I honestly do not remember the last time the Pirates had two players in the All-Star game.
*** Update ***
I’m a real sap for this intro- with all five Presidents introducing people doing worthwhile things. Makes me realize what a worthless schlub I am.
Shoot. I lose my bet. In the comments, I predicted it would be the Corner making fun of Obama’s jeans. It was Hot Air. Funny, I remember Allah making fun of the fringe when they did stuff like this back in ’03 and ’04.
demkat620
Rauuuuuuuul!
And Victorino starts!
say_it_like_it_is
Ah, the days of Willie Startrek (old Three’s Company joke) and Dave Parker.
John Cole
@say_it_like_it_is: It wouldn’t be that too far back. Hell, we had loads of stars in the early nineties (I ban anyone who mentions S__ B____), and in the middle to late 90’s we still had some stars.
demkat620
Drink! Dubya’s back.
Tim in Wisconsin
Go National League! Maybe this year my beloved blue-shirts will win!
Piper
Pretty lame that the broadcast didn’t have the players name and position written when their names were called.
General Winfield Stuck
@Tim in Wisconsin:
It seems pigs will fly first, but I’m with ya.
Lucky, I’m also a Browns fan. Tested in the agony of defeat.
and no wise cracks from Steely Mcbeavis cheap seats.
demkat620
I think Barack missed the razor this morning.
Or is he growing a mustache?
Common Sense
@Piper:
Just be glad they weren’t introduced by giant robots like most Fox Sports broadcasts.
By the way I know that Gary Lynn kid (the one with CP). It is absolutely inspiring what he’s able to do considering his illness.
JenJen
I’m a big sap too! Can’t wait for this pitch, and hoping to gawd this doesn’t happen, because we’ll never hear the end of it.
The Grand Panjandrum
I just back from the Little League field down the street where the kids were actually having fun PLAYING a GAME. That’s enough baseball for one night.
John, per your last thread on GS: Zero Hedge has video embedded of Eliot Spitzer talking about today’s GS earnings report. It’s a damn shame he had fucked up and had to resign. He was one of the few people willing to take on this bunch of criminals.
Zzyzx
“Makes me realize what a worthless schlub I am.”
I thought that too… about me that is, not you.
passerby
Your not a schlub, John. Just count Balloon Juice as your community contribution. You’re here everyday and no doubt this blog must feel, at times, like a ball and chain. Doesn’t help that we’re sometimes mumbling about ads or whining for a Tunch pic and an open thread.
So, thank you for being my Allstar John. [sincere]
p.s. Speaking of whining, please feed the hamsters. BJ running a little slow.
Bob In Pacifica
Enjoy Lincecum. Too bad you guys don’t get to see the Kung Fu Panda (Pablo Sandoval), but maybe in the playoffs.
JenJen
Any chance these Missouri-folk are gonna boo Obama? I get nervous, is all.
demkat620
@JenJen: No. Midwest nice. It will be okay.
JK
John,
How do you feel about the winner of the All-Star game determining who gets home field advantage for the World Series?
I think it’s bullshit. The team with the better regular season record should get home field advantage for the World Series. If the 2 WS teams have identical records, there should be some logical tie breaking process to decide home field advantage.
Do you agree with Sports Illustrated writer Jon Heyman that having a salary cap in baseball would be COMMUNISM? I’d support a salary cap in a heartbeat.
kdrtoona
The Pirates haven’t had two All Stars since the dark ages of 06,
2006, when the game was at the best ballpark on the planet.
JBay (fan selection) and Freddy Sanchez (manager’s selection) had the honors.
Bob In Pacifica
When I was watching the different Presidents I was thinking, yeah, Carter, wasn’t he in when Timor happened? Bush I, Iran-contra and his history going back to Dallas when JFK was gunned down (FAMILY OF SECRETS). Clinton, who gave us NAFTA and GATT and Lewinsky. And on and on.
And Joe Buck makes me want to puke. Such a sanctimonious piece of crap. This has been going on for days now. Can we please get to the game already?
JenJen
@demkat620: I believe I hear some boos. Fuckin’ red states. Or maybe they were booing the Chi-Sox gear?
passerby
Obama in blue jeans. Lookin’ good.
Tim in Wisconsin
First pitch is adequate! Huzzah! We won’t have to hear about this for the next eight months.
demkat620
Man, they really have him wrapped in that kevlar stuff. And why didn’t they show the pitch?
Laura W
THAT’S OUR PRESIDENT!
Sorry, caps key keeps malfunctioning lately.
MikeJ
Dammit, they didn’t show the pitch on a wide angle. You know he did a better job than most. I mean, he was probably somewhere near the plate, which most celebs can’t manage.
BettyPageisaBlonde
He’s kind of like the Bono of Presidents. Who is black. And young. And can do the Kobe Bryant clenched fist thing and not come across as a dickhead.
It’s weird and pretty damn cool at the same time.
JenJen
@MikeJ: He got it to the catcher, and it didn’t bounce. Not bad for a southpaw POTUS! Joe Scarborough is probably saying, “Fuck, we were gonna milk that for three weeks!”
John Cole
@JK: Grossly indifferent.
@passerby: My money is on the Corner bitching about the blue jeans.
@JenJen: If they don’t like him, they should boo. This ain’t China. I’d be booing if it was McCain.
JK
@Bob In Pacifica:
Great points. Thanks for being the conscience of this thread.
MikeJ
Free trade and blow jobs! Whoo hoo!!
Common Sense
While I wouldn’t call it COMMUNISM, I don’t support a salary cap. There’s no evidence that a salary cap increases competitiveness, lowers the cost of games, or really does anything other than transfer profits to owners. Both the NFL and NBA were more competitive before they instituted a salary cap (the league acronyms are hyperlinks to articles). Hell, just look at the current NBA offseason. Shaq to Cleveland, Carter to Orlando, Artest to LA, Jefferson to SA, and Wallace to Boston — yeah that’s a competitive league. Looks to me like the NBA is less competitive than baseball by a long shot.
Tom
How’d you see it? The angle I saw didn’t show it cross the plate. Then again, I don’t have wide screen.
John Cole
@Common Sense: The best major sport out there, has continued to grow with a communist salary cap.
Bob In Pacifica
The all-star game deciding the home field advantage for the World Series is bogus.
The dolt who is the commissioner instituted that after they had that tie game. It was like, “How can we screw this up even more?”
JenJen
@John Cole:
No, it ain’t China. But I actually saw Dubya throw out a first pitch once, and managed to just keep my mouth shut. I have no problem with those that would boo our POTUS, but I’m gonna bitch about it for a second. Again, he was wearing ChiSox gear in an NL town. But, it really wasn’t until late in Bush’s term that I started thinking, “You know, I’d boo him now, I probably would.”
Now Cheney, that’s another story.
Bad Horse's Filly
Man, seriously, I gotta get a life – totally feel all a flutter at Obama, jeans, Sox jacket and first pitch.
Also: John, since you didn’t get to cook your pork roast, I think have a mango salsa recipe you might like. If I find it, I’ll email it to you.
