My initial thought was to title this post “You kids stay out of my pool” after John McCain’s silly response to the Dodgers taking a dip in the Diamondbacks’ pool. I will give the cantankerous senator the lede in this piece, but I won’t give him the headline. He gets enough of those already.
This year’s Los Angeles Dodgers has been quite an amazing story.
Left for dead in June–late June, really–they threw it into a different level than any Dodgers fan has ever seen before. The arrival of Yasiel Puig seemed to be the straw that stirred the drink, to borrow a term from an old Dodger nemesis. And to clinch the division with a week to spare in the regular season is the sort of thing that almost no Dodgers fan, no baseball media type, no one saw coming back in April and May.
But it was the clip of the Dodgers team storming the field in Arizona–despite requests to the contrary–scaling the outfield wall, and taking over the pool at Chase Field that really cemented the Dodgers’ standing, at least in my mind.
It looked like they had a blast, and why not? Because somebody wanted to keep them out? Because John McCain would get angry if they did? Sorry, but no.
The event makes this Dodgers fan think of the old song that says “Signs, signs, everywhere a sign//blockin’ up the scenery, breakin’ my mind//do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?” If there wasn’t a literal sign in this case, there was a request made. And the request was ignored. This was Teambuilding 101 out in Arizona, and all of us got to have a look at it on the Internet.
Good times, indeed.
When the bellicose senior senator weighed in on Twitter, it took the story to a higher level for me. With all of the problems we have in this country, Sen. McCain feels the need to protect the sanctity of a ballpark swimming pool? That speaks volumes about his priorities.
Maybe the next time he’s on “Meet the Press” (and it won’t be long, either), he can rail against the disrespectful acts of the Dodgers. Maybe, since he didn’t get a war with Syria, he’ll get to call for an attack on Chavez Ravine instead.
But in the meantime, McCain can huff and puff all he wants. The deed was done, and Dodgers reliever Brian Wilson got in a good lick of his own on Twitter. Go to #POoLITICS and you’ll see what I mean.
I’ll be following this team and be a Dodgers fan the rest of the way this season. It’s not like there’s anything going on in Chicago right now, anyway. Thanks to the Dodgers for this simple act of joy, togetherness, and sticking it to the Man in his own pool. Bravo! And thank you John McCain for the encore.
