The Hyperion Chronicles

the Hyperion Chronicles
“Do you think the Architect looks more like Freud or Col. Sanders?”




#166 World Gone Mad




“I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take; when people run in circles it’s a very very mad world.”
-Gary Jules, from Mad World


“Madness is rare in individuals - but in groups, parties, nations, and ages it is the rule."
-Friedrich Nietzsche




The year was 1994. The United States was hosting the World Cup, the sporting event the rest of the world cares most about. In the qualifying round, the Americans played the Columbians, normally a powerful team, now having a “down” year for them, but still expected to beat the Americans.

The U.S. won—at the time was the biggest win in American soccer history—2-1. This win happened in part because Columbian Defender Andres Escobar accidentally kicked the ball in his own goal.

Anyone who knows soccer will tell you that in the heat of the game, with everyone trying to get to that ball, and the defenders especially keen on kicking the ball away from the front of the goal area, that kind of thing can happen.

Anyway, the Columbian team didn’t make it past the qualifying round and had to return home to Columbia, to a very disappointed nation. About a week later Andres Escobar was shot and killed. (Legend has it that the killer was never brought to justice, with many thinking the murder justified. I can’t prove this, but neither could I find any evidence of what happened to the guy.)

I watched the game the U.S. won, and I remember the news reports later about Escobar getting shot. I thought then how sad a place it must be in Columbia, where they make national heroes (or goats) out of athletes. I thought: “They have so little going on in their lives that they obsess about a soccer game.”

This wasn’t unprecedented. The 20-year war between Honduras and Nicaragua was started over a disputed call in a soccer game. I remember thinking how hot-blooded and crazy all those Latin types were, and being thankful that I lived in a land that may not get that excited about their soccer team, but only because there are so many other things to do here.

I take it back.

Last Tuesday the Chicago Cubs were 6 outs away from going to the World Series for the first time since 1945. The week before, they won their first series period since back then, and emotions were riding high. Down in Miami, the Cubs went up on the Florida Marlins 3 games to 1, and had a chance to wrap it all up in Game 5. They lost that game.

But Tuesday, Game 6, was in Chicago, and there the Cubs were, in the 8th inning, up 3-0, 6 outs away. A Marlin batter hit a ball down the left field line, in foul territory, but right on the edge of the seats and the playing surface.

The left fielder, Moises Alou, came over, trying to make a play. If he doesn’t get it, it’s just a foul ball, and play goes on, but if he manages to catch it, there’s one more out recorded toward that World Series.

As happens in every single stadium on every single play where a ball goes toward the stands, everyone near the ball reached out; trying to catch it. One guy actually got his hand on it, and this caused Alou not to make the catch.

The result? Foul ball. Play went on. But before it did, Alou had a screaming fit at the poor fan. Immediately the crowd reaction turned too, and the people around the fan—the same hypocrites who had been going for the ball themselves—started yelling at the guy.

But like I said, play went on. The Cubs could still get the batter out with the next pitch, and they still had a three run lead. But that guy got on base, and things just started happening. When the inning was over, the Marlins had scored 8 runs, and were on their way to forcing a game 7.

As that inning drug on, seemingly interminably to Cubs fans, the anger in the stands started focusing on one object: that poor fan. The people in the stands didn’t go after the Cubs’ short stop, who made a costly error, or the starting pitcher, who gave up some big hits, or the relief pitchers, who gave up some more, or the manager, for not making a move sooner. They blamed the fan.

Security tried desperately to get the guy to leave. A life-long Cubs fan (he was actually listening to the game on a head-set while watching), the guy initially balked, but once the crowd turned ugly, he acquiesced and was escorted out, and probably none too soon.

That night his name got out (we won’t be printing it here, but look it up yourself if you’re so inclined). By morning the poor guy had his phone disconnected. There were Radio and TV crews camped outside of his house and—I am not making this up—a helicopter hovering overhead.

Information came out: he had followed the Cubs his whole life, and coached a Little League team in his spare time. He released a statement saying how sorry he was, how (like everyone else in the stands), he didn’t see the left fielder coming because it happened so fast, and how he would never willingly hurt his favorite team’s chances.

The Governor of Florida jokingly (or maybe not) offered clemency if the guy wanted to come live there until the heat wore off. Not to be outdone, the Governor of Illinois also got into the act. When asked, Governor Blagojevich had a warning for the guy:

"If he commits a crime, he won't get a pardon from this governor. You've got to be looking out for your team," Blagojevich said Wednesday, adding, "I think I can help him get into a witness-protection program."

People: we now officially live in the Matrix.

I realize, if you follow sports, that Chicago has had a “curse” on them, or whatever you want to attribute their years of ineptitude. I myself am not unfamiliar with curses, and not unsympathetic. And I know emotions run high.

I started rooting for the Cubs to win Game 7, solely because I knew this guy was toast if they didn’t. When the Cubs lost game 7 too (three in a row, if you’re keeping score, and two of them without the guy even in the stands), I feared for this guy. His own governor talks bad about him, and while the governor said no one should try to hurt him, you know how that works. People hear what they want to hear, and I bet some hear permission. Since the Game 7 loss, his entire neighborhood has been roped off with police trying to keep order.

God forbid something happens to this boy, I hope his family sues the governor for everything he has. But beyond that, how did we get here? How did we become Columbia? How can any sporting event be so important, that a guy who didn’t actually play the game and give up all those hits be blamed?

Is there an answer for this? Am I planning on taking over a world not worth saving?


“There is no salvation in becoming adapted to a world which is crazy.”
- Henry V. Miller


Hyperion
October 17, 2003

Credits
Thanks to Cephas for Editing

Motto Explanation
In The Matrix Reloaded, there is a character called “the Architect” who looks like either Colonel Sanders, or Sigmund Freud, depending on your point of view