Philladelphia

15 years ago my grandmother died. I never had a chance to get to know her very well. She lived in North Carolina and we would see her during vacations in Pennsylvania. My best memory of her was sitting on the porch as she gave me a red batters helmet with a "P" logo. She made me promise to always be a fan and root for that team.
I agreed.
After she died(in January 1993) I looked to the heavens and said, "The Philly's will win the pennet for you this year. They did.
true to her order, I am a Philly fan to this day. Sports are great in this regard. You don't have to have a good reason to root for your team. You cheer because they are your team. I always imagined the personal disdain my Grandmother would have had for John Kruk, Lenny Dykstra, and Mitch Williams. These guys were the bad news bears all grown up. Ripped uniforms covered in chewing tobacco and a guy nicknamed "wild thing" did not epitomize the traits that my dads mother admired in people.
This current run by Charlie Manuals 2008 Phills brings my thoughts back to the late matriarch of the Mosbrook family. I am sure she would have been charmed by the managers southern folksy humor.
Absolute beliefs are OK when it's pennet time. Immature childish behavior is perfectly acceptable toward rival fans. We are all guilty of leaving voicemails of the crowd roaring from the late Jake as Victor Martinez launches a HR into Alberts Alley for Some happless Red Sox fan in Iowa as she drops her tofu pup on the carpet....It is for this reason that I am hoping for the sox to comeback.

This was the only absolute allegiance she asked of me. That is a good thing, because during the other major contest this fall, I want to stick with the candidate that epitomizes the human traits that she admired. I want to support the candidate that has held his head up high and presented his plan for America and how it will work. I want to support the presidential hopeful that has focused on his campaign rather than to unleash rumors that stir hatred and fear.

I can't be sure that my Grandmother would vote for the same candidate as I. She was a southern women that shared comments from time to time that most people in Cleveland Heights find offensive.
My guess is she would identify with the other candidate more.
I don't write this to condemn her, or to point out flaws in my family. Her comments were shocking to us mostly because of the beliefs her own son had raised us with. He was always objective. He was a civil rights era news reporter in Cleveland, Ohio. He has had the opportunity to sit and discuss issues with MLK, Carl and Louis Stokes, and Desmond Tutu. He had a chance get a better understanding of who these men were. I never had the feeling that he ever had to look beyond race. I always felt he was far beyond race. His opinions were formed through thorough open minded investigation.

My Grandmother always expected us to stand with dignity. I can overlook a lack of dignity in Mr Dyksta. He was a Philly. His job was centerfield. The man that becomes president however will not be given the same blind eye. Implied bigotry is not a campaign. It is one thing to see people in the Dawg Pound, the old Vet, or Fenway act like a bunch of hateful idiots, but when I see it on a presidential campaign, it is a real turn off.

(I removed the Strongsville video from this post)