VICE-VERSA
TONY BLAZEJACK / COURTESY VICE-VERSA
Odds and Ends: O'ahu has 125 miles of beaches -- and one collegiate baseball stadium. Where would you rather work on your tan?
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Batters up on the ’Net
An online journal devotes its latest issue to baseball
It's been three strikes for collaborators on the publication vice-versa, but they're not out, they're in. Not in print, but online. OK, enough of that.
vice-versa
The photographs by Tony Blazejack are part of a photo essay in the current edition of vice-versa, the University of Hawaii-Manoa English Department's quarterly literary journal. They were taken at Les Murakami Stadium, home of the UH Rainbow baseball team. Each is accompanied by one of Blazejack's reflections on the National Pasttime.
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It's baseball, we're talkin' -- and the love of it, and the creative expression it inspires.
And it's the third edition of vice-versa, the quarterly literary journal of the English Department at the University of Hawaii-Manoa.
The photos on this page come from Tony Blazejack's vice-versa photo essay, all taken at Les Murakami Stadium. A 2005 UH journalism graduate, Blazejack is -- according to his listing in the journal -- "a fervent fan of the Florida Marlins and University of Miami Hurricanes."
For this venture into the brave new world of online publishing, editor Tim Denevi ("a die-hard Giants fan") compiled a collection of poetry, fiction, photography, interviews and essays about baseball, by writers near and far. Issue No. 2 carried the theme "magical realism." The first issue was themeless.
Contributions on any subject are being sought for the fall edition. Deadline is Aug. 1, and Denevi takes submissions from anyone, anywhere, so if you have something to say, here's your chance.
TONY BLAZEJACK / COURTESY VICE-VERSA
Autograph: When we grow up, they don't look so big anymore. But for the time being, yeah, they're pretty big.
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You cannot hold a copy of vice-versa in your hands. It is only available in the virtual world of the Internet, at
www.hawaii.edu/vice-versa. Click around and read a Q&A with Tony Gwynn (his favorite baseball book, "The Art of Hitting"; favorite baseball movie, "Bull Durham"). Or read dueling essays on classic baseball rivalries: Cardinals/Cubs, Red Sox/Yankees, Giants/Dodgers.
"The Cubs might have beat us more often, but there is absolutely zero question which franchise is the more successful, more storied -- hell, the better of the two," writes Justin Vader.
"The Cardinals win this comparison in a rout, illustrating that in life, you can lose, and there can be challenges that eat you alive (like Alfonso Soriano fielding a short-hop), but if you can figure out a way make it up elsewhere, you can prosper."
Counters Chicagoan Ed Fanselow: "There's not a square centimeter of space in my heart reserved for those toothless hillbillies that call themselves Cardinal Nation. I still cringe at the thought of them lining up in front of Darryl Kile's tomb, bawling and carrying on like they'd just lost a spouse or a sibling -- creepy and weird no matter how you slice it."
Free expression. Ya gotta love it.
More reverent is a poem by Dave Baldwin, one-time pitcher for the Hawaii Islanders, about his old home field, Honolulu Stadium.
TONY BLAZEJACK / COURTESY VICE-VERSA
Wheel Chair Pitch: I've noticed that the honor bestowed upon the deliverer of the first pitch is often squandered on a regular basis in ballparks throughout America, but every once in a while I find it given to someone who has truly earned the right.
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TONY BLAZEJACK / COURTESY VICE-VERSA
Chaos: I can remember the first time I ran onto a field before a game. I was seven. It was the University of Miami vs. Florida State. I enthusiastically ran to second base. I still have no idea who won.
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TONY BLAZEJACK / COURTESY VICE-VERSA
Rows: Have you ever looked around your section during a game and wondered what all these people were thinking about? Surely, even the most tenacious baseball aficionados let their minds wander from the action unfolding in front of them. Some people complain that baseball is too slow. Perhaps they're missing the point.
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TONY BLAZEJACK / COURTESY VICE-VERSA
Bats: I'll never understand why college baseball uses aluminum bats. It's almost as tragic as playing on a glorified green carpet.
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Menehune in the Old Termite Palace
We never saw them. For those great caverns
underneath the bleachers you might make
some lengthy visits to the local taverns
just to glimpse an elephant -- but double-take
on sprites just inches high and hiding far
beyond the reach of ballpark lights? No way!
And yet ... perhaps faint whiffs of cheap cigar,
and pilfered bats and caps, and pale dismay
by groans for booted balls, and just about
a jillion other clues can't be dismissed
just any way we choose. For those who doubt
the menehune (having neatly missed
each trace of gnome), consider this contrast:
these folks are small -- the universe is vast.
Send submissions for the next edition of vice-versa to denevi@hawaii.edu by Aug. 1. For details see the "submission" section at www.hawaii.edu/vice-versa. Current and past issues of the journal also can be viewed at that site.