Tim in Wisconsin
@John Cole: No, the Corner is going to bitch about the camera angle on his pitch. Because, somehow, Fox is going to be accused of a liberal bias.
apistat
@Bob In Pacifica:
Sandoval got absolutely robbed, twice. He’s had a much better year than the two 3bs on there and was the best choice in the final vote, but got screwed because he’s a new name on a west coast team that isn’t known for its offense. I wouldn’t be surprised if he lost it because voting ended at 4pm est and 1pm pst; probably netted Victorino the votes to win it.
I hope Lincecum does well, but more importantly I hope he doesn’t pull a Shawn Estes. He had a great first half and then got shelled in the all-star game and sorta faded away and out of Cy Young contention (then sucked it up for the rest of his career)
General Winfield Stuck
@John Cole:
That’s only because with digital sound we can now hear the bones breaking on our teevees.
The Grand Panjandrum
@MikeJ:
And David Shuster wept.
General Winfield Stuck
@JenJen:
He’d just shoot baseball in the face and call it a day.
John Cole
@The Grand Panjandrum: Until it was explained he wouldn’t be the one giving them.
Common Sense
@John Cole:
The NFL isn’t growing because of it’s communist salary cap. It’s due to its “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” mentality that distributes revenue equally among all teams that the NFL remains competitive. Without that, the Packers would’ve left for LA before the other two teams even skipped. And without Rooney keeping good coaches in place your Steelers wouldn’t have the track record they have either. It’s not the cap.
Further, I’m not arguing that a salary cap makes a league less competitive. I’m just pointing out the inconvenient fact that those leagues that instituted a cap became less competitive after doing so. Personally I think it’s due to expansion and inadequate management and drafting. Basically there are many factors that affect a team’s performance, and a salary cap is way down on the list. This includes the Pirates. If you had the Twins’ management, you’d have made the playoffs the past few years, salary cap or no. It ain’t the cap that keeps the Pirates down. It’s your GM.
Bob In Pacifica
Lincecum’s throwing high, unlike him. I bet he’s a little nervous.
Max
According to Alyssa Milano (don’t judge me) on Twitter (who is at the game), POTUS threw a strike, no bounce, low 50’s.
JK
George Will. He wrote a diatribe against blue jeans several mths ago.
@John Cole: @Common Sense:
I support a salary cap, because I’d like to see more teams have a realistic chance of making the playoffs. Jon Heyman is an obnoxious dickwad. It would come as a great shock to Roger Goodell, Gary Bettman, and David Stern to learn that they’re all communists and that the NFL, NHL, and NBA are communist enterprises.
CynDee
Hi, John,
You are really, REALLY getting into the doggy life now — your dinner not happening because . . . the dog got into a mess.
John Cole
I can’t be the only one on the planet who hopes Joe Buck and McCarver would be tragically killed by falling blue ice.
Except it wouldn’t be tragic.
donovong
What a bunch of assholes – booing Obama.
Unless, of course, they were booing the White Sox, which I can live with and support.
demkat620
@John Cole: Oh my. I thought I was the only one who felt that way.
Buck is annoying and McCarver well, the word supercilious comes to mind.
General Winfield Stuck
I don’t know if any of you have an MLB.TV account, but whatever genius came up with the idea of selecting different TV angles ought to be shot. Every play you can only see a part of it, unless your ninja quick to manually change camera angles on the com[uter. FAIL!
The Grand Panjandrum
@John Cole:
Not now John, we’ve got to get on with the film show.
Tim in Wisconsin
They weren’t booing. They were saying Ooooo-bama.
(And with that second Simpsons reference in one thread, I’ll shut up for the rest of the night. I’m sorry.)
Comrade Kevin
Lincecum looked nervous or over-hyped in that first inning.
Tom
@John
Maybe McCarver. Buck was already killed (or his pay cable career was at least) by Artie Lange.
Lyle4
Missouri might be a red state, but 90% of those boos were because of the White Sox gear. I live smack in the middle of the Cardinals-Cubs/White Sox territory and it’s scary.
ellaesther
@Max: I’m sorry. I’m afraid I’ll have to judge you.
Comrade Kevin
@Bob In Pacifica:
No, that was Gerald Ford.
Max
POTUS is supposed to be in the booth doing color at the bottom of the 2nd.
RedKitten
Looking at her baseball blog, she really seems to be a serious fan who knows her shit. So why judge?
John Cole
@RedKitten: Krista- how is the preggers going?
John Cole
@demkat620: I’d honestly rather listen to any two drunks they picked out of the stands at random.
In fact, I’m not listening. I’ve got the Brian Setzer Orchestra playing. Loud.
Ash
@RedKitten: She’s only a serious fan so she can scout out which player she’s going to be dating next, lol.
I fully admit to owning a Red Sox shirt from her “women’s” MLB line though.
John Cole
In fact, I may listen to a Rumble in Brighton three times in a row. Because I can.
Wolverines!
Common Sense
@JK:
You don’t have any better of a chance of making the playoffs with a cap. There have been 10 different NL champions in 11 years, with the sole exception being the Cardinals who are hardly a case of big market wasteful spending. Every team in the NL has made the playoffs since the institution of the wild card, with one exception (Pittsburgh). In the AL the sole exception is KC. Both teams are plagued by poor drafting combined with a fetish for trading every player who becomes remotely valuable. Both cities have been successful baseball markets in the past. There have been many small market teams that have been able to succeed consistently even in today’s climate. In the last few years we have seen the Rays, Twins, A’s, Padres, and Rockies (to name a few) succeed.
Meanwhile the NBA has a rotation of three teams that take turns winning 70 games a season. What competitiveness.
Demo Woman
OMG, I forgot about the game. Please tell me about the pitch and whether or not he appeared yet in the box. Truly my room, vanity area and bathroom took three and a half gallons of paint so my focus has not been on this.
demkat620
@John Cole: I always thought that it would be nice to let the hometown guys do the play by play during these things.
Pasquinade
NAFTA
Randall Shane
@John Cole:
I’m an optimist, but even I can’t say that hockey is growing.
Demo Woman
Never mind, he’s on now… But how was the pitch
Zzyzx
It’s sad that this might affect Obama’s ratings more than anything else.
Ash Can
@John Cole:
I’m with JK @ #46. George Will is the one who’s crapping his gabardines over Obama’s attire. Blue jeans AND a White Sox jacket? He’ll be sweeping off his seat cushion for sure.
Common Sense
@John Cole:
Fox Soccer Channel does a show where they invite one drunken maniac rooting for each team to narrate an English Premier League game’s telecast. Some of the funniest commentary I’ve ever seen.
slag
Is this thing showing on the interwebs anywhere, by chance?
gbear
@JenJen:
Here ya go. Cheney throwing a first pitch.
Xanthippas
Whoa, if you’re useless for doing all this blogging, what does that make me for reading it?
passerby
@John Cole: Yes, and no doubt they won’t be the only ones, I’m almost certain Faux News will weigh in (ala Teleprompters?!).
And to them I say Fiddle-dee-dee.
Denim jeans are an American institution and he looked youthful and capable with his 6’4″ self.
RedKitten
It’s going well. Four weeks (give or take) left to go. Yesterday I had my 36-week ultrasound, and it turns out that I’ve done such a kickass job at controlling the gestational diabetes that the baby is of a perfectly normal weight and size (currently weighing a smidge over 6 lbs), and there should be no need for a c-section. So the baby is healthy and in launch position, which is great. And I finish work in precisely 10 days, which is also great — I’m really, really looking forward to a year away.
