Still MIGHTY

On 11/22/2019 at 5:52 PM, The Six said:

Lodge keeps his job because he's a Grade A shill for the Angels. Never has any criticism about them, just the way Moreno likes it.

I believe the term is... *shudders* ..."Halo Honk"

On 11/8/2019 at 6:08 PM, DG_Now said:

Good. TNT sucks at it. Though, if this is just a move from B/R app to CBS app, forget it.

Isn't this the truth. This has never been more apparent to me than this NFL season.

I have a smart TV with all the proper apps downloaded (and my parents DirecTV info inputted, because they won't use the streaming). If the game is on FOX, NBC, ESPN or out of market (Sunday Ticket)? I can watch every game in a breeze. Not to mention easily pulling up local Angels/Ducks games on Fox Sports Go or even baseball playoffs on TBS/FOX. Basically, if any game is on any TV channel, I can find some way to stream it.

Except CBS, because they're still slaving away on CBS All Access.

No, I don't want to watch Star Trek prequel series. No, I don't want to watch your Good Wife spin-off. No, I don't need NCIS on demand. I just want to watch one football game, which is free on TV otherwise. Why does literally every other outlet have a way for me to just put in the cable/satellite info and stream whatever is just on TV, except you CBS?

Like yeah, the B/R app sucks, but at least if a game is live on TBS/TNT, I can just open the TBS/TNT apps and watch TV. CBS doesn't even give you the choice. $15 a month or GTFO? I guess I'm getting out then.

Deadspin's corporate overlord G/O Media published some statistics to back their argument and prove their "stick to sports" mantra was valid.

Turns out those numbers were, um, wrong.

Barstool dancing on the grave of Deadspin.

So, forgive me if I don't feel like being on the side of El Presidente.

With Barry Petchesky fired yesterday, many other Deadspin staffers (the whole Deadspin staff?) followed him out the door and resigned today.

Looks like Deadspin is dead. Long live Deadspin.

EDIT: Not dead, but at least severely diminished: https://awfulannouncing.com/online-outlets/many-deadspin-staffers-resign-in-wake-of-barry-petchesky-firing.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

2 hours ago, the admiral said:

UPDATE: as expected, he apologized for it, and people who already didn't like him think he should be fired for it

Wait... WHAT?!

Quote

A month or so ago, a brilliantly researched and written piece about the Bears’ throwback jerseys by Jack Silverstein at Windy City Grid Iron pointed out the problems with said jerseys. That would be that they came from a time when black players were banned from the NFL, and how awkward it seemed that the Bears would not be wearing it. This caused the Bears themselves to address it head on in the week leading up to the game, releasing a video with several players commenting on the debate, problem, and why they felt it was important for them to wear the jerseys. 

People got mad... about throwback jerseys???

What say you, Blackhawks fans, @the admiral @Sodboy13, does anything happen to Pat Foley for this one?

On 9/17/2019 at 5:26 AM, McCarthy said:

 

He's still on it and I've been skipping them more and more. He needs people in his orbit to check him and I don't think he has that. Maybe Russillo. Everyone else is over-laughing at his jokes, not correcting him when he mispronounces words and names (which happens OFTEN), and nobody tells him to STFU about the Patriots. 

 

Other reasons I'm out on Ringer podcasts - I find their new editor in chief, Mallory Rubin, completely unlistenable, Chris Ryan needs to stop yelling, Shea Serrano needs to get a personality besides "I love terrible action movies isn't that funny how much I love them?", and I'd like to dangle Nephew Kyle off a balcony. Never heard someone trying so hard while failing so hard to sound cool. 

I'm definitely in more of a pick-and-choose when it comes to the Ringer podcasts I consume nowadays.

With Simmons, it's pretty much just the NFL Lines pod with Cousin Sal as a foil against him. I was out on Simmons all summer (You can't be all-in with NBA content in early August, like, enough.) I'll also listen when Russillo comes on, but that's less now since Russillo has his own pod. Simmons talks about being "unapologetically in F you mode," but all that does is make him an ass. I mean, he's always been an ass, but this makes him a much less charming ass. (Like, currently, he keeps insisting on calling the new Jags QB "G. Minshew," because thats how it read on his score app and he thinks it's funny. Except when his real name (Gardner Flint Minshew II) is funnier than what Simmons wants to call him, it's a case of him continually choosing to be wrong because he's a prick.) ((Also also, everything he introduces the pod as "The BS Podcast on !*!THE RINGER!*!" I want to punch him.))

