August, 2010
August 29th, 2010
Everything I Believe Might Change Soon
I suspect I’ll write a long post at some point about my decreasing loyalty to the Cubs, but suffice it to say that the Cubs have been a significant enough part of my life that I should probably be embarrassed about it.
My decreasing passion for the Cubs have not lessened my interest in baseball at all. I tend to pick which games I go to now by taking into consideration who’s going to be playing for the other team (there is no player currently on either Chicago team worth going out of the way to see). One of the players at the top of my list, even though he a couple years past his peak, is Manny Ramirez.
I love Manny. The guy has been an absolutely incredible hitter. And while people recognize he’s good, I think he’s actually underappreciated because of his quirky personality. The whole “Manny Being Manny” thing is a lot of fun (and a big source of my affection), but it’s unfortunately clouded the fact that this guy is probably the third best hitter of my lifetime (behind only Bonds and Pujols).
Has he had moments of loafing? Sure. But plenty of athletes do it, and few are as productive overall as Ramirez and fewer still retain the childlike love of baseball shared by most fans who are far too into the game. I hope that some day “Red Sox Nation” realizes how pathetic it is that they blindly swallowed management’s spin on Manny. But it seems unlikely that we will ever see anything resembling critical thought from that relatively small hyperpassionate group of increasingly less likable people with a massive inferiority complex even after their team won two World Series in four years.
I think the real reason some people don’t like Manny isn’t because he loafs it on the field sometimes, it’s that he doesn’t get worked up about his mistakes or his teams losses. Fans want the athletes on their teams to care as much as they do. Manny seems to get that baseball is a game and that the joke’s on us for supporting it as an industry through which he gets $20 million per year. He may be right.
Anyhow, there is a chance that Manny Ramirez is going to be on the White Sox tomorrow or Tuesday. Like most Cubs fans, I grew up hating the White Sox. The hate was real, albeit obviously as ridiculous as any strong emotion fans have about professional sports teams. But once the White Sox won the World Series in 2005, I was surprisingly not jealous and I realized I was actually a little happy for them.
I will not horrify the young version of me by actually embracing the White Sox should they get Manny, but I will, for the first time in my life, attend more Sox games than Cubs.
If Manny ends up on the Sox next year for a full season, young me might have to worry a little bit. But that scenario is extremely remote so I won’t worry about it.
For now, enjoy some awesome Manny:
August 27th, 2010
Italian Sausage
I made some merguez sausage a month or so ago with the boys from The Paupered Chef. Found a couple in my freezer and they are still delicious even when simply steamed.
