perpetual memory loss

Not it!!

This week I have been fairly obsessed with the Penn State story. I even spent some time today reading through the Grand Jury report, which is worth the read–if you can stomach it. I have been floored by the absolutely tone deaf responses from so many people.  Students rioting at Penn State to support JoePa? Pundits worrying about how this will affect the football program? What about his legacy? People rushing to protect and defend those in high places, the very people who don’t need defenders. Here’s a sampling of some tweets from members of the team via deadspin:

Sick. Just sick.

I’m honestly sick to my stomach

This is almost like a modern day crucifixion

Smh all he has done for this program and then they turn on him

Disgusting

It’s good to see these football players have their priorities…wait what? Fuck, you mean, they’re not upset that the institution they are part of covered up for one of their own when he raped a child in the showers? or forced children to give him bj’s also in said shower? Nope, amazingly they are upset because the glorious leader JoePa was fired over the phone. A man who was praised far and wide by the sporting world for him commitment to leadership and honor turned out to be a fucking coward and fraud. In all this people keep forgetting that a child of 10 years old was raped by a man 5x his age. And that’s just one of a few that we actually know about.

The fact that people can witness or know about this or even suspect that children are being taken advantage of and not do anything is tragic beyond words. Throughout the Grand Jury report you can see time after time how people see or know something bad is going on and do nothing. They pass the buck to someone else (like that soulless ginger, shit heel McQueary, or the false idol JoePa, or any of the other assholes involved in this) and think their job is done or they do nothing. It takes a special kind of spineless, gutless, fucking coward to not stick up for a child in situations like this; sweeping it all under the rug–nothing to see here folks move along.

This is what happens when people think that the rules don’t apply to them, when they have gotten comfortable with their elevated positions and think that nothing can take them down. All too often these days we see the so called elites of our society engage in behavior that is reprehensible and all too often they end up not facing any consequences. I could give a shit about Penn State or their athletics. If I had graduated from there I would be immensely embarrassed right now. A pox on JoePa and his fucking legacy. If there is any justice his, and all those who were complicit, will have their remaining years filled with as much sadness, anguish, and regret as their prior years were filled with happiness and hero worship. They will all get their day in court to explain how and why they didn’t feel the need to do anything, but I will always condemn them as spineless cowards. You can say well you don’t know how you would act in that situation if that was you. But I can tell you absolutely that I do know. There is no way in fucking hell I would not act in a situation like that. None whatsoever.

Bystanderism infects our world. Too often people stand idly by, silent, as people around them–in their schools, workplaces, and communities–are bullied, sexually harassed, degraded, abused etc. Instances like this should be a clarion call for those of us who are willing to stand for those that are voiceless. To help remind us that remaining silent is not an option. None of us by ourselves can stop a genocide or change the world. We can, however, make lives better one by one by standing up and speaking out for those who need help or support.

One last point. For those of you praying for the victims. Stop it. They don’t need your prayers, they need people who aren’t apathetic. Besides if you believe in an all-knowing, all-seeing, omnipotent, personal loving god who will allow this like this to happen, then you’re a fool. This god who is master of the universe but somehow gets his ass handed to him daily by satan is a pretty shitty god. Quit praying and start acting. Be a better person and don’t be a bystander, that’s the one thing we can all work on and endeavor to be better at.

–

(photo via firstthings.com)

Joe Posnanski is one of the best sports writers around. His book Soul of Baseball recounts the time he spent following Buck O’Neil around the country. Buck wasn’t the best of the old Negro League players, but he was quite good. However, he became baseball royalty for what he did after his playing days were over. He was the first African-American coach in the MLB, a fantastic scout (who is credited with signing Hall of Famers Lou Brock and Ernie Banks among others), and he worked tirelessly to keep the history of the Negro Leagues around and relevant, which culminated in the building of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

Perhaps the saddest/best part of the book is what Buck missed out on in life. Buck never got the chance to play in the MLB because Jackie came later and he never got to manage in the MLB even though he was a good manager in the Negro Leagues. Throughout the book you see that he never let this affect his life. Instead of being a bitter curmudgeon (like I probably would have been) he was forgiving, thankful, and full of hope. This book is a short read but well worth it for sports fans, or just people who like a great story about a great person. Pick up a copy and do yourself a favor and read it.

Also if you like sports you should be reading Joe Posnanski’s blog. With the amount of absolute garbage out there in the sports writing world Posnanski’s blog is like a breath of fresh air.

