Dogs >>> Cubs

In Uncategorized by Rice Cube111 Comments

So everything we said in the last Dreamcast still applies and also the Cubs shouldn’t go full sell off even if they are tracking to really suck ass.

Unfortunately I am still 0-for-Oracle, and we will see if I get another shot to get into the win column next season (unless I move back to Chicago earlier than expected). At least I’m not 0-for-California, thanks to the team that’s trying to leave Oakland.

Anyway, this post was just an excuse to post about all the fun doggos I got to meet today at the park which made the day so much better than it otherwise would have been.

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  2. BVS

    Rice Cube,

    Only the wife of a diehard would forward this. Must have circulated thru the Sports Widows Club.

    Also, B, your fandom drove your wife to Tiktok? Shame shame.

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  4. Author
    Rice Cube

    The Athletic just laid off a bunch of their beat reporters so that’s great and awesome and in line with what’s been happening to journalism across the board lately

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  5. BVS

    Rice Cube:
    The New York Times just laid off a bunch of their beat reporters at the Athletic so thatā€™s great and awesome and in line with whatā€™s been happening to journalism across the board lately

    Fixed. NYT learns what ESPN, CNN, Rueters, and AP have learned recently: people would rather listen to our podcast for free than pay for Patrick Mooney, no matter how good he is.

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  7. berselius

    BVS,

    Mooney’s on the list? I’m all for the Athletic’s original goal of doing more local focused coverage but I don’t know that the Cubs needed multiple beat reporters.

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  9. Author
    Rice Cube

    berselius,

    I’m unsure who actually got axed but it seems like a lot of the NHL beat is in upheaval, the number seems to be 20 reporters or approximately 4% of their work force, which isn’t obscene but is making a lot of people antsy and angry. As for whether the Cubs actually need two beat guys, they are a larger market team (allegedly) and it seems the Athletic is allocating resources as such, but other than leeching off your subscription I don’t honestly pay that much attention about it (dying laughing)

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  11. Author
    Rice Cube

    Rice Cube,

    This is what I get for just reading the headline and not the article /MrSugarPenis’d

    Given the seven weeks remaining between now and the deadline, itā€™s impossible to say exactly whoā€™ll be available that fits that description, though there are some names who seem likelier than others. For example, assuming heā€™s back from the injured list and at full strength by that time, former NL MVP Cody Bellinger could fit the bill. The Cubs are currently nine games under .500, and Bellinger is playing on a one-year contract.

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  13. andcounting

    Only loosely related to the Cubs, but I wrote about my dad and baseball here. This is what I end up working on when I’m the only one awake for a few hours every day. (dying laughing)

    All in all, the Cubs were lucky to not have had a worse road trip, all things considered. I’m still a bit pissed they carried their psychological collapse with RISP into “there’s a shortstop pitching” territory.

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  14. andcounting

    Rice Cube,

    BVS,

    The interesting thing is, the less popular local coverage becomes (and the more it becomes an industry run exclusively by sports betting sites) the less The Athletic has to do to compete with it. I have a feeling they’ll be prone to layoffs even when business is booming. They’re probably not going to try to be a whole lot better than they need to be to dominate a market.

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  17. Author
    Rice Cube

    So I neglected to mention that yesterday, I saw a Tesla who was obviously a Cubs fan (they had the license plate frame and a window decal and the car itself was Cubs blue) and the interesting thing was that their license plate read:

    WLWWLLL

    I guess LWLLWWW was taken in California? Or else this particular fan is just petty.

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  20. BVS

    andcounting,

    I remember hearing Music Through the Night growing up in S Central Michigan and riding around with my mom in her AMC Hornet wagon on her overnight motor route delivering the Detroit News in rural areas, when every other house had a plastic tube attached to their mailbox post.

    Occasionally we’d get bored of the endless Air Supply, Hall & Oates, and Whitney Houston on the pop station and I’d turn the dial. Mom wasn’t into country much yet, though that era was starting, and neither of us liked metal, so NPR and whatever else was on got a listen.

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  23. andcounting

    Rice Cube,

    That was a big deal, near the beginning of the end of old-fashioned baseball. The wild card in ā€˜94 had been the first really big change in forever but as far as regular season changes go, interleague was HUGE.

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  25. andcounting

    Rice Cube,

    Expanded interleague is something Iā€™ve wanted to write about if I get the time. I feel like the more balanced schedule has led to steadier standings leaguewide.

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  28. Author
    Rice Cube

    andcounting,

    Perhaps this was an unintended side effect of the rebalanced schedule where now more teams can stay relevant for longer but that may also invite more complacency for teams to say “we sorta tried but look how close we got”

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  29. Perkins

    I kind of liked how interleague used to alternate divisions and take place all in May/June. It felt like an event.

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  32. BVS

    Crazy last 3 innings between Angels and Rangers. OF gets a great defensive scoop at 1st to save game for Angels. Shohei with homers in 9th and 12th.

