Retrograde Morons
by digby
He stood at the plate all slim and slight in his San Francisco Giants uniform, hair flowing from beneath the helmet, and there came the whistles for Tim Lincecum(notes). At first he didn’t realize what they were for, no fans had never done such a thing. But as the shrill noise wafted into the frosty night like so many construction workers saluting a pretty woman. it was impossible to ignore.
And when someone yelled, “Your hair looks like a girl’s!” that’s when Lincecum knew. These Phillies fans were whistling at him.
Fergawdsakes. It just doesn’t get any stupider than that. Of course, he does play for San Francisco, and we know about those guys.
But seriously, I haven’t heard that crap in about 30 years. And back in those days, my retort was always, “if you can’t tell the difference between men and women, I’d say your the one with the problem.”
Lincecum was way cooler than that though:
”I must have a nice butt or something,” he said Saturday night as he sat in the clubhouse after fighting his way through a 4-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of the National League championship series.
He smiled as he shook out his hair that dangled just above his shoulders.
”Those Phillies fans must like something about me,” he added. ”I took it as a joke.”
Then he thought for a moment.
”I’m not sure that’s the reaction they were trying to get,” he said.
It’s easy to forget after the two consecutive Cy Young awards, the brilliant start in the first game of last week’s division series and all the other wonderful things Tim Lincecum has done, that he is just 26 years old, that he is barely more than a kid. And as such, he can find humor in the biggest moments, where his name blared for days on the marquee of this opening game of the LCS – the co-headliner in a pitching matchup with Roy Halladay(notes) that was supposed to be a duel for the ages. And that as a kid, with all of a sellout crowd at Citizens Bank Park mocking his locks, he could be amused by the scorn when many an older player, lacking in his same sense of ease, would be furious.
But this is Lincecum, running his fingers through his hair, chuckling at the thought that the Phillies fans might have found him ”hot” and spotting teammate Aubrey Huff(notes) as he strutted through the clubhouse wearing nothing but a red thong and a cutoff shirt, and blurting ”No, that’s hot.”
And, of course, he won the game, which was really hot. (And he does have a nice butt — those neanderthals have surprisingly good taste.)
Whatever. It’s just so damned dumb that it’s hard for me to have a sense of humor about it. This retrograde era is going to be very tough to take.
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