The game is ugly sometimes. You cannot make Appell stop worrying about his ERA; you cannot make Martinez stop wanting to win so badly that he chews out his teammates. You can't make Havelock stop coming up with bizarre proposals in the tradition of Jonathan Swift suggesting we eat the poor, that even he doesn't take seriously. You can't make me unfocus on breaking at least one record in this damn game, and spending my lunch hour figuring out how to reach 1,000 RBI's before Tony Connor does.
We are so intense we forgot how to have fun playing? Some of us never knew how. It's fun when the ball does what you want it to, and the wins and the stats pile up. I have a respect for the people whose tenure in this game has an aversion to success. I couldn't handle it. I ain't no Mother Teresa.
The game polices itself. Havelock is waiting for Godot. No help there. No one else can pull the bat from the stone. If you come to play, you accept this. You take the crookeds with the straights, as Troy Maxson said. Can we figure a way to curb the worst tendencies of competition without neutering it completely?
Can we accept that within the rules of the game, we have the right to get every inch out of our talents, and celebrate that, instead of looking for ways to take away that edge and artificially level the playing field?
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5 comments:
hmmm...waiting for Godot?... that might be a compliment. I don't know. It seems that Ian is saying two things. We sometimes get too competitive and we need to stoke competitiveness. My view is that we can do whatever we like with the game. Thoughtful innovation is usually positive and always a great adventure. Raw talent always has to be fitted to any game's rules and challenges. As for overcompetitiveness, I have two thoughts. 1)It is great theater, enjoy it for that. 2) Tony created this league after interviewing former big-league ballplayers who told him, over and over again, that they wished they'd enjoyed the game more when they played. A good thought to keep in mind.
Who could possibly complain about a commissioner who manages in a couple of paragraphs to cite an Eng Lit satirist, Arthurian Legend, Mother Teresa, and two giant playwrights, all the while commenting on the up-to-date controversies of our game? What a lineup!
The commissioner, he no write this. The stats guy did, inspired by the philosophies of Marvin.
there's no easy remedy. I don't remember things being this heated when i joined ten years ago.
How to keep the competitive fire and maintain decorum in the face of madness is a challenge.
Is it mainly about the stats, or just for the sake of winning?
I used to go bonkers whenever I'd watch my team throw the ball around the infield like a gang of wild cupuchin monkeys on crack. Meanwhile, the winning run scores.
Can't get too upset because it's going to happen again and again and there's no point to getting stressed.
THE GAME WILL ALWAYS BE INTENSE, THATS WHY I COME. A GAMESMAN IS ALWAYS THINKING; HOW CAN MY TEAM WIN!!!
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