I Can't Help But Wonder....
The 2015 season has been an odd one thus far. A lot of things happening around the league are surprising and a little shocking. Unfortunately, as it relates to Evan Gattis, the news is both of these things, but with a not-so-good feel to it.
In watching things unfold, there have been some lingering thoughts and questions that have been plaguing me as of late:
1. I stop actively rooting for the Braves, and they are already 4-1 on the season. I, of course, am not the only one dropping their jaw on this recent development.
2. I express my undying loyalty to Evan by following him over to the Houston Astros. He has a stellar Spring Training, but then has a start-of-season slump, where he now currently sits at 0-for-20 with a dozen strikeouts to his name. (Which, unfortunately, is tied for the most in the league right now with Sterling Marte of the Pittsburgh Pirates.)
I attempted to be both supportive and firm in my latest FantasyPros post. I'll let you, the readers, be the judge as to whether or not I succeeded in such an effort:
So now, there are the questions that, not only can I not find answers to, but are scaring me to the point of losing sleep and not feeling too well.
1. Biggest of all the questions: Am I actually jinxing Evan Gattis?
2. Am I a baseball jinx in general?
3. Are my strives to help and contribute to Evan Gattis' success actually be causing him to fail?
4. Another big one: Does Evan himself find me to be a nuisance, jinx, failure, or pest?
Over analysis does get the better of me sometimes. But like Evan did through his youth, I bout with depression from time to time. I don't consider it to be serious to a point, but when it occurs, I'm not my usual cheerful self. You could probably tell this by the way I'm writing this post.
The truth is; I can't stand to see Evan go through all of this. Some have even started to say I'm losing faith in Evan. FAR FROM IT! I know and believe with everything in me that he is going to get out of this funk. I will never stop believing in him, and will continue to have faith in him until I take my last breath.
Others will, of course, read this and want to laugh at me or throw labels at me like, "You're such a fan boy" or "What a joke you are." Unfortunately, such language has been thrown at me throughout. I can withstand all of that because of what I studied as a Journalism major at Georgia State. And that is, you have to develop a thick skin.
I can say I do as it relates to me. But often, when I see someone I regard or care about, like Evan, being ripped to shreds by fans on social media or dissed by other beat writers, the large amount of cruelty towards him is a lot for me to have to witness helplessly. And sometimes, I really can't. Evan himself retweeted a lot of the banter against him from some Astros fans, which leads me to believe he may be using it as motivation. All I can say is, he's taking all of this a lot better than I am.
I know all of this may sound strange to those of you out there reading this. But sometimes, being able to get things off of my chest like this really helps. My faith in Evan Gattis will never die, no matter how much people want to call me crazy for it. Loyalty is actually admirable human quality that more people should try sometime. Just saying....
Evan IS going to get through this. I just hate the feeling of being helpless to the situation. I want there to be something I can do, while accepting that in certain instances like this, there really is nothing I can do. Except for one thing: Continue to support him and fight for him, no matter what! I plan to do it well, and in the process, do well by Evan, which is one of many goals I hope to succeed with in my life right now. Perhaps I am a bit more ra-ra than Evan is accustomed to, but I pray he knows that I am doing all of this for and with the best of intentions.
PHEW! That was a bit of relief. Oddly enough, this song came on the radio this morning on my way into work. It not only made me feel a little better, but provides context to this particular situation:
In watching things unfold, there have been some lingering thoughts and questions that have been plaguing me as of late:
1. I stop actively rooting for the Braves, and they are already 4-1 on the season. I, of course, am not the only one dropping their jaw on this recent development.
2. I express my undying loyalty to Evan by following him over to the Houston Astros. He has a stellar Spring Training, but then has a start-of-season slump, where he now currently sits at 0-for-20 with a dozen strikeouts to his name. (Which, unfortunately, is tied for the most in the league right now with Sterling Marte of the Pittsburgh Pirates.)
I attempted to be both supportive and firm in my latest FantasyPros post. I'll let you, the readers, be the judge as to whether or not I succeeded in such an effort:
EVAN GATTIS' DRY STREAK CONTINUES
Evan Gattis continues to struggle at the plate, going 0-for-5 with 3 strike outs in the 14 inning 6-4 victory over the Texas Rangers. He did draw a walk in the 14th inning to set up for Hank Conger's game winning two-run home run. Gattis also had a fly out that was close to going over the fence, but instead, was robbed by Rangers left fielder, Leonys Martin.
Fantasy Impact: Drawing the walk and getting a good pitch for the fly out does suggest that Gattis is doing all he can to improve his swing and get a hit. He has always had a solid work ethic, after all. However, with his continued slump, he will need to improve quickly, or face the growing possibility of being benched or sent down to the minors. Neither of the aforementioned scenarios are at all ideal, but may in fact be necessary to get El Oso Blanco's batting groove back.
So now, there are the questions that, not only can I not find answers to, but are scaring me to the point of losing sleep and not feeling too well.
1. Biggest of all the questions: Am I actually jinxing Evan Gattis?
2. Am I a baseball jinx in general?
3. Are my strives to help and contribute to Evan Gattis' success actually be causing him to fail?
4. Another big one: Does Evan himself find me to be a nuisance, jinx, failure, or pest?
Over analysis does get the better of me sometimes. But like Evan did through his youth, I bout with depression from time to time. I don't consider it to be serious to a point, but when it occurs, I'm not my usual cheerful self. You could probably tell this by the way I'm writing this post.
The truth is; I can't stand to see Evan go through all of this. Some have even started to say I'm losing faith in Evan. FAR FROM IT! I know and believe with everything in me that he is going to get out of this funk. I will never stop believing in him, and will continue to have faith in him until I take my last breath.
Others will, of course, read this and want to laugh at me or throw labels at me like, "You're such a fan boy" or "What a joke you are." Unfortunately, such language has been thrown at me throughout. I can withstand all of that because of what I studied as a Journalism major at Georgia State. And that is, you have to develop a thick skin.
I can say I do as it relates to me. But often, when I see someone I regard or care about, like Evan, being ripped to shreds by fans on social media or dissed by other beat writers, the large amount of cruelty towards him is a lot for me to have to witness helplessly. And sometimes, I really can't. Evan himself retweeted a lot of the banter against him from some Astros fans, which leads me to believe he may be using it as motivation. All I can say is, he's taking all of this a lot better than I am.
I know all of this may sound strange to those of you out there reading this. But sometimes, being able to get things off of my chest like this really helps. My faith in Evan Gattis will never die, no matter how much people want to call me crazy for it. Loyalty is actually admirable human quality that more people should try sometime. Just saying....
Evan IS going to get through this. I just hate the feeling of being helpless to the situation. I want there to be something I can do, while accepting that in certain instances like this, there really is nothing I can do. Except for one thing: Continue to support him and fight for him, no matter what! I plan to do it well, and in the process, do well by Evan, which is one of many goals I hope to succeed with in my life right now. Perhaps I am a bit more ra-ra than Evan is accustomed to, but I pray he knows that I am doing all of this for and with the best of intentions.
PHEW! That was a bit of relief. Oddly enough, this song came on the radio this morning on my way into work. It not only made me feel a little better, but provides context to this particular situation:
 |
| You can do this, Evan! Never forget that us, your true fans, will always have your back. I believe in you, big guy! I'll never stop believing, and always will to the end! |
Comments
Post a Comment