Wash, Spin, Rinse, Repeat…

I know that I went on a rant about this topic during the Rangers run-up to the playoffs ad the World Series last season.  But as I have read the various message boards and have heard the pundits spew their nonsense out on the interweb, I can’t help but to address my frustration with Rangers’ “fans” again.  However, it just seems that no matter what Ron Washington does or how well his team performs, there will always be some people that will find a reason to criticize him.

Since the day he arrived, people have hated on the man because they clamored for a big name ignoring the fact that a big name had just been here and Buck Showalter had done absolutely nothing but make the club house an uncomfortable place for everyone.  He micromanaged the team so much that players dreaded playing for him and he wore out his welcome just as he had done in his two previous stops and as he will do during his tenure in Baltimore. 

Fans wanted a hire that would make a splash yet in the club’s forty year history they've had the likes of Valentine, Martin and Williams and none of them did anything with this team.  They kept up the status quo of power hitting without the emphasis on pitching and defense.  And when we finally get a guy in here that places the onus where it has been neglected for so long, the "fans" trash the guy regardless of the success.

Another idea I find laughable is all the credit Nolan Ryan gets for "changing the culture."  But have you critics actually paid attention to the time line? 

Ryan came after the plan had been put in place by John Daniels and Wash and approved by Tom Hicks.  Wash's knowledge and philosophy is what sold Daniels and Hicks on him.  The decision had already been made to make pitchers work harder, improve the team defense and become aggressive to a fault.  But Ryan comes in and suggests the pitchers go a little longer and all of a sudden he becomes the franchises' saving grace?  Give me a break.

The credit should go to Daniels and Washington, with the residual oozing to Ryan like the end of a drunken sexual escapade. 

You didn't go to the Cardinals or Dodgers and talk to Walt Jocketty or Frank McChord when the team is successful.  You went Tony LaRussa and Joe Torre.  They managed the game, good or bad.  Yet when the Rangers do anything of significance we see the same tired assed face of Nolan Ryan and hear the accolades that he undeservingly gets. 

The "fans" here can't seem to accept the fact that these guys play hard for their manager and each other.  He is not some bus driver as some fans and media would like you to believe.  So he makes mistakes--who among us hasn't?  So he doesn't pull a pitcher when you want him to. Do you know what he and his staff are looking for in a player and if so what makes you so sure?

Something else I find peculiar about Rangers fans.  When we hear about Bonds, McGwire, Clemens, Sosa and others using steroids, we consider them cheaters and want their records altered or removed from the game.  We look at managers and ask ourselves "how could they not know what was going on?"  And that is a valid question.  When you have 25 guys immediately in your trust and you spend between 180-225 days together, as a manager you can’t help but stumble upon illegal activity in your clubhouse if there is any (see LaRussa and the Bash Bros).  And unless Ryan left the stadium immediately after starts and headed back to Alvin only to reappear when it was his time in the rotation, he knew what was going on to.

Yet many people will, regardless of Washington does and has done, say that Oates is the best manager in the organizations, history even though under his watch, Arlington was ground zero for steroid use.  He had at least five of the best hitters in the 90s on his teams and he didn't know anything?  But fans and Rangers' brass will turn a blind eye and point to the three division banners blowing in the wind that will always be overshadowed by #38's ALCS crown.

I know many may not agree with this assessment and that is your prerogative.  To some of you it won't matter what he does.  I just wish we could cut the guy some slack and let him manage.  No manager is perfect and you must have talent to win anything.  It's not like Bobby Cox, Torre, LaRussa and Joe Girardi did it all from scratch.  He could win a WS and you would still say it was all Ryan.  But if Clint Hurdle had taken over the team and they still went to the WS and lost, who would have gotten the credit—Hurdle or Ryan? 

Our skipper has improved every year since taking over and this year has gotten over his biggest stumbling block which has been the teams’ notoriously slow starts.  He's gotten them to a point where they are relevant.  Let's enjoy him and our team because I guarantee we’ll miss him when he’s gone. 

Do What You Wanna Do

This week, I was all set to talk about the Rangers.  I was ready to wax poetic about how marvelously the back end of the rotation has so far surpassed the expectations of all Rangers’ fans and doubters.  I going to fawn all over the offensive display the team has put on to this point.  My Ranger slobber was even going to include a few kind words for the weakest part of the rotation, “Ace” and the No. 2. 

And even though the Rangers suffered what some would consider a debilitating loss with Josh Hamilton going down for about eight weeks, I am still optimistic that, as the old saying goes, “one monkey don’t stop no show.”  The Fightin’ Washingtons can and will find a way to keep on winning.  They are survivors just like their skipper.  And when the baseball world and the so called experts collectively murmur that this will be the Rangers undoing, Ron will use it as motivation for his team.  And I’m absolutely positive they will respond.

