Last night I found myself back in the cozy landscape of southern Chester counties' Landenberg Pennsylvania, with some good friends (Dave you smell like shit) and a case of Keystone Light. Finally back where I belong. After spending months in the dreary hell of robberies and wide-spread littering in North Philadelphia it was good to post up with a beer and hang out with people i really had missed, without the sound scape of police sirens providing a backdrop. Yeah there were some epic times spent at Temple University this fall semester, but if it has taught me anything its that the suburbs are my home-home and my second home of Philadelphia exists somewhere south of Fairmount street.
So whats the fucking point Tim?
Well that's a good question imaginary reader I've given a voice. The answer is Clifford Phyfer Lee.
At some point in your life you have to realize where you belong. We all spend some time in our lives in places we realize we probably never should of been, but that's part of the journey. You just better realize where the best place is. After Lee was traded away last year hes quoted as saying he never wanted to leave. Even said he wanted to finish his career here. Nevertheless he was a Mariner in the shitty weather of Seattle which was never a real fit for that Down-Home southern boy. Then the Rangers pulled a Phillies and went and picked him up in mid-July and rode him all the way to the World Series. At this point i really thought he was going to be a Texan for his whole career. The Phils had scorned him and traded him to Northwestern hell and now he had a team similar to them and was much closer to his home in Arkansas. But as the offseason began, thanks to the great hype and misguided reporting of ESPN, everyone KNEW he was going to be a Yankee. I mean they always get their man right? Who would want to be the idiot who didn't go to "greatest city on earth" and get paid the most money they could possibly get paid? It was so obvious that everyone, including myself, completely wrote off the team that he said he cared so much about. And you know what Cliff Lee did? He did what was best for him--unbelievable in this day of free agency and ridiculous amounts of guaranteed money.
Now don't get me wrong Lee is no Mother Theresa; the guy is getting paid 120 million over 5 years. But the amount of money he left on the table is enough to make Bill Gates shake his head. I really think he was channeling Winona Ryder in Mr. Deeds, "Anything over one billion is just gravy." And you know what, now that i type that, its kind of true. Especially when your sacrificing where you want to be and ultimately your happiness for a boat of gravy.
Also, just for a second, imagine that Lee has signed that contract we offered him last summer before we let him go. Do you think we then would have gone and gotten Roy Halladay the same day? Do you think that Cole Hamels would of had the same transformation he did last year? Would Ruben Amaro Jr then have gone out and picked up Roy Oswalt at the trade deadline? It's hard to say and its probable that some moves would have been made but the trade and signing journey that the Phillies pitching staff has had over the past year is remarkable and leaves them with one of the best pitching staffs of all time. Oh my.
I know Philadelphia and the whole country is reeling from this news but everyone remember to watch the Flyers and Shittsburgh Penguins tonight in the best matchup of the NHL season thus far. The Penguins are on a 12 game winning streak and the winner or this game will have not only the most points in the Atlantic Division but the entire league. Boucher vs. Fleury in net.
We love you Cliff Lee, Love Philadelphia
Tin Johnson
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