but not of them

 but not of them

     The value of a liberal education was evident in our dear friend who made the most unlikely subjects illuminated by describing them in terms drawn from great literature. This episode involved sitting in the bleachers at Dodger stadium, the left-field bleachers where we sat for a buck and a half in the resurgent 1974 season. After being in the doldrums for too many Summers the team had acquired Jimmy Wynn "The Toy Cannon" and a jerk wih a screwball named Mike Marshall who pitched in an unheard ot 106 games. We also had two strong starting pitchers in Don "Sonny Boy" Sutton and Andy Messerschmidt along with the new star of Steve "another asshole" Garvey who knocked in runs. It was a time of dominance by the Cinncinnatti Reds Big Red Machine but this year we overachieved and won 102 games and the National League pennant. So, the point is that going out to the stadium was fun again and we went to quite a few games, sitting in left field that was pretty rowdy at times.There was a sun-baked dope we called "hard core" who ran up and down the aisles wearing a Dodger helmet getting the crowd fired up and since there was no limit on brewskies the amount of obnoxious drunks was very high. Greg, Bobcat, myself and Timo were in our seats and found ourselves way too near a loud mouthed inebriate who boomed "CEY-HEY!" way, way too many times. He was with another pud-knocker who shouted into the crowd with bleary budweiser eyes "ALLRIGHT LA...CITY OF THE SMOG!" The first couple of times it might have been a little fun but by the second inning we were ready to stuff some socks in a couple of mouths. None of the aforementioned pals were ever in a grandstand fight and we just had to sit and stew with our ears blasted by the dim-witted sots who did nothing to root on our boys in blue. I honestly do not remember if we won or lost but much later when we sat in easy chairs up on Church Lane I mentioned the difference between our behavior and those who wanted to make a drunken spectacle of themselves. Greg's gears were shifted away  from the bleachers to a televised stage production of a very little known Eugene O'Neill play called "A Touch of the Poet" Greg summoned the words that fit the situation perfectly. In the play set in the 1830's the main  character is a former war hero named Con Melody who is now a profligate saloon owner clinging to his once illustrious past. Comparing himself to the rough-hewn Americans who frequent his public house he harkens back to a classic English poet explaining "I have not loved the World, nor the World me; I have not flattered its rank breath, nor bowed To its idolatries a patient knee, Nor coined my cheek to smiles, — nor cried aloud In worship of an echo: in the crowd They could not deem me one of such — I stood Among them, but not of them .. [He pauses, then repeats:) ‘Among them, but not ofthem.’ By the Eternal, that expresses it! Thank God for you, Lord Byron — poet and nobleman who made of his disdain immortal music!" Greg could shake off the smell of Dodger dogs and stale beer to open a book of a poet who wrote his words before the game of baseball was invented.

https://youtu.be/2LLWQ3igYM4?si=eNTlVvCQ2Ba5xfWS