Dear Padres,
I'd like to inform you that you kind of really suck at social media and informing fans in general. I know you're trying by having social media nights and integrating twitter into the broadcasts but it's all very lackluster to me. Now I follow a few other baseball accounts on both Twitter and Instagram and well they are so much better at this than you are. I can go days without catching a tweet from you but can go only a few hours without catching a tweet from say the Indians or Reds or someone working for those teams. I don't know if you're just a bunch of old guys who don't understand the concept of social media but are trying to be cool or if you're playing up the whole San Diegan laid back vibe or what the deal is but I could totally do this for you. I'll even watch my potty mouth and save it for my personal account.
Now, that I've made you aware of your social media activity or lack thereof, fanfest. Fanfest is this Saturday and as of last night we still have no idea what players will be there to sign autographs, do the forums or clinics or anything like that. How are we as fans supposed to decide if we want to go if we don't even know if our favorite players will be there?! Also, it's kind of a clusterfuck. I haven't gone the last two years for various reasons. One of those reasons being the whole clusterfucky thing. I feel like it could definitely be organized better. You want to take a picture with your friends in the dugout?? Good luck finding the space to do it. You're wearing sandals on the field, like a normal San Diegan, and want to make your way to the grass so people will stop kicking dirt up on your feet?? HA, not happening. Obviously, people are going to be in your way no matter if you're at fanfest or anywhere with a crowd. The only difference is, fanfest is an independent variable. Also, the "tour" thing is hardly a tour. I'm 99% sure the definition of a tourist is someone who stops and takes pictures like they've never encountered something before. Yeah, you totally can't do that during the "tour". The first and only time I took the tour, I was excited to see/imagine what goes on underneath our seats at every given moment while at Petco. Instead, we had a quick walk-through and if you did try to take a picture, there was a good chance it was going to come out blurry and you weren't going to have time to retake it.
Breaking News!!
As was reported on twitter, my poor Luebke is heading to a second Tommy John surgery. We all know how I feel about the training staff and how I feel about Luebke. So clearly, I should have been the one rehabbing him and this wouldn't have happened. Luckily for Cory, he signed an extension before his elbow died but that only keeps him here until 2015 with options for 2016 and 2017. I hope to God that this second surgery will take and he will come back like Henry Rowengartner. Except ya know, the elbow instead of the shoulder.
Between knowing how athletes are and knowing a little something myself about rehabbing from surgery, not TJ but a surgery nonetheless, I personally feel like Cory's rehab was started before his elbow was ready. And I believe that was made apparent by his first setback and numerous ones after. I've probably tweeted it before especially after his first setback so I won't get into it here. Obviously, now with a second surgery looming, I really believe that. We know athletes are stubborn and hate being away from their sport and to be out for so long with an injury is devastating. No doubt Cory and the Padres wanted him to rehab as soon as possible but sometimes, after you think you're ready to begin your rehab assignment, you have to wait a little longer. In my experience, it took me, I want to say, 7?? years before I was ready to get back into gymnastics after surgery. Clearly, it's going to depend on the individual person, how fast their body heals and whether or not they are mentally prepared for the pain to come. Granted my surgery was a much bigger surgery than Tommy John and dealt with a significantly larger portion of the body than an elbow.
I'm not going to be completely unreasonable and think it's solely the training staffs fault. There is the chance that Cory had the unfortunate luck to be in the 10-ish% who's surgery isn't successful. Given all the injuries the Padres have had the last few seasons I do lean more towards the training staff but again, I'm not completely unreasonable and do understand that Cory could have just been unlucky. It's all just speculation.
Now to get back to my letter to the Padres...
There are obviously opportunities where you can go and have a real tour of the entire stadium but to announce a quick walk-through as a tour is just rude. As far as the autographs portion of fanfest goes, unless you are fortunate enough to have season tickets to get in super early or sign up to get in early, you're most likely not going to get autographs from the players you want. At least that's how it was when I went. The whole set times thing is both good and bad. Not every person that goes to fanfest is going to want to spend the entire day downtown waiting for their allotted time to get a players autograph, especially if it's not the player they were hoping to see. Plus there's that whole having a life outside of baseball thing. Then there are some who collect autographs and want everyone's but you were only allowed to get one voucher, or so I remember. Personally autographs are weird and I'd rather have a picture with the player but still. You have to hope you get there in time to get your favorite. The set times are a great attempt at organization but seem to have more flaws for fans. I have yet to decide whether or not I want to go to fanfest. I will probably decide not to go and then see everyone's tweets and regret that decision until I finally remember how clusterfucky my last experience was.
I'm not offering myself to help with fanfest like I did with the social media aspect because that is just too much. With all this said, I miss you so very much and don't want to wait any longer for the season to start. I love you with all of my little baseball heart and wish the best for you so please try to be better at these things so I can love you with all of my little baseball soul too.
Sincerely,
SanDiegoGirlie
I fully do not expect the Padres to actually see this. I was bored and this is the idea that popped into my head for a new blog post. If by some freak chance someone within the Padres does see this, yes I am serious about all of this. Maybe not so much the taking over their social media accounts part though. Then again it might be fun.
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