The world's most uncomfortable picture, courtesy Cleveland baseball http://t.co/6T0pEcv3kB (h/t @ClevelandFrowns) pic.twitter.com/tmR7p0NZ75
— SB Nation MLB (@SBNationMLB) April 4, 2014
I understand there’s also some kind of basketball tourney tonight, although not everyone seems happy about the finishers:
… On Monday night, we will see the best of what is a wonderful sport. We will see two excellent coaches — Kevin Ollie with 51 career wins, Calipari with 42 vacated career wins — and two teams that have played their hearts out to reach the season’s final 40 minutes.
It will be, no doubt, a wonderful spectacle.
And then the game will end and the hypocrisy of it all will again be evident. The corporate “champions” will take control. The “official ladder of the NCAA” will be brought out to cut down the nets…
***********
Apart from that, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
raven
The “tourney” has been being played for three weeks. This is the championship game.
PhoenixRising
Got nothing to #DeChief, because I’ve already bought my block C cap. The toddler sized cheerleader onesie with Chief Wahoo on the chest, OTOH, we burned in the BBQ right after the baby shower. (Have I mentioned that Mrs. Phoenix used to drink a little bit? Good times…)
The tantrums of the embattled losers who never left, can’t see how they appear to outsiders and will. not. tolerate. actual Indians taking away their cartooned stereotype are sweet indeed. Long may they wail.
SiubhanDuinne
I posted that very picture on my Facebook page a couple of days ago, expressing the view that even my beloved Atlanta Braves are due for a change to their team name, not to mention the tomahawk chop and war chant.
It’s twenty-four-fuckin’-teen. Isn’t it time to drop all the cultural appropriation and offensive racial stereotypes? Even if they started life a hundred years ago as tribute? Because, c’mon? Redskins? Chiefs? Braves? Indians?
MomSense
Watching The Blind Side. I’ve seen it a few times now but I love it.
raven
Don’t forget to have someone bitch about the size of the gym.
raven
Did I mention I won $483.95 on the tourney!
Schlemizel
THE NCAA UNOFFICIAL THEME SONG (edited for brevity):
Wanna be ballers? Shot-callers?
Brawlers — who be dippin in the Benz wit the spoilers
On the low from the Jake in the Taurus
Tryin to get my hands on some Grants like Horace
Yeah livin the raw deal, three course meals
It’s all about the Benjamins baby
Uhh, uh-huh, yeah
It’s all about the Benjamins baby
Cause I leave you, I’m only here
For that green paper which lead you
It’s all about the Benjamins baby
Uhh, uh-huh, yeah
It’s all about the Benjamins baby
Angela
@MomSense: Have you read Michael Orr’s autobiography? It is so good!
TheMightyTrowel
Things that make my little nerd feminist heart sad: Capt Janeway is a geocentrism-er
Schlemizel
@MomSense:
Sorry but I HATE that movie. We have a private prep school here that manages to fit a couple of kids of color into their classes but oddly enough they are all outstanding football or basketball players – what a coincidence!
Add to the “White woman saves poor colored boy who just happens to be a star football player” story line I would love to have “Ms. NRA” drive into the hood to confront an actual gangster. My guess his response to her hilarious speech would be something like, “Lady, If I shot you dead right now there are a hundred people in this project that would not see a thing and everyone would be wondering what a nice suburban bitch was doing here in the first place”
I know its supposed to be heart warming but for me its a complete miss.
raven
@Schlemizel: Settle down grumpy.
ranchandsyrup
This was foretold in cartoon form long ago. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/cartoon-predicted-encounter-between-indians-fan-and-chief-wahoo-protester-221403256.html
Schlemizel
@raven:
Sorry, That movie is like fingernails on a blackboard to me.
I do worry about coming off as nastier than I am in real life but I don’t know how to put that nicer. There is a common theme in Hollywood of good hearted white folks saving lost black people that I keep hoping will end soon.
I would be interested in Orrs account though, I may look that up.
Villago Delenda Est
The NCAA is a racket. It exploits its workers for the profit of those who control it.
It’s basically your standard American corporation.
It’s funny how this shit was so evil when a bunch of Sicilians did it back in the 40’s, but now that good old WASPs do it, it’s perfectly OK. Sort of like how banking was dirty until the right people got involved with it and took it to levels that the Rothschilds wouldn’t dream of going.
