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August 21, 2006
A Quick Zoology Lesson
I always assumed hyenas were scavengers. That's the image they have in popular culture (as much as hyenas ever show up in popular culture), but apparently only a couple of types of hyenas scavenge, and most of them are actually pretty efficient hunters.
Which kills the analogy I was all ready to make; I was all set to compare Dan Shaughnessy to a hyena, in that he spends most of his time cackling off in the distance, but really comes into his element when there's a corpse to be picked over. But now having learned about hyenas, I can't make that comparison. Plan B, I guess, is something about flies being attracted to a cowpie (which is a perfect metaphor for the 2006 Sox right now).
Dan is pretty sure that the Sox are falling apart because they didn't make a blockbuster trade at the deadline. I think he's sad that they didn't trade any of the young pitchers away, because I'm sure he already had half of the "We hardly knew ye" column written for Craig Hansen's first 4-0 start in Philadelphia.
I think (and keep in mind I'm not a beloved expert columnist for a major daily newspaper) that the Red Sox' misery right now can be traced directly to the fact that Jason Varitek isn't handling the pitching staff right now. I love Mirabelli as a backup, but the difference in pitching between when Jason was around and when he's not is glaring.
Schilling's good, Papelbon's good (mostly), the rest of them are HORRIBLE. It's a sad commentary that the most effective middle-relief job this weekend was turned in by Julian Tavarez.
I really wanted the hyena analogy to work.
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Comments
I think the technical term that gets applied to most Hyenas is "opportunistic," meaning they scavenge whenever they can, but will go on the hunt whenever the carrion is low. At least that's what we told people at AMNH.
Posted by: The Rev. | August 21, 2006 08:23 PM
Check out vultures. That may tie into teh Shaughnessy analogy.
Posted by: Vin | August 22, 2006 07:52 AM
