The only explanation for not voting is perhaps "the Democrats are against Trumpism, but that isn't the same thing as being for something, so people don't get energized." I don't entirely buy it, either, but it's the only thing I saw that makes even a little sense.
But of course, neither you nor I understand how anyone who is opposed to racism and bigotry can ever vote for a Republican now.
As one conflicted but happy Braves fan to another, Craig, this was a great post today. I have been a fan since the 70s and it was special to watch the game while texting with family and friends who have suffered through all the bad and oh-so-close years. I used to drive downtown for games so I hate the move to Cobb, too. The chop has become tired and ugly. But as you said, it’s wonderful to celebrate the good guys who are on the field and the good people who just want to see their team win for the first time in seemingly forever. Really looking forward to your book.
Totally agree. While we enjoy the battery as fans who have to fly in and stay at a hotel, the move is pure white flight and ugly. I am taking this WS as a chance to retire as an active, every day fan and just pop in from time to time. Maybe we'll go to a game when they play the Nats, but I won't search the games out when the calendars are announced.
I need to get there (and New Miami and New Texas) to (re)complete my 30-stadium collection but I'm with you otherwise. Maybe I'll meet you at a Nats game ;)
Agree with this 100% and, as is often the case, with everything in Craig's post. There is an entitled arrogance to the Braves executives that, unfortunately, will only be made worse by this win. Also looking forward to Craig's book.
"I root for good games and seeing great athletic feats no matter whose laundry the athlete is wearing. I root for good people, at least as far as that can be determined. I root for the players, not their employers. I root in ways that are motivated by the emotions I genuinely feel in a moment as opposed to a sense of loyalty that was handed to me by parents or the geography of my life 48 years ago or how the circumstances of my life and geography changed 36 years ago."
This is why I love minor league ball. It's great fun watching players I watched as babies develop into major leaguers. For example, I saw Baby Vlady play in person in Dunedin in Advanced A ball. I'm not a Jays fan. I root for the player, not his employer. It's one of the few things I'll miss about Florida--the minor league opportunities.
I wish Ohio was alone. Much of our country has lost its damned mind. It's like we're all collectively in the worst marriage ever. We won't discuss our issues (yes, racism is bad and our country has a problem with racism that we need to deal with and confront) so we can't fix them. Instead we yell at each other and nobody listens to one another. I'm getting to the point where I want a divorce.
When is Spring Training? Oh wait. There's a work stoppage. It's going to be a long winter. Pass the SAD lamp.
I really hope you leave “campions” as-is, since it perfectly punctuates that section discussing your struggles to fully appreciate your favorite team winning it all
I remember when I first got satellite radio, it was 40s on 4, 50s on 5, etc., all the way up through 90s on 9. Can't remember if that was an XM thing or a Sirius thing or both, and the only one of those I'd ever listen to was 70s on 7, out of some perverse desire to relive the schlock and cheese of my childhood, but I see now that channels 4, 5, and 6 aren't dedicated to decades like they used to be. A pity for fans of those eras.
As for the Mets being the pinnacle of the sport, in addition to the "pinochle" variant you cite, the best line I saw about that on twitter yesterday was "Pinnacle isn't even the pinnacle of golf balls", and in that light, maybe the guy who said pinnacle wasn't lying.
Classic Vinyl (and Classic Rewind) are among the presets in my car and on my home streaming device.
70s on 7 is the station that plays all the stuff that doesn't show up on those two channels; it's like they've got twenty K-tel albums and just play them on repeat.
I'm old enough that "70s at 7" meant your favorite FM station gave you an hour of uninterrupted 70s rock at 7 pm every weeknight. Of course they also "got the Led out" with four in a row from Zeppelin every Friday at 5, so it's not like they were ignoring the 70s the other 23 hours.
They did a big channel shuffle today it looks like. There is now a 50s gold and 60s gold up in the 70s and there is now a station just for the music of the 2010's (?!?).
It is a reminder of how "radio" has changed. I found this out driving my youngest to school today. If we had woke up when I was a kid and all the channel presets were now playing a different format everyone would have lost their mind. Meanwhile my kids barely recognize the concept of "stations". What music they listen to they just get from youtube or a streaming service exclusively.
There are also hipsters that are swing/big band fans. But they wouldn't be listening to SiriusXM either unless it's on in their favorite kombucha place, and even then it's going to be playing classical jazz.
And most probably wouldn’t notice the transition to classic Xmas songs, which probably contain a lot of big band versions.
I do find it odd though that the 40s station is moving to a different number when it comes back. Wonder what the reasoning was for such a minor shift like that.
I listen to a stream from WNYC called New Standards. Lots of swing and big band stuff, but also a lot of folk rock, Broadway, the occasional rock song. No need for a Sirius subscription.
"To remember that the oxygen that fuels that anger is love. And to never lose sight of that which you love even if its loss or its threatened loss hurls you into anger.
That which you love always — always — has to be the star that guides you lest the anger consume you."
