Samantha Bunten

Joined about 1 year ago

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• 30 articles written
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Samantha's Bio

Samantha was born in Arizona, but grew up in Cleveland. There she acquired the childhood nickname of Buh, after Al Bubba Baker (fortunately not due to any physical resemblance), the requisite chip on the shoulder that all Cleveland fans have, and permanent frostbite from attending Browns games in December. Her love of sports and tendency toward attachment to teams that choke began with the 1986 Browns.

After suffering through The Drive, watching Bill Belechick run her team into the ground while blaming it on Bernie Kosar, and even forcing herself to root for Vinny Testaverde, the Browns rewarded her for her loyalty by leaving town.

Unable to find a suitable replacement team to adopt, she switched her primary devotion to baseball. She fell in love with the Indians and the game itself, and before she knew it found herself reading scouting reports and uttering the phrase "sorry, I don't have time to date during baseball season."

Like her hero Crash Davis, she's got an "I believe" speech. Inspired by the effect of Crash's speech on Annie, she hopes to someday use the following to impress Scott Van Pelt:

She believes that either baseball or Miller Lite is her soul mate, that Omar Vizquel is the greatest defensive shortstop in the history of the game, and that Jose Mesa may be the embodiment of pure evil. She believes in respecting streaks, the power of a sell-out crowd, and that a 6-4-3 double play can be one of the most beautiful things in the world. She would rather steal home than hit a grand slam, thinks that the bench clearing brawl is an art form but that it is rarely executed to perfection, and that the 1919 Black Sox may have been the greatest team of all time. She believes that MLB should outlaw purple jerseys, the wave, and Joe Morgan. She believes that the home run is overrated and the triple is underrated, that Lou Pinella throws the world's best tantrums, and that Jamie Moyer is often the only thing that gets her out of bed in the morning.

She thought it best to provide a few additional details for a more complete description of herself in case she ever gets any fans, enemies, or stalkers: She has several useless talents which include shooting pool, crosswords and picking locks, but she is a terrible bowler, can't seem to stop stealing holiday decorations while out drinking, and has a problem with authority.

She blames Art Modell for her trust issues, her Cleveland Stadium Dog Pound training for the time she got kicked out of a Penn State game for throwing things, and 10-Cent Beer Night for the fact that she can no longer upgrade her seats at ball games through squatters rights.

Her fastball tops out at 55.

Find me on twitter at: https://twitter.com/samanthabunten
Find me on fanhuddle at: http://fanhuddle.com/alcentral/

Samantha's Recent Articles

Manny Acta: Keys To Success for the Cleveland Indians' New Manager

Published 15 days ago
380 reads 24 comments

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Cleveland Indians' End Of Season Survey

Published 21 days ago
86 reads 0 comments

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Tribe Talk: Farewell, 2009 Indians

Published about 1 month ago
153 reads 2 comments

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The Axe Finally Falls On Eric Wedge

Published about 1 month ago
69 reads 8 comments

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See 26 more of Samantha's articles »

Samantha Writes About

• MLB (29),
• Cleveland (28),
• Cleveland Indians (28),
• Columbus OH (28),
• Opinion (25),
• Baseball (21),
• Grady Sizemore (7),
• Victor Martinez (6)

The Short List What Samantha thinks about sport's most pressing questions

• Favorite Athletes

  Omar Vizquel because he is the best defensive shortstop ever, Shoeless Joe Jackson for the eternal mystery of what could have been, Jamie Moyer because there's something endearing about old guys and 82mph fastballs, Brett Favre, whose presence in the pocket transcends any team he plays for, BIlly Wagner for possessing the rare quality of admirable arrogance, Trevor Hoffman for his quiet toughness and class, Dan Marino because a quick release that good will never be duplicated, Ken Griffey Jr. for being a living example of everything that is good about baseball, Gerald "The Ice Cube" McNeil, who was my first "favorite player", Grady Sizemore for being rare proof that exceptional talent and relentless effort are not mutually exclusive, Kenny Lofton for making me fall in love with the Indians, Aaron Boone for reasons involving an inflatable moonbounce, Paul Molitor, who wrote me the letter that changed everything, Crash Davis for being the fictional hero to every one of us who ever loved the game more than it loved us, and Derek Jeter because he's Batman.

• Favorite Sports Teams

  Indians, Browns, Vikings. Honorable Mentions: Milwaukee Brewers, St Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Green Bay Packers, NY Giants, Chicago Bears (except for Jay Cutler).

• Favorite Coaches

  Lou Piniella, Mike Hargrove, Ken Macha, Ron Gardenhire, Bobby Valentine, Tony LaRussa, Bobby Cox, Marty Schottenheimer, Mike Scioscia, Don Shula, player-manager Frank Chance, and the (unfortunately) fictional Billy Heywood.

• All Time Sports Moment

  1997 World Series, Marlins vs. Indians Game 7. Roger Kahn said it best in Boys of Summer: "You may glory in a team triumphant, but you fall in love with a team in defeat."

• Most Memorable Game Attended

  Indians-Yankees, ALDS game 5, 1997, when The Tribe hit back to back to back HRs to win the series; Browns-49ers,1993, scene of the infamous Tord Faurus debacle (see my humor bowl article); the sold-out games at The Jake I snuck into while in high school, purely because you appreciate it so much more after you've outrun the police; and finally those games with significance that only my dad will fully understand at which the following incidents occurred: Barnes and possibly the world's best heckler; Discovering the exceptional obedience of Randy Winn via the The Dead Spot; "Pagel!";the stunning effectiveness of "Jo-ey"; The Blood Sacrifice Game (accidentally putting a pair of scissors all the way through my hand while making an anti-Yankees sign, then electing to go to the Jake when we should have gone to the hospital, eventually ending up in the Jake's first aid center after I tried to catch a foul ball with the wounded hand); and games which may or may not have involved seat vulturing, stealing vestigial hardware from the lower reserve section, and crank calling Red Sox pitchers.

• Most Unbreakable Sports Record

  Consecutive Complete Games Thrown: Jack Lynch, 198, or Number of Doves Hit With a Pitch: Randy Johnson, 1.

• Ruth or Mays?

  Ted WIlliams

• Unitas or Montana?

  Marino

• Pac 10, Big 12, Big 10, SEC, ACC, or Big East?

  Big 10. Go PSU!

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