Diary of a Diehard

Tiffany and Whitney’s elementary school has an interesting tradition for the Thanksgiving holiday. They hold what is called a Turkey Trot the day before the Thanksgiving break. This Turkey Trot is an all morning event where each grade comes out to the playground and runs a course. Parents and families are welcome to attend. Last year, I took off the day before Thanksgiving and attended this event. We had a lot of fun going around the playground and track with Tiffany. This year, Tiffany and Whitney are both involved. We arrived just in time for Tiffany’s class to begin the trot. Although it is not designed as a race, many kids try to run the entire way. Tiffany wanted us to run with her. Since Whitney was due out at any time and we had Dakota, I volunteered to stay behind while Trina ran the 1.5 mile course. She ended about the time that Whitney began. Whitney’s grade had a much shorter route so Dakota and I went with her. When Whitney saw her mom, she of course wanted her to go along with us. Trina ended up going both times. By the end of the second lap, I was afraid I was going to have to get a wheelchair to get Trina back to the car. She had plans to bake pies and get ready for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. Instead, it was a long bath and a nap. It is funny, the kids didn’t seem to mind the distance. Maybe it’s true, maybe we are getting old.

This off-season was to be relatively quiet for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Off the heels of a third place finish and rumors of massive losses and flat ticket sales, the team said they would not be active in the free agent activity this winter. It was therefore quite a surprise when rumors of Mark Grace joining the Arizona Diamondbacks began to surface. Don’t get me wrong, I like Mark Grace. I have been a fan of his for many years. He is one of the better defensive first basemen in the league and he is consistently among the leaders in hits each year. But I just don’t get this deal. Looking at the Diamondbacks roster from last season, they had 3 sometimes 4 first basemen on the roster at any given moment. Erubiel Durazo, the wonder boy from 1999 started the year at first. When he was injured, Travis Lee took over at first against right-handed pitchers while Greg Colbrunn played against left-handed pitching. When Travis didn’t produce they brought up Alex Cabrera to play first. The last thing I expected this off-season was for the Diamondbacks to go after a first baseman. To me there were other glaring holes that needed to be filled before we added another infielder. For example, the right field position for the Diamondbacks has been a black hole since the team began play. They have had no fewer than 20 different people play right field in the past 3 years and the position has never averaged greater than a .240 batting average. Then there is the pitching staff. Currently they have Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling and Brian Anderson that can be counted on to take the ball every 5 days. From there it gets questionable. Todd Stottlemyre when healthy can pitch but it is questionable whether he can last an entire season without getting hurt. Armando Reynoso is a free agent and the Diamondbacks have said they cannot afford to bring him back. So unless Bob Brenley is going to go with a 3 man rotation, they need to get some arms in here. Then there is the bullpen. The Diamondbacks are bringing Mike Morgan back. He did a decent job but he is 41 now and you have to wonder what he has left. Greg Swindell is the only left hander in the bullpen with the departure of Dan Plesac so something needs to happen there. Maybe I am just not seeing the big picture. In a time where the Diamondbacks should be looking to get younger, they are instead getting older. They keep saying pitching wins championships and then they try to sign aging defensive first basemen. So during this Thanksgiving day holiday, the Diamondbacks are making sure their fans remember to say Grace.

