The last couple of weeks have exhausted me.  I know, I know.  It's stupid to get sucked into all this rumor and innuendo, but I can't change that now.  It's too hard to figure out whose side I'm on now.  I no longer know.  I can't eat.  I can't sleep.  The Padres are ruining my life and I had to figure out a way to stop it.

So I did what I always do when life is getting me down.

I searched through all the mix CDs that Drama is always sending me and tried to locate the one song that best represents what's been going on in PadreLand.  One that really speaks to the situation.  One with a beat you can dance to.

And I think I found it.  And after I composed a riveting photo narrative to accompany it, I felt much better.

I hope it makes you feel better, too.

Tim Sullivan apparently decided to wait until the off-season to write his best columns.  This one on Peavy is excellent.  I thought his assessment of how the front office is laying all this out to the public is right on and the fact that he called DePodesta  Alderson's consigliore made me giggle.

But I thought this was the part that he really nailed:

Yet the real issue here is not front office flexibility, but fans' faith. Time after time, the Padres have signed key players to long-term contracts only to develop buyer's remorse before the ink dries. When your foundation is forever in flux, your customers may be prone to cynicism.

Several folks around here have wondered why we'd be so upset at the prospect of trading Peavy if it makes the team better and I think Sullivan's observation is right on the money.  I'm not against trading Peavy if it makes the team better - but when the team is forever in flux and changing strategies every couple of years, it gets old.  And tired.  And disheartening. 

And when the consigliore spins his awesome little stories about how great it will be when we trade Peavy because we're going to get so much in return but fails to mention the real reasons why it's happening and pretends like this was the plan all along, it feels a bit insulting.  I understand why it needs to be done now, but don't dress it up for anything more than it is.

We didn't have a slogan this year because the Padres were too busy planning for a 99 loss season to come up with one.  But I think Sullivan just gave them the '09 slogan.

Go Padres!  Forever in Flux!

It seems like forever since we've had any fun around here.  We lost 100 games*.  We finished in last place.  The Dodgers won the NL West.  We kept our manager.  Our hitting coach turned out to be a quitter/rogue agent.   John and Becky can't get along.  The organization wants their two dollars from Lane Khalil.  And, as a result, there's been nothing to get excited over, nothing to have a little fun with.

Dex and jbox lamented last season that GLB was better when the Padres sucked because then nobody would take anything serious and we'd all have a lot more fun.**  Hey, guess what?  That didn't happen this season.  We all turned into a bunch of sour, moping whiners.

So I know the season is over - as is next season - but, dammit, we're gonna have fun today.

Here's your challenge:  create a caption to go with the photo down below.  To the winner, I will donate my year's salary that Dex and jbox graciously pay me for doing SLPiH.  (I got a raise this yr, so, seriously - this is a good deal.)

Have fun, you sour, moping whiners.

*99 is pretty much the same as 100 and 100 sounds better/worse.

**paraphrasing - too lazy to look up actual post.