And yes, my boobs are HUGE. (I know you were wondering.)
mvr
@passerby:
What he said.
The same thing that makes it in some ways apt to call you a schlub also makes this one of the nicest blogs to spend time on. All cynics have a bit of idealist in them, or at least all of the ones that you want to listen to.
John Cole
Watching Obama in the booth. This just in- POTUS is smooth.
This time last year we were prepping for the Conventions. God, time goes by fast. Really is funny how most of us here now were here then, rambling in the comments.
Will never figure out why people have blogs without comments.
demkat620
Oh yeah! 3-2 National league.
Demo Woman
@RedKitten: That is so exciting and as you know we are all lining up to be designated aunts and uncles.
The Dangerman
@RedKitten:
I’ve wondered if she has a ghost writer for her blogs or her book (also baseball related), but I’ve listened to her on some of our local radio shows (she’s a major Dodger fan) and she knows her shit.
Yeah, she had her fair share of flings with ballplayers; I think she said after the third strike, no more ballplayers…
Zzyzx
He also obviously knows his baseball.
John Cole
@RedKitten: You do know when you finally hatch, your child is going to be adopted by this website as the blog mascot.
Uncle John has a nice ring.
John Cole
Hey- I have a question for Itunes users. Is there any way to add a scroll bar to advance through a song, much like in an IPOD. The FF buttons are clunky.
demkat620
“And they hate puppies and children and old people.”
General Winfield Stuck
@John Cole:
Cept for Pluk, MyIQ and the rest of the Clinton wrecking crew. Guess they’ll be like 4 or eight year Locusts and plague us again when time is right.
passerby
@John Cole:
Wish I could make comments on Sullivan’s blog.
Demo Woman
It is nice to see Obama support his team the Sox. Imo, he is supporting the wrong Sox but at least he is being honest about his loyalties.
demkat620
@General Winfield Stuck: Oh god, I forgot all about those two.
See, BOB is good for something.
Big City Mary
Obama is the BOMB!!! He rendered Tim Carver speechless!
General Winfield Stuck
@demkat620:
If the NL pulls one out this year, must be the MUP doctored that ball with some magic Unicorn dust.
Yikes a sox fan/ that’s no good no good at all
Ash Can
@Demo Woman: That’s the one problem I have with him — he roots for that Brand X team on the South Side.
Max
Nice photos of Obama @ the game (and others).
dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/14/753531/-PLAY-BALL!!!Obamas-All-Star-Game-Ovation!!!
Big City Mary
I did not read all the comments, but was any one else as nervous as I was when Obama came on the field? Please do not let this man be harmed by my faith in him!!
RedKitten
Because they know damn well that they will never have as fine a group of commenters as you do, so why even bother trying?
I’ll email you photos of the baby when s/he arrives, and you can post them. :)
Between Tunch, Lily, and the baby, this blog is getting seriously warm and fuzzy, isn’t it?
Max
@Big City Mary:
Pictures of the snipers on my link to Kos. Good to see them in place.
John Cole
@RedKitten: Going to get worse. Bad Horse Philly has agreed to post weekend recipes every Thursday night for people to try on Friday and Saturday.
That is just how we roll here.
Also, Cypress Hill FTW.
Demo Woman
@RedKitten: YES
ellaesther
@Max: Oh thank you so much for that link! I didn’t get to see the pitch, and the look on his face was just priceless. One of the things I like about our President is that he seems to allow himself to be fully human, and dude, the little boy in him just jumped up and down! In, you know, my humble opinion. Ahem.
Actually I scrolled all through the pictures, and that was all kinds of win. So thanks again! I’ll stop judging you now on the whole Alyssa Milano thing… sorry…. It’s really Twitter I was judging you about, if that helps any. (And I’ve stopped even that now!)
ellaesther
@RedKitten: Wow, well done on the GD! That’s some hard work right there. Good luck over the last bit of it!
ellaesther
@Big City Mary: I am nervous every single moment he is not deep inside the White House. And a little skittish then, too.
demkat620
@John Cole: Will you post cleaning tips and other helpful hints?
Cause that would be awesome!
John Cole
@demkat620: This is a full service blog.
I’m just so burnt out on politics right now. So much shit is beyond my control. Don’t agree with Obama on half of the shit, but he is sober and competent and not sending rednecks to Kenya to shoot the wrong person, so I’m just gonna roll with things until after the summer silly season.
RedKitten
Politics, snark, blistering profanity, sports, cute dogs ‘n’ cats, food ‘n’ wine, music, movies, and the best damn commentariat on the intertrons?
I’ve been commenting on this blog for what…5 years now? No wonder. It’s one-stop shopping!
Brick Oven Bill
@demkat620:
Uncanny.
Staying.
Power.
More patio pictures from the emporium of cheap spirits for Laura W.
lamh31
I’ll admit that I have never watched a baseball game, I don’t really care for football, soccer, or golf, but I did watch this pitch, and I even watched the bottom of the 2nd when the President was actually in the Fox Sports booth.
Even from my limited to non-existent experience with baseball, he seemed really cool and like he really knew his stuff. As usual, he’s pretty quick with a quip, when asked about his choice of wearing a team jacket rather than the usual pandering of most Pres to “not pick a favorite”, Obama said that he, of course, is a long time Sox fan, plus “my wife thinks I look pretty cute in this jacket…”
Question: Is it normal for the President after the pitch to actually go into the booth and chat a bid with the announcers?
General Winfield Stuck
@John Cole:
I think that’s cool, so long as she brings us some more Health Insurance videos.
demkat620
@John Cole: Well he’s always a little slow to start but then when he gets rolling…
I should be asleep but this has been too much fun tonight. And they’re playing baseball. Also.
AhabTRuler
@John Cole:
Um, if you are using the same iTunes I see on my computer, you should be able to skip directly to any point in the song by clicking on the time display beneath the song title/album/artist info, also known as, well, a scroll bar.
ETA: I mean, I am so not getting what you are not getting that I am wondering if one of us had a stroke?
AhabTRuler
Having watched the video of the pitch, he goes a little T-Rex armed when he runs of the mound, but the fist pump was awesome.
OTOH, in the photo of Willie Mays on AFOne it looks like they are watching a gay porno in the background.
@BettyPageisaBlonde:
Which isn’t bad considering that Kobe can’t.
eglenn
>> Hey- I have a question for Itunes users. Is there any way to add a scroll bar to advance through a song, much like in an IPOD. The FF buttons are clunky.
Synergy (Mac) puts a little top bar menu that lets you control everything with the mouse or keyboard.
-or- if iTunes is in front, you can click the bar like AhabT says
-or- you can use the keyboard to control (Apple-forward arrrow/back arrow)
-or- I think you can use the iPod as a remote for the computer (IR). Here’s one that’s iPhone and iTouch driven. apple.com/itunes/remote/
Robertdsc-iphone
I’m with you on that.
John Cole
@AhabTRuler: Shit. I was just in the wrong view.
Lyle4
Obama has always been a frequent offender of fashion laws with his dad jeans. Not quite sure why people are just picking up on it.
John Cole
@eglenn: Thanks.
