For the Fans

[DOUGHBOYS]

I don't really care which player plays for which team. I haven't had an allegiance to a team since the early 70's. Most folks I talk to about the subject think I'm missing the full experience.
I'm not.
I lived and died with the Giants during the 60's. I remember the experience. It was swell.
Since that time, baseball has changed. Players don't stay on one team long anymore. That is not limited to baseball, it's true for every sport.
Most fans root for their geography. The team they grew up that was closest in proximity to them or even moving to another town and becoming a 'new fan' for another team.

While 'fans' think I'm missing out on something, I think the same thing of them.
Fans will back their teams, no matter how badly those franchises treat them. Let's take a look at a few...

My favorite whipping boy among MLB teams is the Kansas City Royals. The Royals have some of the best fans in America. They'll go to games. They'll cheer their team. They'll think that the Royals are doing everything to win.
Truth is, the Royals have been asleep at the wheel for years. They've been perfectly happy running out Bruce Chen, or Gil Meche, or Luke Hochevar for years. Those were the best Starters the Royals have had over the last seven years.
These fans have been promised prosperity through being 'lucky enough' to get high draft choices through bad play on the field. Bad play that these fans paid to see.
And then they lead fans to believe that these high choices will lead their team to the promised land.
Someday.
Well, fans and others have realized that 'someday' should have been yesterday.
And after years, their GM, realizing that his schtick is no longer working starts trading for real Major League pitching.
Will it work?
I don't know.
Whether it does or not, I'll think about all those crappy years leading up to that action. The six or seven years of fandom for their rooters.
Wasted.

It's not limited to Kansas City.
I cringe when I look at the Phils. Literally.
I'm an old guy, but I swear to God that I would look better jogging than Ryan Howard or Delmon Young.
I know they've had injuries. It still makes me cringe.
The Phillies are like a healthy, old Yankee team.
They have nowhere to go.
They need youth and they have none.
When fans said they needed to get young, their owners bought Michael and Delmon.
They didn't get it.
Roy Halladay is gone, and the great staff they had just a year ago, now includes names like Kendrick, and Pettibon, and Cloyd.
Youth is being forced on them because their players are dying on the vine. Not because their youth is better.
No city phils a ball park like Philly fans.
They deserve better.

I have had soooooooooo many locals come up to me to remind me that-
1. The Rockies have/had the best record in baseball.
2. They were/are in first place in their division.
3. This is the Rockies year.

This, I'm sure happens in a lot of cities where a sub par team gets off to a good start. One only need look at the Rockies pitching staff to know that in reality, even a .500 record looks remote over the long run. Fans are all about the current though.
Royal fans have been sold on watching drek knowing kids are coming.
Phils fans have faith that their AARP guys can put it together for one more year.
Rockies fans look at the standings and don't see change coming.
It's the way fans roll.
They trust and believe in their organizations. Forgetting that, like any business, money is more important to some owners more than others.
It's the way it is in Kansas City.
It's the way it is in Colorado.
Some organizations bill themselves as small market teams. This releases them from the pressure of buying expensive free agents. Every once in awhile, the owners will do what is seemingly in the best interests of their fans like KC giving the ok to extend a young players contract or the Rockies signing Michael Cuddyer, but mostly, they'll plead poverty while raising ticket prices and banking tv revenue.

This is not to say the 'Big spenders' are better for their fans. The Yankees have been a travesty since George Steinbrenner died. Sure, they've made the playoffs, but they look seemingly impotent once there. While younger talent like Bryce Harper and Mike Trout are thrilling crowds, and a pitcher like Matt Harvey is reminding fans, right there in Gotham, of Tom Seaver, the Yankees are still trotting out Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera.
Not that there is anything wrong with Pettite or Rivera. The Yankees are at the bottom of their old bag of Doritos, while other teams are opening up fresh bags.
What is more interesting, is that the younger Steinbrenner is a virtual penny pincher when compared to Dad.
His monetary standing seemingly more important than Yankee standings.
When George took over the Yankees, he hated that Bill Virdon was the Manager. He felt he was boring. Winning had nothing to do with it. His baseball mind had nothing to do with it.
The elder Steinbrenner would view these Yankees and Joe Girardi as similarly boring. And do something about it.
Not, his son's. They are not boat rockers. And if anything right now, the Yankees need a boat rocker.

