From: glevy@PRATT.EDU
Date: Sun Dec 14 2003 - 22:32:47 EST
From the opposition site _Venezuela Today_. If these right-wingers weren't dangerous, this would be too funny. Hockey player indeed! In solidarity, Jerry >---------- >They are bringing Lebowitz in > >the eighth inning but the game > >is already 9 to 1 >By Gustavo Coronel > >December 2, 2003 > > >---------- > > >Left hander relief pitcher ><http://www.sfu.ca/economics/faculty/mike_lebowitz.html>Mike Lebowitz > walked slowly to the mound of the Caracas baseball stadium. He had been > brought at the last minute from Havana, from the Vedado neighborhood > to be exact, where he had been living for a while, trying to > understand Latin American baseball and politics. As he walked to the > mound he felt like a beached whale. He had no knowledge of the > opponents, not even a good feeling for his own team. He had been > reading a book by ><http://www.rebelion.org/harnecker.htm>Marta Harnecker, "Harnecker" as > he calls her, but he knew that Chileans do not play baseball. > Furthermore the book was in Spanish. From what little he had seen so > far, his team was not even revolutionary in the orthodox sense of the > word. At best the game was being played by two teams of the > bourgeoisie, not by a truly revolutionary team opposing the hated > oligarchies. And there he he was, coming in to pitch for a team which > seemed to be simply looking for a political reshuffling and not for a > true change. "What am I doing here?" he thought. But as he thought > that, it was already too late. Manager Gregory Wilpert was handing him > the ball. > >The problem with Lebowitz is that he is not a baseball player. He > probably plays good hockey, at least he looks like a hockey player, > but they brought him to Caracas to play a game he did not know > anything about. His knowledge of Latin baseball was only theoretical. > In the case of Venezuelan baseball it was only based on whatever books > Marta told him and this is not the proper way to play the game. The > pitcher he was relieving, > <http://gregpalast.com/columns.cfm?subject_id=20&subject_name=Latin%20Americag > Palast, had gone back to London in disgrace, after allowing several > runs by the opposition. Manager Wilpert only had Lebowitz left in the > bullpen. The star of the team, first baseman Chávez, has had a > disatrous >performance. He committed several costly errors which allowed the > opposing team to build a comfortable lead. Lebowitz felt this was > unfair. The game is already lost, he felt, and no matter how good I > look in relief I will not get any credit. > >He decided, therefore, to do the minimum possible effort on behalf of a > team he did not trust. For all he knew, the good guys were the others. > He would be going back to Havana, where he would write an esay on the > unusual type of baseball played in Venezuela. > >The main problem with Lebowitz is that he lives in a predominantly > theoretical, academic world. If you pitch "this way," theory says, the > batter will strike out. But whenever he tries to put this theory into > practice, he gets clobbered. Considering his significant cultural > limitations, he did as well in Venezuela as a Venezuelan would have > done shoveling snow in British Columbia. > > > >© 2003 Gustavo Coronel
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