The Cubs celebrated Kerry Wood's career prior to the game today and Wood had a few interesting things to say. Wood wants to be a part of the team in the future, but wants to take an active part in some aspect of the team.
“We’ve kicked some ideas around, (I’ve) met with and talked to Theo about it,” Wood said about a possible role with the Cubs. “We’re all kinda on the same page and I’m sure we’ll get something done soon and work out all the details. (I) definitely want to be around and definitely want to be involved. In what aspect, we’ll figure that out probably this winter.”
He also wants some other former Cubs to return.
“Hopefully we’ll get Ryno back,” Wood said of Ryne Sandberg, who spent this past season managing the Philadelphia Phillies Triple-A affiliate. “Actually, it wouldn’t be bad thing to see Sammy (Sosa) come around too. He did a lot for this organization and a lot for this city. It’d be a shame for him not to come back.”
It would certainly be nice to see Sammy be welcomed back to the city and the team. Wood had more to say about Sosa.
Hearing Wood mention Sosa was a bit of a surprise as Sosa’s tenure with the Cubs ended on bad terms. After a late season collapse left the Cubs out of the playoff chase on the last game of the 2004 season, Sosa added to the negative atmosphere by leaving Wrigley Field before the end of that final game. Sosa was traded that offseason to the Baltimore Orioles and hasn’t been associated with the Cubs organization since.
But Wood is apparently attempting to start a movement to have the team and the city get past those bad feelings.
“Certain things ended certain ways, but it’s a new group of people here,” Wood said. “It’s a new ownership, it’s a new attitude, it’d be a shame to not have those guys be a part of it. Sammy and (Mark) McGwire pretty much single-handedly brought the fans back to baseball. Sammy did tremendous things for this city. We all know how he left and how it ended with him. But ultimately, that one mistake that he made at the end shouldn’t determine his future here in Chicago.”
Let's hope Theo reaches out to Sosa and attempt to bring him back in some capacity. Even showing up in spring training would be a nice first step.
HUntington speaks up: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/09/huntington-talks-front-office-changes-kyle-stark-pirates-slump.html
Just noticed that Ryan Dempster has actually been quite good in Texas with the exception of a ridiculous low LOB%. His FIP is in line with what he did this year in Chicago (85 FIP- in Chicago, 84 FIP- in Texas). He’s struckout more, walked a few more.
yeah…………BITCH gets another emmy
@ mb21:
From MB’s link:
Chris Rusin is owned in 1% of CBS Sportsline Fantasy league.
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
@ SVB:
Sounds like typical crap to me.
Well done Kerry Wood for saying what needed to be said by someone associated with the Cubs (since nobody listens to discredited blog nerds).
Sammy doesn’t need to be given a role with team — neither does Ryno or Wood IMO — but he does need to be “welcomed back” with some kind of acknowledgement of his contribution. Retiring his number would be the right thing to do (in keeping with the way other players of his caliber are acknowledged), but I’d be happy if they just had a Sammy Sosa day or some other kind of visible honor at WF.
This headline is not from The Onion.
Mercurial Outfielder wrote:
I’m pretty sure this was aimed at the Tripping Olney parody account because the actual Oney wasn’t saying anything at the time of Ozzie’s tweet. However, I’m pretty sure Ozzie doesn’t know the difference.
Bruce Miles has the quote below from Sveum. It’s about Barney, but I wondered if there is anything to Sveum’s assertion about the number of ABs needed to develop OBP. Is there anything to that, or is Sveum just saying “I don’t know” the Red Green way?
@ Suburban kid:
@ SVB:
Maybe GBTS won’t get the Red Green ref, since he’s just a kid… (dying laughing)
SVB wrote:
Everything I see and hear about these Canadians makes me wanna puke! It’s time we put the “America” back in North America!
@ SVB:
If the women don’t find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.
@ SVB:
I don’t think it has much to do with overall ABs, but I could see why he might think it does (the more ABs the have, the older you are at which point the better you are up to a certain age anyway).
@ SVB:
@ WaLi:
I think you’re both right.
Using PECOTA rest of season projections the Cubs will barely avoid losing 100 games (63-99). They’ll give 100 another ride next year.
From Brad:
Seriously, WTF dude. The other guy was smaller but put enough small dudes together and they should’ve kicked that guy’s ass.
@ Rice Cube:
After watching this numerous times, I have concluded that the woman was bumped by the bigger guys butt while bending over to get the ball. There was no malice intended & probably wasn’t even noticed. The most important aspect of this is what is NOT seen here. We don’t know if he apologized or if she said anything or what happened. It was obviously an accident & it doesn’t look like anyone was hurt from it thankfully.
@ Rice Cube:
Also you can see his buddy behind him giving him a pat in the back saying good job. What an ass.
@ Paul:
(dying laughing)
I didn’t even notice the woman getting E Honda buttslammed out of the way. Good eye, sir.
@ WaLi:
I may be mistaken, but I think that was the usher.
@ Rice Cube:
You are correct, that makes it even better.
E honda? (dying laughing) nice reference
Mish was there.
