Diamondbacks To Abandon Baseball, Start Swim Team

After finishing last in the NL West for the second consecutive season, the Arizona Diamondbacks have apparently decided to give up on baseball entirely. New G Kevin Towers said, "Being the only stadium with a pool in it gives us a natural advantage: we can train without having to leave the park." No word yet as to whether slugger Mark Reynolds has agreed to shave off all his body hair.

In case anyone was under any illusions, the above paragraph is not factually correct. The photo does depict a number of members of the Diamondbacks team, clad only in Speedo, swimming caps and shoes, boarding the team bus after Thursday's game in San Francisco. However, it was simply Arizona's entry in the 2010 rookie hazing contest, the Marlins entry in which has already been covered here.

While undoubtedly a bit embarrassing for the players concerned, it's not too bad from an aesthetic point of view - far preferable to the mental bleach needed after the Logan Morrison pic. These are athletes after all, resulting in a certain "Grecian sculpture" quality here. That's especially so for Barry Enright, who approximates the color of marble and must be the second-whitest person in Arizona [your writer being #1, listing his skin color as "transparent"].