Speaking of Russillo, I've enjoyed his Monday podcasts with Chris Long on the NFL. Chris Long is refreshing against the "I'm the cool radio guy" vibe that Russillo gives off, and its becaue of that vibe that I can't do too much Rusillo. (Honestly, he's a bit too polished for what the Ringer does.)

With all the other Ringer pods, I only tune in because of the content they're talking about, but I've become increasingly disenchanted with the hosts. Your'e right, in almost every context, Mallory Rubin is unlistenable. Her voice, her frequency, her tone, her mannerisms. All of it I can not stand. However, I'm just in this weird relationship where I do *want* to listen to the podcasts she hosts because of the content (I mean, Binge Mode hits some spots for me on going deep on Game of Thrones, Harry Potter and next up Star Wars), but boy oh boy would I love to throw her out a window.

I don't hate Chris Ryan as much, but I've listened to less and less of The Watch. I listen when they talk about something I know, but the show is much worse off not having Andy Greenwald on full time to level out Chris Ryan. You're also right in that Shea Serrano brings nothing.

I do enjoy the Ringer's The Big Picture (movies), The Press Box (media) and occasionally The Rewatchables. On The Big Picture, Sean Fennessey is great and thoughtful in a non-Simmons-backup-dancer setting. (Although Amanda Dobbins gets near the throw-out-the-window territory with some of her verbal ticks.) The Press Box is almost always strong, although moving to twice a week has hurt it a little, but its still quality. The Rewatchables I only tune in if it's a movie I care enough about to form opinions on, and even then, the choice of host roundtable determines my enjoyment.

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tl;dr - I agree. I want to enjoy most Ringer podcasts, but the hosts more and more make me want to drive into a ditch.

Alex Meruelo's purchase of the majority stake in the Arizona Coyotes is official. First Latino NHL owner, his parents were Cuban immigrants.

Meruelo owns a construction and real estate firm as well as five LA radio stations, one LA TV station, prepackaged sushi company Fuji Food, the Grand Sierra in Reno and the SLS (soon to be Sahara) in Las Vegas. He has a $7-million+ home in Key West, a nearly $11-million penthouse in New York City and also bought an island off of Spain. And then of course all the other things documented in this thread of his failed Hawks bid, the lawsuit with the SLS casino.

Welcome to the OITGDNHL family, I guess.

Yup. LeBron’s ugly custom hat puts a definitive stamp on this discussion. You got me. Everybody pack up and go home.

1 hour ago, colortv said:

Rams and Chargers are both holding training camps within a 20 minute drive of Angel Stadium, with it being promoted as in the home market.

 

But they aren't Los Angeles teams right?

The Cowboys hold training camp in Oxnard, California, 20 miles from the Rams practice facility.

What's your point?

1 hour ago, mjrbaseball said:

Th Angels aren't actually moving into the Dodgers territory because they're already there, but do the Dodgers have anything to say about the Angels' choice of site. This example is unrealistic, but say the Angels decided to put a new ballpark in Griffith Park. That's less than two miles from Dodger Stadium. Could the Dodgers block such a move?

I don't believe they could. When the whole name change thing came to be, I remember the idea being put out of the Angels moving to downtown LA, and it being explained as much as the Dodgers would hate it, they wouldn't have any say.

I would imagine that maybe someone like MLB would try to intervene with a "good of the game" clause or whatever. I also don't think it's something the Angels would actually explore.

Figured I’d drop this here, see if it starts any discussion:

The 99-00 contracts adjusted for inflation:

Jagr: $15.466 mil

O'Neal: $25.43 mil

Belle: $17.697 mil

Aikman: $15.987 mil

Again, the toothpaste was out of the tube. You’re not going to get Angel fans in Orange County to say “yes, Go Los Angeles” when they didn’t for 40 years. Yes, they could’ve stayed LA upon move and nobody would be the wiser. They changed to California because they saw, even in 1965, that they weren’t in LA, then they added the specificity with Anaheim. 

