The Game is Not as Easy as Some Make it Look

I've been hearing a lot of complaining about the productivity of one Aaron Ryan Rowand.

Before someone accuses the Giants of making a blunder in the acquiring of Aaron Rowand, first lets look at his history. When he played for the Chicago White Sox, that was a much better team than the Giants are right now. So good, were the White Sox that they won the World Series during Rowand's stay there.

The Phillies were also a much better team than the Giants are now. But on the upside the Giants are making dramatic improvements over the past couple of seasons and the Giants' brass believed a player like Rowand would contribute in the overall improvement. Whether his numbers show him to be a significant contributor or not he still adds to his teammates by the way he comports himself in the clubhouse and the effort he gives when between the lines.

In these tough economic times fans are wont to expect more than what Rowand has done runs-batted-in, homers and batting average wise. And I suspect as his teammates improve so will Rowand's numbers. You still have to give him time to see if the numbers will factor out.

Playing on a young up and coming team takes away from the daily totals but as they come together and manufacture wins versus defeats I believe you will see Rowand's contribution to the Giants.

Good things don't happen overnight. If you want an overnight sensation, go to a movie. Movies have a way of speeding up the process and ironing out all of the bumps and bruises. It's a fantasy land movie goers have come to appreciate and may always enjoy. It's a form of entertainment without the blood, sweat and tears...To each his own.

Baseball, like all sports, takes time to perfect. Sometimes the efforts to achieve perfection just aren't realized but you respect the efforts made toward reaching the goal and you root for your favorites because you know if that were you playing you'd want people to show some appreciation for what you know to be all-out efforts. Some players play the game in a manner that may appear effortless but you should know that what you are seeing is an amazing athletic ability. Not everybody who plays their chosen sport comes across this way, only those with extra special physical abilities.

Maybe it is our own struggles to perform such "tasks" on the field that contribute to our appreciation of those who make the game look easy. Where it seems like a job to some it is a game to others and that's the difference between winning teams and losing teams. We, as fans, can be losers or winners as well. Good sportsmanship separates the winners from the losers.

Those fans who expect a lot out of players probably think they were better at playing the game than they actually were. I suspect some of this is true with me when it comes to officiating. We tend to take out all of our anxieties on the player because the player is so overpaid and we are struggling day-to-day to eke out a living. If sports does that to you, take a rain check on sports. It's supposed to separate you from your daily grind not add to the grind, right?

Kevin Marquez