Cal Ripken, Jr. In Town

If slackers could get up the energy for a protest, today would be a good day. Why? Because the man who never took a day off - Cal Ripken, Jr. - is here in Portland for a lunch at the Convention Center. I wonder who will cover it? Our #1 local sports guy Dwight Jaynes, usually writes about the negative side of sports. If you took joy in the recent NFL Football draft, for example, Dwight tried to diminish that experience for you. If you enjoy soccer, you might as well be institutionalized. Sports columnists are around professional sports way too much, and they lose the happiness we still sometimes feel when something great happens. It's almost as if the average sports fan is doing something wrong to enjoy sports. That's the level of cynicism present in much of Dwight's writing, and the industry in general. Here's another example: When Ichiro showed up, Dwight wrote how he didn't even deserve to be Rookie of the Year. What was the big deal? As I recall, Ichiro went on to be both Rookie of the Year, and the League MVP. Well, Dwight, try and write something bad about Cal Ripken, Jr. Try and explain why we were wrong to admire this guy. I dare you.