Ouch, that hits HARD as someone who studied biology and ecology because of her interest in conservation. ☹
I spent all year avoiding it -- didn't do it once after early April I don't think -- but from a purely writing perspective it is damn near IMPOSSIBLE to write a lot of narrative prose about the team during a long playoff run without having some second reference beyond just saying "Atlanta." Like, it makes the reading downright painful and distracts from the point.
If "Braves" was an actual slur like the Washington Football Team's old nickname as opposed to an unfortunate misuse of a people as a mascot, I wouldn't use it at all. Probably would've come up with some alternate name as a fill-in. But as it was, I just decided, for these purposes, I'd use the name for the sake of things being readable.
To repeat myself, "Braves" is the equivalent of "Knights" or "Samurai". In and of itself, it's really hard to find it offensive. It's all the crap about "the Chop" that's not only offensive but annoying.
I think Braves would be a perfectly anodyne nickname if our culture as a whole treated Native Americans with any dignity or folded Native American history into the popular conception of "American history."
Right now, especially with the chop, it comes across as cartoonish and patronizing.
“The[ Braves] went 11-5 in this postseason. In so doing they beat a 95-win Brewers team, a 106-win Dodgers team, a 95-win Astros team and they never once faced elimination in any of those series. It was a hell of a postseason run.”
Indeed it was; I remember somebody on here mentioning that they had a “puncher’s chance“ to win at all if everything broke right…
Oh wait - THAT WAS ME.
Too bad I’m not a betting man… I guess being a gloating man will have to suffice :-)
So, I know this is a general baseball (and other stuff) newsletter, and that's all good with me. But I sense there are more digital column inches in this here newsletter focused on the goings on of the Mets than any other individual team. I wonder if it's because the Mets can't get out of their own way, or if there's nothing worth writing about a well run team like the Diamondbacks or Rangers or Pirates. (I joke, somewhat.)
The Mets certainly keep their news non-boring, so that helps. It's also a reflection of the fact that the Mets have more primary coverage than most teams. Blogging -- and even if this is a newsletter, it is basically a blog -- has always been a reactive medium, so when people are talking about the Mets, so too will the blogs.
If you follow college football, "Clemsoning" used to be a thing. Then it stopped being a thing when they were winning a lot. It looks like it might be back to being a thing again.
I thought I would root against the Astros — that cheating scandal was pretty brutal. But in the end, I really wanted Dusty to get his ring.
I feel about Dusty the same way I feel about the movie “Magnolia” — I will undoubtedly agree with anyone who blasts it, but I will end with “…but I like it anyway.” As a lifelong Cubs fan (and one who was present for THAT game in 2003), I’m well-aware of his flaws. But dude is a good guy and deserves a ring as much as anyone.
Even worse than ‘03 was what happened to the Giants in ‘02 — you’re up 5 in the 7th inning, the game seems pretty safe. He has his flaws, but I hope he ends up in the HOF.
In some cases, sure — I acknowledge his issues with, say, pitching. But I can't blame him for '02. Also: he should get credit for helping those Giants teams that were basically Barry Bonds and the Toledo Mud Hens be consistently competitive.
he's def a solid manager overall. my biggest issue with him was a "baseball gods" thing (and I'm a devout non-believer) -- he handed the ball to Ortiz (?) when he pulled him in the 7th, like the W.S. was over. they don't let stuff like that go.
That makes a good narrative — I looked that up this morning, actually. The Angels didn't even know he did that and didn't derive any motivation from it. I found this in an article:
Eight years later, Tim Salmon, a key figure on that 2002 Angels team, dispelled the myth in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. Salmon, visiting during a rare Giants trip back to Anaheim, told Henry Schulman that he never saw Baker hand the ball to Ortiz and didn't hear anyone else in the dugout mention it.
"It's not like it was a rallying cry. 'Let's go get them.' I don't recall that," Salmon said. "I was so in the zone I never heard it."
All of that said, on a more intangible level, it's possible the baseball gods — who can be incredibly cruel — noticed and decided to smite him.
I can't tell you my kids' birth weight but I remember baseball things and numbers.
I don't think it was much noted on the field (maybe by either team) but when he handed him the ball *I* noticed it. College buddies and I not only used to watch big postseason games but we used to get together to do so.
When he handed Ortiz the ball (as a souvenir or reward doesn't matter so much to me) I said, "uh-oh. that's not good." and was then dragged by one of my friends who forgot that the Yankees won in 1977 b/c I did not change my socks from ALCS to W.S.
Cold comfort, I know, but the fact that turnout was way up yesterday means that all of the voting reforms put into place over the last several years are working. Also, I would much rather have the current configuration of US President and Virginia governor than the alternative.
The State Senate is safely blue until Nov 2023 so that should minimize the damage. Only in America can a white guy worth $200 million throw $20 million of his own cash in to buy an election and overwhelming win among white, uneducated, lower income white folks.
