Rachel Crader is the editor of semoball.com. She graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in May of 2009 before spending the summer covering the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

Highlights from Rachel's days in college include having a class down the hall from Chase Daniel and having NCAA wrestling champion Ben Askren hold the door open for her at Brady Commons, Mizzou's student center. She spent time covering Mizzou basketball, softball and baseball while working for the Columbia Missourian and is excited to return home to Southeast Missouri to cover local sports for semoball.com.

Rachel has covered three Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournaments for the Southeast Missourian and semoball.com, and she'll see you courtside again this year.

Breaking up with Albert

Posted Thursday, December 8, 2011, at 2:37 PM

I don't want to hear it. Not today.

I don't want to hear that I'm going to be better off without him, that he was a jerk anyway, that I got his best years.

I don't want anyone to tell me to be that I'll always have the good memories or that I should've seen it coming.

I sure as hell don't want to be told to give him a hug and kiss and my thanks.

Not today.

I don't even want to hear that the rich girl who stole him away will be sorry -- that he'll spend all her money and she'll be left with a mortgage she can't pay while he sits fat, old and ugly on her couch.

I don't want anyone saying he's really a good guy. That sometimes this is just the way things go.

I don't want vindication. I don't want revenge. And I don't want him back. Not after all this.

I just want to be sad for a little while.

I want to take a long bath and write a long journal entry filled with nonsense that will somehow make me feel better.

I want to cry. And I am. Right here in the middle of my office, sitting at my desk, trying to figure out what it is I want.

I want that to be OK today.

Abert Pujols broke my heart and now the whole world is trying to tell me how I should feel about it, or worse, trying to tell me I never should have loved him.

I don't want to hear him say he's sorry or try to explain why the Angel he met in LA is better for him -- better than me.

I don't want to be told that there was nothing more I could've done, that I loved him all I could.

I don't want to hear that I'm going to find someone new, that he'll be younger and nicer, that I'll love him, too.

Whoever he is, he won't be better. No one ever has been.

So I don't want to hear it.

Not today.

Comments

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Just one question, Crader... Where is the yellow button on this post? You said "hell" and one of our posts would have been removed for such an outburst! Haha! Very well written! I totaly agree! Other than the crying thing....I'm not crying...I bit my tongue....uh errr...I have dust in my eye!

-- Posted by Rocket689 on Thu, Dec 8, 2011, at 1:32 PM

Rachel Crader
Haha. Dropping H-E-Double hockey sticks once in a while is a perk of the job, I suppose.
Well said, and that yellow button would have been worn out today on my posts...

-- Posted by kevin711@charter.net on Thu, Dec 8, 2011, at 1:49 PM
Incredibly accurate Mrs. Crader. This is definitely one of the darkest days in the history of the National Leagues finest franchise. I am 20 years old, and consequently can't imagine the Cardinals without Albert. I am truly, truly, heartbroken.

-- Posted by Rocky09 on Thu, Dec 8, 2011, at 4:32 PM
Somewhere, some Cub fan is going "that's for stealing Lou Brock from us!! Hahahahahahaha!!!"

-- Posted by vincebrown on Thu, Dec 8, 2011, at 6:33 PM
The sun will come up tomorrow. We still have a very good team of good guys. It will be OK. Think David Freese, Yadi, Wainwright!!! But not today. Tomorrow!!!

-- Posted by joefrank78 on Thu, Dec 8, 2011, at 8:53 PM
I am happy either way. I gotta say I won't miss those times when we are desperate for a simple clutch single between first and second when Albert comes up...and pops sky high to second. Was this the the beginning of his demise or just a down year? Berkman on first and Freese in right will show better numbers than Albert on first and Berkman in right.

There was that ONE home run game in the WS though.

-- Posted by Pete Sims on Fri, Dec 9, 2011, at 5:30 AM
Correction: Craig in right.

-- Posted by Pete Sims on Fri, Dec 9, 2011, at 7:40 AM
Let's not forget the psychological damage he inflicted on Brad Lidge.

-- Posted by teacher_guy11 on Fri, Dec 9, 2011, at 8:33 AM
"I gotta say I won't miss those times when we are desperate for a simple clutch single between first and second when Albert comes up...and pops sky high to second."

Pete Sims, I feel the need to question your sanity after that comment. Pujols is one of the most clutch performers I've ever seen. I understand it's natural for people to downplay what he accomplished when he turns his back on you, but there is no doubting his track record. Lets not get silly here. For 10 years, when the Cardinals needed a big hit, more often than not Pujols provided it.

-- Posted by semohoops on Fri, Dec 9, 2011, at 12:58 PM
Even when he didn't come through, he still impacted the game. Pitching changes in hope of getting him out, double switches to cover gaps better, intentional walks that led to Berkman or Holliday getting an extra run in....he will be missed.

-- Posted by barkleyfan on Fri, Dec 9, 2011, at 2:11 PM
hoops and barkley...couldn't agree more! However, I did get a little frustrated at times during the year last year when he would jog to first base on a ground out or a DP ball. That drives me crazy! You are getting $15 million/year.....could you please at least ACT like you are running hard to first???

-- Posted by Rocket689 on Fri, Dec 9, 2011, at 3:44 PM
Semohoops, welcome back from Afghanistan. A lot has happened since you left two years ago. Albert did exactly as I said, many times last season. You remember well the early Albert, the one we got a bargain on for eleven years. Last year, not so much. And you're right about the sanity part in general, just not about the Cards.

-- Posted by Pete Sims on Sat, Dec 10, 2011, at 9:34 AM
I'm sorry Pete, but as much as I love Allen Craig, Berkman in right and Pujols at first would show better numbers than Craig in right and Berkman at first...I hope I'm wrong but I don't think I am. I can't say that I agree that Albert wasn't clutch..maybe not as clutch as he has been in the past, but I do believe that since we were used to seeing him come through about every single time in the past, the times that he didn't were magnified. That being said, I'm over Pujols. He can go have a great career in Anaheim and we will move on.

-- Posted by 7plus1 on Mon, Dec 12, 2011, at 12:10 PM

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