I'm so silly.  I say I'll never take him back again. Too many false promises, too much heartbreak.  Then come March I see that angular form, muscles and posture and easily athletic grace.  The twinkle in his eye, the granite on his chin...I melt, close my eyes, and again see the shortstop savant who quickened my pulse so, back in 2003.  
Every spring I fall for the same old lines:  I won't chase sliders away <blink, blink>.  I've been working on my conditioning <eyelashes bat>.  I might shorten up my swing with two strikes <swoon>.  

And the disappointment which follows is no less crushing for it inevitability.

Why can't I quit you??????

you'd think after two years of fucking our players up, they'd finally get it right. Well, they did. They manage to perfect fucking up a team.

the notion I had (and I think many others did as well) when the Hudson and Mulder deals were made that Chavez, Crosby and Harden would be the nucleus of a contender for the 2006-2009 period.  Unlike FSU there isn't much chance that I will fall for Crosby again; if he ever does turn into a good player I'm pretty certain that it won't be for Oakland.  I can't take Harden seriously anymore; regardless of what he does in instructional league and how bravely he talks over the winter, I'll just be waiting for the 2008 disaster...whether he "Kotsays" on the second day of spring training or something else happens later.  I think there's a good chance that Chavez will return to be a solid contributor for the rest of his contract, but he's definitely not the man you build your team around.  (Actually I had come to that conclusion on Chavez well before the start of 2007.)

SUCK

on the west bay team was allowed to break a home run record.

my biggest disappointment.  It's really screwed up our team the last couple of years.  All this talk about firing the medical and training staffs is ridiculous.  Just bring back the steroids and they'd all be healthy.

Here's hoping 2008 brings a new designer drug they can't test for.

No! Crosby.
No! Finishing below .500.
No! Bradley.
No! Kotsay.
No! Chavez.
No! Polanco.

Is it April again yet?

But, individually, I'm most disappointed both with, and for, Chavez.  I've seen him his whole career, (I remember being one of about 5k at the Coliseum in '98 when he hit for the cycle) and I've just been hoping he'd turn into a superstar.  I've never seen a better third baseman in the field (and I go back to Brooks Robinson days).  Watching his decreasing offensive efficacy, coupled with painful injuries, has been bad enough, but hearing and reading him get bashed has been a real bummer.  I'm still hoping he'll recover from all this and be the HOFer so many of us see in him.