SOUNDOFF VIDEO: What’s Bugging Andy 4/8/12

One of the most stringent rules of being a baseball fan is respect the tradition of the game.  Not just the rules, but the aesthetics of the game.  Specifically, it`s gotta look right.  The grass, the brick, the scoreboards…it has to look like baseball.  Together, they make you go ‘OK!’

Well the Marlins new stadium doesn`t look like baseball to me.  On the outside, it looks more like a shopping mall in Stockholm.  Where`s the brick? Where`s the iron?  You hear that it`s got a bunch of neat stuff inside, and they say ‘look at the sculpture in the outfield!’ but when you see it you`re like…’Oooh…okah.’  But here`s the thing: this is all in Miami and you`re not.  Miami`s just a different place, and stuff, like this sculpture and this stadium probably fit in Miami just fine.

It`s all about location and context!

The cops show up wearing a white linen suit with no belt in Chicago and it`s ‘Uh? okah.’  But in Miami it`s ‘Oh! Okay!’

If I`m headed out to do a liveshot in front of a car accident, the pink seersucker suit is gonna bring the (puzzled) ‘Ooooohh…okah.’  But move me into the crowd at the Kentucky Derby and it`s ‘Oh, okay!’  The setting makes all the difference!  Like blue body paint at a Duke basketball game or a Mohawk at a punk rock concert, it`s all stuff that looks way out of place when it`s not in the right place.

Like a set of really bad teeth…all brown and crooked and (squints) ‘Aaaaah…okah.’

But then someone`s like ‘Hey, the guy is British!’ and then it`s ‘Oh! Okay!’ They`re still bad teeth, but somehow when you put `em in context they`re not so bad…maybe they`re even good!

You catchin` my drift, here?  It`s all about the setting.

You go out to the pool at your apartment and see a man like this it`s ‘Uuuuuugh…okah.’  But if you`re in the Caribbean around a bunch of Europeans it`s ‘Eh…okay!’ I hate to have to be so vivid, but to understand context, you have to see context.

I`m Andy Fales, and that`s What`s Bugging Me.