Weekend Of Happiness!

A good weekend, in honor of Marina's new nephew. The Giants put on some magic, with two walk-off wins--scoring a run in the bottom of the ninth at home to end the game--and a solid 3-0 Sunday victory to sweep the Rockies at AT & T Park, and Newcastle United earned a 2-1 win over Birmingham to clinch survival and another season in the Premier League, armed with the 35 million pounds from the sale of Andy Carroll with which to reinforce their squad.

One of those weekends where the results may not seem momentous in the big picture, but they add up to a satisfying backdrop. Today, for instance, I was driving back from Chico and got stuck in an I-80 quagmire between El Cerrito and the Bay Bridge--it took me an hour to traverse that short distance. But the fact that the Giants were on the radio made it more palatable than it might have been otherwise, and it distracted me from the paucity of driving skills and ethics among my fellow road-prisoners.

There is something soothing about baseball on the radio; the gentle rhythm of the game and the conversation of the announcers, interspersed with the roar of the crowd and the crack of the bat, all add up to a perfect Sunday outing.