Whatever works

To the list of unlikely images that help my meditation, add the sound of Kenny Lofton's single in the Giants' pennant-winning victory last night over the St. Louis Cardinals. This sound -- specifically, the replay of Jon Miller's call on KNBR, beginning in pleasureable anticipation, becoming sharp through the pitch and the batter's swing, then a rising tone recounting the hit that reaches right field, and finally a positively hysterical jumble of voices as David Bell scores the winning run from second -- I heard on the radio in the car on the way to zazen at 5:45 a.m. And far from exciting me or creating a distraction, it formed the calm foundation of one of the best 40 minutes of meditation I've had in weeks.

It's not like I sat there replaying the call in my head. Instead, I understood the essence of Miller's ability to form a clear, coherent narration of the events as they rapidly unfolded second-by-second. This ability -- man, it's not easy -- is rooted in a complete, alive attentiveness to the moment, as well as in a deep knowledge of the game which allows the announcer to anticipate, if only intuitively, what might happen. The announcer waits calmly, discerning what's happening in the relationship between pitcher and batter, baserunners and fielders, even when pitch after pitch it seems like nothing's happening. Then a ball is hit and action explodes and the good announcer is completely on top of the play. He doesn't freeze on the baserunner's name, he doesn't forget the terms that apply to the play-- like "line drive" or "the third base line" -- and injects precisely the amount of excitement appropriate to the moment.

Contrast this fluency with a Cubs color announcer I heard once while driving through Illinois. The Cubs pitcher struck out a batter at a dramatic moment, and instead of being able to describe what the pitcher had done to hoodwink the batter, the announcer merely exclaimed, "Man, what a pitch!" This on radio -- how opaque can you get?

So when I arrived at the zendo and sat down, I tried to sit with the baseball announcer's calm attentiveness. And it really worked. Railroad crossing signal, baseball announcer --whatever works.