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It's the Christmas holidays 2002, and Andrew Zarzour is back at home in little ol' Bunn, North Carolina.
The past few months had been a roller coaster time for the big fella. On the one hand, he has been treated like a hero in his home town and home state for being part of a World Series championship team. On the other hand, there have been backlashes over his not-so-stellar performance in his final start -- the five homer game against the Red Sox in Game Four.
A few newspaper columnists took shots at Zarzour, one calling him Mr. Whiplash because of the number of times he's had to jerk his head around to watch balls sail out of the park. Others have speculated that the Dodgers are done with the 7-foot-2 "freak show" and plan to trade the youngster now that a Series title is in hand. LA brass have said nothing of the sort to him, but even Zarzour knows that with all the pitching talent in the Dodgers' system right now, he'll have his work cut out for him to earn a starting spot again.
Zarzour may begin 2003 back in Triple A, trying to work on the issues that have resulted in so many long balls. For some reason, that thought is just crushing to the 22-year-old, even though it may be for his best long-term.
With his little brother's departure to the Marines imminent and his dad suffering through some more "heart issues" that have required some minor surgery, Zarzour allowed himself to entertain this thought -- maybe he should just walk away from baseball altogether right now. Maybe he needs to come home and be the man of the house instead of continuing to chase his baseball dreams.
As he went to bed the night of Christmas Eve, he had all but convinced himself. "I'm done playing baseball," he thought as he dozed off...
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