BBTV

With Boomer's work in New York sports media and the national things he does out of NY, it almost feels like he's a New York guy... specifically a Jet. His right uniform is obviously a Bengals one, but I do associate him a little more with New York now that he's been working there for so long.

Phillies releasing their City Connect on Friday, and will wear it for all Friday home games https://www.crossingbroad.com/2024/04/the-phillies-are-releasing-the-city-connect-jerseys-this-week.html

This is probably what should happen, though it would likely mean the permanent end of the line for the brand. It's a shame that he has such little equity at this point, but it's time to retire "Athletics" and move on. It's a lousy fit for Vegas anyway. Has there been more of a "coming back with tail between their legs" situation than this in the past 30 - 40 years? It was basically announced as "done", they had renderings, a welcome presser, and all that jazz, now they're in the awkwardest of awkward spots. I can think of in-market moves that collapsed on the brink of construction (Sixers move to Camden, for ex) but nothing that was to a whole new market since the teams that played Tampa for fools and the SD>DC move that resulted in the actual "Washington NAT'L League" baseball cards.

So the Phillies and Braves don't play each other again until... July? Godsdamned July? How the hell can two divisional teams go more than three full months without playing each other? Screw this schedule.

That's a good point. Maybe I'm being a little too hard on them. Would have been great had they tried to hitch hike their way off of the highway and it got caught on the cam.

Jesus. How do you think you can just casually walk away like it didn't happen? I'm guessing none of their IQs is higher than the speed they were going.

The only thing better would be if they were whistling. https://www.tmz.com/2024/03/31/first-photos-rashee-rice-car-crash-site-dallas-occupants-leaving-scene/ d

It’s a little premature to say that, but was just checking TMZ… and these dudes just casually got out of the Lambo and other car and walked away as if nothing had happened and nobody was watching. There’s not evidence that the actual player was there, but photos of other guys just walking away like “Crash? what crash? That was like that when we got here.” Somehow nobody was hurt.

OK, you win.

I think we're arguing different points.

If you mean that once you hit the magic numbers (and weren't on steroids) that you're a HOFer, then by every historical precedent, then you're right. I'm not arguing that he'll be in the HOF. I just think that while you say other factors can supplement overwhelming numbers in a way that gets a guy in, I think that the opposite can be true too, and "other factors" should negate the overwhelming numbers. Key word "should", because they don't. But in the BBTVHOF, they do. Let's really stir stuff up (because there's about two more posts before these all get moved to a newly-created "pointless HOF debate" thread: Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins are more deserving of being in the HOF than Mike Trout (as of now.)

I read that too. I assumption is that they wanted for the replicas to better represent the on-field jersey, and if they even sell "on-field authentic" jerseys, they wouldn't come with the larger letters and people would be pissed (not that they care, but maybe they consider it like an unauthorised design change.)

I've made my case. Yours is simply "a guy with numbers matters." I don't think it's that binary. I guess we just disagree.

I don't think they need to add it, I'm just saying that since one argument was that it didn't appear anywhere else, it would look nice if they did. I'm perfectly fine with it just being the facemask color. They're one of about 2 or 3 teams that I think can get away with gray as a facemask-only color.

Didn't the coolbase material wick too? I don't recall them looking like that. I suppose this means that these jerseys wick more, which Nike would say is a feature not a bug, but sheesh - that's hard to look at. Even if he's dry on the inside, it looks like that'd be very uncomfortable. Also - is "Wet-Ass Yankee" an acceptable user name? Asking for a friend.

That's the literal definition of taking something out of context. You cut off the rest of the sentence, and everything else, where I clearly stated that winning a championship isn't necessary to be a HOFer.

It looks like he's holding someone else's phone, based on the purse-ish thing, but if that just happens to be his style, then it's lame for anyone to bash him for it. I don't think his phone case is going to affect his ability to throw TD passes or be a leader on the team. Read an ESPN article that graded the Eagles "haul" for Hassan Redick (a 2026 conditional 3rd rd pick) as an A, which blew my mind. The reasoning was because the Jets will likely be pretty good this year, but who knows if Rodgers will play for them in 2025 (if at all), so they could drop significantly. So the 2026 pick might be worth a lot more than a 2025 pick of the same slot (and I guess nobody was trading a 2024 pick.) I still think it's ridiculous to trade a guy like that for a pick that's two drafts away, but I guess it sets them up to make some kind of package deal to move up in 2026, when they could potentially be done with Jalen Hurts.

