A year ago today we joined together to start Obstructed View. We could write about our individual thoughts over the last year, but a blog is a community. We've published over 730 articles and there have been more than 85,000 comments left on them. Your participation makes this much more enjoyable for us. So thanks and we hope you keep coming back. Tell your friends and neighbors too.
We have (actually, And Counting) put together a pretty cool image to mark our very special anniversary. We think it sums things up pretty well.
We're also introducing the Obstructed View Forum. It will soon be linked to on the menu and there will be a module on the sidebar with the latest forum posts. We have forums for the Cubs, baseball in general, football, basketball, other sports, entertainment and other topics.
We hope you use it. If you do, post a link in the comments so people can see it more quickly. There's a lot of activity in the comments and we're not discouraging you from using the comments in the same way you have. We just thought this could add something to the site that was worth trying out.
When we set up this site we installed a chat room and have used that for some of the roundtables we've done. We're going to open that chat room up to be used from time to time during games. We need the traffic on the blog. It helps pay the bills, but we're thinking we could have a weekly chat during a game. Not sure which day or if it will be a specific day each week, but it's something we're planning to do.
Also, there will soon be another contest on Obstructed View. The idea for it belongs to commenter GW so thank him for the riches that one of you will soon have. The contest will include all the players we've posted projections for and you'll vote whether or not you think they beat their projection or fall short of it. Therefore, the winner won't be known until after the season. Although we have yet to think of a prize, we've agreed its range in value will be between a free subscription to Obstructed View and a brand new twenty dollar bill.
Thanks guys! Looking forward to the chat room.
Will there be a “Is Mish Batman?” forum? The topic alone can spawn several threads.
@ Mish:
Send me some headshots and I’ll make some Mish Wayne mugs for ya.
/no homo
http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=6315&position=P
That’s F7′s most similar pitcher according to Brooks Baseball: http://www.brooksbaseball.net/player_cards/player_card.php?player=502188#sims
Aha! I knew this place was just a message board.
Congrats on keeping this place up for a year! Don’t post much since the days of ACB, but I still read every word. (dying laughing)
I’ll set up a weekly Game of Thrones discussion thread over in the forum, for those nerds who are interested.
@ Berselius:
Yes.
The product may suck*, but the branding and promotion of this place is top notch.
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*the product doesn’t suck
http://www.chicagonow.com/cubs-den/2012/03/cubs-have-quietly-built-depth-to-give-them-trade-flexibility/
That’s some “depth” the Cubs have managed to acquire.
Congrats on (and thanks for) a successful first year at the new digs.
nice!
Also, love the pic, AC.
(dying laughing)
I made a slight edit to AC’s masterpiece.
PFD wrote:
Suburban kid wrote:
Brett wrote:
AC, did you have to manipulate the picture of the Hindenburg to get that angle? I was trying to find a clear enough photo of it to put Alvin into for awhile and it was either a bad angle, or horrible picture quality, so I gave up. This was perfect.
(dying laughing) I love this place. Thanks guys. Come for the snark, stay for the pizza hut milf alien porn.
Or is it cum for the huge boobs anal, stay for the fat polymerization on cast iron cookware
(dying laughing) @ SK: http://www.obstructedview.net/forum.html?mingleforumaction=viewtopic&t=5.0#postid-6
Thanks for all the good work here, guys. I’ve really enjoyed the overwhelmingly pessimistic view of the Cubs that I so rarely get to see anywhere else, and mb alone has turned me into one hell of a cynic regarding this team. Also, despite barely ever commenting, the comments section is usually hilariously entertaining. Here’s to another 2 (or 288) years of discredited goodness from you all
@ Aisle424:
(dying laughing)
@ mb21:
I love that 2 replies made that a “very hot” topic (dying laughing)
Sam Fuld —-> out with wrist injury
@ Berselius:
Well josh made the two replies, so it should be “not hot” topic
@ WaLi:
I have to admit, I find Roseanne to be not-hot.
@ josh:
Racist
The New York Jets are going to hold a press conference for the one-year anniversary of OV.
@ josh:
That’s good (dying laughing)
I love how the initial forum commenters are “Replacement Level”
The new Josh blog was pretty good.
@ WaLi:
If I get bad rep, does that change my rating to “Yuniesky Betancourt”?
