For Whom I Root

We're all fans - but of what? Of Whom? Sure, some (or all, depending on who reads this) of us know who each other cheers for, but this is a continuing open forum and we get to share, without interruption, who we cheer for.

Today, a blast from the not so distant past, although it feels like a lifetime ago; Albert Belle.

An RBI machine, Homerun champ, 1st 50 HR/50 2B man in MLB history, 5 time All Star, 8 straight years of 30 HR & 100 RBI, TSN Player Of The Year and Lousiana Sports Hall Of Fame inductee, the man was a beast, truly the most intimidating player of the '90s and possibly all time. The only things missing - the 1995 MVP award, a World Series Title & entrance to the MLB HOF.

The justification for Belle finishing second in the MVP voting to Mo Vaughn was that had Belle not been part of the Tribe that year, they would have still won their division by 20 games (they finished 30 games a head of the 2nd place Royals). Also, different people claimed the award is for Most Valuable, not Most Outstanding Player. I'm getting very angry... If that's the case, then how the hell can the MVP award go to a last place player (Alex Rodriguez, Andre Dawson)? The insanity of not voting for Belle was a byproduct of his lack of relationship with the media. Not only does a player have to produce on the field, but he must also play nice with the reporters? There's no reason, there is no f'ing reason he should not have won that award!

Ok, I'm done with that for a minute. Belle appealed to me for many reasons. As revealed by all his accolades, the guy was a hell of a player. During his prime, you just expected him to do something big, the game was never over if Belle was coming to the plate in a close game. Before he hit (one of) his famous Grand Slam(s) off Lee Smith, Carlos Baerga, who had just drawn a walk to load the bases for #8, celebrated as if he knew what was about to happen. It was absolutely surreal, especially watching it in person - I don't think I've ever heard a baseball crowd explode in such excitement as that moment. He so often brought excitement to a sport that needed it more and more.

On the field, it was easy for fans to root for the guy, though his antics outside the white lines drove many fans away. The stories are legendary: running kids down in his SUV after they egged his house on Halloween; turning down the thermostat, then destroying it with his bat, thus earning the nickname "Mr Freeze"; putting Hannah Storm in her place; absolutely destroying Fernando Vina in the basepath; drilling a heckler in the chest with a ball; not to mention the corked bats.

Two of my favorite personal anecdotes about Albert: (1) The game when he nailed the guy who kept chanting "Joey"? I was there (his middle name being JoJuan, he went by Joey though when he tried to give up drinking, he went with Albert). I forget during which inning the incident occurred, but in all of his subsequent at-bats, the crowd mercilessly booed him. We couldn't figure out why and didn't learn the reason until the drive home after the game. How'd we miss it? Well, we were sitting in the right field bleachers and this was during the season when the centerfield wall at Municipal Stadium had that freakin' trapezoid on top of it. The thing was right in our line of vision, so we never saw it all go down. (2) Remember during the playoffs when the Red Sox tried to screw with Belle by having the umps check his bats for cork? In all his intensity, he shouted back at the visitor's dugout while pointing to his flexed bicep, indicating that he didn't need cork to beat the piss out of them. Well, my dad and I went to all of the home playoff games that year and, of course, pops made a sign. What was on the sign? Why, Belle's flexing bicep with the words, "This ain't cork!!!" inside the muscle (no it wasn't cork, but who wants to take a guess as to what may have been flowing through those veins? Plus there was actually a second sign as well, one simply stating, "Ozzie would pay to watch Omar play!").

Whew! Regardless, while many fans turned on Belle for his off field actions, I stuck with him, he was after all, my favorite player, I couldn't just turn my back on him. It wasn't until he signed with the rival White Sox that he done pissed me off. That lasted only a short while as he headed to Baltimore next and was forced to don the number 88 because some selfish prick wouldn't give up #8 to a man who actually deserved it.

Did you know about Albert: Favorite TV shows? Cheers & Married With Children; Favorite player when he was a kid? Eddie Murray; Favorite music artist? Public Enemy; He is an Eagle Scout, National Honors Society member, former VP of the Future Business Leaders of America, and he was on an episode of the television show Hangin' with Mr. Cooper.

So yea, I rooted for Albert Belle, I adored him until he went to Chicago, but I'm willing to forgive. Hell, any man that turns down a scholarship offer to Notre Dame can't be all bad, right?