interpol + mlb.

when we try to synergize music with art, we often enter into situations where we have "performance art." this isn't necessarily a bad thing: sometimes we may find ourselves in the unique position of being united with warhol and his contemporaries in a dark room. the lights flicker: the room is damp, and there may be an unspeakable situation occurring that simultaneously says something about humanity. understanding is transmitted in what can only be described as the most carnal of forms, and we are all made the better, where better is of course designed to suit our purposes.

so it is with the synergization of music and sport. recently, i attended an interpol concert with five friends of mine. as i listened to paul banks wax poetically about how he would like to have a "menage-a-trois" to relieve him of his boredom, i couldn't help but have my mind wander. i thought about a great many things, although i suppose that there is a limit to the depths that interpol allows us to experience. whatever. let's stop pretending to delve that deep, anyway.

(here is a note on "delving that deep": back when i still cared about my opinions, i got into some sort of discussion with individuals on a baseball card message board about whether or not glavine would make the hall of fame. i was still using bad statistical arguments at the time, and i just used some phrase "average era" to describe the composite era average that glavine had. anyway, some pedant had to correct me (for i had sinned), because that's how they roll. this, and other events like it, has caused me to completely stop wanting to engage in any sort of intellectual conversations.)

so maybe i should stop trying to be the expert.

major league baseball has suffered the same fate that interpol's third album has suffered: although technically brilliant, it has lost some of the mechanism that made it essential, that made it meaningful.

let's look at this current season. we should be celebrating the return of parity: the triumph of the small market is prime, and when it is combined with a fallen hero chasing the ultimate prize, we should be left with a warm feeling in our hearts. but we're not. why is that the case?

baseball should be lauding barry bonds. like it or not, he's the best we've got. are we going to laud a-rod? that ship has sailed, and it isn't coming back. couple this with the fact that we're never going to give the latins their credit, (memo to society: vlad guerrero and alfonso soriano are players we won’t see again for a long while) and we've basically eroded the concept of baseball to the younger generation. griffey can’t be our hero and theirs, simultaneously. it just isn’t going to work.

it is not as if the players have failed. they are playing at the apex. many young teams are playing as well as they ever have, including cleveland, detroit, san diego, and milwaukee. these teams waited patiently for their chance: they planned it out, and in years we'll see that the landscape has changed, but it might be too late for baseball as a sport.

by its very nature, baseball is self-effacing. in no other sport do records matter as much as they do in baseball, and so we often lose track of the essence of the sport in the milestones, which is, perhaps, why people have never been able to name as few players as they can name now. the whole concept of baseball is failing; the ideas of “chasing the pennant” and going to several games a year is gone simply due to affordability concerns; namely, the fact that it costs quite a bit for the kids, who are supposed to be the future of the game, to even attend one game.

so we're left with a problem: we have a sport that is very close to becoming a parody of itself, which we happen to love. to say that the sport needs to go back to its roots is an understatement, because we're in danger of losing the roots themselves, and that's the tragedy.

i tie this idea of baseball losing their roots with the idea of "interpol" because i feel that interpol has suffered the same fate on their third album. we are stuck with the following idea: being technically brilliant doesn't always matter. sometimes, you just need something from deep within. both baseball and interpol are stuck with one singular problem: they are trying to make their performance become art, when the true concept of performance art dictates that the performance is art in and of itself. that is where the understanding comes from, and that is what we should strive for.

now, let me be more specific. interpol's album starts out nicely, with pioneer to the falls setting the tone for what would be considered brilliance under any plausible scenario. great tracks like "pace is the trick," "who do you think," and "mammoth" are interspersed throughout the album, and we might be tempted to think that somehow, someway, interpol is true in a "pure way." but interpol's technique doesn't save "no i in threesome," which, like pitchfork says, has rather childish lyrics that scream of parody. the lighthouse is unintelligible and is clearly filler or a wasted attempt at a deeper meaning, which is always a dangerous thing to try. interpol has realized that they are at the apex, to be sure, but they forgot what got them there. and it is the same for baseball.

in the same vein, baseball's season has started out well, with the red sox doing well, fueled by dice-k. ichiro and a-rod, arguably baseball's two most marketable starts, are doing fantastically well, and, as mentioned earlier, we have a number of different markets doing well, which should fuel a resurgence. additionally, the mets, dodgers, and red sox (as well as, to some extent, the cubs) are doing well, which is huge for the big markets. but, like interpol, mlb has poisoned themselves by focusing only on the steroids, the asterisk- something that nobody should even give a crap about-, the demise of the yankees and the drama of roger clemens, such to the point that they have become focused on leading the yankees, a .500 ballclub, on sportscenter.

i'll listen to "our love to admire" a number of times, just as i'll go to a baseball game tomorrow. but let’s not pretend that i’m representative of society. my taste is conceived from the roots, but we need to re-examine what those roots are. for interpol, the roots are well-conceived lyrics, first and foremost, combined with the proper speed and musical underpinnings. what does this mean from a practical standpoint? well, it means that songs like 'lighthouse' are avoided at all costs; that they're unafraid to be raw, as they were on the first and second album (but not on the third, save perhaps pioneer to the falls and the heinrich manuever), and that they become focused on the performance, as opposed to performance art. after all, we're not all andy warhol; and even he threw a few changeups when fastballs were needed.

what does this mean for baseball? well, for one thing, it means that they focus on important things- playing up west coast baseball to the east coast would be a nice start. the dodgers/padres race is the best thing the regular season has going for it at this point (except for maybe indians/tigers). anaheim is one of the few fun teams to watch in the sport, as they are led by a warrior who plays the game on such a pure level and with such heroism that he reminds us of the epic past. of course, i speak of guerrero, who is both low-maintenance and supremely talented, such to the point that he can get away with playing baseball in a way that would land other players in aa.

they could also play up the brewers, indians, and braves, three teams that are pretty young and pretty exciting to watch. ryan braun is unbelievable, grady sizemore is pretty close, and we'll be talking about the talented young braves in a year (francoeur, mccann, jarrod s., and the gang are something to consider). and for crying out loud, play up the mets, not the yankees. baseball has to learn that they can survive without the flagship team winning every year; this is something that football learned a long time ago, and that basketball is learning right now. it's a scary time for selig, but he has to get through it.

and for crying out loud, lower the ticket prices.