It gets better in a worse way...

Allow me to apply what we have learned from our extended and ever improving baseball analogy.

Two weeks ago I signed a rookie to be my lead off hitter. She was a hot prospect (literally) and did excellent in training camps. She had all the right things going for her and eagerly signed a short term deal. (I hope your following this: so we had gotten passed the "just hanging out" phase and were getting on to the breaking point in our relationship, the point where you just have to talk about "each other". We were not exclusive yet but we could both tell that the decision point was close at hand.)

I could tell earlier in the week that something was on her mind and that our contract needed to be renegotiated. So being the just manager that I am I made plans to sit down with her on Friday night and work out the details. But rookie had other plans. (I am going to be in and out of the analogy here so try to keep up.)

Thursday rolls around and she asks me if I would like to go for a walk with her (ya, I know, a "walk"). Naturally I say yes and prep myself for possible situations and things that could come up about "us". Let me insert some vital information at this point - the whole time we had been "courting" I felt deep down in the depths of my stomach, you know, the dark place where emotions have no voice, that our "contract" was not going huge. She probably wasn't going to be the girl that took me to the 'ship. I can't explain that emotion, but I enjoyed being with her anyways and we were winning some games together, so to speak. Who doesn't like to cuddle and hold hands and such? Exactly. I was ready to commit to her had be a one girl guy if she was willing to do the same in regards to me. If not, then I was ready to move on. I wanted it all, or nothing at all (thanks O-town).

As we get to talking she lays it all out. (Ok, so now rookie is the pitcher and I'm up to bat). I know what pitches she has; fastball ("I just think we are moving too fast..."), change-up ("I just think that we should still date other people"), and curveball ("I'm just not interested in a relationship"). Or, she could lob it up there softball-style and for me to hit out of the park (= boyfriend/girlfriend). But rookie does something not only unexpected, but darn near illegal! She throws me a spit-ball (a spitball is illegal because it gives the ball an atypical and unpredictable movement and is near impossible to hit). And this was no ordinary spit-ball either, this was a split-ball/bean-ball combo!

She says, "I'm in a relationship with another guy."

I go to flinch out of the way but know the ball is coming straight for me.

"Did I just get played?" I ask myself. I did not see this one coming. It gets better in a worse way.

"He lives in Indiana."

And down I go. Hit in the Lower House of Parliament, the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, the toolbox, the frank and beans. You get the picture. Rookie signed a contract behind my back with our analogies equivalent of the Japanese league. But oh, it gets better in a worse way.

As she describes the way this "other guy", shall I say, assumed that they were already in a relationship (over facebook of all things!), I come to realize that he kind of forced her to be in an exclusive relationship with him. He sounds socially inept and desperate at that. Never has a rookie made such a rookie mistake as this rookie did. She is confused about "them" (wouldn't you be too if the negotiations were in Japanese?!!) and just needs to "figure things out" she says.

That's fine. I understand bigger and better deals come along. It is only right to take advantage of those deals. But a) behind the managers back and b) with the "foreign league"? Goodbye, sayonara, zaijian, au revoir, adios.

So now it appears that I am building my team from scratch again. Let this one thing be known, the 4 S's just got changed to the 5 S's, indefinitely. "Single" just made its way up off from "honorable mention" to the big leagues. Congratulations.

-Genghis