Influenced by the nickel bets Mother, Rubin and I have been placing on the scores of NCAA playoff football games, several weeks ago Mother and I began singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” (football . . . baseball . . . no matter) The song was created in 1908, made famous by Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra in the 1949 movie Take Me Out to the Ball Game. However, I suspect the song became a national icon when Harry Caray, announcer of the Chicago White Sox—and then the Cubs—began singing the song during the 7th –inning stretch in 1976.
As a result, when poet Dana Gioia suggested in the book, Practice of Poetry, that one compose new lyrics to a popular song without writing any words on paper, the song selection was easy. Working with song lyrics, he explained, reminds you that rhyme and meter can add energy and memorability to a poem. The new words should fit the melody but tell a different story or share a different mood. And then, he instructed, sing the lyrics—no matter how bad your voice.
As I sat with Mother during her third and latest bout with COVID, I composed the following poem—influenced by the forty-plus years Rubin and I drove to East Lansing to watch the Michigan State Spartans play football. And yes, I sang it to her. Repeatedly. It made her laugh.
Game Day
Don’t drag me out to the stadium,
I’m not too keen on the crowds.
Tired of freezing in snow and rain,
Too old to be squashed on a bench and in pain.
The money and portals have changed things,
No loyalty to school or the fan.
So, give me a couch and a fireplace,
And a bathroom close at hand.
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