In Sports...

There is a certain tendency to praise normal human behavior as something amazing. Those avid readers of the Onion know the satirical story of how everybody was amazed that Ray Allen exhibited normal human behavior. Now? Everybody is amazed that Josh Hamilton stopped being sick, found Jesus, and tapped into his prodigious talent.

The sycophantry is well, sick. But I'm okay with it. Really.

Because there's a 57-48 team in the National League. Their four healthy starters are currently a disgraced closer, a disgraced Cub, a pitcher who had the modern-day Jody Reed offseason (lost about 6-8 million from expectations), and Joel Pineiro. Pineiro sucks. The BLooper sucks. Todd Wellenmeyer is currently pitching through pain. But Kyle Lohse is crafty and good. In fairness? They have three potential starters on the DL, and that's not counting Mark Mulder.

And you know what? Throw in Ryan Ludwick and Aaron Miles. They're kind of being good out of nowhere. And the bullpen making the 1996 Seattle Mariners look awesome. It's smoke and mirrors. And you know what?

Nobody gives a shit.

Why? Because Tony LaRussa is the manager. And he has the personality of the one-dimensonal abrasive who plays by the book that he's written. If he had no personality, he'd be in front for manager of the year.

But he's a dick. And that's why we've got no love for the job that he's done.

And it's awesome.