Today's St. Patrick's Day, and we always had corned beef and cabbage (with potatoes) to honor it, though my mom was sure to remind us that her family was not Irish (surname notwithstanding), but American. 'Tis true that other than a love for Italian food and a last name ending with a vowel, my Italian side (my paternal grandparents were born in Italy, so my father was surely more ethnic in this respect) does not seem to show through. Anyway, though my name makes Sunday (St. Joseph's Day ... patron saint of children's medicine) somewhat more personal on some level, it was today that was honored if only in this small way while I grew up. The meal, by the way, is pretty good. Other than beer, I'm not sure if too many other Irish foods truly are.
The usual blarney dealt with year after the year today is the problem of including gays in the St. Patrick Day's parade. It should be underline that gays per se can go there -- there is no loyalty oath even as to Irish heritage to my knowledge. The difficulty is when certain groups want to fly a banner. This in effect honors something the Catholic Church still finds immoral. This is a step too far for the groups, since it is after all St. Patrick’s Day. And, they have a point, if a closed minded one. Nonetheless, the comments by a local parade official comparing forcing them to include the banner with that of the Irish Prostitute League or the KKK was just a tad crude.
I honored the day, since I would not cook that sort of thing even if I still ate it, by having Chinese food -- it had green things in it and I bought it with greenbacks. A better move is in the works for tomorrow, which is JP Day. This is the day to honor Irish/Italian mutts like myself, coming between the two saint days for those countries. I'm thinking of fries (potatoes) with tomato sauce -- bit of both cultures. I note that my niece is truly a mutt -- she of three nationalities. Mutts by the way, as shown by her cuteness and so forth, are the best sort of animals.
U.S.A. Out: Meanwhile, in yet another "last game" of Roger Clemens -- who retires more than some musicians have farewell tours, the U.S. was eliminated from the World Baseball Classic. Korea won 2-1 last night, so all the red white and blue brigade needed to do was to beat Mexico. They lost 2-1, which barely eliminated them based on runs allowed in innings played. If it was a home game, for example, they would have had an extra half inning and squeezed in. Ditto if they lost 1-0.
Also, Korea is 6-0 with two wins over Japan (3-3). But, they have another game (the two are like the Yanks and the Red Sox ... Japan liking to lose about as much), and if Japan wins, they go to the finals. So, Korea -- who did not have to win last night to get to the semifinals -- really has not gotten too much for their perfection.