Crap that's on my mind...

I admit for the last few months I have been out of the loop with baseball and sports in general. I haven’t opened a sports page, listened to sports radio, watched Sportscenter or Baseball Tonight, or even checked the daily results online in months. I guess that needs some explanation. Why is it that I have, as the Wahoo says, starting hating sports? Let’s make a list…

The Dallas Mavericks let me down. Why is it that my favorite teams can’t JUST lose, they have to do it in embarrassing fashion? I told Chief Wahoo at the start of the playoffs that I thought there were only two teams in the NBA who could give the Mavs a hard time: the Suns and the Warriors. And this just a few months after the Cowboy season ended in similarly embarrassing fashion.

Barry Bonds is about to become the greatest home run hitter of all time, and I hate that. Is this really the guy we want as the face of baseball? A surly asshole who was never a huge home run hitter until he started using steroids? Whether you like it or not, he WILL break the record (unless something happens to him in the next few days – may I contribute to the bounty?), and that will be a sad day for baseball.

Mark McGwire is not in the Hall of Fame. Worse than that, apparently everybody related to baseball in any way agrees that he doesn’t belong in because of the steroid controversy. But the thing that pisses me off is, these same pundits say that Sammy is in with no debate. Frank Thomas too. And Barry on the first ballot. But not Mac. McGwire hit 583 home runs. He had an OBP of almost .400 for his career. He has the numbers and the awards; the only reason he doesn’t get HOF support is the steroids and his refusal to talk about them in front of Congress. And by the way, he was the ONLY one of the active players called before Congress who didn’t lie. He undoubtedly used some sort of supplement, but he never tested positive for steroids, and the stuff he used wasn’t even illegal. So why the double standard? For the same reason he lost the MVP in ’98: racial bias. Baseball bends over backwards to let the black and Latino groups know we support them, even if it means showing a prejudice against non-blacks and non-Latinos. There are huge, league-wide celebrations for Jackie Robinson and Roberto Clemente, but none for Mickey Mantle or Stan Musial.

Another thing that has me down on everything right now is my own idiotic incompetence. I have traded away a whole teamful of young current and future all stars (Utley, Holliday, Beckett, Harden, A.Gordon, B.Wood, King Felix, Haren, Morneau, O.Hudson, etc.) and all I have to show for it is a bunch of over the hill ex-studs (Manny, Vizquel), no draft picks, and no titles. In the past when I traded away the likes of Derek Jeter, at least I could rationalize it by winning Higdons. This team I have this year SHOULD have been one of my best ever, and it will very likely not even make the playoffs. It’s hard not to get discouraged. Next year will be even worse for the Pigs.

Then there is NASOMA. To be brutally honest, if the whole league was filled with owners like the Oilers, the FFTs, the Fungoes, the DVs, the Snakes, the Inmates, and the Wahoos… I’d have no problems with NASOMA. I’d even learn to be a better loser just because I would enjoy this league more. But, for whatever reason, NASOMA has turned into a ghost league. Teams go long stretches without playing games, phone calls are practically a thing of the past, and even returning emails has been neglected. We get together and have a fairly good time one weekend a year, then ignore each other the other 51 weeks. We never even talk trade anymore. And again, I’m not talking about everyone… but it’s half the league anyway. And I have been guilty this year, too. I haven’t played games at the rate I normally do, but I got tired of being the aggressor when it came to getting games played. I decided just to let them call or write me, even though I knew with a few teams that it would never happen. I sent out instructions to the Bees, Tweeners, Zaps, and Nads back in early May. The Zaps sent back instructions of his own, but the other three never even acknowledged they received them – let alone have played any of the games. I have sent out requests for updated records to the entire league several times this season, and I STILL have the Bees and Nads as being 0-0. Now, to be fair, the Beeboy has a new baby and I know from past experience that he will get his shit done eventually. I can’t say that about the Nads.

I vow to turn over a new leaf – starting today. I am going to start taking part in life again. I will try my best to win and not mope and cry when I don’t. I will cheer my guys’ successes, and I will suffer through their defeats. I will stop hating (with the possible exception of Bonds). I will stop rejoicing when I hear things like Andruw Jones is hitting .199 (heehee). I will play my games and try NOT to be the last guy some of you would want to have sitting across the table.

As far as NASOMA goes, I’m going to give and take some advice here: Either take part or get the hell out. Seriously, if you can’t have the decency to make time for this league and the other 15 men in it, retire. Get out. Say farewell and move on. And I don’t give a damn if that’s harsh. Hell, the owners this is aimed at will never read it. They don’t even know or care that there IS a Big Innings, which simply proves my point. You don’t have to make SOM a high priority in your life, but if you are going to stay in the league, take the time to care about it. Play your games. Send out instructions. And that is a MINIMUM of the effort required. Return phone calls. MAKE phone calls. Send e-mails. Make ridiculous trade proposals. Give a damn.

That is all.