@ Rice Cube:
Link?
@ Aisle424:
I just did a google image search and it was maybe the sixth or seventh result. Fate led me to it.
Rice Cube wrote:
Rays —-> Wait til Next Year
@ Mish:
Was it a flying-related injury?
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
(dying laughing)
@ Berselius:
(dying laughing) fixed
@ Rice Cube:
It’s based on the number of comments you make in the forum. There’s replacement level, regular, all-star and superstar
mb21 wrote:
@ WaLi:
I think this would be hilarious.
Cubs score first!
Daily TOOTBLAN achieved!
Even Moises Alou thinks this team sucks on the basepaths
@ Rice Cube:
Are you serious? Even if this team somehow manages to squeeze out 9 hits (probably all singles) they’re going to make 4 outs on the bases.
Why does it say Bryan LaHair was trying to steal 3rd. That’s a joke, right?
I really hope Sveum is just trying to test which of his guys can steal and which can’t. I’m 90% sure that’s what he’s doing, putting the run sign on so he can gauge how his players react, how well they run, what kind of jump they get, etc., so that he knows who to give the green light to in the regular season. I don’t think they’ll be running this much in the regular season.
Surely.
I can’t find the Cubs lose / Way of Life CTA bus pic. That would make for a good This is a Year promo
josh wrote:
If he didn’t know LaHair can’t steal 3rd he’s going to be looking for a new job in June.
@ josh:
One would hope, because this is a fucksaster wrapped in a shitnado.
@ mb21:
Well, I meant maybe he’s got those guys on a really long leash for now?
There has to be some kind of rational explanation!
I can’t make out Al in the mushroom cloud but I assume he’s in there?
Mat Latos got knocked out of the bunt tournament, I see.
@ Suburban kid:
The bomb landed on his head so you can’t see him.
@ mb21:
There’s no point in firing the manager of this bush league roster. I think no matter what Sveum does, he’s going to manage through his deal. They won’t go get a big-time manager until they have big-time egos to massage.
I could imagine a situation where he might be tempted to run LaHair, so maybe he just wanted to see, even for hit-and-run situations, what kind of instincts LaHair has. Obviously the dude is 1B and probably not too fast, but sometimes slower guys get really good jumps and steal a lot of bases.
Now he knows for sure? I’m rationalizing, but how can you not?
Suburban kid wrote:
I’ve been putting Alvin in my versions, Adam has not. I like to think Alvin was at ground zero for the nuclear blast one.
Mercurial Outfielder wrote:
@ josh:
I think we’ve stumbled upon the definitive refutation of the Principle of Sufficient Reason.
@ Suburban kid:
Wait, that’s the dirty version!
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
If that’s the case, they should have kept Cuey around.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
But of course
@ Berselius:
I don’t the gap there, assuming there is one, is very large. I think THoyer just wanted their own guy.
I assume if Sveum does a shitty job he’ll be fired. They have expectations of him. I would hope those expectations aren’t 6 outs on the bases per week. (dying laughing)
I think Tim just won the internets.
@ mb21:
I would guess if its that bad, you’d be right. I just think that it won’t be that bad, in terms of outs. Surely, he’s going to back off on that, and this is part of a little spring training experiment.
The only counterargument I can think of is he might propose that he is going to teach them baserunning skills, and this is part of a 2-year plan or something that Thoyer are aware of, so that 6-outs-per-week will not be a firing offense unless there is no progressive improvement.
This is the other reason I’m eager to get on with the season.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Hiring a new guy also makes them look like they’re doing something instead of standing pat, even if Sveum is no better than Quade.
Mercurial Outfielder wrote:
It was MB’s idea.
Garza has six strikeouts…and counting.
Garza WALKS.
josh wrote:
I would doubt there would be this many. The Cubs are going to be losing and Sveum will slowly lose the support of the players as we’ve seen with past managers. Once that happens the players won’t listen to him.
It just doesn’t make sense to me. What’s the point of running into outs in spring training? Does anyone know if many of these outs have been on hit and runs? Straight steals? Stupid baserunning? Probably a combination.
@ ACT:
Yeah. I have a feeling that once this roster gets into the shape they want it to be in, we’ll see a premium hire, but until then, it’ll be Sveum, or someone of his ilk. No need to bring in Bill Cody to herd cats.
