Casimir Pulaski Day Already?

It's been ten days. You deserve something new.

This past weekend, I got the chance to experience Universal Sufism--one of the reasons I actually came to this school. Part of their Religious Studies program revolves around experiencing religions instead of learning about them.

And I can understand why there's an experiential weekend on Sufism, but not a standard class. A lot of what the Universal Sufists believe cannot be learned from a book but instead experienced. And their pretty light or easy on theological discussions. They believe that all religions are facets of the One Divine being. Their founder, Hazrat Inayat Khan, brought this to the States around the 20th century and proceeded to spread it with the help of Samuel Lewis.

As the weekend went on, I realized that this is the exact thing that I had purported at one time--that God reveals himself in various ways to different people. However, when it became actualized, I realized how it feels like a cult. They say that they don't have a Christ or a Muhammad figure in their religion, but it seems like, in time, Inayat Khan will fill that role. He came up with the Ten Sufi Thoughts and he is the one whose teachings they look to the most.

History has an odd way of morphing things, as does time. And those two things seem to be ready to morph this into an all-encompassing theological clusterfuck like most other religions are today.
And the other odd thing of the weekend was that it solidified my belief in Christ without solidifying my belief in the Christian church. I knew that, deep down, Christ was my savior. And I also realized, during an invocation for the Spirit of Guidance, that I still want to be a Youth Pastor, come doubt or high water.

Overall, it was interesting, but it was definitely something I could never truly get into. Next Semester, I plan on doing the Buddhist experiential weekend. Exciting? Oui.

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Spring Training for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles (Fuck you, Anaheim) has officially gotten under way. Most of the team has reported even though the report date for position players isn't until later this week.

Juan Pierre is there and, no matter how much I love watching the guy get extra bases run on him, I hope he gets traded. Andre Ethier and his talent are just begging for a full-time slot. It wouldn't seem to be wise having him platoon with Matt Kemp since both can hit Left and Right Handed pitching. However, it'd be even more unwise and strange to have him platoon with Pierre since both are left handed batters with completely different games. Pierre gets 200 hits, sure, but he also has 668 plate appearances. As a result, his OBP was a meager .331 while his AVG was a decent .293. Maybe it would do him some good to sit down if he can rake in 200 hits again while minimizing plate appearances. And maybe draw a walk once in awhile.

Look, Juan, you aren't a good leadoff guy if you can't hold your bat back. I understand that your arms are as weak as they look, but, please, hold up your bat. Have some sense. Lean into some pitches for Christ's sake. That won us a game once last year. Lean in and steal. Try that strategy. You won't have to tire your arms with the bat anymore.

If you're gonna play every day, Juan, draw some walks so that we don't have to bitch about your OBP. If you aren't going to play everyday, still hit as much as you would. That'd make you hot shit in most books. Get an injury to pad your numbers against mass. That type of thing. I know you've got that streak going, but you also said in an interview that you don't mind if it ends. So let it end.

Or, hell, maybe lift some weights. And don't be a dick in Ethier takes your job. Because he's better. And you probably know that.


In other news around camp, Sandy Koufax showed up to do some shadow coaching. He lives in Vero Beach, so I can guarantee you that this hermit will probably not be flying to the new facility in Arizona any time soon. As a result, it kind of sucks that top prospect Clayton Kershaw wasn't invited to the Major League camp this year. He's a lefty could probably have learned one or two things from him about the pressures of being a hot-to-trot prospect. And also that he doesn't need any time in the minor leagues. Koufax didn't play a single game in the minors, and, as a result, was once voted as the most over rated left-handed pitcher of all time. He spent 11 years in the majors, and the first six were plagued with rookie mistakes. But there was a dumb rule that if you sign for x-amount of dollars, then you have to start on the major league team.

Either way, the type of talk that surrounds Kershaw makes it sound like he and Billingsley will be the new Koufax-Drysdale. Except Billingsley isn't the second most intimidating pitcher of all time--he just has large thighs. And I guess they can be scary, but not as much as a little bit of chin music. That's alright, though, because that's not how the game is played any more even though fans love a fight. That's the funny thing about the strict rules concerning ejections and fighting and so forth. When the dugouts clear, the crowd gets excited and your team gets press on ESPN. It may even help if we had another Ryan v. Ventura fight (great shit, by the way) every week.

Think about it: fans watch NASCAR to see crashes (and drink), people watch the NHL for blood on the ice, people watch football for the contact. Baseball has zero contact and no one likes watching the World Series. Maybe they would if it were prefaced by a title fight? Or if they knew that the teams actually hated each other.

Okay, so this post has become super tangential and it only gets worse because we are now going to talk about free agency. Free Agency has ruined rivalries because it allows for players to go to where the money is, whether or not they first played for Boston and the money's in New York. You would never experience a person retiring because they were traded to the Giants like Jackie Robinson did because they'd probably give him a contract extension would 55 million dollars. You'd never see another Marichal v. Roseboro fight because the teams don't hate each other anymore. Only the fans do. Hell, Jeff Kent signed with the Dodgers. Mark Sweeney was traded to us from the Giants. Jason Schmidt, the Dodger Killer. The list goes on. They go where there's money and necessity. Not where their heart tells them too.

Free Agency turned a game into a sport into pure entertainment. Which is fine by me, I guess.

That's enough for tonight, this should compensate for the ten day drought... if you love baseball.