There are few things that bring a smile to a working man quite like the realization that the work week has been shortened. The normal 5 day work week drags by with everyone going through several stages. First there is Monday where everyone drags themselves back into work after having been off enjoying life on the weekend. No one likes Monday. The main reason for this is it is like standing at the beginning of a long journey that you do not want to start. It is as far away from the weekend as you can get. It is like the stories your father told you about when he went to school, drudging through 10 feet of snow, walking 20 miles to school uphill, each way fighting off grizzly bears with his spiral notebook. That is the essence of Monday. Tuesday is the suburb of Monday. There are still 4 days of work remaining in the work week. It is usually filled with all the stuff that was dumped on to you on Monday but you just couldn’t force yourself to do because you were to busy whining about how much you hated Monday. Wednesday is a mini celebration of a day. It is the halfway point of the work week. You have survived the first half and now must buckle down to get something done before the week is over. Thursday can best be summed up as Friday eve. This is by far the longest work day of the week because you know that tomorrow is Friday and then the weekend. Thursdays always seem to drag on forever. It is like an entire week is compressed into Thursday. On one hand, you are trying to get as much accomplished as you can since you don’t want to start anything new on Friday while on the other hand, you would really like to start winding this week down to get ready for the weekend. Finally there is Friday. Friday has taken on new meaning in the past few years. Not only does it lead up to the weekend, it has now become casual day in most businesses. It would seem even management has decided that there really isn’t much that happens on Fridays, they may as well make it a party day at work where you can lounge around comfortably. This is the typical work week for most americans. So weeks like those leading up to holidays are extremely interesting. You now have 5 days of emotions that you need to condense into 3 days. Monday is now tolerated since you tell yourself it is really Wednesday. Tuesday is really Wednesday since it is the middle of the work week but it is also Thursday since tomorrow is the last day of the week. Wednesday is Friday but to the extreme since you are not just getting two days off, you are getting 4. This is like a concentrated dose of Friday meaning instead of daydreaming about all that you will be doing on the weekend starting at 3 in the afternoon, people begin thinking about weekend plans at noon. I would go so far as to say there are several that lay awake on Friday morning before getting out of bed that are already mentally in the weekend. Given all of this information, I really have no clue what today is. I think I am on a perpetual mental weekend.

I have to admit, I am not a big fan of the wave. I remember the first time I was at a game when the fans did the wave. It was in 1980 in Seattle Washington. I was at a North American Soccer League game watching the Seattle Sounders play. It was the first professional soccer game I had ever seen. I was amazed that so many people would go to a game where there was relatively little scoring. About midway through the first half, the fans began to wave their arms. I looked around at my fellow spectators not really grasping what was going on. This phenomenon continued in other sports as well. I remember seeing the wave rear its ugly head during BYU football games accompanied by the BYU band playing the theme song to The Empire Strikes Back. In baseball, I have seen my share of waves at Bank One Ballpark. I have come to the conclusion that fans just don’t get it. I can remember countless times when the fans have attempted to do the wave while the Diamondbacks are up to bat. That is a definite faux pas. You never disrupt the home team with the wave. I learned in my life that there are other times that you do not do the wave. For example, at the dinner table in our house, it is inappropriate to begin the wave after blessing the food. Attempting this will cause bodily injury specifically a sore neck after sleeping on the couch for a few nights. Secondly, during church. Regardless of how this act of enthusiasm may invigorate the speaker, doing the wave in the back of the chapel is looked upon in horror will again result in a few nights sleeping on the couch. Hospital waiting rooms are another area where the wave is not welcome. It seems people with loved ones in surgery are not interested in standing up and waving their arms with complete strangers. Finally, there are funerals. I have yet to find an appropriate time to institute the wave at a funeral. During the eulogy would have seemed the right moment but I could not get anyone involved. Neither would they participate during the viewing of the body before the funeral nor at the dedication of the grave. Perhaps the wave is best left to cremations. I’m not sure, I have never attended one of those. So as you can see, there is a definite etiquette as to when one should participate in the wave. I for one plan to continue to define wave boundaries.

There are certain days in a person’s life that are momentous and will be cherished their entire life. I have several of those days that hold a special place in my heart. I can remember the birth of each of my children as if they just happened. The joy I felt as I watched them take their first breath. I remember my wedding day and looking across the alter into Trina’s eyes knowing she would be my companion for time and all eternity. I have heard people say they remember the moment they heard John F. Kennedy was shot. My grandparents remind me of the time they heard World War II had ended. I remember November 18, 1997. That was the day that Major League Baseball set aside to hold the expansion draft for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Arizona Diamondbacks. I remember going to work that morning but then leaving at about 10:00 AM. George Taylor and I went down to the Phoenix Civic Plaza where they were holding the draft. Across the street was a big party to celebrate the Diamondbacks finally having players on a major league roster. I remember taking all kinds of books and magazines with me so that George and I could keep track of who was being selected and where they came from. We sat in front of a group of Japanese reporters who were there covering the draft for a Tokyo newspaper. It was interesting trying to communicate with them as they asked us question after question about the players selected. I remember sitting next to Corey Lidle not knowing who he was only to hear his name called as the Diamondbacks drafted him in the second round. It was a magical day and one I will never forget. I was at the civic plaza for 14 hours watching every draft pick, analyzing every trade after the draft. Getting to know these names that I would be watching the next season. Just for the record, I had them selecting Brian Anderson with their first pick.

