May 2009
From Ear to Ear
I just can’t stop grinning.
When Bob Marley sang the simple instructions, “Smile, you’re in Jamaica,” he sure understated himself.
I used my income tax refund check to go to Jamaica to watch my brother get married and serve him as his best man. I saw my family increase in size and spent eight days in a tropical paradise filled with sun, swimming, sailing, sand, and the surf.
It was a much needed break too. The semester ended the day before departure and my beloved Yankees were in the dumps. Yankee fans across Twitter and the MLBlogosphere were gaining that hard crust of cynicism; some even began to give up. But I held on to hope. I had to. Baseball is summer and to me, the Yankees are baseball.
How thankful was I, however, that the Steinbrenner blackout could not reach me for a few days. When the Yanks played on ESPN, the game was there. I watched. I cheered. I kept smiling.
Day after day I read the headlines and results. The distantly familiar vocabulary of “back-to-back” and “win-streak” began to creep into the Yankeeology lexicon. The expansive depression of the Nick Swisher homerless-at-home debacle ended. Mark Teixiera got his groove back. CC started to pitch — exceptionally well. Joba made it through an inning without giving up a run. Andy went deep. Francisco Cervelli walked into the hearts of New York fans.
We have things to talk about other than fist pumps. We have more to smile at and cheer for on the nightly Twittercasts than the imposter Michael Kay account’s improper, but ridiculously hysterical, comments. We have baseball. We have whip cream pies and the Tex-Rod connection. We have kangaroo courts and bench depth.
And the smiles haven’t stopped.
So yes, Mister Marley. I will smile. But not just because I was in Jamaica, but because my beloved Yankees are back to business.
This truly was, the best vacation ever.
Smile.
http://www.twitter.com/roshkoch
Quick Notes …
I’ve been away for a while. School has been horrendous this semester and priorities are priorities. I will make a more regular return after I get back from Jamaica later this month.
Until then, I have much to say, but I’ll keep things brief for now:
1. A-Rod returns tomorrow; let’s hope it brings big changes for the overall performance of this team. This may finally be A-Rod’s chance to step up into a leadership role.
2. Jeter’s deterioration is being noted; I hope to never see him in another uniform, but he may want to consider some other fielding options. Cashman and co need to start shopping for an understudy.
3. We always do better with a healthy Jorge; come back soon.
4. What happened to our stellar pitching? C’mon guys, you can’t blame Girardi for this mess. Wang is not Joe’s fault. CC’s underperforming is not Joe’s fault. AJ and Pettitte are doing decent, but nowhere near what we need them to be doing.
5. Joba is doing precisely what he was projected to do, but c’mon, why pull him after 12 consecutive Ks? That was dumb.
6. Bullpen – WAKE UP! PLEASE! You are better than this.
7. Swisher is in a slump, but then again, who isn’t? He’s still the best offseason acquisition we’ve gotten so far. Make sure you go to http://www.voteswisher.com and put him in the ASG lineup.
8. We’re only a fraction of the way through the season, there is plenty of time to turn this around and be the Yankees team of old. We need the boys to get pumped, this has to be just as depressing to them as it is to us (aside from the whole them getting millions and us paying to watch them play thing). Maybe someone needs to charge the mound and pop Beckett in the piehole — or kick Jerry Meals in the taint for being a horrible ump.
9. Manny is being Manny. I feel bad for Dodger fans. I’d like to give him the benefit of the doubt, the same way I did for Alex. Unfortunately, Alex didn’t come up hot for a current drug test, it was a past one that was questionably brought out by his hack-journalist stalker, S-Rob.
10. Make sure to add me on TWITTER. There is a group of Yankee fans/bloggers who frequently share our thoughts on Yankee games through the process. Sometimes we get live reviews, sometimes TV reviews, others watch on MLB’s gameday. Join the fun! http://www.twitter.com/roshkoch
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