The Dodgers on Bauer, a minor leaguer is in trouble, MLB Network is off YouTube, and we talk Florida fascism, Italy's birthrates, Tom Brady's divorce, hiking among mountain lions, and drinking bleach
Stan Kasten was a smarmy dickhead when he was Nats GM - most famously, openly encouraging fans of division rivals like Philly and New York to come to DC if they couldn’t see their favorite team at home. At least he’s consistent in his smarmy dickheadedness?
- As you might recall, SNY is still owned by the Wilpons. So it's not terribly surprising, but still really frustrating that they can't reach an agreement with Keith Hernandez to bring him back in 2023. They're nickeling and diming a beloved figure and running the risk he starts the season somewhere else. I wonder just how long before Cohen decides to just make Freddy and Jeff an offer they can't refuse since I suspect he wants Keith back too.
- Howie Rose revealed this week that the reason for his frequent breaks from his radio duties is he's been dealing with bladder cancer. He's doing better now, but it's been rough. You can read about it here: https://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/mets-howie-rose-bladder-cancer.html. Wishing Howie all the best as he tries to get back in the swing of things.
I saw that a member of the Eagles - the football team about to play in the Super Bowl, and not the band - was charged with some pretty awful crimes. And was immediately placed on administrative leave. If a player about to be in the biggest game of the year can be told not to play, certainly MLB can implement a similar policy for anyone accused of domestic abuse or sexual assault while the process plays out. But if Khalil Lee were more of a valued prospect, I am sure he'd be in Port St. Lucie in two weeks. (I figure they quietly tell him to stay home but don't make a big deal out of it.)
I feel like our host is going out of his way to criticize the Dodgers for making the right decision with the rapist. He was on paid (per mandatory arbitration award) leave and not actively representing the club. I strongly suspect they waited until the last minute to desperately try to trade him and only lose 99.9% of the money rather than all of it. A corporate entity taking two weeks to make and effectuate a seven figure decision is bog standard.
And that conversation? Dollars to donuts it was:
Dodger Exec: “We would much rather add a recent Cy Young winner with electric stuff to our rotation than light a giant pile of cash on fire. Unfortunately for both of us, you are such a vile jackwagon that we have to pick option 2.”
What's happening in Florida scares the crap out of me. Apparently the Democratic party in Florida is a mess, partially due to the gerrymandering that has left it completely impotent, so there is no organized opposition with any power to resist DeSantis. It's Germany in 1933 down there. A mass boycott of spring training, OrlandoWorld and spring break might have some effect, but that's never going to happen. The Boomers sitting in God's Waiting Room don't give a rip about education because they got theirs so the hell with everyone else, and besides, Ron speaks for their racism and transphobia. The immediacy of his desired results trumps (pun intended) the long-term disaster that Florida is facing.
The Period Monitoring Police will also serve as an alert system for any potential pregnancies and abortions, as well as harassing trans people. It's a bigotry and misogyny two-fer!
On DeSantis, hopefully the youth of America will wisely turn out in '24 to keep him from advancing his agenda nationally. Seemed to work last time, so I remain hopeful.
On Brady, one interesting tidbit I read in commentary yesterday was that his playing again last year could have been a strategy to keep Gisele from getting any of his Fox TV $$, meaning the divorce would have happened whether he played or not and wasn't caused by him going back to play. Because that'd kick the can down the road post-divorce on the start of that deal. Who knows though? Like you said Craig, none of us ever know what's going on w/someone else like that. And it's not really our business. But, if that was indeed the case, a shrewd (i think) business move on his part, and then having to go thru a terrible season (he looked miserable) with Todd "I couldn't coach the Jets but here I am with the GOAT and I'm still terrible" Bowles and all the funsies that went on down in DeSantisVille USA. Now that organization is literally shredded. And you wonder how in God's name will he resist the urge to go to SF and carry the 49ers over the line next year after a few weeks of rest. I don't think too many of us believe he's done.
With Phil's grim news this AM of 6 more weeks of winter, at least theoretically, at least we can celebrate only a few more weeks until some actual baseball news/action.
Also, we changed our cable package recently to save a little bit of money. We now don’t have MLB Network. I do watch Quick Pitch at times but I do not expect to miss it as most their programming and on-air personalities are horrible
While it is true declining populations disrupt labor, pension systems, and economic growth, it's also true that any system that depends on perpetual population growth is ultimately unsustainable. While immigration could buy some time for the unsustainable to continue, in the end it's still a Ponzi scheme*.
