Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Billy Plays All 162

Hello hello, dear blog reader(s). It's been a few days since my last post, but life's been busy and I'm sure you understand. Can we agree to let bygones be bygones, to forgive and forget, and to still enjoy some blogging? You CAN? You're so kind. All six of you.

So, it's summer. I can tell because the air is starting to feel thicker, the temperature is rising, the movies have more explosions, the tv is worse, and I'm perspiring more and more. It's the circle of life. That being said, it's not ALL bad. Because summer is also when baseball starts to heat up. I'm a die-hard Yankee fan, and I've been one for about 16 years now, and I live and breathe every game from April to October. I love it. And while certain teams are constantly on my shit list, I can respect fans of those teams, because they're committed to those teams.

There are certain people I can't stand. And it's fairweather fans. These can come in several different ways(and so can i, HIYO!!! That's what she said. Yeah, that's right, I said that's what she said.)

- There are the fans who have a basic team they follow, but they don't follow day to day, and they really only follow on a regular basis when the team is doing well. I hate these fans. They sort of know some of the players, they know the general make of the team, but on a random day in August when the team is having a rough go of things? They're nowhere to be found. Are they ashamed to stand by a team that's not playing great? Show some character, and stick by people through thick and thin. BE STRONG!!

- There are also people who don't follow sports, but know some of the general facts of the sport, and spout those off when the convo comes up so they can be a part of it. For example, I'm a Yankee fan, and the Yankees spend a lot of money on free agents. All teams spend money. Yankees EARN more money, Yankees HAVE more money, Yankees SPEND more money. This is how it goes. Every so often you'll get one of these pseudo-fans saying, "Oh don't the Yankees just buy all the players? I don't like them." "Oh, don't the Yankees win a lot? I don't root for them." No one with any respect for baseball cares about the opinions of these people. These people infuriate me.

This brings me back to a certain time in my life that brings me a lot of pain. It was October of 1996, and the Yankees were playing in the World Series for the first time since I had started watching. It was a thrilling time. I loved watching the games. No one at school really watched, but I didn't care. So, the World Series comes along, and the Yankees get CRUSHED in Game 1. It was tough to watch. But I didn't think much of it when I got to school, until suddenly I started to hear snickering around me on the playground. More laughter. And heckling. I assumed it was for someone else. It wasn't. The entire 6th grade class had suddenly started to follow baseball overnight apparently, and they were all rooting for the Atlanta Braves, and in a scene right out of a horrific story about kids picked on by bullies in school, EVERYONE was against me and pointing at me. I had...NOTHING. I didn't know half these kids. And what was I gonna do. I was BEYOND outnumbered. I had to sit there and take it as these miserable little brats pointed their front running band wagon jumping fingers at me. That was the first time I ever truely thought about violence in school. And the thoughts made me smile.

The Yankees lost the second game, and it was just as bad. But then a funny thing happened. The Yankees won Game 3. And 4. And 5. And then 6, thus winning the World Series.

And what happened the next day, when I walked back into school?

Complete and total silence. No one talked to me. No one mentioned baseball. No one said a thing. Suddenly, that switch had been flipped. And the wagon had been jumped off again. I even had the balls to go up to one of the school bully's and taunt him, while a teacher was around so I couldn't have my face caved in, and all the kid could do was look at me with this puzzled look on his face as if he had never heard the word baseball before. It's ok, that guy's a loser, I think he works at a gas station now. So, I WIN THAT ROUND.

Bottom line, if you're a baseball fan, that's terrific. You should be. It's the best sport in the world. But if you want to like a team, like them all season. Give a crap. Like you have anything else to do.

And if you don't follow baseball, the random facts you hear on the news or in drifting conversations doesn't hold up when you can't say anything beyond the initial statement. And besides, you don't follow baseball, so CLEARLY you ain't all there in the head.

And haha, the Yankees won tonight because the Mets can't catch a ball.

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