Now, I'm not really a sports fan. I've got enough going on that sports are just something I can't devote enough time or energy to following. I'll watch ten or fifteen minutes of a baseball game, maybe thirty of a good hockey matchup, but I get bored easily. There's no gunplay, no guys in capes, or something else that I'm looking for in my physical contests.
But I am a fan of Pedro Martinez. He's an affable guy who always seems to give the best press and my favorite recent event is his having recently decided to cart around a 28-inch-tall Dominican midget named Nelson de la Rosa around as a good luck charm while wearing swimming goggles. He did made what I'd call a dreadful mistake in the last month or so, causing a stir after telling reporters after a loss to New York that "I just tip my hat and call the Yankees my daddy." This may not have been the best idea. You know people from New York. They love to pick on someone, especially if it's a baseball related thing since they've won, I dunno, every World Series ever since 1916.
Immediately, Yankees fans seized upon this like a bully who found out you wet your pants in the fourth grade because Tommy Doyle scared you when he jumped out of the closet. (Shudup. He was wearing a Yoda mask.) "Who's your daddy?" found itself slathered on t-shirts that were sold, for a very brief time, on the Major League Baseball site, quoted by hundreds and then thousands of sports wags, and finally last night during the American League Championship Series, it reached its apotheosis. 60,000 plus people chanting "Whooooo's your daaaaaddy?" at a lone pitcher from a small island nation must be daunting, but Pedro took it in stride, telling reporters after the game (which the Sox lost, I might add):
"You know what? After all this, they're going to say Pedro lost. Pedro won, actually. I got to show everyone I believe in God. They were chanting, 'Who's my daddy?' My biggest daddy is the one that brought me over from the mango tree to the biggest stage in world."
You heard it here first - Pedro Martinez is Christ reborn. I will say that he did show a good deal of grace with this second quote, which is slightly less out-there, talking about the chanting:
"It actually made me feel really, really good. I actually realized I was somebody important because I caught the attention of 60,000, plus you guys, plus the whole world watching.
"If you could reverse my world, go back 15 years ago, I was sitting under a mango tree without 50 cents to pay for a bus. Now I was the center of attention in the whole city of New York. I don't like to brag about myself, but they did make me feel important.
"Maybe because I'm with the Red Sox, I feel so thankful they got my attention, and I got their attention."
While it's obvious that English is his second language, there's a lot of heart being shown there. I just wish Curt Schilling hadn't gotten his ankle wrecked - I loved the idea of an insane Dominican and a slightly-pudgy 39-year-old leading the Sox postseason.
But I am a fan of Pedro Martinez. He's an affable guy who always seems to give the best press and my favorite recent event is his having recently decided to cart around a 28-inch-tall Dominican midget named Nelson de la Rosa around as a good luck charm while wearing swimming goggles. He did made what I'd call a dreadful mistake in the last month or so, causing a stir after telling reporters after a loss to New York that "I just tip my hat and call the Yankees my daddy." This may not have been the best idea. You know people from New York. They love to pick on someone, especially if it's a baseball related thing since they've won, I dunno, every World Series ever since 1916.
Immediately, Yankees fans seized upon this like a bully who found out you wet your pants in the fourth grade because Tommy Doyle scared you when he jumped out of the closet. (Shudup. He was wearing a Yoda mask.) "Who's your daddy?" found itself slathered on t-shirts that were sold, for a very brief time, on the Major League Baseball site, quoted by hundreds and then thousands of sports wags, and finally last night during the American League Championship Series, it reached its apotheosis. 60,000 plus people chanting "Whooooo's your daaaaaddy?" at a lone pitcher from a small island nation must be daunting, but Pedro took it in stride, telling reporters after the game (which the Sox lost, I might add):
"You know what? After all this, they're going to say Pedro lost. Pedro won, actually. I got to show everyone I believe in God. They were chanting, 'Who's my daddy?' My biggest daddy is the one that brought me over from the mango tree to the biggest stage in world."
You heard it here first - Pedro Martinez is Christ reborn. I will say that he did show a good deal of grace with this second quote, which is slightly less out-there, talking about the chanting:
"It actually made me feel really, really good. I actually realized I was somebody important because I caught the attention of 60,000, plus you guys, plus the whole world watching.
"If you could reverse my world, go back 15 years ago, I was sitting under a mango tree without 50 cents to pay for a bus. Now I was the center of attention in the whole city of New York. I don't like to brag about myself, but they did make me feel important.
"Maybe because I'm with the Red Sox, I feel so thankful they got my attention, and I got their attention."
While it's obvious that English is his second language, there's a lot of heart being shown there. I just wish Curt Schilling hadn't gotten his ankle wrecked - I loved the idea of an insane Dominican and a slightly-pudgy 39-year-old leading the Sox postseason.
