2008 Woodie Awards
Illini Media
WPGU
buzz
Illio
TechnographIllinois lawmakers in a league of their own
Posted: 5/15/08 Section: Editorials
Unfortunately, Illini Media Company won't reimburse the editorial board for a day trip to the House-Senate Softball Game so that we could see it for ourselves. Worse, no one on the sports desk volunteered either - something about their dead bodies.
Instead, we must use our own intuition and imagination to predict what happened at Wednesday's game.
Ah, the smell of Springfield in the springtime. No, not that smell.
The scent of freshly cut grass in our state's capitol means that our lawmakers can get out of their stuffy offices and participate in America's past time: Pretending to be good at baseball ... by playing softball.
For one evening each year, state senators and representatives stop their partisan bickering and instead heckle each other from the sidelines. But surprisingly, the difference between attacking your opponent's political stance isn't that different from mocking his batting stance.
Despite being billed as one of the few times a year Springfield can put politics aside, this year's event was not immune to the ongoing rancor between the legislative and executive branches. Word around the capitol is that Governor Blagojevich has been working out and is eager to show off during the game. Frustrated by the legislature's lethargic pace on deciding when to hold the game, Blago decreed that it start at 4 p.m. sharp. House Speaker Mike Madigan, no bench warmer himself, ostensibly decided to begin the game at 5:30 so that the setting sun would be right in the Governor's eyes.
The game began under a cloudy sky, but then again, what else is new? While the budget has been running dry, Mother Nature has given Illinois one of its wettest years in a long time.
After 3 innings, the clouds parted as the Governor arrived late to the field, literally. Unable to get himself in gameday mode at the mansion, he flew in straight from the Windy City, touching down just beside the field. He then demands to pinch hit for the Senate immediately.
Instead, we must use our own intuition and imagination to predict what happened at Wednesday's game.
Ah, the smell of Springfield in the springtime. No, not that smell.
The scent of freshly cut grass in our state's capitol means that our lawmakers can get out of their stuffy offices and participate in America's past time: Pretending to be good at baseball ... by playing softball.
For one evening each year, state senators and representatives stop their partisan bickering and instead heckle each other from the sidelines. But surprisingly, the difference between attacking your opponent's political stance isn't that different from mocking his batting stance.
Despite being billed as one of the few times a year Springfield can put politics aside, this year's event was not immune to the ongoing rancor between the legislative and executive branches. Word around the capitol is that Governor Blagojevich has been working out and is eager to show off during the game. Frustrated by the legislature's lethargic pace on deciding when to hold the game, Blago decreed that it start at 4 p.m. sharp. House Speaker Mike Madigan, no bench warmer himself, ostensibly decided to begin the game at 5:30 so that the setting sun would be right in the Governor's eyes.
The game began under a cloudy sky, but then again, what else is new? While the budget has been running dry, Mother Nature has given Illinois one of its wettest years in a long time.
After 3 innings, the clouds parted as the Governor arrived late to the field, literally. Unable to get himself in gameday mode at the mansion, he flew in straight from the Windy City, touching down just beside the field. He then demands to pinch hit for the Senate immediately.
The Daily Illini encourages on-topic discussion through article commenting on its articles and blogs. It is our policy not to delete any comments based upon political or ideological point of view. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are abusive, off-topic or use excessive foul language.
The posting of copyrighted material, including any and all content for which you are not the author, is illegal under Federal intellectual property laws. Such activity will not be tolerated. Comments containing copyrighted material will be removed, and continued violation of copyright law is grounds for being banned completely from commenting on DailyIllini.com.
If you feel any post meets these conditions or merits review, please e-mail our editors at meonline@dailyillini.com.
Be the first to comment on this story