I'm a big believer in cosmic balance. That is to say that I believe there is a finite amount of happiness that you can experience in life at any one time. If your marriage and personal life is going along swimmingly, you can be sure that someone at work will find a way to kick you in the nuts. It's the same in the life of any sports fan. If your favorite baseball team just won the World Series, all of the other teams you support will find some way to disappoint you.
This cosmic balance was driven home to me today with a vengeance. Just as I returned from England, where I saw Chelsea play so well against Arsenal, my Dodgers appeared to be falling apart at the seams. They have had a disastrous off-season, at least up to this point. After cutting loose Steve Finley and José Lima, two of the lynchpins of their wonderful 2004 team (the decision not to bring these two players back at least had some justification), yesterday they lost their outstanding third baseman Adrian Beltré to the Seattle Mariners. The Dodgers' new skinflint owner, Frank McCourt, apparently didn't see fit to match Seattle's offer for Beltré, so he's off to the Northwest. But not to fear, the Dodgers have brought in former White Sox error and strikeout machine José Valentin to replace Belly. Another brilliant move pulled off by the Dodgers' Boy Genius General Manager, Paul DePodesta, who, in addition to being the laughing stock of Major League Baseball, is apparently a big Ayn Rand fan. God help us all.
To top it all off, the buzz is that the Dodgers will trade (deep breath) Shawn Green, Brad Penny, Kaz Ishii and Yhency Brazoban for Yankee bust Javier Vazquez, a few scrubs from the Yanks' depleted farm system and, presumably, a bag of balls. If all of this happens, McCheap and his Ivy League minion will have effectively shaved more than $30 million from the Dodger payroll. But guess what? By the time its all goes down, there may be no more free agents left to sign, as they seem to be falling like flies. Why do I get the feeling that that's exactly what McBroke wants? A big thank you is in order to the spineless baseball "commissioner" Bud Selig for imposing this nightmare of an owner on one of professional sports' greatest clubs and effectively turning the Dodgers into the West Coast version of the Milwaukee Brewers. For shame.
What does this all mean in grand scheme of things? Well, for one it means that Chelsea are, without a doubt, going to win the League for the first time in nearly 50 years. Hell, they may even capture the Champions League. If I'm going to be experiencing all of this pain and disappointment with the Dodgers, it damn well better be a great couple of years in West London! If not, I'm going to have to re-think this whole cosmic balance thing.
12:01:42 AM 
|
|
