I like it when pitchers and catchers report. It reminds me that baseball is getting ready to start, that preparations are being made for spring training and the season, and that the long winter, when those of us stuck up here in Seattle endure short days with no sunlight (except today… ahhhhh) for months on end, idly contemplating suicide because at even Hell is at least hot and dry, is finally passing.
And while I advocated trying to get Pudge to bite on a 2-year deal for mucho money, I have to say.. for him, if he’s smart, knowing what others have pointed about the decline of great-hitting catchers, he was likely correct to take a 4-year deal for $40m than a 2-year deal for $30 and then hope to get re-signed again afterwards and try and make that $10m up.
Random thoughts.
1. How cool would a Mariners News Blog be, in the spirit of the Baseball News Blog, providing frequently updated links to help us find the good stuff throughout the blogosphere? Very cool, to answer my own question. Someone should make this happen.
2. Why are tuxes so freaking expensive to rent? Seriously, is there another industry in the world where you can rent an item for one day and charge 75 % of the sale price of the item? And if its “traditional” to say the exact same thing to your spouse, why can’t it be traditional to wear the exact same thing as everyone else, so that your groomsmen don’t fork out hundreds of dollars to rent different tuxes for every wedding?
3. Am I the only one hoping that the time lapse between the reports that the M’s were interested in Ron Villone and now means that someone in the front office might have noticed that he’s not very good?
4. Living in the hotbed of college basketball is awesome. Tickets to the Wake Forest-North Carolina game on Saturday are being scalped in the hundreds, for a regular season game that will have little to no impact on the two teams seasons. The crowd intensity at a college hoops game is unmatched in regular season sporting events. And, on that note, if anyone can help me obtain a ticket to Cameron Indoor to see a Duke home game, I’ll be forever grateful.
5. Am I the only one who hates it when pitchers and catchers report? Its like going to a restaurant and watching the waiter serve the people next to you their food. For two weeks. No games. No meaningful action. Lame quotes. But just interesting enough to remind you of what you’re missing.