Senor Octobre

Ok, ok, I guess I couldn't stay away forever. It's weird charting out on my own, deciding what to blog about each day.

I just finished reading Big Papi's book. I timed it to coincide with the end of the regular season so that was a success. The book came out in 2007 so it's not up to date or anything (and doesn't even include their second World Series win which happened in 2007) but it was an interesting read none the less.

I remember a lot of things from the curse-breaking 2004 team but one thing that I can't remember ever happening was Papi being called Senor Octobre due to his two walk-off hits in Games 4 and 5 of the ALCS against the Yankees. For those who don't know, Senor Octobre is the Spanish-equivalent of Mr. October which is famously the nickname of Reggie Jackson, one of the greatest postseason players of all time. This isn't the only time a nickname has been repackaged linguistically: Albert Pujols played many years for the St. Louis Cardinals and was a 3x MVP and 2x world champ. The nicknames Fat Albert and Winnie the Pujols never quite took off so many started calling him El Hombre, in remembrance of the Cardinals great Stan "The Man" Musial. Pujols actually declined the nickname because El Hombre is simply Spanish for The Man and he didn't appreciate sharing that nickname with a legend.

This is something I've seen over the years and don't really care for: the reappropriation of nicknames and themes. I'm not talking generally like there are football Giants and baseball Giants, football Panthers and hockey Panthers but specifically the players. Why did Dwight Howard come into the NBA with the Orlando Magic being known as Superman? 12 years earlier, Shaq came into the NBA with the Orlando Magic being known as Superman. Both Jevon Kearse (NFL) and Tim Lincecum (MLB) go by The Freak. Rich Gossage (MLB) and Tony Siragusa (NFL) are Goose. In boxing, we have Sugar Ray Robinson and Sugar Ray Leonard (which one was Sugar Ray named after?). Why did Kevin Garnett come into the league with the nickname The Kid, when it was already taken by Billy?

But the absolute worst has to be LaDainian Tomlinson swiping Lawrence Taylor's LT. I really don't understand why people allowed this to happen. LT (the real one) is an all-timer. LdT was one of the top RB's for a few years when fantasy football was really taking off. Judging by the first scene narration of Sandra Bullock, one of them caused Michael Oher to play football. The other one lost to the Patriots in the playoffs for 2 straight years and cried about it.

Maybe I'm a bit biased but I think if we as a society can't come up with fresh, new nicknames for players then we're 1) just being lazy to reuse an old one and 2) not appreciating history and the original bearer of the nickname. I think of the quote, "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it" and just think of all the former players who are being phased out of our minds every day.

Arnold Palmer; Gordie Howe; Muhammad Ali. All historic greats who died in 2016. Lemonade and iced tea notwithstanding, how many young people are going to grow up knowing who Palmer was and what he did? I'm certainly not old enough to have ever seen him play nor am I a golf fan but I know how he changed the game. I can appreciate his career and his impact. If people think of Tiger Woods as the greatest golfer of all time, or of LaDainian fucking Tomlinson as LT, then we've all lost something.