@ Rice Cube:
Was looking at this a few more times and it dawned on me that the big dude still needed both hands to rip the ball out of the little dude’s hand.
Not macho.
We put all of Josh’s comics on one page here: http://www.obstructedview.net/joshs-comics.html (it’s available on the menu under The Hope Monster)
We’ll try to update it once a month or so.
I think the “woman” in question is about 12
@ mb21:
Nice! That’s cool.
I would make one minor suggestion to put an “about” page for the Hope Monster, I don’t recall what was exactly stated but when Josh had his own blog there was a blurb about the Hope Monster that was really funny.
RC, check the top menu
@ Rice Cube:
Oh never mind, it’s on the main Hope Monster tab. Ignore everything I just said because I’m an idiot.
http://www.obstructedview.net/the-hope-monster.html
It’s been there for a while now…
@ josh:
@ josh:
Yes, apparently in addition to not reading every word, I don’t click on every menu.
/sad
@ Rice Cube:
You’ve been warned.
@ Rice Cube:
I have a feeling I use the menu more than anyone else so it’s more or less been suited to my preferences, or rather my usage of it. I’m open to any suggestions from anyone.
@ mb21:
No, the way you have it is fine, the way I suggested would be too redundant in my opinion.
mb21 wrote:
Run to the store and pick me up a beer and a lemonade.
@ WaLi:
Good thing we traded Dempster to the AMERICAN League.
@ Paul:
@ Rice Cube:
@ WaLi:
What’s with all those folks at the top right wearing white T’s with blue W’s on them? Didn’t they know what team they were watching?
@ SVB:
I couldn’t imagine living in Canada. Think of your children pledging allegiance to the maple leaf. Mayonnaise on everything. Winter 11 months of the year. Anne Murray – all day, every day.
Like maple syrup, Canada’s evil oozes over the United States.
I hadn’t updated the Race to the Top for awhile, as I was having technical difficulties with it. But it’s pretty much over now.
I’d imagine Houston will have it clinched by Wednesday.
@ WaLi:
But…ice hockey!
@ Rice Cube:
I’ll tell you another thing, their beer sucks.
@ WaLi:
I’m a forester. My kids already pledge to maple leaves, oak leaves, pine needle, bay leaves, Cecropia.
The Barenaked Ladies supplanted Anne Murray awhile ago. Maple syrup is far yummier than Caro syrup or the high fructose Mrs. Butterworth.
Com’on WaLi! Your understanding of Canada and its current events is really out of date. I suppose that’s to be expected from someone living where George Bush is President though.
@ WaLi:
Well, I can’t argue with that!
Er.
Ma.
Gerd.
@ Rice Cube:
holy shit I bet that’s a bitch and a half to move.
http://www.bleachernation.com/2012/09/24/alfonso-soriano-received-outfield-coaching-for-the-first-time-this-season/
@ Aisle424:
I wonder if they released “Clue” on DVD yet, my VHS copy is on its last legs.
@ Rice Cube:
I don’t know. Let’s all load up in the Winnebago and head to the Ben Franklin to see! Don’t forget the carphone antenna this time!
@ Aisle424:
What the hell, this has to be an error in translation, right? How has he not received any outfield training?
@ josh:
QaPla!
http://www.amazon.com/Clue-The-Movie-Eileen-Brennan/dp/6305882649
@ Rice Cube:
Digital video disc? What’ll they think of next??
@ josh:
@ WaLi:
I commented on Brett’s article but I don’t actually think they’ve ever written about Soriano’s coaching except for the one time Mike Quade ran him into the wall.
@ WaLi:
Hard to say without firsthand knowledge, but his step forward in the field this season has been nothng short of remarkable. If he’s gotten coaching out there before now, whatever they’re doing now is better. Much, much better.
@ Aisle424:
That’s going to put a serious dent in the “Lazy, uncoachable Soriano” meme. I hope that meme dies a spectacularly hideous death.
@ Rice Cube:
PRE-sliced??
*faints*
@ SVB:
Possibly. He won’t be around when the Cubs get decent enough to care that much about when he strikes out with runners on base sometimes. He could very much be loved the most when the Cubs are at their absolute peak of suckage. Cubs fans are weird.
WaLi wrote:
On the other hand, racism and homophobia do not exist in Canada, so it’s got that going for it.
@ SVB:
Based on various comments I have scoured recently there’s a large faction of fans who are displeased that Soriano himself never sought coaching. Lack of initiative, still lazy.
Of course that begs the question of whether he actually did ask, and what level of coaching he received, which I believe Aisley addressed in comment #55. I do enjoy those comment numbers.
@ Rice Cube:
Are you using naughty words on WSD? No dinner for you tonight.
@ TigerTango:
Intriguing. I don’t suppose you could direct me to some blog posts about Mitt Romney.
When I’m in the forum, I always click on the banner, and it always does nothing. I do it every time, though. Does HTML still allow click mapping or whateveR? I remember way back in the geocities days I used to have to make a banner clickable by defining the coordinates in HTML. Good times good times.
@ josh:
Every now and then I sprinkle a few in. It’s rare that I pull an F-bomb Hiroshima though.