Here's a summary of my thoughts on Trout, that nobody should really care about. 1. I don't blame anyone for a) taking a huge contract when it's offered, no matter what other goals they're sacrificing b) wanting to play in LA(ish), in a place with perfect weather and where there's no microscope or pressure. It's an easy life, and one that anyone would love. c) not demanding a trade, for whatever reason - even if it's out of loyalty to the people that gave him that money in the first place. I have no problem with Trout or how he's carried himself or any choice he's made. 2. The HOF should have higher standards than it does. It should be above simply the "best players". Otherwise it should be called "the Hall of Best Players". It should be for the players who more/less you "can't tell the story of the game" without. That sounds a little dramatic, I just can't think of a better way of putting it. As much of a scumbag as he is, Curt Schilling is a lock HOFer in my book. He was a star in one of the most significant WSs in the past 50 years, and not only starred in Arizona, but did it in Boston. And sorry - but performing on that stage in that city simply matters more. Same with NY and other places. That's NOT NOT NOT to say that to be a HOFer you have to have played in those areas. Absolutely not. But it certainly gets you bonus points. Mike Trout has meant zero to the history of the game. I'd love for someone to tell me how the "story of the game" would be any better had he never played. He hasn't contributed to a championship team or even played in meaningful games on a big stage, and hasn't racked up his stats in games that matter, or on a team that matters. One or the other might change things. If the Angles are playing meaningful october games and simply come up short, but he's great, then that's good enough. Or if he's piling up his stats while playing for the Yankees, even if they're not winning, that matters too because it shows he can play through pressure, and the inarguable fact is that playing for some teams gets you more exposure and "fame" than playing on other teams. Mike Trout will absolutely make the HOF based on his numbers alone, and the voting patterns of the writers. It's a shame that we will likely never see what Mike Trout could have been, and I don't blame him one bit for his choices, but those choices have rendered him irrelevant (so far.)

I'd say to put up your dukes, but your arms are too short to box with god. Gray complements orange and brown so well. It's a perfect autumnal palette, for the team that looks the most autumnal. I'd advocate for them to add gray as an official color - maybe even replacing white in some of the striping, or even having gray pants on the road (though if it was up to me, they'd only have orange pants.)

I think that's been a bit of a controversial subject on these boards for years, with a slight majority favoring dropping white. I really don't know that there's any team that needs a white outline on their gray uniform, or that looks better with one than they would without. I'd be fine with the Phillies dropping their white, although it's been less obnoxious since the "standardization" of 2019.

Gray was the best color for the Browns, and I'll fist fight anyone - with my own internet fists, mind you - that disagrees. But pretty much any other color is better than brown, so I guess I'll take white. I hadn't noticed the change in sheen from gloss to satin. Gotta say that the satin in that photo looks really good, but you can never go wrong with a traditional gloss or semi-gloss. I'd vote satin, but the move back to gloss is probably a lateral vs a downgrade. I wish they'd return to their lighter brown and the orange from before when they "reddened" it all those years back (I forget the terms they used for each color - I know "seal brown" was one of the browns (I think the lighter version?) and I forget the reasoning for changing the orange... but they shouldn't have.))

LOL the Eagles traded Hasan Reddick (50 sacks in past 4 years, 17 in 2022) for a 2026 3rd-round pick. That's all they could get for him. He was bitter that he signed a contract and outplayed it, so they let him find a trade partner, but if he doesn't get a new deal from the Jets, what was the point? Ironically, the Eagles signed the Jets top pass rusher in this offseason, so it was kinda a trade. But 2026? We're not even at the 2024 draft, and we're trading 2026 picks? That's crap I thought was exclusive to NBA, where draft picks don't really mean anything anymore.

I’ve never been more ashamed of the Phillies. Literally celebrating losing (the powder blue wild card flag). Was certain they wouldn’t pull this crap.

I'm intrigued by the cannonball rule. I'd love to see the range on those things, and how accurate they can get with their anticipated "drop". I'm guessing they couldn't fire them straight forward, or they'd kill their own team (if behind the offense), or potentially kill their own WR or RB if behind the D. They'd have to have an arc that would drop on the opposing offense (preferably accurate enough to fall on the QB/center), and I'm not sure they could do that without hurting themselves too (they could simply sub out all the good players for the play they're going to fire the cannons, but then you've killed (literally) your depth.) My problem with the cannonball rule is it's venturing too close into the baseball rule where every so often one of the balls detonates (or deadly spikes shoot out of it... can't recall) whether it goes into the field of play or into the stands, so you'd have to put your cell phone down if anyone hits a foul ball. I've been thinking more about that rule, and in the interest of fan/player safety, I think they should limit total casualties to 5/game. The problem is, not even the umpires know which balls are equipped with the spikes, since they can't be marked without ruining the gimmick. But again, we're not replacing the gorilla. It ain't broke, doesn't require fixing. Just needs a new labor deal. Maybe a certain number of bananas on game day and better health care (I've heard they want these guys present at every game, even though it's the humans - not the gorillas - that tend to get injured... though that could change if someone fires a cannonball that hits a gorilla, which is yet another reason why we need to be more realistic with some of these proposals.)

There's only around 3 teams that can afford his salary unless the Angles eat half of it, and I think we know where he wants to play. The problem is his health, and he'd have to play the field because said team already has a DH that can't play the field. But it would be nice to see if he can actually perform in games that matter, and in front of crowds that care. I feel very strongly that he isn't even a HOFer now, because he's had literally zero impact on the sport and not shown that he can play when it matters. Nothing in this history of MLB would have unfolded any differently had he never been born. And it's not even about championships at all.