Joy in Mudville

"It's opening night at Memorial Park in Nyack, New York, hard by the Hudson River, and already the Little League season is looking bleak My Red Sox are trailing, my ace pitcher is getting bombed, and my son has already booted one ball and struck out in his only at bat Even worse, our uniforms haven't arrived yet, so we are not Red Sox, but Braves, wearing faded, mismatched shirts from a distant decade"