Monday, October 29, 2007
More Baseball
I know, I know. "More Oilers...we beat Brian Burke and Chris Pronger...Marty Reasoner makes me horny...Kevin Lowe is a genius for trading Ryan Smyth so that the team could tank and get Sam Gagner..." I know. But I have to get some links out of the way here. Trust me, they are worth reading.
Here's three from Joe Posnanski on the Japanese World Series:
• "Baseball in Japan is similar to U.S. game, only with dancing girls"
• "Japan Series: ‘You have to see it to believe it’"
• "They love Hillman in Japan"
Stanley Fish on believing:
• "The Kid and Old Blue Eyes"
Bill Simmons on sharing the Red Sox victory with his daughter:
• "Sox win Most Valuable Team Award"
And my personal favorites: a handful on the disgrace that is Alex Rodriguez. For any not in the know, Rodriguez didn't show up yesterday to receive the Hank Aaron Award for AL Hitter of the Year (Aaron himself was there to give out the award); then he and his agent Scott Boras announced (we heard it during the 8th inning of Game 4 of the World Series) that he would be opting out of his current contract with the New York Yankees. In other words, the guy proved, once and for all, that he is a selfish asshole (his agent isn't much better). So add that to my thin-slicing exercise.
• "A-Rod stole the spotlight"
"In many ways, it's sad, because Alex Rodriguez is a great player and a good guy. On the field after the Red Sox clinched their second world championship in four seasons, I had two Rockies players beg me to rip A-Rod for his attention grab, one Red Sox player said he'd walk away if asked about Rodriguez and more than 10 other players reveled in laughing at the iconic $30 million-a-year player who doesn't know what it's like to be Jon Lester or Dustin Pedroia, Ryan Spilborghs or Bobby Kielty and play in a World Series. Fine, Rodriguez is opting out of his contract. But anyone who respected baseball would not have tried to grab the stage from the World Series -- if winning were a priority."
• "A-Rod putting himself above the game"
"Alex Rodriguez couldn't be at the World Series to receive an award from Hank Aaron -- a family commitment was the stated reason -- but he managed to upstage Game 4, with the help of agent Scott Boras, who announced in the early innings that his client is opting out of his contract."
• "Rodriguez Is a Bauble a Champion Doesn’t Need"
Classless in his timing, the agent Scott Boras picked last night — the Red Sox’ evening — to announce that his precious client, Alex, had opted out of his Yankees’ deal.
• "Until the end, it was always about A-Rod"
"A-Rod's decision to opt out on his contract is not only the biggest story in New York this morning -obscuring, among other things, the fact that Joe Girardi is going to be made an official offer to manage the team today - but it also big-foots the very sport from which A-Rod now intends to bleed his $300 million booty. And if you think that's coincidence, then you've missed A-Rod's act these past four years. Too bad, too. As it turns out, it was a limited run.
Vintage A-Rod. Yesterday was a busy day in the A-Rod camp when it came to showing up baseball, reminding the sport who's the bat and who's the ball. He blew off pregame ceremonies announcing him as a winner, along with Prince Fielder, of the Hank Aaron Award, meaning he all but spit on Aaron's shoes from a faraway perch. But that was merely the warm-up."
• "Yankees bid farewell to A-Rod after likely MVP opts out"
"Major League Baseball had this message for Alex Rodriguez and agent Scott Boras: shame on you. Boras announced during Game 4 of the World Series on Sunday night that A-Rod was opting out of the final three seasons of his contract with the New York Yankees. The timing left baseball officials livid. "We were very disappointed that Scott Boras would try to upstage our premier baseball event of the season with his announcement," Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, said Monday in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "There was no reason to make an announcement last night other than to try to put his selfish interests and that of one individual player above the overall good of the game," DuPuy said. "Last night and today belong to the Boston Red Sox, who should be celebrated for their achievement, and to the Colorado Rockies, who made such an unbelievable run to the World Series."
***Bonus*** The New Yorker's lengthy article on Scott Boras:
• "The Extortionist"
Here's three from Joe Posnanski on the Japanese World Series:
• "Baseball in Japan is similar to U.S. game, only with dancing girls"
• "Japan Series: ‘You have to see it to believe it’"
• "They love Hillman in Japan"
Stanley Fish on believing:
• "The Kid and Old Blue Eyes"
Bill Simmons on sharing the Red Sox victory with his daughter:
• "Sox win Most Valuable Team Award"
And my personal favorites: a handful on the disgrace that is Alex Rodriguez. For any not in the know, Rodriguez didn't show up yesterday to receive the Hank Aaron Award for AL Hitter of the Year (Aaron himself was there to give out the award); then he and his agent Scott Boras announced (we heard it during the 8th inning of Game 4 of the World Series) that he would be opting out of his current contract with the New York Yankees. In other words, the guy proved, once and for all, that he is a selfish asshole (his agent isn't much better). So add that to my thin-slicing exercise.
• "A-Rod stole the spotlight"
• "A-Rod putting himself above the game"
• "Rodriguez Is a Bauble a Champion Doesn’t Need"
• "Until the end, it was always about A-Rod"
Vintage A-Rod. Yesterday was a busy day in the A-Rod camp when it came to showing up baseball, reminding the sport who's the bat and who's the ball. He blew off pregame ceremonies announcing him as a winner, along with Prince Fielder, of the Hank Aaron Award, meaning he all but spit on Aaron's shoes from a faraway perch. But that was merely the warm-up."
• "Yankees bid farewell to A-Rod after likely MVP opts out"
***Bonus*** The New Yorker's lengthy article on Scott Boras:
• "The Extortionist"
# posted by andy grabia @ 4:20 pm 
Comments:
Didn't this used to be a hockey blog?
