Knocked out Cold

It was a hot spring day and it was tournament time for high school baseball. I was a sophmore, playing in my first varsity baseball tournament game. I can remember the night before, I couldn’t sleep, all I could think about was the big game. When game time had come, we were all pumped and ready to go. The game started out slow until we broke it open in the 5th inning. In the 6th inning we were tied and I was up with two runners on base. It was a curveball that I some how turned on and it hit out of the park, it was the greatest feeling ever. It looked like because of my homerun we were going to win the game for sure. The 7th inning had come and something happened that was tragic. We were up one run when the hit a ball to left field, our left fielder didn’t know where the fence was and ran strait into it. He couldn’t move and had to be wheeled off the field. We were all devastated not only because our teammate was hurt but also because we had lost the game. It was a play in baseball I had never wanted to see ever again.

The play I never wanted to see again struck my eyes once again. The other day I was watching the Reds play against the pirates. I was already kind of frustrated watching them because of how bad they had been doing. When a ball was hit to right center field. Ryan Freel and Norris Hopper both ran after the ball and collided on the warning track. Ryan Freel ended up smacking his head into the wall and was knocked out conscious. He laid there for a good 20 minutes until the ambulance came on the field and took him to the hospital. It was a horrible sight to see and a sight that I had never wanted to see again from high school, but was unfortunate enough to witness another.

Love Hate

In the article “I’m a Cincinnati Reds Fan, the author, who goes by the alias of ‘Passion of the Weiss,’ does an honorable job displaying not only his love, but his hate, for his favorite pro baseball team, The Cincinnati Reds.
This article criticizes the Cincinnati Reds, a major league baseball team that has a long history of mediocrity. Weiss displays his passion for the team and explains how he and other Reds’ fans like him are pained year in and year out by the team’s lack of success. Weiss has loved the team for a great part of his life and will continue to do so no matter how bad they perform on the field. He has a real love-hate relationship with his favorite team and he “lives and dies” with every play of every season. Fortunately, some seventeen years ago, he was completely satisfied with his favorite team when they won the baseball championship, but other than that one year, he has suffered as a sports fan.
The essay is very sarcastic and written, as the title suggests, in request of pity from the reader. Weiss, on more than a few occasions, makes sarcastic jokes about the Reds, including when he says the Reds will be mathematically eliminated from making the playoffs in April, which is impossible. He calls his favorite team losers and states that he would have been better off being run over by a bus than be a Reds fan all his life.
Weiss is very effective is relaying his feelings for the Reds. It is very obvious that he cares very much for the team. He knows the team’s history thoroughly and has obviously been a fan for a long period of time, which according to him is a bad thing. Weiss tells how he first became a fan as a young kid growing up in LA, hundreds of miles from Cincinnati, because his T-ball team was called the Reds. This is very interesting and helps the reader relate to Weiss. It is also unique because most young boys just root for the team their father roots for.
Weiss calls the time the Reds won the World Series the greatest time of his life, but then immediately goes back to talking about negatives of the team including bad coaches like the famous Pete Rose, crazy owners such as Marge Schott, and injury prone players like the heralded Ken Griffey Jr . Weiss writes that when the Reds got Griffey, he produce on the field Examples such as these especially relate to other Reds fans, such as me , because I can attest that when Griffey came to Cincinnati, I was as happy as one can get, but the happiness didn’t last long.
Weiss is very clear in his essay. He simply describes how and why he became such a huge Reds’ fan, and then shows why the team he loves is also the team he hates. He provides an adequate amount of examples to show why he is not crazy for being so frustrated with the Reds. Weiss starts the essay with a very lonely tone and then changes to negative and sarcastic and yet ends the essay being positive and hopeful for the future of his favorite team. This shows what a true fan he is. The Reds have been a below average team for years, and still Weiss is in hope that this year they will turn things around. This brings almost a funny reaction to the essay because it makes the reader wonder how this man can talk so badly about this team, yet remain in high hopes for the upcoming season. If you are a Reds’ fan like me, you completely realize how he can be this way because it is so easy to love a pro sports team and then hate them the next minute.
Weiss isn’t positive for long though, as even in the closing lines of his essay, he pokes fun at the current team because one of their best pitchers is a want-to-be musician who records cover albums. The sarcasm is very heavy in this article and gives the article a very light and pleasant read to all people, whether they like the Reds or not. One bad thing about Weiss’ constant use of “inside jokes” is people who don’t know the Reds very well will be confused when reading this article and may not continue to read because they don’t see the humor in his stories. This article really is written for Reds fans and informed sports fans only.
Passion of the Weiss has written a very funny sarcastic article about the Reds. I completely agree with everything he says in the essay and I share in his pain. He is even luckier than me because I was too young to remember the 1990 World Series. The overall point of the article is to let Reds fans out there know they are not alone in their anger for the constant failure of the Reds and to make sure all Reds fans keep a positive mind no matter how long it has been since a winning season. Weiss has done a great job writing this article.

Why to write about a Major League Baseball team?

I chose my blog subject to be the Cincinnati Reds because it really brought me close to a lot of things and people. Some would probably wonder how would a major league baseball team bring someone close to people. It really did though, I can remember going to my first game with my grandfather and dad. We had a lot of experiences on the way good and bad. It was an incredible bonding experience for us. To this day every time we get together, the first subject we talk about is the Reds. We talk about everything about them, there record, trade talks, and hopefully making the playoffs.

Why to reed my blogs?