The younger Steinbrenner's have used Yankee tradition and pride to keep Rivera, Pettitte, Jeter, and others from going elsewhere. A good business practice for them.
He may be using it in negotiations in trying to get a sweetheart deal with Cano. Cano wants to stay a Yankee and if failing to sign him, even diehard Yankee fans will know that the junior Steinbrenners do not have what it takes to lead the franchise.
But what about after Cano? Even if signing him?
Tradition is out the door for Yankee players after Cano.
It's tough for people to remember, but during the 60's, when the Yankees were owned by CBS, they were just considered 'another team'. Sure, they had their rich history, but at that time, just another team.
Until George bought them.
Even in signing Cano, the Yankees will need a completely new lineup around him in as little as two years.
For those that remember the 60's Yankees, Robinson Cano becomes a better Horace Clarke.

As a non-fan of any franchise, I can fight for franchises like the Royals, the Phils, the Rockies, and the Yanks to do better by their fans.
They deserve it.
They've been there for their teams through thick and thin.
Lately, mostly thin for the Royals and Rockies. And upcoming thin for the Phils and Yanks.
These fans will even argue with me in sticking up for their franchises. They'll tell me I'm wrong while reciting a name or number or standings.
They'll say that anything negatively said about their team is not a good thing.
They're great fans.
And they deserve better than what they are getting.

[jvetter]

They've been perfectly happy running out Bruce Chen, or Gil Meche, or Luke Hochevar for years. Those were the best Starters the Royals have had over the last seven years.

What about Greinke? I would consider him the best pitcher the Royals have had in the last 7 years.

I am probably proving your point in talking about the Royals, but I really think they have a good shot at making the playoffs this year.

[DOUGHBOYS]

They've been perfectly happy running out Bruce Chen, or Gil Meche, or Luke Hochevar for years. Those were the best Starters the Royals have had over the last seven years.

What about Greinke? I would consider him the best pitcher the Royals have had in the last 7 years.

I am probably proving your point in talking about the Royals, but I really think they have a good shot at making the playoffs this year.

You're right on both counts
I should have edited myself and only counted pitchers courted by current Royals Management.

[rockitsauce]

The Yankees are at the bottom of their old bag of Doritos, while other teams are opening up fresh bags.

I like my chances of survival standing b/w a meth-head and his bag of voodoo dust than I do getting in the way of Dan & his DORITOS

Dan, seriously get help. There's other food out there...that actually has nutritional value

[DOUGHBOYS]

The Yankees are at the bottom of their old bag of Doritos, while other teams are opening up fresh bags.

I like my chances of survival standing b/w a meth-head and his bag of voodoo dust than I do getting in the way of Dan & his DORITOS

Dan, seriously get help. There's other food out there...that actually has nutritional value

My daughter is a registered dietician. I drive her nuts.
She likes to say, 'We are what we eat'. I tell her that can't be true.
She's a former model and if she were what she ate, she'd be nothing but a big lettuce head.
I'm just an old, big lug. But turn me into a family size bag of Nacho Doritos and I'm a lot more attractive than my lettuce head daughter.

[KJ Duke]

The Yankees are at the bottom of their old bag of Doritos, while other teams are opening up fresh bags.

I like my chances of survival standing b/w a meth-head and his bag of voodoo dust than I do getting in the way of Dan & his DORITOS

Dan, seriously get help. There's other food out there...that actually has nutritional value

Speaking of ... here's a story for the storyteller:

In November, 2006 a cargo container full of Doritos apparently fell off a ship. After drifting for several days, it was discovered by charter captains in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, who broke it open and helped themselves to the snacks (although I'm sure they didn't know what was inside until they broke it open).

Eventually, the container came ashore in Frisco, just south of the Cape Hatteras Fishing Pier, along with much of it's cargo. Thousands of bags of Doritos were washed up on the beach. Residents stuffed garbage bags with the tasty treats, which were still fresh, since the bags are airtight. One person filled a truck with the chips.

The Marine Safety Team in Elizabeth City was dispatched. They are responsible for cleaning up hazardous material, but when they found out it was Doritos, they determined it was not a contamination threat.

[DOUGHBOYS]

Pack up the bags, we're moving to North Carolina!

Good stuff, Kevin!