Boycott the Rangers

It's Opening Day, and it should be one of my favorite days of the year. Up until a few years ago, I had a great tradition of always going to the Opening Day game.

Not anymore. Nor can I share the zeal of those who are gleeful today.

Three years ago, I wrote this blog about the Texas Rangers. The premise was that I could no longer afford to love the Rangers. They'd let me down too many times.

Every year since, I have repeated the basic premise of the blog with the understand that, subsantively, nothing has changed about their situation, or about my opinion.

So, this year, I am stepping it up a notch. I am calling for an all-out boycott of the Texas Rangers, and I invite you to join me.
The reasons are below...

"Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over, and expecting different results."


The main premise for my boycott is that I simply no longer want to be driven insane every summer. I LOVE the Rangers. I have loved them since the David Clyde days. I have gone to so many games I cannot possibly count them.

Current management continues to say that they have made "improvements," that this year's team is better than last years. I might even agree with them, in some theoretical way.

But here are my main questions:

1) Did they find an "Ace" in the off season to anchor the pitching staff? A REAL "a-list" ace?
Answer: No.

2) Is there ANY national publication making pre-season picks (including the Dallas Morning News) who is picking them to win their division?
Answer: No.

3) Do most impartial observers continue to say that the Rangers' greatest weakness is their pitching?
Answer: Yes.

So, see, it's the same old problem.

A good friend chided me that I wrote this blog three years ago. A lot has changed in three years, they said.

No, not really. The names have changed. But the names always change. There are always new names, but always the same old problem:

Pitching Pitching, Pitching.

You wanna place your bets, and go “all in” on a Josh Hamilton this year?

I'll "see" you a Juan Gonzales and raise you a Jeff Burroughs.

And, go ahead, play your next card. Because I've got so many other bats in my hand I can’t hold them IN my hand. The problem is not bats. The problem has never been the bats. The problem is not *loving* the bats.

The problem is cheering for them, all the while knowing that they don't have the teammates to help them out in the bullpen.

The problem for those of you who love Josh Hamilton, there is no next card in YOUR hand. It's the same old story:

Pitching, Pitching, Pitching.

For these views, I have been called a "fair weather" fan. Nothing makes me angrier than this accusation. I'm not a fair weather fan. I am a fan who is tired of living in the Sahara Desert.

It's not fair weather to expect that at *sometime* in the now 25-year history of this franchise they would register a playoff series win. Note: I am placing the bar HIGH. Not just *making* the playoffs, but a playoff SERIES win.

That is not asking too much.

Three years ago, when I wrote that initial blog, I believe I tapped into what was a similar frustration with the team at the time. I also believe this frustration was made manifest in the poor attendance figures for last year.

So, there seems to be but one remaining choice for the fan wishing to keep his/her sanity:

Boycott the Rangers.

Current management seems to believe they have a franchise that is beloved enough that they can squeeze the money out, and make just enough changes to tantalize us back for one more year.

No. Not me. I'm done.

I needed to see BIG moves in the off season that had the whole baseball world "abuzz."

I needed to see some nation media --ANY national media-- picking the Rangers to win their Division. Most of them pick them either second or third. Nobody thinks they would do very well in the playoffs.

So, the changes weren't made, and the only power I have left is the power of the pocketbook.

Join me. Boycott the Rangers until management makes the kind of big, bold moves they need to make to show us that they really want to win.

Until then, any other choice is simply insane.