Friday, October 30, 2020

Curiouser and curiouser

 Some things you gotta explain to me, like where the lids to plastic containers go five minutes after you store them in the kitchen cabinet. 

I suspect a wormhole. Or perhaps time travel. 

In which case someone in 1903 is right this minute wondering where the containers are for all these lids. 

In any event,  it is a mystery to me, one of many. Just now, for instance, I'm wondering what the the heck the Chicago White Sox are up to.

This is not an unusual question, the White Sox being the White Sox. But this time they're being especially opaque, following pathways of rhyme and reason undetectable to mere mortals.

First, they put together a young, vibrant team whose future, as Yogi Berra would say, is ahead of it.

Then they fired the manager who brought the young, vibrant team along and got it to the playoffs this season for the first time in 12 years.

Then, instead of a young, vibrant manager to take the young, vibrant team the rest of the way, they hired ... Tony LaRussa.

And, yes, I know, he's a Hall of Fame manager and yadda-yadda, blah-blah-blah.

But he's also 76 years old and hasn't jockeyed a dugout bench in nine years. So this is basically like the White Sox rummaging through their closet, finding the lime-green leisure suit they last wore in 1977 and saying "Wonder if this still fits?"

Maybe it will. Maybe it won't. But the Sox couldn't find someone a little more, you know, current?

Now, it's possible they're three moves ahead of all of us, and the next time we see LaRussa he'll be getting sprayed with champagne by the Kid Sox. And we'll be writing about what a genius move this was, dusting off a revered senior citizen to come in and keep the youngsters in line.

I mean, it worked for the Yankees, back in the '50s. In 1949 they dusted off Casey Stengel, who was pushing 60 and hadn't managed in six years, and handed him the keys. Everyone thought they were crazy, too, but all Stengel did was manage the Yanks to seven World Series titles in 10 years and get himself elected to the Hall of Fame.

So maybe the Sox are looking at LaRussa and seeing another Stengel.

Me, I'm looking at LaRussa and seeing that leisure suit.

But what do I know? Fashion was never my thing.

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