JackalTalk — JackalWorks Blog

Last week I was in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  I’m telling you, the weather was great.  The sky was clear and there was no humidity.  The view from my hotel room was absolutely stunning: the beautiful Charles River on a cool sunny day with sail boats and rowers on it, with a backdrop of Boston’s skyline.  As I scanned the breadth of the skyline I hit a huge eyesore.  There, in the middle of the skyline, stood a gigantic CITGO sign.  The sign was the only like sign on the entire skyline.  I wondered how in the heck Hugo Chavez’s state-owned oil company could have possibly pulled off such a coup?  How’d he get that gaudy monstrosity perched so prominently in the middle of Boston’s skyline?  How’d he do it?

After scrutinizing my map I finally realized that I was looking in the direction of where Fenway Park should be, and as flashed images of the park from my memory I realized it was the CITGO sign at Fenway Park.  I confirmed my suspicion with a Charlestown born taxi driver.  “Yes,” she said, “I’m not a big sox fan, but when you see that CITGO sign you know you are home.”  I guess the universal appeal of baseball really can help overcome the starkest of political differences.  Only in a baseball context can one of America’s most hated villains have an enormous neon reminder of his existence, but it really not matter.  “Venezuela owns CITGO, Hugo Chavez is its president, and he hates the U.S.”, I reminded her. “After all,” my taxi driver replied, “none of that matters to me.  He [Chavez] doesn’t play for the Yankees.”