Case Closed

By my count, Opening Day is around the corner. And I'll be honest with you, being depraved of baseball for about 6 months and seeing the White Sox win their last few Spring Training games has got me excited for the start of the season. I am ready! Now don't get me wrong, I'm excited in the sense that I found $0.10 on the ground, not $20. I have low expectations and high levels of eye-rolling on stand-by. Regardless, spring is in the air and my first pair of tickets is in the mail.

You know who is NOT ready for baseball? The main attraction itself, the White Sox. I'm fairly encouraged by Phil Humber, I'm reassured by John Danks and Gavin Floyd, but I'm downright flabbergasted at the rest of the pitching situation. The Sox don't have a closer. I've read an article or two mentioning Will Ohman or Addison Reed, but the most likely candidate is Matt Thornton. To which I say, "We have these fancy things called memories now. Use them to go back in time and revisit this exact same situation last year." Matt Thornton was always one of my favorites. But as a closer... well, he was not one of my favorites. Why did we have Sergio Santos as the leader in saves last year? Because Thornton couldn't latch on to the save. I'm not sure what the reason is. Perhaps the high-pressured situation. Perhaps the clubhouse was down in the dumps last year. The true reason, I'll never know. But, still, I am not willing to put all my eggs in the Thornton basket. Do I have any suggestions? Oh, sure, go back in time and SIGN SOMEONE! Other than that, well, I supposed it'll be up to Mr. Ventura to make do with what he's got.

And speaking of White Sox closers... look up Bobby Jenks and see what he's up to lately. Big Bobby was recently arrested for a DUI. I know what you're thinking. But I'm not about to trash talk Bobby. This just reminds me of how much I hate it when athletes' private lives become public. Little kids look up to these players as what they want to be when they grow up. And here are the media, peddling for on more click on their blog. Bobby's been portrayed in a bad light before, and guess what? Does that make his win as a rookie closer in the 2005 World Series any less meaningful? Does that make his goatee any less hilarious? More importantly, does this make his wife and kids any less hurt by the situation? I'm sure everyone knows someone who has had a DUI. And while it is NOT something to be taken lightly, at least that person and his/her family were allowed the courtesy of not having the news plastered on the internet. It's why I say things in the clubhouse should STAY in the clubhouse. At least in the world of sports, can we move away from the paparazzi-like drama and focus on what we're really here to do?

And that's the end of my rant, folks! Go tweeter this to your MySpace friends or something?