Bronx Blowout
Three solo home runs were not enough to overcome the Yankees on their home field. Instead of watching the Red Sox get thrashed I switched over to the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics.
Danny Boyle (no relation to songstress Susan or comedian Frankie) directed the extravaganza, which was the first intentionally postmodern pastiche of British social, economic, and military history with splashes of pop culture.
Boyle recreated the Industrial Revolution but avoided dramatizing the engine that powered it: Great Britain’s colonial conquests. I found the retrospective correction of having a multicultural group of magnates swaying in awe of their creations amusing. While Great Britain doesn’t share the United States of America’s shameful history of slavery I doubt that men of African or Asian extraction were fathers of industry on the isles of wonder.
As egregious as Boyle’s omission was NBC’s omission of the segment memorializing victims of the July 7 terrorist attacks in London. If a non-US broadcasting company willfully edited a tribute about September 11 Americans would be upset, and rightfully so.
Two multimedia mash-ups showed the style and verve that best exemplify the British. Queen Elizabeth gamely played herself along with Daniel Craig’s James Bond for a helicopter and parachute grand entrance. Rowan Atkinson’s reprisal of Mr. Bean as a bumbling orchestra member and runner in Chariots of Fire made for a hilarious interlude. Other world powers would never deign to amalgamate high and low brow the way Boyle did in London; everyone enjoys people that can take the piss out of themselves. Cheers, London!
| Game 100: July 27, 2012 | ||
| Boston Red Sox 49-51 |
3 |
L: Aaron Cook (2-4) |
| 2B: Cody Ross (18) HR: Dustin Pedroia (8), Carl Crawford (1), Jarrod Saltalamacchia (20) | ||
 New York Yankees60-39 |
10 |
W: Phil Hughes (10-8) H: David Robertson (14) |
| 2B: Curtis Granderson (11), Andruw Jones (5) HR: Raul Ibanez (13), Russell Martin (11), Granderson (28) | ||
