Ramírez, for those of you who aren't up on your Major League Baseball injured left fielders, is the injured left fielder for the Boston Red Sox. And, although he's a very talented ballplayer, he makes frequent, well ... lapses ... in judgement - both on and off of the field.
Boston Globe 'columnist' Dan Shaughnessy (who I hate to agree with) has dubbed these lapses "Manny Being Manny" - which stuck almost as well as his "curse of the bambino" malarkey he invented to sell books all of those years ago.
See, Fenway Park, where the Red Sox play, has a large green wall in left field, dubbed "The Green Monster". And inside of the wall is a manual scoreboard where several scorekeepers keep track of the game in progress, as well as other games from across the league. So last year Manny, playing in left field, went into the Green Monster between innings to use the bathroom. And when the game was ready to start again he ... well, wasn't.
That's when this whole "Manny being Manny" thing was invented. You're expected to just shake your head, smile, and remember that he's fourth among active players in home runs. Third in slugging. Seventh in batting average. A good ballplayer.
But each year he pulls these stunts. In 2003 Manny claimed he had a sore throat and asked to be pulled from that night's game. Then he was spotted at a hotel bar with one of his friends later that night. Oh, yeah, did I mention the day before he told ESPN that he'd like to be traded to the dreaded rival New York Yankees?
You're like, "What?!?"
And he makes mistakes on the field too. Take 2004. Game One of the World Series. The Red Sox hadn't been to this level in 18 years, and hadn't won in 86 years. Everyone is pumped - the Red Sox have just defeated the Yankees in the playoffs. They're ahead in the eigtht inning - and Ramírez makes a bobble in left field on a routine play. Oh, but that's not all. On the very next batter Ramírez bobbles another routine grounder, this time somehow tumbling forward into a somersault.
While Manny is rolling around the field a run scores - which ties the game.
Luckily pitcher Keith Foulke got them out of a jam and Mark Bellhorn hit a home run to win the game, and most luckily of all that tie was the closest St. Louis ever came to a lead in the entire World Series, and three games later the Red Sox win the World Series for the first time since 1918 years ...
But I digress.
Dubai is like Manny Ramírez.
Day-in, day-out things don't run so smoothly here. I just spent two days telling you about the wide choice of TV offerings we get - and now the whole system is on the fritz. We get ESPN and CNBC and that's it. Oh, and it's not just us - it's the entire building. Everyone around here has been calling the cable hotline and getting the same story, "We're changing frequencies, it should be back to normal soon." And everyone in the building says, "oh well".
It all goes back to that saying they have here - "Insha'Allah" (if you missed my original explanation, see Safe in Dubai, pt. 2). You know, the lackadaisical, "out of my hands" kind of expression.
Just "Dubai Being Dubai".
Another example, I have the Apple AirPort Express wireless network base station. It should be plug-and-play. But I plug it in here, and although the network pops up on my computer no problem, the internet doesn't work. And nobody seems to know exactly why.
One of Liz's tech-y friends said that you have to call the phone/internet company and go through a long procedure. Here's the actual technolgical jargon she used, she said that there's "some website they took me to and had me do some stuff".
"Then, it worked great."
She smiles and nods. It's out of her hands.
Why not just make it work in the first place?
Why not change the frequecies on the cable all at once?
Why not build the roads first, then the buildings?
I mean, I feel like Frank Grimes here!! (Sorry if you don't get the Simpsons reference. You really should watch more Simpsons).
But you know what gets me the most? Manny Ramírez went on to win the Most Valuable Player award for the World Series. Somehow, after those mistakes, it all worked out in the end. And I know it will for Dubai, too.
