The bulk of Mets fans I have seen online are kind of glad that Cano is out. They would rather have the money, and seem to have treated the trade for him and Diaz as a bad deal from a now deposed regime. Besides, McNeil is a natural second baseman. The most interesting thing is that there isn't much anger. It's more "what a moron" than "how dare he cheat!" The moral outrage of the typical sportswriter is elsewhere.
As I have made clear over the years, I am one of the few who doesn't find PEDs to be a bad thing. But rules are rules, and I don't have much sympathy for someone who knowingly breaks them. Still, I think that if his stats are Hall of Fame worthy, he should be in. Or are we going to kick known spitball pitcher Gaylord Perry out?
I would normally agree with this, in that I believe a lot of the positive tests are likely from unintentional dosing. But the first test for Cano was for a specific masking agent used to cover stanozolol, which implies that he was using on purpose and taking another drug to cover it up.
I don't know what to think. He's been my fav 2B of this generation and it looks like he'll miss the hall. Ugh.
As is often the case, the "war on drugs" is less about reality than perception, and in this case less about creating a legitimate level playing field than about the opportunity to make it look like you are being moral and upright and doing things The Right Way.
Again, that doesn't mean Cano has permission to not follow the rules. But so much of this is just silly.
I don't get that. Cano has $$$. Why go to a Latin American doctor? Also, the teams 100% knew. They know that their players are taking PEDs, which goes to my original proposal that any effective punishment has to make the team suffer, not just the players. Automatic forfeit of games.
McNeil can play 2b, but then who plays third? I don't know that JD Davis is really viable there. The Mets have a problem and I've got a problem. The Mets problem is they have too many good bats who only play left field, 1B, or DH. Davis (bad in LF and at 3B), Smith (bad at LF, good at 1B, though I think Alonso handles short hop throws better), Nimmo (who in fairness can play any outfield position, but only corner ones well), and Alonso (adequate at 1B).
My problem is I like all these guys and want to see them in the lineup. Which I could happen if they put Davis at 3B or platoon Davis and Nimmo in left. The Mets reported interest in Marcel Ozuna makes one think that's not the Mets plan however.
Besides, it was not normal for the Mets to have a regular third baseman who could play the position all those years with Wright. This feels more like the Mets.
I'd rather have Cano's $24 million, also. Are the Mets holding a lottery for that money? Where do I sign up? Do I have to prove I'm a Mets fan? How much of a fan? I mean, I rooted for them in the World Series against the Yankees, is that enough? If they release Cano will the other $48 million be available for distribution to "fans" like me?
Yeah, same with the Astros and the free agent clock. It's almost like the Commissioner's office is a lapdog for the owners and there's no neutral body that cares about the game.
Oh this 100% affects his Hall status. He was on pace for a magic number, which was the only thing saving him since for some reason sportswriters never liked him. They called him lazy, which I never understood, or he was a bad person for taking the free agent payday instead of Respecting the Pinstripes.
This puts him out of magic number contention, so now writers have an excuse. And if ManRam isn't in, neither is Cano.
George Clooney seems like a guy who is just comfortable in his own skin and with his life. Pretty cool.
Giving away some of your money while you're still alive to the people who matter to you is a great idea. I wonder how he found out about the "undisclosed location."
What do you do when you walk out his front door with $1M in cash? Be nervous as hell for fear of getting robbed, if anyone got word of it. Don't sleep at night until you get to a bank. And when you do get to a bank, I suspect they are required to ask questions when someone has large amounts of cash they are trying to deposit, since it implies something illegal is going on. When you answer "No, it's fine. George Clooney gave it to me!" how do you think that's going to go?
You hide half of it in $100,000 stashes, you spend a quarter of it on luxury purchases, and the other $250K you dole out to people who matter to you. Easy peasy. Give me a million dollars and see how fast it disappears.
I have a big yellow sign on the entrance to my store which reads, "MASKS ARE MANDATORY INSIDE THIS STORE." So I had a woman from Florida (I'm in Vermont) come in yesterday who proceeded to tell me it was the masks that were the problem. "We're rebreathing our own retrovirus" she said (exact quote). "Down in Florida we do whatever we want, bars and restaurants, not controlled by the government. My kid had it, and my neighbor said it was no big deal."
