From time to time a certain word or phrase captures our fancy until it gets over used and then we get sick of it.  It happens in various areas of our lives.  A few years back in the political arena we were all wondering if this candidate or that had the “gravitas” to be President.  Longer ago, for some odd reason, the word “now” went out of vogue and was replaced by the much more wordy “at this point in time”.

As most of you know, I am a huge baseball fan.  There is a word that has overtaken my favorite sport in the last couple of years and I’m ready for it to go the way of number 42.  Let’s retire it.  The word is “grind”.

It used to be that Major Leaguers played a “long” season because, after all, “there’s always another game tomorrow.”  Now (or should I say, “At this point in time”) that long season is a grind that players and managers alike have to grind out with batters grinding out at bats and pitchers grinding out innings.

Enough already!

Let’s see if you agree with this:  Major League baseball players get paid very handsomely to play a kid’s game.  Unless a team makes a deep run into the play-offs, they get about four months off to recover from this year’s grind before they have to start getting ready for next year’s grind.  They start their work year during the winter, but in places where the weather is warm.  Yes, they travel a lot, but they stay at first class hotels and don’t have to bother with any planning for their trips or bear any of the expenses.  I could go on, but I think you get the idea.

Now don’t get me wrong.  Not many of us can hit a 96 MPH fastball and even less of us can throw one.  These are gifted athletes and most of them work very hard at their craft.  I don’t begrudge them their pay or their perks.   I’m just saying I can think of about a gazillion other jobs that are more of a “grind” than being a Major League baseball player.