@ mb21:
Hard to say, since I haven’t really been listening. The most generous explanation I can come up with is teaching opportunity mixed with some pre-season experimentation. Could Thoyer have dictated that baserunning is the new market deficiency, and Sveum is just following orders? I could see that being a long-term goal of the org that Thoyer is imposing and Sveum is trying to just do the best he can. That would take players being aware and being on-board, but like you said, these guys don’t like to lose.
FWIW, with regards to “premium hires” the Red Sox were also very interested in hiring Sveum. It’s not like they’re a team that’s playing out the string while rebuilding.
josh wrote:
Yeah, this just doesn’t make much sense to me. I think you want to be successful regardless of whether or not the games count. If you’re teaching bad decisions then you’ll end up getting bad decisions. I don’t know. It’s only spring training, but I’ve never heard of this many outs on the bases. It’s bizarre.
@ Berselius:
But Cherington and Lucchino are also massive idiots.
@ Suburban kid:
15 season tix for $900? Where are those seats, in the piss trough?
@ Aisle424:
Well played (dying laughing)
@ Aisle424:
You’re going to turn this into a series of Where’s Alvin pictures (dying laughing)
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Well, Lucchino certainly is a tool. I the Sveum was Cherington’s pick.
@ WenningtonsGorillaCock:
The Ricketts are rabidly pro-trough. Best seat in the house, plus you get to see Todd Ricketts perform his regular duties as Men’s Washroom Attendant.
Berselius wrote:
That’s half the fun.
Garza out. Shawn Camp in.
@ Aisle424:
I found him! W00t!
@ Berselius:
Hard to say who is the head and who is the neck there.
@ Rice Cube:
Now you also have to find his luckiest hat, his scorebook, and some substitute for Waldo’s glasses.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
What the fuck has Cherington done, other than work under Theo and be hired by an asshole? I’m surprised to see such vitriol towards him.
@ Berselius:
Bologna sandwiches wrapped in wax paper.
@ Berselius:
The bologna sandwich?
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Forgot the wax paper. My bad.
Sean Marshall in.
@ Berselius:
Well, he’s already alienated the manager, if rumors are to be trusted. But to be fair, I think Cherington was just hired because he won’t get in Lucchino’s way, so I should back off sharp criticisms of Cherington I suppose. His chief fault is probably being a yes man for Lucchino.
@ Berselius:
I can’t find him in that one.
Of course, the sandwich. I guess that means no lunch tomorrow
Berselius wrote:
I think we need a post about posting ‘Where’s Alvin?’ posts.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I don’t think it’s so fair to pigeonhole him as a yes-man. He’s worked his whole career to get one of only thirty jobs. I don’t think many people are going to quit on principle before the season even starts.
Cherington was also regarded as a top candidate for other GM jobs. As they say on The Wire, sometimes you just have to eat a big bowl of shit.
mb21 wrote:
On the right on a barge in the river.
redacted
Aisle424 wrote:
Foley’d
@ Berselius:
Well, then, he’s certainly eating his.
Gameday has no idea who is pitching for the Cubs (dying laughing)
@ Rice Cube:
minor league guy
mb21 wrote:
@ Rice Cube:
Looks like it was Shawn Camp for another inning but they forgot to change the pic.
Beef Castle > Minor League Guy
Last one for a bit.
@ Aisle424:
Amazing (dying laughing)
Bulky Barney is a hero again.
Barney will near Theriotfication this year.
Dodgers auction next week!
@ Rice Cube:
Can’t wait to see if my bid wins it!
@ Berselius:
I beat your bid by a dollar.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
(dying laughing) It probably won’t happen because the Cubs are going to suck. Part of why Theriot reached that level was because the Cubs were good in 2007 and 2008. When they started to suck the fans turned on him. If they’d continued to win he’d have undoubtedly been the catalyst according to them.
@ mb21:
I think MO is specifically mentioning the “bulked up” Theriot that hit 5 HR in 2-3 months then spent the next season and a half trying to hit every ball out of the park (dying laughing)
@ mb21:
A lot of it depends on how he gets written up, too. I think fans take a lot of cues from beat guys in their decisions about who are good players and good guys.
@ Berselius:
That was just 1 month (May, 2009).
