Silence is Deafening

Most of the sounds associated with the game are clearly distinguishable:

• The popping of the mitt
• Crack of the ball off the bat
• Umpire Calls
• Cheering, booing, and arguing by fans, players, coaches and goons

But sometimes silence within the game is much more meaningful and deafening. I've noticed things have a funny way of getting awfully quiet during key spots like:

• Dramatic Home Run or its inverse shocking strikeout
• Borderline pitch framed by a catcher
• Hesitant call by umpire
• Tense game ending situation
• Great defensive play made out of nowhere or horrendous error on the routine
• A Manager makes a move or better yet no move.

The silence may only be momentary and quickly broken, but its profound effect is still felt. I know I'm being a bit of drama queen as I spit my heart through this blog, but I really do believe that that eerie split second of silence intensifies the significance of the moment.

The dramatic effect of silence was on full display in the real world today as the Federal Reserve Bank voted 9-to-1 to make no changes to the central bank's ongoing stimulus policies and renewed its pledge to keep interest rates at record lows "at least through mid-2013." They did nothing because they acknowledged the economy's future remains on pins and needles as: "the unemployment rate remains elevated" and "strains in global financial markets continue to pose significant downside risks." Stocks fell for a second straight day on the Fed silence, as it served as a deafening reminder that no short term fix is over the horizon.

So who do we break this silence? That's President Obama's job (I highly recommend you watching these two video links) as he recently spoke on 60 minutes about being under the gun and his vision. He knows he can't afford to be quiet as he has a country to run/fix and an election to win. For now this is all noise and perhaps silence is best, as all that really matters is job creation, as actions speak louder than words.