Betty Cracker
@TheMightyTrowel: I saw that too (the headline; didn’t read the story) and wondered if it was a joke. Do people believe that shit for reals!?!?
RE: sports. The basketball season is over for me since my team washed out. I’m a fair weather b-ball fan. Football and baseball I’ll watch to the bitter end no matter how much my team sucks.
Hanging out on my backyard tiki bar watching the Rays vs the Royals. There’s light rain now, and we’re supposed to get a real storm over the next day.
raven
Jesus, why not just have another goddamn Sully thread?
Baud
@TheMightyTrowel:
Looks like she went on one too many of Chakotay’s animal spirit adventures.
BTW, that story. Holy crap!
Howard Beale IV
@raven: Oh, FFS, how did Kaku get wrapped up in this shit?
Betty Cracker
@raven: Did you recover the wife’s phone?
lamh36
Reminder: Women of Soul, In Performance at WH tonight on PBS.
http://video.pbs.org/video/236…
Villago Delenda Est
@TheMightyTrowel: You know, I don’t see how this can happen, as the residuals from Voyager should more than cover house payments for Ms. Mulgrew.
raven
@Betty Cracker: She left it at the plant sale at the Botanical Gardens. Find my iPhone didn’t work because she has a different Apple ID. Find your friend seems to do the same thing so we loaded that up. I showed her how to use the store card app and she wanted to know if she could put her credit cards in there. We had a good laugh.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: I have to admit, I agree with grumpy here.
WaterGirl
@raven: Another Sullivan thread? Yawn.
Edit: or Scream. Can’t quite decide. Either way, I vote “no’. This is a democracy, right?
You might want to say yes, because I’ll vote with you against Pat Lang.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: On what?”My brother has a laundry list of shit he doesn’t like.
Angela
@Schlemizel: His book is very clear that his adopted mom percieves the story very differently than he does; and he is quite clear on his part of the success. I listened to it on audio, and stayed in the car after the trip to finish it. An amazing life.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Sullivan is old news. We’re into bitching about Ezra and Nate now.
jl
I was thinking a vanity plate more like ‘WV COMMIE’
raven
@WaterGirl: The water slide was built in the 50’s and torn down in the 80’s. I have family pics there in the 60’s
WaterGirl
@Baud: Still yawning. But I’ll try to keep up.
BJ hates the wanna-be cool kids, and still spends all that time yapping about them. I don’t get it. It’s just like rewarding a puppy for doing something bad. I’m more of the ignore what you don’t like, praise what you do. I stopped going to Think Progress every day because it seemed like all they did was publicize the awful crazy things the republicans were doing. Is it any better now?
WaterGirl
@raven: How did I miss that? I’m sure I was there a bunch of times during that time.
P.S. during my shower, I got to thinking that it’s not much more than a month before the pool opens. Yay!
raven
@WaterGirl: Did they finally rebuild Crystal Lake?
raven
@WaterGirl: I get duplicates all the time WTF-K?
Violet
I’m collapsing after taking care of my dad all last week and over the weekend. He had unexpected surgery and couldn’t walk. I also did wound care. It’s all settled down a bit now into some kind of routine so it’s not as exhausting, but it was kind of chaotic there for awhile. I had a hectic weekend too, so I’m collapsing in front of the TV tonight and I’m not going to do much of anything.
jl
The NCAA has an official ladder? That is so inspiring, I’m a gonna weep real tears now.
lamh36
Aww yeah, watching Mortal Kombat on MAX. I can’t be the only person who loves this movie…amirtie???
Mortal Kombat Trailer
I really need to get this one on Blu Ray
Baud
@WaterGirl:
I don’t read any of the pundits. I just go with the flow on those threads.
Think Progress seems about the same, as far as I can tell. The Daily Kos front pagers have actually been doing a good job lately, but I’m sure it won’t last. ;-)
WaterGirl
@raven: Are you on your iPad? I get duplicates all the time when I use my iPad.
raven
@jl: There was an entire NYT article about all the horrible product tie in’s in the tourney. Help me up, I fainted.
raven
@WaterGirl: Nope, macbook pro.
Betty Cracker
@raven: LOL! Glad y’all found it. I have never misplaced mine, but my kiddo does at least biannually and is always absolutely frantic to get it back.
Once it was found by a janitor and then locked in the desk of this terrifying woman who runs the high school student affairs office, and we tracked it there with the app and even made it ring to convince the staff it was ours, but they wouldn’t open the desk since the scary lady had left for the day.
