MLB Home Run Derby and All-Star Game

[space monkey]

I love the Braves and will be the first to admit they beat a better team (Indians) in '95. But you got me close to laying some smackdown by implying there is some way to "know" how to win a World Series. In my 20 years of watching baseball the one thing I know is that winning 7 game series is dependant a lot on luck. Baseball is not for short series but for long-term statistics and anyone with a half-wits knowledge on the random nature of the game knows that. Understand i'm not trying to be insulting here but if you really love baseball beyond Fox sports and ESPN tripe may I suggest picking up almost any Bill James book or thumbimg through "Total Baseball" (any volume).

Sadly if there is a strike the beginning of a dark age is almost certain. :( Baseball is becoming marginalized by smashmouth ghetto sports and a horrid dearth of leadership. ****ing business mongrells are choking the sport into oblivion.

-space

BTW Boston fans ****ing ROCK! Same for Chicago. **** New York, bunch of drunk blow hards.

[Gator]

Originally posted by space monkey

I love the Braves and will be the first to admit they beat a better team (Indians) in '95. But you got me close to laying some smackdown by implying there is some way to "know" how to win a World Series. .

I in know way meant "know" as in you know and get it done just like that. There is no such thing. I meant that the Braves can win their division every year (which they basically have) but it doesn't amount to a whole lot with just one ring. Baseball is a marathon, not a sprint. And in a marathon it is more than just physical strentgh and talent. A large part is also knowldedge and strategy.

I just love how people hate the Yankees, especially Braves fans, as they should.

[JrDZ13]

Originally posted by space monkey

I love the Braves and will be the first to admit they beat a better team (Indians) in '95. But you got me close to laying some smackdown by implying there is some way to "know" how to win a World Series. In my 20 years of watching baseball the one thing I know is that winning 7 game series is dependant a lot on luck. Baseball is not for short series but for long-term statistics and anyone with a half-wits knowledge on the random nature of the game knows that. Understand i'm not trying to be insulting here but if you really love baseball beyond Fox sports and ESPN tripe may I suggest picking up almost any Bill James book or thumbimg through "Total Baseball" (any volume).

Sadly if there is a strike the beginning of a dark age is almost certain. :( Baseball is becoming marginalized by smashmouth ghetto sports and a horrid dearth of leadership. ****ing business mongrells are choking the sport into oblivion.

-space

BTW Boston fans ****ing ROCK! Same for Chicago. **** New York, bunch of drunk blow hards.

Damn straight! Yankee's Suck..

and the Braves are indeed a great team. I've been a fan from when they won the Series in 95'. (I was 7 years old) My grandmother, the biggest baseball fan I know, turned me on to the Braves. (she loved them from when they were in Boson, way back when.)

3rd generation in Boson, however, leaves my loyalty to the Red Sox. No matter what.

[silens lupus]

If the dbacks can get their offense down pat, gonzo hitting the ball again, maybe matty and gracie hitting the ball I don't think there is a team that can beat them in crunch time, our pitching is back on track again - thank god- with Manti back, Kim pitching well and Koplove being outstanding thats a team to repeat.

[Gator]

Originally posted by JrDZ13

Damn straight! Yankee's Suck..

Yes, the Yankees suck because.....:right: :ponder:

[Joel]

Originally posted by JrDZ13

hahahahaha.... u don't live in BOSTON. Here, if you don't know know every player and just about every stat, your not gunna have many conversations this summer.

hehe... baseball dying, :D maybe in monteal. :D :p

Yeah, slowly tortured to death by that jackass Loria and his ******* son, Sampson. MLB practically begged them to kill the team and now he can do it all over again with Florida.

By the way, it's MONTREAL, not Monteal, and baseball IS dying, check out what Selig does in the off season.

[space monkey]

Baseball is a marathon, not a sprint. And in a marathon it is more than just physical strentgh and talent. A large part is also knowldedge and strategy.

Which is precisely my point. It takes a much better team to win season after season in the top of their respective leagues. Short post season play is barely a sprint compared to the day in day out struggle of maintaining consistant winnings over a regular season. The Braves were somewhat lucky in '95 by beating a better Indian team. A few breaks in a short series is usually the difference in a World Champion and the could've beens.

Why should I hate the Yankees? Because they have consistenly handed the Braves their a$$? Hell no! They deserve credit and accolades for that. The Braves are a great organization getting beat by another of the best. The Yanks (next to the Expos) have some of the best foreign scouts and player development in the history of the game.

What I hate is the over-glamorizing New York media tear jerking every ounce of respectibility out of the players. Vapid stories about Torres' brother along with sapfest, mamby Paul O'Neil "meant to be a hero" fapping journalism make me want to puke. Those salad tossers from Fox sports are about as interesting as William F. Buckley on qualudes.

space

EDIT:

Again let me reitterate: the Yanks are a great organization. But their media and fans suck. Is it a supprise that the whole stupid John Rocker soap opera came from NY media. Bunch of overblown half comments taken out of proportion and spun into a front page fap fest for low-brow tossers. The harrassment of not only Braves players but their fans was directly influenced by such tripe. Fans having beer poured on them and bottles/batteries thrown at players is totally inexusable. Sadly a few NY players with class had too endure that idiotfest without commentary for fear of being ostrasized.

I remember the Braves of the '70s BTW. *shame* :D

[Gator]

Originally posted by space monkey

Those salad tossers from Fox sports are about as interesting as William F. Buckley on qualudes.

space

Thats why i watched most of the playoffs last year with the mute on. I couldnt take it anymore.

