Volvo's Old Peter Happy Model

I am the current owner of 2 Volvos. Sorry, let me correct that for accuracy. My wife owns a Volvo and she and I own a second Volvo.

We've owned nothing but Volvos since we bought our first one in 1983. She has insisted on it, and frankly, in my unmanly manner, I don't really give a shit. I'm a "My car is transportation" kind of guy. For those concerned to hear those words, allow me to allay your fears by confirming that I have an incredibly expensive and spectacular barbeque grill, which I use almost as much as I use my car (ok, my half a car).

So it is with much personal interest that I read in The McCovey Chronicles Grant's nostalgic comparison of his former 1984 beat to shit Volvo with his feelings for Pedro Feliz. You can read it here. It's one of the cleverest pieces I've seen Grant write, and I congratulate him. Here is a lovely paragraph at the end which sums up his feelings:

Every time I see an early '80s Volvo, it's nostalgia time. I don't think about
the hectares of black smoke that flowed from the exhaust every time the car was started. I don't think of the possum-in-a-rice-cooker smell of the interior. I just think of the car as a lyric in the opera of my early 20s. And if I were to see that exact Volvo again -- say, batting seventh for the Phillies -- I would stand and applaud.

Wow. Hectares of black smoke. Can't say I've ever used that word in a sentence. Woo - Hoo!

I love the writing, and I appreciate the sentiment, but I can't agree with it.

First, let me say something good about Pedro. He was the best home grown hitter on the Giants since Matt Williams. And since Matt is now under suspicion by the curmudgeonly Uncle George, maybe he's the best since The Thrill. Unfortunately that says more about the Giants' system than it does about Pedro the hitter.

But I just can't get over my feeling that he should be a better hitter than he is. He has all the tools, but he just can't lay off those first pitch curve balls. It feels like a flaw you can't forgive. Omar Vizquel is not a big guy, so he doesn't hit homeruns, and we can forgive him that shortcoming (so to speak). Pedro has the ability and the physical presence to really make contact with a ball, but it seems his head gets in the way, which makes it his fault. I know it isn't really, after all, hitting a major league curve ball that you don't know is coming is almost certainly the toughest thing in sport. I don't care. He should have been better.

And maybe he'll be better, particularly in the Phillies bandbox. Good luck to you, Pedro. I wish you well, and I won't boo you like the other idiots boo Jeff Kent. But applaud? I think I'll have another forkful from my Cha Cha Bowl while Grant is applauding.

As for our Volvos, they are almost certainly our last. Hey, they're just Fords now. But I'll have my 2001 S-60 for quite a while longer, as I really don't drive all that much. There's only 56,000 miles on it, and I'm a drive-it-into-the-ground kind of guy. And speaking of my S-60, Grant has made an apt comparison between Pedro and Volvos in one regard: as I type this, my car is in the shop.