History of the Defeated

I'm not sure why, but watching A.J. Pierzynski play baseball makes the whole idea of a grown man making a living playing a game seem absurd. This notion is not new to me, it's just that I can often watch a baseball game for a good amount of time before the ugly head of realism shows itself. When Ramon Castro is in the line-up, I can watch an entire game as if the fate of the world would be changed for the worse if this game did not exist-- when A.J. plays (specifically, when A.J. bats), I feel embarrassed about keeping an eye on the results of multiple games. This feeling is very confusing because, when I can get past how ridiculous he seems, I kind of admire him. Mr. Pierzynski doesn't cheat, he just tries to get away with ridiculous things (and gets away with a relatively good amount).
Last night was a party at Nick's house. Vi thought I wanted to hang out at Nick's Uptown and rescinded her enthusiasm when I told her what the actual plan was and the address of where it was to take place. It was less awkward than I had anticipated on account of the people being friendly in a general way. Dave and I split 12 beers before calling it a night. It was only 2 in the morning and Nick had disappeared an hour or so beforehand (presumably to pass out).
Anyhow, Nick's persona has mellowed out considerably.
In 3rd grade he wrote a book for a Young Author's assignment. To the best of my recollection, it was about a refrigerator that killed people. I know his sketches and stories were consistently shocking, occasionally crude, and generally disturbing. We once went
In 6th grade he had a mohawk and wore combat boots. He listened to the Dead Kennedys and took to Jello Biafra up until the point that I lost touch with him.
In freshman or sophomore year of high school I talked to him and he recommended Modest Mouse. A month or two later, Float On was in seemingly every commercial and on every radio I came across. It was a good call if he was into predicting future trends in pop culture.
So now, Nick smokes weed and drinks beer and is more disgruntled with the state of the world than he is actively pissed off at it. I suppose he's a little more defeated than I remember him being.