Play Ball

It’s almost baseball season, sports fans!

Springtime approaches, and America’s game sparks the imagination. You can picture yourself as the star pitcher, taking the mound against a determined opposing team…

The game is tied, and you’re on the mound as Team R’s closer. Team D has last bat with man at the plate, and two outs. The go-ahead runner is on third. but you’ve struck this guy out before. Should be an easy out. But instead of bringing the heat, you look over to the base runner and say, “Go ahead and steal home. I won’t throw you out.” He strolls across home plate, and the other team wins.

Your teammates are screaming, “Why would you do that?! You just let the other team win!!”

You reply, “The skipper is a really bad guy, and I don’t like him or the way he runs the team. He doesn’t deserve to win.”

“What about us?” say your teammates. “Don’t we deserve to win?”

“Not really,” you explain. “You support the skipper, and like I said, he’s a bad guy.”

Your teammates ask, “Well, what about the fans? They come out and support us all the time, and now they have to swallow a loss because you don’t like the skipper?”

“Screw the fans. If they support the skipper, I don’t like them, either.”

“They support winning. We all do, including the skipper. We need you to follow the game plan in order to win.”

You reply, “I only want to win if it’s on my terms. I’ll keep throwing games if you don’t all get behind me.”

And just like that, you have no team. Not only can you not win a game, you can’t even get in the game.

The team tries to trade you, but other teams have seen how you behave on the field. Next thing you know, you’re being sent down to the minor leagues, where even if you manage to win a game or two, nobody cares.

And that, as they say…is ballgame.