No Parade at Parade Grounds

At least not yesterday, but there were lots of grounds. Baseball diamonds, soccer fields, volleyball and tennis courts, playgrounds....but no parade. After 12 years of living in Brooklyn I finally go there, and realize all this time I really have been thinking I'd see a parade there. Instead I see lots of kids in new AYSO uniforms, lots of families I know and am happy to see. This place is a vibrant sort of plaza in the sense that it strongly draws a community into it, thanks to the attraction of organized sports. For a few years, until the kids outgrow it, so many pass through here. I try to avoid sports because of the weird intensity people descend into when they engage in them. I like to cheer for the beautiful losers, and wonder what the kid was daydreaming or worrying about when he let that ball get past him.

Instead of "look at me, I can kick your butt at this," or "see daddy? are you proud of me now?" I want "Look at me, I'm wearing a giant feathered headdress and riding on a float decorated with 4 million sequins." Oh well, people are entitled to their passions. When people get their game on, the game does indeed get on. My son doesn't have that kind of attitude yet, and when he misses the ball in a funny way he shrieks with laughter. When we play as a family, that is. But as a member of his AYSO team, I don't think he'll feel so amused. I guess it's a special learning situation, there's a time to be serious and focused and disciplined, and let your opponent be your ally in developing your will. Those of us who are all air and water need a little of that fire.

As we leave the grounds, I hear some music playing. That's more like it. Across the street in Prospect Park a group of people in orange shirts play blue steel drums that look like trashcans. As they play Cat Stevens "Wild World" in notes that hold a distinctly Caribbean distillation of cheerfulness, I hear a car collision. That heart-stopping sound. Luckily, no one was hurt, and the parties involved are not even yelling at each other, as I expected them to. And there's no sign of smoke.