How often do we get to see Josh Beckett smile? Photo by Kelly O'Connor/sittingstill.net and used with permission.
Tomorrow is, without a doubt, my least favorite day of the baseball season. I dread it more than the last day of baseball.
The day is spent speculating which of my favorite players will be traded and then usually finding out it was none of them. On television, radio and the Internet you can’t get away from it. Fortunately, I’ll be on the road to Baltimore and will probably (hopefully?) be shielded from most of the coverage for the better part of the day.
I always hope the Sox will win but I want it a little more today. Losing today would be three in a row and three losses in a row coupled with winning only 10 out of the last 22 games will be making the reactionary fans restless for Theo to trade the entire team for Roy Halladay and while I share the frustration of the fans who aren’t happy with the way the team has been playing, I don’t think knee-jerk reactions to it will benefit the team in the long run.
I was hoping to not have to revisit this once I made the initial post yesterday but I will, one final time, to make things a bit more clear. I decided to leave WEEI for a few different reasons, not one specific thing although one incident did force me to sit down and reevaluate things. The decision was mine and not one I made lightly or impulsively. It saddens me that things worked out the way they did but I’m happier now than I was a few days ago and, really, that’s all I care about. This blogging thing is supposed to be fun. It hadn’t been for a while and now it is again – regardless of the struggles of the Red Sox.  My leaving isn’t anyone’s “fault” but my own and, truthfully, should have happened sooner than it did. Lesson learned by me. I understand some people are disappointed and for that I’m genuinely sorry. But I’m not sorry that I made a decision that benefited me and didn’t hurt anyone else. The world won’t end because I’m not blogging for WEEI any longer. I’m sure they believe that even more strongly than I do.
I will respond to something left in the comments last night: Finding my inbox almost every morning with emails from people calling me cow and c*nt didn’t help things and someone can only ignore that for so long. Thankfully, the emails (and comments) all seem to come from the same group of people so I certainly don’t blame the entire readership of WEEI for the small minds of less than a handful of idiots. Insulting my writing or what I’m writing about is one thing but the personal attacks were the kind I’ve never received before (especially for such a prolonged period of time). I’m fully aware that it’s no coincidence the really vile stuff started coming after I was thrust into the faces of WEEI listeners. I was wary of entering the contest because of the reputations of some WEEI personalities and their listeners. It was a concern even before I entered the contest but I decided it was worth giving the situation and people the benefit of the doubt. Maybe I was hoping those people couldn’t read and would stay isolated within the confines of the radio station – I don’t know.  I dealt with it the best I could for as along as I could but in the end, yeah, it helped make my decision easier but it isn’t close to being the only reason I decided to leave. WEEI gave me a chance to expand my audience and become more well-known. It worked in a sense and while I’m appreciative for the opportunity I’m also reminded that sometimes you have to be careful for what you wish for.
In any event, that chapter of my life is over and the folks at WEEI have been very kind about it. So now I’m hoping to keep that door closed and locked and throw open the windows here and let some sunshine in.
Jon Lester is on the mound at 1:35pm today. Not sure how much of the game I’ll be able to catch but Lester as stopper gives me a bit more hope than, say, Smoltz as stopper – so at least I feel like the chances for a win today are good.
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