Because I pretend to have other interests, I've made an effort to stay away from baseball books when reading for pleasure. That's why it's taken me a couple years to get around to Richard Roeper's
Sox and the City.
(A friend at another paper snagged me an advance reading copy, which combined two great loves -- reading about the White Sox and looking for errors. Alas, I only found a couple.)
It was a quick read, but a fun one, and I thought he did a solid job representing the South Side as a whole. It can't be easy to be a spokesman for an entire group, a thought that is reinforced every week in the Trib's "View from a White Sox fan."
A couple of weeks ago, a guy wondered why
Nick Masset didn't get a longer look at a rotation spot. This week:
a complete airing of grievances. He starts with, "I am a 52 years old and a life-long White Sox fan who can't take this
organization's stubborn, narrow-minded approach to running this team
anymore."
- "This team will never come close to winning another World Series as long as Jerry Reinsdorf owns them." (emphasis mine).
- "I gave [Kenny Williams] his props in '05 but he has been a colossal failure in 6 of his 7 years."
I was a little taken aback by the first bullet point. I'm less than half his age, and I'm still enjoying the fact that the Sox have one title under their belt in my lifetime, and haven't really thought about where the second one will be coming from. The second bullet point just seems abnormally harsh.
Roeper's book took a pretty mild stance on everything, for which I was grateful considering he has a bigger audience as a White Sox fan than just about anyone -- although
Barack Obama has knocked him down a notch. But reading the Trib's fan submission each week makes me realize how mild doesn't cut it for a lot of people.
I haven't read
Phil Rogers' book yet -- anybody know if it's worth it?
***********************
Josh Fields had a strange 24 hours, starting with a speech he gave at a Fellowship for Christian Athletes luncheon. A
Tulsa World story seemed to say that he was precariously close to retiring:
Fields shared the story of
his 2007 triumphs and struggles during a Fellowship of
Christian Athletes luncheon
at the Holiday Inn Select on
Wednesday afternoon. He
told the 50 people in attendance that, at the end of last
season, he seriously debated
if he would walk away from
the game.
"When I got my first taste
of the big leagues in 2006, it
was everything that I had
dreamed about," Fields said.
"But the further I got into my
professional career, the more
I had to deal with everything
else that goes along with being a professional athlete.
There were so many things
going on in the clubhouse
that I really questioned if
professional baseball was for
me. However, I prayed about
it and realized there is nowhere I could have more influence right now than in that clubhouse."
Fields told Scott Merkin that he wasn't misquoted, but the quotes
were stacked together in a misleading fashion.
If you haven't seen it yet, take a look
at Mark Buehrle's truck -- aka A Missourian's Wet Dream (I think that's a Shakespeare play). I'll bet you dollars to donuts it has Calvin pissing on a Chevy logo. Thanks to
South Side Sox.
Remember when Aaron Rowand said that
Phillies hitting coach Milt Thompson didn't really do much for him? After
viewing this clip, I have even more doubts. Let's see Greg Walker do
that.
I'm just getting over getting sick, so look for some more inspired blogging next week.