When you have something that represents your community and you can say “yes, that is us, that is ours, not the big dirty brother, this is *our* team” and then that thing wants to leave you behind and represent people it hasn’t in ages while still living in your city, you can’t see how that plays?

If we do want to do a New York comparison, the Brooklyn Nets. They were at one point the New York Nets, take in the whole area. Then they became New Jersey, how many people in NY stayed with them? Then they jump to Brooklyn, how many people in NJ stayed with them? How many non-Brooklynites in NY embrace the Nets? People of Brooklyn are pumped though, right? “Hell yeah! BROOKLYN! This is ours!” How would Brooklyn Nets fans feel if at some point they went back to being the New York Nets? Didn’t move, stayed in Brooklyn, and after years of being called Brooklyn, they went back to claiming all of New York, just for advertising dollars?

5 hours ago, Gothamite said:

Similarly, nobody seriously thinks that northern New Jersey isn’t a part of the New York metroplex.  There’s very little of New Jersey that isn’t a satellite city, of either NYC or Philadelphia.   But even so, New Jersey has eight million people from which to draw.  Eight million people to fill with local pride. Anaheim has what, four hundred thousand?

(Congratulations on dragging me back into this with your condescending ass.)

Yes, let’s compare the population of a state and a city. Makes sense. The Angels aren’t just filling the local pride of Anaheim. Angel fans don’t stop at the city limits. Anaheim is the main representative of Orange County, which is over three million people.

And to say Anaheim has no cultural cache? It’s ing DISNEYLAND, my dude. C’mon.

5 hours ago, Gothamite said:

If the Angels move to El Segundo or Torrence or Pasadena or Monrovia or Thousand Oaks, they should still be the Los Angeles Angels.

Yes, if the Angels moved to El Segundo or Torrence or Pasadena or Monrovia or Thousand Oaks, they would be the Los Angeles Angels. Because they would be IN LOS ANGELES.

Again, great, you used to at one time live in Southern California. That does not make you the expert. My family is from New York. I’ve visited NYC more than any city outside of SoCal. I love New York. I don’t come at you trying to tell you how and what New York is. So maybe you just leave the LA/OC dynamics to the people that grew up and/or currently live here. I think we have a better handle on this.

Honestly, I’m not having this ing discussion again. Just unnecessary pot-stirring from Markazi, who’s relatively new in his tenure as a columnist at the Times and hadn’t got his swing at this 14-year-old, torn down, beaten up piñata.

Gothamite, you were wrong about all this the last time it came up, and you’re still wrong about it now.

California Angels was fine. Anaheim Angels was fine. If they had never changed and stayed the Los Angeles Angels when they moved 50 years ago, that also would have been fine. But the toothpaste was out of the tube. Trying to go back was a mistake the instant they thought of it, and all we’ve been doing is arguing ever since.

3 hours ago, McCarthy said:

A hockey podcast that isn't poisoned by Dave Lozo, who for some reason, is a co-host on every single hockey podcast. I'll have to give it a shot. 

Thankfully, he's not any now. Lozo left Greg Wyshynski on Puck Soup and left Down Goes Brown on Biscuits. And now, Down Goes Brown (and Yahoo's Ryan Lambert) have joined Greg Wyshynski on Puck Soup. Lozo now is just a writer for Katie Nolan's ESPN+ show. (And onto the specific point, Puck Soup is entering a sort of cross-branding agreement with the Athletic.)

I listen to Puck Soup and Wyshynski's ESPN hockey podcast (ESPN on Ice) with Emily Kaplan, which I enjoy both. I also have the Puck Podcast in my feed, but it can be a bit of a bear with its length (nearly 3 hours some weeks) and its almost purely informational aspect.

I keep getting closer and closer to finally taking the plunge with an Athletic subscription as they continue to just gobble up and produce mounds of good content. (For example: read Rich Hammond's story at the Athletic LA on the Taylor Swift banner at Staples Center. It's pretty damn good.)

NHL announces that Slava Voynov has been officially suspended for the 2019-20 season, and his eligibility will be restored no earlier than July 1, 2020. Voynov had been suspended indefinitely since Oct. 20, 2014. Despite previously terminating his contract, the Kings still retain his rights.