My poor kid was crushed at the prospect of 12 hours without it.
burnspbesq
Fuck Feinstein, and fuck you for linking to him. We can have that conversation any day of the year, except two: tonight and Memorial Day.
raven
Want something real to bitch about? Kid Rock is doing a fucking pre-game song.
schrodinger's cat
I made the mistake of watching the Snooze Hour. Guess who they had as guests on the economic segment, Veronique De Rugy (economist at the George Mason’s hive for libertarians) and BJ favorites Pink Himalayan Salt McCardle and DougJ favorite Charles Murray.
Are Koch Brothers underwriting the News Hour?
raven
@Betty Cracker: Thanks, she gets pretty wrapped up in this plant thing.
WaterGirl
@raven: They must have because now it’s called “Crystal Lake Park Family Aquatic Center”. I swim at Indian Acres. It costs more, but I got so tired of going across town to swim, only to find the pool closed on an absolutely gorgeous 70+ degree day because they got to close the pool if there weren’t more than 20 people for an hour.
Indian Acres is private, but it’s open when it’s supposed to be open, unless you can hear thunder or see lightning. Swimming in the rain is one of my favorite things. The rest of the swimmers get out as soon as it starts to rain, and I’m like – Hello! You’re in the water. You’re already wet!
(Actually, I say nothing, because I also love to swim when no one else is there!)
Tommy
I love college sports but will never understand the NCAA. Or for that matter the NFL and NBA. I don’t see how you and I can legally work when we are 16 but somehow a 18 year old can’t to play in the NFL or NBA without going to college for at least one year. I went to LSU and if that isn’t professional sports I don’t know what is.
burnspbesq
@Villago Delenda Est:
Funny how you weren’t spouting that crap during football season.
raven
@schrodinger’s cat: I told my bride that the McCardle appearance would get the BJ’rs riled up.
Ultraviolet Thunder
It’s 90 degrees here in Sonora at 5:45 pm and it was 35 when I left Detroit this am. But I’ve located cerveza so it’s survivable.
Back to crazytown on Friday but for 4 days I can forget US politics.
Betty Cracker
@raven: Ugh, can’t stand that no-talent ambulatory barf bag!
jibeaux
NC peeps, the Hagan campaign is looking for housing volunteers for the next 10 days or so. The fact that they called my husband this evening and asked if we could put someone up starting TOMORROW is not an especially good omen, but I throw that out in case anyone can help.
Also too, I have a 12 year old boy who’s a great student and a great person. He doesn’t ask for video game systems, smartphones, any of that stuff. We have a seven-year old Wii and a PS2 inherited from my brother in law who didn’t think it would sell at a yard sale. Poor boy actually plays on the thing sometimes. We are never going to be the house where all the cool gear is, but sometimes I think we could try a little harder. Anyway, this offer is in my neighborhood and I wonder if anyone could opine on whether it would be a good deal, and how hard it would be to replace the hard drive.
he says the hard drive quit working, and he was really only using it to stream netflix, so he’s selling it and getting a roku. Your thoughts are welcome.
raven
@WaterGirl: Yea, I’m livin in the past when it comes to all that. We spent a boatload of money rebuilding CLP when that wonderful lake-like round pool became impossible to repair. Hell, I ran 18 leagues at Woodland, Prairie and Canady Parks and Champaign had as many. All that seems to have died. 30 years is a long time I guess.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Is that the source of your nym?
jibeaux
Sheesh, I forgot to add that he’s asking $100 for that bundle.
Tommy
@jibeaux: The drive should be pretty easy to replace. Ought to be able to figure out how to do it and where to order one in a few seconds on Google. I am a Sony guy myself, but that is more cause I have almost always had one and there are a few games on the Sony platform you can’t get on a Xbox 360. It isn’t that I think it is a superior machine.
With that said I still play a far number of games on my PS3, One of the nicer things about getting a little older machine is the price of games can be next to nothing. GameStop is wonderful and you can get your son some really good games from $5-$10 (used I should note). Beats playing $70 for the “new hip” game.
raven
Big Dog is at the game!
Villago Delenda Est
@burnspbesq:
Shit, Football is even worse.
Go Northwestern student athletes. Bring the corrupt edifice down. Inflict pain on Phil Knight. Lots of it.
WaterGirl
@Baud: Yep!