Any mods of itunes on windows? Although I am migrating all of my music to my macbook.
passerby
HaHa. Hot Air says: What’s with the “mom” jeans.
Guess they don’t mind him wearing jeans, they just hate the style. You may yet be right with your Corner guess.
AhabTRuler
@John Cole: OK, good. That means the weakness on my left side and the slurring of my speech is caused by something else!
ellaesther
@passerby: (I’m a life-long Democrat with an unreasonable amount of love for the President, and when I saw him take the field, I thought: WTF with the mom jeans? And I’m a mom).
KG
my baseball thoughts:
1. home field in the World Series should not be determined by who wins the All Star game. I was fine with the old way of switching between leagues each year.
2. I despise interleague play.
3. A salary cap in baseball would have to be more like the NHL then the NBA or NFL because of the minor league system.
demkat620
Well, I’m done too Albert. You can come sleep in my bed, Just sleep, I promise! Really!
Call me?
Andy K
@JK:
Not really fair either, since the representative of one league may be head-and-shoulders better than the teams in its league, while the other may have been the best of eight highly competitive teams that scrapped it out in theirs.
I’m all for the old method of the AL champs getting home field advantage one year, NL champs the next.
Demo Woman
OMG>>> The pres wears blue jeans and all of a sudden we have to become blue jean critics… Hot air and the other conservatives need to get a life…
KG
Why do they have to sing God Bless America during the seventh inning stretch? Fucking ruining a perfectly good baseball game.
And the fact that my beloved Dodgers do it on a nightly basis annoys the hell out of me.
gnomedad
@demkat620:
I hope he is, just to see what kind of crazy it inspires.
@passerby:
There was a nice think piece on health care at Sully’s that all but begged for comments. Bah.
SIA aka ScreamingInAtlanta
@Max: Great photos Max! thanks for posting! Obama looks great.
John Cole
@Demo Woman: I haven’t worn jeans since high school. Do people realize khakis and boxers are more comfortable than nuthugging jeans? I mean, I understand the desire to put your kids in toughskins with layered knees, but is that really necessary after puberty?
What am I missing?
Andy K
Am I the only person who thinks that singing God Bless America in the middle of every game has long passed its expiration date? It’s ridiculous enough that we’re required to prove our patriotism before a sporting event; do we have to prove our religious bona fides, too?
lamh31
Isn’t the President wearing a bulletproof vest, which add bulk to his mid section right?
Since Obama is so trim, would he have to wear a slightly larger pair of jeans, to ensure that his pants will fit around the vest?
Increased safety =Large kevlor bulletproof vest, Large bulletproof vest = Larger pants size, Larger pants size = “mommy jeans”
Andy K
@KG:
Would you quit reading my mind, please?
Andy K
@John Cole:
Well, there’s the nuthugging thing. Maybe you’ll appreciate it now. Or maybe you’ll appreciate the feel of going commando after, say, eight hours of having them hugged.
sgoode
This may have been noted on an earlier thread but wanted to see if you guys had heard that hilzoy of OW was calling it quits. Her last is Friday and then she’s off to Rwanda
KG
@128: I prefer jeans to khakis. But I usually wear looser fitting jeans. One of the reasons I don’t really want to leave my small firm for a bigger firm is because I’d have to go to wearing a suit and/or slacks on a daily basis.
General Winfield Stuck
@Robertdsc-iphone:
I don’t really care much what the wingnuts do, they are in an epic flux of crazy and that won’t change for awhile. And about the stuff Obama is doing with the economy, some of it I get and approve of, a lot of it I don’t understand, and the bailout shit, I hate, but grin and bear it as the least worse alternative.
As for National Security, the blowback and debris from the Bush criminal enterprises is just energy sapping to have to deal with, on top of everything else that needs fixing, and as long as he doesn’t torture people, invade other countries on a whim, gets us out of Iraq, and tries with Afghanistan I’m generally alright with it.
And I’m about worn out fighting with other dems who take their dissent too far imo. so the jokes are about all that’s left for interesting blogging. It’s why I stick around. that and critter pics/
john b
john even had a whole post about it.
sgoode
Oops – nevermind…
That’s what I get for going offline for a day…
Gus
Wow, Heath Bell does the Rod Beck arm swing and has Beck like facial hair.
Andy K
WooHoo! Curtis Granderson represents for the D! I don’t remember the last time a Tiger has done something noteworthy at one of these things.
john F. Loehr
don’t get me started. I’m old; I remember when the Pirates always had three or four guys in the all star game. Clemente, Stargell, maz, Alou, Dock, Dave Cash,Oliver, Parker, Pena, Bonilla, Bonds, Sanguillen. And we won the division every year. ’74, bucs were dead last at the all star break, and won the division. Lost to the Dodgers on the NLCS. Those were the days.
Indylib
@John Cole: Being female I can’t really comment on the nuthuggers part, but IMO women like jeans because about a thousand different companies make them and you can, with a little effort find ones that actually fit your body type. My only complaint is that I need ones for short people and they usually cost more even though they have 3 inches less length in the legs.
dr. luba
@Common Sense:
I have friends who live in Packer country, and my impression is they can’t leave–they are owned by the fans. Per Wikipedia:
“Based on the original ‘Articles of Incorporation for the (then) Green Bay Football Corporation’ put into place in 1923, if the Packers franchise were to have been sold, after the payment of all expenses, any remaining money would go to the Sullivan Post of the American Legion in order to build ‘a proper soldier’s memorial.’ This stipulation was enacted to ensure the club remained in Green Bay and that there could never be any financial enhancement for the shareholders. At the November 1997 annual meeting, shareholders voted to change the beneficiary from the Sullivan-Wallen Post to the Green Bay Packers Foundation, which makes donations to many charities and institutions throughout Wisconsin.
“In 1950, the Packers held a stock sale to again raise money to support the team. In 1956, area voters approved the construction of a new city owned stadium. Another stock sale occurred late in 1997 and early in 1998. It added 105,989 new shareholders.
“As of June 8, 2005, 112,015 people (representing 4,750,934 shares) can lay claim to a franchise ownership interest. Shares of stock include voting rights, but the redemption price is minimal, no dividends are ever paid, the stock cannot appreciate in value – though private sales often exceed the face value of the stock, and stock ownership brings no season ticket privileges. No shareholder may own over 200,000 shares, a safeguard to ensure that no individual can assume control of the club.”
Kind of cool, actually. They’re never going to leave……
Cat G
@AhabTRuler: My first impression is that it’s one of the Planet of the Apes movies. @John Cole: That’s actually a pretty good batting average. I appreciate it that he doesn’t embarrass us. Also.
grape_crush
@139: Speaking of Detroit, did anyone catch this today?
Crashman06
No offense, but jeans can wear a bit more loose and comfortable these days without looking silly. They’re way more comfortable for me than khakis are.
Gus
Bah, spoken like a true Steelers fan. I’m watching the All Star game for the best major sport. Can’t stand watching 300 pound freaks try to hurt each other for three tedious hours.
lamh31
Baseball related, and just damn heartwarming:
Here’s video of Willie Mays on Air Force on the way to the All-Star Game with the Prez. Check out about 1/2 way into the video when he talks about how he felt when Obama won the Presidency.
He “cried all night”. It made him feel that what he (Willie Mays) “went through” meant something.
