Robservations: Thoughts from the La-Z-Boy
The Mills Brothers had a great old song that noted, “You never miss the water, ’til the well runs dry.”
Well, to paraphrase their lyric, “You never miss the Standard, ’til you take off for five.”
That’s right, your friendly neighborhood sports editor has been out of pocket since a week ago today, and if I search way down in the back of my mind, I’m sure I missed being in the office.
Wait, I’m still searching.
Come on, it’s gotta be there somewhere.
OK, maybe not.
At any rate, Dale Stubblefield, in the interim role as czar of the sports page that he’s handled so capably this week, has allowed me the privilege of keeping my normal Friday-morning spot on the left side of this page. And because of that, I can tackle this week’s edition of random Robservations with a fresh, outside-looking-in point of view. So let’s get to it.
• On Sammy Sosa: Last week, I gave you the official sports editor stance on the corked-bat controversy. But if you missed it, I’ll reiterate: Sammy messed up, he admitted he’d made a mistake, he took the heat for it, and to label him anything more than dumb (for grabbing the wrong bat) is unwarranted.
Now his original eight-game suspension has been knocked down to seven games, and began Wednesday night.
“I’m convinced of the sincerity of Sosa’s explanation and his contrition,” Bob DuPuy, baseball’s president and chief operating officer told USA Today after hearing Sosa’s appeal. “In my opinion, his candor and the promptness of his apology on the night of June 3 were exemplary. However, at the end of the day, each player must be accountable for his own equipment complying with the rules, whether the violation is deliberate or inadvertent.”
I quote DuPuy’s comments, so I can say this: For all you people who theorized just what substance your friendly neighborhood sports columnist was full of last Friday, take a look at that quote from that baseball executive, then – after you’ve looked up the definitions of “contrition,” “candor” and “exemplary,” take another look at last week’s column.
Seems pretty similar, doesn’t it? I guess it goes to show you, sometimes – on the rarest of occasions – someone actually agrees with these little soapbox speeches I print every Friday.
• On summertime fun: I read, with interest, Dale’s piece on the early end of summer league baseball around the city, and I can’t help but agree whole-heartedly for two reasons.
One, he had some really good points.
And two, if I disagree, he’ll never print this column (still on vacation, remember?)
But parents, if you’ll take a suggestion, I know a fun, inexpensive way to spend some of these summer evenings once activities end at the ballparks – fishing.
It’s that plain and simple. Grab a pole, a box of hooks and sinkers, a tub of worms, and head for the river, creek, pond or lake.
And take those kids along, for goodness sakes. They’ll be bored at first, especially if the fish aren’t biting. But let them hook one four-inch bream or bluegill, and watch how their outlook changes.
In fact, now that I’ve spent the last few paragraphs thinking about it – and since I’ve still got a couple days vacation left — I believe I’ll head for the fishing hole right now.