@ Rice Cube:
Well fuckin’a, motherfucker. That’s shit’s fucking awesome.
Fuck.
I don’t know what Soriano means by outfield coaching, but I’m sure he was given the same amount of coaching that any other team would have done. What is there about coaching an outfielder anyway? Positioning. I’m assuming the fielder knows how to chase after a ball, use a glove, how to take the ball out of the glove and throw it. I don’t know what the hell Soriano is talking about.
It’s kind of interesting though. To the best of my knowledge teams don’t have outfield instructors. They have infield instructors and they have a specific person or two in the organization who works with catchers (often called a roving catcher instructor). I’ve never heard of an outfield instructor.
@ josh:
Forums are kind of archaic pieces of software. Other than hardcoding a link into the header there’s not much that can be done. It would be easy enough to do it, but I didn’t bother with it.
@ GW:
(dying laughing)
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@ josh:
Download | Convert YouTube to MP3
@ mb21:
Perhaps good outfield instructors are the new market inefficiency.
@ mb21:
no big deal.
@ mb21:
Recognizing the trajectory of the ball off the bat, taking correct angles, knowing where to throw a ball in various situations… There’s any number of things that Soriano probably had no damn clue about until someone worked specifically with him on it.
I think the assumption is that any major league player, if he can play the infield, should automatically know how to play the outfield. But how would he automatically know where to throw it from LF based on what he knew as a second baseman? On a ball hit to LF, he went to 2nd to cover the base. it wasn’t up to him whether the ball actually came to him or not. He went there to take the throw if it came to him.
Now he’s in left and he gets a ball and he looks up and sees the SS cut-off man and both the 2nd & 3rd basemen on their bags all of them waiting for the throw. Without some fairly repetitive instruction, I could easily see the sort of brain farts he had repeatedly out there in the past.
Obviously, he’s better equipped to know what to do than I would be, because he’s had SOME coaching on situations that has to be universal, but maybe he can’t just flip situations around in his head if he has a different role. Some people just can’t conceptualize things from different perspectives without direct instruction. I don’t know, but like I said before, the difference between now and then is like night and day, so I’m as willing to believe there is some truth to it as any other explanation there could be.
@ mb21:
I discovered this while trying to run my own forum for a writer’s group I participate in. When it came time to update, it wanted information on my database. I had to scour my host, and eventually just gave up. WordPress does all that crap for me. /lazy
@ Aisle424:
Yeah, there are always things to learn. He may not even have known exactly what to ask a coach the first couple years out there. How to judge whether a ball is going over your head or not. How to position yourself so you can catch the ball when the sun is hanging in the sky. How to know who has priority on a shallow fly, or a gapper. Little tweaks. Probably no one thing would be earth shattering, but lots of little things could add up to real improvement.
@ josh:
That could be a side effect of new management. Maybe he was embarrassed to admit he didn’t know those details when he first got here, considering his contract with Hendry, and it’s only now under Theo and with a new manager that he feels like he can turn over a new leaf.
Aisle424 wrote:
I’m willing to believe it too, but my question is more about would any other team bother? Obviously the Nationals didn’t so the Cubs aren’t alone. Many of the things you mentioned he would know from playing 2nd base.
If we think about what’s been his biggest issue in the outfield I come up with two things: flat out missing the ball and having poor judgment as to how close he is to the fence. His arm has been fantastic since 2006. He’s been throwing the right base, hitting the cutoff men and generally been the best outfield arm in baseball over the last 7 years.
This year he just hasn’t been missing. It makes a huge difference. A few times each of the previous few years he’d just miss a flyball that an 8 year old would have caught. He’s been much more aware of where he is on the field.
I don’t know, I credit his defensive improvement with two things: random variance and the health of his knees. He has seemed much healthier this season. The fact he hasn’t been missing flyballs and has healthier legs, in my opinion, makes him look like a much better fielder.
I think Soriano came to Chicago and was set to be a pretty good fielding outfielder for several years, but those knees went on him and he hasn’t been the same since.
I just remembered that we know the Cubs worked with Soriano for many hours when he was trying to convert to CF.
Obviously the Cubs have done something this year that he hadn’t been through before and if that’s why he’s better and it has nothing to do with variance and health, then fantastic. I’m willing to buy they’ve done something different, but I’m not wiling to buy that he was just put in the outfield and left to figure it out.
The most amazing thing about Soriano’s 2012 statistics is that he’s managed to drive in 105 runs in this shitshow of an offense.
@ mb21:
True, but if he was also receiving some instruction, or had a guy assigned to help him with defense or whatever, then maybe they polished a few things. Missing the ball could have been due not just to knees, but in spending a moment worrying about where the ball should go after he caught it, or in misjudging where it was going to land, because he wasn’t as good at judging trajectories. Maybe just easing his mind a little on that stuff freed him up to just play. Also, by all accounts, isn’t he just playing through continuous knee pain? Kerry Wood went out of his way to note that Soriano was playing through pain, I though.
@ Berselius:
MVP!!!
Aisle424 wrote:
Why are we suddenly talking about Shawn Camp?
