Sunday, April 10, 2005

"Mr. .400" / My New Assignment


Ichiro seen here firing an arrow into a dense crowd at Safeco Field.


Ted Williams can kiss my hairy bean-bag because our friend Ichiro (pronounced Ee-chee-roh) will be the first baseball player since 1941 to break the .400 mark. He has finally gotten his game to the next level, and there is almost nothing opposing teams can do to defeat this speedy slap-hitter.

Consider the following:
1) Ichiro hit over .500 this spring
2) Ichiro is currently riding a 19-game hitting streak dating back to last year, and is hitting .526 in 2005
3) Ichiro hit .429 after last year's all-star break
4) Ichiro is no stranger to dealing with the pressure that surrounds breaking records, as he broke George Sisler's all-time single-season hit record last year.

Unless he breaks down physically, we will see Ichiro do something very special this year, believe you me. And I digress.


Anyway, everyone gets everything he wants. I wanted a mission, and for my sins, they gave me one. They brought it up to me like room service...It was a real choice mission - and when it was over, I'd never want another...


I was going to the worst place in the world, and I didn't even know it yet. I was going through miles of jungle that snaked across the Cambodian country-side and plugged me like a main circuit cable directly into Colonel Bo Du. It was no accident that I got to be the caretaker of Colonel Du's memory, any more than being back in Cambodia was an accident. There is no way to tell his story without telling my own. And if his story is really a confession, then so is mine.

I was to terminate the command of Colonel Du, a provincial tax collector. At first, I thought they handed me the wrong dossier. I couldn't believe they wanted this man dead. Like they said, he had an impressive career, maybe too impressive, I mean perfect. He was being groomed for one of the top slots in Phnom Penh. But then things started to slip...

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