[Largely OT, but it feels right to do a general State of My Fandoms post, without scattering it all around.]
I'm hardly "harming myself".
As I've said before, Manly Rob Manfred has made the game unrecognizable in ways that even Bud Selig never did. Read the Rules Change thread for a sampling of my complaints.
If Rob wants to bring back 2019 NL baseball (including proper-sized bases and a schedule with ideally NO inter-league play but at worst a couple of skirmishes with you guys), I would be right back in. But he won't, so I'm gone.
I wish the Metsies all the luck. Uncle Stevie may represent a large chunk of what's wrong with the world, but his heart is in the right place, baseball-wise. I adore the Squirrel, the Polar Bear, Mr. Pointy (
BtVS joke) and many others on the team. Pathetic overpaid has-beens on the pitching staff (and cheating Timmy) aside.
I'm even willing to let Frankie "$341,000,000 Down the Toilet" Lindor convince me that he wasn't a colossal mistake, if he plays slightly well (as in last year) and doesn't act like his buddy Baez's fellow jerk (as in 2021). My mockery of the current follies is in complete sympathy with
Westheim and
BBGiovanni and anyone else who's chosen to continue to endure this season. Just don't expect me to spend my time on it.
Otherwise, I don't have an issue with the NFL, I'm just adrift since the Traitors stabbed the Oakland fans in the back (I've never been anywhere near Oakland, although I did attend three games in LA, back in the 1990s, but I was part of Raider Nation) in order to become Jerry Jones's lapdogs and basically a plastic team. Plus DereKKKarr's racism and other issues around the time of the move burnt me irrevocably. But I've tried to attach myself to the Panthers; it just hasn't taken. Maybe I need to throw myself into being a Bengals fan and start trying to feel Joe Burreaux as the spiritual heir to Boomer and all that. I mean, I need no urging to hate the Ravens, to paraphrase
Star Trek. And a world where Belicheater is a has-been has its charms.
(It would be nice if they''d stop letting Nike ruin the uniforms, but you can recover from that. All three Florida teams are back to sanity.)
As long as they don't actually outlaw kickoff returns in the name of "safety" I can still enjoy it. I'm just low on enthusiasm atm. And I'd be fine with college if they'd stop with the super-conferences.
I've no real problem with the NBA. The Clippers have proven a disappointment on a level beyond even previous failures and I largely put them aside this season to focus on the Kings, but I'm perfectly willing to get back on that train.
I stopped commenting in the NHL thread because I had to let the Kings games pile up while I was watching the March Madness/Masters 1-2 of time-sucks, but I worked my way through that pile, eventually. I just wasn't posting in the thread because of fear of spoilers.
Did the season end in tragedy? Yes, because nobody was willing to punish McDouchebag for his cheap-shot on Mikey Anderson, which sent us into the tailspin that put us right back where we were last season, only worse. (Lose in 6 instead of 7.) You didn't watch the rematch in CryptoScam Arena [still such an embarrassing name] but it was palpable how much the entire crowd wanted McDirty's blood. And when we went meekly down instead, "staying focused on the game" as McLellan doubtless put it, it was a pinprick in our balloon.
I watched to the bitter end, though. And then the bitter, bitter, bitter end, with ****ing ****ing ****ing (same word 3 times, they're worth it) VGK actually lifting the Cup. I mean, it's right that Alec Jazz-Hands scored what was essentially the winning goal and I'm very happy for Quickie and Michael Amadio (and Captain Alex, because I still adore the 2019 Blues), but I just loathe that team soooo much. So not a great season, even if I paused the NHL's "Kiss Me" ad about 500 times during the playoffs so I could look at the joy on Dustin Brown's face. I'm still so heartbroken that I missed both 2012 and 2014 due to poverty.
(Heck, it took me a while to get back into the rhythm of obsession; there are actually 2015 Mets games I didn't see live. The only one of the Five Days in Flushing I remember seeing as it happened was "God Cries for Wilmer Flores" Day, which honestly makes no sense, given that I must have had Extra Innings that season; I honestly have no idea what was up.)
So worry not. I'll still spend next season living and dying with the Kings, watching all the other hockey I can get my paws on, trying to stick with the Clips, trying to love the NFL, and cramming my Saturdays full with NCAA and EPL, even though it will be weird with Leicester buried in the minors. (It would be fine if I could just download the matches, but in the "Championship", all that's usually available are "highlights." Baby likes his games unedited, tyvm.)
Baseball had me and they lost me. I'm glad you find joy, but you're not me. I mean, you've spent 51 years following DH-ball, FFS. And let's not even mention
which DH-ball team…
I'm fine with a quiet summer. Maybe I'll spend more time on boxing.
Mind you, I was going to enjoy this week, because the Saudis don't control the USGA and my favorite moments in golf are watching those spoiled babies suffer and whine because
one week year they have to play
real golf, where you don't get to shoot -30 by bombing away all day…and then the course in LA is too soft and it's not really up to USGA standards anyhow, and
two players both shot 62.
62. Blech. That's three days saved. Maybe next year we can go back to Mickelson crying and running away from Shinnecock because it's too tough, Mommy! (Suck it, Phil! Pretty much always.) But this year's ruined, I'll accept that.
(Actually, it could be argued that anytime the US Open is outside of the Northeast, it's a mess. Just put it on a rotation like the Brits do with their Open…Winged Foot, Shinnecock, Bethpage, Baltusrol, Merion, Oakmont and maybe one or two more. JMO. No effing Eden Prairie ever again.)
But nah. Don't worry about me, I'm hardly lacking in diversions.
To quote a wise woman:
Quote:
XANDER: Don't give me the look; I'm on your side. I'm just saying there are certain things in your life you have to accept.
BUFFY; And I'm saying, Ted ain't one of them.
|
Baseball ain't one of them. Too bad for them, not me.
(If you settle for less, that's all you'll ever get, y'know. Standards matter. JMO.)