You Can Make It, Buddy!

Like everyone else, I have my momentary thoughts about engaging in some civil disobedience. But, as with most of society, I stay inside the lines and prefer to have someone else try the illegal stuff, which I can then live vicariously through them. Perfect example: the other day I'm travelling down the highway in the center lane with a State Police cruiser a couple car lengths ahead in the high-speed lane. Something about the van ahead of him catches his eye and he hits his lights. The van immediately pulls into the center lane and I can sense the driver is really hoping the cruiser will shoot passed him and go after some one else. Alas, the cruiser followed him into the middle lane, affirming that he would be pulling over the van driver. [Sidebar: I've been there and that feeling SUCKS. You have that split second where you are trying to convince yourself that they're after someone else, but then your heart sinks as the cruiser pulls in behind you. It is even worse when you weren't doing anything wrong at the time. Seriously, who gets pulled over just for having a rejection sticker in their window? You have 60 days to re-tested, you know. God, that Statie was a bitch. Was there no real crime going on that day? Nice to see I've gotten over it.]

Anyways, the van kept driving down the center lane despite the cruiser on its tail. I don't know if the driver was freaking out, in denial or thinking about running, but I know which one I was hoping for. As this mini-chase continued into it's second mile, with the van and cruiser still in the center lane, I got legitimately excited over the thought that I was about to see the beginnings of a car chase. Now, I would never run from the cops, but the thought of being there when someone else tried was pretty exhilarating. As the van refused to pull to the side of the road for the third mile, I almost wanted to pull along side the van and start encouraging him to make a break for it. "Go for it buddy! You'll be the one who gets away! Don't let the man keep you down!" Instead it was the guy just wanted to make sure he had a ton of room to get completely off the road and pulled over once they got closer to a rest area (I'm sure the cop was very understanding of this desire). I bet once the driver got whatever ticket was coming to him he reconsidered his decision to pull over.

-As a guy who grew up with Ken Griffey Jr. as his only baseball idol, I'm kind of saddened to see what his career has fallen to. After a Hall of Fame career Griffey is back in an ambassadorial position with the Mariners; only being used as a DH, batting in the low .200s and apparently can't stay awake anymore. A report surfaced last week that the manager wanted to use Griffey in a pinch-hitting role late in a game, but couldn't find him. The story says Griffey went back into the clubhouse to get a jacket, never came back to the bench and when his teammates went to find him he was asleep so he never was put into the game. Griffey denies he was asleep and the manager doesn't want to comment, mostly likely because Griffey is the most important player in Mariners history. Personally, I believe Griffey, strictly because I want to and I'm not impartial when it comes to childhood sports heroes. What I actually find the most interesting is that former players are now coming out of the woodwork to defend Griffey and their arguments almost all go along the lines of "Everyone naps in the clubhouse at one time or another!" So, what I'm gleaming from this is that even baseball players find baseball to be a very dull sport.