Loose Ends Won't Tie Themselves

There will continue to be sorrow for at least a few more weeks, because Spring Training hasn't quite started. Buster Olney had a good quote in his blog the other day, about winter being the time of numbers and analysis. I'm getting sick of playing analyst and pretending I have any fucking clue what I'm talking about. Every day that passes brings me closer to death, or picking away at an acoustic guitar like Old Man Graffin above.

The ceaseless wintry weather has my baseball jones up to full power, so much so that I plugged in a baseball game I don't even like just to satisfy my cravings. Yup, it still sucks.

Another way to reduce your sorrow is reading the BONLLIA's! My 30 year old projections (there's that word again) went up last week, please do check them all out. You think it's fun to write 700 non-sequitors? Labor of love baby, labor of love.

In June I sent an open letter to the Blue Jays regarding the height of the outfield walls. Some kind soul was good enough to indulge me and respond. We went back and forth for a while, but then his email's stopped. Looking at the Jays front office roster, I see no Director of Guest Services (my correspondent's title) nor do I see his name any more, meaning he's moved on from the club. Which sucks, he seemed nice and somewhat interested. Here are the highlights of our exchanges:

• I suggested the new, slower turf prevented balls from bounding over the fence, the original purpose of the 10 foot fences.
• He wondered about the video board, which would be prohibitively expensive to alter. He then asked if I "would be offended by an asymmetrical setup." He noted I was the first human being to suggest such a thing.
  
• Having just attended a game that night (REED!) I noticed that around the 375 foot sign, the walls turn out slightly before the video boards begin. I suggested that lower the fences up until this point wouldn't (shouldn't? couldn't?) be too costly and would leave the video boards and center field areas at the current height.
• I continued with my ass-kissing tone and noted: A common (and unfair) knock against the Rogers Centre is of its sterile/homogeneous appearance. I think adding a few wrinkles to the symmetrical outfield would do wonders, without absorbing the major cost of altering the dimensions of the playing surface.
  I've attached a photo of Progressive Field (look, there it is --->), where the wall drops dramatically in height. While the changes I'm proposing wouldn't be as drastic, I like the idea of a straight drop. The potential, slight as it may be, for exciting plays born out of strange bounces is there. A little variation would be welcomed by most Jays fans, I assume?
  
• The next email from "my contact" indicated he would be out of the office on vacation, but I never heard from him again. I emailed him back a few months later, and recently re-sent my original letter to the Fan Feedback email address without a response.

I can't see lower the walls from the corner to the 375 sign costing too much, especially compared to many of the recent changes to the Rogers Centre. If you think this is a good idea, I encourage you to send a note along to fanfeedback@bluejays.com or email me here at Ghostrunner on First. The worst thing they could do would be to say no, right?