I stood there, mouth hanging open (under my mask). The volume of incorrect information out there is astounding. I fear we are past the point of no return, and wave after wave of unnecessary death is on the way. Darwin, man. Darwin.
No, she was correct that in Florida no one is controlling a damned thing. What was she even doing in Vermont now? People shouldn't be travelling, and I thought you can only go to Florida from up north after Nov. 1 anyway.
All these “travel restrictions” and “14-day quarantines” are just recommendations without any teeth. There’s really no way to monitor or restrict interstate travel. People who “don’t believe in COVID” will just keep going and doing wherever & whatever they damn well please.
We could close all the airports and train stations and so on. And even the borders. But even if that could be done, does even the most dedicated COVID isolationist want to create the police state needed for that?
Of course not, and I wasn’t suggesting any such thing. Just replying to your comment about how “you could only go to Florida from up north”.
There’s really no good solution here. The people who actually follow these travel restrictions are the ones who would already be cautious if the restrictions weren’t even suggested in the first place.
How many people a week do you see, thinking that a medical exemption gives them a free pass to roam the store without a mask? I see it at least a few times a week and they never seem to understand why I will not let them linger in my store.
I love the '80s Tigers road unis - in fact, for some reason, that's the uni that's lodged in my childhood memories growing up watching Tigers baseball. The current road unis are, I agree, fine, but I would love to see the old '80s one brought out on occasion.
As to Trump - you've got it right, and I've echoed a similar sentiment over the last two years: Trump is not the disease, he is a symptom. Americans need to recognize this, because the 2020 election is clear evidence that change is not going to come easy.
And in a similar vein, the lack of concern about COVID is just... is this peak American individualism, completely turned on itself like a ravenous ouroboros? I feel like this is related to the whole Trumpism thing, and I wonder if the American experiment went off the rails somewhere, or if this was always the inevitable outcome.
This line is amazing: "...peak American individualism, completely turned on itself like a ravenous ouroboros". It sums up this era so fully and succinctly - and it's beautifully poetic too.
I wonder where professional athletes fall on the vaccine distribution priority list? Probably disturbingly high, much like NBA Covid tests in the early days when no one could get one.
The '72 - '93 Tigers roadies are the best. The current roadies are second best. I loved me some Trammel/Whittaker too, but the color combo on that era's unis is awful.
How is the Tigers essay for the 2021 issue due tomorrow? Is it a retrospective? No one knows what the Tigers roster will look like in 2021!
Also, for the JD Vance file. From Wajahat Ali's piece in the Times about his unsuccessful attempts to "reach out" to Trump voters:
In 2017, I was invited by the Aspen Institute — which hosts a festival known for attracting the wealthy and powerful — to discuss racism in America. At a private dinner after the event, I was introduced to a donor who I learned was a Trump supporter. As soon as I said “white privilege,” she began shooting me passive aggressive quips about the virtues of meritocracy and hard work. She recommended I read “Hillbilly Elegy” — the best-selling book that has been criticized by those living in Appalachia as glorified poverty porn promoting simplistic stereotypes about a diverse region.
Hillbilly Elegy - every right-winger's favorite book about white people.
I agree with your conclusions about trump voters. With out reading any source on the 50% thinking it's rigged figure, I wonder.
I don't think Fla 2000 was rigged, but I do believe GOP intervention over came more than 537 votes, all front loaded disenfranchisement stuff. Combined with mistakes like the butterfly ballot and yes some heel digging by kooks like katherine harris, but do I accept the outcome? Sorta?
same with 2004 and ohio, I still have doubts about that, that I accepted more easily than 2000 which I absolutely accepted.
But how would I answer the "rigged" question for either in the immediate aftermath? I don't know. Maybe I say "yes, rigged."
Cano's suspension is just sad. Some people on twitter hate him, but for what? trying to be better at baseball? can we save that for TLR?
Those Tigers home whites are perfection. And what really strikes me is how they would never be proposed by any team looking to redesign its uni set today. You can’t consciously create an iconic look like that.
Also, thank you for pretending the late 90s, tiger-crawling-through-the-D era never happened.
I'm about your age, and I've been watching Conan's talk show all along. Once I got out of college and got a 9-to-5 job, I did it by watching the next day with the aid of a VCR and then a DVR - and then, once he moved to TBS, I could once again watch the same night because I live on the West Coast and get the East Coast feed via DirecTV.
