Read It And Weep (Anthony Rizzo)

Three~ Making Waves

Hannah

"April 4th 2015

Opening Day Observations.

The 2015 Chicago Cubs are by far the most intriguing sports team this city has had in a long time. With Joe Maddon, a visionary of baseball and human etiquette, heading the team they look to turn things around from the years of failure and low expectations. He doesn't care about the history, just about making some of his own and setting his own expectations that lead to a World Series as soon as this season.

After signing the big name free agent Jon Lester and reuniting him with his long time catcher David Ross the pitching rotation is a good story line to follow this season. With Jason Hammel, Kyle Hendricks, Jake Arietta and Travis Wood rounding out the rotation it will be interesting to see how much weight the bull pen will have to carry and just how healthy this rotation can stay. Should they stay on top of their games they can win a lot of games purely from a starting pitching standpoint. The bull pen might not be relied on as heavily as it has in the past with guys who can go six plus innings every single game which saves a lot of arms for a possible post season run.

When it comes down to hitting there are a lot of scenarios we need to take into consideration. The addition of Dexter Fowler is nothing to blink a eye at. The Cubs desperately need a consistent lead off man and that is Dexter. He is a veteran presence who has the capability to lead this team far given he makes it on base. His role is a big one and I believe he is ready for this responsibility. The guys behind him sure like to hit so as long as he does his job decently well he will be rewarded.

The next storyline we need to look at are the guys in the farm system who we will get the chance to see late in the season. There's no doubt we will be seeing the highly decorated Kris Bryant up here first once the contracts talks are figured out. After the spring training many believed that he should start the season here, and I'm one of them. He has done nothing but play at a MVP level from high school to college to the minor leagues. He's a stud at the hot corner and has a swing many people think is perfect. It will be great to see one of the Cubs high draft picks in action after having to suck for so long to get him. Then there are others like Javy Baez who we seen before and Kyle Schwarber and Addison Russell who we haven't. Each player is great in their own right, but still have a way to mold their game to fit the MLB and be a every day player. And this is their chance to do so, with a manger like Joe and so many veterans who know what they can do. Only time will tell.

While this team is a huge question mark, I believe this season will be one of their best ones in many many years. Not curse breaking good, but they will surprise a lot of people. The potential is there, as it always is in sports. All they have to do is take advantage of this rare situation and make the best of it. Although their face of the organization Anthony Rizzo might not know where to lead them, confused by the fancy stats and where he thinks a women's place is in sports, I still believe that this team will shock the world, one way or another.

By Hannah Anderson."

"This is good Hannah, like always" my boss says making me smile. He sits behind his desk as he reads over the draft I sent in. "But I'm afraid you know that I can't publish this" he says.

My face falls as I look at him weird. "You can't or you won't? If it is a good article then why can't you publish it" I challenge.

"You can't let your personal feelings leak into your writing. What you said about Anthony will not bode well around here" he insists.

"But it's the truth! Since when is the truth a bad thing" I ask.

"Since always Miss Anderson, you know this. You're our best field reporter and you're our bravest soul out there. But the slander you put on this mans name will just be put onto yours" he claims.

"I don't really care. I'm not going to sit here and lie and tell people Anthony Rizzo is this glorified feminist who cares about his place on the team. He couldn't care less how his numbers could help his team and he continuously demeaned my hard work simply because I am a women. Don't you think people have the right to know that" I ask.

"Of course I do. But the people don't want to hear that. They want to hear how Anthony will lead this team on and off the field" he argues.

I let out a sigh as my shoulders drop. "I joined this newspaper because it wasn't about what the people wanted to hear, it was what the people needed to hear. It's 2015 and if people still can't handle the truth then we need to do something so they can. Now is the time to break free from this stigma we created" I insist.

"I'm sorry Miss Anderson, but I cannot publish this. I need a rewrite on my desk before you leave. Paper goes out in the morning" he claims.

I just stare at him as I shake my head. These spineless men are so afraid to send waves, scared that they will get pulled out to sea and drown. But I didn't take on this job without knowing the risks of what I said had on the people I write about and myself too. But we're so used to covering up the ugly in sports that was don't even know what we're looking at anymore. And I just want to change that.

So I head back to my desk and rest my head on it. I let out a long groan as I sit there thinking about how to reword this but still get my point across. "Rough meeting with the boss man huh" someone asks.

I lift my head and see my good friend Charles standing there. He's been here with me for a while and he took me under my wing. He didn't treat me any different from the other guys in the sports department and I really appreciated that. He has become my best friend around here and that isn't saying much. I don't do friendship very well. But he doesn't let me push him away too far and that's nice to have.

"I guess that's one way of putting it" I admit.

"I'm guessing the whole "Read It And Weep" article flopped. Big and bad Mr. Brown can't handle the truth" he asks.

"Of course not. No one can" I scoff.

"Maybe you should make a sports journalism organization of your own. Like Barstool" he says.

"Never... and I mean never, bring up Barstool to me again. That is most insulting" I insist and he laughs.

"Alright, fair point. But if you make your own organization then no one can tell you to hide the truth. You can let it be known what it's like to be a woman who loves sports and how you're treated" he claims.

I just sit there and look at him before I get a mischievous smile on my face. "You might be on to something. But I still gotta do good for myself here and make a name before we do anything like that" I insist.

"So are you gonna rewrite it" he wonders.

"I might change some of the words but I'm sticking by what I know" I promise.

"Thatta girl" he smiles.

(P.S. Merry Christmas 😄)