Pitchers and Catchers

Baseball comes back in the Spring because, well, we NEED it.
In most of the country this has been one of those Winters that have folks thinking that maybe firing up the car with the garage door closed isn't such a bad idea. The gray skies and frozen miles of continental U.S. tundra have been grim.

But now, in Florida and Arizona, the boys of Summer are reporting to their respective training camps and pennant hopes abound for fans of even the most moribund clubs. Any Washington Nationals fans out there?

Here in San Diego we always have hope. Two trips to the World Series in forty years is enough to keep the flame burning for Padre fans. This could be their year! (Feel free to check back with me at the All Star break.)

Football, on the other hand, is a different story. I NEVER hold out hope for a Charger Super Bowl trophy. You could send your kids to college by betting against the Bolts in the playoffs. Naturally, I have a theory...

Baseball players are better people than football players. Oh sure, America's pastime has its share of drunks, philanderers, and all around reprobates but none of them seem to come close to the clowns of the gridiron.


Take, for example, the Chargers' cornerback Antonio Cromartie. In this morning's San Diego Union-Tribune it is reported that he is past due on about $25,000 in child support after missing his February payment for several of his children. The paper goes on to say that Mr. Cromartie has at least seven children with six different women in five states. (It would appear that he is a firm believer in interstate....uh..commerce.)
Cromartie signed a five year contract with the Chargers in 2006 with a $7.35 million dollar guarantee; so he can easily afford his expensive hobby.
By the way, he has been named in at least five paternity suits in the past three years. This guy is a serious playah.
His big concern of late has been how distracted his football playing has been because of his "off field issues". Here's the quote: "My head wasn't in there, I was dealing with my kids and their moms. It had my mind somewhere else."

If there is a God, PLEASE let there be no more like this guy in ANY SPORT. The fact that someone as morally bankrupt as this piece of meat can find employment with a professional sports franchise is an embarrassment. Maybe even more embarrassing to all of us is that there are at least six different women in five states dumb enough to sleep with him. School reform anyone?

Come Father's Day, his kids should demand a recount.