Hope Springs Eternal in Baseball Camps
Just when we think we live in a world sunk in pessimism and despair ... along comes baseball spring training.
And every broken down vet, and done-nothin' rookie and perennial non-contender is just positive that Things Will Be Different this time.
It's touching, really.
Well, actually, it's kind of annoying, because 90 percent of it will turn out to be hot air. But still ...
Just in the past few days, we've had Andruw Jones explaining how his hitting barely over the Mendoza Line last year was an aberration ... Torii Hunter assuring us that his $90 million Angels contract won't make him fat-headed ... Angels pitching coach Mike Butcher telling reporters how it was a GOOD think that Ervin Santana was horrible last year because now he's "gotten his bad year out of the way."
Etc. And you can count on another 5-6 weeks of this relentlessly sunny, upbeat looks into the future.
Yeah, print journalism IS a negative business, most of the time ... but when it comes to spring baseball, we seem to buy into cock-eyed optimism year after corner-turning year.