Baseball should have a warning label reading: “If you do not have a short memory, Baseball may cause pain and discomfort.”
Baseball players at all levels,
and fans alike need to possess
one thing at a much higher level than fans and players of any other sport; a short memory.
If you take your last at bat into the batters box,
If you take that last booted ball back out onto the field,
that last hanging curveball that landed in the parking lot back out to the bump,
And….
If you take an explosion of social media rants you posted after the most ridiculous loss of loses into the first pitch tomorrow,
Well baseball just may not be for you…
Or…perhaps…
It’s exactly what you need to help you work through the highs and lows, ups and downs, the thrills of victory and the agony….
You get the picture.
It’s become an inside joke among my friends how I constantly state the obvious and simplify baseball by blandly declaring,
“Baseball is hard.”
It’s become an emotion as well as my explanation of the roller coaster ride that is a game, an inning, an at bat, and one pitch that leaves the ballpark a grand slam that, as it happens and your 4 run lead vanishes, you can only say…
“of course.”
Then, we all take to social media and explode into fits of frustration and angst. We attack one another with our points of view. We restructure the team, we ship people out, we bring kids up and we cuss and fight with each other the entire time.
And that’s just during the 7th Inning Stretch.
At least 5 people I know have fired Tito at least once this year.
And I love all of it. I’m as guilty as all of you and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Baseball is hard. Sometimes being a baseball fan is just as hard.
If you’re not on social media and do not partake in this barbaric, fanatic behavior in real time as the season unfolds, God Bless you.
It’s a crazy, crazy wonderful world of every temperament of fan you could possibly imagine.
We have,
“THE SERIOUS STATISTICIAN”
I envy them, they have every metric on every player and can tell you exactly how many runs a player saves/costs you by the hour.
I can’t remember what a guy did last night.
“THE HOMERS”
The constant optimist. They trust 100% in Tito, the organization and blindly follow, never wavering under any circumstance.
“THE HATERS”
They’re a fun group. They hate everything from Dolan to the hot dog races, hate the team, hate the name change and hate themselves for watching or listening every single night and tell you everything that is wrong in real time all the time. They’re truly a delight.
Photo by Charles Murray
“THE TROLLS”
They are a sub-set of “The Haters” who have more time on their hands and create second social media accounts under fictitious names and crudely interrupt an otherwise lively discussion with juvenile nonsense.
We block them as fast as their moms can whip up a meatloaf upstairs.
“THE DOWNERS”
These poor souls even find misery in winning. Every single game is Game 7 for them, even in April.
I can’t help but think of “Glum” from Gulliver’s Travels when I see their emotional implosions as I scroll.
“THE CASUALS”
They’re kind of like the retired guy buying his lottery scratchers at 6:38am holding up the line at the gas station as we run late for work.
They’re just in the way.
“ARMCHAIR GENERAL MANGERS AND SCOUTS”
These folks are busy all day long shuffling players back and forth to Columbus and Akron in “fantasy” moves.
The armchair managers are rearranging Tito’s line up cards so it makes #%+# sense.
And the scouts are breaking down player’s performances in the minors and encouraging the armchair managers to apply pressure on the fantasy GMs to put them on the fantasy 26 man roster.
“PODCASTERS CONTENT CREATORS INFLUENCERS and WRITERS”
We’re all over the map.
We fall into every single category above. Sometimes all of them at once during a show, in an article or along with the fans in real-time.
We’re the worst of the lot.
And of course our mainstream media, talking heads and local radio hosts.
They’re just like us but with press passes, don’t let ‘em tell you different.
Baseball unlike any other sport moves fast. Three or four game series twice a week doesn’t leave much time to exhale.
NFL fans have 4 days minimum to go through the range of emotions after a loss and back on the bandwagon for kickoff next week. They play 17 regular season games, the urgency and importance of every game is magnified.
The NBA regular season is 4 months of practice and jockeying for playoff seeding. You know early on if your team is among the 51% that will make the playoffs. If you’re losing your mind over one loss in December as an NBA fan, you’re even in worse shape than a baseball fan in May pulling over to huff into a brown paper bag.
Short memory.
Absolutely vital for ballplayers, and paramount for baseball fans.
As much as we like to say we can shake it off, sometimes we just can’t let it go. We wrap our entire emotional beings into it and walk around sometimes having miserable days because we dropped to four games under .500 and sit four games back in third place.
Not much I can tell you outside of the Guardians were 17-18 on May 20, 2022.
And, at least we’re not the poor fans in Oakland.
This young team is struggling right now to put it all together, their memories are short and it shows in how hard they play the game.
If they continue to swing the bats, try and hit their spots on the mound and hustle in every aspect of their game, they can put it all together and turn it around.
The breaks will start to fall their way.
This isn’t me telling you how to fan, it’s me imploring you to never change, to continue to bring your love and passion for baseball however you bring it and need to express it.
This isn’t me writing a rah-rah piece trying to convince both you and I, this ballclub is going to be alright.
This is me asking you to have short memories when it comes to baseball. It’s a long season.
If not it just may be over before you actually get to enjoy it.
But what do I know?
Warg Kathleen R
May 23, 2023 at 10:02 am
Excellent article.
The whiners & complainers most certainly aren’t Home grown Cleveland Sports Fans.
You had time have grown up in the Cleveland area to appreciate that the ups & downs of Cleveland Sports us part of our culture.
I sat in the original Dawg Pound in the old Municipal Stadium. There was absolutely nothing like Brown’s game day at home,,arriving at the stadium before the sun came up, firing up the grills & the coffee and greeting the players by Gate C as they arrived.
The Cleveland Indians had meet & greets with the players, party behind the fence and getting your picture taken with you favorite players. Players autographing your baseball cards, etc.
I also sat 10 rows up from home plate & 1st base in May1977 and watched Dennis Eckersly pitch a no hitter.
The management of both teams cut off that interaction between players and fans.
But, at age 71, I still watch every game I can, despite having to pay to watch. I long for the old days when Sports was just a game.
Tim Richard
May 23, 2023 at 3:36 pm
It’s a CRAZY “Fan game”!
Baseball is LIFE!
How often have I said….”geez I can’t get a break”…!
When it goes GOOD….we’re on top of the World!
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