BOX SCORE

When I was a kid,
I poured over the box score
to see how my favorite players were doing.
What was Gil Hodges batting,
and how many putouts did Duke Snider make?
The box scores improved my math skills.
I learned how to calculate
batting averages, and earned run averages.
I knew that two for five was .400 for the day,
a pretty good result for my new favorite rookie.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all get
daily report cards like that?
How many meetings did you average last week?
Or what was your average commuting time last month?
I don’t know if I am up for such daily scrutiny,
but I would like my successes and failures
recorded in the paper for all time.
Do kids today even bother looking at the box score,
let alone studying its magical intricacies?
I doubt it. They’re too busy
playing Candy Crush on their IPhones.
And let’s not even talk about keeping a score card.