The Drunkards, playground bullies of the Jays blogging community, rightly called me a lazy asshole when it comes to updating this blog. Six lousy posts since October, they say. My defense? Like many of our heroes, I like to take some time off in the off-season.
In truth, like Joanna at Hum & Chuck suggested, what the hell has there been to write about this winter? AJ left. I am neither shocked nor saddened. Let the Yankees have him and his diminishing returns. The brass seems to be only slightly more upfront about the team's chances for completing this coming season, indicating that it'll prove a valuable campaign only insofar as it provides the young'uns a chance to mature. Well alright, that's pretty damn exciting. Plenty there to rouse my from my winter torpor.
I could stretch it and get verbose over Rickey's rightful induction, Rice's pity induction (how many BBWAA members live in Boston, anyway?) or the retirement of one-time Jay Jeff Kent. But fuck it, I just haven't cared that much, and I'm not as adept at analysis (read: numbers) as some of you are. Know thyself, reads the maxim, and I know this: My insights into front office moves, minor league depth and the nuances of contract law simply aren't that trenchant. I'm not about to fake it -- that shit will get called out a lot faster than inactivity, and with a lot more scorn. So, knowing why I started this thing to begin with -- namely that I love baseball and thought, like every other idiot with a laptop, that that passion might make for some interesting reading for someone, somewhere -- I'll wait until I'm moved before I post something. I'm not going to treat it like a chore; that'd be stupid, and as unenjoyable for the reader(s?) as for the writer.
To summarize: No baseball, little writing. That might be my new masthead slogan. I should point out that this all shows signs of changing, though. Proof that my baseball jones is mounting lies in the fact that I think I'm buying tickets to the World Baseball Classic. You say that (some of) the world's best baseball players will be in Toronto, playing not for passion nor money but out of a grudging sense of national responsibility, or on the advice of agents who think that they'd better appear engaged heading into a contract year, and there are tickets available? Where do I click?
I know myself well enough to predict that I'll shake these blues soon, start wearing jerseys around the house, begin leafing through old Street & Smith's previews, and generally feel that familiar burn, all of which will probably result in increased activity here. In the meantime, I'll restrict my activities to reading the regular updaters.
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