Yes, I was all set to begin the first of many weeks gushing over the Rangers, but I found myself sidetracked by the absolutely idiotic ramblings of a radio retard.

Tuesday night while cooking dinner, I switched on the kitchen radio to get the latest news on the Hamilton situation.  Both the AM and the four letter FM stations were doing other programming so I was forced into listening to the ultimate Debbie Downer that is Gavin Dawson on The Fan.

Now I’ve only listened to his show on a few occasions, but normally can last only about two segments due to his proclivity to whine and be generally annoying.  Something is always wrong or not to his liking or he would have done something different due to his omniscience.  And today was no different.

As I tuned in the D-Bag, he started discussing the tragedy that occurred during the Dodgers-Giants Opening Day game where a fan, Bryan Stow, was brutally beaten and is currently in I.C.U. fighting for his life.  Dawson read the interview Stow’s friend gave to a Los Angeles radio show about the events that led up to the altercation in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium. Dawson labeled the “fans” that attacked Stow and his party as criminals, to which I totally agree.  He decried the bystanders who watched the events unfold as worthless as they watched this man get pummeled after a game and then never tried to subdue the men or took the time to at least get a plate number.  To that I also agree and would take it one step further and call them complicit since no one came to their aid.

But then the conversation took a strange turn.  Dawson began focusing on the attire of the victims implying their wearing of their team’s gear contributed to the attack.  He didn’t go flat out and say they deserved it but in my opinion, he got pretty damn close.  His premise was that these fans should have known the area in which they entered and should have refrained from wearing their team’s colors.  It was as if he was saying they were antagonizing the home team and, well anything goes from that point on.

To which I say that is ridiculous. 

If I want to root for another team, I have a right to root for another team.  If I or anyone else for that matter wants to wear something other than the home team’s attire to a venue then so be it.  But we shouldn’t have to hide the things we pay for like punks in a closet just because someone else might not like it. 

I hate the Redskins and the Eagles, like many Cowboys fans do, but I can rib them without beating their ass.  And for Dawson to say that you shouldn’t wear something because someone may take offense to it is truly cowardly.

I don’t care if I go to The Linc or Fedex Field, if I want to wear my Cowboys attire, then I’m going to wear it.  But I’ll be damned if I let a couple of punks deter me from supporting the teams I love to the fullest.  If I pay the price for the ticket, I should be able to cheer or boo at whomever I like without it getting out of hand.  Clearly Stow and his friends were minding their own business and were attacked by some trash whose sole intention was to look for and start trouble.  And they found easy prey in three individuals that had their backs turned when they decided to “man up” and throw punches. 

We all have a right to do what we want, go where we want and like or dislike who we want, this is America.  But to go on a rant like Dawson’s, tuck your sack and sit quietly like a church mouse in “enemy” territory ain’t for me.  And I’m sure there are a lot of others that feel the same way.  

The entire episode was just as tragic as it was sorry and the last thing any of us needs to do is back down to degenerates and let them ruin our good times.  The real fans will be wherever they want to be supporting their teams and understanding that it is a game and when it’s over, it’s over.  There is no need to bash someone’s brains in or curb an opposing team’s fan. 

The real fans will enjoy themselves and their sports—the cowards will be listening to Dawson and the G-Bag Nation. 

Virgin No More

I can finally say I did it.  Numerous times I have been in front of the television watching and fantasizing about what it would be like cheering with all those people.

Year after year, I have wished I could be there sweating, sheering, booing and clapping as I watched my guys gang up on an unsuspecting victim and take them to task.

And finally on April 1, 2011 I was at Opening Day and it was awesome.

For 20 years I have been to numerous Rangers games including the playoffs last year.  But nothing compares to the euphoria felt by being there on the first day of the season.  Everything is just better.  The peanuts, the beer, the hot dogs—it won’t get any better for the rest of the year.

From the salutes to Rangers past to the B-52 flyover at the conclusion of the National Anthem, this was possibly the greatest day of my life, rivaled only by the first football game I ever coached.  And even that is a distant second.

Adding to the day was the tailgating that I thought only happened at the Great American Whorehouse across the street.  I never knew so many people broke out the grills, tents chairs, and kegs on opening day.  It made me a bit envious and jealous that I had never made a game before.  And the cherry on top was that I got to spend it with my favorite aunt.  We ate before the game, during the game and after the game.  I drank before the game, during the game and well after the game leading to a liquor induced coma that lasted well into the morning.  But it was all worth it.

The good thing is I have become a season ticket holder for the first time so I have 80 more games to attend.  Bad thing is I have to wait another year for Opening Day.

Damn!