Three years ago, as a sports writer for The Evening Sun in Hanover, I was able to attend my first NFL game, a Baltimore Ravens-San Diego Chargers match-up.
I'll be honest, I was pretty excited to see Ladainian Tomlinson in person. However, sports writers aren't supposed to be fans. We're supposed to be professional and I've got no complaints about that.
I remember walking down to the field, where the media can go for the game's final minutes, and seeing the television reporters openly cheering the Ravens on to victory. One guy went so far as to hop up and down. Even the Ravens cheerleaders smirked.
The wrinkled, snarly reporters, including yours truly, shook their heads.
That's not what your supposed to do. Even if, deep down inside, you're pulling for one team.
That's the balance sports writers have to strike: They need to be professional, but they also need to be the voice of the fan.
And writers are most fun to read when they write like a fan.
If you read Phil Sheridan's story from the Phillies' 2008 World Series victory, you would have had chills. The same goes for Bill Lyon's column from when the Phillies rallied past the Mets in 2007.
That's why Mitch Albom, Bill Plaschke and Tom Boswell are such a joy to find in the morning's paper.
You want tears, look up Dan Shaughnessy's coverage from the Red Sox 2004 run.
Of course, we don't know what those guys looked like, way up in the press box when the team's they covered won.
I doubt they pumped their fists and high-fived.
We do however, know how Ricky Bottalico, Darren Daulton, and Michael Barkann reacted to the Phillies' NLCS Game 4 victory over the Dodgers Monday night.
And it's priceless.
Bottalico isn't someone we expect to react like that.
He spent 12 years in the Major Leagues and pitched in 524 games. He was an All-Star who owns 116 career saves and a 3.99 ERA.
But Ricky Bo looked like a fan.
Not like someone who didn't know what it was like to have to answer questions from the media after blowing a save. Not like someone who went through the dregs of salary arbitration or signed autographs till his hands ached.
Bottalico looked like the guy who could be next to you at the bar or on the school bus in the morning who's so excited to talk about Tim Lincecum's 14 strikeouts the night before.
He looked more like the kid who sat the bench through four years of high school than the kid who made it to The Bigs.
So it was really refreshing to see Ricky Bo's reaction.
Results tagged “Tim Lincecum” from The Southpaw
Two teams might not win this year, but could next season.
The Phillies end the weekend on a good note.
Tim Lincecum looks like he belongs in a pre-teen boy band. Don't tell that to the 11 batters he whiffed Monday.
The National League Cy Young race moves in The Freak's direction.
Mariano Rivera has 40 saves in a season for the first time since 2005. Amazingly, 11 pitchers have reached the 40 save barrier at least once in a season since then. Who are they?
You want magic numbers. We've got magic numbers.
A six man rotation. You've got to be kidding? Or stupid.
Seriously, somebody better buy me this shirt for Christmas.
Stephen Strasburg has a ton of talent. But he's never faced anything close to major league competition. And no one knows how durable he is. But the Nationals are a desperate franchise. So they gave him a record deal.
Stephen Strasburg signed on the dotted line. The future Ben McDonald/Mark Prior is getting a $15 million deal.
And good for him and his super agent/mercenary of death Scott Boras.
But, again, that's a lot of money for a player who just hasn't done anything.
Look, we never mind when actual big leaguers make oodles and oodles of money. You'll never hear us complain about Alex Rodriguez or Vernon Wells. We won't even complain about Adam Eaton. And we have no problem with teams paying prospects enough money to lure them away from college.
That said, these players who have no track record are a crap shoot. Especially pitchers. Picking which future star is going to make it is little more than an educated guess. And that's after they've pitched 150 minor league innings.
Consider this:
- The Nationals are dishing out more money to Strasburg than the Cardinals are paying Adam Wainwright. He has a World Series ring, is in his fifth year in big league baseball and leads the National League in wins.
- The Nationals are paying him more than the Giants pay Tim Lincecum. And he has a Cy Young.
If Stephen Strasburg doesn't win 60 games for the Nationals during his career, he was an absolute waste. And think about how low a number that is. Sixty wins isn't asking too much for someone who just shattered the draftee signing record.