Anyway, back in the early days of Conan on "Late Night," when there was a whole group in my college dorm that watched every night, the consensus was that the comedy bits were hilarious, and they did a great job of booking musical acts, but the interviews were the weak link... so some in the group suggested they change the format of the show and turn it into "The Conan O'Brien Variety Hour." All these years, and that has finally come to pass!
Disagree about the modern baseball fabrics looking better. I'm sure they're functionally a lot better, but those old flannels had a beautiful texture that today's unis can't match. Behold:
Ahh, the Circle Jerks. Officially the first band to put out a proper "hardcore" punk album out from the LA scene - they called it Group Sex, it's great if you dig that stuff, and I do! - but at the same time some of their peers gave them crap for stealing half their songs from Black Flag when their singer Keith Morris left that band, in order to be able to rush their album out and claim distinction of *first*. My take? Listen to "Wasted" by the Circle Jerks, then go listen to "Wasted" by Black Flag, and then make up your own mind. My introduction to this band was watching Beavis and Butthead watch their music video for their 90's cover of Robyn Hitchcock's "I Wanna Destroy You". Now, THERE'S a song to be reckoned with.
The bulk of Mets fans I have seen online are kind of glad that Cano is out. They would rather have the money, and seem to have treated the trade for him and Diaz as a bad deal from a now deposed regime. Besides, McNeil is a natural second baseman. The most interesting thing is that there isn't much anger. It's more "what a moron" than "how dare he cheat!" The moral outrage of the typical sportswriter is elsewhere.
As I have made clear over the years, I am one of the few who doesn't find PEDs to be a bad thing. But rules are rules, and I don't have much sympathy for someone who knowingly breaks them. Still, I think that if his stats are Hall of Fame worthy, he should be in. Or are we going to kick known spitball pitcher Gaylord Perry out?
I would normally agree with this, in that I believe a lot of the positive tests are likely from unintentional dosing. But the first test for Cano was for a specific masking agent used to cover stanozolol, which implies that he was using on purpose and taking another drug to cover it up.
I don't know what to think. He's been my fav 2B of this generation and it looks like he'll miss the hall. Ugh.
As is often the case, the "war on drugs" is less about reality than perception, and in this case less about creating a legitimate level playing field than about the opportunity to make it look like you are being moral and upright and doing things The Right Way.
Again, that doesn't mean Cano has permission to not follow the rules. But so much of this is just silly.
I don't get that. Cano has $$$. Why go to a Latin American doctor? Also, the teams 100% knew. They know that their players are taking PEDs, which goes to my original proposal that any effective punishment has to make the team suffer, not just the players. Automatic forfeit of games.
You're right about ADD/ADHD meds. Isn't it also partly that they help them time their hits better? Plus all sorts of legal drugs players take.
McNeil can play 2b, but then who plays third? I don't know that JD Davis is really viable there. The Mets have a problem and I've got a problem. The Mets problem is they have too many good bats who only play left field, 1B, or DH. Davis (bad in LF and at 3B), Smith (bad at LF, good at 1B, though I think Alonso handles short hop throws better), Nimmo (who in fairness can play any outfield position, but only corner ones well), and Alonso (adequate at 1B).
My problem is I like all these guys and want to see them in the lineup. Which I could happen if they put Davis at 3B or platoon Davis and Nimmo in left. The Mets reported interest in Marcel Ozuna makes one think that's not the Mets plan however.
I am sure that New GM has a plan.
Besides, it was not normal for the Mets to have a regular third baseman who could play the position all those years with Wright. This feels more like the Mets.
Jed Lowrey!
I hear Kyle Seager of the Mariners is available
What???!! Not Kyle. Hope that is not a serious possibility. ..Mariners need to keep at least one hardnosed player.
I hate those softnosed guys.
I'd rather have Cano's $24 million, also. Are the Mets holding a lottery for that money? Where do I sign up? Do I have to prove I'm a Mets fan? How much of a fan? I mean, I rooted for them in the World Series against the Yankees, is that enough? If they release Cano will the other $48 million be available for distribution to "fans" like me?
It bugs me that teams get to "save" the salary of a suspended player
Yeah, same with the Astros and the free agent clock. It's almost like the Commissioner's office is a lapdog for the owners and there's no neutral body that cares about the game.
