Two Disparate Comments

Several years ago, sometime back in the late 1980's or early 1990's, a very young Jane Orie knocked at the door of our home in Franklin Park and asked for our vote in an upcoming election for State Representative. Impressed by her willingness to get that personal in her campaigning, I voted for her that year, and in every other election for which she stood since then. My other impression of Jane Orie came a few years ago when we were treating two of our nephews to a day at Wildwood Highlands. The by now State Senator Orie was there leading and treating a group of mentally handicapped adults to a day at the park. There were no newsmen or cameramen there to document this sincere act of kindness on her part.

All this is to say that I feel very badly over Jane Orie's conviction for various offenses in court yesterday that will no doubt end her career and possibly cause her to do some serious prison time. I do not doubt that members of her staff under her direction did what was charged: performed political functions while on the state taxpayers' dime. I also know that if every office holder was punished for the same offenses, we would need to be building a few more prisons to house the offenders. Also, it seemed that the District Attorney's office went after Jane Orie with a zeal that seemed somewhat out of proportion to the crime.

And, yes, I know that just because "everyone else does it", that doesn't make it OK for Jane Orie to have done it as well. Doesn't mean I still can't feel bad for her.

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My other comment concerns a documentary that appeared on PBS last night (and which, thanks to the DVR, I just finished watching) about Fenway Park, which, in case you've been sleeping all spring, is celebrating it's 100th Anniversary this season.

Narrated in reverential tones by Matt Damon, part of the show talked about the elaborate preparation that goes on for a ball game at Fenway. What the show didn't mention is that these same levels of preparation take place at 29 other ball parks in the major leagues on game days as well. The rest of the show highlighted how Special, and Awesome, and Sacrosact, and Holy this ancient structure is. Wow, after it was over, I felt guilty that I wasn't weeping uncontrollably while watching this show. People criticize CBS for the way they gush about the "Tradition Like No Other" that surrounds Augusta National and The Masters, but that is nothing compared to the sycophantic ramblings that people use whenever they describe Fenway Park.

Two stories about Fenway:

1. My wife NEVER ceases to remind me that she has seen a game at Fenway Park, and I have not, and


2. In 2003, when the Red Sox visited Pittsburgh, I sat next to a couple of visiting Sawx fans in from Boston. When I asked how they were enjoying their visit, their response was that they were having a great time, loved our new ball pahk, and wished that they "had a ball pahk like this in Bahston."