1 Happy St

First off, let me congratulate the Chicago Cubs and their fine display this afternoon. It's displays like those that allow me (as a White Sox fan) to be able to continue reading the sports section of the newspaper without wanting to kill myself. So for that, I thank them dearly.

Secondly, I would like to thank Darin Erstad for finally putting himself out of his misery (and mine). I know Ozzie Guillen didn't mind that his leadoff man never got on base, but if I've learned anything about Darin Erstad this season, it's that he's a gamer who will do anything and everything it takes for his team to win, which is why he faked that injury on Thursday so that Ozzie would have no choice but to remove him from the lineup. Sly veteran move Darin, very sly. If only he could figure out a way to convince Juan Uribe to do the same, we'd be back in business.

I apologize for writing something that maybe 5 people in the world will find interesting, but please indulge me if you don’t mind.

I’m not going to get all bent out of shape over the recent signing by the White Sox of "former punter" Darin Erstad since it’s only for 1 season at under a million dollars. They’re not exactly breaking the bank here and it’s minimal damage if he sucks. But I just don’t understand the point behind it. He has had exactly one season where he was actually good at baseball (BLEEPING SEVEN YEARS AGO) and he’s managed to parlay that into a permanent starting outfield position ever since and $46 million in career earnings. Where else can a guy who has sucked for so long get by on a reputation he created seven years earlier? Is there even a precedent for this?

Since his signing became public earlier this week, I’ve read like 5 different articles in local newspapers explaining how "gritty" and "tough" this guy is because he was the punter on Nebraska’s National Championship football team in 1994. While I have no doubt that he’s probably a tough guy, how can being a former punter be the reason? Isn’t the punter usually the 1st or 2nd biggest wuss on every football team? Am I really supposed to get excited about this guy because he was a punter 13 years ago?

Don’t let me give you the wrong idea here; as a White Sox fan, I don’t necessarily see a huge problem with signing this guy since it’s for such a small amount. I guess I just don’t see the point. And if White Sox management signed this guy because they think he’s good, that just makes me nervous.

Okay, I’m done. This will be the last White Sox post for a while, at least by me.