* In deference to Simon, I'll acknowledge that it is not truly a Ponzi scheme by definition. I only meant that it requires an ever growing number of new participants to support the past participants, like a Ponzi scheme requires, and thus can't continue forever.
I was kind of surprised to see so much angst in my feeds from folks lamenting the MLB Network/YouTube thing. Aside from their embarrassingly too-infrequent documentaries, is there any reason to watch that channel? The original programming is mostly…not good. Is there something I’m missing?
Also happening in Florida……a bill was introduced that would allow people to carry concealed weapons without a permit because they ‘want to remove the government’s permission slip’.
I coach in Dubai Little League, so assume it’s the same in MLB where you have 3 coaches:
The Bench Coach is responsible for helping the players find their left batting glove, checking they have a cap on when taking the field, reminding them to take their bat when they head to the on-deck circle and logging the game in GameChanger?
I had multiple run-ins with Chris Rufo here in Seattle where he led an anti-homeless campaign. Highly racist, and his wife is quite a prize too. She attacked me for calling him out, we both worked at Amazon at the time and she kept trying to tell me that since we both worked at the same company I should talk to her directly on Chime (Amazon's internal messaging system). Obviously I'm not that stupid. The Wikipedia entry on her is incorrect btw, she was never a 'programmer for AWS', she was a program manager, and lasted about a year. That is not a technical position.
Rufo's background is with the Discovery Institute, the ones who created Intelligent Design and were pushing it into schools until they were laughed out of court in one pivotal lawsuit. Rufo also briefly ran for city council in Seattle but concocted some phony threats as an excuse to drop out.
Inveterate liar, grifter and contemptible human being.
When I was in college and in a rather different intellectual space, i wrote a few columns for a campus conservative paper a friend started. It was funded by a national conservative organization (we had no funds to print a paper ourselves, but regularly print hundreds of copies we did, somehow), and they flew us to DC for a conference where we convened at the Heritage Foundation, where an organization named F.I.R.E. told us to watch out for liberal bias, and call them if we saw any.
It all seemed innocent at the time, but I can’t help but assume now +/- 40 years old who participated have morphed what at the time I thought was an effort to protect freedom of speech on campus into something far more draconian.
If nothing else, I assume a number of my fellow attendees have ascended to positions of political power, and at a minimum have no interest in interfering with what’s going on in Florida.
Stan Kasten was a smarmy dickhead when he was Nats GM - most famously, openly encouraging fans of division rivals like Philly and New York to come to DC if they couldn’t see their favorite team at home. At least he’s consistent in his smarmy dickheadedness?
Tom Brady’s retirement ends an era. He was the last Montreal Expos draftee still playing pro ball.
Some news from the Mets broadcast booths:
- As you might recall, SNY is still owned by the Wilpons. So it's not terribly surprising, but still really frustrating that they can't reach an agreement with Keith Hernandez to bring him back in 2023. They're nickeling and diming a beloved figure and running the risk he starts the season somewhere else. I wonder just how long before Cohen decides to just make Freddy and Jeff an offer they can't refuse since I suspect he wants Keith back too.
- Howie Rose revealed this week that the reason for his frequent breaks from his radio duties is he's been dealing with bladder cancer. He's doing better now, but it's been rough. You can read about it here: https://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/mets-howie-rose-bladder-cancer.html. Wishing Howie all the best as he tries to get back in the swing of things.
I saw that a member of the Eagles - the football team about to play in the Super Bowl, and not the band - was charged with some pretty awful crimes. And was immediately placed on administrative leave. If a player about to be in the biggest game of the year can be told not to play, certainly MLB can implement a similar policy for anyone accused of domestic abuse or sexual assault while the process plays out. But if Khalil Lee were more of a valued prospect, I am sure he'd be in Port St. Lucie in two weeks. (I figure they quietly tell him to stay home but don't make a big deal out of it.)
Baseball Gods are prob fine w Mets doing LGM super bowl commercials.
I feel like our host is going out of his way to criticize the Dodgers for making the right decision with the rapist. He was on paid (per mandatory arbitration award) leave and not actively representing the club. I strongly suspect they waited until the last minute to desperately try to trade him and only lose 99.9% of the money rather than all of it. A corporate entity taking two weeks to make and effectuate a seven figure decision is bog standard.
And that conversation? Dollars to donuts it was:
Dodger Exec: “We would much rather add a recent Cy Young winner with electric stuff to our rotation than light a giant pile of cash on fire. Unfortunately for both of us, you are such a vile jackwagon that we have to pick option 2.”
Bauer: “They wanted me!”