Yeesh! I’m still recovering from the craziness that was last night’s slate of baseball games. But since there are better recaps than mine, I will just stick to one main point and a few little ancillary pointettes. Since 2007 I have had to live with the ignominy of being a Mets fan. The Mets if you remember (I sure do!) is the franchise of the historic late season collapse of 2007 which subjected the franchise and the fan base amazing amounts of ridicule. However, thanks to the Braves and the Red Sox even bigger and even more pathetic collapse, which culminated yesterday, Mets fans and the franchise are off the hook. I would like to thank everyone who made this possible especially the entire Red Sox and Braves organizations. Thank you for having a worse collapse than my poor, poor Mets. The lackluster baseball I have seen both those teams play this last month has made my memories of ’07 Mets seem like the ’27 Yankees. It’s even sweeter since the Red Sox spent around 5 gazillion dollars last offseason and still managed to blow a 9 game lead. Also special thanks to Jonathan Papelbon. Thanks for blowing the game. If anyone deserves the shame that you feel right now it’s you. Papsmear you are truly one of the biggest douches in baseball.

Most of all, however, I’d also like to thank Evan Longoria (my man crush beeteedubs) for the walk-off homer that completed the Red Sox failure.

Man crush

Oh yah and the icing on the cake is that Reyes won the batting title yesterday for the first time in franchise history. Fuck the haters, most players do what Reyes did so stop comparing everyone to fucking Derek Jeter and Teddy Ballgame.

PS to all my friends who are Sox fans: Sorry you are just going to have to suck it up and deal with all the shit talking. I’ve heard and taken a bunch of shit from all of you over the Mets. Now it’s your turn.

PPS to Frank McCourt: Thanks for being an even shittier owner than the Wilpon’s.

The Mets are a mess but at least they are providing comedians with plenty of good material.

This clip is even funnier and more appropriate after yesterdays Opening Day debacle. It’s going to be a long season Mets fans.

I have to say 2011 so far has been much better than 2010. I started out this new year with a brand new job–which I will be writing about soon–and today I took the next step into making 2011 the best year yet. As of today I am the proud owner of Nationals season tickets (yes the plural is correct as I own not one but two seats).

Many of you may be saying “pssshhh who cares it’s the fucking Nationals.”

To which I would reply, “It’s baseball season tickets!!! Are you fucking kidding me you can’t go wrong!! Plus owning season tickets is totally on my bucket list!!!”

I think any way you slice it season tickets are great. You may disagree but I won’t be able to hear you over the roar of fans screaming and cheering for whoever is playing the Nats.  But still it’ll totally be worth it. Two weeks until pitchers and catchers report and then after that six weeks until opening day.

Take a look at the view from Section 108 Row HH Seat 23.

We were also given a tour of the stadium and we were allowed to go down on the field and into the dugout, which was something else I had on my bucket list.  Check and check.

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As I’m sure some of you may have heard this weekend is, yet another, corporate holiday shoved down our throats in an attempt to hijack some of our hard-earned dollars.  I am, of course, talking about Valentine’s Day.  So while there will be tons of people buying candy hearts, chocolates, flowers, cards, and all the other Valentine’s Day accouterments another important event will be relegated to the back burner.  That event is the official beginning of baseball season.  Pitchers and catchers are to report to Spring Training on Saturday, February 14.  So instead of buying your gal pal some chocolates, or any of those other contrived gifts, go buy her a baseball mitt.  Then you can go outside and play some catch, because as we all know, after the crack! of the bat, there is no better sound than the whizz and pop of playing catch on a nice spring day.

The beginning of the real baseball season also means that fantasy baseball is about to begin.  I have been struggling to find something to waste my time on these last few months to no avail.  The biggest time vampire in the entire world is fantasy baseball and I, for one, will be glad to have it back in my life sucking precious minutes out of my day that would probably be better spent on school work or something constructive like that.  So to all of you in my league “Look Out!” because I haven’t been resting on my laurels all winter and my team will be ready to defend our title this year.  Forget Valentine’s Day I’m all about the “Beginning of Baseball Season Day.”  Now there’s a holiday I can get behind.

I swear this isn't me.

Today I made my way over to neverbesocial’s blog and read his entry about the lackluster end to the Cub’s season–I know it’s and old one but I was sans computer for awhile so I’m still catching up–and I was wondering how come I am still interested in the playoffs this season.  This despite the fact that the Mets lost to the Marlins again on the last day of the season, once again killing their playoff hopes.  It was so much more than that though, they once again had a lead in September, and once again with 17 games left they floundered…badly.  But yet here I am interested in the season after a mere day or two of grumbling.  I still care about the playoffs, and still check on the team news daily–when I have a computer that is.

This has led me to the conclusion that after the disappointment of 2006–swing the fucking bat Carlos–and the crushing collapse of 2007, the Mets have officially broken my spirit, and although I remain a staunch fan, I have the short term memory and the delusions of a battered wife (hence the BWS or battered wife syndrome).  Sure it’s not like the Mets have ever been really good for an extended period of time, but these last 3 years–especially 2006 though–were supposed to be years where they dominated.  I mean the Braves are a shell of their former selves and yet the Mets still get smacked around by them.

