Well, I'm shocked. Literally shocked! From the way the Mets dominated the National League this year who would have thought they would suffer a collapse like that. Bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, and none other then Carlos Beltran at the plate against a rookie for the Cardinals no less. Full count, the pitch, and...curveball over the plate strike three call! And Beltran knew it...which is sometimes the worst feeling a hitter can have. During my glory years in Little League (1984-1986), I was always taught one thing: If you have a 3-2 count, you always swing. Always. The pitcher isn't going to try to walk you and knowing that is to the advantage of the hitter. But you have to swing. Here is a list of my Little League accomplishments to date:
1. Hitting a home run on the very first pitch of a game where the coach put me in to bat first for which the reason still baffles me as I was quite terrible.
2. Getting another hit in the same game which got me the game ball (1 of 2)
3. Getting some kind of trophy after my last game and then going to Mr. Gatti's pizza afterwards where we got a big cup with our name on it.
I still have the ball and I still have the cup.
So the Tiger and Cardinals in the World Series...No Yankees, no Mets...no problem. Everyone thinks it's Detroit's destiny to win it all this year. But it isn't. No one ever accomplished anything because they were "supposed to". They did it because they put the time and the work in and when it was all said and done, they could look back and realized that everything they had worked for was worth it.
I really like this Tigers club though. Plus, they're young enough to really put a dynasty together. Maybe even a late 90's Yankee dynasty. What's funny about the Yanks is when they were winning it all, they didn't need a $200 million payroll. They just had a bunch of guys who meshed very well together and played with heart. I guess their decline started when they signed Mike Mussina to a 6 year, $88 million deal. Now this guy has been one of my favorites ever since he came up with Baltimore back in 1991. He has been nothing short of a rock for them ever since. But they lost to Arizona in 2001. So they go out and get Jason Giambi for $120 million. In the wake of A-Rod's megacontract, they sign Derek Jeter to a $189 million contract. They get Gary Sheffield for $39 million. They get Randy Johnson for $48 million. They trade for Kevin Brown for the balance of his $105 million contract. They sign Jared Wright and Carl Pavano for a combined $80 million. They sign Roger Clemens for $20 million. What's funny is even though they lost the 2001 and 2003 Series, at least they were going. Then A-Rod came along, which apparently means now they don't even go anymore. Three straight years of sweeps at the hands of the Red Sox, Angels and Tigers. Wouldn't it be funny if The Cubs with their new manager Lou Piniella traded for A-Rod? Everyone seems to think reuniting them would put the swagger back in Rodriguez's step. Maybe it will. But everyone knows he doesn't belong in New York. You have to have a thick skin to play there. If you don't, then your performance suffers as a result. They'll chew ya up if you give them a chance. A-Rod needs to go. He needs to be the rock in a lineup, not one of the many rocks.
Why do we like doing things we know we're not supposed to? For me it was stealing. Why did I do it? (shrug) I have no idea. Let's take a look at what I've stolen since I was a kid:
Fishing lure from Sears
-I still have this somewhere, by the way...it just looked neat...great excuse right?
Shiny rock on a keychain from the Grand Canyon
-Again, just looked neat...We were driving home and had driven about 100 miles when my mom saw me playing with it. She was all "Where'd you get that!?" and I told her. They were like "Well, we're sure as heck not turning around now..." and let me keep it.
Some MAD magazines from the local grocery store
-I was really into these and didn't think anyone would miss them.
Some jelly beans from a bulk buy store in Canada
-Now this I didn't get to keep...there was an undercover guard standing outside the store who could see everything. He came up to me as I was leaving and said "You wanna go back in there and pay for that?" About scared the crap out of me.
And the doozie...a video game from a temp job I was working back in 1995
-This was the doozie because I actually went to jail for this one. From 5:30pm-5:30pm in September 1995 in the Carrolton jail I laid there, wondering why I had been cursed. The thing is, when they took me away int he cop car, I had left my car unlocked. When I finally got out of there, I had to go from memory how to get back to get my car. Finally I figured it out after a couple of miles of wrong turns. As I was nearing the warehouse, I thought of something. What if they had had my car towed while I was in there? It was certainly possible. Then I would have walked back there for nothing. So I said to God "If my car isn't there, I think I'm going to kill myself" and I was never more serious. So I make my way back, and...there it was. Untouched. I was so thankful.
We have to not only own up to our mistakes, but also atone for them. It's not enough to say "Oh, I screwed up"...you have to say "Here's what I'm going to do to fix it", whether it be marriage, job, parenting, whatever. I really wish I could go back to my high school graduation and just start over from there. Go to college when it was offered to me. Have more self-confidence in myself and really give some thought to what I wanted to do with my life. But hey, I'll be 32 this year, I have pretty much everything I could ask for. I applied for one of the sales positions here at Pharmacare. It pays double what I make now which means soon I will be able to give my family a much nicer life. I hate to think about how much time I wasted...but as of now I'm turning a corner.
How do you get your kids to understand what it means to steal? I used to work with a cop at the mall and he told his kids if they ever steal then he would take away everything from them. Everything. All they would have is a room...not even a bed. That's a great idea. Kids never think about the consequences of their actions, which frustrates the heck out of parents. Parents are usually "I told them not to do that, but they did it anyway!". Because they don't think about it. Not until they're adults do their brains fully develop. Fortunately for Emmy and Zach, I have not forgotten what it's like to be a kid.
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