New Yorkers will always be New Yorkers and everyone else will hate us for it. And we love it like that.:)

[lawtai]

I have been to a baseball game in Boston, and I'm from New York. But other than those big cities where fans are basically guaranteed, you've got teams that have nothing. What is it, like 5,000 fans goto a Marlins or Expos game. Only around 20,000 to a White Sox game (The Cubs have a more die hard fan base it seems). I can't deny that the places you mentioned have large amounts of fans, but for baseball as a whole, fans in those few locations don't do the whole sport a lot of good. The Yankees will continue to rake in 100's of millions of years, the Braves will continue to make money as well. Having Ted Turner doens't hurt either. The Rangers'll continue to spend money like crazy and have it goto waste. But Baseball isn't going anywhere.

I disagree when you say that Basketball will die before Baseball. Basketball right now is I believe the second most popular sport in the US, behind Football. You don't have the problems with basketball that you do with baseball. Baseball will still be around for many years, but it will slowly fall to become less and less of a popular sport here in the states. Baseball is definitely not America's pasttime right now.

[Gator]

Originally posted by lawtai

Baseball is definitely not America's pasttime right now.

I am sorry but that just does not make any sense. A past does not change. Baseball is and will always be America's pastime. Just like Washington is and will always be America's first President.

[lawtai]

pastime according to www.dictionary.com is "An activity that occupies one's spare time pleasantly" So yes, America's pastime can change.

[space monkey]

Actually the Braves don't have Ted Turner anymore (for better or worse).

I should also make it clear that I have absolutely nothing against New Yorkers per se. That is, until they put on a Yankees cap :D But it's all good. Having worked numerous times at the Javit's Center organizing a company trade show I can say that New York is about the best damn place to work. Nobody wasting my time and you have to have your **** straight or you will get no favors. How I wish that were true everywhere else. I would go so far as to say that New Yorkers are some of the nicest folk...but YMMV. It's easy for me to get on rants about media and the "group think" it fosters. But sometime I need to learn to laugh stuff off and get over it...to old for BS.

later,

-space

Oh yeah. I sooo wish a rematch with the Yanks in October! Hopefully the Braves can get some real punch in the lineup *cough*Jim Thome*cough*. That old fart on first is going to kill us in the post season! EDIT: If there is a post-season! :(

[lawtai]

Originally posted by space monkey

Actually the Braves don't have Ted Turner anymore (for better or worse).

I stand corrected then :)

[lawtai]

Baseball would be smart to get a salary cap in place. I'm sorry, but a baseball player doesn't deserve $50,000 every pitch that's thrown past them. Even if baseball is a form of entertainment, the players do not deserve that much money.

Baseball should also spread the wealth among all teams, not just the Yankees, so that you have a more competitive league. Yes it's good to have "dynasties", but it takes away from the game, when you can essentially buy a championship. Look at the Florida Marlins, and even the Yankees.

They should also start testing for drug usage too. Regardless of whether or not the accusations made by Caminiti, or Conseco are true, they've brought up serious doubt in the people's minds. Did Player X earn his 50 HR's a year, or did he just take shots that did it for him.

Baseball especially, is supposed to be a sport for the family. With ticket prices being as high as they are now, it's hard to take a family of 4 to a game, without dropping a lot of money that can be used elsewhere.

Baseball needs to make changes, but it really seems unlikely that such things'll happen.

[redrope]

Does anyone know what time the all star game starts?

[Gator]

7 pm EST

[redrope]

Wow at least the correct national anthem lyrics were sung..

[theprotege]

you mean bloody murdered?

[aem4162]

The Cincinnati Reds are my favorite team. I followed them more in the 70s and 80s, though, due to other things happening in the 90s. I haven't been to a game in several years and I don't really miss it. We have the Dayton Dragons (a Cinti Reds class A farm team) and they are a blast to watch. I prefer minor league baseball to the majors anyday.

The highlight of my days as a Reds fan was watching them win over the NYY and Bosox (esp. Yaz's homer!), and watching them whoop ugly all over the As in 1990, their wire to wire year. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven!

I got to see Johnny Bench (my baseball hero) go into the Hall in 1989. It was SO COOL!!!!!!! We even booed Bart Giamatti for banning Pete Rose from baseball. *******!!!! Cooperstown is beautiful anyway but to be there for an induction is even more special. Yaz went in the same year and all you could see was RED on the field. Incredible. I think the neatest thing about an induction is seeing the previous inductees sitting up behind the speakers. My mom was telling me about every player up there and who they played for. She sounded like a kid talking about all the Yankees up there.

:D:D:D:D:D

anita, loving the memories

[Joel]

Originally posted by redrope

Wow at least the correct national anthem lyrics were sung..

Did they even sing the Canadian anthem? I don't know if FOX cut it for a commercial or if they just FORGOT! Either way, pretty tasteless.

[lawtai]

Do they do the Canadian national anthem even though the game's played in a ballpark in the US?

[Joel]

Originally posted by lawtai

Do they do the Canadian national anthem even though the game's played in a ballpark in the US?

If you have teams from different nationalities playing, you are supposed to play the guest anthem first, then the host anthem. IIRC they always have played it, but not too sure.

[Tesseract]

The game was called after 11 innings. Tied at 7 runs a piece. What do you think of this?

[uniacid]

I tihnk it was GAY!

[Tesseract]

Yeah, they should have let them play longer, but the explanation I heard was that there were no more pitchers left and they could not leave the current ones out there too much longer.

The sad thing is that there was no MVP. :(