I refuse to call him "li'l dunc"

C70 is doing Approval Ratings for various Cardinals, and the subject of yesterday's poll was none other than my favorite left-fielder, Chris "Titanium Disc" Duncan. I was prepared for the worst, to be honest, because there's never a real positive feeling surrounding Chris when it comes to most fans. I've been pleasantly surprised up to this point, though. (knock on wood) There have been a few low scores, but for the most part it's been hovering in the 60s-70s with several voters giving him even higher scores than that. (I gave him a 98, in case you were wondering.) Many of the voters over at Viva El Birdos wrote brief explanations for their ratings, and as I was reading through them, I came across a few that made me smile. (I just recently signed up for a VEB account so as I might get in on the fun. I know, I know... late to the party as usual.)

This was my favorite quote. It's from a fan nicknamed "easy". (The bolding is mine.)

I’m torn I love to watch Dunc play. Even the outfield adventures are exciting. He never gets cheated at the plate, works hard all game, chews tobacco, has guts, doesn’t shave and just looks like a guy I’d get along with. Problem is he’s just not a very valuable player, at least for us, and he may be in the way of some better ones if he stays the next couple of years. for the latter reasons I have to rate him lower than I want.

This is an excellent summation of the Dunc-inator's appeal. 

He's Everyman. 

He's Joe Public. 

He's the guy who's always ready to party even when you'd rather just sleep. 

He's the guy who would give you the shirt off his back just so he'd have a reason to walk around shirtless. 

He's the guy who provides regular fodder for an absolutely hilarious running joke over at insidestl.com. (Really, it's funny. You should check it out.) 

He's the lost boy who refuses to grow up.

On the field, he never slows down or slacks off. He's always giving 110% and he works hard to improve his defense. He has a lot of talent with the bat, and when he's healthy, he has the potential to lead a offense. He's young, and has his whole future ahead of him.

If you weren't aware (because maybe you like to start reading at the end), Big-D is my newest project. He's one of my favorite players, and because of some of the criticism he gets, I decided to make it my business to defend and/or promote him. (Don't worry, you'll understand once the regular season starts.)

So I'm off to a healthy start at least. And ba-Dunc-a-dunc's performance this Spring isn't hurting the cause, that's for sure. Maybe he really is fixed and will be able to contribute up to his potential this year. It would make my job a lot easier.