30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Thursday, January 7, 2021

A Different Approach

Today's post was originally going to focus on some early 90's baseball cards, but after spending the entire afternoon yesterday watching the sickening and scary events that took place at the Capitol Building... I pulled the plug.

I started writing down all of the emotions that ran through me yesterday... which spanned from feeling heartbroken, sad, and disappointed to offended, disgusted, and infuriated.  But ranting on this blog won't make me feel any better.  Trust me.  I vented to my father and best friend yesterday... and those feelings were still with me when I fell asleep last night.

That's why I decided to try a different approach and write something more positive and patriotic.

2005 Upper Deck USA Baseball #USA86

Representing your country in a positive way has to be one of the greatest feelings in the world.


Kershaw was a member of the USA Baseball 18U National Team back in 2005.  I couldn't find any information about how he fared, but that doesn't matter to me.  He's always been one of those guys with a clean reputation.  One of those guys who gives back to the community and has done plenty of work for various charities.

But we can't all be Clayton Kershaw.  I'll never represent our beautiful country on the baseball diamond or any other sports arena... but I can be a positive role model for my nieces, nephews, and students (past and present)... and explain to them that even on the darkest of days, the sun will eventually rise.

Thirteen days left.  

Happy Thursday and sayonara!

18 comments:

  1. Kershaw is a good example of positivity I think. Like you I was disgusted with what happened yesterday and what has happened over the last four years, really. I am hoping there are consequences for those involved. Also hoping it is fewer than 13 days quite frankly.

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  2. You are also a positive role model online in this blog and that matters!

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  3. Thanks for the post Fuji, love your positivity!!

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  4. Thanks, Fuji, for the terrific post. Yesterday was a sad day in America, and today we are picking up the pieces, as we always to, and that's what makes us the country that we are. Terrorism, no matter where it comes from, will never prevail.

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  5. Solid post. Be well. Let us hope we're about to see a national sunrise.

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  6. Definitely can be - and you already are - a positive role model! Just focusing on what you can do to chip in still makes a difference.

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  7. YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE EVERY DAY, FUJ! I was sickened and still somewhat taken aback. I rarely discuss politics on the blog and don't even know what to say other than - I stand with you Fuji.

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  8. Quick moment from Wednesday; I texted a buddy across town who I've known since 2nd grade and told him that I truly wished for a 'time machine' at that moment that would take us back to our 8th grade social studies classroom and listen to Mr Breedlove rail at what we saw happening in DC. Teachers provide great memories 40+ years later!

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  9. How is it that there's so much outrage and descriptions of "sickening behavior" about this, but almost none when those BLM thugs were looting and vandalizing MULTIPLE cities?

    Back then, the new token Affirmative Action VP Harris was actually coming out in support of those dopes, but now (when it's HER office that's being vandalized) it's all "sickening", "disgraceful", etc, etc)

    Answer: The old double-standard that the democratic party is self-entitled to.

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    1. There was outrage at the rioting last summer, which should be separated from the peaceful protests by blm and their supporters since the instigators of the rioting were found to be at least in some cases white nationalists.
      Blm and others were protesting systemic racism and police brutality. The actions in D.C. this week were an attempt to overturn a fair democratic election. Every American should be outraged at that.
      Over the last four years it has become abundantly clear that those calling themselves rebuplicans belong to the party of hypocrisy.

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    2. "Fair election"? You must be joking.

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    3. Boo hoo, deal leader didn't win! It's not fair! I'm gonna burn down the country. Waaah.

      Do me a favor, Jim from Downington. Don't procreate. Loser.

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    4. jim from downingtown - i was not amused by looting and vandalizing during last summer's protest by any means... but i 100% support the blm protests themselves. it's hard for me to understand how anyone wouldn't be against systemic racism and police brutality. and seriously... if you can't see why i was upset about wednesday's events... i can't say anything to put your mind at ease.

      and normally... i keep politics off of this blog, but since you made a comment about the democratic party... i'd like to make it very clear that i am a registered republican and have been since i started voting. but i refuse to follow any political party blindly. in other words... i vote for the individual and not the party.

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  10. I actually did the opposite, I avoided watching the news knowing something was going to happen from the buildup. I don't want to see this stuff. I prefer not to. Nice card and post.

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  11. USA Basbeall actually has a fabulous backlog of player stats on their webpage. If you go to their page, click on one of their teams, there is a menu option that says "History" with all the old stats and schedules going back to the 1980s. It's really impressive. The U18 team plays a really limited schedule, like 8 to 10 games a year, so it's really hard to read too much into their stats. They also tend to play in tournaments, so there are always some games against teams like Argentina or Italy which bloat their stats. Anyway, Kershaw only pitched in 1 game with Team USA, still got a card though.

    https://img.mlbstatic.com/opprops-images/image/upload/opprops/n2nalrsvbspreyykfwro.pdf

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  12. gcrl - i think we're down to 11 more days ;D

    steve at 1975baseballcards.com - thanks for the kind words

    the diamond king - i wasn't positive that day. can't imagine many of us were

    elliptical man - .

    john sharp - appreciate the kind words... and agree that we cannot let acts of terrorism prevail

    david - you're welcome. thanks for taking the time to read the blog

    peter k. steinberg - we will peter. we will

    the lost collector - thanks. it's important that we all play our role in making the world a better place to live in

    sumomenkoman - thanks buddy

    acrackedbat - i try not to bring up politics either and debated on writing this post. but it's something i felt had to be documented for myself.

    mr haverkamp - wish i had a mr. breedlove who made that kind of impact on me. there are teachers i remember, but none of them were social studies teachers. that being said... it's one of my favorite subjects, so maybe they all did a great job.

    matt - i don't blame you. i typically try not to watch the news too much... otherwise i start getting stressed and depressed

    the snorting bull - thanks for the link. that's really cool. kinda crazy that kershaw walked more guys than he struck out. but i guess one game is a very small sample size.

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