Night Owl Cards

  I know, or have come across, several fans my age or older who are no longer interested in major league baseball as it's played now. I've also read or written a good number of profiles on former players who say they don't watch the game anymore. It just doesn't look like the game they know and played. Whether you think that is a closed-minded way of thinking or a natural reaction as people grow older, it's very apparent to me that those who play MLB now are different than the players who played in the '70s, '80s and even much of the '90s when I was younger and much more of a fan. Just about every day -- especially now that it's the postseason -- the difference hits me in the face. As I'm scrolling through the limited number of photos available (a rant for another time) to use when I'm producing the sports section for my paper, I regularly see players screaming into the air as if they had just smote the enemy on a bloody battlefield. It strik...

  I am old enough that I don't really get modern ball players.   It just happens. You get to a certain age and stuff doesn't make sense anymore. I didn't plan for it to happen. It just did. I'm OK with baseball being different than when I grew up, it would be weird if it remained the same as it was in the '70s and '80s. Nothing else about life is the same as it was then. And although I miss the stolen base and pitchers going 9 innings and ... singles for crying out loud ... I understand. Things change.   The most difficult thing for me might be the emotional displays in the game today.   Obviously, the "histrionics" -- as I've called them in the past -- didn't happen much in the game when I was growing up. But as baseball has evolved culturally, so has players' behavior and I'm trying to keep up. I am not an outwardly emotional person. If I were to do something great on the field, I would have to force myself to do anything beyond raisi...