It was actually just half a month, really. 3 of them came in the first 4 days of May and he hit 2 home runs on the 13th. Then he hit 2 home runs in June and none the rest of the year.
http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/3/27/2907073/tyler-colvin-invents-new-way-to-lose-job
@ GBTS:
Derptastic!
@ Berselius:
@ GBTS:
That’s just more unfortunate than anything.
@ ACT:
And then Rick Telander wrote two of the dumbest columns in the history of words accusing Theriot of ‘roiding.
@ GBTS:
(dying laughing)
Also, I can’t believe there were that many cameras on the play in a spring training game.
@ Berselius:
(dying laughing)
Two?
So who else is up for an opening day thread in 8 hours?
@ GBTS:
Is that when the games in Japan are starting?
@ GBTS:
I thought we saw three angles, all on the same guy. Maybe it’s just that WGN always has three cameras trolling the crowd looking for breasts.
@ GBTS:
According to mlb’s marketing, it’s not Opening Day, but “Opening Series”. They have to make sure ESPN gets its money’s worth (dying laughing). You can’t even watch the game except on Seattle area cable or mlb.tv
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Maybe he used for a few weeks and then quit.
Oh, there was also this:
@ GBTS:
@ GBTS:
@ ACT:
Yes, because steroids are magic home run beans.
Does anyone have the link to the acb archives?
@ GBTS:
almost hit him in the scar.
“So Congress wrote this law?”
“Yes.”
“As in, they decided what they wanted the law to be and then wrote that?”
“Yes Justice Yellon.”
“So that makes them the authors of the law.”
“It does.”
“I just want to make sure I understand who wrote this law.”
I may not always read every word, but even if I did, I’d post this:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the-dagger/two-dialysis-patients-fight-over-saturday-kentucky-louisville-235818626.html
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
http://www.theacbarchives.org
@ GBTS:
This is funnier if you picture Kennedy asking Ginsburg, “Who’s the faget?”
“Your honor, if you uphold this individual mandate, where does it end? A steady diet of broccoli is healthy. Can Congress punish American citizens by forcing them to pay a tax if they don’t consume enough broccoli?”
“Is that like a broccoli tax?”
@ GBTS:
http://www.eatabagofdicks.com
Magic Johnson —> owning a baseball team
Rice Cube wrote:
Frank McCourt ———–> $2 Billion
@ GBTS:
Aisle424 wrote:
.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
Doesn’t it mostly go towards settling their bankruptcy stuff? Or is that just my imagination?
@ Rice Cube:
I’m not sure, either. But California does not fuck around when it comes to divorces. She’s going to get a big chunk of whatever is left for him after the banks and the lawyers are done.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
I was under the impression that they both still owned the team so both of them are equally fucked (dying laughing)
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/03/27/report-magic-johnsons-group-to-buy-dodgers/
It’s a bit hefty, but I guess it’s chalked up to inflation and the fact that they’re buying a ballpark that isn’t about to be condemned.
Too soon?
@ Aisle424:
Classy. Maybe next she can glue quarters to the ground in front of a homeless shelter. That’d be a hoot.
@ Mercurial Outfielder:
She might do that.
Forgive me.
If the powers that be are still awake, I submitted an un-ov for review.
GW wrote:
Published. Thanks, GW!
http://www.obstructedview.net/unobstructed-views/worst-moves-of-the-epstein-era.html
@ Aisle424:
Thank you. It’s nice to have a forum for the one time per year I decide to write something, even though unobstructed views are so “year one” of ovblog around these parts.
GW wrote:
It’s a way of life.
So is this the live active thread or is GW’s UV it?
@ Mish:
If only we had a post about posting, it would be clear. I was always under the assumption that the top thread on the main page was the actively active thread, though you can comment on the UV too
@ Mish:
Yes.
@ Berselius:
Well so I thought, but when I saw no peasants were conversing herein, I had to make inquiries.
Looks like Felix Hernandez was ready for opening day. 8 IP 1 R 0 BB 6 K
@ Berselius:
Nice. I was a little confused when I just checked my yahoo! fantasy team and Felix’s K/BB was listed as INF. I was hoping he had infinite strikeouts (dying laughing)
I moved GW’s post to the front page so new shit: http://www.obstructedview.net/commentary-and-analysis/worst-moves-of-the-epstein-era.html