On Oct. 19, 2014, Voynov punched, kicked and choked his wife and smashed her head into a TV screen. On July 2, 2015, Voynov pleaded no contest misdemeanor, served 90 days in jail, payed a fine, and was "voluntarily deported" to Russia to serve his three-year probation. Upon the end of three-year term, his charges were dismissed in 2018 and had a hearing with the NHL on March 21.

Voynov served his probation by signing a 3-year/$4.5M per deal with SKA St. Petersburg in the KHL. The 30-year-old defenseman showed remorse for his actions by scoring 20 goals and 47 points in 110 games and winning the 2017 Gagarin Cup and 2018 Olympic gold medal. It doesn't seem like he played in the KHL this season.

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Which team will be dumb enough to sign him?

1 hour ago, the admiral said:

Whatcha got me lookin' at here, the weird strip club logo?

LA Live is the area in the heart of Downtown LA right around Staples Center and the convention center. So, three miles away from Dodger Stadium, it's very uncommon territory to see prominent Angels advertising.

11 minutes ago, MadmanLA said:

Keep in mind that as long as the Angels keep collecting that $150 million a year check from Fox Sports (or whomever winds up with the Fox RSNs in the near-future), plus the equity stake in Fox Sports West, they're not leaving Southern California.  That contract doesn't expire for another thirteen seasons.  They wouldn't even get that much money if they moved to another market...hell, even if they were to become a third NYC team.

There was some rumble that Arte was interested in buying the Fox Sports West RSN himself. Idk how that would affect that check, but it would certainly give the Angels a more direct revenue streak.

6 hours ago, pmoehrin said:

 

I've never been, but it reminds me of a lot of Citi Field in the sense that its perfectly serviceable ballpark, but I could picture all 30 MLB teams playing there.

 

There doesen’t seem to be much personality to the place, and I agree with the notion that the Angels present themselves almost as if they're ashamed of their history.

 

If it were me I would bring back a modernized version of that Big A scoreboard and put it back out in left field for starters. Honestly, that was about the only distinguishing feature of the park that didn't make it look like a cheaper version of Dodger Stadium.

 

I would also lose the rocks out in left field. It looks like a landscaping demo. There are other things I would do as well, but I'm not getting too in-depth on a project that's never coming to fruition. Let's just say I've seen teams do more ambitious renovations with less to work with.

As someone that’s been to Angel Stadium many a time, I’ve never gotten that impression when it comes to the history.

There’s the pennants (Division/AL/World Series) out in center-left. Retired numbers displayed and easily seen in right. They have a large display for the 2002 title in front of the team store. On the second concourse, they have team Hall of Fame murals on the walls behind the press box. Not to mention the pregame video montage where they literally recount every event of note in team history before every single game.

Could it all be displayed even more prominently in the stadium itself? Oh, definitely. But to say it’s not there is wrong.

And I agree about bringing the Big A back into the Big A. It is quite the landmark as the marquee along the 57 freeway, but you could still leave it there and integrate some design in the stadium itself.

Angel Stadium as it is is all I’ve ever known. I’m sure I went to games pre-Disney renovations, but I don’t have any burning memories of it. And as you said and I agree, it’s a perfectly serviceable place to go watch a game. I’d say it’s a fine place to watch a ball game. And as someone that truthfully doesn’t have a care for all the extra bells and whistles (restaurants/club levels/meeting areas/game areas/etc/etc, and maybe some of that is from growing up with the Big A/Big Ed as my home park), I don’t have any issue with the place, especially once they replaced both scoreboards.

I have been to the classics (Dodger Stadium, Wrigley Field, Old Yankee Stadium), neo-retros (Coors Field, Guaranteed Rate, Turner Field), a dome (Chase Field) and to modern parks (Petco Park, New Yankee Stadium). And really, me personally, I’m good with what Angel Stadium offers. Could it use a buff up? Sure, but I’m not part of the group clamoring for it.

On 3/3/2019 at 6:30 AM, Digby said:

I think they rebranded it! To like the CBS Sports Grill or something like that. Try the Gumbelburger.

 

Your choices are limited now because Tony Keith’s Bar and Grill, famous for being the source of the most DUIs in the Commonwealth, has recently closed.

