I had ESPN on TV yesterday during the Home-Run Derby festivities before today's All-Star Game while writing…something…and overheard its top blowhard, Chris Berman, describe some home run's lengthy by claiming it was heading toward San Juan Capistrano .
Hmm…given that the Angels Stadium's diamond faces northwest, the only hit balls going toward our Mission town are those popped up behind first base. Any metaphorical home run is going to Orange, or possibly, Anaheim Hills.
“Moron,” I shouted at the television. And then I realized Berman must be caught in a time warp, and forgave his ignorance.
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Only until a couple of years ago did the majority of rest of the country probably know any Orange County city besides Anaheim and San Juan Capistrano, the former because of Disneyland and its sports teams, and the latter solely because of “When the Swallows Come Back to Capistrano,” the old Leon René song popularized by the Ink Spots and known to the World War II generation and its children, like Berman, who heard the song far too often. It's conceivable that Berman, in trying to make some joke, referenced the only other county city he had ever heard of, a city he knew through a song heard decades ago. If that's the case, though, shouldn't ESPN give Berman an atlas to update his geography?
Anyhoo, the classic song by one of the better groups that have gone into our collective dustbin:
