The Darryl Strawberries? Really??? Why does this name make me want to give people high fives? Usually I'm into strawberries, but not strawberry flavored things. Why does this hit that sweet, fruity spot?
Perhaps because 'Darryl' serves as the flavor in this case, lending heartbreaking memories of glory turned to ruination to the band's identification. Maybe because this forename, so often chanted from the stands in the drawn and yawning, "Daaaaar-ryyyyyyyl," contrasts so nicely with the sweet sound of pluralized fruit. Perhaps because even though it's easy to love Darryl Strawberry in the same way people seem to love David Hasselhoff these days (ironically), I love the Strawb as my friend Sarah loves Baywatch's leading man -- wholeheartedly and a little more when he's shirtless. I could fill an-about-to-be-knocked down-stadium with genuine affection for the first baseball player I - the daughter of a lifelong Met fan - ever recognized by name.
I haven't been able to find much info on The Darryl Strawberries, but I did come across their Jersey-based doppelgängers. For some reason Darryl and the Strawberries doesn't work quite as well. (Though I do like their poster.) I don't want just one Darryl and some fruit. I want a band of fruity Darryls.
***UPDATE: The best part about being in a fantasy baseball league is that your fellow managers will send you pictures like this one (The Awareness that Awesome Photographs Do Exist) and have conversations like the one that follows, when you tell them you posted something about Darryl Strawberry to your blog:
C: I have two questions for you, unrelated
K: shoot
C: did Hassellhoff ever make a Simpsons cameo
K: not to my knowledge
K: unless it was post season 10 or something
C: and from Stacey, do people love Darryl Strawberry ironically
C: or do they just love him
K: oh
K: that's tough
C: ie, do they love him the same way people love David Hassellhoff
C: I say no
K: if you can call it love it's certainly not ironic. absolutely not
K: i love straw for the reason i don't love doc
K: straw overcame himself, at least as far as baseball
K: rather, he never stopped trying to beat his demons
C: I'm with you
C: hadn't made the Doc leap, but I like it
K: doc just never gave a fuck
K: both unfairly talented who did whatever they could to waste that talent--it just strikes me that doc was into it and straw was not
K: does she love straw ironically?
C: do you mind if I copy/paste this to stacey
C: I just don't want to retype it
K: no please do
C: she claims to love Straw wholeheartedly
C: and was saying most people love him ironically
C: I said no
K: ahh
K: i think straw proved himself w/ the 99 yankees
So people don't love Strawberry ironically. Everyone's just full of Berry nostalgia. It should be noted that though I'm in a fantasy baseball league and have been privileged to have a father with season's tickets to Shea since '88, I haven't really been measuring the way males in particular have felt about Darryl over the past fifteen years -- so I apologize for being one of the many to throw up her hands and claim irony at the first sign of complex cultural affection. Still, both Hoff and Sir Strawberry will end up on hipster t-shirts, if they haven't already.
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5 comments:
I found this post during my daily google search for the words Strawberries, Daryl, and irony. I must say that while some would not consider it possible to love the Straw ironically, the very fact that there are at least two bands out there using pluralized forms of his moniker only demonstrates the existence of ironic love for the guy.
Now quit postercrastinating and get back to work!
While I appreciate the argument, I categorically disagree with the conclusion. While it is notable that at least two bands pluralize the Straw's name in creating their own, in no way does that demonstrate ironic love. Indeed, I brought up a related point with Miss Jones earlier: hipsters only pretend to love things for irony. Hipsters are liars.
In other words, claiming ironic love for Darryl Strawberry is like claiming ironic love for Lance Armstrong. Lance beat testicular cancer to win the Tour de France seven times. Darryl beat cocaine to win one World Series (96) and colon cancer to win another (99). Ain't no irony.
I don't know dco. Maybe it's the fact they're the supporting act for a band called Hookers & Blow, but for some reason I don't think The Darryl Strawberries were thinking about triumph over colon cancer when they named their band.
Still, I do not doubt your (and many others') love of Darryl is straight from the heart.
I think the fact that you disagree just solidifies the ironic love argument in this case because you are viewing Strawberry as the general understanding of the term that needs to exist before the name/idea can be used ironically. The very concept of a sports figure being the name of a band is technically ironic because its not what someone would be expecting when you hear those words ie. the Ty Cobb Big Band Revue.
On a similar note, I seem to remember a swell in the sale of mock-off Lance Armstrong bracelets. Most recently, Colbert's wrist strong bracelet campaign.
Alright kids...at this stage I have a responsibility to clarify the meaning of irony. From dictionary.com:
irony (adjective) consisting of, containing, or resembling iron
With this, I feel I have made my point. Case closed.
Actually, what needs clarification is "irony" versus "ironic love". Matthew is making a fine case for ironic usage, citing as evidence Colbert's Wrist Strong bracelets and the Ty Cobb Big Band Revue. The use of the Straw's name in a band name indeed is irony -- a means of expression which suggests a different, usually humorous or angry, meaning for the words used.
However none of these usage ironies indicate ironic love. Stephen Colbert does not love Lance Armstrong the way hipsters love Ms. Pac-Man tables...that is, with feigned disdain.
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