This perfectly illustrates some of what I was talking about a over at another blog about how some people of the post-civil rights era just don’t get just how closely the pre-civil right, Jim Crow generation is following Obama’s presidency, and how much they feel they have invested in the Obama, beyond our political issues here and within both the left & the right blogoshpere. Especially in my community, the African American community.
Check it out:
thepage.time.com/video-willie-mays-on-air-force-one/
Cat Lady
Kevin Youkilis is the sweatiest player in the history of baseball, and I’m really happy Tim Wakefield got picked, but I has a sad he’s not pitching tonight.
Lyle4
@John Cole: It’s possible that styles have changed a bit since you’ve been in high school, John. The nuthugging look isn’t exactly “in” anymore. Unless you’re an emo hipster type.
Demo Woman
@John Cole: Not all jeans are nuthugging… Jeans are durable and serve two purposes, one they are extremely durable and secondly if you get the correct fit they are comfortable. Lightweight khakis are great but personally I would have gone through several while refinishing the house that I am working on. The knees don’t hold up. I am very lucky since I volunteer at a charity that gives away clothing and resales the rest. Living in a wealthy area there are folks that buy jeans that retail at 100 plus and they happen to buy sizes to small for them to fit in which is great for me. I bought a pair of diesels that were new for $3.00. Females are luckier because jeans are more fitted for them and you don’t have the baggy butt or baggy leg problem. I never became a clothes snob until I started volunteering by the way.
If you are really interested in work jeans, just wash them several times and you will be surprised how comfortable they are.
Brian J
Maybe next time Obama makes a public appearance where he’s not wearing a suit or formal wear, he can put on a t-shirt that says, “If you are twittering about what I’m wearing, you’re a fucking loser!”
John Cole
Alright, can someone explain how IN THE HELL there is a nickleback album in my Itunes? I haven’t been that damned drunk since before there was Itunes. And I damned well do not own any of that shit, nor would I have imported it.
I’ve deleted it, but how did this happen? I need a shower.
SixStringFanatic
@Gus:
Takes some nerve, as a baseball fan, to call any other sport tedious.
slag
@John Cole:
Having recently destroyed a pair of $60 “rip-stop” pants after just one month, I think I can speak with some authority on this subject. Durability, durability, affordability.
Suck on this, George Will.
Common Sense
@dr. luba:
Sure, but what value would 112,000 shares of stock be in, say, an MLB team in Green Bay, WI (pop 60,000). The point is: without shared TV revenue the Packers would be long gone.
I’ll grant that both the Packers and Steelers have far larger national fan bases than a small market team in another sport would, but again this has nothing to do with a salary cap. Both teams’ dynasties and fan bases were formed in the pre cap era.
Andy K
@lamh31:
This. And this.
And this. Also.
slag
@John Cole:
I think you should keep posting on things you don’t agree with. Fodder for debate and all that. But whatevs. It’s your blog.
KG
it’s such a shame that Willie Mays had to play for the team that shall not be named. not that I’m old enough to have actually seen him play to begin with.
JK
@Common Sense: @Andy K:
Without a salary cap, the NY Yankees can always outbid every other team for the best free agent on the market.
You have a point, but the All-Star game is an exhibition and an exhibition shouldn’t determine home field advantage for the World Series. To balance out the leagues, the Natl League should be forced to adopt the Designated Hitter.
TR
Jesus Christ, that Hot Air site has the biggest collection of sourpusses I’ve ever seen.
It’s like they taught Droopy Dog html and let him run wild. “The pwesident is on my telewision. Oh, drat.”
Andy K
@Common Sense:
I’m one of those owners, and my dad has season tickets in the south end zone at Lambeau. Whenever I go to a game with dad, I meet someone from far outside the Upper Midwest: Alabama, Texas, Hawaii, the UK….The TV money was much appreciated in 1960, but in the half century since, the Packers have built themselves into one of the biggest revenue-generating teams in the league. If the TV money was divided by national viewership of each individual team, the Packers would be much more highly valued than damned near any team in the NFL.
John Cole
@slag: I’d really rather not. I’m just trying to come to terms with the fact that I am to the left of the Democratic party on a lot of things and moving port side. Gimme some space and time.
Andy K
@JK:
I don’t like the current method either. That’s why I wrote:
And the union would love it if the NL adopted the DH rule. Keeps an established player on the roster long after he’s lost his fielding skills.
AhabTRuler
@JK: Fuck the DH, it’s a shitty rule!
Um, oh, sorry, flashback! Can’t stand baseball, I would rather do, well, anything else.
Jeff Berardi
Oh, National League, you try so hard… it’s adorable.
Alright so, next year, to even it out, we don’t do AL/NL. We’ll do the Red Sox, Yankees and Rays versus the rest of baseball. That would be somewhat more fair. Still, I’m not sure I’d bet on Team Rest Of Baseball in that scenario…
JK
@Andy K: I read what you wrote.
I dislike alternating the World Series home field adv yr after yr as much as I dislike the winner of the All-Star game determining home field adv.
Team with the best record should get home field advantage –
This is the fairest method in my mind. There is no perfect method, but I think best record is much fairer than alternating AL/NL or using the All-Star game to make the determination.
Cat Lady
@John Cole:
Criticism of Obama from the left is important but maintaining perspective on the sanity he brings to the office is more important, otherwise you’ll have PUMA trolls here all day long.
AL wins again! Home field advantage for the Sox!
Common Sense
@Andy K:
How did they get to that point though? As you said, “The TV money was much appreciated in 1960.” I don’t mean to come across as a critic of the NFL’s model. I’m not. I just think that the NFL’s success as a league is directly related to the owners like Weeb Ewbanks that were willing to sacrifice their own short term profit for the good of the league. If he and others like him hadn’t had such foresight, the Cowboys would have an empire right now that could rival anyone.
@JK:
So? Without a smart owner it doesn’t matter. You can piss money away on the Carl Pavanos, Javier Vasquezs, and Jason Giambis of the world all you want. It doesn’t automatically make your team competitive. When the Yankees were winning they did it primarily with home developed talent supplemented with effective FA signings. It was not “sign the biggest name every year.”
It is very telling that every offseason the Red Sox continue to drive up a player’s price and inevitably let him go to the Yankees, then replace him with someone just as good for half the price.
Andy K
Carl Crawford as the MVP? Sorry. CG stretched a double into a triple, setting up his winning run.
Boo, I say. Boo.
Comrade Jake
@Andy K:
Bud gave it to him because he prevented the game from going extra innings. Full stop.
Comrade Kevin
@JK:
It seems to work just fine for the NHL and the NBA.
ronin122
My two and a half cents:
St Louis if not mistaken went for Obama back in November. I say with extremely high likelihood they booed the Sox Jersey he wore. Makes sense since when they were announcing the All-Stars the only one they booed was the lone Cubs pitcher for the NL (and that, unlike Baracky, was without much cheers mixed in…so yeah they went easy on the Prez). Yeah St Louis baseball fans got a big rivalry with their friends on the North end of I-55. It’s all friendly, don’t think much about it. Don’t get the big deal about the jeans. On that note, I think jeans are more comfortable the way I wear them.
