Five Hundred Random Thoughts

One of the reasons I like Major League Baseball is because I like rooting for a team. It's enjoyable to identify with a cohesive group of players, and follow them year to year, win or lose. But these days, it's almost as if the media, and the franchises themselves, intentionally downplay the notion of a team that stays together for any length of time. The focus is strictly on winning, even if that means trading away half the players for new ones. For me, it takes something major out of the game. The Washington Nationals are on a five-game winning streak, but the papers and sports talk shows are obsessed with who will be traded to what teams before the trading deadline. Talk of Alphonso Soriano's trade status overshadows the National's comeback win in the ninth inning. Who am I cheering for? A brand name? The team owner? It's almost like they don't want me to form too close a relationship with the current group of guys, because they could go at any minute. That's the effect it has on me.

Plus there's the steroids...