killing of a legend
i remember when baseball was considered part of our heritage and a past time that was full of shameless men who fought on the diamond till they could no longer battle with the same intensity as they did once before. i've seen many shy away from the game because they saw themselves as not contributing anymore to their prospective teams. but baseball has changed much since i was an innocent child, where my biggest care in the world revolved around if i could play outside with my next door neighbors or not... of course i admit i've changed drastically since then, but that doesn't mean that baseball's heroes have to change, but they do. they will live forever but in another shadow. i remember cal ripken playing in the baltimore orioles and i thought he would live as one of the true great ones until a few seasons ago everything was brought into another light. see mr. ripken decided to stay playing even though if he would of been on another team he would of been released faster than randy johnson's fastball upon an unsuspecting hitter. i saw cal ripken deteriorating right before my eyes and he didn't care what it was doing to his team or his teammates. ripken which by me was thought of as one of the greatest had slowly but surely become an old has been that frankly maybe should of never been. what integrity does this man possess? none i'm guessing... funny thing is it got worse this year. see ripken was told that he would be in the all star game even if he wasn't voted in by the fans. he was voted in by the fans though even though he was batting a mere .230-.240 and had about 5 homers, i think.. now since when is that a stat of an all-star? i call that even worse than a bench warmer. yet ripken started the game, he had a homer but i'm sure the pitcher was ordered to pitch in the middle of the plate and that cal ripken was told to swing at the pitch when it came so he can connect for a homer and not look like the has been he was and more like the star he was. but see that didn't fool me or others in the least bit. my vision of cal ripken won't be of him being great, but rather of him being a washed up player that obviously doesn't know when to finally let go...