In the wake ofDonald Trump bowing out of any further debates with Kamala Harris, let me offer up a modest proposal (with apologies to Jonathan Swift). How about a debate between Taylor Swift, who has heartily endorsed Harris, and Kid Rock, a major Trump supporter? The debate would take place at the new YankeeStadium in The Bronx? Some are calling this possible event an October Surprise on steroids! (Author’s aside: the new Yankee Stadium was built on the grounds where I played Little League baseball, and is located directly across the street from where the old Yankee Stadium stood for decades.)
Ladies and Gentlemen!Welcome to the Bronx and the new Yankee Stadium. At the old Yankee StadiumPopes have visited, 123,707 people attended a Jehovah’s Witnesses convention in1958, World Series champions were crowned, football games were played,including the Greatest Game ever played, the 1958 Championship between the NewYork Giants and the Baltimore Colts, which the Colts won in overtime.
However, never before in history has “The House That Ruth Built” hosted such a monumental event as this: A debate between Taylor Swift and Kid Rock!
See https://www.businessinsider.com/taylor-swift-number-one-hits-songs-billboard-hot-100-chart-2023-10for a list of numerous Taylor Swift’s songs that have reached No. 1 on theBillboard Hot 100.
After Kid Rock performed “American Bad Ass” at the Republican National Convention, the song reached No. 2 on the Hard Rock Digital Song Sales chart.
Yankee Stadium opened on April 18, 1923, with a matchup between the New York Yankees and theBoston Red Sox. As The New York Times reported on its front page: “Governors,generals, colonels, politicians and baseball officials gathered together yesterday to dedicate the biggest stadium in baseball, but it was a ball player who did the real dedicating.” The Times article referred to Babe Ruth, who hita three-run homer into the right-field bleachers to defeat the Red Sox 4-1.
In 1990, NelsonMandela, newly released from a South African prison told a crowd: “You now knowwho I am. I am a Yankee.”
Before the60-minute Swift/Rock main event, there would be an undercard featuring Elon Musk vs. Mark Cuban; Harrison Butker vs. StephenCurry; John Voight vs. George Clooney; and Ted Nugent vs, Barbra Streisand.
Neither Swift norRock could be reached for comment.
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“CultureVultures”
Histories collapse/ kaleidoscopes unravel,
Plantationmindsets / built on falsehood's gravel.
Mendacious LostCauses / intellectual charade,
Admiration masked/ by skeptical façades.
Not a criticalthinker / no Hans Brinker tale,
Not a jailhouselawyer / nor Tom Sawyer's trail.
Often thinkingabout what to do / not pretending to be Nancy Drew.
Won’t solve theMystery at the Ballpark / Not prolific like Muriel Sparks.
A lifetime ofwondering why / yet never dipping into Northrop Frye.
Listening toZimmerman as Dylan, / wondering if he ever wrapped tefillin.
Struggling withphotography / should read Henri Cartier-Bresson biography.
Won’t surrender tonostalgia / Looking to advance the ball
Tired of glancingsideways / Seeking out Pink Floyd’s Wall.
“I ain't madatcha," echoes / in a retro refrain,
"It'll bealright" / plays on the Metro train.
Lost in EmpireState visions / Alice in Chains targeted visions.
Paradigm shifting/ Too much heavy lifting.
Marvel exorcismculture / Highlighting libertarian vultures.
Are wesurrendering to nostalgia / Neurosis and neuralgia?
It’s a Prednisonehigh / In The Sweet Bye and Bye.