Oh this 100% affects his Hall status. He was on pace for a magic number, which was the only thing saving him since for some reason sportswriters never liked him. They called him lazy, which I never understood, or he was a bad person for taking the free agent payday instead of Respecting the Pinstripes.
This puts him out of magic number contention, so now writers have an excuse. And if ManRam isn't in, neither is Cano.
You definitely were and are still procrastinating.
Art requires a process.
It’s heartwarming to see that your entire family is fully dedicated to roasting you mercilessly.
Sorry, but if you’re going to link to a “shit hitting the fan” clip, this is the only acceptable option: https://youtu.be/aZdp46Jen_w
I had the same thought.
But the clip I used was by a band called "the Circle Jerks" so it fit the writing!
Guess we’ll allow it this once, but you’re skating on thin ice counselor
I think you mean Sk8ting, and I assume by thin ice, you mean Natty Ice light
Did you ... uhhh ... ever catch the Circle Jerks ... uhhhh ... opening up for anyone?
George Clooney seems like a guy who is just comfortable in his own skin and with his life. Pretty cool.
Giving away some of your money while you're still alive to the people who matter to you is a great idea. I wonder how he found out about the "undisclosed location."
What do you do when you walk out his front door with $1M in cash? Be nervous as hell for fear of getting robbed, if anyone got word of it. Don't sleep at night until you get to a bank. And when you do get to a bank, I suspect they are required to ask questions when someone has large amounts of cash they are trying to deposit, since it implies something illegal is going on. When you answer "No, it's fine. George Clooney gave it to me!" how do you think that's going to go?
You hide half of it in $100,000 stashes, you spend a quarter of it on luxury purchases, and the other $250K you dole out to people who matter to you. Easy peasy. Give me a million dollars and see how fast it disappears.
I have a big yellow sign on the entrance to my store which reads, "MASKS ARE MANDATORY INSIDE THIS STORE." So I had a woman from Florida (I'm in Vermont) come in yesterday who proceeded to tell me it was the masks that were the problem. "We're rebreathing our own retrovirus" she said (exact quote). "Down in Florida we do whatever we want, bars and restaurants, not controlled by the government. My kid had it, and my neighbor said it was no big deal."
I stood there, mouth hanging open (under my mask). The volume of incorrect information out there is astounding. I fear we are past the point of no return, and wave after wave of unnecessary death is on the way. Darwin, man. Darwin.
No, she was correct that in Florida no one is controlling a damned thing. What was she even doing in Vermont now? People shouldn't be travelling, and I thought you can only go to Florida from up north after Nov. 1 anyway.
All these “travel restrictions” and “14-day quarantines” are just recommendations without any teeth. There’s really no way to monitor or restrict interstate travel. People who “don’t believe in COVID” will just keep going and doing wherever & whatever they damn well please.
We could close all the airports and train stations and so on. And even the borders. But even if that could be done, does even the most dedicated COVID isolationist want to create the police state needed for that?
Of course not, and I wasn’t suggesting any such thing. Just replying to your comment about how “you could only go to Florida from up north”.
There’s really no good solution here. The people who actually follow these travel restrictions are the ones who would already be cautious if the restrictions weren’t even suggested in the first place.
How many people a week do you see, thinking that a medical exemption gives them a free pass to roam the store without a mask? I see it at least a few times a week and they never seem to understand why I will not let them linger in my store.
I love the '80s Tigers road unis - in fact, for some reason, that's the uni that's lodged in my childhood memories growing up watching Tigers baseball. The current road unis are, I agree, fine, but I would love to see the old '80s one brought out on occasion.
As to Trump - you've got it right, and I've echoed a similar sentiment over the last two years: Trump is not the disease, he is a symptom. Americans need to recognize this, because the 2020 election is clear evidence that change is not going to come easy.
And in a similar vein, the lack of concern about COVID is just... is this peak American individualism, completely turned on itself like a ravenous ouroboros? I feel like this is related to the whole Trumpism thing, and I wonder if the American experiment went off the rails somewhere, or if this was always the inevitable outcome.
This line is amazing: "...peak American individualism, completely turned on itself like a ravenous ouroboros". It sums up this era so fully and succinctly - and it's beautifully poetic too.
