Did
you like Napolean Dynamite? We probably would have, but we waited to
see it on DVD and so by the time we watched it we had heard every funny
quote repeated hundreds of times and we were getting references to a
movie we had never seen. Needless to say that when we finally saw it -- we were a little disappointed. Kip and Rico and Pedro just couldn't
live up to the hype. By contrast, the other night, we had no real
plans, so when we went out to a bar and ran into a few friends, which
led to dinner, which led to laughter and adventures in the City, it
seemed like the best night of our lives. This is the issue with
expectations.
There was a time in the recent past that we had expectations for
the A's. Like it wasn't that long ago that we actually believed that
the A's would re-sign Miggy. And even more recently we were TOTALLY
blind-sided by the Huddy and Mulder trades. In the few seasons
that followed, we have allowed ourselves to hope from time to time
that that the A's would do something awesome in the off-season. You
know, say, for example, acquire a powerful, established right-handed
hitter in the prime of his career. But we have basically had the hope
beaten out of us and lately we have given up on any kind of real hope
altogether. We had come to understand that as A's fans we can only
have expectations for things like acquiring Mike Sweeney and that
Travis Buck will get healthy. Or that some random prospect will pitch
well in the Futures Game. Or that Eric Chavez will maybe play again
someday. It is like we used to hope that we would get a pony for our
birthday and now we hope that we don't get run over by a horse.
So imagine our delight today when the A's actually appeared to have
signed Matt Holliday. We were shocked and thrilled and dumbfounded
with hope. This is like being given a Liger (which is a
lion and a tiger mixed and bred for its skills in magic). And it goes
without saying that Ligers are way cooler than ponies. We will
leave it to all you baseball analyst types out there to wonder whether
Billy gave up too much and how the heck the A's are going to sign him
for 2010. For now, we're having an off-season moment well beyond any
of our lowly A's fan expectations.
p.s.
To our loyal readers, sorry for the long absence. This baseball
season involved some very exciting life events (two moves, two
weddings, two honeymoons, a new cat, a new job) and some very
depressing A's baseball (not to mention the purchase of a fish sandwich
at the Coliseum which had green mold growing on the bread). This
confluence of good and bad events made regular blogging virtually
impossible. But we thank you for your patience and appreciate your
comments.
Recent Comments