This brings me to yet another conclusion and that is that it hurts way more when your team sucks when they are supposed to be good.  I’ve resigned myself to the fact that the Mets aren’t very good, and probably won’t be again for a few more years.  (At least I kicked ass in my fantasy league.  My team showed the heart and fight that the Mets are clearly missing, and I get to look forward to defending my title–again–next year.)

The Cubs, however, will probably be good again next year, and they might just make it over the hump and win it all.  If they do it will all be gravy, but if the same thing happens to them again next year then it will make three years in a row that the Cubs have underperformed.  If that happens then I think I will be able to embrace neverbesocial as a fellow member of the BWS club.  The Cubs are known as the lovable losers and that’s fine when they suck, but when they are supposed to win, well, that’s when the losses really, really hurt.  That’s basically what the last three years have felt like for me, and now begins the slow laborious process of rehab with my power animal–slide!

Just how I like them, sad & weepy.

Last post was getting a little long in the tooth.

Update 4:07

Wuertz gets out of the inning so it’s all tied up in Milwaukee 1-1, and in Queens 2-2.

Update 4:11

Nothing for the Mets in that inning.  Church after one good game looks like he is lost in the sauce…again.  It’d be nice to see Murphy take over for him in right, but then you lose Church’s defense which might be more valuable now that the game is getting late.

Update 4:14

WithWagner gone the majority of my ire falls on Showeneweis  and once again he proves me right by giving up a homer.  Why didn’t Manuel swap him out when Garcia pinch hit with a righty.  Fuck I hate you Showeneweis.  The fans rightfully boo him.  I can’t wait until that joker leaves the team.

Update 4:20

Well this shit doesn’t look good.  Ayala just gave up a bomb to Uggla.  4-2 fish.  Fuuuuuuck.  Brewers are up 3-1 so the Mets need to comeback.

Update 4:31

Things are looking grim, but Reyes just hit a ground rule double to right center.  Beltran is up with two outs in the bottom of the 8th.

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Well this is it the last game perhaps ever at Shea Stadium.  This season has been a roller coaster of emotions and I have risen to tremendous heights and desolute lows with this team this year.  However, it all comes down to the last game of the season, and the Mets have to do it, again, against the Marlins.  Last year Glavine didn’t even make it out of the first inning, and hopefully this year they can pull it off, and with a little help from the Cubs, make it into the playoffs without having to play a one game playoff tomorrow.  I’ve been watching the pre-game show for an hour and a half and it’s good to see all the old Mets at the stadium talking about Shea, and some of the old memories. 

One moment they have been talking about a lot in Piazza’s homerun after 9/11.  That moment was voted the #2 moment in the history of Shea Stadium (#1 was game 6 of the 1986 WS where the Mets won on the Buckner error).  For me, however, that is my favorite memory.  Only in retrospect do I realize how much my life was changed by 9/11 even though I was 3000 miles away.  I was stuck on base when Camp Pendelton was put on high alert, and we were all ready to ship out at a moments notice.  All of us were still reeling from what had happened.  It seemed like, even in California, that the nation had come to a grinding halt, and everything that we thought we knew seemed foreign.  Baseball helped to normalize everything again, and when the Mets were set to continue the season against the hated Braves, I was able to put the tragedy in the background for a bit, and ressurect my absolute hatred for the Braves.  When the Mets came back with that dramatic Mike Piazza homer, it was pure elation, and just for a moment everything was forgotten.  Anyways that’s probably my fondest Mets memory, because I was a bit too young to remember 1986, and because still 9/11 is one of the moments that has so dramatically effected the course of my life.

Update 1:21

Currently still in a rain delay, game time is now set to 2:00 PM EST.

Update 1:58

Here we go, games about to start.  I really nervous about this game, and I’m even more worried about how Perez is going to pitch on 3 days rest–especially with CC pitching in Milwaukee.  Hope for the best that’s all I can do.

Update 2:03

1-2-3 inning for Ollie, and with only 7 pitches to boot.  Like Gary Cohen said “no 7-run inning this time.”  Thank God.

Update 2:13

Nothing doing for the Metties that inning, but they did make Olsen work–25 pitches that inning.

Update 2:20

A brief scare when Ollie tried to grab Uggla’s ground ball.  He stayed in but his control was terrible afterwards, but he managed to get through the inning.  23 pitches through 2, and no score in Milwaukee yet.

Update 2:31

1-2-3 inning for Olsen.  The Cubs scored before the inning was over, however, and the Shea faithful gave a rousing cheer.

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