I’m back from the July 4th party at the embassy, and it was quite an affair. There were probably at least 200 guests, most of them Dominicans who have done or are doing business with the embassy, including staff members. There were also many Americans–the embassy Marines in full-dress uniforms, the visiting navy guys (who came to play softball at the camp last weekend, as I mentioned in an earlier post), embassy personnel, and yours truly. There was a receiving line of dignitaries to greet each guest when we arrived, the lineup consisting of the Charge d’Affairs and his wife, the Marine commandant, and other embassy people and, I think, a few Dominican VIPs.
There was a lot of food, all of it from local fast food vendors, such as Dominoes, Pizza Hut, Burger King, Tony Roma’s and others, including some Dominican food. Also lots of alcohol and other beverages, but only American brands were being served (Budweiser, for one).
Providing musical entertainment were a blue grass band from the States, Big Hillbilly Bluegrass Band, who are touring the D.R., and an a capella quartet of Dominicans, TES-A-T, who were quite good. To top it off, there was a great fireworks display, set off to the accompaniment of Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA.” Very stirring, and a fitting end to a fine evening. The party broke up about 10 p.m., and Rex, from the embassy, gave me a ride back to the Atalaya Apartment building, where I stayed for the evening.
While I was gone, the Bombers lost two games and the Yankees won two. Today, though, was very interesting. A week ago I was talking to Brendan, a college senior from Ithaca, New York, who is completing his degree in Sports Management and is interning here for a few months. We were discussing the fact that we had never seen an argument involving the umpires, like the kind you see in the U.S., where the manager or players come storming out of the dugout to argue calls, sometimes getting tossed from the game. We hadn’t seen it until today, that is.
One of the Bombers was trying to score from second on a long single to rightfield, and he would have easily made it, except that the thirdbaseman from the Dodgers obstructed him (basically, crashed into him) from getting to home. He walked toward the umpire to argue, but no one had called time out, so he was tagged out. The Bomber manager, the third base coach, and the bench coach were all over the umps, giving them hell. Eventually, the umps held a conference and ruled that the guy on third wasn’t out, but he had to go back to third base, refusing to allow him to score. This really set off our manager, and he was finally given the heave-ho. At any rate, that left the bases loaded, with only one out, and the guys on the bench and in the stands, who weren’t playing today, got very fired up, lots of shouting, cheering, clapping and whistling (me too), urging the upcoming batters on. There was still a good chance to score a bunch of runs. The next guy up, with a 3-2 count, slammed a pitch that headed for the left field fence–it had Grand Slam written all over it! Alas, the wind pushed it foul. Then, he struck out, as did the next batter. The team ended up losing the game, 7-3. But, we got to see a huge argument, at least, and had a bit more excitement than usual. More later.