Within like a week of finishing Strays, the incredibly obvious occurred to me in form of the question: where the hell is Billy Beane in the hooker AU that features every other regular
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uh, i have no idea how i missed this when you first posted it, but i'm so glad i periodically check your journal.
oh my god, i have so many feelings about this story. i don't even know where to begin. somehow you've managed to put everything i love about fan fiction into this one pairing: heartbreak, tragedy, men, boys, unrealized dreams, sports, hookers, damaged psyches, blow jobs, inappropriate relationships, pain -- the list goes on and on.
strays is such a fantastic mindfuck of a story, and yes, the only thing that could have made it better was this little interlude. man, this pushes my buttons so hard, i can't really describe it without sounding extremely creepy (i am not so creepy in real life, swear, only on the internet when confronted with stories of rentboy!zito).
as much as i love strays, though, you know zito/beane is like my desert island pairing. the glimpses here of optimism kill me, they make the whole thing that much worse. i would quote every line if i could, but: It was good, it seemed like it could have been good. like, seriously, WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO ME. if the goal was to make me clutch myself in an embarrassing manner and mutter "aughhhhh" over and over, well, mission accomplished. i mean, i read this story three times and every time i clung to the desperate hope that it might end happily. that's some fucked up power you got.
considering that when i first read revisionist history i knew nothing about beane, moneyball, zito's curve, or even baseball, i've come a long way. which brings me to the second part of this comment: still a baseball fan. as much as i watched last year, i honestly wasn't sure how sustainable an obsession it was; i do tend to get powerfully attached to things before dropping them and moving on to the next. but damn, this game has got its hooks into me but good. it wasn't until this month that i realized it had the makings of a life-long love. hockey playoffs begin in a week, taking up 80% of my brain, and yet there's a little itch in the back of my skull, impossible to ignore, telling me i have to check in on the phillies and the giants and the a's.
basically, you've ruined me in multiple ways, and i thank you for it.
dude! one of the better comments of all time ever, i am really blown away. thanks so much for taking the time to give your thoughts.
zito/beane is like the strangest thing to come out of the whole mlb fic thing. in that there've been, what, about five stories featuring that pairing, immensely dwarfed by mulder/zito or zito/harden stories or whatever. but then when i was writing the primer there it was in my head, like it had always been there: 'beane/zito is honestly the otp of this whole mess.' which actually took me by surprise, until i thought more about it and realized that if professional heartbreak, personal self-doubt, and loss of faith are the themes of this enterprise, zeane is the only otp that makes any kind of logical sense. and somehow there's redemption there too, because beane never got to be an everyday major league ballplayer, but he still has his team. i look ahead ten years in the future and wonder if barry zito's gonna be the color-man on the radio, if he'll ever be able to leave it behind.
anyways. zito got put on the dl for the first time in his career yesterday, makes me think thinky thoughts. snake-bit and philosophical, and the weight of that world series ring has got to be like a goddamn millstone, right about now. but baseball will abide.
oh my god, i have so many feelings about this story. i don't even know where to begin. somehow you've managed to put everything i love about fan fiction into this one pairing: heartbreak, tragedy, men, boys, unrealized dreams, sports, hookers, damaged psyches, blow jobs, inappropriate relationships, pain -- the list goes on and on.
strays is such a fantastic mindfuck of a story, and yes, the only thing that could have made it better was this little interlude. man, this pushes my buttons so hard, i can't really describe it without sounding extremely creepy (i am not so creepy in real life, swear, only on the internet when confronted with stories of rentboy!zito).
as much as i love strays, though, you know zito/beane is like my desert island pairing. the glimpses here of optimism kill me, they make the whole thing that much worse. i would quote every line if i could, but: It was good, it seemed like it could have been good. like, seriously, WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO ME. if the goal was to make me clutch myself in an embarrassing manner and mutter "aughhhhh" over and over, well, mission accomplished. i mean, i read this story three times and every time i clung to the desperate hope that it might end happily. that's some fucked up power you got.
considering that when i first read revisionist history i knew nothing about beane, moneyball, zito's curve, or even baseball, i've come a long way. which brings me to the second part of this comment: still a baseball fan. as much as i watched last year, i honestly wasn't sure how sustainable an obsession it was; i do tend to get powerfully attached to things before dropping them and moving on to the next. but damn, this game has got its hooks into me but good. it wasn't until this month that i realized it had the makings of a life-long love. hockey playoffs begin in a week, taking up 80% of my brain, and yet there's a little itch in the back of my skull, impossible to ignore, telling me i have to check in on the phillies and the giants and the a's.
basically, you've ruined me in multiple ways, and i thank you for it.
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zito/beane is like the strangest thing to come out of the whole mlb fic thing. in that there've been, what, about five stories featuring that pairing, immensely dwarfed by mulder/zito or zito/harden stories or whatever. but then when i was writing the primer there it was in my head, like it had always been there: 'beane/zito is honestly the otp of this whole mess.' which actually took me by surprise, until i thought more about it and realized that if professional heartbreak, personal self-doubt, and loss of faith are the themes of this enterprise, zeane is the only otp that makes any kind of logical sense. and somehow there's redemption there too, because beane never got to be an everyday major league ballplayer, but he still has his team. i look ahead ten years in the future and wonder if barry zito's gonna be the color-man on the radio, if he'll ever be able to leave it behind.
anyways. zito got put on the dl for the first time in his career yesterday, makes me think thinky thoughts. snake-bit and philosophical, and the weight of that world series ring has got to be like a goddamn millstone, right about now. but baseball will abide.
Reply
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