Interesting news from the homeland today: an unknown young Venezuelan pitcher from the Tigers had a perfect game robbed from him on an errant call, on the same day that Ken Griffey Jr. called it quits.
Nobody over here knows shit about baseball, but I take meaning from both stories. According to ESPN and Tyler Keppner of the New York Times, Armando Galaragga had the absolute perfect response in the game's aftermath, especially after umpire Jim Joyce tearfully approached him to apologize once he saw the replay. He talked about how he threw a perfect game and will always know he did, regardless of what the record book says, and that's enough for him. Regarding Joyce, he said with a smile, "Nobody's perfect."
Griffey, batting below the Mendoza line and hardly playing, retired after one of the most remarkable careers in sporting history. He was so young when he started dominating the game that he once hit back-to-back home runs with his father. When I was a kid, I hated "the kid." But as I've gotten older, I've come to hold him in high esteem; he left many millions on the table by skipping free agency to play for his hometown, boyhood favorite, small market Cincinnati Reds. Injuries derailed his career once he got there, but he still finished with 630 career home runs, while never once being mentioned in conversations regarding PED's. In an era when nearly every major star sold their steroid-enhanced services to the highest bidder, his career stood out as something nobler than what we find in everyday life.
Beyond that, his retirement is the last of my childhood villains. Jordan, Miller, Mourning, Marino, Elway, Garciaparra and now Griffey have all been felled by age, and I feel as old upon that realization as I did when I graduated college last week.
What's all this have to do with Ireland? Not too much. For me, it's just a reminder of two basic facts. 1) I'm a college graduate traveling across Europe with nothing but a backpack; I've come a long way since Griffey reduced me to tears with his mad dash to beat the Yankees in the 1995 ALDS. 2) For the duration of this trip, and through my adult life, I will find that perfection is unattainable. But if I perform to my absolute best, then I'll be good enough to be proud of myself. I've been worried about missing something on this trip, about seeing the wrong things. I think from now on, I'm just going to enjoy myself instead. There's no way to complete a trip perfectly....
Made some friends in the hostel last night and saw much of Dublin on a free walking tour today. And I've spent a couple of hours in St. Stephen's Green being cliche reading Dubliners. Trips going great so far.
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