The depression caused by the insufferable Red Sox winning it all has been relieved by Kipper's minty fresh 6 year deal.
Go Flames.
You know what I'd love: A-Rod signs with the Red Sox and all those Boston heads explode! Or, they all of a sudden proclaim that Rodriguez is just misunderstood, a troubled soul, no worse really than Manny Ramirez. Speaking of me-firstism, poor sportsmanship, non-adherence to the code, and questionable loyalty to a team that pays him tens of millions of dollars, what is exactly the difference between A-Rod and Manny? Ask that question of a Sox fan and then listen to the crickets chirp.
Baseball posts suck.
They just take valuable blog-space away from sad Oil fans, whose cruelty and profanity amuse us all.
The question is: Did Kipper give the Flames a home-town discount? If the reported numbers are correct and his cap number is 5.8 per, I'd say the Flames are saving about a million dollars a year based on comparable replacement value.
Ask that question of a Sox fan and then listen to the crickets chirp.
Well, Manny has two World Series rings, and a World series MVP. But yeah, totally the same guy.
I'm guessing anonymous is a Yankees fan.
They just take valuable blog-space away from sad Oil fans, whose cruelty and profanity amuse us all.
Ah, go f**k yourself, you bandwagon jumping, one-time winning, Mike Keenan loving sonofabitch.
Better, MG? :)
Reggie Jackson turned being an ass into an art form before A-Rod was born. If A-Rod can't screw over the Dodgers with his hips I'm afraid he's going to come up second in that contest 10/10 times.
Manny=A-Rod? Guess I shouldn't expect better from an anonymous that can't even be bothered to type in a name on a blog comment. Perhaps those crickets chirping are inside your head. Anyway, I digress. "Manny being Manny" generally stays within the game he's involved in. A-Rod? Was he playing last night? 'nuff said. Course there's more. Does Manny pretend to be anything other than what he is? Sure can't say the same for A-Rod, as he tries to package a sponsor and corporate friendly persona. Besides, there was the A-Rod/Manny trade that collapsed in December 2003. Is there any reason to believe Boston would have won in 2004 with A-Rod in their clubhouse? And in 2007? Tell me again they're the same.
I hear tell that baseball is a team game, and it's possible to be a great ballplayer who never played in the world series. Say, suppose that your team had atrocious starting pitching, for example.
A-rod is the best fucking ballplayer in the league. Yes, he's quite possibly a piece of shit, but he might actually be underpaid. I don't understand the angst that athletes face when they insist on selling their services to the highest bidder: the same right that all of us have.
Finally, Andy writes this rag, so he can put whatever the fuck he wants in it. Even the word f**k, which I don't know how to pronounce.
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Didn't this used to be a hockey blog?
The depression caused by the insufferable Red Sox winning it all has been relieved by Kipper's minty fresh 6 year deal.
Go Flames.
# posted by 
: October 29, 2007 5:07 pm
: October 29, 2007 5:07 pm You know what I'd love: A-Rod signs with the Red Sox and all those Boston heads explode! Or, they all of a sudden proclaim that Rodriguez is just misunderstood, a troubled soul, no worse really than Manny Ramirez. Speaking of me-firstism, poor sportsmanship, non-adherence to the code, and questionable loyalty to a team that pays him tens of millions of dollars, what is exactly the difference between A-Rod and Manny? Ask that question of a Sox fan and then listen to the crickets chirp.
# posted by : October 29, 2007 5:20 pm
: October 29, 2007 5:20 pm Baseball posts suck.
They just take valuable blog-space away from sad Oil fans, whose cruelty and profanity amuse us all.
The question is: Did Kipper give the Flames a home-town discount? If the reported numbers are correct and his cap number is 5.8 per, I'd say the Flames are saving about a million dollars a year based on comparable replacement value.
# posted by : October 29, 2007 5:30 pm
: October 29, 2007 5:30 pm Ask that question of a Sox fan and then listen to the crickets chirp.
Well, Manny has two World Series rings, and a World series MVP. But yeah, totally the same guy.
I'm guessing anonymous is a Yankees fan.
They just take valuable blog-space away from sad Oil fans, whose cruelty and profanity amuse us all.
Ah, go f**k yourself, you bandwagon jumping, one-time winning, Mike Keenan loving sonofabitch.
Better, MG? :)
Reggie Jackson turned being an ass into an art form before A-Rod was born. If A-Rod can't screw over the Dodgers with his hips I'm afraid he's going to come up second in that contest 10/10 times.
Manny=A-Rod? Guess I shouldn't expect better from an anonymous that can't even be bothered to type in a name on a blog comment. Perhaps those crickets chirping are inside your head. Anyway, I digress. "Manny being Manny" generally stays within the game he's involved in. A-Rod? Was he playing last night? 'nuff said. Course there's more. Does Manny pretend to be anything other than what he is? Sure can't say the same for A-Rod, as he tries to package a sponsor and corporate friendly persona. Besides, there was the A-Rod/Manny trade that collapsed in December 2003. Is there any reason to believe Boston would have won in 2004 with A-Rod in their clubhouse? And in 2007? Tell me again they're the same.
# posted by : October 30, 2007 2:33 am
: October 30, 2007 2:33 am I hear tell that baseball is a team game, and it's possible to be a great ballplayer who never played in the world series. Say, suppose that your team had atrocious starting pitching, for example.
A-rod is the best fucking ballplayer in the league. Yes, he's quite possibly a piece of shit, but he might actually be underpaid. I don't understand the angst that athletes face when they insist on selling their services to the highest bidder: the same right that all of us have.
Finally, Andy writes this rag, so he can put whatever the fuck he wants in it. Even the word f**k, which I don't know how to pronounce.
Post a Comment
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