...AND another thing
Mood:  accident prone
Now Playing: Violent Femmes-Blister in the Sun
Like any normal guy I watch a rather unhealthy amount of sports on television. Which explains why I was watching ESPN at 3 am a few nights ago. I was watching ESPN outside the lines or something and this debate about Fred Mcgriff was the topic. For those of you that don't know who Fred is let me fill you in. He is the guy with the huge swing and equally huge follow-through. The guy that was on all of those great Atlanta Braves teams of the 90's. He is not the boisterous loudmouthed me-first athelete that america has grown accustomed to over the last 20 years. He is a reserved man. A great teammate. And he has hit 493 homeruns over a very succesful 19 year career. Back to the show. These "experts" were arguing over whether Fred should get into the Hall of Fame. This one writer flat out said no way. The other guy wasn't as sure. The first guy, whom I shall christen "the sports jerk" based his opinion on the fact that "anybody can hit 30 homeruns nowadays". WHO THE HELL DOES HE THINK HE IS? Has this guy EVER tried to hit a 98mph fastball or a curveball that breaks 2 feet? I'm guessing not. No he prefers to be some high and mighty armchair quarterback and diminish one man's great atheletic accomplishments. Then he unleashes this nugget: 500 homeruns is no longer a great achievement or a benchmark to get into the hall of fame. The rage that this comment sparked inside of me is to great for words. I hate people like this. Granted, more people ARE hitting homeruns today. But answer me this: how many can hit 30-40 per year for the 12-15 years it would take to hit 500? Does anyone want to admit that we are blessed to witness an era with great sluggers? Bonds, Griffey(who I still think is a great player), McGwire, Sosa, Thomas, Thome, Bagwell, Pay-Rod(who should burn in hell) and McGriff and I'm sure that I missed a few. Sure he doesn't crush 50 or 60 in a year. But neither did Hank Aaron. The hardest thing to do in all of sports is to hit a round ball with a round bat squarely. And these guys do it consistently and with more power than most of us could ever fathom. Shame on anyone that questions the difficulty of hitting a homerun or hitting period. I can't believe that idiots like the sports jerk have the power to admit or deny a guy like Fred into the hall of fame. Let the fans vote, make me king and let me do it, do something just get Fred into the hall.