Fuck the NL (not that the Cubs would be going to the World Series anyway) I have no idea why they can’t win this frigging thing. Oh well. I also think it’s stupid that this game determines who has HFA, should be either who had the best record or alternate annually, and I say this independent of my preference for a NL team. I honestly think most fans feel similarly, it just feels kinda lame. On interleague play, I have to go with what I think is the majority and say I’m for it. Though I guess I am biased since it does mean we have 6 cross-town games (surely NY would agree) that are just about the biggest games of the year, even though historically it all ends with parity.
As for salary cap, I am agnostic on the matter but I don’t really see a need for it. Baseball is one of the rare games where even the most expensive team isn’t guaranteed a playoff berth, while a ragtag team can make it. Most of the problems are just with shitty drafting or GMs. Yes some teams will end up having more money than others [*cough* Yankees *cough*] but it means a lot less somehow. I guess so long as it ain’t broke, don’t fuck with it.
Comrade Jake
@JK:
BORING. At least with the current format there’s something at stake with the ASG.
Comrade Kevin
@Comrade Jake: Why should theere be anything “at stake” in the All Star Game? It’s an exhibition.
JK
@Common Sense:
The NY Yankees are the only baseball that can afford to substantially overpay for players. No other team can compete with the Yankees. This isn’t good for baseball
N M
@John Cole:
This buds for you:
riserock.com/xmas/nickelbacksucks.mp3
Yes, that is a nickelback song played out of each of the left and right channels. fascinating. I heard it first on my college radio station (WSUM 91.7 Madison, WI), though it came from the internets.
Laura W
@Brick Oven Bill: Bill, thanks! Those were awesome!
Just getting back here. Love the flag over the desert shot. Makes me really miss the CA high desert where I spent my most wonderful childhood years with my maternal grandparents.
Comrade Kevin
@JK: There was a joke from The Onion about that a few years ago, where they bought up every single player in baseball, and won the World Series by default.
Comrade Kevin
@Laura W: Where in the desert?
JK
@Comrade Jake:
The All-Star game deciding home field advantage is a bunch of bullshit.
When you play a 162 game schedule, by far the most games in a season for any sport, a team’s record should count for something. Having the All-Star game decide home field severely diminishes the value of regular season play.
JK
@Comrade Kevin: We’re not that far away from the Yankees having the ability to do just that.
mcd410x
Carl Crawford, ladies and gentlemen!
I don’t know how I lucked out moving down here two years before the Rays make the Series. When/if the starting pitching matures, major leagues, you’re in trouble.
Comrade Jake
@Comrade Kevin:
Then have it after the end of the season.
ronin122
@JK: Baseball is doing quite fine even with the Yankees able to spend as much money as they do. The best thing Baseball did was implement the modern playoff system that they have, so even if they are almost a shoo-in for the playoffs–which isn’t always the case even–it doesn’t mean shit unless they can beat two other teams in their leagues. And judging by the list of who has won the WS in the last 20 years, except for one stint from ’96 to 2000, the Yankee payroll hasn’t guaranteed them a damn thing.
MikeJ
Meh. Yes, using the regular season record would help the NL since they never have to play against the Yanquis or the Rays, but you’d think they’d be able to put together a win in the All Star game every decade or two.
Comrade Kevin
@Comrade Jake: Fine with me.
Comrade Jake
@JK:
Nonsense. It does count for something. Teams with the best records have home field advantage through the playoffs, until the World Series.
The problem with relying on who has the best record is that the two leagues are different enough, inequities in interleague play, etc.
Comrade Jake
Plus, the NL sucks.
Common Sense
@JK:
Let’s take the last decade. Since 2000, MLB has been more competitive than any other sport. By far the least competitive is the NBA, which also has the strictest salary cap. In 10 years the Lakers and Spurs have combined to win 7 titles, with 2 of the others going to Detroit and Boston (hardly low market NBA teams). Only the Heat were first time champions.
The Yankees and Red Sox have two titles apiece in that time frame, with New York’s being the last of three consecutive titles 10 years ago.
Meanwhile the Patriots and Steelers dominated the NFL, with the Colts and Rams also making frequent appearances.
Again. a majority of the teams in the NL (10 of 16) have been to the World Series in the last 11 years. 10 different champs in 11 years. How on earth is that not competitive? Chew on that. There is a greater than 50% chance that a fan of an NL team saw their team in the championship recently. The NFC, AFC, Western, and Eastern conferences can’t say that.
Joe Lisboa
WooHoo! Curtis Granderson represents for the D! I don’t remember the last time a Tiger has done something noteworthy at one of these things.
Agreed. It was a pleasure to see.
MBSS
is john cole always this funny?
or is he just being sillly tonight?
MBSS
i hate nuthugger jeans. so annoying.
Laura W
@Comrade Kevin: Apple Valley! And then Victorville. Do you know the area?
slag
@John Cole:
Totally feel that. I’ve been there. For me, it became a matter of taking the world to apart and putting it back together again over time. The up side is that my new world becomes more internally consistent and more deliberate. The ironic downside is that I become much more acutely aware of my flaws vis a vis my studied principles. Having such a clear vision of how I want things to be makes compromising hard…and dissonance crazy-making.
Joe Lisboa
is john cole always this funny?
or is he just being sillly tonight?
Yes.
Yes.
Phoenix Woman
@John Cole: Here’s a recipe for strawberry (or rhubarb, or blueberry, or…) empanadas (makes 12):
1/3 cup hot milk
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, sliced into 1/8″ patties
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup flour
Ten medium-sized rhubarb stalks, cut into 1″ pieces, OR:
Two pints blueberries, OR:
Two pints strawberries, etc.
Sugar/Splenda to taste (about 1/4 cup will do)
1 beaten egg
Brown sugar
Mix flour and baking powder, then cut butter into patties and heat milk until boiling (60 seconds in the microwave works) and mix in butter patties until they are melted and incorporated into the milk; add milk to flour and mix until no dry spots exist. Put in the refrigerator for two hours (or in the freezer for half an hour if you’re in a hurry).
While dough is cooling in the cooler, mix together the berries and sweetener (if you’re using rhubarb, try a splash of orange juice and maybe vanilla as well) and let rest while the dough cools. (Most berries and fruit don’t need more prep than this, but you will have to cook the rhubarb a bit before using it as a filling; put it on the stove with a touch of water on medium heat for ten to fifteen minutes or until pieces are no longer firm.)
Divide cooled dough into twelve easy pieces, then use rolling pin (or pasta machine) to turn them into four-inch-wide disks. Put filling of choice in center and paint a swath of beaten egg around perimeter, then fold so the filling is encased in a half-moon of dough and use fork to crimp shut; paint outside of dough with egg wash and sprinkle with brown sugar, then put in the oven at 450F for ten to fifteen minutes. Enjoy!
Common Sense
This is a very interesting article from BP on a salary cap.
He follows with a nice job dissecting the “but the NFL has one!” argument (that I won’t bother pasting) before closing with this:
Andy K
@Comrade Kevin:
The NHL simply kept the method they employed during the Original Six (and earlier) days, when there were no conferences. The teams played balanced schedules then.
Baseball used to be two separate leagues that each played their own balanced schedule. Now two teams in the same division don’t even play a balanced schedule. Without that balance, the only way you get a playoff system that isn’t hinky and artificial would be to play as one league, no divisions, top eight teams make the post-season…well, you see where this is going. Any alternate system is going to be subject to debates over taste.
