In 99.9% of things, I'm anti macho. Don't like bullies, I'm not into arrogant and I find posturing to be a bore.
But when it comes to sports heroes, I kinda think you can't be too tough. And this weekend two moments really reinforced that opinion.
The first was in Saturday night's game. Now, I'll admit it was cold. I was actually shivering and drinking hot chocolate. But when the Marlins pitcher had someone run his sweater out to where he was standing on base, I thought: Wimp!
I know pitchers need to keep the arm warm and all. But isn't looking tough part of the job too? How can you psych out the batters in the next inning if they think you can't hack five minutes on base in 50 degree weather? WIMP!
When he put on the sweater, I knew we'd win. And we did.
Then there's Turnbow, today. I thought Bob Uecker summed it up perfectly when Turnbow started falling apart. He said: "The crowd's giving a lot of feedback, and that's not good for the sensitive Turnbow."
The sensitive Turnbow. Call me old fashioned, but I think ball players ought to act infallible and unrufflable, even when they are failing and ruffled. Turnbow can't do that...which is partly why he can't deliver a win.
And all this leads to Prince, who was featured in today's New York Times:
“Fans last year were yelling at me, ‘Hey Prince, eat a salad!’ ” Fielder said during dinner at a Milwaukee restaurant last Tuesday. “This year they’re saying, ‘Eat a steak!’ I feel like going: ‘Keep yelling, buddy. You’re still in the stands.’”
See? Confident, yet clever. Now THAT'S a sports hero.
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