Pujols Signs With Angels

[JL21]

Every time this happens, it's the same thing.
1. The athlete takes more money to go somewhere else.
2. The fans get upset.
3. The athlete wonders why fans get upset, and tries to justify it.

I don't know what they expect. Maybe we could have a poll about "What is the correct response to Albert leaving?" Some possible choices for you:
1. "Oh, now I'll just relocate to Anaheim and root for you there, too!"
2. "Yeah, screw the team I've been following since I was 6. They've always been cheap SOBs."
3. "My grampa took me to my first game ever in 1964. Turns out he was full of crap. The Angels are where it's at."

This isn't how it works. I think it shows that athletes are truly out of touch with reality. Pujols isn't the 1st or last athlete this has happened with, though.

Couldn't that just as easily be said of fans? If players do this in every sport, and the fans keep getting upset, doesn't that sort of imply that the fans are out of touch with reality?

[TheoSqua]

Every time this happens, it's the same thing.
1. The athlete takes more money to go somewhere else.
2. The fans get upset.
3. The athlete wonders why fans get upset, and tries to justify it.

I don't know what they expect. Maybe we could have a poll about "What is the correct response to Albert leaving?" Some possible choices for you:
1. "Oh, now I'll just relocate to Anaheim and root for you there, too!"
2. "Yeah, screw the team I've been following since I was 6. They've always been cheap SOBs."
3. "My grampa took me to my first game ever in 1964. Turns out he was full of crap. The Angels are where it's at."

This isn't how it works. I think it shows that athletes are truly out of touch with reality. Pujols isn't the 1st or last athlete this has happened with, though.

Couldn't that just as easily be said of fans? If players do this in every sport, and the fans keep getting upset, doesn't that sort of imply that the fans are out of touch with reality?

That's hwy they're called Fans. The word implies they're out of touch with reality.

[G. Keenan]

GK....That's fine....but the Pujols family should not be insulting our intelligence with the other crap...just admit it was for the Money and move on....They should not be making publicity for the signing of the contract or making excuses for signing it

Is the Pujols family scheduling their own press conferences or calling into radio shows to talk about it? Maybe they are, I don't know, but my guess is that hungry reporters, especially from StL, are asking them these questions. What answer do they expect? "Yep, it was ALL about the money. It's been real StL. Smell ya later."

We as fans don't even know what the Cards various offers were but it seems like none were close to Anaheim's. It sounds like Albert made a personal effort to get involved. I do believe they wanted to stay in StL. A 5 year offer is a terrible opening gambit. No way in hades does Albert accept that. No way. Do you think Albert feels like he's going to be a shell of himself 5 years from now? Of course he doesn't.

I agree that it sucks he's gone. I never thought I'd see him in another uniform. In some ways I can't believe this is really happening but it might be for the best. I'm not insulted by the Deirdre's comments. In fact, the "Albert is not a possession" one is very insightful, imo. That's what he really was to us, a possession. A proxy for our own sporting fantasies and StL pride, and my extension a very small part of our own identities. Albert was ours He played for our team. How can he do this to us? Fans' emotions are understandable, but so are the Pujols family's, imo.

[Spider John]

To paraphrase Albert said back in 2009, "no discounts, this is business". So when the team approached him in a strictly business manner, In their arrogance and ignorance he and his wife were offended.

[G. Keenan]

I don't think enough people are taking the ego and desire to be the best, most, highest, etc. that professional athletes have. Albert is the best player in the game and one of the best of all-time and he wanted, rightly in the context of of his industry, to be compensated as such. Fan support, even in a place like StL, can be fickle. Look at how fans turned on guys like Izzy. Fan support is all warm and fuzzy but money talks. The Angels offer, between the 10 years/$254 and 10 year consulting contract after that absolutely blows the Cards offer out of the water. So Cal is a beautiful place to live. The Angels are a really good team and a well run franchise. It's a very appealing place to play.

As others have said, if Albert would simply say THAT, then I'd have much more respect for him.

You might, but I guarantee you that if he'd said that there would be Cardinals fans outside his house with pitchforks. That sentiment would enrage the fan base much more than what he's said so far. It would be the equivalent of "I'm taking my talents to South Beach."

