BETTER DECISIONS: As I said back when LeBron James left Cleveland, every person should have the right to make decisions in his or her own best interest, but no person needs to be a dick about it. LeBron James was so astoundingly dickish in the way that he left Cleveland that he actually made people say things like "how dare he leave Cleveland?", which is kind of like saying "how dare he stop poking himself in the eye with scissors?"
Bad 2011 aside, Albert Pujols is the closest thing to LeBron that baseball has (except that his teams actually won some championships). Yet when he left St. Louis for the browner pastures and greener wallets of Anaheim, there was nothing like the outrage directed at LeBron. Why? Because Pujols didn't go out of his way to be a dick to St. Louis. And while some people questioned his sincerity in thanking his St. Louis fans, today Pujols provided some evidence that he meant it. Out of deference to St. Louis legend Stan "The Man" Musial, Pujols is criticizing his new employers' "El Hombre" marketing campaign. Just more evidence that if one is a baseball fan, it's hard not to be a Pujols fan.
Alas, as a Cubs fan, it is easy not to be a Pujols fan.
ReplyDeleteOne of the other reasons Cardinals fans don't excrete the kind of bile for Pujols that Cleveland fans do for LeBron is that Cleveland offered the best deal (economically) and James turned that down. The St. Louis front office, however, played games with Prince Albert in the pre-season and never really made an offer befitting the best baseball player on the planet. They tried for a hometown discount, offended one of the (seemingly) nicest men alive, then never really made a good faith offer that accurately reflected his value until it was too late.
ReplyDeleteWell said, Isaac. And Dan. Alex - see ya on April 13th at Busch Stadium!
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