I just happened upon this interesting essay and at 78 years old was reminded that, way back when I played Little League baseball ⚾️ in Arlington Va our team was sponsored by the Lions Club, and Kiwanis sponsored others. Further, the Masonic Temple was a prominent building upon entering Alexandria, Va. For me, those were “the good old days.”
It sounds like you may not have any context for what I'm writing about here, but for those who do (and you if I'm wrong, and you do, or sometime later you do): I've been pondering recently if baseball is a temporalist game. The absence of a clock gives it a sense of enduring timelessness, in contrast to the almost factory-like discipline of sports that do have clocks. And in baseball, one doesn't engage in the spatialist practice of invading and dominating the other team's territorial space, as in football, soccer, hockey, basketball, etc. Definitely need to give this more thought; it might even warrant a one-off post. But I certainly see the melding of baseball and fraternal societies as co-symbols of a lost (more) temporal era.
Your naming of fraternal organizations like Kiwanis and Lions were the “madeleines” as in Proust’s “Remembrances of Things Past” that involuntarily sent me backwards in time to wearing a baseball uniform with the Lions Club patch on it. Lions International still exists. Besides UFC and boxing, my wife and I routinely watch professional baseball games, most recently of course, the World Series. UFC, and boxing, of course, have time limits as they must have. But the commonality of all three sports is one of individual responsibility and talent and endurance.
Emotions are energy in motion
I just happened upon this interesting essay and at 78 years old was reminded that, way back when I played Little League baseball ⚾️ in Arlington Va our team was sponsored by the Lions Club, and Kiwanis sponsored others. Further, the Masonic Temple was a prominent building upon entering Alexandria, Va. For me, those were “the good old days.”
It sounds like you may not have any context for what I'm writing about here, but for those who do (and you if I'm wrong, and you do, or sometime later you do): I've been pondering recently if baseball is a temporalist game. The absence of a clock gives it a sense of enduring timelessness, in contrast to the almost factory-like discipline of sports that do have clocks. And in baseball, one doesn't engage in the spatialist practice of invading and dominating the other team's territorial space, as in football, soccer, hockey, basketball, etc. Definitely need to give this more thought; it might even warrant a one-off post. But I certainly see the melding of baseball and fraternal societies as co-symbols of a lost (more) temporal era.
Thank you for your contribution to the comments.
Your naming of fraternal organizations like Kiwanis and Lions were the “madeleines” as in Proust’s “Remembrances of Things Past” that involuntarily sent me backwards in time to wearing a baseball uniform with the Lions Club patch on it. Lions International still exists. Besides UFC and boxing, my wife and I routinely watch professional baseball games, most recently of course, the World Series. UFC, and boxing, of course, have time limits as they must have. But the commonality of all three sports is one of individual responsibility and talent and endurance.