Bon voyage! by Apollo
We (well more like I) decided to post this farewell-themed post as Wongoz is about to take off on a mini-vacation, which he generally does quite a bit since European society is somehow convinced that giving workers a lot of vacation time is a good thing. Sheesh...first they have a higher-valued currency AND they also get more vacation time...and Europeans wonder why North Americans hate them so much...
Along the lines of the farewell theme, let's mention a few teams and players who will likely be saying good bye quite soon, including the Boston Red Sox, the Houston Astros, Travis Henry as the starting running back for the Buffalo Bills, Qyntel Woods from ever having a decent career in the NBA, and if the lockout continues along the same disastrous path, the Toronto Maple Leafs' entire roster, although they'll still be on the hook for all the salaries, including paying Ed Belfour over $20 million USD to retire.
Is it just me, or could Wongoz and I play running back for the Denver Broncos and gain 1,000 yards. Last week, with starting running back Quentin Griffin out with an injury, Reuben Droughns stepped in and merely compiled 193 yards rushing against one of the NFL's top ranked defences, the Carolina Panthers. The 2 Wise Men usually specialize in more in depth analysis, but when a trend is so blatantly obvious as the Broncos' ability to discover running backs, our minds snap like Curt Schilling's ankle tendon. Over the past few seasons, the Broncos have seen 100 yard games from such luminaries as Mike Anderson, Olandis Gary, Quentin Griffin, Clinton Portis and now Droughns. Now, Terrell Davis was hardly a stiff, and injury prevented him from having perhaps a career for the ages, and Portis is still considered a top running back, despite having been hit with a severe case of fumbleitis since arriving in Washington, but the knack for Denver to plug anybody in at the running back spot and have success is getting ridiculous. When Denver coach Mike Shanahan traded Portis for Champ Bailey in the off-season, his reasoning was that he could find a top running back more easily than a shutdown cover-cornerback. Apparently, Shanahan was right.
Speaking of Schilling, Wongoz is a much more educated baseball fan than I am, but one thing I do know is how to tell when a franchise just cannot grab a break. All season long, the Red Sox have competed and even humbled the New York Yankees, edging them 11-8 head-to-head in games over the regular season. That of course, means nothing when the playoffs come and suddenly a guy named Jon Lieber is limiting one of the most potent offences in baseball to 3 hits over 7 innings and John Olerud is playing like the John Olerud of 1994 instead of the guy who was waived by the bottom dwelling Seattle Mariners just a few short months ago.
Curses and jinxes are generally brought out in sports as cliches to explain or excuse a team's poor execution or failure to perform under pressure. This is getting ridiculous though. I'm not even a fan of the Yankees or Red Sox or even of baseball for that matter, and even I have a hard time explaining the rash of bizarre events that have happened yet again to the Red Sox to place them in the 0-2 hole they now face. How is it that Schilling, the one pitcher who has owned the Yankees in the playoffs over a number of years and was brought to Boston this year for the express purpose to beat them in this particular playoff series, could possibly injure his ankle mere days before Game 1? A pitcher injuring his ankle trying to field a ground ball. That's like Ronaldo injuring his elbow trying to clear the soccer ball from his own penalty box. That's like Randy Moss hurting his shoulder trying to run-block. It's a freak event. One minute Schilling is moving over to the first base line to pick up the ball, the next he's grabbing his ankle and getting destroyed in three innings in game one by the Yankees. This kind of stuff only happens to Boston, at least according to Bostonians it does. How else do you explain Mariano Rivera having to fly to Panama for a funeral, fly back to New York in the middle of an 8-0 Yankees rout, then be forced to come in and save a 10-7 Yankees win? The same Rivera who gave up a double to Manny Ramirez with one out in the top of the ninth inning of Game Two with the Yankees clinging to a 3-1 lead, only to absolutely mow down the heart of the Red Sox batting order with two strikeouts to win the game. This is almost cruel. This is almost Ottawa Senators cruel. What makes it worse is you know that Boston will likely win 2 of 3 at home and their fans will once again raise hope of a comeback and appearance in the World Series, only to watch Alex Rodriguez hit a series-winning home run in Game 6.
On the bright side, basketball season is almost upon us. I'm beginning to understand that basketball players have to be among the most spoiled athletes in pro sports. I used to think baseball players were the most spoiled, but at least in baseball there's a minor league system of pros that have to ride buses and play in small towns. The Toronto Raptors recently announced they would be experimenting with canceling morning shootaround sessions for players since, as coach Sam Mitchell described, this would allow the players to get more sleep and be fresh for the evening games. Let me do the math for you. We're talking about players who all make millions of dollars being told they don't need to show up for work until 4:30pm for a game that starts at 7:30pm and ends by 10:00pm. Theoretically if I'm a Raptor, I can go out the previous night until 2am, get TWELVE HOURS of sleep before having to wake up and be driven to the gym for practice and game time. TWELVE HOURS of sleep. Wongoz hasn't had twelve consecutive hours of sleep since infancy. I'm all for getting rid of inefficient shootarounds that don't have any benefit anyway, but this is insane. If I tried to tell my bosses that I was sleeping in during the morning in order to be more fresh to work in the afternoon, they'd say "Are you kidding me?" louder than Chuck Swirsky. Instead of trying to be educated during my formative years, I suspect I should have spent more time working on more profitable goals like growing taller than 6 feet and practicing my jump shot.
