Friday, January 30, 2009

Dereliction of Duty

It's official. I'm done. The naysayers have said nay so loudly and so frequently, I've lost the urge to fight them. I'm not alone in my battle fatigue; the Drunks are Robert Graysmith-ing their way around the Rogers Centre, chasing whispers and innuendo at a breakneck pace. It's the Lord's work they're doing, but the payoff will only equal the journey's worth of tears. The charmingly opaque way Rogers runs the Jays has run right the fuck out of charm, like a post-Anchorman Will Farrell. No matter how blissfully unaware I try to remain, horseshit politics creeps in.

I'm seeing negativity where it doesn't really exist now, like the recent Batter's Box post arguing the merits of various GMs. A good and honest attempt to evaluate general managers instantly had me thinking all the wrong things. I wasn't satisfied with the realization that J.P. is a pretty middle of the road GM. I got hung up on the immensity of the task at hand, displayed in the most innocuous/devastating way possible. Average number of wins required to win the AL East over the last five years - 94.6. 4 wins more than the closest competitor. Average number of wins required to win the AL Wildcard over the last 5 years - 95.4. That is a lot to ask at the best of times, when the ownership starts playing stink pinky with their advertising revenues and equalization payments, I get sad.

Those of us that occupy the upper middle class of Blue Jays fandom are getting it from both sides. We die hard, quasi-informed fans suffer Rogers-flavored shit sandwiches gladly each year, only now we have the huddled masses to worry about. A Yahoo fantasy post (yes I'm desperately filling the void with fantasy advice columns) brought out the best criminally insane commenters to make consistent winning club sound like the 1969 Mets. I made my way through 125+ comments like the true masochist that I am, trying to take the LOLs and the calls for a salary cap in stride.

But I stand before you a broken man, hoping desperately that Spring Training will bring me back. Green grass, wind sprints, and oddly numbered jerseys can hopefully talk me off the edge.

7 comments:

  1. Fear not Lloyd for I still have the utmost fandom in our squad.

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  2. Oh I forgot. Motherfuck all the naysayers...

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  3. Purchase this book. Then curl up in a couch and read until your heart is filled with joy.

    I've been re-reading some essays and articles from it over the past week to help me remember why I love this game ('cause it sure as hell isn't the off-season whining bullshit).

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  4. This is like the part in the GnR song "Coma" where they're trying to revive the presumably dead Axl...."We're losing him!....Clear!....zap him again!.... zap that son of a bitch again!"

    does that make sense? No? Again, delusional with the flu. I hate viruses.

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  5. Bah.

    I love the Drunks but I don't get all the ownership whining.

    Baseball has always been this way. The Labatts crew was a wild exception to the norm.

    Beeston insists that he's very happy with ownership (yes, he couldn't really be critical but he doesn't have to be THIS enthusiastic) and i trust Beeston implicitly.

    would I love it if we spent like, at least, the Red Sox? Sure. But I'm not going to bang my head against the wall asking that ownership be what they are never gonna be.

    All this asking if the team can be sold is playing with fire - who knows that the next owner won't be FAR more strapped for cash?

    I refuse to surrender!!

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  6. you held on a lot longer than me...


    cause I got nothing. I'm hoping spring will do something. I don't even care enough to complain about it.

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  7. I understand why they focus on ownership, their edicts directly impact the product on the field. My thing's always been that it is so far beyond our control, I try not to worry about it. I'll save that futile anger for government.

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