@ mb21:
Maybe the coaching is about positioning, as in, this guy tends to hit the ball in this direction on these types of pitches, etc. etc. The kind of sabermetric/analytical stuff that Hendry didn’t do but THoyer should be all over. Also things like, in so-and-so situation, it is better to play deep/shallow/near line etc. All those could be tweaks that could really help Soriano not have to run such inefficient/unsuccessful routes to fly balls. That would be coaching that Soriano wouldn’t have asked for before, because it wasn’t necessarily about how to throw the ball.
That said, I do think Soriano is running far better routes to the ball, for whatever reason.
I don’t think I buy the knees part. I seem to recall much of the middle of the season where it seemed like Soriano was staggering around the bases on peg legs. They made Ron Cey seem like Billy Hamilton.
@ Berselius:
Well, Samardzija had to excuse himself from consideration, since all his ability came from his awesome hair. It would just be unfair of him to accept a tainted award.
@ SVB:
Let’s put it this way, his knees have looked better than they have since his first injury.
I don’t know what kind of coaching went on for him this year, but I just don’t buy that he was thrown out there with no instruction. We know that to be false. Lou Piniella talked about working with him on transitioning to CF and how it’s going to take time. We know they worked with him on something.
I’ll also point out again that teams do not have outfield instructors so even if the Nationals had thrown him out there without instruction from anyone, they’d not be the only team doing it.
Personally, i think Soriano has just looked better and by this time next year we’ll be talking about how it was a fluke.
Teams have talked before about getting a left fielder some time in RF prior to a game so he’d be familiar with it. They worked with Bryan LaHair before even putting him out there and wouldn’t put Micah Hoffpauir in the outfield until he was had worked on it enough.
I wish a reporter would ask Soriano what he’s done that’s been different because I’d really like to know.
I wonder if Soriano’s unwillingness to move to LF in 2006 may have limited the amount of coaching he got in the outfield.
Maybe some of you Med/Bio folks can help me out here…
It sort of makes sense that if steroids and PEDs can help a person increase muscle mass that some of this might contribute to the muscles in the eye and maybe influence hand-eye coordination. I can’t really find a study on this in Pubmed or Google Scholar and the links are usually to some guy making a generic statement without backing it up. So is there really some evidence that steroids can improve coordination, or is this just a by-product of increased bat speed and waiting on the ball a bit more?
@ mb21:
Seems like something the Cubs should have addressed in spring training.
@ Rice Cube:
But they did. They worked with him on moving to CF so I don’t know what Soriano means. I have no idea what the Nationals did though it’s inconceivable that they just threw him out there and said good luck. It’s equally difficult to believe that the Cubs sat by error after error, bad route after bad route and did nothing. We’re talking about teams who think there’s a big difference between LF and RF or 2B and 3B. Teams still think a player needs coaching before he can play 1st base. I do believe or at least am willing to believe that the Cubs did something different with him this year and Soriano has equated that to finally being coached on how to play the OF. I just don’t believe he was never coached. We’re talking about a team that had bullpen tests! They clearly thought every single position was unique and involved skills that couldn’t be used at any other position.
and FWIW, this is what the Nationals had to say at the end of March 2006:
By the middle of the season:
@ mb21:
I’m guessing he received whatever minimal training the Cubs decided to give him then. I agree with Aisley in that whatever the new coaching staff is doing seems to be working better for him.
Anyone who believes a MLB player who plays in the OF has never received any coaching on how to play OF, is a willful idiot.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I’m still trying to figure out what Soriano meant. Obviously he didn’t mean he’d never gotten any coaching of any kind. We know the Cubs did. We know the Nationals at least tried (and almost certain succeeded at some point or Bowden wouldn’t have said what he did mid-season).
Why can’t a reporter ask what’s different? It’s the first thing that came to my mind and it’s surprising that no beat reporter asked that question. I mean seriously, they’re around the ballpark enough, they know he has had some coaching in the outfield. First thing a decent journalist does is ask him what’s been different.
@ mb21:
I think Aisley’s got it right. Seems to me he just means the Cubs are doing something different with the way they’re coaching him up. I keep wondering why Chicago fans are so obtuse and blindly believe shit like this and then I see that these are the same knuckle-dragging cretins burning Jay Cutler jerseys with has-been hockey players in bars after a Bears win. And then I realize the immense mental struggle it must be just for them to form coherent sentences and avail themselves of the great evolutionary accident of opposable thumbs.
@ Rice Cube:
He better not drop that ball, or Chris Chelios is going to burn his jersey.
@ mb21:
I gotta be honest, I thought Giancarlo Esposito earned it this year. He was amazing all season long.
@ mb21:
Maybe he always saw it as transitory. You combine that with him getting paid uber million dollars to play with the Cubs…..it’s not like your superstar is going to show up on day one and say “Hey, Coach Piniella, I gotta admit, I have no idea what I’m doing in Left Field.”
@ mb21:
You gotta remember he was really pissed off about moving to the OF. He signed with the Nats, if I remember, on the promise they’d let him play second. It’s just possible that he never got much direct coaching, but yeah, I’ll agree that most likely what it means is that they did something different that made sense to him and he’s equating that with being “coached.” Lou used to call him “The Genius” because, I guess, he never struck Lou as particularly smart.
