Diary of a Diehard

It’s funny how the human mind works. We seem to be wired by association. If a new thought or concept is brought up we immediately attempt to associate this new piece of data with something we are already familiar with. This is probably our brain trying to put context around the unknown. Psychologists use association in their treatment programs to help patients deal with their thoughts and underlying issues by associating them with something that is known. A few years back I had an opportunity to visit with a psychologist during one of my college classes. Everyone had always said I needed my head examined so I figured this would be a great way to have the doc check under the hood and maybe have my cerebral oil changed. The psychologist used word association to attempt to better understand what thoughts or words I would connect. He would give me a word and I was to respond with the first thing that came into my head. For example, he would say “happy” and I would respond “baseball”. He would say “home” and I would say “baseball”. He would say “heaven” and I would say “baseball”. After several minutes of this exercise all with the same result the psychologist suggested perhaps I should schedule some appointments with him. As much as I liked talking about baseball, I didn’t think I had the time to devote several hours each week to go to his office so we could talk about it. I appreciate that he might be a fan but he seemed to be obsessed to me since all he ever talked about were baseball related terms.

Continue reading ‘Back to the House that Ruth Built’ »

Another home stand is in the books and the Diamondbacks have packed up for an east coast Interleague road trip through New York and Baltimore. With today being an off-day with no Diamondbacks game whatsoever; I am somewhat at a loss of what to do with all of my “spare time”. Trina of course has a lot of solutions for my time management dilemma but I am trying hard to ignore her promptings. I just finished dealing with 3 days of Boston Red Sox fans; the last thing I want to deal with is a crack-carrying plumber under my bathroom sink. A guy can deal with just so much ugliness before he has to draw the line. If I have to see that hanging out I’ll be spending next year’s season ticket money on mental therapy. I think today is best reserved for reflecting upon what was the most recent home stand which included 3 games against the San Francisco Giants and the first 3 Interleague games of the 2007 season with the Boston Red Sox. So without further adieu I give you my State of the Home Stand address for June 5 through June 10.

Continue reading ‘State of the Home Stand – June 5 – June 10’ »

After the record crowds from last night I was slightly worried about what to expect at today’s game. There was again a “perfect storm” of events that made me expect a near capacity crowd. First the Boston Red Sox were in town meaning there were be rabid Red Sox Nation fans in attendance equally chanting “Let’s Go Red Sox” and “Yankees Suck”. With the Red Sox winning the first two games setting up a potential sweep; this would be an exciting game. There was of course the pitching match-up of Daisuke Matsuzaka versus Randy Johnson which was a dream come true. The only thing that may have been better would have been Curt Schilling versus Randy Johnson but the Big Unit versus Dice-K is a pretty compelling reason to go to the ballpark. Finally there is the giveaway. From a kid’s perspective today’s stadium giveaway ranks right up there with bobble heads. The Diamondbacks would be giving out 10,000 Todd McFarlane figurines featuring Brandon Webb in action on the mound to children 12 years and younger. Not only would the figurines be available but the Diamondbacks had also scheduled McFarlane himself to attend the game to allow fans to have their figurines autographed. Yeah this had all the makings of another busy day at the ballpark.

Continue reading ‘Figurine Frenzy’ »

As if dealing with an invasion was not enough; the Arizona Diamondbacks decided to through a little gasoline on the fire. Today was the second game of a three game interleague series with the Boston Red Sox. After being humiliated by Josh Beckett and the Red Sox last night the Diamondbacks were hoping to extract some revenge on Willie Taverez and his Boston teammates. That in itself would probably have been enough to see near record crowds arrive at Chase Field. But to sound like a really bad infomercial we have to add, “But wait, that’s not all!” If you are one of the first 35,000 fans arriving at Chase Field you will receive a Randy Johnson bobble head doll which is the third of a six game promotional series that has already produced a Brandon Webb Cy Young Award bobble head and an Orlando Hudson Gold Glove Award bobble head. I can already hear the oh’s and ah’s from the studio audience. So come on down to the stadium as supplies are limited. Operators are standing by to assist you with your order. This could very well be a repeat of the dreaded 1998 Beanie Baby fiasco which saw grown women attacking small children to get their hands on a stuffed snake complete with the all important hang tag and stadium giveaway certificate. Yeah this was definitely going to be bad.

