pissing away a million in Euros for paella and Lladro. What a great statement for the bayou to have photo ops with the Obamettes eating oysters and crawfish while hanging at the beach in the Gulf. Apparently, she seems to know that this is their last BBQ and the Obama’s can visit New Orleans on a junior senator’s budget any time they please. They may not pass this way again and 2011 is not going to be a forgiving campaign season. They better count the White House Silverware before the electoral votes are tallied.

The Yard went to Chicago while Michelle was in Spain. Domestic travel seemed prudent and affordable. We are cognizant of the perception of our constituents. It was a post graduation bonding tour with the first daughter of the Yard. Baseball is in our DNA and Wrigley is part of that double helix. The Cubs are not. The Cubbies lost 18-1 that night. Losing by seventeen runs might seem like quite a few runs to lose by but it seemed so much worse. The Brewers methodically took 26 hits to grind out those eighteen runs. The Cubs lost more than one game that night. They should have at least been penalized or voted off the island. Milwaukee only had four extra base hits. There were twenty-two singles, three doubles, one home run, four walks, two Cub errors that scored the eighteen runs while leaving 33 runners on base that could have scored. Chicago could not overcome the Brewers’ two touchdowns, two point conversions and the safety. It took over 100 years to get to this point and it could have been so much uglier. We had a great time and Cub fans are awesome.

As the vacation season unfolds, baseball persists. The trading deadline, bobble head nights and pennant races emerge. Basketball is fighting for mindshare but this is baseball season. The Dodger divorce tour passed on Cliff Lee while the bankrupt Texas Rangers got the deal done. Former Cub Ted Lilly was an acquisition to quiet the fan unrest. Lilly is also a former Dodger and he has done well since coming home. The Yard saw Blake DeWitt in a Cub jersey in the aftermath and he will be missed. It was a brazen McCourt foot race of perception. Reality wins this one.

The Cubbies limped into San Francisco to play the hated ones this week. The Giants won game one and with Timmy “The Freak” Lincecum pitching game two, it seems like September. The Freak gets spanked by the weak. He gets bombed for four runs in the first by a team that has not scored four runs in the first inning all year against anyone. Reality loses a close match to the perception.

The Trojan family still perceives that the athletic department cannot really be responsible for what shenanigans the Bush family conducted in San Diego. The reality is that there were only a few players USC had to keep an eye on and Reggie and his shady stepfather should have been at the top of any list. The second string outside linebacker is not getting an illicit vintage Impala and showing up for press conferences in diamond earrings. The reality is there were probably a lot more feces that the NCAA did not uncover in the Trojan Punchbowl. The Yard just wishes that they also had limited the number of times USC can play the fight song during the course of a game. We would give them five scholarships back if the USC band could only play the fight song twice each game for the next three years.

Preseason: Is the game to recognize the NFL Hall of Fame Class each year the worst game each season? Cincinnati versus Dallas the second Sunday in August was highly rated. It was a miserable sporting event and the Hall of Fame Game is the worst game every year.