What's happening in Florida scares the crap out of me. Apparently the Democratic party in Florida is a mess, partially due to the gerrymandering that has left it completely impotent, so there is no organized opposition with any power to resist DeSantis. It's Germany in 1933 down there. A mass boycott of spring training, OrlandoWorld and spring break might have some effect, but that's never going to happen. The Boomers sitting in God's Waiting Room don't give a rip about education because they got theirs so the hell with everyone else, and besides, Ron speaks for their racism and transphobia. The immediacy of his desired results trumps (pun intended) the long-term disaster that Florida is facing.
The Period Monitoring Police will also serve as an alert system for any potential pregnancies and abortions, as well as harassing trans people. It's a bigotry and misogyny two-fer!
On DeSantis, hopefully the youth of America will wisely turn out in '24 to keep him from advancing his agenda nationally. Seemed to work last time, so I remain hopeful.
On Brady, one interesting tidbit I read in commentary yesterday was that his playing again last year could have been a strategy to keep Gisele from getting any of his Fox TV $$, meaning the divorce would have happened whether he played or not and wasn't caused by him going back to play. Because that'd kick the can down the road post-divorce on the start of that deal. Who knows though? Like you said Craig, none of us ever know what's going on w/someone else like that. And it's not really our business. But, if that was indeed the case, a shrewd (i think) business move on his part, and then having to go thru a terrible season (he looked miserable) with Todd "I couldn't coach the Jets but here I am with the GOAT and I'm still terrible" Bowles and all the funsies that went on down in DeSantisVille USA. Now that organization is literally shredded. And you wonder how in God's name will he resist the urge to go to SF and carry the 49ers over the line next year after a few weeks of rest. I don't think too many of us believe he's done.
With Phil's grim news this AM of 6 more weeks of winter, at least theoretically, at least we can celebrate only a few more weeks until some actual baseball news/action.
Bravo to the Dead Milkmen reference.
Also, we changed our cable package recently to save a little bit of money. We now don’t have MLB Network. I do watch Quick Pitch at times but I do not expect to miss it as most their programming and on-air personalities are horrible
While it is true declining populations disrupt labor, pension systems, and economic growth, it's also true that any system that depends on perpetual population growth is ultimately unsustainable. While immigration could buy some time for the unsustainable to continue, in the end it's still a Ponzi scheme*.
* In deference to Simon, I'll acknowledge that it is not truly a Ponzi scheme by definition. I only meant that it requires an ever growing number of new participants to support the past participants, like a Ponzi scheme requires, and thus can't continue forever.
I was kind of surprised to see so much angst in my feeds from folks lamenting the MLB Network/YouTube thing. Aside from their embarrassingly too-infrequent documentaries, is there any reason to watch that channel? The original programming is mostly…not good. Is there something I’m missing?
Also happening in Florida……a bill was introduced that would allow people to carry concealed weapons without a permit because they ‘want to remove the government’s permission slip’.
I coach in Dubai Little League, so assume it’s the same in MLB where you have 3 coaches:
The Bench Coach is responsible for helping the players find their left batting glove, checking they have a cap on when taking the field, reminding them to take their bat when they head to the on-deck circle and logging the game in GameChanger?
I had multiple run-ins with Chris Rufo here in Seattle where he led an anti-homeless campaign. Highly racist, and his wife is quite a prize too. She attacked me for calling him out, we both worked at Amazon at the time and she kept trying to tell me that since we both worked at the same company I should talk to her directly on Chime (Amazon's internal messaging system). Obviously I'm not that stupid. The Wikipedia entry on her is incorrect btw, she was never a 'programmer for AWS', she was a program manager, and lasted about a year. That is not a technical position.
Rufo's background is with the Discovery Institute, the ones who created Intelligent Design and were pushing it into schools until they were laughed out of court in one pivotal lawsuit. Rufo also briefly ran for city council in Seattle but concocted some phony threats as an excuse to drop out.
Inveterate liar, grifter and contemptible human being.
When I was in college and in a rather different intellectual space, i wrote a few columns for a campus conservative paper a friend started. It was funded by a national conservative organization (we had no funds to print a paper ourselves, but regularly print hundreds of copies we did, somehow), and they flew us to DC for a conference where we convened at the Heritage Foundation, where an organization named F.I.R.E. told us to watch out for liberal bias, and call them if we saw any.
It all seemed innocent at the time, but I can’t help but assume now +/- 40 years old who participated have morphed what at the time I thought was an effort to protect freedom of speech on campus into something far more draconian.
If nothing else, I assume a number of my fellow attendees have ascended to positions of political power, and at a minimum have no interest in interfering with what’s going on in Florida.