04.08.08 5:00 AM CDT
• Sports
• Playboy Staff
Dave Golokhov, host of Hardcore Sports Radio (Sirius 186), answers one of the timeless questions:What is worse for the single male: the tease who leads you on or the girl that rejects you cold turkey?
Wise men have been debating that for years but the truth is that although the crude chic might rip off the band aid promptly and painfully, at least she saves your time and heart.
The Oakland Athletics and the Minnesota Twins are baseball's version of the tease, which is why they are the worst franchises in the sport.
You might be quick to nominate the Kansas City Royals and the Pittsburgh Pirates as better candidates, but those teams shut you down from the jump. Nobody expects them to be good and they are good at meeting expectations.
On the other hand, the Athletics and Twins continue to field the best prospects in the game, watch their players mature into stars and then walk out the door to play for contenders.
These cheap, Major League farm teams raise their youngsters into men and with them, raise the level of team expectations. And then, just when it looks like the pieces are in place to get serious, they break up the foundation.
We can start with the sale of Johan Santana. Or Dan Haren. Or Torri Hunter. Or Johnny Damon. Or Jason Giambi. Or Miguel Tejada. Or Tim Hudson. Clearly, there are plenty of places to start but there is no end in sight.
And if you are reading this, and saying to yourself "well the Twins just re-signed their closer, Joe Nathan", that is because he'll be easier to trade at the deadline now that he's extended into future years, instead of being a rental (allegedly).
The Twins and A's continually give their fan base the impression that they might be seriously competitive at some point. Enthusiasts keep waiting for the future stars to remove the 'future' tag and their thrifty ownership to remove the 'thrifty' tag. But the reality is that management isn't buying unless their stars are on sale, which means that if they don't re-sign below market value, they are shipped off and the rebuilding process begins once again.
And because they incessantly tease with the ability to build a World Series contender yet continually pull out just when the excitement starts, they are the worst franchises in baseball.
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Comments on this entry:
To compare a tease in bed to a tease on the baseball field is ridiculous. The A's and the Twin's are two competitive, frugal teams that can't afford the same type of roster as the Red Sox or Yankees. You make it seem like Oakland and Minnesota unloaded all those all-stars because they didn't want them anymore.
"The Twins and A's continually give their fan base the impression that they might be seriously competitive at some point."
The A's have made the playoffs 5 out of the past 8 seasons, and most baseball fans I know would consider that seriously competitive.