NLN: Sports Op-Ed
by Craig Greenwald, NLN Editorialist

April 29, 2013: Yuma, Arizona – For all you on the Front Range who doubt…

In 1996, The Dave Matthews Band released the song “Don’t Drink The Water“, and that is all too fitting as the Borealis move on to Yuma for three games, where they have not lost to the Bulldozers for… seemingly ever, and certainly not since the Topham clan took control of the team.  The local joke around the Sonoran Desert is that the lack of success in Yuma is all due to the water.  Matthews sings…

Don’t Drink the Water
Don’t Drink the Water
Blood in the water
Don’t Drink the Water

No doubt the blood is that of the failed franchise that, despite changes in management, continues to flail.  Yuma isn’t the only team flailing at their own level of past achievement. Aurora is struggling, too.  Don’t let that 15-10 record fool you.  Many a team would love to sit at .600 ball, but this is a franchise used to a much higher standard.  Despite this perfectly fine start, there are fears amongst the Aurora fan base and rumblings of confidence – aye, perhaps cockiness – in the Tempe and Bakersfield camps.

Come out, come out, no use in hiding.
Come now, come now, can you not see
There’s no place here, what were you expecting?
No room for both, just room for me.

Aurora feels the taunts.  After horrid play against division foes Tempe and Bakersfield in 2012, the 2013 Borealis picked up where last season left off, losing two of three to both the Knights and the Bears in their first meetings.  Come out, quote the Bears; Come out quote the Knights.  No use in hiding for the Borealis, for those clubs are not going away.  Just room for me, these confident teams chant at Aurora as their perennial perch atop the division is under threat of crumbling.

So you will lay your arms down,
Yes, I will call this home.
Away, away, you have been banished.
Your land is gone, and given to me.

Aurora will fight.  That is the Borealis way.  They won’t take the fight lying down.  Yes, they may seem to have lain their arms down.  The pitching rotation is but a shell of its former self, injuries over the past few years devastating a group that would stare into Tempe’s mighty gauntlet of Fireworks and Conan and never blink.  The current group will fight and scratch, be it Artie Tillman or José Reyes or perhaps Francisco Chávez.  Will Tempe look at the perch of the Desert Hills and call this home?  Will they look down the standings at Aurora – Away, away, you have been banished?  Not if Ice Cold, John Knight and El Chupacabra can help it.

And here I will spread my wings.
Yes, I will call this home.

Tempe is confident.  The Bears are, as well.  And they both have the chance to spread their wings during the next few weeks; Tempe with upcoming games against the Bears and Borealis, Bakersfield with games against the ‘Gnats and surprising Omaha, and Aurora looking at a softer stretch.  Should they lose – and should the Knights soar – a division that Aurora rescued from clutches of Tempe during May of 2012 may very well be wrested from them for the first time in six years.

What’s this you say, you feel a right to remain?
Then stay and I will bury you.

With a May that begins with Yuma and continues through Duluth, Fargo, Canton, Kalamazoo and Palm Springs around a trip to Tempe and Crystal Lake, if the Borealis feel a right to remain – this is, after all, the Desert Hills, rightfully their division – then they can’t give Tempe and Bakersfield any chance to bury them. The early two-game deficit may quickly move to five or more.  Aurora’s chances may be enhanced with the return of Richardson in 10 days or so, but this is a vital time indeed, and with Rivera and Pierce on extended DL stays, young players such as En-guo Guao, Brad Cain and Al Edwards need to spread their wings while they fight to remain.

What’s that you say, your father’s spirit still lives in this place?
Well, I will silence you.
Here’s the hitch, your horse is leaving.
Don’t miss your boat, it’s leaving now

Aurora is a proud franchise, and their father’s spirit still lives in this place; the ghost of John Rodriguez, Sr., the PEBA’s principle founder, sits above Aurora, and that spirit will continue to energize the Borealis and guide their success.  That is a spirit that Tempe shall never silence.  The Knights and Bears may feel as if they can run away from the Borealis, but they cannot hide.  Aurora has no intention of missing the boat, nor shall their horse be leaving.  On the contrary…

And as you go I will spread my wings.
Yes, I will call this home.
I have no time to justify to you,
Fool, you’re blind, move aside for me.

Aurora plans on fighting to the end.  They will spread their wings. They intend on calling the Desert Hills their home, as it has been for years now.  They have no time to justify their upstart rivals thinking you’re blind, move aside for me, as they will prevail when all is said and done.  Do not over look the Borealis.  Do not overlook Slappy and Kojima; Quiñones and McDonald.  This will be a battle to the end, Borealis fans!  Do not sit by and watch the boat leave.  Nor watch the horse, unhitched, ride into the sunset.  Aurora fans, you have the best team in all the land – do not forget that!

All I can say to you my new neighbor,
You must move on or I will bury you

And that is Aurora’s goal.  Their new neighbors will be buried, and Aurora will take home their 7^th Desert Hills crown.

But first, as April gives into May and the Borealis face the Yuma Bulldozers, the immediate mantra must be…

Don’t Drink the Water
Don’t Drink the Water
Blood in the water
Don’t Drink the Water