Sell-Out

So if I knew how to put audio clips on this, as soon as you started reading this post, you'd hear a trombone going "wah-wahhhhh", as if it was laughing at me.

The Disgruntled Investor, who promised earlier not to watch any more sports this year, has already watched sports. While recovering from some bad oysters (or too many good ones), I watched the AFC and NFC championship games. The reason?

There's not that much else to watch on TV.

Plus, I realized that it's not all sports that were letting me down, just my teams. So, despite laughter and derision from the Disgruntled Girlfriend about this, I've decided to revise my pledge, and just not watch UVA or the Redskins play. I've noticed that it's easy not to watch UVA (they're terrible in sports this year) and the Redskins (didn't make it far in the playoffs, so no accidental watching!). Plus, we're going to get some weiner coach thanks to Chainsaw Dan Snyder's ineptitude.

Anyway, so that's that. Just wanted to provide full disclosure here.

My New Year's Resolution

So, clearly it's been a while since I've posted on here, and for that, I apologize. I'm not sure who is still even checking the site to see if I still care, but I do. I've just been taking a bit of a vacation.

Anyway, I'd like to post my one monumental New Year's resolution. Now, it is true, I do have some minor resolutions - chiefly among them being to reduce my (real estate driven) debt and increase my (real estate depleted) savings, and also to get myself in better physical shape. But, none are as potentially life-changing as this one:

I'm not going to watch a single sports game on TV for the rest of the year.

This includes professional, college, high school, pee-wee, or stick drawings. Not a single one. Fuck televised sports, that's my mantra for 2008.

Now, I will still watch the occasional event in person - I have to include this in here, since I will be attending at least 10 Washington Nationals games this year. But, I will not watch them on TV.

I will also be watching Women's Beach Volleyball in the Olympics. But that's it. Nationals games in person at the stadium, and Women's Beach Volleyball in the Olympics. The sole two exceptions to my resolution. The Nats games are already paid for and planned, and Women's Beach Volleyball...well, c'mon, I'm not watching them for the competitive aspect.

As I write this, there are about 2 minutes left in the Redskins/Seahawks wild card playoff game, and the Redskins are down two touchdowns. They were up 14-13 with about 6 minutes left to play in this game. Then the Disgruntled Investor Collorary kicked in - any team I support is going to crash and burn. I have turned that game off, and do not plan on turning it back on, so I have no idea how it ended (prediction, Redskins lost). This also happened a week ago, as UVA blew a 21-7 lead to lose the Gator Bowl, thanks in no small part to ACC Coach of the Year Al Groh's STELLAR playcalling. There's nothing quite like helplessly watching your coach (or your coach's son in this case) calling for a passing play on 1st (or 2nd) down with 3 minutes left in the game, with the lead, backed up deep in your own territory, with a freshman QB in the game who looks like he's 12 years old. You know what's going to happen, but, shit, what the fuck can you do?

And there's the rub.

Why put myself through this shit anymore? I've spent my life dealing with this. I've watched the Braves dominate the regular season, then choke in the postseason. I've watched UVA football squander countless future NFL FIRST ROUND draft picks, I've watched UVA basketball continue to eschew any inside game YEAR AFTER YEAR, and, predictably, fail miserably at some point in the season (this season features a rare EARLY set of failures!) I've watched Gilbert Arenas get hurt at some crucial point in the season. Honestly, that's it. I'm done with this. I'm taking a year-long sports vacation.

So, apart from a few Nationals games where I'm actually at the stadium watching what is essentially a meaningless regular season game, and apart from ogling over the Swedish Women's Beach Volleyball team in Beijing (do they have beaches there??), I will not watch another sporting event until January 5, 2009.

And that's a promise.

P.S. This includes checking sports scores online during the games - a technicality the Disgruntled Girlfriend pointed out, while subsequently noting (along with the Disgruntled Childhood Friend) that I have no chance of pulling this off. F That, No Sports (except which I've previously noted) until 1/5/09 (if not later!).

One Disgruntled Weekend

So, in the course of 24 hours, this is what I, as a Washington area sports fan, was subjected to:

Virginia Tech 33, Virginia 21 (football)
Seton Hall 74, Virginia 60 (basketball)
Memphis Grizzlies 124, Washington Wizards 118 [Also, Arenas out for 3 months]
Tampa Bay Bucaneers 19, Washington Redskins 13 [Also, Sean Taylor GOT SHOT IN THE GROIN...]