@ josh:
Aaron Paul in season 4 really should have been submitted in the lead actor category and he’d probably have gotten my vote. He was awesome. Esposito had more of the traditional supporting actor role and in that sense I think he was the best, but since Aaron Paul was in that category I’d have voted for him. I thought Paul’s overall performance was stronger and strong enough to be considered best lead actor.
It’s kind of interesting because I feel that Paul’s performance was just rock solid all the time and Esposito had the more memorable moments. Tough choice for the voters, but Paul was given more work over the course of the season and had the more difficult job because of it. Couldn’t go wrong with either one though.
@ josh:
The Nationals traded for him with the Rangers and didn’t have an opportunity to talk to him about the move before acquiring him. I understand him being pissed. I probably would have been too.
Rice Cube wrote:
personally i think that this is the biggest difference that steroids make, although this is based on pure speculation. The fact is that steroids improve muscle mass that doesn’t really equate to power. therefore the difference (i.e. benefit of roids) must lie in some improved mental connection or possibly an increased ability to recover from stress (I realize that this is the main function of steroids but i mean this in the sense that one could suffer less downtime and therefore put up better numbers due to sheer volume).
i realize that this doesn’t really answer your question but i too am interested in this topic, and i’ve found little to no evidence that suggests that roids should aid in batting ability strictly through pure (upper body) muscle growth, and this is the only conclusion left that makes sense.
Berselius wrote:
holy shit! i had to look that up to verify it. i would not have guessed that.
@ EnricoPallazzo:
I’ve read a bit about how HGH is supposed to improve hand/eye coordination for sure. The logic seems sound but there’s no real empirical evidence and I don’t know how you’d even start testing something like that.
Adam Dunn —-> put two on the board, yes
@ Rice Cube:
When you get down to it, that’s the problem with a log of illegal substances, that there simply isn’t enough research to know. I mean, maybe there are safe ways to take steroids that improve performances.
Actually, this wiki article does mention some studies. Seems like the biggest benefit is to upper body/bench press muscles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steroid_use#Ergogenic_use_and_abuse
So how’s everyone enjoying the new refs?
Well that was a fucking joke.
What happened with the scabs this time?
(dying laughing), apparently I’m blocked from seeing NFL lowlights in Japan.
Be glad you missed this one. There were a bunch of bad calls, but nothing that out of the ordinary… UNTIL the last play.
Wilson threw a hail mary into the endzone as time expired, Packers CB Jennings intercepted it, Golden Tate got a hand on it, they went to the ground. One ref ruled it a pick, the next a TD. They reviewed, and called it a TD to end the game.
It was a lot worse than it sounds though. It wasn’t close to a catch for Tate, and Jennings had the ball with his feet on the ground.
TOUCHDOWN SEATTLE!!
Soriano must have meant one of the following things:
1. I’ve never had outfield coaching throughout the whole season before
2. I’ve never had good outfield coaching before
@ PFD:
Seattle has yellow helmets this year?
GB/SH — Worst call in history?
Am I the only person in the world who thinks that “bacon is the greatest thing ever” meme is lame?
@ Suburban kid:
Not aware of this one. Unless you mean like those bacon commercials on the radio.
Wow, that sounded archaic.
@ josh:
I’m pretty sure there are books and maybe even movies now about the greatness of bacon, not just adverts on the wireless. I’m sick of it.
@ Suburban kid:
Maybe the pork industry has taken a hit. I don’t know. I agree, the bacon commercials I hear are annoying.
@ GBTS:
Homerun Celtics!
@ Suburban kid:
or 3: he’s blowing smoke up your ass.
@ mb21:
A metaphor whose origins I find exceedingly mysterious.
@ josh:
Apparently “to blow smoke” is an old-fashioned phrase for “to kiss ass” (or tell nice lies or whatever) and the “up the ass” part is just like calling someone a “fucking lush.” They aren’t literally having sex, it just makes it sound angrier.
@ josh:
I like what The Urban Dictionary says:
@ mb21:
Yeah, maybe he’s just fucking around. Guys who get asked questions constantly probably start making shit up after a few years.
josh wrote:
right, and as far as i can tell, being able to bench more does little to nothing to improve your skill as a power hitter. therefore, assuing that PEDs do in fact enhance performance, they must impart some other skill (e.g. superior hand-eye coordination) that makes one a better ballplayer. i am aware of the highly circumstantial nature of this reasoning but it’s all i got. as you said, it’s tough to study something like this. i would guess it would be difficult to recruit volunteers in the MLB for a study comparing PED users to non-PED users…
Suburban kid wrote:
no. i find it really fucking annoying. hipsters ruin everything.
I love bacon. I don’t need a commercial to tell me to eat it and therefore do not know these memes or commercials that annoy you so.
On announcer bias: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444180004578016652376246198.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet
@ mb21:
The fuck? Whatever happened to just poking the dude?
@ Mish:
Finally, quasi-scientific proof that Vin Scully >>>>>>>>>>> Hawk Harrelson
@ GBTS:
As a Bears fan I feel like the referees made a good call.