I really hope people really get a chance to sit down and read over some of my blogs. I have some life changing experiences listed under some of my blogs. My cousin is a huge baseball fan and is having a baby in the next couple weeks. I sent him my link to my blogs and he said the first thing he wants to do when his kid gets old enough if its a boy is to take him and his dad to a baseball game. He said he really wants to get a good connection like that with his son. But overall I hope people read this and do the same. Theres nothing like taking a kid to a ball game for a day and having a life changing experience after that.

BATTLE OF OHIO

Its that time of the year, the big show down between the Cleveland Indians and the Cincinnati Reds. Every Indians and Reds fans cant wait for this day through out the year, each team has ran their mouth about how the other team sucks and that they're the only real team in the buckeye state. If you ask me im sick of hearing ignorant Indians fans there mouths, especially Jeff Butcher. The Indians are 26-19 all time against the Red Legs, but, I personally dont care about the past. All I care about is getting the sweep this weekend. Anything can happen at anytime during interleague play. Yes, the Reds are'nt having a good season at all and the Indians have the best home record in baseball. I still have faith in my team though, Travis Hafner and the Indians will choke. Im sure we'll see stupid Indians fans giving Ken Griffey Jr. crap and saying he's all washed up and he gets hurt to often. My prediction is Griffey Jr. hiting a game winning homerun in the opening game tonite to put the Indians in their place.

SECOND CHANCE

In 1999 the Tampa Bay Devil Rays drafted the best player in the Major League Baseball Draft, Josh Hamilton. Josh was an amazing outfielder and hitter that had no problems in the past. Josh was living a new life that he had only dreamed before. After being the 1st pick in the draft Josh got a monster-signing bonus and Josh had no idea what to do with all his money. Unfortunately Josh decided to spend his money on the WRONG things. Josh was dropped from the ball club for drug abuse. He was separated from his wife and kid for a short amount of time because all josh cared about is getting into the hardcore drugs. He wouldn't sleep for days; he would keep his high going for as long as possible. Josh was one the verge of killing himself, until one night when he was all cracked out went to his grandmother’s house to be saved. Josh's grandmother set him strait and Josh has been sober since. Now if you were a Major League Ball Club would you invest in a player like Josh Hamilton for your team?

Top Reasons To want Josh Hamilton On Your Team:

1.Before Josh got into serious drugs and tattooing every day he was a HELL of a ball player. Josh had one of the smoothest swings that scouts had seen in years. Not only could he hit but also could steal bases. Josh would also be an outstanding leader after all he’s been through.

2.When Josh straitened his life up, he spent many of days and even a few years at rehab centers. He was willing to do what ever it takes to get his life back and to be back with his wife and kid.

3.If you think about it why not take a risk on a kid that had problems, I mean he’s them all corrected and has gotten help. It would look good for your ball club to have a story like that. Think about it headline news DRUG STORY WITH JOSH HAMILTON NOW MVP OF MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL AFTER REHAB. It would be a big publicity stunt for the team even.

Now I myself would pick Josh up in a second. I know whats it like to want a second chance. When I was a sophomore in high school I was at a party with drinking and got introuble. I had to sit out five games of the season but, my coaches gave me another shot after that and I didn’t let them down. Which is exactly what Josh is doing now and fortunately enough the right team decided to pick him up, THE CINCINNATI REDS!

The Big Trade

Everyone has a player when growing up that they idolize. Most of the time that player comes from they’re favorite team and then one players that’s just a national favorite. My favorite player that I idolized was Barry Larkin, I loved watching him play day in and day out at shortstop for the Reds. Now my player that I also idolized from another team was Ken Griffey Jr., when he was in his prime he was a player that everyone loved to watch.

I enjoyed watching Barry and Ken but, it was hard watching them both when they played at the same time. I remember sitting in class and looking at ESPN when I saw that there were trade rumors about Griffey Jr. coming to Cincinnati. When I first saw this I didn’t this it was possible that I could get this lucky, having my two favorite players on the same team. A few weeks had passed by and nothing was said about it anymore. I was starting to get bummed out about it all, until I got a call from my dad saying did you hear the big news. The Reds had just traded Brett Tomko and Mike Cameron for Ken Griffey Jr. to come to the Reds. I was in shock and was the happiest man alive. Since Griffey has came to the Reds he’s had some injuries ;but, I can feel this year will be his break out year.

THE DROUGHT

To most sports fans theirs nothing better than your favorite team winning the championship. The worst part about loving a team is when you haven’t won the championship or even been to the championship game in 17 years. It’s getting harder to think about as every season goes by and we still have nothing to show for it. The Reds haven’t been to the World Series since 1990, when they beat the Oakland A’s. In 1990 the Reds had a team that went down in baseball history, they were nicknamed the Big Red Machine. The team was filled with many hall of famers and greats of the game.

Since then the Reds haven’t even came close to getting back to the big game. At the beginning of each year I just sit and hope that this is the year we’ll make it back to the ”ship”, but at the end of each season I end in disappointment. Seeing franchises that have only been in the league, like the diamondbacks win the World Series right away is just miserable to think about. We try and build our team for years making trades and getting free agents to get back to the World Series. We make deals that are long term and take risks on players to perform at their best and none of that have done any good since 1990. When you have nothing to show for all the money your paying your players, what’s the point? You would think you might as well get some no namer's that are just as good and pay them less money. I pray every night that this will be the year for the Red’s, lets just hope it finally is and we end the DROUGHT.