Righty reliever Ryan Tepera, who I’ve taken to calling Tempura because he fries batters, provides a perfect case study for the endless versatility of the word “dude.” It’s rivaled by only the F-bomb when it comes to the myriad meanings that can be derived from nothing more than inflection and position, as the comedy classic Baseketball so eloquently captured over two decades ago.
When he was acquired last winter on a split deal, the 32-year-old Tepera was viewed as just some random dude rather than an actual dude, but he’s quickly established himself as one of the Cubs’ best relievers.