NFL of course says it was the right call:
http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/63933/nfl-statement-on-mnf-controversy
As a football fan, I don’t think it was the right call. The real NFL refs make just as bad of calls though. This reminds me of the Calvin Johnson vs Bears non-catch in Week 1 in 2010. It was a catch to 90% of the people who watched it, but the refs said otherwise on the field so when they reviewed it they didn’t overturn it.
http://www.football-refs.com/201009/lions-vs-bears-calvin-johnson-didnt-catch-it/
Referees and umpires miss plays, it’s human nature. That’s why we need robots.
@ WaLi:
Or instant replay. Wait.
I guess the problem here is twofold: neither ref had a good angle: both called it differently. Also, compounded by the weird non-call in the Bears game on that interception and similar buffooneries.
@ mb21:
I read that too (although, I read the tobacco enema was just to clean out the colon, not about checking if dude was alive, that seems excessively weird). But the most plausible to me seems to be that people just mashed two phrases together. I think that accounts for about 99% of our idioms. That and stuff we blatantly mishear/missay.
So the Astros clinched the #1 pick.
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/09/25/astros-lose-104th-game-clinch-no-1-pick-set-record-low-attendance-on-same-night/
Our hopes and dreams are dashed.
In regards to PEDs, isn’t the real performance enhancer lifting weights? Steroids and HGH aren’t spinach. You don’t just take them and you look like Arnold Schwarzenegger in a couple of days. I’m suprised people don’t make more of a stink about players that work out because that’s how these guys are getting so big and strong.
@ Mucker:
I had a similar conversation with GW (I think) a while back about the way certain drug tests are administered. The steroids seem to be more legitimate to test because they actually look for the synthetic androgen versus the natural one, but the HGH test looks for by-products of working out like collagen in the bloodstream (I think those are remnants of damaged muscles that are rebuilding as you exercise). My contention has always been that even if you took steroids or HGH, you’re only getting the benefit of extra recovery and you still have to exercise to tell your muscles to start getting bigger. If I took steroids and didn’t exercise I’d just be a very angry couch potato.
@ Mucker:
And go through hundreds of reps swinging the bat.
The only argument against PEDs that makes any kind of sense is economic. If they’re allowed, then you’ll have poorer schools performing less well. to me, that seems unfair. I’d be fine with safe PED use for paid professionals, if such a thing is possible (research, again).
@ Rice Cube:
Yeah that’s what I’m talking about. I think the majority of people think that these players took steroids and it immediately made them hit more homeruns. They don’t understand that these players busted their ass in the gym as well. Regardless if you took roids or not, lifting weights made these players stronger as well. Not just the roids.
@ Mucker:
Yeah, it’s not magic juice. You still have to work your ass off.
Speaking of magic juice: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=25064597&topic_id=11493214
@ josh:
And people that take steroids take more than just roids. They still eat hundreds of grams of protein and fat too. Steroids make your body anabolic which makes you break down protein more efficiently to your muscles. My cousin is a body builder and he told me that steroids without protein is basically useless. Protein is the mass builder.
Cool story about a bro named Brett Jackson:
http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120924&content_id=38939968&vkey=news_chc&c_id=chc&tcid=tw_article_38939968
I recall having several friends in high school who played football and took various (legal) supplements, and they all grew rather lady-ish boobs.
I also have a friend who I’m pretty sure took anabolic steroids briefly while playing low-level college baseball. He’s also had Tommy John surgery. Dude’s been through a lot.
And this one time I sawr a blimp.
I’ll flag these myself.
@ GBTS:
I think that has something to do with the body shutting down natural hormones in the presence of artificial substances.
@ GBTS:
http://www.minorleagueball.com/2012/9/25/3406900/minor-league-prospect-report-christian-villanueva-3b-chicago-cubs
Mucker wrote:
This. I don’t really know how to quantify how much steroids help, if at all (probably not much) but the biggest difference in players’ approach to being a baseball player compared to those of say, 30 or so years ago when the so-called “steroid era” was starting out is that the players work out a LOT more and are more focused on all that supplement and nutrition stuff in general. I heard Santo and other older ballplayers say on several occasions that they never wanted to develop serious muscles, etc. because they thought that it would mess with their swings, and it also helped that the run environment back then skewed more towards speedsters due to the higher mound, astroturf stadiums of the 70s, etc. Though there might be a bit of a chicken and the egg thing going on there.
josh wrote:
True, but I think it’s different in the pros. They cycle steroids with other stuff to basically regulate their own hormones back with the testosterone boosters, for example, so they don’t end up with pea-sized balls. IIRC Manny Ramirez was busted for using clomid, which is something that boosts your natural production of testosterone by a moderate amount instead of just introducing a shit-ton of outside testosterone, which is what causes most of the bad side effects.
A big SBN redesign went live this morning. Can’t say I’m a fan of the new format.
I just noticed the reverse standings below and saw that the Rockies have caught up with us! Shit! The series with the biggest implications of the year and it hasn’t been talked about today.
