Everyone knows that’s the term for a break in a baseball game at — you guessed it — the seventh inning. Baseball lore has it that this came about when President William Howard Taft, who tipped the scales at about 300 pounds, was starting to become one with his seat during a season opener. About the seventh inning, he stood to pry himself out while he still could.
The crowd thought that the President was leaving. They rose out of respect, a quaint tradition of yore.
Today, the seventh inning stretch allows spectators who may have become one with their seat to pry themselves apart from it, move around a bit and jostle their extremities. The idea is to stave off a medical condition called “Baseball Edema,” which is beer built up in the hands and feet of fans.
But there is more. Innovations such as theme songs and dances have been added to the Stretch. These additions urge spectators to become part of the spectacle in the whole stadium. Once stadiums pioneered the concept of including the fans in the spectacle, they then introduced the idea that this was also last call for alcohol. Now while some dance and sing, runners are sent to get more hot dogs and beer — and no one misses a single pitch.
Being part of a spectacle has now become as American as hot dogs and beer. Just look at football fans these days. Of course, social media has been added in and now spectacle has become “normal” anywhere, anytime. Who would have thunk it back in 1910 that a rather large man trying to free himself from a stadium seat would kick off a societal phenomenon?
Even the Hawaii Marlin Tournament Series has its own version of the of the seventh inning stretch. It is currently on break between tourney six and seven, out of a total of eight events. For the first time in 34 years, the break has turned into a research project instead of a break where everyone tidy’s up after five tourneys is three weeks.
Sports are big on statistics, but most studies focus on current year stats. If analysts look back, it is to compare extraordinary feats or scores of present to past. In recent weeks, reviews have been underway to establish what is “normal” from year to year. This is a new one.
To make a long story short, some teams have been doing really well, some pretty well and some not so well. Some guys said, “Seems normal to me.” Others attributed various aspects of the success of those in the lead to having an unfair advantage.
Some called for changes to specific rules of the game, ostensibly to neutralize any perceived advantage. Some of the calls for rule changes became vitriolic. This was not normal.
All sports have rules, and they outline how the game is played. However, rules and policy are different. When rule changes are contemplated, officials turn to policy. Policy can go to the dogs but the game can still be played by the rules. Of course, if one doesn’t play by the rules, then the game can go to the dogs, even if you have good policy.
Simple.
For example, when political humorist P.J. O’Rourke contemplated foreign policy he wrote, “Frankly, I had been writing about foreigners and foreign countries for years and had never considered foreign policy before. You can own dogs all your life and not have a ‘dog policy.’ You have rules, yes — Get off the couch!” But policy?
Fishing can be like that.
Oddly, a lot of fishing policy has foundations in foreign policy. Fishing is governed by interna-tional agreements, as well as domestic fisheries rules, along with State, County and Federal laws and seemingly, a partridge in a pear tree. But internal policy is the glue that keeps the HMT Series together, because just like baseball fans, fishermen like beer, and when people drink beer, well…you know.
Fishing competitions take place out of sight on the high seas, but “spectacle” was now catching up with fishing in the form of pilikia. Organizers decided to dig deep to separate fact from perception, a process that disqualified anything to do with the coconut telegraph, dock talk or social media.
Plenty guys grumble about this or that, especially if they aren’t catching much. That’s normal. But there has been only one protest filed in 34 years. Unofficial policy has always been to dis-cuss concerns with players when they arise, protest or not. Many innovations have been adopted because of this discourse, so they dug in.
A thorough comparison of 2019 stats with 2021 season showed that most of what has transpired — is nothing new. Almost every season, one team or another has a good run. Yes, the leaders at this point in the 2021 season are having a good run. Facts are, many teams in the 2019 Series had even better runs — posting even more impressive statistics. Points spreads have been wider.
So what is different in 2021 than in years past?
Last year, The Series was able to innovate new COVID mitigation measures and ran a full schedule of events. Everyone was happy, ecstatic just to be fishing.
This year, there is just something in the air. Is it the normalization of spectacle, or what?
At first it just appeared indicative of the national narrative and the way polarized people currently deal with each other. Then I read a book by British writer named Isabella L Byrd. In the 1870’s, she chronicled her exploits all across Hawaii. The book is well written and her adventures the stuff of legend, especially for a wahine in those days.
After hiking, rappelling, riding horse, and paddling or sailing from Kauai to Hilo – snow to sea — she finally took her own seventh inning stretch in Kona. After a few days, she noted that never had she met a populace so proficient in the art of gossip, anywhere on earth.
True story. When I read that I laughed and laughed….
What’s different in 2021? Apparently, not much!