FiddySicks

NFC just isn’t that good. Baker is gonna get rocked in the Super Bowl. 

On 12/19/2023 at 1:44 PM, oldschoolvikings said:

 

 

And who do you have taking them out? 

16 hours ago, BottomlessPitt said:

The NFL should change the seeding to top 7 by record regardless if you win your division or not. 

No, this is a terrible idea that would ruin the sanctity of not just the league, but the sport itself. I spit on this idea. 
 

- Fan of a team that’s the most successful team in what’s usually the worst division in football 

11 hours ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

Because I am comfortable with being a blowhard, I am not bothered if someone thinks my account is wanky. The important thing is that it is completely accurate.

I definitely don’t agree with the second part of all that, but I do appreciate that you have some self awareness about it

1 hour ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

Says the guy who's too young to know better.

 

When I started watching baseball and became a Yankee fan, it was the early 1970s, and being a Yankee fan was definitely not cool. The glow of the Mets' 1969 World Championship was still everywhere; and this was only exacerbated by the team's late-season comeback in 1973 to win the division and win another pennant, before taking the mighty Oakland A's to seven games in that year's World Series.

 

At that time, the Yankees were strictly passé. They were the team best known for hyping guys who turned out to be disappointments, guys such as Rusty Torres and Frank Tepedino. Even the supposed superstar, Bobby Murcer, who was indeed a quality player, was not the generational talent that the team had been touting, and would never equal his one great season.

 

The lone actual star on that team, Thurman Munson, had yet to blossom, while the consistent and underrated Roy White was most often overlooked.

 

The Mets were dazzling with their stellar starting rotation of Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, and later Jon Matlack; by contrast, the Yankees were trudging along with a fading Mel Stottlemyre, together with an inconsistent Fritz Peterson and the occasionally brilliant Mike Kekich (the latter two of whom were involved in a phony "scandal" when aspects of their private lives were reported on and unjustly mocked).

 

In this environment, the Met fans were the know-nothing trend-followers, and we Yankee fans were, yes, the scholars. We were the ones who were actually familiar with the players and the teams from both leagues. When the Mets would acquire a new player, the Met fans at my school would have to ask us — the Yankee fans, and therefore the serious baseball fans — about that player. When a Met fan was about to go to a game, that Met fan would ask us for a rundown of the opposition. For we were the Yankee fans, the keepers of the knowledge.

 

Then the Lean Years ended, and we Yankee fans got our championship teams. Still, immediately thereafter, we were knocked down again by having no World Championships in the entire 1980s, during which time the Mets once again became the media darlings — and, therefore, once again became the go-to team for the empty-headed know-nothings. And so for a second time, now as an adult, I had the experience of my Met-fan friends asking me for information on new acquisitions, on call-ups, and on opposing players.

 

I retired from following current baseball after 1996, when the Yankees were nice enough to play me out with a championship. So I watched the Yankees' resurgence after that as an outsider. And what became clear to me was that the nature of Yankee fans had altered radically. While Yankee fans of my generation were arrogantly haughty, the Yankee fans of the latter generation were just loutish.

 

In the 1970s, Yankee fans would cheer for many great opposing players. Amongst the opposing players who always got great receptions at Yankee Stadium were Brooks Robinson, Andre Thornton, and Rod Carew.  This recalls the stories of Dodger fans at Ebbets Field always cheering for Stan Musial. 

 

The character of Yankee fans of my generation can be illustrated by two events involving Tom Seaver. First, after Seaver was traded from the Mets in June of 1977, his first appearance in New York came a few weeks later at the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium. His introduction before the game elicited the biggest ovation of the night, bigger than that for the several Yankee players in the game, or for Yankee manager Billy Martin, who was managing the American League.

 

The second event came in August of 1985, when Seaver faced the Yankees at the Stadium going for his 300th career victory. During that game, something remarkable happened: the crowd turned. This had happened for individual moments, for instance, when Reggie Jackson made his first appearance back at the Stadium after signing with the Angels, and was cheered for homering against Ron Guidry. But for the first and only time in history, an entire packed Yankee Stadium turned for the whole game, rooting against the Yankees as they cheered for Seaver. After Seaver got his complete-game victory, the capacity crowd stood and roared, and demanded a curtain call.

 

This is what my kind of Yankee fandom had been about. Seaver, unlike Jackson, was not a former Yankee. Rather, he was a former Met. Yet Yankee fans, being at that time the epitome of great and knowledgeable baseball fans, ignored petty partisanship to pay appropriate respect to greatness.

 

There is a profound difference between the Yankee fans of my day and those of the current day. If the Seaver scenarios had played out at any time after 2000, the Yankee fans of today would certainly have booed a longtime Met, rather than cheer a baseball hero.

I think you’re probably right, but they have basketball’s version of Derek Jeter and they’re never going to give that up. Everyone else, though? Boy bye. 

I love Draymond. Dude was the glue for four championship squads. Even I think this is getting tiresome. The league should suspend him for half of the season at this point  

2 hours ago, Cujo said:

 

Happy now?

