A View from the Cox Cardinals Box

Wainwright is on the mound and the Cox family evening at the ballpark includes me. What an awesome break (for me) that Dave has four tickets and two of his three daughters are unwilling or unable to join Dave and Joyce for this contest between the American League Houston Astros and the National League St. Louis Cardinals. The oldest,  Sammy (Samantha),  is home from college and is enjoying quality family time with the P’s and me (as the fourth wheel) at the game.

  

Creighton University, located in Omaha, Nebraska, offers a top-ranked education in the Jesuit tradition for people who, no doubt, want to contribute something meaningful to the world. Sammy is majoring in English. (A win for all of us who champion the pursuit of liberal arts). She missed out on the dream Summer job and reluctantly works for her father’s design firm. Dave is delighted to step up her role from routine filing and errands to proofreading and acting as a copy chief. Dave cannot contain his pride as he reports that Sammy is ridding his marketing communications of split infinitives, double negatives and maybe an inadvertent inappropriate double entendre. The literary purist would probably not like my assertion that: Without Marketing; Nothing Happens! She might not concur with copywriters who insist on writing in the language people use (as confirmed by extensive verbatims from focus groups in major markets).

I wonder how Sammy would responds to sports broadcaster talk. “Well I’ll tell you what… Wain-o has brilliantly thrown 7 shutout innings…I cannot imagine Matheny not making the call to the bull pen soon…’cause you cannot afford not getting the ace some relief from this hot humid St. Louis Summer heat…in June”

Sammy has been to Paris and the home of Claude Monet in Giverny (about 50 miles from Paris). Monet lived there from 1883 until his death in 1926. I am so jealous and she confirmed that it is beautiful and memorable place. I cannot help but suggest she visit the home of Ernest Hemmingway in Key West. (I’ll leave it to her to figure out why such a trip stateside makes sense for an English major.)

Parochial as our town is, Sammy reminds me that the world is really a small place. So, in spite of Wainwright, the Cards fall to the Astros. We are among the 44,000+ fans to leave Busch Stadium on a Thursday night thinking the Redbirds will win the next time.