Virginia lost the football game primarily because, as the Washington Redskins of college football, our terrible secondary refuses to cover anybody, instead playing a light Cover-2 that allows unchecked 15 yard passes throughout the game. Also, Jameel Sewell, like Jason Campbell, far too often makes hasty passes when he should just use his natural running ability and scramble for a first down. But, what can you do? The Disgruntled Girlfriend yesterday remarked that, hey, 9-3 is a pretty good season. I quickly corrected her and said no, it's not. We lost to two horrible teams, and the only decent team we beat turned out to be Connecticut. It was at best a mediocre year. Sorry, I have low standards as a UVA fan, but this was pretty unbearable. Al Groh's not out of the woods with me yet. Of course, he'll probably get ACC coach of the year.

The UVA basketball loss to Seton is too terrible to even talk about. We can beat Arizona on the road but not Seton Hall on a neutral court.

Finally, the Wizards are the Wizards, and the Redskins are the Redskins. What can you do? Allow me to be among the first to suggest the unsuggestable - perhaps it's time for a coaching change for the Redskins. I hear Bill Cowher's available.

Anyway, so this weekend has me seriously considering a sports suicide - completely eschewing all sports watching, sports following, and sports caring. It's just getting too difficult to emotionally invest myself in these stupid games where these stupid teams make stupid mistakes and stupid lose. It drives me crazy that Boston-area fans right now are having an orgiastic feast while my teams, pretty much throughout my sporting life, have consistently let me down. Though I followed sports religiously through baseball and football cards throughout my 80's childhood, my loyalties were primarily directed towards individual players, as opposed to specific teams. My team loyalties, for some reason, emerged in 1991 - when, following a move down to Savannah, Georgia, I started following the Atlanta Braves, the Washington Redskins (the Falcons were, and always will be, utterly unloved in the state of Georgia), and the Washington Bullets.

From 1991 on, this is what I've gotten:
-Exactly one good year from the Redskins (thanks to this guy)
-The best regular season team, and worst playoff team, in baseball
-The Washington Bullets/Wizards

My college years found me residing at my beloved University of Virginia, where despite regular NFL draft picks (Tiki and Ronde Barber, Thomas Jones, Heath Miller, Matt Schaub, Wali Lundy, Patrick Kerney, etc.), the football team has consistently underachieved. Then, of course, there was the Pete Gillen basketball era - which saw numerous police arrests, an utter breakdown in discipline, and zero NCAA tournament wins. Thankfully, Dave Leitao seems to have turned things around, but, then there's that Seton Hall loss.

I've never, ever, experienced the sheer joy of a dynasty. I've never, ever, felt like any of my teams was going to blow out an opponent. I've never, ever, felt confident in a championship run. I feel like the dealer is constantly hitting 21 against my hard 20's. It's utterly, completely frustrating.

So, as of now, consider me on sports suicide watch.

(P.S. This is, of course, not to belittle the enormity of actual suicides, which is of course a very serious matter. Just wanted to head that off at the pass...)

A Moral Dilemma

So this posting should resonate with any guy (or girl) who's ever collected sports cards and/or memorabilia.

One hot summer day after I'd graduated from high school, I wandered into a local sports memorabilia store next to a Baskin Robbins. I was flush with cash from relatives, and it was, as usual, burning a hole in my pocket. I had long since given up on collecting contemporary sports cards (since the market had been flooded with a glut of sports cards since the early 1990's), but had maintained my fascination with old cards. I began perusing the counters and shelves, and did a double-take when I saw a truly ancient-looking card innocently resting between a Hank Aaron and a Roger Clemens. It wasn't in great shape, but it was a 1914 Honus Wagner tobacco card.

Honus Wagner, a shortstop for the Pittsburgh Pirates in the early days of the "modern" era of baseball, was staunchly anti-smoking. Once he found out that tobacco companies were using his likeness for cards inserted in tobacco boxes, he demanded they cease and desist, as he feared children buying the addictive weed just to have his baseball card (which is what I would have done had I grown up a kid in the 1910's). For this reason, Honus Wagner tobacco cards are extremely rare and valuable, fetching hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars in auctions - most famously by Wayne Gretzky. Most Honus Wagner cards in existence today feature advertisements for candy on the backs. Evidently smoking was bad, but rotten teeth and diabetes were bully! Anyway, the lady behind the counter, who told me she thought no one would want this card because it's "so old," was selling this card for $150. The money lighting up my pocket had found a home.

As you can see above, the card is not in great shape, but given its age would not be considered to be in as bad a shape as if it were a card from, say, 2000. Based on Becketts and recent EBay auctions, it appears that I could realistically clear $2000 for the card were I to sell it today.

And herein lies my dilemma.

Without a doubt, a return on investment of over 1000% in eight and a half years is pretty good. And, without a doubt, I could use that money. BUT, the problem is that it's a pretty damn cool baseball card, and would be difficult to give up.

The question for you, dear readers, is what would you do in this situation?? At what point is it ok to sell prized baseball cards/comics/toast with the Virgin Mary burnt into it??

Comments would be much appreciated.

Disgruntled out.