Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Wilford, Roy, and Petey

What's up with Wilford Brimley and why is he so pissed off at me for considering purchasing my diabetes medicine at a drugstore? Oh sure, he wants me to mail into some program he's promoting.
Man, he's just plain mean about it now. Anyway, I always will hold him in high regard after his portrayal of "Pop Fisher" in one of the greatest movies ever, The Natural. He was absolutely brilliant. I love the exchange when Roy Hobbs is hurt and comes back to the locker room. Pops is shaving and talking about how he should have been a farmer. Roy saunters up and said that he wanted to be a farmer too...blah blah...trust me, it's pure movie magic. But I love when Pops says "you're the best goddamn hitter I ever saw". Awesome. By the way, if you don't get goosebumps when Roy hits a tater off the clock in Wrigley after the "lady in white" appears..OR..if you don't have tears in your eyes after Roy hits a game winning rocket into the lights as his teammates all dance in the shower of sparks....well, you're a damned idiot and you need your pulse checked.

As for baseball, today it was announced that some of the candidates available for voting into the Baseball Hall of Fame would be Wade Boggs, Willie McGee and Darryl Strawberry....uh....what the hell? Did I just hear "Strawberry"? You have got to be freakin' kidding me. Let me give you his rap sheet:
Strawberry was suspended from baseball in 1995 and 2000 for testing positive for cocaine and in 1999 following an arrest on a possession charge. He served 11 months in prison in 2002-03 for violating probation on a cocaine possession charge.
Pete Rose is permanently ineligible for this honor and has to be reinstated very soon or his chance will forever be lost. Pete Rose is not smart...he is not a great personality. In fact, some say he's a big giant ass. But Pete Rose was a baseball player. Pete's biggest drawback was that baseball was first and foremost in his life, it was all he really knew and all he lived for. The man's nickname is "Charlie Hustle". Take away gambling and there are very few bad things you can say about Pete. Yet, he is banned for life for gambling, an act that Major League Baseball is against except when The Ohio Lottery wants to plaster a 30 foot billboard onto the centerfield wall.
I leave you with this decision....would you rather your son or daughter bet a hundred bucks or so on a sporting event or have him/her spend time in jail for cocaine possession charges. To me, it's a no-brainer.
For Pete's Sake, put him in the Hall of Fame where good baseball players deserve to be.

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