[Socnorb11]

GK....That's fine....but the Pujols family should not be insulting our intelligence with the other crap...just admit it was for the Money and move on....They should not be making publicity for the signing of the contract or making excuses for signing it

Is the Pujols family scheduling their own press conferences or calling into radio shows to talk about it? Maybe they are, I don't know, but my guess is that hungry reporters, especially from StL, are asking them these questions. What answer do they expect? "Yep, it was ALL about the money. It's been real StL. Smell ya later."

We as fans don't even know what the Cards various offers were but it seems like none were close to Anaheim's. It sounds like Albert made a personal effort to get involved. I do believe they wanted to stay in StL. A 5 year offer is a terrible opening gambit. No way in hades does Albert accept that. No way. Do you think Albert feels like he's going to be a shell of himself 5 years from now? Of course he doesn't.

I agree that it sucks he's gone. I never thought I'd see him in another uniform. In some ways I can't believe this is really happening but it might be for the best. I'm not insulted by the Deirdre's comments. In fact, the "Albert is not a possession" one is very insightful, imo. That's what he really was to us, a possession. A proxy for our own sporting fantasies and StL pride, and my extension a very small part of our own identities. Albert was ours He played for our team. How can he do this to us? Fans' emotions are understandable, but so are the Pujols family's, imo.

Really? You think Musial and Gibson are just "possessions" to St. Louis fans?

I think Albert wanted to stay in St. Louis too........ if they were the ones offering the most money.

[AdmiralKird]

GK....That's fine....but the Pujols family should not be insulting our intelligence with the other crap...just admit it was for the Money and move on....They should not be making publicity for the signing of the contract or making excuses for signing it

I genuinely think they don't believe it was about the money, even if the underlying reason was money. I honestly think they believe God gave them a sign when their negotiations were not becoming fruitful and they followed where he led.

You can say its BS all you want, but I don't think they're pathological liars. They're delusional.

[Jocephus]

GK....That's fine....but the Pujols family should not be insulting our intelligence with the other crap...just admit it was for the Money and move on....They should not be making publicity for the signing of the contract or making excuses for signing it

I genuinely think they don't believe it was about the money, even if the underlying reason was money. I honestly think they believe God gave them a sign when their negotiations were not becoming fruitful and they followed where he led.

You can say its BS all you want, but I don't think they're pathological liars. They're delusional.

i agree.

theres a william s burroughs quote id love to quote but i'll refrain

[jagtrader]

I think it was about winning the negotiations. The scoreboard happened to be money.

[pioneer98]

Every time this happens, it's the same thing.
1. The athlete takes more money to go somewhere else.
2. The fans get upset.
3. The athlete wonders why fans get upset, and tries to justify it.

I don't know what they expect. Maybe we could have a poll about "What is the correct response to Albert leaving?" Some possible choices for you:
1. "Oh, now I'll just relocate to Anaheim and root for you there, too!"
2. "Yeah, screw the team I've been following since I was 6. They've always been cheap SOBs."
3. "My grampa took me to my first game ever in 1964. Turns out he was full of crap. The Angels are where it's at."

This isn't how it works. I think it shows that athletes are truly out of touch with reality. Pujols isn't the 1st or last athlete this has happened with, though.

Couldn't that just as easily be said of fans? If players do this in every sport, and the fans keep getting upset, doesn't that sort of imply that the fans are out of touch with reality?

I guess you need to define "reality" kind of like Bernie did in his article.

Fans cannot relate to a reality where getting paid millions to do anything is normal.

And players cannot evidently relate to fans loyalties being with teams rather than players.

The difference is that all players were kids themselves once, and have forgotten what it was like. (Let's face it: nearly all of our team loyalties formed when we were kids). Normal fans don't have any memories of what it was like to get paid $250 mil for doing anything, and being the center of attention of millions of people. So they simply cannot relate. On the player side, the hope is that the player can remember their roots, what it was like to be a kid, etc, and might realize, "Yeah, maybe it's just better if I keep my mouth shut if I decide to take the money."