Now get your god damned peanut butter off of my chocolate.
canuckistani
I think Obama was damned smart to wear Sox gear- any booing can be explained away as high-spirited baseball fans, and we don’t have to listen to wingnuts explaining how unpopular he is.
And I was saddened to see Halladay choke under pressure, although if it lowers the odds he gets traded away from Toronto, I’m in favour of that.
MikeJ
Not just sports, but every other business. I’ll think about a baseball salary cap after the stockbroker salary cap is in place, or the lawyer salary cap.
Common Sense
I’m still pulling for MLB to adopt a system of relegation like the EPL. Buffalo would be a great major league town Doug.
And I’m sure Pittsburgh would be a nice little AAA town as well.
Andy K
@Joe Lisboa:
Actually, Joe, I do remember the last noteworthy Tiger All Star moment: the year Lou Whitaker left his jersey in Detroit, bought a replica off the rack and used magic marker to put his number (2?) on the back of it.
The new jersey was sorta transparent under the lights. Cringeworthy as well as noteworthy.
Martin
Advantage should go to whatever team got to the series on the lowest salary budget.
Fucking Yankees.
General Winfield Stuck
Anyone got an extra Blue Pill, sounds like Cole needs a booster.
Comrade Kevin
@Laura W: Not that part, I’m more familiar with the Lone Pine, Independence, Bishop area.
Martin
But the difference is that sports is a de-facto monopoly. There’s a fixed number of first basemen in MLB – so if better talent arrives, the marketplace cannot expand to utilize that talent, all it can do is bid up the existing salaries. That’s unlike any of the other examples – there’s no possibility for market forces to work properly in MLB.
MikeJ
You are arguing that there are a limitless number of entities that are willing to pay $150M a year to anybody to do anything?
Mike P
@John Cole:
This. Joe Buck is fucking atrocious.
KG
I know Victorville, have some family out there.
Comrade Kevin
QFT.
KG
@207: I’ll see your Joe Buck and raise you a Tim McCarver
Andy K
@Common Sense:
By 1960, the Packers had won six league championships, second only to the Bears seven. The Packers split their home games between Green Bay and Milwaukee to make ends meet (before Lambeau opened in ’57, the Green Bay games were played at City Stadium, which only seated 25,000- yet they were successful.
It was the late Giants owner Wellington Mara (not Weeb Ewbank, then coach of the Colts, and never an owner, iirc) who realized that the key to success for the league was good football, not huge markets for individual teams. Who outside of New York would have wanted to see the Giants win the Championship every year?
Mara’s decision to split the tv revenue evenly paid off in the first decade. By the end of 1967, the Packers were the most viewed of all the teams outside of their home markets. Lambeau Field expanded from it’s original capacity of 32,500 to just under 51,000 by 1965, which meant higher gate revenues for the Packers and the visiting teams. Meanwhile, by 1967, the Giants, who had appeared in six championship games between ’56 and ’63 were a crappy team, losing national viewership and struggling financially. But thanks to the Packers, the Giants could count on tv revenue from the people of Fargo, Cedar Rapids and Walla Walla that, without the revenue sharing plan, wouldn’t have been available to them.
Anne Laurie
There’s an old saying: Cynics are idealists who’ve had their hearts broken once too often.
And I thought guys wore the nuthugger jeans for the same reason women wear high heels — because going for ‘comfortable’ instead of ‘sexy’ is considered giving up. Thus the wingnut snark about Obama’s “mom jeans”;
sane peopleprogressives read Obama’s skooch-more-room jeans as “I am comfortable in my own skin & have nothing more to prove”, while the Hot Air crew reads them as “I am no longer interested in attracting the hotties, or at least in pretending to my friends that I am interested in such hotties.”In WingnutWorld, since substance is so rare, appearances are all-important. Remember, Dubya always wore his fake-cowboy Wranglers so tight that Karl Rove still gets a thrill up his leg reminiscing about the Skoal ring on his back pocket. (True story. You can look it up.)
P.S. Congratulations, again, RedKitten!
Common Sense
@Andy K:
Oops. You are entirely correct re Mara. My bad. But yeah, Mara is the reason the Pack are around. Look at the Lakers, who dominated from Minny as effectively as the Pack did from Wisconsin. They didn’t stick around.
MBSS
i think karl rove, tweety hardball, and myself all got a simultaneous thrill up and down our leg when we saw that worn tobacco can ring hugging the curves of our ex pres’s caboose. talk about hardball.
Martin
No, I’m arguing that there is more demand from the public for MLB than there is available supply. Because of that, more and more money flows into existing teams and therefore to players to attract into the limited number of slots.
What I’m suggesting is that if there was a policy that MLB would add a team every time an existing team touched the salary cap, the supply in the market would expand and naturally pull salaries down.
passerby
@Common Sense:
Thanks for run down from BaseballProspectus on MLB salary caps. Your selected text clips frame the issue quite well. Learned something today.
Jennifer
Hey JC, I missed the pork loin thread, but this is delish:
Marinade:
orange juice – 4 – 5 oranges (about a cup)
lime juice – 5 – 6 limes (about 1/3 – 1/2 cup)
lemon juice – 1/2 – 1 lemon
8 cloves garlic, minced
2 tblsp ground cumin
1-1/2 tblsp oregano
1 tblsp coarse salt
1 tblsp coarse ground pepper
Mix the whole mess together and pour over tenderloin in big heavy-duty ziploc bag. Put it in the fridge and allow it to marinate for a full day if you can, turning it a few times. Grill. Yum. This is enough marinade for 2-1/2 – 3 lbs of tenderloin – adjust up or down as needed.
I also make a glaze for it:
juice from 1 orange
juice from 2 – 3 limes
2 – 3 tblsp peeled & finely grated or minced fresh ginger
3/4 – 1 cup light brown sugar (adjust for taste)
Pinch of table salt
Leftover glaze will keep at least 2 weeks in the fridge and is good on chicken, too.
Bon apetit.
Laura W
@Anne Laurie:
The last time I saw Richard was Detroit in 68,
And he told me all romantics meet the same fate someday
Cynical and drunk and boring someone in some dark cafe
You laugh, he said you think you’re immune, go look at your eyes
They’re full of moon
You like roses and kisses and pretty men to tell you
All those pretty lies, pretty lies
When you gonna realise they’re only pretty lies
Only pretty lies, just pretty lies
~Joni Mitchell, The Last Time I Saw Richard
freelancer
I still don’t know WTF this ‘silly season’ you keep talking about, Cole.
International Soccer Tournaments?
Ice Cream Man?
or to quote Hot Air’s Source Material:
The START OF THE ELECTIONS of 2009?!
Please do, define silly season, as if this oeuvre of absurdity is something we only see 25% of the time.
Comrade Kevin
Hahaha, there are people on my local news bitching because they got parking tickets for things that have always been violations but were previously overlooked by some cops.
Andy K
@Common Sense:
Did the people of the Twin Cities own the Lakers, though?