April 2022: "Robinson Cano excited to start 'new chapter' as Astros' DH".
Between COVID and the coming labor strife, the chances that the 163rd MLB game from today will be April, 2022, are fleetingly small.
I wonder where professional athletes fall on the vaccine distribution priority list? Probably disturbingly high, much like NBA Covid tests in the early days when no one could get one.
I firmly believe that the first full-season since 2019 will not be until 2023.
I saw Substack Navel-Gazer open for Industrial Shithouse at Wembley.
Trying to decide which one of these to use as my fantasy football team name.
The '72 - '93 Tigers roadies are the best. The current roadies are second best. I loved me some Trammel/Whittaker too, but the color combo on that era's unis is awful.
How is the Tigers essay for the 2021 issue due tomorrow? Is it a retrospective? No one knows what the Tigers roster will look like in 2021!
Also, for the JD Vance file. From Wajahat Ali's piece in the Times about his unsuccessful attempts to "reach out" to Trump voters:
In 2017, I was invited by the Aspen Institute — which hosts a festival known for attracting the wealthy and powerful — to discuss racism in America. At a private dinner after the event, I was introduced to a donor who I learned was a Trump supporter. As soon as I said “white privilege,” she began shooting me passive aggressive quips about the virtues of meritocracy and hard work. She recommended I read “Hillbilly Elegy” — the best-selling book that has been criticized by those living in Appalachia as glorified poverty porn promoting simplistic stereotypes about a diverse region.
Hillbilly Elegy - every right-winger's favorite book about white people.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/19/opinion/trump-supporters.html
I agree with your conclusions about trump voters. With out reading any source on the 50% thinking it's rigged figure, I wonder.
I don't think Fla 2000 was rigged, but I do believe GOP intervention over came more than 537 votes, all front loaded disenfranchisement stuff. Combined with mistakes like the butterfly ballot and yes some heel digging by kooks like katherine harris, but do I accept the outcome? Sorta?
same with 2004 and ohio, I still have doubts about that, that I accepted more easily than 2000 which I absolutely accepted.
But how would I answer the "rigged" question for either in the immediate aftermath? I don't know. Maybe I say "yes, rigged."
Cano's suspension is just sad. Some people on twitter hate him, but for what? trying to be better at baseball? can we save that for TLR?
Those Tigers home whites are perfection. And what really strikes me is how they would never be proposed by any team looking to redesign its uni set today. You can’t consciously create an iconic look like that.
Also, thank you for pretending the late 90s, tiger-crawling-through-the-D era never happened.
I'm about your age, and I've been watching Conan's talk show all along. Once I got out of college and got a 9-to-5 job, I did it by watching the next day with the aid of a VCR and then a DVR - and then, once he moved to TBS, I could once again watch the same night because I live on the West Coast and get the East Coast feed via DirecTV.
Anyway, back in the early days of Conan on "Late Night," when there was a whole group in my college dorm that watched every night, the consensus was that the comedy bits were hilarious, and they did a great job of booking musical acts, but the interviews were the weak link... so some in the group suggested they change the format of the show and turn it into "The Conan O'Brien Variety Hour." All these years, and that has finally come to pass!
"the whites with the English D are perfect."
Whooaaaa. Craig went full Proud Boy on us over night.
Disagree about the modern baseball fabrics looking better. I'm sure they're functionally a lot better, but those old flannels had a beautiful texture that today's unis can't match. Behold:
https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/cb765119aa846fc333a9561ef9778614502d1eec/0_148_2646_1587/master/2646.jpg?width=1200&height=1200&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&s=3802fd251fe4a41267f8583301a5975e
Ahh, the Circle Jerks. Officially the first band to put out a proper "hardcore" punk album out from the LA scene - they called it Group Sex, it's great if you dig that stuff, and I do! - but at the same time some of their peers gave them crap for stealing half their songs from Black Flag when their singer Keith Morris left that band, in order to be able to rush their album out and claim distinction of *first*. My take? Listen to "Wasted" by the Circle Jerks, then go listen to "Wasted" by Black Flag, and then make up your own mind. My introduction to this band was watching Beavis and Butthead watch their music video for their 90's cover of Robyn Hitchcock's "I Wanna Destroy You". Now, THERE'S a song to be reckoned with.