Thirty-eight thousand people packed Fenway on Wednesday night — the biggest crowd in a decade. The Red Sox lost. Such a Red Sox thing to do, but as I’ve always said to my long-suffering Sox friends, baseball season doesn’t really begin until after the All-Star break. This year’s Red Sox team proved that again, with a dismal spring and early summer. But a historic run in July put them back in the pennant race.
Baseball is life. A long season. Head down. Learn from your mistakes. Burn the bridge behind you. Win the next tonight. Take the next series. And then focus on the game after that.
As I told my daughter as she went off to college, don’t get overwhelmed at everything coming at you at once. Eat the elephant one bite at a time.
The Sox play the Blue Jays tonight. Tomorrow doesn’t matter. One bite at a time.
Here are some fun events you can have a taste of this weekend:
In Queens, MoMA PS1’s “Warm Up” returns today, the courtyard dance party that’s been a summer institution in Long Island City for more than two decades. Six Fridays, all summer long.
In Newport, the Folk Festival takes over Fort Adams this weekend, with three days of music at the grounds that gave us Bob Dylan’s historic move of going electric and Joni Mitchell’s return to the stage. An American original since 1959, and it still sells out for a reason.
In the nation’s capital, Poet’s Homecoming wraps this weekend with its “Big Old Kids Party”: part poetry brunch, part indie wellness fair, all of it free.
In Chicago, Double Dutch Fest takes over South Shore all weekend with jump-rope workshops, breakdancing and old-school lawn games. Seasoned or still learning the ropes, everyone’s welcome.
In New Orleans, the X Games take over the Caesars Superdome for the first-ever XGL Championship. Three days of skateboarding, BMX and Moto X, with Metro Boomin and JID closing out the nights.
Out west, it’s San Francisco Marathon weekend. Check the route map, whether you’re running, cheering or just trying to cross the street. I pray for the runners’ joints that Lombard Street is not on the route.
In Miami, the county is holding its final Adopt-A-Tree event tomorrow at FIU’s Biscayne Bay campus — firebush, pigeon plum, cinnamon bark, all free, all yours.
And wherever you are, it’s National Tequila Day. If life hands you lemons, skip the lemonade. Add salt and tequila. Here are 10 cocktails to shake up at home.
MAILBAG
Do you believe that this administration will move forward with ground troops in Iran where we will experience another Vietnam war?
— Paul C., New Bedford, Massachusetts
Paul, there is no way to predict exactly what this president will do. But everyone close to him is certain that he will not commit ground troops to Iran.
When you look at his approval rating on the war, and especially the economy, the last thing Republicans want Donald Trump to do is double down. The sight of more Americans coming home in coffins is a tragedy this country does not want to endure. That said, the president has few good options and no one can predict exactly how this will end.
Please explain where we get all these billions of dollars Trump is spending like a drunken sailor, while taking food and healthcare away from Americans. I worry we are borrowing it and paying a very high interest rate.
—Linda K., Spring Grove, Illinois
Linda, more Americans need to be concerned about the issue you have raised here.
The national debt is about to hit $40 trillion. When I entered Congress a generation ago, it was at $4 trillion. That was even too much for the members who came into the House of Representatives with me.
We fought hard over our first few years to balance the budget for the first time in a generation. We went on to balance it for four years in a row.
That is the only time it has happened in 100 years.
Today, the Republican Party keeps giving tax cuts to billionaires and trillionaires, passing out corporate welfare breaks to multinational corporations, spending your tax dollars on bloated and outdated weapons programs, and are now paying more of your tax dollars for interest on the U.S. debt than for America’s national defense. Because of the GOP’s failure, this is an existential crisis that needs to be addressed at once by both political parties in Washington, D.C.
Because gifts to the president require Congress’ approval, does that mean that next year’s Congress can take away the plane and other excessive gifts in the future?
— Mike B., Arlington, Texas
If Democrats take control of Congress, they need to work first on issues involving affordability. But they also must look at their options and address the unprecedented grift and corruption that has taken place in the first two years of the Trump administration. The plane from Qatar should be at the top of the list, but they should also work to pass legislation that will stop all future presidents, and their families from benefiting financially because of their positions of power in Washington, D.C.
Not only have many of these sleazy schemes warped American foreign policy, but they have also undermined citizens’ confidence in their own government.
That must change.
You and Roger Bennett complained about how the U.S. doesn’t have a good men’s soccer team. We have had amazing women’s soccer teams. What are we doing right with women’s soccer that could be applied to men’s soccer as far as training up the young?
— Carol P., Denver, Colorado
Carol, that is a great question, and neither Roger nor I have the answer. It is something we’ve been discussing since the end of the 2010 World Cup, and we agree that one of the biggest problems is our approach to developing players.
In Europe, talented, young soccer players are paid to join an organization and develop their game. In America, parents usually pay tens of thousands of dollars — and travel long distances — to have their sons participate in a higher level of competition.
The goal for most young players in the U.S. is to make a college soccer team and have their education paid for by colleges like Tufts, Pepperdine, or Dartmouth. In Europe, young players train with the goal of joining clubs like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, and Liverpool.
By the time they reached the World Cup, the gap became painfully obvious. That said, this U.S.A. squad was easily the best I have seen and could have gone farther, had their wonderful run not been tangled up in ugly politics. And yes, like many, I blame Donald Trump’s clumsy intervention in the red card controversy with getting our players off their game during the first half of the Belgium match.
We’ll get ‘em next time.
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