baseball

Do You Think Like A Loser?

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

BostonRedSox_B2The Boston Red Sox used to be a bunch of losers.

Look – I know my team The Braves aren’t lighting up the world right now. And this year’s Boston team is stinking up the joint. But nothing compares to The Red Sox epic streak of futility.

For 86 years losing was their identity. The Curse Of The Bambino kept them out of the World Series year after year after year.

Yet, despite their pitiful postseason record, the Red Sox developed a legendary fanbase, possibly the best in all of baseball. In fact, the Boston fan culture was so legendary Hollywood made a movie about it.
Continue reading →

Advertisements

How To Change Someone’s Life 35 Years From Now

/ Alex Doriot / 2 Comments

Here’s the weirdest headline you’ll see today:

photo-2

Yep. That’s international recording star Lorde and baseball Hall of Famer George Brett. Of all the people in the world to meet yesterday, they did too.

Here’s where it gets really weird. Apparently Lorde was inspired to write her smash hit song “Royals” because she saw a picture of George Brett in his Kansas City Royals uniform signing autographs to kids. So she wrote her song about fame and success and culled the idea of Royals from Brett’s jersey.

I’m not kidding. Apparently this is all true. 

There is no possible way George Brett could have known back in 1979 the just by doing his day job of playing baseball that he would one day inspire a 17-year-old from New Zealand to write the hit song that would make her famous. But it happened.

Here’s the lesson: Continue reading →

The Braves and The (Almost) Certain Victory

/ Alex Doriot / 1 Comment

photo-1The Braves are going to win.

Every game it’s just understood – The Braves got this.

I don’t even have to check the score anymore.

Did the Braves play a game last night? Then they won. It doesn’t matter if it was 10-0 in the bottom of the ninth. This year’s Braves team are the comeback kings.

Maybe it’s the magic of the new Waffle House inside Turner Field. Maybe it’s folk hero Evan Gattis, a.k.a. El Oso Blanco. Who knows?

It’s August 22 and they’ve already claimed the division. Not technically, but still, stats trackers give the Braves 100% chance of winning their division. They are saying there is absolutely no chance in the next 6 weeks another team will usurp their lead.

The Braves will win the division. They will win the league series and then the World Series. I just know it.

Or maybe not. I don’t know. Continue reading →

Fire The Coach

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

** FILE ** This is an Oct. 11, 2008 file photo showing Georgia head coach Mark Richt gesturing on the the sidelines during an NCAA college football game against Tennessee in Athens, Ga. Judging from the chatter on Internet message boards, Georgia fans are fretting a little more than usual, clearly bothered by the perception that their program is starting to lag ever so slightly behind the other elite schools in the powerful Southeastern Conference. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

Last year saw marks the launch of the SEC Network, the latest in a line of 24 hour sports networks. It joined the relatively new Fox Sports 1 and NBC Sports Network as well as the already established ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews, and about 100 other “all sports, all the time” channels.

Sports dominate the American culture like nothing else. You could say sports rule the day because of fantasy teams, or because of geographical rivalries, or because live sports are “DVR-proof”.

You might even say sports rule the day simply because of the thrill of victory. But I think it’s the opposite. Continue reading →