Who Moved My… What’s That Thing Called?

by Geoff Young on Sep 01, 2010

If you can separate yourself from the experience for a moment, there’s no denying this is fascinating stuff. Everyone loves an underdog, but everyone also loves a train wreck. When the two collide… it usually ends up as reality television, but that’s another story (doubtless told by an idiot).

I’ve heard that people are panicking on the heels of seven straight losses. You know what’s the worst thing you can say to a person who is panicking? Don’t panic.

I have no idea if that’s true, but it sounds good. I said it with authority and conviction… it seems plausible. So I won’t tell you not to panic.

At any rate, I thought an inspirational quote might help, so I grabbed my copy of Bartlett’s Quotations. Only wouldn’t you know, I grabbed Roget’s Thesaurus instead. I grabbed someone’s something, anyway.

Hey now!

I opened to a random page and came across the entry for “Disappointment.” Here’s a small sample of what I found:

  • blasted expectation
  • dashed hope
  • blighted hope
  • frustration
  • discomfiture
  • bafflement
  • setback
  • letdown
  • failure
  • fizzle
  • fiasco
  • disillusionment
  • tantalization
  • mirage
  • tease
  • bummer

Granted, that’s not very inspirational, but speaking of small samples, check this out:

Dates      G  W  L  Pct  RS  RA
4/5-8/25 125 76 49 .608 560 426
8/26-9/1   7  0  7 .000  16  41

Setting aside the issue of terrible segues (or even Segways), I leave you with three questions:

  1. Do you believe the first 95% of the season so far or the last 5%?
  2. Do you prefer frustration, setback, bummer, or one of the others?
  3. Where the heck is my copy of Bartlett’s Quotations?

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7 Responses »

  2. Geoff Young
    September 2, 2010 • 5:39 am

    Thanks, Didi; great stuff. Some days, I think I should shut up and let Poz say everything that needs to be said.

  3. jeff
    September 2, 2010 • 6:27 am

    The problem is that the only thing that matters is the score when the season ends; we could end up having the playoffs stolen by a lucky streak (Colorado Rockies).
    Still, this year has been different than any other Padres season. If the Padres end up not making the playoffs, I’ll be sad for them, because they played amazing and deserved it, instead of angry at them for constantly making poor decisions and screwing things up. The Padres have had a record-breaking season so far and I am super proud and excited for them.
    Plus, if you are a numbers guy and you crunch all of these stats and believe in them, then you have to have faith that this really is one of the best teams in the history of baseball and they are true series contenders.

  4. LynchMob
    September 2, 2010 • 9:15 am

    Didi / GY – thanks for that Poz link … he is the best!

    My favorite line …

    Joe Thatcher is a 28-year-old lefty, also undrafted, who comes from Kokomo and, as such, is called the Throwin’ Kokomoan by those so inclined.

    … who knew :-) (and he didn’t even apologize to Jack Thompson!)

    I love Wikipedia … went to update it with Thatcher’s nickname … but it was already there! Guess I’m just slow …

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Thatcher

  5. Didi
    September 2, 2010 • 10:43 am

    Hey Geoff, it’s just great that Poz is actually writing about the Padres even if it took a 7-game losing streak in an incredible season for him to do so.

    So, I’m looking forward to when Poz writes about the Padres’ after the season’s end.

    I’m glad you are around to write about the Padres. Good stuff.
    Thanks. Btw, have you checked Book-Off for you Bartlett’s?

    And here come the Rockies, who are very comfortable playing at Petco Park.

    Go Padres!

  7. Nick G
    September 2, 2010 • 5:26 pm

    I don’t know about everyone here, but 2007 still stings for me a little. I really was feeling great about the team as a possible WS contender. Next thing I know Milton Bradley becomes Milton Bradley, then Cameron gets hurt.
    Then the evil twin of TG Jr hits a triple, and an ump decides to inexplicably close his eyes (look at a girl in the stands, pick his nose, whatever) on the biggest play of the year.

    Anyway, the lesson I learned is that it can all fall apart in an instant, so you’d better enjoy it while it’s going good.

    Truly, I thought this year’s team was a .500 team. You know what? I was wrong. These guys are pretty good. The only thing that’s missing from Poz’s piece is that you don’t get to 20-something games over .500 without being a good baseball team.

    Was it Bill Parcells that said, “You are what your record says you are”?