Love the water — swimming in it, playing in it, walking in it, looking at it, hearing the sound of it. I only swim outdoors, though. I love seeing the green grass and hearing the wind in the trees while I swim, and indoor pools always have that heavy chlorine air and they make me itch in the winter. So I live for when the pool opens in the spring!
Suffern ACE
@schrodinger’s cat: wow. Opinion ranged from nutty conservative, to nutty contrarianism.
gian
@raven:
I’m sure the players relate to an old white guy riffing off sweet home alabama. In Birmingham we love the governor.
Fuck that song and it’s progeny
Tommy
@jibeaux: Now you listed the price you might want to stop in a Gamestop. I am pretty sure you can get a new machine for about $179 (or less). Unless it comes with some other stuff I don’t think that is a “great” price. Not bad but not great considering the drive has to be replaced.
TheMightyTrowel
@Betty Cracker: apparently she’s also anti-choice. SIGH
raven
Aite, here we go!!!!!!!!!!
some guy
@Betty Cracker:
Orange and Blue game is Saturday at 1:30.tix are $5
Tommy
@jibeaux: Check out this link:
http://www.gamestop.com/browse/consoles/xbox-360?nav=28-xu0,1385-ffff2412
Hope that helps.
Roger Moore
@Tommy:
The leagues are free to set their own rules about who may and mayn’t play, as long as those rules don’t discriminate against protected classes. They can, if they wish, refuse to allow anyone in until they’ve completed at least one year of college.
@WaterGirl:
I always hated swimming when it was raining, but that was more because I knew it was going to be a cold, miserable walk back to the locker room when I was done than because there was anything wrong with swimming in the rain. Maybe that’s because I was here in Southern California, an the rain was always on cold, miserable days; it might be more enjoyable in the summer when it can still be warm and enjoyable when it’s raining.
schrodinger's cat
@WaterGirl: I too love swimming in the rain, but it has to be warm, at least above 70.
schrodinger's cat
@Suffern ACE: There was some left wing nutbag too, from the Occupy the Wall Street movement.
lamh36
If you turn the television to PBS now, you can catch the Women of Soul, In Performance at the White House televised broadcast.
some guy
https://www.google.com/shopping/product/12482038945583328841?q=xbox+360&safe=active&client=ms-android-att-us&sboxchip=Shopping&biw=360&bih=567&ei=3EtDU6DfOojx2wXY64GYAQ&ved=0CIUBEKkrMAE
some guy
Doh.damn phone. An unopened xbox 360 is to be had for less than $100
max
@Tommy: Now you listed the price you might want to stop in a Gamestop. I am pretty sure you can get a new machine for about $179 (or less). Unless it comes with some other stuff I don’t think that is a “great” price. Not bad but not great considering the drive has to be replaced.
Seconded, jlbreaux. Better off getting a refurb with some kind of DOA warranty. If I were going to buy one, this one looks like a better deal than the 100$ DOA box.
max
[‘Not that there’s anything wrong with the PS2.’]
jibeaux
@Tommy: Thanks, that was all very helpful. Maybe I’ll offer him $75 for it. It does look very easy to replace the hard drive, but looks like it would be $60.
jibeaux
Thanks for the advice, guys. Some of those links are for the older 360s, I think, and I do worry about the ring of death problem. This one is apparently only 3 years old. But point taken about the price and warranty.
Tommy
@max: Look the newer gaming machines are stunning. But I’ve had them since Pong and I still have my PS2, N64, and Sega Dreamcast hooked up. If your son doesn’t have to have the newest thing, he might be just as happy with one of them. Games are still easy to find and they can be a ton of fun. I mean the N64 is worth having just to play The Legend of Zelda and James Bond Golden Eye.
Cassidy
@jibeaux: How much?
some guy
The Gamestop factor is good. Their selection of Wii games has dwindled since WiiU came out. Looks like MS is gonna add 360 compatibility to the new system soon, so 360 games won’t disappear as quickly from Gamestop.
Suffern ACE
Reading about what is happening in Kansas, I’m pretty certain that we are fairly fucked. There are going to be large segments of the country where education is a white collar benefit provided by employers in the name of recruiting talent, and if you don’t work for one of those, you might as well give up ever worrying if your children will have a better life than you have.
Tommy
@jibeaux: Now that seems expensive. I am nowhere close to an expert on the 360 but pretty sure you can’t do anything without the hard drive. You used to just be able to put a game in a play, but now they connect to the Internet the drive is used for a lot of things. Not only to save a game but there are often updates to the games. Actually kind of a nice feature, but one that sucks if your drive doesn’t work :).
jibeaux
@Cassidy: $100 is the asking price, including the controllers and headphones. I don’t really think we need headphones.