 

And yes, Patriot Place is horrid, nothing but an outdoor mall with a couple generic stores that counts as “going out” for rural M:censored:s with no taste. But it seems like a reasonable use of space when there’s plenty more room to park for those days a year. I know the Angels play more frequently than the Patriots but I would’ve guessed they could sacrifice some of that gigantic sea of parking for another SoCal mall.

It's Southern California. Parking is literally the last thing we would sacrifice. Especially for another goddamned mall. (Which... would need parking.)

5 minutes ago, the admiral said:

I don't think it would hurt Anaheim's reputation if the Angels were to leave, but I also don't think there's anywhere better for them to go. Do you think they could wind up building a new stadium in the parking lot if the old bones of Anaheim Stadium are deemed to be beyond help? You look at a satellite view of the region and there really aren't many >100-acre lots waiting to be developed.

Back in days between the failed NFL expansion of 2002 and the return of the Rams/Raiders/Chargers, there was a nascent plan to try and build a football stadium on the Angels parking lot. So it's indeed an option. (Although, less of an option if they fill the parking lot with developed retail/restaurant space.) I don't think its an option for this go-around of negotiations, but it could be an avenue in the not so far future.

It's not like the "old bones" of the stadium are crumbling or anything. The foundations are sound. However, any major renovation would be the third such major renovation in the stadium's 53-year history. (Enclosing for the Rams in the late 70s, Opening up back up in the late 90s.) There's only so many times you can dress up/down a stadium.

The issue, of course, would be funding. And this is California. And everyone here sees what Kroenke is doing in Inglewood. So unless Arte goes for it on his own dime (HA!) the foundation of Angel Stadium will stay where it stands.

16 minutes ago, kimball said:

I'll actually be right by Angel Stadium this weekend, I'm curious now to see how big the location is in person with this perspective. 

 

Even with that said ... I just don't see Disney really wanting to build right by the freeway unless it was more shopping, hotels and restaurants. 

The Disneyland property literally backs up against the 5 freeway.

13 hours ago, Bucfan56 said:

This might make that Angels Stadium property even more valuable, though. Especially with the fairly recent addition of the Star Wars properties and licenses. 

Except that Disneyland opens Star Wars Land (*ahem* Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge) this June. Already done. Would've been a fine idea, otherwise. Get on a "space" shuttle to go to the "other planet" that is the separate park. (Although, the logistics, ugh. Think about loading these shuttles at night's end, then having to get on the parking lot tram, and then driving out. Yikes.)

Anyways, all in all, sure there is probably more money to be had by selling the land potentially to Disney. However, I would think there'd be a greater loss to the "caché" that Anaheim has at present. Anaheim already has Disney as a main attraction, but if you lose Major League Baseball and just add more Disney, that doesn't really do anything for the city's profile. If anything, it does lower it that notch of being another town that lost a big league team (See: St. Louis, NFL).

Anaheim's priority, and the Angels' too, I think, are to keep the Angels in Anaheim.

Having lived/went to school in Long Beach (Go Dirtbags), despite how cool a waterfront stadium could be, I think traffic and parking would be an absolute NIGHTMARE.

There is a LA Metro line (Blue Line) that ends not terribly far from the site, so that could help a little, and it would connect the Angels with the rest of Los Angeles that Arte Moreno so dearly craves. (Although parking at the stations above the terminus isn't terribly plentiful or they're in Compton.) But as admiral said, it's Southern California. People can't not drive their cars. There are those parking structures nearby, but also having used those, they'd have to be expanded and it could cause a great congestion.

And I can only imagine that Shoreline Drive on/off ramp to the 710. It's currently a construction hell as it is right there as they modify/enhance/repair those roads as it turns into the Port of Long Beach and is overloaded with 18-wheelers.

Plus, as mentioned, you build this and you're essentially killing off the Long Beach Grand Prix. Also using that site/demolishing the arena for parking would also put a major kink in the Long Beach portion of the 2028 LA Olympics:

That area with the water polo pool and the BMX facility is the site they're initially putting forth in this Angels offer. Handball would take place in the arena in the bottom right.

But yes, just look at that area right there, and you say, damn, that would be a beautiful spot to put a stadium. It's a fine initial idea. But there's a lonnnnnnnnggggggggg way to go with this stuff. Anaheim still looks like the preferred spot to stay, and things like this are just barely twinkles in some Mayor's eye at this point.