Rage That Destroys Love?
The sad thing, to me, about this "Jim Edmonds is a Cub" situation is these Cardinals' fans I see online proclaiming Edmonds is dead to them now. Really? Why, because he still wants to play and the Cubs were willing to give him a shot? I can't see it being about money, since he's getting more from the Padres and the Cardinals not to play for them than he will be from Chicago. And it's not as if he left St. Louis on bad terms with the fans, like say, Clemens leaving Boston and deciding that the time to actually train during the off-season. These fans liked Jim two weeks ago, they were talking about how they would have cheered for him when the Padres came to town. Now, he's persona non grata.
So is this common? I meant to call up my dad and ask him if he had this reaction when Keith Hernandez went to the Mets back in the '80s, because my dad loathed the Mets back in the '80s, which is where I get it from (It was part of why the '06 postseason was so sweet. You gotta swing the bat to win the game, Beltran!), but I didn't get around to it. The thing is, Hernandez was traded, so it isn't really the same situation, as it would be more akin to when Edmonds got traded to the Pads, than his choosing to sign with the Cubs.
I've been trying to think of a similar situation in my experience, and I haven't so far. There have been players who joined a team I rooted for who I wish had stayed away (Emmitt Smith joining the Arizona Cardinals, John Mabry rejoining St. Louis in 2004, Gregg Jefferies being traded to the Cards in '93), and there are players I've been glad to see gone (Jeff Brantley, Ron Gant, Craig Paquette, well, it's a long list, and a post for another time), but I can't think of a player I liked when he left the team I rooted for, who I decided I disliked once he signed with a particular team. Maybe Stephon Marbury, but I think that was more the way he seemed to force his way out of Minnesota (because he hated playing 2nd fiddle to KG), than it was because he signed with the Nets. I didn't give a crap about the Nets one way or the other. I guess I've been lucky.
Has it happened for any of you (he said, as though more than one person is reading)?
posted by CalvinPitt @ 7:22 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Really, the only player that I've considered "dead to me" was Mark Prior. That was mostly because he was such a dick (at least in public) during his last year in Chicago. He got all pissy last year because he was left off the opening day roster, despite the fact he knew his shoulder was messed up. And then, he refused to resign with the Cubs (for more money than the Padres ultimately gave him) because they wanted to have a second year option for him, since he would spend most of this year re-habbing. Well, actually, looks like he's going to spend this year getting another surgery and begging yet another club to take a chance on him.
As for the Edmonds situation, I just don't get it. But, then again, I don't get the Cubs fans didn't want him on the team because he once, once, admired his homerun flying out of the park.
jason: I had forgotten Prior signed with the Padres. He's never going to be a healthy starter again, is he?
Now that I think about it, I was kind of peeved at Edgar Renteria when he left St. Louis after '04. They offered something like 4 years, $32 million (or maybe $36), and the Red Sox offered 4/$40 mill, and Edgar took it and said some crap about not being respected by the Cards organization. I didn't mind him taking the bigger contract, gotta get paid and all that, but I didn't think the contract difference merited a claim of disrespect.
I don't think he's dead to me, as I don't think I liked him enough for it to bother me that much, but I really enjoyed his 40-error season in Beantown. Of course, that was as much for the pain and suffering it inflicted on the Sawx and their fans as his struggles.
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