Saturday, March 3, 2018

Now We Have Seen It, Now Let It Go



I am doing my best to go along with the Russell Wilson thing.

He is a good guy and a super NFL QB, with all the money and awards that accompany that status. Like many professional athletes, he was a three sport star in HS.

And, like many athletes who gave up baseball for a different sport ( Curling, for example ), Russell yearned to wear pinstripes and get a shot at showing the world how multi-talented he is.  Bo Jackson, perhaps, was an idol.  Everyone pretends to be a Yankee at some point.

To personalize this commentary, I confess to owning a pinstripe, terrycloth bathrobe with the interlocking NY on the front, and the number 7 on the back.  It is the closest I ever got to wearing Yankee pinstripes.  So I get the dream.  I even get the hangovers to match some of those that the real Mantle famously had.

But I am now tired of the Russell Wilson diversion.  I find the courtesy of signing him and bringing him to spring training lame.

As any of us.....and I repeat any of us....could and would do, Russell struck out on three pitches in the one at-bat they gave him yesterday.  It was late in the game, he was facing a young pitcher destined for Des Moines or someplace, and he was fed a fastball for strike three.

Big wah.  I promise you, I could strike out on three pitches tomorrow.  In a beer league or against Dellin Betances.

 Isn't this a bit of a slap at the integrity of the game?  Why not bring in a movie star?  Or, maybe one of those medal winning curling guys from Wisconsin?
Is this the new Yankee image?  Is this how we win the back pages of the NY tabloids?

I am now thinking that the JU-JU gods are pissed.

Do you really think it is a co-incidence that "red thunder" is going to miss most of this year's spring training because he was playing the game all out ?  That Jacoby pulled an oblique in his sleep?

It is time to get Russell back to the gulf coach beaches where he can rest up for the NFL.  Maybe give him a turn at the PGA.  Or, wait, when is Wimbledon?  Even better, I think the rodeo bull riding finals are in a couple of weeks.  Let's see if the Seahawks organization is good with that one.

Be done with this or beware, saith the gods!

This is baseball.

3 comments:

HoraceClarke66 said...

It seems silly to me, too, Alphonso.

BUT...in this time and place, Russell Wilson may be a useful distraction.

I mean, think of what we would be reading instead. A thousand pieces asking why Torres isn't already hitting like Rogers Hornsby. A couple hundred more on how could Severino have a bad outing, and will Betances' head problems continue, and how can the Yankees ever, ever do well with two rookies in the lineup.

Sportswriters don't like success, much as they claim to admire it. They like failure, they like discontent, they like chaos. As such, they summon the JuJu gods, their constant little yammerings slowly penetrating the brain of Coops, pushing him into making another move, any move.

But they're also distracted by shiny objects, your average beat writers.

They're like cats, whose brain capacity is roughly the same. Throw a Russell Wilson out there, and they'll miss ten potential causes of handwringing and pearl-clutching in the clubhouse.

Hell, the Yanks ought to go invite Tonya Harding to camp, too. By Opening Day, we'd be cruising.

Local Bargain Jerk said...


It is time to get Russell back to the gulf coach beaches where he can rest up for the NFL. Maybe give him a turn at the PGA. Or, wait, when is Wimbledon? Even better, I think the rodeo bull riding finals are in a couple of weeks.

He should be given the opportunity to take Didi G's place at the World Baseball Classic.

Win-win.

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