Luckily we have our ace Rusin starting tonight. He will definitely help us get the #2 pick. We also have Vitters, Sappelt and Mather starting 3B, RF, and CF respectively, so tonights loss should be a lock.
@ Berselius:
Yep. That’s more of a sign of kids not using supplements/steroids under proper supervision than a guaranteed side-effect.
@ WaLi:
The Rockies actually had to eke out a win against the D’Backs last night to tie the Cubs in the standings. That entire series was most displeasing.
Rice Cube wrote:
Isn’t that the wrong starch for you?
http://replacementgoogle.com/
(dying laughing)
@ Mish:
Two sentences that’ll make you cheer, and cry:
Here’s a quote from the Brett Jackson article linked in a comment above that I thought was germane to one of discussions on this thread:
AKA First Base Coach Dave McKay. Guess they multitask.
@ SVB:
I don’t think there’s such a thing as a couch rice.
@ Berselius:
Honestly this, Twitter, and Facebook are the only pages I know the design of. All the other baseball blogs I RSS…I tryst you that its awful tho (dying laughing)
@ Berselius:
Holy shit, that’s ugly.
@ Rice Cube:
There’s this couch rice:
Or this couch rice (which Josh doesn’t find objectively hot, I guess):
@ SVB:
She doesn’t look rice-y.
@ GBTS:
I did NOT take various legal supplements.
@ mb21:
(dying laughing) there’s a downloadable pdf to explain the changes.
Why didn’t we do that?
@ mb21:
But is there a post about posting?
mb21 wrote:
A pdf? At least they didn’t make it a word document (dying laughing)
@ mb21:
Because “Onward Patient Motherfuckers” doesn’t require it’s own document?
@ Berselius:
I’m trying to comprehend why one any person may download that file.
That replacement google site doesn’t work worth a shit
…oooooh!
NFL violating the Federal Trade Commission Act? This group thinks so: http://sportsfans.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Replacement-Refs-FTC-Goodfriend-Letter.pdf
(Opens a *gasp* PDF)
@ GBTS:
Fuck. Yes.
@ GBTS:
Good luck with that one (dying laughing).
@ mb21:
To blow smoke up your ass?
@ Berselius:
MapQuest used to have a glitch where if you tried to travel between two towns only about 300 miles apart in Norway, it made you go south across to Denmark and then all the way around Europe back into Scandinavia to get to point B. It was as if there was a great chasm or super-fjord in the middle of Norway that prevented safe travel by dog sled or car.
By the way, have you saved face?
@ Berselius:
(dying laughing) Yeah, it has no chance. But it’s the first non-labor related solution I’ve heard.
@ Berselius:
It is unreadable. I was thinking about taking a screen cap of OV and trying to uglify it to make it look like the new SBN.
I’d really like to know who the hell they paid to design that shit.
BTW, I’m not one of those people who just doesn’t like change. I actually thought when SB Nation did their last upgrade that it was a huge improvement. The Facebook updates have never bothered me though I don’t use FB nearly as much as some do.
The first two sites I went to were Minor League Ball and Black Heart Gold Pants. Both are just horrible looking websites. It’s like the SBN people contacted the designer of Fangraphs and paid them a million bucks to see what they could come up with.
@ mb21:
Yeah, it’s very messy. I’m guessing they designed it so it looks like a solid line of stuff on an iPhone, maybe? It’s visually confusing.
@ josh:
It is a responsive theme so my guess is that it looks a hell of a lot better on a phone, but probably just as shitty on a tablet. I find it hard to believe you have 300+ bloggers happy with this redesign. Either they all drink the SBN kool aid or they have some very angry bloggers right now because that place is an ugly mess.
Too much zazz.
Do the Cubs ever play on WGN anymore, or did they give up on the team?
It looks like shit warmed over on the iPhone, too. And I have a 4s.
@ josh:
Tonight, and Thursday afternoon they will be on WGN.
More on Trout v. Cabrera. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120923&content_id=38895636&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Wow. it’s awful. Just checked out BHGP and it’s the ugliest thing I’ve seen on my 4s.
@ mb21:
Someone should tell Alvin that it’s a blog, not a tabloid.
I need one of them iPads.
@ mb21:
FWIW, when I saw the design I thought that it was geared towards tablets.
@ Berselius:
Still looks like shit. You can check whatever site you want out on multiple devices here: http://www.studiopress.com/responsive/
@ josh:
meh
@ mb21:
Yeah, it’s an assault on the eyes.
@ Berselius:
Looks awful on wife’s work iPad, too. It’s a terrible re-design.
@ Suburban kid:
yeah, basically my thinking.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
It’s like they found the worst possible design possible and went with it. Berselius put it best: it’s a tabloid. (dying laughing)
@ mb21:
It’s like a blog for illiterate people.
BCB should not notice a big drop in traffic.
@ Rice Cube:
It’s like winning a really mediocre lottery.
@ josh:
I won an iPad but I rarely use it. I’m already on my laptop and iphone way too much, there’s physically no more time for me to waste on a tablet.
@ Suburban kid:
I just have a desktop (it’s like a laptop you can’t carry around) for writing/gaming. I don’t even have a smart phone.
