This morning at 0630 I was driving Bobby to work and of course felt like crap so I turned the radio to 620am the local sports radio. They were talking about the DBacks and their "rebound" year and I of course rolled my eyes and almost tuned the radio back to PM to hopefully catch a George Straight song. I decided to keep listening as they interviewed Daniel Hudson (gonna be a stud) and began to here a certain attitude coming from the DBacks club house. The next guy they interviewed was JJ Putz....BADASS!!
I might buy a Putz jersey. First of all he grew up in Michigan and his day was a Green Beret in Vietnam, NBD. He was a stud pitcher and an All-State QB until his Junior year when he quit football to commit everything to pitching. Then he went to the University of Michigan (gross) and lived in the same dorm and partied with Tom Brady. He LOVES the military and America. He only reads war books and just got done reading Lone Survivor. He's considered leaving baseball to join the Army a bunch of times but his dad always talks him out of it.
When he comes into the game to close out the games (hopefully gets SOME opportunities with the DBacks) they play "Thunderstruck". Possibly one of the greatest songs ever written, ever. Every strike out they play Thunderstruck again. He's 6'5" and they call him "Big Guy". He's the man, I hope he gets 50 saves this year.
Point being...I can't resist any longer. Living down the street from the stadium, listening to the local radio and reading local articles it's just to hard to resist. Now with a great American like Putz anchoring the bullpen then I'm in. I already own a DBacks hat so it's on like donkey kong. I hope they do well this year and at least finish .500...let's just pray for the best.
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Same happened with me and the Pirates.
ReplyDeleteThat's how it was living in AK and hearing the Mariner's games as if they were local. You start to care.
Have you seen Gibson's Moustache? Zavada? Our entire coaching staff is all stud ex-players that ran and hustled their ass's off.
ReplyDeleteGo America. Go Dbacks. 84 wins.
Interesting to look back at this now...Putz is tied for 7th in Saves (only 2 back from leader though), 2.00 ERA, and averages one K an inning.
ReplyDeleteDbacks are 36-30, 1 game behind the Giants, and 4.5 up on second place Colorado. At this point last year, they were 25-38 following a horrendous 9-20 in May.
They wouldn't win their 36th game last year until 7.20.11...!!! (36-58). puke.
Couple other random things, while the Dbacks are tied for second in shutouts (6), they have allowed the 3rd most HR in the NL (69). Problem. I think they gave up 6 this weekend, all by starters.
Correction: 7.20.10... not 2011.
ReplyDeleteOffensive stats are pretty impressive (NL):
AVG: 9th
2B: 3rd
3B: 3rd
HR: 1st (tie-76)
RBI: 3rd
TB: 2nd
XBH: 1st
SLG: 1st
OBP: 5th
BB: 6th
SO: 3rd (most)
SB: 4th
CS: Worst in NL (24)
SB%: 9th (69.2%)
GIDP: 1st (only hit into 33;
worst is S.L.Cards:77
Pretty impressive output thus far. I realize that 9th is technically on the back half of the N.L. Leaders, but all the rest are top 6 and better...fun to watch. As of last week, they also had the most comeback wins in baseball...not sure if they still do. FUN.
If Kelly Johnson can put together a couple multi-hit games, and bump his avg over .250 b/f the break that'd be quite amazing considering where he was at. He is super clutch this year, just seems that's his only hit. ex- (6/11/11) 1 for 5; 3 Run 2B. 4 K's. Great, timely hit, but drops his avg overall while not touching the ball in any other at bat.
GREAT POSTS NOAH! Good to see you back one here.
ReplyDeleteDBacks look great. Bobby and I had a blast at the game we went to. Fans still suck but they'll start to come around if the DBacks are still in it around August.
To be fair: When going to a Dbacks game the fans are not "Dbacks fans" so any comment that "Dbacks fans suck" isn't really that fair. It's like saying that Arizona drivers are more inferior than other places. Well, they are all from somewhere else so what does that say?
ReplyDeleteI think Dbacks fans are great, there are just about...12 of us so when you go to the stadium we just don't have the energy of a die hard 50+ year franchise. The Yankees have a 100 year head start on the Dbacks. Give us time, let these transplants (me) settle in and I'm sure in a few more years it'll change. That doesn't help right now with the 15,000 people that go to games but still...some great fans out there. I'd say, "Fans that go to Dbacks games suck." Little more fair but I know what you are talking about Nate. Kind of a downer at the games when nobody is paying attention, showing up on time or staying the whole game. Probably Red Sox fans...
Agreed. Arizona has huge potential as the 5th biggest city in America to be a massive sports market. I know a lot of die hard AZ fans out there but like you said there is like 12. Here's the problem...
ReplyDeleteGreat fan bases take generations to build. Grandparents pass it down and down which creates the fans who pass it on to their kids. I like the Yankees because my dad told me to. Cities like NY and Philly have kids who hear stories of the grandpa's first game. AZ doesn't have this...yet.
The problem with Arizona is that people move out here and hold onto their favorite teams. In most cases, fans move out here and almost become more hardcore and support their teams even fiercer since they feel a need to defend their teams when their peers are such diverse fans. Example. Noah's house for football on Sundays. 14 people show up and there is probably at least 10 different fan bases.