Continue reading ‘Bobble Heads-Up’ »

When the Major League Baseball schedule was released I quickly looked for where and when the Arizona Diamondbacks would be playing. This would give me and more importantly my family an understanding of when they could expect me to be home and when I would be away. As I scanned the proposed schedule I looked at the series at Chase Field from June 8 through June 10 with equal amounts of anticipation and fear. This series had the Boston Red Sox visiting Chase Field for the first time during the regular season. The schedule was released well before the media frenzy surrounding Dice-K and before the Boston Red Sox would go on to post the best record in Major League Baseball over the first 2 months of the season; so why the feelings of fear?

Continue reading ‘Invasion of the Red Sox Nation’ »

Well it is that time of year again when the scouting departments for all 30 franchises meet and hold the annual first-year player draft. This year is slightly different as the rules have changed as a result of the collective bargaining agreement. This also marked the first time that the draft would be televised on ESPN2 and also on MLB.TV via the Internet. I have said for a long time that baseball was missing a golden opportunity to market the game. The NFL has made their annual draft almost as large a media event as the Super Bowl yet baseball insisted on keeping their draft behind closed doors and out of the public spotlight. It always takes nearly an act of Congress to get a listing of the draft choices and information about the players. But today we had baseball commissioner Bud Selig welcoming fans and viewers to the draft then acting as master of ceremonies for each and every pitch. It was sometimes hard to get caught up in the drama that the announcers were attempting to build with each pitch. Still, it was kind of exciting to watch the draft unfold. I was slightly disappointed, each team sent representatives to the draft to man the phones or act in some sort of official capacity. I waited by the phone all week and diligently checked my email but the Diamondbacks never called. I was really disappointed as I thought I would be perfect sitting there at the table looking important while doodling on a notepad.

Continue reading ‘Reinstating the Draft’ »

There are days when I just have to shake my head and wonder what in the world is going on. We are in the midst of a home stand meaning that the Arizona Diamondbacks are at Chase Field playing a three-game series against their divisional rival the San Francisco Giants and then will host an interleague series against the Boston Red Sox. Fresh from a road trip where the Diamondbacks went 5-1 against the National League East and a win in last night’s first game against the Giants; I was in great spirits and didn’t think anything could disrupt that. Boy was I wrong.

Continue reading ‘Un-BEE-lievable’ »

As I have written on numerous occasions, Barry Bonds is the most celebrated and most hated player in the game today. It is interesting to see the reaction of fans when Bonds arrives on the field. Part of those in attendance will stand and cheer and celebrate the fact that they may be seeing one of the greatest players to play in this era. Others in attendance will sand and venomously boo and malign the fact that they may be seeing one of the greatest cheaters to ever play the game. There does not seem to be any middle ground when it comes to Mr. Bonds. His personality seems to alienate all but his strongest supporters and he doesn’t seem to care. You have to give him credit for the apathy that he displays. People screaming at him, booing incessantly and questioning both him and his family heritage and he never even acknowledges the sounds. Now with the San Francisco Giants in town for three games I wondered whether Barry’s presence would result in a larger than normal attendance figure and if so were people interested in the possibility of Barry breaking the record or was this like when motorists have to stop and see the results of a horrible automobile accident.

Continue reading ‘Shin Splints in Flaxseed Oil’ »

In one of those rare times when the planets all align and the stars change their orbits; the Arizona Diamondbacks are not playing. It is not just that they are not playing at Chase Field. No, they are not playing period. It is during these types of days that I usually will get someone stop me and ask how I can possibly cope with the fact that my team is not playing. I am not exactly sure what they are expecting to hear. I half wonder whether they think I am some sort of addict who goes through withdrawals and begin violently shaking uncontrollably when my team is not on the field. No, that doesn’t happen. They have medications for that now so I don’t have to worry about those side effects any longer. So I try to cope the best I can with the notion of no baseball with a few activities I have accumulated through the years.

Continue reading ‘T-Minus 24 Hours’ »