Thanks first of all to Arthur for the Cornell-LSS box.  Just seeing
Alex Nikolic's name again (whistled for hooking - well, interference
would have been better) brought tears to my eyes.  I don't think most
Lynah fans (in Sections D and E, at least, where Anne and I had our
season tix this year) appreciated Nikolic until the Lost Weekend at the
end of the regular season.  But after watching a few tortured periods
without Dan Ratushny AND Karl Williams AND Nik, I think most folks got
a clue that the last was more valuable than his stats.  I'm hoping
he'll work out his problems and make a triumphant (and hard-hitting) return.
 
Being a thoroughly obsessed Mets fan, I might occasionally exaggerate
connections between Cosmic Reality and the Flailers From Flushing.  For
example, ever wonder about the "coincidence" between periods of Met
contention for the pennant and Republican control of the White House?
 
(Period: 1962 to 1990)
Republican Administrations: 	1969-76, 1981-90
Mets over .500:		1969-75, 1984-90
 
Democratic Administrations:	1962-68, 1977-80
Mets under .500:		1962-68, 1976-83
 
Be that as it may, I can't help sensing eerie parallels between
Manderville Malaise and Strawberry Syndrome.  Both are gifted natural
athletes.  Both play with a graceful ease that has to been seen (live)
to be believed and that, under adverse conditions, is easy to interpret
as laziness or half-heartedness.  Both were introduced with Enormous
Expectations and Much Rejoicing: Manderville all but crowned as the
next Joe Nieuwendyk, and Strawberry's standard not even being defined -
he was supposed to be LouBrock/Henry Aaron/Rod Carew or something.
 
Both, unsurprisingly, failed to live up to those expectations - and
subsequent improvements in their respective performances just made them
look worse from the "see what he can do when he tries?" angle.
 
Well here's a wild leap of social-psychological insight (Disclaimer:
it's ok, I've got a Masters degree in social science - but kids, don't
try this at home...):  insofar as an older Strawberry, confronted with
this situation, ran the gamut of nasty personal problems and finally
said "screw this" and rode off into the sunset to munch low-cal
mushrooms with Tommy Lasorda; might a younger Manderville not exactly
be looking forward to another year of his Cornell conundrum?
 
Cayuga Lake ain't the East River (yet), and the Ithaca Journal's "just
the facts" commentary ain't the New York media being, well, the New
York media, but I think some of the same things are going on here,
albeit on a far smaller (and prettier) stage.  I suspect I've seen this
one already - I just hope they've changed the ending.
 
 
Greg Berge
This is Boston, Not LA