What it's going to take are people like Jeremy and Noah. If you want to see Arizona's fan base improve, and your sure you're going to live in AZ forever, than you HAVE to raise your kids as Arizona fans. I got in an argument with J9 about this. She says shes gonna raise Riley as a Jets fan. BAM! One less Cardinals fan. I get it. It's fun cheering for a team as a family. But it's also fun when the Eagles play the Steelers and my dad and I hate each other for 3 hours. That's how it would be with J9 and Riley when the Jets play the Cardinals. Otherwise they can root for each others teams. I have recently stated that wherever I end up (except Boston) I will raise my kids with their local teams. I will always hold onto the Yanks, and make my kids like them, but that's just history and family tradition. I'm not going to let my kids root for the Red Sox or anything like that.
So, for instance. If I stay in AZ I would want my kids to root for all AZ teams, and the Yanks. Which works unless the Dbacks join the AL, then it gets tricky. So Jeremy and Noah, we all know your huge Giants fans, but wouldn't it be fun to just dump them and convert all your energy to the Cards? I'm a huge Eagles fans and love them to death, but if I ended up in Baltimore in a career where I knew I was going to raise my kids, BAM! I am now a Ravens fan. You guys have to start the fan bases for future generations or else it will never get better.
Maybe you haven't noticed but we are Dback fans?? I'm more of a Dback fan than a Yankees fan. I love the Giants but also read every article on the Cardinals and watch/follow all of their games. I follow the Coyotes ONLY because they are Arizona's team. Watch the ASU, UofA and all other sports teams in Arizona. Even the freaking Lumberjacks. So I'm doing my part in making the conversion but the Yankee fan base wasn't made in ten years and neither will Arizona's. The growth of Arizona and Phoenix in general has skyrocketed in the last ten years and doubled in the last twenty years (think about that...crazy) so naturally there are a lot of people that are from elsewhere with other loyalties. Those may or may not change. But when those people do stay here and the Dbacks have more and more history, hopefully more trips to the playoffs and even championships that team base will grow and grow. Some people will never change their loyalties and that's fine. That's loyal and nothing wrong with that. I could NEVER be a Lakers fan after growing to love and obsess about the Suns the last ten years just as I NEVER could be a Red Sox fan (unless i grew a goatee, wore a long sleeve shirt under my t-shirt and acted like a dbag all the time). Just isn't in me. I think Arizona is just so new (MLB is older than Arizona as a state...) in general and even newer as as sports town it's just going to take time. The oldest franchise has the best fans. Phoenix Suns. They've got an amazing fan base of loyal SUNS FIRST fans because they have been successful and they have had time to grow that base. It's not going to happen overnight and it's not a fault of Arizona or it's people that we have other teams fans at our games. And I wouldn't hold onto too much with J9teaching Riley to love the Jets. Wait until Riley starts dating her first boy who is a diehard Patriots fan...see where that alligence goes. :)
ReplyDeleteNo9 Football is a great example but when all those guys were coming over how long had they all been in Arizona? 1-3 years tops on 90% of them. I'm typically the longest tenured transplant in our group of friends at a whopping ten years. So people naturally are holding tight to those ties back home just as we all do. Had Kurt Warner not retired and gave it another shot the Cardinals were poised to go NUTS here in town. People were all over the Cardinals those Warner years. It was so fun and exciting to watch those games, everyone was talking about the Cards, who they were playing next week, two weeks later, and every play that happened. For those brief, but successful years, we were a Cardinals town not a Lions/Bears/Patriots/Giants/Steelers/Packers town. Now that the Cardinals are crap again all those actual Cardinal fans are buried beneath those fans that pull back their old loyalties now that the hometown team sucks again.
In 2001 when I moved here I didn't think anyone was a Dbacks fan. Then they made the playoffs, then the NLCS. Then the World Series. The Dbacks fan base grew 10 fold in 3 weeks. Winning matters. It grew and grew through the Gonzo/Johnson/Schilling years and will again with the Kennedy/Upton/Drew years. If the Dbacks win those Cubs/Yankees/Red Sox fans that are actual residents of Arizona will slowly fade away, they won't disappear, but they will be rooting for the Dbacks before their own team I assure you that. It's human nature to want to win and support a winning team. It's absolute misery to do otherwise. Just ask Pittsburgh.
I know your a DBacks fan. All I'm saying is make sure your kids are. For all sports too. I love the Yankees but I wish I would have made my own decision to like them. I hope my kids can choose their own teams and I hope they choose local.
ReplyDeleteASU Softball Champs 2011!!
First of all, I bleed Blue. Period.
ReplyDeleteHowever, at our football sessions, we have made a conscious effort to put on Cards games, sometimes bc Cesar was there, sometimes bc it was just nice to have home team on for people to check out. Last year they were terrible. Hard to watch with better, more exciting games on.
I am definitely a Dbacks fan. I barely can follow the M's anymore as I have ZERO affiliation with the town. I always keep up with the yanks, some Mets action.
What I've noticed about myself is that even though I am a way bigger baseball fan [than football] and have been for much longer, I don't have a diehard team to root for. Despite going to Yankee stadium every summer, I never really liked the Yanks bc everyone and their sister (literally) liked them. Then I got older and really respected the franchise and that feel you get when you walk through the tunnel and see the field for the first time.
Now I find we spend a better part of my work day discussing the Dbacks, I have watched 80% or more of Their games and get excited about players hitting the ball well, pitching above expectations, and rookies trying make a footprint in the big show.
Fans will come. You guys are definitely right about how young the fan base is in terms of MLB standards. I mean look at the Cubs, and the bosox for 86 yrs without one ring and still selling out every damn game. Crazy.
Ok, hard to follow my rant on a phone so ill post now.
Go Dbacks!