But he'll probably only be in Washington for five years, six at the most. That's 12 wins a season.
Mark Prior, the man who's contract record Strasburg broke, won more than 12 games once in his career. Ben McDonald, another pitcher Strasburg has been compared to, did it four times. But he was out of baseball by his 30th birthday.
The list of pitchers selected high in the draft and given insane contracts is littered with names such as Darren Dreifort, Brien Taylor and Todd Van Poppel.
None of them ever made a long-lasting impact.
In fact, Strasburg's deal will set the Nats back further than they were yesterday when he wasn't signed. That's especially true when you consider they are trying to bring in free agents and other draft picks and had to put so much cash into one player. WHO HASN'T GOTTEN A PROFESSIONAL HITTER OUT.
But that's the risk they're willing to take.
The Southpaw returns and has a lot of catching up to do.
The Phillies and Yankees are on fire.
A Mets beat reporter has to defend himself.
Here are some early impressions:
- It's nice that the National League let a prepubescent fan pitch the first inning.
That kid, Tim Lincecum, had a rough first inning.
Of course, he got hurt by hometown hero Albert Pujols kicked around a ground ball. - The Pepsi refreshed generation commercial was really cool.
- Michael Young's play on Albert the Great's rip wasn't as fantastic as Joe Buck would have you believe. First of all, he stepped to the side and waved at it. He was lucky he got it. A good play would have been had he stepped in front of it and fielded it fundamentally.
It just wouldn't have looked as cool - How about Roy Halladay's at-bat. Maybe he was showing the Phillies he could hit. He fouled off a bunch of pitches from Tim Lincecum. Of course, he didn't have his own batting helmet, which was fun to watch.
- How about Tim Timmons umpiring down the left field line? What makes that interesting is it's the same name as a character from The Sandlot.
- The last three presidents have been in the broadcast booth and it's nice that they're not as awkward as some other politicians. Presidents Obama, Bush the elder, Bush the Younger and Clinton are all sports fans and can have an easy rapport with broadcasters. It's a stark contrast from John Kerry. Here's something Peter Gammons wrote in 2004.
So who puts the bug in candidates' ears about seeming what they are not? John Kerry last week professed to be a big fan of "Manny Ortez," then re-emphasized the phoofery by correcting it to "David Ortez." No, that was Dave (Baby) Cortez and "The Happy Organ." A few years back Kerry went on a Boston station with Eddie Andelman and said "my favorite Red Sox player of all time is The Walking Man, Eddie Yost," who never played for the Red Sox. Kerry is going to sweep New England. He's going to get 70 percent of the vote in Massachusetts. He doesn't have to be a Red Sox fan, all he has to do is not be John Ashcroft.
So, Joel Hanrahan was the winning pitcher for the Nationals yesterday. Thing is, he pitches for the Pirates. Go figure.
We take a look at one of the most underrated pitchers in baseball.
Cubs fans are fed up with Carlos Zambrano.
Troy Tulowitzki likes the high ones. Here he blasts a two-run homer on a pitch that's well above the letters.
CC Sabathia has a big test today.
Is David Ortiz cured?
The Phillies and Yankees bounced back from blown saves on Saturday.
Shea Stadium has a musical legacy.
And we're still mad about the Nate McLouth trade.
Several pitchers have put up good numbers, but no one has been nearly as good as Zack Greinke.
At the end of April, the Royals, Mariners, Pirates and Marlins were some of the top performing teams.
That's nowhere near the case any longer.
So let's take a look at the Power Alley now that May has come to an end.
The Pirates still can't beat the Brewers.
Oh yeah, we have more A-Rod juicing stories. We're so unbelievably excited.
And are the Nats about to draft a cornerstone prospect.
Might the World Champs move on from one of their biggest postseason stars? Are the Orioles going to sign a future Hall of Famer? And how does Hugo Chavez' happiness pertain to baseball?
We look at all those questions and more in today's edition of First Pitch.
Alex Rodriguez's season from hell continues.
And the skids have been greased to put a new stadium in the Marlins' future.