 

 

Happier, yes. Now if they go get Yamamoto, all sins will be forgiven! 

31 minutes ago, who do you think said:

 

The Time Warner contract (signed around then when cable and baseball interest were already on the way down) is what's making all this possible, right? When's this bubble popping? I was promised a bubble pop.

They’re owned by the Guggenheim (Old European money) Group, so, probably whenever the next assassination of an Archduke happens. They have like $500 billion in total assets. 

20 minutes ago, infrared41 said:

 

And it will remain that way exactly as long as we stay focused on the dumb stuff - which is the goal, I guess.

I think that’s been the most frustrating part of getting older as a sports fan. All of these leagues have serious issues that they either don’t handle, or handle very poorly. We should be focusing more on this (and it stands out to me more and more all the time), but every time one of these leagues throws out something new and bright, we forget about all of that (I wouldn’t have spent two decades of my life posting here if I wasn’t one of them, either). It’s a conflicting feeling, and I have no idea how to fix any of this. 
 

Go Giants? I guess? 

10 minutes ago, BBTV said:

 

I'm not sure how this is relevant.  Should they not spend just because half the other owners are greedy or crying poor?  That's collusion.

 

In real life, I agree with the arguments about splitting have from have-not.  But sports isn't real life.

No, that particular part of it unfortunately I can’t be mad at the Dodgers about. They’re only doing what they can. Hard to fault them for that, as much as I’d like to. 
 

My lament is precisely with everyone else. 
 

And I do think it’s relevant in the grander scale of things because it’s following the same pattern. It’s taking some of the other, seedy aspects of our society and throws it into the same circle with something that’s supposed to be an escape from all of that. And in an era where people are whining about rainbow armbands (somewhat similar complaint, but much dumber and lacking any actual relevance), I think I have the room to complain about that. Because that’s the actual problem! 
 

Sigh. Go Giants. I guess. 

With how expensive everything is in my area lately? It’s more tempting than it should be. 

It’s like basically everything else in our society. It’s not technically illegal, but it absolutely contributes to a further splitting of the haves and have nots and makes the entire situation worse for everyone else. 
 

The Dodgers started spending stupidly about 12 years ago, and it seems like every year it just gets more and more egregious. Like, nice little loophole you have there to go along with an ocean of available cash, but it comes at a time when like half of the league is seemingly spending as little as possible and hoarding all of the profits for their own pockets. Baseball really seems keen to speed up the drain spiraling they’re doing by making the on field product as uncompelling as possible. 
 

I also say that as a fan of a team who does that (despite promising everyone else they won’t), while having the richest owner in the sport. God, it’s infuriating. 

18 minutes ago, ruttep said:

The most infuriating part is all the baseball reporters on Twitter claiming that this is "good for the game" that the Dodgers pay billions of dollars for a superteam. It ruins the integrity of the sport. 

 

As my soccer fan friend said, I didn't know the Saudis got into baseball.

Nothing that’s happened in the Manfred era has been “good for the game”. Good for big business, but awful for the fans. 
 

Oh, also, Dodgers fans can :censored: off forever about the Astros. This is even worse. 

That’s :censored:ing bull:censored:. Baseball is broken. 

Wal Mart brand Patriots, at best. 

Lol things really couldn’t be going any better for Sun Devils football. Lol, nope. No siree. 

14 minutes ago, ruttep said:

Between this, Arson Judge, and Correa's physical, it's been a rough couple years of free agency for my Giants. I might have to take a year off from baseball this season.

13 minutes ago, Cujo said:

 

That was a bullet dodged. A huge Giants W, in my book.

Both of these are true simultaneously. 
 

Speaking of that, @Sport instituted a ten year moratorium on complaining about your team after winning a title (good rule). Giants are in year nine, and boy do I have some bitching to do. Can’t wait. 

10 minutes ago, Cujo said:

 

After winning the NL West by 40 games

I love how you edited it to throw an even larger number out. Very Dodgers of you. 

Now watch them still struggle to get out of the NLDS. 

Yeah, I’m think I’m out on baseball. 

I really miss the days when these guys would sign relatively quickly and this whole free agency period was actually fun. The last few years of these guys waiting until the last possible minute to sign while half of these sports writers twist themselves into knots trying to be the first to break the news is just tiresome. It’s taken one of the most fun parts of the sport and made it more annoying than fun. Of all of the recent changes, most of which I’m mixed on anyway, this is by far the my least favorite. 

Yeah I’ve had some hesitations about the Ohtani move in general, but it sounds like he may have actually taken less to go to the Jays? He’s been great so far, don’t get me wrong. But I dunno, $500-600 million for a dude who already has injury issues and a seeming reluctance to really jump fully into the spotlight feels like a risk I wouldn’t want my team to take. I hope this works out for Toronto, but it feels like closer to a lateral move from the Angels. Jays look good right now, but they also looked pretty good when they were making moves for guys like David Price and Josh Donaldson, and ended up falling on their faces. 
 

Lol, the a Blue Jays. Ok. Ohtani to the Blue Jays