"Er...okay. How's she doing?"
"Well, not so good..." she began.
After you've been fed up with dealing with your parents in the twilight years of their lives, you force them into a home where neglect is as rampant as the roaches infesting their walls. After all, this is Florida. Where America comes to die.
"Well, she'll be happy to see us,"
I slipped off into the bathroom, tied the belt extremely hard around the arm to get a good look at the lucky vein. I'd developed a bad habit of doing this every time we went to the nursing home as I could not cope being surrounded by these people who were waiting out their days to die. In essence, it was the end of the line. The heroin went flowing in my veins and the body subdued into a total toxic nirvana.
Strawberry stuck the poor old bastard in a Greystone out in St. Pete (another reason I felt like shooting up). The facility was nothing abnormal and the neighborhood no exception. Liquor stores and churches on every corner sprinkled in with a McDonalds, Taco Bell, Burger King or car dealerships. The CNA's looked worn out or were laughing hysterically doing very little.
"Hey mom!" Strawberry greeted.
"Hey darlin'," she croaked.
The old bitch didn't even know who I was. Her eyes looked on in despair.
"Hey Ms..."
Her face remained placid and Strawberry grabbed her wheelchair from behind and rolled her into the cafeteria. We passed through a lobby when the key phrase Longoria was said from the television. I stopped. ESPN had been on.
Reports are confirming Evan Longoria is being traded to the San Francisco Giants for...
I didn't even care who it was for.
"Strawberry, I need a moment,"
"Okay babe," she said in confusion.
Heroin makes you feel like a zombie but the emotions were still very much alive inside my mind. I wandered outside and found a watering hole in a strip mall. The scene was typical, dudes with bad leathery skin, women with sun drenched hair and cigarette smoke. Lifeless.
"I'll take a beer and a shot buddy,"
"You got it," the lady cried in a scratched out broadcast.
I stared at the television. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. ESPN was giving the details on the blockbuster trade.
The Rays send off long time Ray Evan Longoria to The San Francisco Giants for Christian Arroyo, Denard Span and two minor leaguers in Matt Krook and Stephen Woods. What do you think...
Maybe it was the heroin but I couldn't seem to move my feet.
"You alright buddy?" this guy in a grey shirt asks.
"No,"
"What's the matter?" he asked kindly.
"Everything,"
"Oh," he says.
He took notice that I was frozen to the screen.
"Pretty crazy huh? Who would've thought?" he laughed.
"Tab me out please,"
I wandered back to the Greystone and found Strawberry in the room with her decaying mother. The wall was cluttered with photos of the past and I saw where Strawberry got her looks. Good thing her mom knew nothing of her profession.
"So the weather sure has been hot mom!" she laughed.
She was such a sweetheart.
"Oh yes," she responded.
I sat still, turned on ESPN and didn't move.
"You ok?" Strawberry asked.
"No,"
A male nurse walks in and glances to the TV while holding the meds.
"Finally!" he says.
Taken aback.
"What?"
The girls kept talking.
"He was bound to get traded sooner than later," he grumbled.
We locked eyes.
"His numbers have been plummeting and we got a better player in Arroyo," he cried.
"We just lost OUR DUDE,"
Strawberry could hear it in my voice the violence was simmering.
"I like the Rays too but Evan has not been producing on the field and I feel we probably owe ten wins to him that he did not give us. I mean, don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed watching Longo play hard all of these years but his numbers are dwindling, he won't win here and moving forward they are better team without him now," he explained.
Emotions blinded me.
"So he is at fault for the losses last year? Not Kevin Cash?"
"Look, if Evan Longoria was a leader he would've brought the team to the playoffs once in these last four years but hasn't. Change isn't always a bad thing," he explained.
We slightly came to a treaty.
"Try to think analytically and not be so emotionally invested," he hissed and walked out the door.
Male nurses...
"Chill out baby," Strawberry said.
I slipped into the bathroom, unbuckled my pants and began taking a dump. I wish I had more heroin. Funny how the toilet can be a place of meditation and peace.
The Rays lost the face of the franchise. As Evan Longoria leaves this market that is already suffering from attendance issues and an abomination of a stadium in what could be deemed one of the worst towns in Florida, it is of no wonder why Stu Sternberg dismantles this team. This is the equivalent of when they traded off David Price, Ben Zobrist and James Shields and letting Joe Maddon walk for simply nothing. Trading Longo signals two things in my mind:
Stu is setting up the franchise in a good spot to be sold with a youthful farm system and team on the field for a prospective city.
The other way I see it is they are salary dumping all of these players from the last decade of success in order to fund the stadium in Ybor and/or somewhere in Tampa Bay. Rebuilds are hard but I do not see this as an entire rebuild. Yes, there is talent on the field but with the upcoming months, there is no doubt that Archer and/or Colome could be out the door. These are the icons of the franchise alongside Kevin Kiermaier. As much as I like KK, he plays reckless and has yet to really produce in one full season offensively and defensively. All-Star season has yet to be seen. The direction of this franchise seems to be a bit of a mystery with the pitfalls of the stadium issue (one of the most depressing places to watch a game...PERIOD) and now selling off franchise guys. The only player people could probably name you on the roster in this town would be Evan Longoria or Kevin Kiermaier. Identity goes a long way. Despite all of the analytics of the game and statistics there is something to be said about a team with character. See Miami Marlins for definition of a team with good players and ZERO character. Yelich, Ozuna, Stanton and Dee Gordon are all great players yet the franchise is ran by imbeciles. Almost makes you wonder what in the hell is going on in that front office in St. Pete? At the end of the day, this is a business and people come and go but there are cornerstone players who stay through the thick and thin. Freeman and Tehran have stayed put in Atlanta through their rebuild. All in all, it is a sickening day to day for this already questionable franchise. Subtract Maddon, Zobrist, Price, Shields, Moore, Cobb, Longo and Forsythe who were all beloved. Is it safe to say Archer and Colome are probably out the door next? It seems the definition of Rays Baseball would be never like player when he becomes a legit Major Leaguer because they'll be shipped off for prospects anyhow.
This is complete utter lunacy. How do you gain fans and establish them if this is your method of business? What is there to get behind? It pains me to say this but The Marlins and Rays are very similar in that they are ran in the most moronic and unfathomable sense. Put all the statistics you want and compare but the fact is when you go to a game every year and the entire team is new year in, year out, how in the fuck do you get behind that let alone that awful stadium they play in owned by a guy who does not even invest into Tampa Bay and who is more preoccupied with The New York Mets? Denard Span? Really? I sincerely wish Evan Longoria all the best and how this franchise has lost someone who really loves Tampa Bay despite the organization making questionable moves. It will be no marvel when that stadium really dries up like the five o'clock tide going outward.
The shit slithered out of my arsehole smooth, wiped and I flushed.
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