The Packers began playing in the NFL in 1921, but publicly owned since 1923, under those rules stated above (no one entity has a controlling share), the fact that the majority of those stockholders would never and will never allow the team to move…
If you’ve never been there, you really should go to Green Bay for a game. Get there on Saturday and find out where Fuzzy Thurston is hanging out that night. Go there and say hi to him. He’s the guy with the vibrating throat-talking thing. He’ll probably be hanging out with a few other former Packers, and if they’ve won them, they’ll show you their championship rings.
The tailgating before a game begins at 7am if the game starts at noon, and doesn’t end until….very late in the evening. I’ve never seen a fight between a Packer fan and a fan of the visiting team (I’ve seen one between people on opposite sides of the Favre argument, though I think that all that Favre to Minny talk, whether it happens or not, has got most of us on the anti-4 side now). When you get your wake up call from the desk on Monday mornong you won’t even notice that you’ve got the Mother of All Hangovers. Doesn’t matter if the Pack played the Bears or the Texans the day before, and it doesn’t really matter if the Pack won or lost: You will know that the experience you had in that little town was about as good as it gets when it comes to being a sports fan.
BTW, I was at the playoff game against the Seahawks two seasons ago. The Snow Globe game. Better than the best sex that B.O.B. can imagine.
Comrade Kevin
Didn’t notice if this was posted already, but Fox News goes Birther.
Common Sense
I saw the Pack play the Texans on SNF years ago. Great game, Favre did his thing. And yea Packer fans were noticably more polite than some other traveling teams (Raiders I’m looking in your general direction).
Andy K
@Common Sense:
My dad and my sister were there for that game. Sis met Donald Driver’s mom at a Packer party the previous night, and when they saw each other on the concourse post-game from many feet away they rushed to hug each other.
December ’07, pre-game inside Champs Sports Bar before Pack/Raider game, two Raider fans walk in glaring at the whole crowd, then sat at the table right next to us. Acting like hardasses, natch. Saw them post-game (Packers’ blowout win, of course), and they were like two puppies, coming up to everyone and effusively thanking us for such a great time.
Steeplejack
@John Cole:
Did you download a movie soundtrack or an anthology? That’s how I usually explain these things (whether or not it’s true).
Comrade Kevin
Lulz, some clown on ESPN just said that Bastille Day is “French Independence Day”. Independence from WHAT?
Blue Raven
@Comrade Kevin:
Um, the monarchy? I realize this may seem strange, but when the local talent is so domineering that they can kill you with a stroke of the pen, it does feel rather like oppression even if you are in the same country at the same time.
freelancer
Please tell me the word you wanted was “Occupation“.
Ash Can
Upon the final out, I commented to the husband that I just couldn’t figure out why the NL can’t win an All-Star game. He replied that he thinks it’s because of the whole AL East. This goes beyond the theory of the Yankees perennially dominating baseball. Not only are the Yankees loading their roster with talent, the other teams in the division have to step up their scouting and spending accordingly. With everyone in the AL East busting ass to keep up with the Joneses, you end up with the AL East guys pulling the AL past the NL in the All-Star game. (The playoffs and World Series are a different story because team-vs.-team dynamics are vastly different from the individual-vs.-individual dynamics of the All-Star game.)
It’s the middle of the night and I’m getting sleepy now after my usual nightly period of insomnia, so I’m too lazy to do a full-out search of All-Star-game player stats to see if his theory is correct. But I’d be willing to bet money on it.
MikeJ
1) why would we want labour to make less money?
2) there are far more teams today than there were back in the “golden age” of baseball when Ted Williams made the equivalent of $600k in today’s money.
Zzyzx
@John Cole: Free samples. When I downloaded iTunes, it came with a couple songs I would never have bought. At least that’s how I remember it, it was a long time ago and I immediately deleted them…
PaulW
Carl Crawford: BEST MFING PLAYER ON THE PLANET.
Go Rays.
Gus
Ha! I know. But of course, as a fan, I don’t find it tedious. As someone who grew up a Vikings fan, I no longer watch much football, but when I do, I’m struck by how much time there is between plays, how short the actual plays usually are, and how many timeouts there are. If I was still a fan, I probably wouldn’t notice those things. Baseball was always my favorite sport, and since I don’t really have time to follow many sports, it’s the one I still follow.
harlana pepper
hol-ee fuck, i am sick to death of repubes obsessing about sotomayor’s comments vs. rulings, jeebus, they got nothin’ — even repube former lawyers on the judiciary committee, she had to give them Law 101 lessons yesterday (as if they didn’t know); why do they have to be such piss-heads 100% of the time, never let go, hang on by your fingernails, ruined, rotted fuckers, well I will enjoy watching their pain, fuck them all to hell, and with the sweep-end of the broom
Cassidy
So much juice on the field, you could start making wine.
I’m done with baseball. I stuck by them through every little scandal, but finely I’m done.
Gus
Oh, come on. How much are they paying JD Drew? Mike Lowell? Not that those guys aren’t good players, but they’re injured all the time. The A’s or Rays don’t have the luxury of spending as much as the Red Sox to have guys sit on the DL.
BDeevDad
Watch out for the Washington media to start bitching and moaning.
majkia
The best part of the entire thing, was that Fringe’s observer was there:
Bob In Pacifica
Comrade Kevin:
My bad about Carter and East Timor, although Carter apparently didn’t rectify it. If I think hard enough I’ll figure out something I didn’t like about him. I think I misconnected Timor and Carter due to a sleep-inducing drone by Chomsky at some point. Actually, of all the ex-Prezes he comes off the best in my mind, much better than our first faux black faux Democratic Prez.
Bob In Pacifica
There seemed to be about six or seven innings in a row when nothing happened when the Nationals were at bat. Zzzzzz. Would have been nice to have The Panda come off the bench. After he lost out the last spot on the team he blasted multi-run homers two days in a row.
Well, Lincecum was definitely nervous. His fastball was high. Sometimes his fastball is high early, but his regular catcher calls more changeups to throw the batters off. Still, he came out of the game ahead.
I am so bored with the AL domination and giving home field advantage for an exhibition game. That is stupid. That’s Bud Selig. Home field advantage the old-fashioned way, by rotation? Okay. By best won-lost record? Okay. By an exhibition game where guys from other teams committed errors or gave up runs or didn’t get hits? That’s just stupid. Why isn’t Bud Selig questioning Sotomayor?
Common Sense
less than Matsui or Damon.
less than ARod. Youkilis makes less than Giambi, Swisher, or Teixeira, and outperforms all 3.
Sensing a pattern?
Sure the Red Sox have the luxury of money. How helpful was it for most of the 20th century? The Red Sox didn’t win until they got a decent GM. It’s not the money.
Egilsson
@John Cole:
re: blue ice
Were you up late watching Spike TV too? Manswers is a pretty funny show actually.
Zach
Andy McCarthy is really, really hitting peak wingnut in his post on Obama’s first pitch today.
Origuy
@freelancer:
They’re going to sweep the school board elections in Orem, Utah. From there, there’s no stopping them!
Andy K
@Bob In Pacifica:
With an acknowledgement to the fact that this will probably not be read:
Of course Carter didn’t overturn US policy concerning Indonesia/East Timor. To get the fleet- then based, iirc, at Subic Bay- to the hot spots of the Middle East, the ships would have to pass through Indonesian waters. It takes a long time and a lot of money to bypass that archipelago.