'Tis better to have loved and lost than to have ne'er loved at all.

You know, I can be pretty tough on Mike Lupica. But I'm still a human being who can experience sympathy and compassion. I'm practically moved to tears when a man has to say goodbye to the person he loves the most.


But then, pulling me out of my empathetic funk, Lupica has to go and insult my intelligence:

"We were hoping (Epstein) might show up and pull a Macha," he said.

He was talking about Ken Macha, the A's manager, who said he was leaving the A's after the season and then changed his mind a few days later and came back.

Just like everybody else, I was confused by the "Macha" reference. I naturally assumed the Dirt Dog at the tavern was referring to the Irish War goddess.

But he was actually referring to Ken Macha. Of course! The manager of the Oakland A's. This whole time, we were talking about baseball.