professional sports players need your hugs: ARod especially

Sorry for the break in posting, I've been busy. And unfortunately, not with sports. Baseball in particular has been frustrating me: the Mariners opened the season with a couple wins, a loss, and then days and days of nothing due to snow in Cleveland. I was so desperate for baseball I was forced to watch the Braves on TBS. Hopefully the Matsusaka/Hernandez match up on Wednesday will make up for drought.

But today I have thoughts on another matter: Alex Rodriguez. In case you haven't been paying attention, A-Rod hit a bottom of the ninth game winning grand slam this weekend. Pretty cool. And as a local sports talk fellow on the radio noted this afternoon, he followed up that performance with another home run on the very first pitch he saw in the next game. This after receiving standing ovation from the Yankees crowd. But this fellow also noted that at his next at bat, Rodriguez popped up with men on base. And the crowd promptly booed him. They booed him! ARod has to do SOMETHING at EVERY SINGLE AT BAT or else he will be booed. Consider how crazy this is in a game where getting a hit one third of the time that you come to the plate is considered very good hitting. It's nuts! It's impossible! It's no wonder that ARod is a borderline nut case who needs a ton of therapy to remain semifunctional, and it's not surprising that he is my first official Sports Guy that Needs a Hug.

Look at him. All pouty and upset with himself after striking out and no doubt being booed strongly by the fans who oughta support him through a tough at bat. But look what happens when you give him a little emotional support!

He hits you home runs and scampers around the basepath like a happy puppy! Isn't that much better? Come on guys, you have one of the premier offensive players in the game today. Is it that hard to get behind one of your players? I know you want him to succeed in the playoffs, but he can't make October come any faster, so why not give him a little support now?

Think of it this way: ARod is like Tinkerbell in the stage version of Peter Pan. In the show, we learn that every time a person says "I don't believe in fairies" a fairy drops down dead. But we also discover that people's belief in fairies can bring them back to life. At one point, Tinkerbell is poisoned and dying, and Peter Pan urges the crowd to clap and say "I DO believe in fairies" and once they do that with enough enthusiasm, Tinkerbell is restored.

So treat ARod like Tinkerbell. Especially if you're a Yankee fan. Because wouldn't you rather he do great things than drop dead?

My girlfriend Jaci happens to be a Yankee fan. I don't like it but part of liking someone is accepting their flaws. We'll be going to the Seattle/Yankees games this May. And while we'll be cheering for separate teams, we've decided that we'll both cheer for Alex Rodriguez. And I urge you, if you should ever find yourself at a Yankee game--no matter what team you're cheering for, give ARod a little love. The man needs all the hugs he can get, stat.