A Clichéd Opening Day Post

 

Today the baseball season officially started. Well, as a Phillies fan, the season officially started. After a long spring full of minor league performances it was surprising, to say the least, to watch the Phillies take the season opener in Texas. Having been shut out in their last three pre-season games, I guess the offense decided to wake up as they realized that these games actually count.

While the opening slug fest was a great way to start the season, I am still heading into this drawn out campaign with a considerable amount of trepidation. Given their performance in recent years and the questionable roster moves that have been made during the offseason, I doubt that they will be able to seriously content. However, there are always those seasons when things just seem to click and, out of nowhere, a season to remember comes to fruition.

It wasn’t long ago when the Phillies headed into a season having finished dead last the year before only to find themselves in the World Series. When you look at that 1993 roster, especially when you compare it to the competition, there is no way that anyone could have anticipated the season that they had. It was one of those instances when the right players found themselves on a team during the right season, at the right time in their careers.

It is for that reason that I still have an ounce of hope for this roster. When you look at the players on an individual basis, they are clearly better than that team but the question is whether the players feed off of one another and push (or pull) in the same direction. It would also be a great way to both honor the late Jim Fregosi and encourage the ailing Darren Daulton by shocking the NL East and running away with the division.

Either way, I think this is going to be an entertaining team to watch. They could come together or they could turn out to be a dugout full of McMurphys waiting to Amaro to shove a pillow in their face at the trade deadline. I guess we will just have to watch, wait, and see what happens. Of course, if you don’t have time to watch a protracted game full of replays, warnings, and pitching changes you can always read about it on my other blog.

So, how do you think the Phillies will fair this season? Will they pull things together and finally return Ryno to the postseason or will Bowa be calling everyone Private Pyle as they struggle to resemble a major league ball club? Of course, they could always end up in the middle but that wouldn’t be interesting to think about so let’s hope for the extremes. With this team, I can’t tell what is going to happen which makes for an intriguing beginning to the season. What do you think?

The real reason why we now have instant replay!

Happy Unday!

For some, including many of my fellow Rotarians, today was one of celebration as most of the world celebrated United Nations Day. There were long speeches given and countless messages of peace and recollections of what the UN has done for the world. And I am one that whole heartedly agrees that the UN has done some phenomenal work to make this world a better place.

However, this international body is a shell of what it once was and the blind faith and loyalty that some have given to this misguided body is naïve at best. What was once a means to ensure the freedom of people around the world has veered so off course that now they are trying to strip United States citizens of their rights and their freedom like they have in so many countries in recent years. How sad it that?

What makes the situation even worse is the fact that this ‘impartial’ body of, let’s be honest, politicians refuses to enforce any real sanctions that would have a measurable impact on the nations of this world that have promoted and preached hate over the last several decades (and longer). Oh, that’s right, we can’t punish those who deserve it because they may not like us and that wouldn’t be nice. After all, if I make them mad they might break my rose tinted glasses.

However, what is downright shameful is the way that the UN has treated Israel while pandering to the Palestinian Authority. Almost every time, if not every time, Israel defends herself against countless attacks who is the one that gets blamed by the United Nations for the ‘hostilities’? That’s right; Israel is the one that is blamed because they gave a quick jab to the jaw of someone that was running at them throwing haymakers.

The UN has been diluted into a delusional CF comprised of castrated politicians that more closely resemble a fanny pack (those in Ireland will understand what is truly meant by the use of that expression) rather than a just delegation of international representatives. So, rather that celebrating UN Day, from now on I am simply going to consider it an unday. A day when we think about how far we have come and so far we have gone off track.

Hopefully, the United Nations can resurrect itself and realize that the utopia that rattles around in their heads is by no means reality and if you want the support of the people you must support and uphold the rights and freedoms of the people. The UN must be in opposition of those try and strip us of our rights. They must oppose those who serve as catalysts of conflict.

It is time to stop being pukes and start acting like a drill sergeant…