One sign involved a Colorado high school that dumped its "Cougars" sports nickname because it suggested hot, middle-aged women. Another was Donald Trump - (of course!) - adding a graveyard to the 5th hole of his Bedminster, NJ, golf course, where he'll someday rest beside those willing to pay for the privilege. Here's a collection of signs from 2012.
Sadly, in 2019 - two years after Deford's death - the apocalypse came for SI. The magazine was sold to something called "Authentic Brands Group" - (what? they couldn't find ACME?) - and then spun off to a digital media company, which promptly gutted the staff.
In honor of the first magazine I ever loved - (Boys Life sucked) - here's an authentic 2022 Sign of our impending doom.
In an online auction this week, a signed Jasson Dominguez rookie card is selling for the current bid of $161,000.
This is not an NFT or some crazy outgrowth of Bitcoin. It's the 2020 Chrome Prospect Superfractor #CPA-JDO Jasson Dominguez signed first Bowman Rookie Card. Go buy it.
At the risk of offering another Sign of the Apocalypse, I'm at a loss for words.
I would predict that this will be the peak of Dominguez's hype, but I honestly don't believe it. We long ago reached a point in America where hype becomes the art form, the product, the only thing that matters. It overrules truth, performance, value, integrity... everything. Debates are to be won by simply shouting the loudest, issues to be settled by simply threatening the worst.
But I do feel sorry for Dominguez. Yeah, he's rich and I'm sure he's getting laid more than any of us ever did. But imagine the harpies waiting for him. And then, when he falls short of expectations - which he will - he'll face a lingering sense of disappointment, which will haunt him all his life.
If I had that rookie card, I'd burn it on TV. The apocalypse is here.
Nice chunk o' change. Can you imagine what it'll be worth if it turns out to be his ONLY baseball card? Wowser.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteI would short sell this one.
So sad that this is what we are discussing in early February.
ReplyDeleteThe owners and MLB are monsters. They always have been, but they are a bit worse now.
And Hal is a moron. He does not care about the Yankees. End stop. Because of this, he tolerates the supreme ineptitude of Brian Cashman, who no longer deserves fun nicknames.
Cashman is quickly becoming one of the worst GMs in MLB history. His moves are so terrible that they will be one day be used in some crappy online course on how to fail at something despite being well funded.
As long as Hal is the owner and Brian is the manager, we go nowhere. We go nowhere fast. We go nowhere fast in a souped-up Yugo.
We suck donkey balls. Pray for the donkey.
Fuck them all.
Amen, Duque, amen. And a pretty damned good cultural analysis, to boot.
ReplyDeleteI get the feeling the Yankees fell for their own hype on this guy, too—or whoever first labeled him "The Martian." The whole thing reminds me of nothing so much as Cashman's love affair with Drew Henson, nearly 25 years ago—an infatuation that cost us Mike Lowell.
Has anyone ever learned LESS from experience?
Reminds me of the foolish time I bought 50 Hensley Meulens cards. Oh, and a few Brien Taylors too.
ReplyDeleteStill don’t get the irrational distaste for JD. Yes, the hype is over the top, but are we really dismissing a player’s potential after one year at Low A? Thanks to 13bit for speaking truth to power about Cashman. He has totally morphed into a toady for Steindumber, and with the feckless Boone has created a troika of greed, incompetence and indifference. Tough times for us veteran fans.
ReplyDeleteSpider,
ReplyDeleteRe 50 Hensley Meulens Cards
I once bought a superpack of cards that had the same contents.
Born to,
ReplyDeleteI agree. Got nothing against Jasson. He got paid on potential. That's how it goes. It's not like we've watched him swing at a low and outside pitch several hundred times.
If The Martian turns out to be a star, I will claim to have always been his greatest supporter.
ReplyDeleteThat's how this works, in case you didn't notice.
On the lockout front, I read a federal mediator is now involved in the talks
ReplyDeleteNext week will be KEY - stay tuned for ll the fun
ReplyDeleteHow much is a Genius Cashman selling for?
ReplyDeleteYou have a point, Born To, and I don't begrudge the Martian himself anything. But the thing with really young guys who are really stars TENDS to be, they overwhelm the first leagues they are in.
ReplyDeleteOccasional exceptions, of course. And who knows what might be going on in this kid's life.
But it's a really, really, really bad sign that he hit .252, without much pop, at the bottom of the minors. Offhand, Jeter is the only superstar I can think of who started this badly—and he was at a higher rung of the system.