Cassidy
@jibeaux: Yes, $100 for all that is good. A brand new wireless controller runs about $50, $35 used. A wired controller runs about $30 brand new. The headset brand new is over $100. Overall, $100 for all that is good if it’s the newer black Xbox 360. If it’s the older, bigger white one, don’t bother. If it’s the black one, a new hard drive will run you about $90.
So if it all works, no tears in anything, yeah.
jibeaux
Those headphones alone are over $100 brand new on amazon, but I don’t really want the headphones. I do want a couple of cheap sets of earbuds that will play out of BOTH speakers for more than three weeks, but he’s not offering those. The modded remote is also pricey, but again, I don’t even know from modded remotes.
jibeaux
@Cassidy: It is, that’s the S (slim) part as I understand it. The picture shows it in black. Wouldn’t one of these $60 hard drives work for it?
MomSense
@Schlemizel:
I do agree with you about all the problems in the movie but I see my grandmother in Michael Oher (as he is portrayed in the movie). There are some similarities in their life circumstances and it makes me think of what her experiences were like.
Cassidy
@jibeaux: The headphones plug into the controllers so you can communicate with other players during online play.
Cassidy
@jibeaux: It has good reviews. Personally, I’d get the Xbox one, but that’s just me.
jibeaux
@Cassidy: Yeah, I know, I just don’t know if I’m ready for that level of teenageryness just yet. This is a boy who will still hug me in public.
Tommy
@jibeaux: Well it depends on the size of your house I guess, but as a pretty hardcore gamer I have to admit I get sick of hearing other people play the darn games. The noise with some can be a little grating on the nerves.
Cassidy
@jibeaux: I don’t use headphones. I mute everyone because I have zero interest in talking. Many years ago, you could actually talk to your teammates and coordinate you plans, etc., but it hasn’t been like that in along time. Someone will buy the headphones from you, though, or you can trade them into Gamestop for credit towards a game.
jibeaux
@Cassidy: that’s a lot more than $160, though, and he does want a laptop. Also you can see the level of technical knowledge in this household and how it would be wasted. His dad would not go for a purchase like that, either. I know most men his age do, but he likes to bike and kayak and mountain climb and video games bring out his inner old man — “turn that thing off and go outside!” I should probably concentrate on getting a laptop that he could do games on.
Tommy
@jibeaux: Or a tablet. Outside of like writing a long paper, I can pretty much do anything on the tablet I can on my laptop (although I have one of those as well). I never thought I’d play games on a tablet, much less read a book. I do both more often then using one of my gaming systems or picking up an actual book.
Just a though. Heck my brother and I got my mother her first computer, a laptop two years ago, and we both wish we got her a tablet. She doesn’t even really use the computer as a computer, or how my brother and I would use it. We got her more of what we’d want and not what she needed.
Cassidy
@jibeaux: You’ll spend a lot for a good gaming machine. I’m not one to tell you how to spend your money, but this deal ($100) plus the HD ($90) plus a netbook of some sort ($200) still comes out to way less than a good gaming machine. Honestly, for $100 more you can get the new Xbox One Titanfall bundle ($499) and that’s still way less than a good gaming machine. Just my .02 cents.
lamh36
here is the FULL performance of Aretha Franklin singing Amazing Grace at the White House! They don’t call this woman the Queen of Soul for nothing.
http://www.thirteen.org/programs/in-performance-at-the-white-house/aretha-franklin-performs-amazing-grace/
Bob In Portland
Reports of Greystone, LTD., an affiliate of Blackwater (or whatever their name is this week) having 150 mercenaries moving in with Ukrainian forces into the east to quell the freedom fighters.
I wonder who’s paying them.
Heliopause
I don’t like either of these teams, and I’m here to tell you that the officiating has been clownishly pro-Kentucky. Not just tonight but the entire tournament. Every touch foul on KY gets called, but they hack and push and travel with utter impunity themselves. Somebody better get a bodyguard for the refs because they did the best they could and still couldn’t fix the outcome.
AxelFoley
@Bob In Portland:
Kochs? Cheney?
Quaker in a Basement
This photo right here is what you could call a teachable moment.
Paul in KY
@Heliopause: I disagree.