Wednesday, August 19, 2009

The Power of Spite


You're Travis Snider. You're the Franchise. You're the Great Big Pasty White Hope. You're back in the big leagues after a few months of destroying AAA pitching. You hit a home run in your first at bat. How do you keep it going? How do you maintain momentum? Hate.

While most media members describe Snider as level-headed, or a kid with a good head on his shoulders, or a kid with his head on straight, or a 21 year old kid that doesn't have to promise to call you back to get head; there's a little simmering anger under the Snidey-surface. Reports of Snider resenting the treatment at the hands of our Black Dad bubbled, with Snider slightly distancing himself from the hitting guru. Snider didn't like being demoted, but who would? Snider overcame incredible hardships in his young life, now is the time to bottle those feelings and unleash them in a terrible way.

Never underestimate the power of high-level athletes driven to acts of madness by seemingly innocent comments or events. These are, by and large, bizarre humans with odd self-pushing buttons who draw motivation from the strangest of places. Let this be Travis Snider's motivation: prove Cito wrong.

About what? Who cares. Go out there with "fuck you" on your mind every single time and you can't lose. Already an intense dude, Snider can focus his hatred of Citocity into an energy beam of pure opposite field destruction. Travis Snider will seek and destroy all that spout the "don't believe anything you see in April or September" adage.

Snider's homer yesterday was indeed a thing of beauty, one that made a heartbreaking game much easier to swallow. Snider playing everyday should serve as reason enough to watch the rest of the season, though the thought of him growing into some sort of dark anti-hero is one I don't feel guilty about. Count down the moments until your free agency Travis, one "Fuck You!" at a time.

8 comments:

  1. I'm not sure it's just the atheletes that draw motivation from strange places, but if this is the medicine you need to cure your lack of interest then keep dosing.

    It was great to see him back and makes you question why he hasn't been in Toronto all along. He looked pretty comfortable. Maybe there is something to your theory now that I think about it...

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  2. It's the dawn of the Travis Snider Era. It will be a time when our mighty hero hatefucks fastballs into the empty restaurants in centrefield.

    Can't hardly wait.

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  3. God I love opposite field home runs, don't you? If you've noticed, he and Aaron Hill have the exact same batting stance, except Hill is a dead pull hitter who swings like he's hitting off a tee. Sniderman's, like Lind, can hit to opposite field effortlessly, kinda like that Delgado guy. There's also another thick-bodied 5'11 guy in the majors who came up at the same age and hits LOTS of HR, Prince Fielder. OK fine, Prince is actually just fat, not thick.

    Anyway, this is just a long way of saying...

    Aaron Hill, dead pull hitter = 30 HR
    Travis Snider, power to all fields prodigy = 60 HR

    Obviously

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  4. Holy shit SP, you just blew my mind. 60 home runs for sure.

    Hatefucked home runs on top of that, they're the very best kind you know.

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  5. Yes - totally noticed the mirror image batting stances of Hill and Snider last night. YES. Keep laying off the soft shitballs down and away, and you will be a monster, young man (channeling my inner Campbell).

    "Hatefucked home runs". Good lord. That phrase repulses me and intrigues me at the same time. In short - it wins.

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  6. I like the way SP thinks.

    It's been a while since you brought out "Black Dad." That shit slays me.

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  7. Drew, love the new blog motto: Blue Jays Detritus from OPS to OMG!

    Your genius knows no bounds.

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  8. Just hope Cito doesn't die before Snider retires

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