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  38. Author
    Rice Cube

    Of note:

    Mastrobuoni sighting, thankfully not for Seiya though I thought it would’ve been for Wisdom, wondering if his knee was barking why they bothered throwing Hughes out there given the terrible results but whatever…

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  40. Author
    Rice Cube

    Goddammit

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  43. Author
    Rice Cube

    Not gonna lie, I hope the rest of Nevada gov’t just says no

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  53. Author
    Rice Cube

    Rice Cube:
    Dang cheap owners

    https://twitter.com/EvanDrellich/status/1668788316756496389?t=1uQ0Dv7_tWsr3Op1irjy9A&s=19

    But multiple officials who have been briefed on or participated in some of these conversations said the thinking extends to personnel, as well. At least some clubs would enjoy seeing caps on spending in any area that can influence on-field success, player salaries or otherwise. Executives with smaller-market teams have long lamented the task of keeping up with the spending capabilities of larger market teams.

    Then sell the team you cheap fucker

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  62. andcounting

    Did Ross call for a one-out bunt ahead of Nick Madrigal? I just want to be clear that Iā€™m not misconstruing what my eyes are telling me.

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  63. andcounting

    andcounting,

    Like, did someone with a job that puts him in control of such things decide the Cubsā€™ best shot at scoring when they had one out was if Nick Madrigal was batting with two outs?

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  73. Perkins

    The Pitcher Who Must Not Be Named has another SA allegation against him. This is my shocked face.

    He may want to consider pitching in a country that doesnā€™t extradite to the US.

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  74. Author
    Rice Cube

    Perkins:
    The Pitcher Who Must Not Be Named has another SA allegation against him. This is my shocked face.

    He may want to consider pitching in a country that doesnā€™t extradite to the US.

    They should ship him to North Korea so they can launch him into the ocean on their next test

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  78. Author
    Rice Cube

    Mr. Krabs small violin dot gif

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  80. berselius

    Rice Cube,

    I thought this was going more in a “the last time the Cardinals were this bad was before the sinking of the Titanic” (dying laughing)

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  81. berselius

    Rice Cube:
    Brewers + Cards ā€“> L

    Even better – the Cards blew a lead in the ninth at home and then went on to lose in extras. You hate to see it.

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  87. Perkins

    Every time the Cubs have a Harry Caray recording sing the stretch, I wonder what percentage of the fans in the ballpark were born after his death.

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  89. andcounting

    Did not think the Cubs would be in position to screw the closer they donā€™t have, but here we are.

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  100. berselius

    Rice Cube,

    The business is bonkers…I’m surprised that something Athletic-like that is employee-owned beyond more than a few writers hasn’t gained any traction. I guess aside from the relatively recent Defector site. Or maybe fangraphs, but that’s always been a bootstrap operation as far as I can tell from the outside. As much as I love Robothal etc once they started snapping up all the laid off national guys it seemed like the site was doomed, for the same reason all of said national guys were laid off. Their business changed years ago and people are suddenly discovering it now?

    I’ve been surprised by the amount of media garment-rending this week but maybe I shouldn’t have been. The VC flavored eternal growth models of all these startups is garbage, but it’s also not 1950 anymore and just don’t think there’s enough superfans of sports other than the NFL/Premier league to support the amount of writing reporting that there used to be. I’m sure fantasy football drives the vast majority of actual subs/impressions etc, everyone else is just drafting off of it these days. It’s certainly what actually funds BP and Fangraphs, even if the FFB market is a minnow compared to football.

    Just my 20000 lira.

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  101. andcounting

    berselius,

    Thereā€™s a little room for cottage-industry guys to subsist on platforms like substack (Dayn Perry and Craig Calcaterra come to mind) and people who get laid off could migrate their followings accordingly and make a decent living if they do it right.

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  102. berselius

    andcounting,

    For sure, though there’s certainly a lot more friction when you are managing a zillion mini-subs (see also streaming services (dying laughing)). It’s going to be a while until substack gets media credentials with teams etc though :/

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  103. berselius

    I still read any reference to Marmol in the various Cards dumpster fire stories as Carlos Marmol, not Oli Marmol (dying laughing)

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  108. uncle dave

    berselius:
    Rain delay, letā€™s see how it goes

    Apologies for providing this info a smidge late but for your Rain Delay Theater pleasure ā€œSink the Bismarck!ā€ is now on Hulu.

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  110. uncle dave

    Rice Cube,

    I think the city council wouldā€™ve eventually given the Aā€™s the go-ahead on the larger plan had the Aā€™s played their cards right, but they absolutely got clowned in a tough political environment and bitched and moaned about what was a tiny community benefits agreement by California standards. Iā€™d say this was an own goal on their part but that presupposes they werenā€™t just trying to get something in writing to preserve their revenue sharing access.

    Whole thing kinda sucks.

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