Things Bud Black has outlasted

I read the opening paragraph of Bill Center's article this morning and immediately stopped.

My mind was blown after reading these words written about Padres manager Bud Black:

 " . . . where he begins his sixth spring training as Padres manager Monday."

It seems like only yesterday that Bud Black arrived from Anaheim and the Bruce Bochy Era concluded. Yet here he is, beginning his 6th season with the Padres.

The only thing I could think of in response to this piece of information was to make a reference to a long running sit-com that I've never even watched. But Bud Black deserves better than that.

Bud Black should be applauded for making it to a 6th season as not everyone / everything has such staying power.

Here's a list of things that weren't as fortunate to make it to a sixth year. . .

Nirvana
With Nirvana's release of their debut album Bleach in June of 1989 and the subsequent suicide of Kurt Cobain in April of 1994 the seminal rock band failed to even make it to the 5 year mark.  
Bud Black > Flannel Apparel and Three Chord Guitar Progressions

Gale Sayers
Technically the career of the Kansas Comet lasted form 1965-1971 but catastrophic knee injuries cut his run of greatness short. Sayers only played two games in both the 1970 and 1971 seasons which by my count leaves his career at a full five seasons in the NFL.  
Bud Black > 1960's Knee Reconstruction

The Wire
The epic HBO series, portraying the urban decay of Baltimore as described by David Simon and Ed Burns, lasted a full 5 seasons and then called it quits.
Bud Black > Jimmy McNulty + Omar Little

Saved By The Bell: The College Years
Tiffani-Amber Thiessen was so good looking in 1993 she could have carried The College Years through a four year undergraduate program and a masters thesis. Alas, the series ended after one season.
Bud Black > Kelly Kapowski

Star Wars
Over the span of 28 years the George Lucas successfully brought 5* feature length Star Wars films to the big screen. I'm fudging with the parameters here but in terms of output it's more important to count the films and not the years in which they spanned.
Bud Black >  George Lucas' Dialogue and Jar Jar Binks

*Most Star Wars aficionados acknowledge that The Phantom Menace sucked horribly. As such I have not included it. And Bud Black wins.

The Greco-Persian Wars
Taken in tandem, the two invasions of Greece by the mighty Persian armies of Darius and Xerxes, lasted less than five years. Considering the superior strength of Persia and the fact that Greece ultimately won it's astonishing that these wars didn't last longer. Bud Black would have destroyed Greece.
Bud Black > Ancient History and its Commanders

The San Diego Padres
The Padres made it through 5 seasons in San Diego and then in 1974 were on the verge of moving to Washington DC. Had Ray Kroc not swooped in to save the day we'd be saying that Bud Black also outlasted the San Diego Padres . . . or would we? Feel free to contemplate this existential dilemma.
Bud Black = Ray Kroc (?)

Bud Black has yet to make the playoffs in San Diego but his tenure should be commended nonetheless. I foresee greatness for Bud Black. All he needs is the right number of years under his belt.

Late To The New Media Blogging Party

Back in the day as a youngster, I would stay up late at night and watch 120 minutes on MTV. The good ol' days, when it was actually Music Television. I recall the personal discovery of a band that I had never heard of nor had any of my friends. Awesome! I could be the trailblazer introducing the finest that music had to offer. So I bought their TAPE, talked 'em up and shared with anyone that would listen. Not too many paid me any mind. In fact my taste was openly ridiculed by two people close to me. Whatever.

Within the year this band blew up to the nth degree and there was nary a soul not listening to the groundbreaking band charged with ending the days of glam-rock. Those that ridiculed me were on board proclaiming their love for this band........but I knew better. Many of these people were late to the game, a game that I had told them about, long before. I was the trailblazer that introduced Nirvana* to my group long before they were saturating every aspect of the music industry.

In the figurative sense: The Padres FO versus their fans

Ultimately it did not matter that I was at the forefront of this trend, it only mattering that people were in recognition of Big Hair-Glam Rock as a sort of Anti-Christ and that Nirvana was our musical salvation.....or our nirvana.

Now there is a reason that I share this piece of historical music awesomeness. Newspapers are dying, as those who are awake can attest, and it is through alternative sources of information that sports fans will be forced to sift. Some of us already recognize this and we have sought like minded people who can provide content and analysis......the kind that is sorely absent from the San Diego Union Tribune. For those who disagree with that statement I recommend clicking the following link to a UT article that gave virtually ZERO pertinent information regarding the players acquired from the White Sox in the Jake Peavy trade.

If you wanted information you needed to be visiting the San Diego blogs to satiate your Padre fix. That's a fact folks........a bunch of dudes who don't get paid a cent did all the leg work on the biggest Padre trade since 1993. (Bloggers were the content providers if you aren't quite catching my drift**).

So it is the blogs that are changing (and have been) the landscape of traditional media and we have many new and exciting choices in addition to the existing ones. It is the existing media however that must adapt; a choice of survival or extinction. But in the end it does not matter if your blog has been around for 5 years or if you are late to the party like me***. It only matters that there is a committed group of individuals at the forefront who can still passionately follow and research a Padre team that currently sits at 43-63, 22 games out of first. Only those with passion could do such a thing.....

Post Impetus
Former talk-show hosts embrace new media [UT-Posner]
Response to Posner's article [GLB]

* I happen to think that Nirvana is one of the most overrated things in the history of overrated things. It's three chord rock, with unintelligible lyrics, screamed not sung....c'mon? I mean I like 'em but they're not Deities.

** Look in the sidebar under "The Good The Bad & The Ugly" for a list of sites that you would be better served to consult when in need of real information.

*** If I were you, I wouldn't depend wholly on this blog for intelligent analysis and dutiful research. We're rarely David Spade's Richard from Tommy Boy (me and my fellow nerds shall return to our nerdery to crunch these numbers) and usually Chris Farley's Tommy (fat guy in a little coat/falls down and breaks table). But there are other solid non-table breaking blogs out there.