The first signs of the baseball off-season are the General Manager meetings that are held soon after the completion of the World Series. Not being a baseball insider, I am not exactly sure what goes on at these meetings. As a fan, I envision the 30 general managers sitting around by the pool talking about how tough their jobs are and oh by the way, do you want to trade some players? I’m sure this is an over-simplified generalization and probably inaccurate but the only thing that seems to come out of these meetings are a few minor trades and a lot of talk about how much money Alex Rodriguez is going to cost to sign. Well, all of this talk about trades and personnel moves made me stop and think. What would I do if I were general manager for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Continue reading ‘If I Were General Manager’ »

Major League Baseball owners are an interesting breed of animal. I have never seen such a contrary bunch of men in my life. On one hand, they spend money like drunken sailors throwing millions of dollars at players who are mediocre at best. There is no way you can justify the salaries that these players are making but the owners keep besting themselves with each deal. The players of course love it. They find themselves being rewarded beyond their wildest dreams for putting up numbers that would make the players from yesteryear embarrassed and ashamed. The same owners who would give Jose Mesa a 3 year contract for over $7.2 million dollars will turn around and complain about how much money they are losing and that it just isn’t fair. The claim that baseball is not profitable for them and that they need a new stadium or they need to raise ticket prices if they wish to stay competitive. The Arizona Diamondbacks find themselves in just such a situation. First, their payroll is well over $80 million and may of those making the most money are not producing. Second, after good ticket sales the first season, the Diamondbacks have seen their fan base shrink each successive year. Some of this is due to the novelty wearing off, some is due to a lack of marketing or poor marketing. People have only a finite number of entertainment dollars to spend. The Diamondbacks need to find a way to entice more of them to spend them at Bank One Ballpark. Over the past three years, I have seen the same promotions done time and time again. People are looking for something fresh and new, not the same tired ideas re-used over and over. Third, their organization has changed and their skill sets must change as well. At first, they were a new franchise very similar to a start-up company. They needed people and positions associated with building up a company and an organization. Now though, they are an established firm and as such, they need different skills and positions to sustain the organization. So for the Diamondbacks to announce they were laying off workers should not have been unexpected.

Continue reading ‘Cutbacks and Other Band-Aid Requirements’ »

Baseball’s post season awards show is nearly complete. All that is remaining is each league’s Most Valuable Player awards that are announced today for the American League and tomorrow for the National League. Unlike last year when Matt Williams was in contention, this year there are no Diamondbacks players who will be considered for this award. With that out of the way, all baseball fans throughout the country will begin another national pastime. Speculating on which free agents your local team will be trying to sign to make them more competitive next season. The Diamondbacks have already eluded to the fact that they will not be going after any of the big names since they are losing money hand over fist. So Diamondbacks fans will be relegated to looking to the rest of the National League to determine who helped themselves and who did not. Perhaps through it all, a few trades will occur that will help the Diamondbacks in their quest to return to the play-offs.

Continue reading ‘Let the Bidding Begin!’ »

This is one of those days on the calendar that doesn’t really jump out at you. Hallmark doesn’t sell a card for today and none of the children have the day off from school. And yet I find myself restless and pacing the floor anxious for this afternoon to get here. It is funny how baseball can do this to a person. The season is over and the Diamondbacks have announced that not only are they not going to be bidding on any of the super-star free-agents, they are also cutting staff from the administrative side. Even with all of this news, I am still pretty upbeat today. I kept close to the computer and I have the radio and television tuned to ESPN so that I can hear when the announcement is made. You see, today is when they announce the Cy Young Award winner for the 2000 season for the National League. Randy Johnson who won the award last year is again in contention. If someone would have asked me in June if Randy would repeat as Cy Young award winner it would have been a no-brainer. He completely dominated the scene and was virtually unhittable. But the second half of the season, Randy struggled as did all of the Diamondbacks players. This means that unlike yesterday’s American League winner, today’s vote would not be unanimous. No, this would be close. Not as close as a Florida presidential election but close just the same. After lunch, I settled down in front of the computer and patiently waited for word a winner to be announced. Finally, ESPN proclaimed that Randy had indeed been awarded the Cy Young, his third overall and second consecutive. He is deserving of this award and I congratulate him on the outstanding job he did for the Diamondbacks last season.