I'm pretty upset about the LaRue trade.
The Tall Drink of Water warned me repeatedly - "It's going to happen. I'm just preparing you" - but it didn't soften the blow when I found out this afternoon.
What happens to a team when someone gets traded? All your favorite players end up somewhere else, so you're not even cheering for your favorite team anymore, you're cheering for a city, or a certain uniform, or whatever.
I liked the team the Reds had at the beginning of the season. LaRue. Dunn. Kearns. Willy Mo. Lopez. And now, only Dunn is left. So is Dunn "my team?" Isn't the team the men it's made of? And if you're not a fan of those men, then is that your favorite team anymore?
Maybe you're a little kid and you fell in love with the Reds because of the Big Red Machine and the men who made up the machine - Rose, Morgan, Perez, Foster, Bench, Concepcion. And those guys were your team. You loved them.
Then they got traded, got old, retired. But you still love that team. Those Reds. That Big Red Machine.
So some new players came along and you thought they were OK, but they were no Big Red Machine. Then a few guys came along that you liked almost as much and you got to appreciate them and then they were your team.
Well, the '05-06 Reds were my team.
I went to 16 Reds games this year. 16! (And I ate a helmet sundae with extra sprinkles at all of them but one.) I high fived strangers for them! And now what?!
Yeah, I root for the Reds, but my team is gone.
4 comments:
ok, we still have dunn (bad defense, strikeouts and all, but we still love him). and don't forget about freel. f'reel, girl.
griffey is a future hall of famer and a great player, hopefully you learn to love him. brandon phillips was a complete surprise last year, and i think you overlooked his awesomeness.
and perhaps you forgot about the starting pitching (at least the two consistent guys in the rotation) harangatang and bronson. and, we can only hope homer is part of the rotation come april...you'll love homer. love him.
only 3 months until spring training starts...we're going to have a great team!
Good to see someone's got the hot stove fired up. Get over the trade, Larue needed to go. After struggling through the late summer they still were close in September, even if it was due to the tanking Cardinals. And look what happened to them!
If you're going to continue to be a LaRue fan, you'll need the KC Star. Here's something from their story today: "LaRue, 32, will battle incumbent John Buck for the starting job.
“It’s all about competition,” general manager Dayton Moore said. “Both guys are very talented. And because of the competition, I think both guys will have very good years.”
The Royals are picking up roughly $2.5 million of LaRue’s $5.45 million salary for 2006. "
TDW: You're looking for numero uno here in the hopes of ensuring that you're stadium-mate is still in for games and helmet sundaes. I don't appreciate your ruse. (But fine. I do like Freel. Ryan Fo' reel. That superfast, base-stealin' everyman.)
Big Bri: TWD just explained to me what the "hot stove league" is. Love your insidery baseball language. But you can suck it! LaRue didn't have to do anything but look scruffy sexy, call the games and guard the plate. Go Royals!
Jon: Buck is going down! What are the odds on me getting a sports writing job at the Kansas City Star? (20 to 1, like the Bengals' superbowl odds?)
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