At what point should we give up hope? Is there a point of diminishing returns for what’s possible? Is quitting before “the end” acceptable? Let’s talk about it…
This has been a topic on my mind a lot, but not for very philosophical reasons. It’s usually because my friends are so willing, and eager it seems, to say a team sucks or that a player is a failure. I have to wonder, to myself mostly, why they seem to want to do this. I’m usually of the mind to root for a team or a player when they are down or in a slump.
The “team to berate” at this time is the Texas Rangers. At the time I am writing this, the team is in first place in the AL West, playing .578 baseball, 16 games above .500 at 59-43. But they have not done well over the last 5 games, losing 2 of 3 to the Dodgers, and the first 2 games of a 3 game series to the “Asterisks”. In that time they have gone from leading the division by 3 games to leading by only 1 game. The team is on pace to win 94 games, which may not win the division for them but almost certainly would put them in the playoffs. And this is what the comments are:
July 26th is a LOT longer than I thought. Still a great run.
Arthur Hamilton
Big three-game series coming up with Asstros. Sweep would be amazing. 2 off 3 would be a success, 1 of 3 would not. Swept would be a disaster.
Jeff Pappas
They might say that there are being facetious and just trying to get a rise out of me…but they do and say things like this too often for it to be just that…I feel it reflects their true feeling on the matter. I guess I also don’t like just putting out negative vibes into the world. As I have said, and my buddy Art disagrees with, “I’d rather be positive and wrong, than negative and right.”
I also think, for me, that it is more accurate to judge the team on the whole (.578) rather than a handful of games (.143). Do the handful of games say something about the team? For sure! They are playing two very good teams (the last two champions) and perhaps they aren’t over the hump of getting to that level. But it should also help the team to “learn from their mistakes” and hopefully be able to use that in the future when and if they play these teams again.
It’s a long season…60 games left…I’m in it for the long haul and to the end. I’m telling you…there’s a chance!
Peace!
