Today I took Mom to a doctor we’ve only seen once before. Nothing serious, just a routine examination of things. There, in the waiting room, was a wall with a glassed-in set of shelves. There were three parts to this display of tchotchkes. On each side were figurines of San Francisco Giants baseball players of the last ten years or so, including Ryan Vogelsong, Tim Lincecum, Buster Posey and Barry Bonds. Not simple bobblehead dolls, either; these things were ceramic or porcelain or something.

Well. To Dodgers fans like my mother and me this was bad enough, but the center display’s bottom shelf had ticket sleeves from each of the three World Series the Giants have played in and won in the past five years. Not only was the doc a Giants fan, he was a bloated plutocrat who’d attended World Series games!

I was hard-pressed to remain in the office another minute, I tell you. But for my mother I would have exited at once!