Mercurial Outfielder wrote:
/Like me, MO making sure that no one thinks he paid for an iPad
@ josh:
That’s why i was thinking having one device to carry around might not be a horrible idea. For times when my wife selfishly takes her laptop to use for her graduate program.
@ Suburban kid:
Put it in the bathroom for when you need something to read while on the pot.
Some of the pissed off reader comments are funny. A couple of them said if someone else started a new Cubs blog with the old BCB design, they would jump ship to that one. (dying laughing)
Suburban kid wrote:
OV NOW’S YOUR CHANCE
Oh wait, maybe you don’t want that much stupidity on here. Never mind.
@ josh:
It would suck for writing, unless you plugged in a keyboard, but then you would have to carry around two devices. I only use it for watching the occasional tv show in the kitchen and maybe facebook browsing. It’s great for reading articles and stuff, but I can do that just as easily on the computer.
@ Rice Cube:
That’s what my book on French Impressionists is for.
@ Suburban kid:
That’s what I was thinking. Something to use when I can’t access the main computer. Although something I could do some drawing on for the comic would be even better/even more expensive.
@ Suburban kid:
Damn, B, why you gotta bust me out like that?!?!
@ Suburban kid:
This is what I use for my iPad: http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Ultrathin-Keyboard-Cover-920-004013/dp/B007PRHNHO
I love it.
@ mb21:
I’d probably get something like that, too, if I had one.
@ mb21:
Many of my friends and colleagues have the iPad and it’s cool and all, I’m sure the functionality is awesome…but it always struck me as hilarious that they designed the touch keyboard on the tablet so poorly that you have to buy a separate attachment (dying laughing)
Maybe it’s just one of those things where I have to have the device to realize how necessary the attachment is.
@ Rice Cube:
I dont’ think the technology for touch keypads is there, though I’ve read in PopSci that they’re working on using static fields so that you actually feel resistance and can type tactile-y. Mass Effect universe here we come!
@ josh:
Makes you wonder how the guys on The Next Generation did stuff. On the Original Series they at least had knobs and levers.
@ Rice Cube:
You don’t have to have it, but it entirely depends on what you do. I generally use mine in the evenings and only occasionally would I need the keyboard, but it’s there when I do. I use it mostly to read (news and books). As far as emails go it’s no big deal to use the on-screen keyboard. However, it is a pretty poor keyboard. You’d think they’d have come up with something better. Then again, I hate those touch keyboards so maybe it’s just me.
A lot of people use their ipad for consumption and for them you’d never need an external keyboard, but if you want to do much writing you definitely need one.
The iPad with that keyboard I posted (link above) is essentially a small Macbook Air with 4G. It weighs a bit less than my Air does, but not all that much less.
I don’t know why BCB had to tart up the old girl with whore’s glitter.
Anybody else watching WGN with no sound?
@ josh:
This is a revelation
@ josh:
just turned it on. did len and bob get fired?
@ mb21:
See, I don’t care about 4G. Plus, I’m cheap. Wireless would be fine with me.i’m more concerned with compatibility with my machine. I’d probably just have to get a laptop if I got something portable.
@ GW:
The sound has been cutting in and out since pregame. I like it b/c you can hear the stadium sound and nothing else.
@ josh:
too cheap to pay a monthly fee, that is, not too cheap to buy anything.
@ josh:
100% less patronizing
@ GW:
This appears to be a problem outside of Chicago as my feed is fine.
Tulo hurt or something?
@ Rice Cube:
We have zero Len and Bob, but everything else is fine. It’s nice. I kind of wish this was just the show now.
@ josh:
He’s been hurt all season. I think he has some groin issue.
@ Rice Cube:
Ah. I didn’t even know.
@ josh:
We should all be so lucky
@ josh:
yes. cargo done for the year, too, i believe
I can hear Bob bleed through now and again.
@ GW:
I knew Helton was out. No wonder they sucked this year (Well, not that Helton is that good anymore).
@ josh:
That and they have no pitchers.
Good lord Vitters sucks at throwing.
@ Rice Cube:
\fix’d
@ Rice Cube:
Stephanie Rice.
@ SVB:
Ah. I am not as objectively hot, unfortunately.
Aw! Len and Bob are back.
(dying laughing) (dying laughing) (dying laughing)
WTF happened?
never a great idea to assume colvin will make the play.
@ josh:
where can we write a check to make that permanent?
i liked everything about it, right down to the inexplicable career profile of kirt manwaring.
That was not a good pitch location.
Holy shit that was a throw.
@ Rice Cube:
I was dealing with, poop. Did Vitters make a good play?
@ josh:
Castro did. Vitters is lucky if he gets it in Rizzo’s ZIP code.
I kind of like Len and Bob.
I also expect that this comment will be able to fuel the discussion enough to get us to 300. And SK will start complaining about that any minute now.
(dying laughing)
New shit: http://www.obstructedview.net/chicago-cubs/cubs-vs-rockies-something-to-pass-the-time-until-the-next-football-game.html
@ SVB:
I don’t HATE them, but it was really nice just watching. It felt more like being at the game.