Bold Men & Rash Vows…



For students of the Old Testament, you will remember the story of Jephthah and his rash vow to sacrifice whatever (or whomever) first came out of his door upon his return home after his battle with the Ammonites (cf. Judges 11:29-40). As it turned out, the first person to greet him upon his return was his only child – his daughter.

Now while there may, in fact, be a number of lessons that one may derive from this narrative – certainly the most transparent lesson is the principle of the foolishness of hasty and brash vows.

Which brings me to the point of this post…

Back on Saturday, June 4th of this year, Red States Randy (our resident Cardinals fan at this blog of the truly cursed) made the following comments, prediction, and yes…vow:

As I said earlier Lee is doing awesome, if not for him this race in the NL Central would be over already but I still take Albert any day of the week, and twice on Sunday. Albert simply is the best player in the game bar none. Lee is off to a great start, no question, but let's see what the stats look like in August and September and after the season. In fact it won't surprise me one bit if Albert doesn't out do Lee in all 3 triple crown stats before the seasons end. In fact I'll guarantee it. In fact if Lee beats Pujols in AVG., HR, or RBI the next time I am home in P-town I will wear a Cubs hat to church to be laughed at by my friend and fellow poster Chris. And if Derek Lee wins the triple crown this season, well I will throw in 2 tickets for all 3 of my fellow posters on this blog to any Cubs game they want to go to. Mark it down today June 4th, you heard me say it. [emphasis added]

And there you have it.

Red States Randy confidently predicted that Albert Pujols would finish ahead of Lee in every single one of the triple crown stats - he even guaranteed it. In fact, he was so confident of this, he vowed that if Lee even won one of the categories, he would wear a Cubs hat to church and graciously give me the opportunity to laugh at him while he was wearing it.

Now, unfortunately, Derrek Lee let Bill, Camden, and I down by not actually winning the triple crown (deadbeat!) as it would have entailed 2 tickets for each of us to the game of our choice (and I think I would have picked tickets to the eventual(?) game when the Cubs finally make it to the World Series - Randy is a pretty resourceful chap and I would have liked to have given him the opportunity to put that resourcefulness to good use).

Be that as it may, there is still satisfaction to be had with regard to the final respective positions of Messrs. Pujols and Lee in the triple crown.

Here are the final triple crown stats for Fat Albert and Derrek Lee:

Lee (.335 Avg [1st]; 46 HR [2nd]; 107 RBI [17th])
Pujols (.330 Avg [2nd]; 41 HR [3rd]; 117 RBI [2nd])

So not only did Lee beat Pujols in one of the triple crown categories, but in two of the three (and if he had even the semblance of a team around him he would have finished higher in RBI’s as well).

So there you have it. Randy, my friend, that sound of the bells you now hear - they are tolling for you.

I have the perfect Cubs hat for you to wear. It is a bright blue and white adjustable hat and it has a large and gaudy “C” on the side with a bear cub marching through it and onward to glorious…

Well, marching through it and onward to somewhere.




For the rest of you, I will take a picture of this momentous event with my digital camera and then post it for everyone else to see and enjoy.

And Randy: thank-you, for giving me something baseball related to truly enjoy now that the Cubs season is (mercifully) over.