Maybe it was how i was brought up...

Or maybe I'm just a student of the wrong school of thought.


I've participated in quite a few seasons of organized and pick-up sports (mostly in the grade school - high school level) and one thing was blatantly obvious to me all these years...Basically, the guys who are actually good at said sports were usually picked first.

What may have caused a riff in a great friendship because you picked Joe Baseball over your best friend (who's probably a better Mathlete than athlete,) probably ended up being the better decision for your T E A M. Gordo the Mathlete may have run really hard, dove for every ball, and never quit on you, but unfortunately, Gordo was a blond haired, transparent skinned wimp who regardless of his grit and determination got thrown out, missed when he dove, and always walked away feeling like he could have left more out there...maybe something like talent.

Which brings me to this fabulous article (Warning: This entire article is NOT dedicated to the grittiness of the SuperWhite Twins, but contains references to said "super" heroes)

"Those two guys exemplify what we want to be," Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi says. "That's why they're better fits for us. They're grinders, and they're dirtbags.

If by "exemplify what we want to be", you mean we want to suck, then you are right on target.
I don't care if i have a team and a half of Gay-Rods who get pedicures before games and have bedazzled cell phones. If they put up a line like this .314/.422/.645 (with 54 HR 156RBI 95Runs) I would get Cover Girl to be a stadium sponsor just so they could get free blush. (Note: while some of those are Career stats for out friend Mrs. Rodriguez, most of them are around his career average)

While Eckstein may be (i can't believe i'm saying this) somewhat of an improvement over John McDonald at SS, he is hardly the Savior of Teams, and definitely not someone I would like to model my franchise after. And Rolen is an obvious downgrade at 3rd from Troy Glaus.

"Just the style of these two guys is something we needed," manager John Gibbons says. "It's not like either of them are such great players that everything comes so easy to them; they're cruisers. They both get down and dirty. And teams that win always have their share of those guys. I think we needed more of that."

Apparently my previously stated logic has been debunked. I cannot have a team of over achievers who put up ridiculous numbers and play fantastic defense and win a championship. I have to throw in a few guys who aren't that good at baseball to even the playing field.

WAIT, I've got it! In order to win you have to be gritty, and in order to be gritty you have to be...white! I see it all so clearly now. It can all be explained by this simple formula:

x + x = championship where x = white/ gritty/ or not nearly as talented so they have to make up for it with dirtbaggieness (TM)

Apparently everyone else in the league who doesn't fall into this category doesn't actually value winning. They get paid absurd amounts of money to play stick ball with their buddies, and go home thinking "¿Por qué hacen éstos a tipos blancos tratan tan duramente? "

P.S. Gordo was just his nickname. His real name was obviously David.