"You Don't Have To Be A Solomon"

Or a genius.

Or a pessimist.

Or, as I was once ungenerously called, “Captain Bring-Down.”  (Note:  This may get personal.  But that does not mean that it’s wrong.)

Today’s Mantra: “You see what you see, and say what you know.” 

And then prepare for the “backlash.”

The condescending dismissal what you know, because it is not what is popularly wanting to be heard.  (If that last part is grammatically viable, which I am not certain it is.)

Three illuminating examples, one political, one about baseball, and one culled from a sitcom I worked on called Taxi, for those uninterested in politics or baseball, because 

“Who doesn’t like Taxi?”

In the recently completed “Midterm Elections”, there was the possibility of the majority in the U.S. Senate swinging to the Democrats.

Except there wasn’t.          

In the Senatorial Election of 2018, an overwhelming number of Democratically-held seats were up for election, as compared to the number of Republican-held seats up for election, many of those contested seats residing in states that, in the presidential election, were won handily by Trump.  (Tangentially – but I am putting it in because I like it – it occurs to me that our current political “malaise” feels like our country has eaten a bad piece of fish.  Feel free to disseminate that, if you wish.  Feeling also free to include attributing credit.)

I did not watch a second’s coverage of the Midterm Elections, because I knew precisely what would occur.  (Mentioned by pundits in passing, before quickly returning to the “horse race.”)  Which is exactly what did happen.  The Democrats did not take the Senate, and – predictably – lost seats in North Dakota, Indiana and Missouri – all 2016 Trump strongholds.

My successful prediction makes me neither brilliant, clairvoyant, nor a “Know-it-all.”  (A descriptive, by the way, never delivered as a compliment.) 

The determining evidence was out there.  After that, it’s a matter of “You see what you see, and you say what you know.”  (Or, I guess you say nothing.  But no one around here can do that.)  

Okay.  Baseball.

I am a Dodgers fan.  (When the Blue Jays aren’t involved, which, since 1993, they haven’t been.)  I watched the first two games of the recent Dodgers-Red Sox World Series.  And after that, virtually nothing.

Why?

Because I knew precisely what would occur.

The Red Soxwere clearly the superior team, the Series outcome, therefore, never seriously in doubt.  (The Red Sox, in fact, decimated the Dodgersin five games.)  I figured why stick around to witness the carnage?

I saw what I saw, and I said what I knew.  The Democrats were not taking the Senate, and the Dodgers were not winning the World Series.  It was not in me to pretend otherwise.

Don’t get me wrong. If there’s a “fighting chance” in these things – I’m in.  I’m even on-board for “highly unlikely.”  But when it’s “No way, Jose”… 

I know.  Occasionally, the ’88 “No stars” Dodgers beat “The Bash Brothers” A’s, and Truman tops “undefeatable” Dewey.  It’s true.  “Underdogs” occasionally prevail.  But the operative word there is “occasionally.”  If “Underdogs” won more often than they lost, or half the time, or just frequently even, there would be no validity to the word “Underdog.”

Okay.  Now, Taxi. 

In the episode, “One Punch Banta” (parenthetically – literallyin this case – written by me), “Journeyman” boxer Tony Banta, earning a few bucks sparring with his weight-level’s reigning champion prior to an upcoming “Big Fight”, stunningly knocks “The Champ” down, leading to a sudden appreciation of the obscure Banta, which earns him a bout with an actual “contender.”

What nobody knew was that the upcoming “Big Fight” was generating little excitement, because “The Champ’s” scheduled opponent was no competitive threat.  The surprise sparring-session “knockdown” had actually been rigged, to make “The Champ” appear“vulnerable to defeat.”  Collateral Damage?  Tony Banta was going to get creamed, facing the “contender.”

If you saw what you saw and you said what you knew, you’d say,

“Something’s curiously amiss about “nobody” Tony Banta, ‘flooring’ “The Champ.”

But they didn’t.

Because they wanted to believe it was possible.  (The “Funny Part” being that Banta learns about the “set-up” just before entering the ring.)

What do I think is going on here?  (Once again, seeing what I see and saying what I know?)

Someone’s “playing” with the proclivities of optimists.

And I think I know who.

To be continued… 

(If you can stand the excitement, and are willing to see optimism, taking a hit.)