The conversation this week has centered around that mediocre football team that plays in that big stadium you can see from just about anywhere in Dallas and Fort Worth so long as you’re up high enough.
Why, you ask? Because this is a football town. Well, until Josh Hamilton comes to town and then all of a sudden the media wants to call this a baseball town. Not sure how that works but I’d rather not get anyone riled up.
Speaking of the Dallas Cowboys, have you noticed the same things that have been said about Tony Romo, not necessarily just this season, have been said about Rangers’ left-hander Derek Holland? I mentioned that to Kevin Turner, producer of the Ben and Skin Show on 105.3 FM The Fan, during our Texas Rangers podcast this past Monday and even he realized it the moment I said it.
Now, I have never blamed Holland for having fun on or off the field. I’ve never blamed him for doing the impressions he’s done on different shows or even during the World Series a few years ago.
If you remember well enough, most of us played sports growing up because we loved the game. Apparently when we became fans, we expected our favorite teams and players to take the game seriously and not crack a single smile when they lose.
Whether you live in a baseball town or now, if fans can’t allow athletes to have fun playing the game they grew up loving, what’s the point of playing at all?
There are more conversations taking place about free agent Robinson Cano and his price being lower than the previously mentioned $300 million. That doesn’t mean the Texas Rangers are going to get anywhere near interested even if it were in the $200 million range – not that he’s worth that much, mind you. The Cano conversation is also bringing up the idea of trading Ian Kinsler. Apparently I’m not crazy after all.
The St. Louis Cardinals did something I was hoping they wouldn’t do, beat the Pittsburgh Pirates. I was really hoping the city of Pittsburgh (a nice baseball town in its own right), after a 21-year absence from a good baseball team, would get to enjoy a solid National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Go Cardinals.
The Detroit Tigers and Oakland A’s play their deciding fifth game tonight in Oakland to determine who gets the right to get throttled….I mean the right to face the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series.
No matter who wins tonight, I don’t think they have a single chance to keep the boys in Boston from getting back to the World Series. But if Oakland loses tonight, I have to admit I’ll be a little happier than if they actually get the chance to be Boston’s whipping post.
Speaking of the Red Sox, if the Texas Rangers could turn back time (are you hearing Cher singing right now, or is it just me) and acquire Jake Peavy instead of Matt Garza do you think they’d do it? When Texas needed Garza to come up big down the stretch in this baseball town, he was 1-3 in five starts in September giving up 20 total runs.
Someone once told me Peavy didn’t have the stuff to hang in the American League playoffs. Boston disagreed, sent the right-hander out for game four against Tampa, and he gave up just a single run in 5.2 innings pitched. Apparently he does have the stuff.
The city of Atlanta is having a tough week. After the Braves decided to turn their back on Chipper Jones because they got their feelings hurt over not being picked to beat the Dodgers, which ended up being complete fact, the Falcons dropped to 1-4 when the J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets drove down the field and kicked a game winning field goal as time expired. Oh, and to add insult to injury, wide receiver Julio Jones is done for the year.
Tough break, Atlanta (no pun intended).
Enjoy the final game of the ALDS tonight, and may the [Detroit Tigers] win.
Happy Thursday everybody.