Well, I know that I'll have at least one pissed-off reader angered to hear that I was actually leaving the broadcast of one of the only Cardinal games I'll get to see all season in order to catch Blake DeWitt's at-bats for the Dodgers on Monday afternoon.
Back early from my river trip due to a few river problems, I was getting to enjoy one of the only Cardinal games I'll get to see via the television this season. The Cardinals playing the Rockies. They come few and far between. But, despite my alliance and obvious bias towards my alma mater Notre Dame, and, for some reason, the percieved notion that I hate all things Sikeston, it was me that was giving up my precious time with the St. Louis Redbirds to watch my supposed bitter rival Blake DeWitt take a couple swings at the big league level.
I must say, there has never been a more frustrating post for me to read on any of my blogs. I could care less where DeWitt's from. And I'm pretty sure most of my readers will agree that I've been anything but unfair when it comes to addressing the rivalry between Sikeston and Notre Dame. When I was in high school, it really wasn't a rivalry. We didn't get along with Cape Central, and we didn't really like Jackson. But Sikeston? Never have I had a hard feeling towards them. The most memorable night of my high school career took place in Sikeston, in fact.
Do you really think I wasn't proud to see a Southeast Missouri product playing at the big league level? Do you really think, after 6 years, that I haven't made peace with even the bitterest of my high school rivals at Cape Central? I seem to remember mentioning in a blog earlier this season that one of my favorite high school basketball memories was watching Jeff Beck drain three's against us every single time we played them. Do you know who was guarding him when he was hitting those bombs? Me. Do you have any idea how frustrating that was when I was the opponent playing against him? The one guarding him? I wanted to knock the kid out, I even remember losing my temper one game in his gym and fouling him on a three point attempt. There's no excuse for that. Coach Brian Brandtner about knocked me three rows deep for that move.
I can say without hesitation that if I ran into Jeff Beck today in the streets of Durango, I'd buy him three of the finest beers we brew in this town.
I'm over it, guys. And sorry to rant on all of you who don't deserve the rath. But for those of you who are stuck on calling this site NDSPORTSWEB.com. Move on. The reason you keep coming back is because we talk about Sikeston sports on this website more than any other website in the area. Bottom line.
This is a big deal. A local kid starting for the Los Angeles Dodgers on opening day? You've got to be a complete moron to not excited about that. I was on the edge of my seat watching DeWitt bat. And do who know who I was sitting with? Scott Wittenborn. If there's one guy in the history of Notre Dame that's going to have a problem with Blake DeWitt, it's Wittenborn. And do you know what he was doing? He was hardly letting me watch the Cardinals because he wanted to see DeWitt play defense as well. He was stoked.
Get off the horse. Notre Dame is not the devil. Us ND kids get just as excited as everybody else when we get to see a local kid make it to the big time.
And I'm probably one of the biggest Duke fans in this country, but every single ounce of blood in my body is Carolina blue this weekend because I'd love, absolutely LOVE, to see Tyler Hansbrough win a national championship. And then I'd like to see him come back next season and become North Carolina's all-time leading scorer. There's just simply no bad blood anymore concerning my high school rivals and myself.
And you should probably stay off Mark's case as well. Because you'd be digging yourself a deeper ditch if you called him out on this issue. The minute he heard that DeWitt was getting the start, he called both me and Jamie Hall and told us about it. He was just as excited as us.
Sorry it didn't get immediate blog attention. I was just getting back into town, and Mark was out of town. And then Jamie put it right on the front page.
Congratulations, Blake. Here's hoping the best for you and your future. We'll be paying attention to your every move. But forgive us if we're not blogging every step of the way. When you have one of the greatest Hall of Fame managers in the history of the game talking about you in the postgame press conference, we probably seem like small pees here at semosportsweb.
But we're paying attention. And we're rooting hard. And I'm sure the same goes for everybody in this area.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Amen! I graduated from Notre Dame and couldn't stand DeWitt in high school because he was so good, but I was glued to my tv watching him play. He makes southeast missouri look good. Good luck to blake!
Thank you David. Im glad you and Mark support this guy and Im glad that this site supports him. Semoball acted like they didnt even know who Blake Dewitt was. He got a front page headline on semosportsweb. Hopefully he continue to make us proud.
Good comment David. The whole baseball team had to go to coach selfs room to watch his game. It was a very exciting time. But if you don't mind me asking, what got you all pissed off?
Keep doing your thing Blake, it seems weird that 2 weeks before he had to leave for spring trainging, that I was taking BP with you in the Sikeston Gym. Represent the SEMO district well my friend.
Daryl...most of the people at semoball had no idea who he was because they know very little about sports. They have reporters that ask questions to coaches and players to get answers to report on. I have seen and heard on a few occasions 2 different people from semoball ask someone else questions that a 3rd grader would know about sports. Then if they were really unsure they would trot over to the official scorer and copy the results out of their book to make sure they had theirs right. I am not saying all of this to outright bash semoball, I just think that most of their "sports staff" have no clue about who or what they even report on. Just my opinion.
Post a Comment