So is my sense that the GOP won in part by playing the race card accurate? I really wasn't following this and read too many articles that such it was a key factor.
I also think that Youngkin benefited from a lot of anger and fatigue from parents about public schools generally… There is definitely a racial element (because it’s still the South), but at least here in Northern Virginia schools did not handle the pandemic or remote learning well. Lots of parents who were angry about that seemed to sympathize with Youngkin’s promise to give parents a larger voice in school decisions. Others just want to keep banning books and terrorizing school boards.
Also, in 11 of the last 12 state wide elections, the party that does not hold the presidency won the governorship. McAuliffe 2003 was the only exception.
I also think he benefited from being a blank slate with no political baggage. If you read his website it literally says nothing. He mentions CRT, of course, and a bunch of meaningless platitudes about getting the state on track, etc. Also campaigned without mentioning guns or abortion. And McCauliffe is such a milquetoast candidate - really the worst possible choice when emotions are so inflamed about everything.
Milquetoast once in office? Sure. Doesn't work on the campaign trail to fire up support though. I think Biden's issue is simply execution. No infrastructure bill, no voting rights act, Afghanistan optics were bad even if ultimately the pullout was pretty damn successful. Biden is a decent human being getting chewed up by a Republican operation that has lost all sense of decency.
MrsCj and I had fun with his promise to restore a "rip-roaring economy." Looking forward to those tense debates in Richmond where they debate the math on rip-roaringness indicators ;)
I use "rip-roaring" to describe those days when I have a sore throat so bad I can't eat without pain. (Don't ask me why.) I hope you don't have that sort of economy.
Honestly? I agree that parents should not have a say in what's taught to their kids. But then I don't have kids. (I don't think anyone anywhere was happy with remote learning, but why should that be an issue now?)
Honestly. I think parents have a role (I was always pushing - futilely, as it turned out - for more civics education) even if we should give some deference to the folks with the training to make those decisions. Our county absolutely botched the technology transition to remote learning and then kept making reopening announcements and backtracking when teachers and parents didn't agree. You didn't have to be opposed to mask mandates or resisting white erasure to be frustrated by the lack of input on school decisions. I think Youngkin tapped into that.
Possibly because so many students essentially lost a year of learning with no clear idea on how to move forward with that gap. It's troubling, and our system doesn't have a plan to handle it universally.
I assume Northern Virginia, because the readership of this blog is almost exclusively Mets and Nats fans. So the big question is, where can I get a good pizza in the DC suburbs?
Woke up too early to check two things, the baseball score and the elections. And then, having read the plethora of bad news, did my first deep dive into political news since the NYC primary. Yeesh. (How bad is it? New York State is apparently voting to not make it easier to vote. By a big margin.)
But for one moment, let's just revel in the achievement of the Atlanta baseball players. And in the moonshot. First moonshot Houston's seen like that since 1973. That home run is probably going to be talked about for a long time, the way we still talk about the homer that Mantle might or might not have hit out of the park in Griffith Stadium. Soler earned that MVP beyond any doubt.
And wow, a starting pitcher doing what I long to see starting pitchers do. Go, Max Fried, go!
I should at some level be bummed because at one time the Mets were in first, and I really thought they would have been in the playoffs and ATL wouldn't be. But I can't hate what they did. Or how they did. ATL made moves to win, and built a team to win and keep winning. The Mets haven't. I can't hate that at all. Though I suspect that ATL is going to make life bad for the Mets for years to come. Again.
Oh well. I am still loyal to my local baseball team, warts and all. (More warts than skin these days.) And clearly, if I am rooting for them, they must be the pinnacle.
On to the off-season. Lord knows how long it will be.
If there is one consistency in baseball now that the Red Sox, White Sox, and Cubs won it all, is that the Mets are going to find the most humiliating way to lose.
The Chief Wahoo sign that was at Municipal Stadium is now at the Western Reserve Historical Society where it's put into context. They're a bit diplomatic and both sides-y in the presentation.
Craig, in your Columbus Alive column you wrote this in regards to the Ohio Board of Education resolution condemning racism:
"Nothing in the resolution was particularly controversial. Indeed, given that anyone who doesn't belong to literal hate group should have no trouble agreeing with the idea that (a) racism is bad; and (b) we should have less of it, the resolution, in a sane world, would've passed without notice and joined all manner of other well-meaning but mostly empty official gestures in the giant pile of things our leaders say they believe but typically fail to live up to. But not this resolution."
But Ohio AG Dave Yost was asked to give his legal opinion on the resolution and he said this:
He zeroed in on three parts of the resolution that went beyond symbolic statements and made policy changes: requiring implicit bias training for Ohio Department of Education employees and contractors, and directing the department to reexamine academic content standards and model curricula to recommend ways to “eliminate bias and ensure that racism and the struggle for equality are accurately addressed.”
Yost wrote that nothing in Ohio law allows the state board of education to require contractors to take implicit bias training programs, which are designed to uncover people’s unconscious biases and teach ways of overcoming them. The AG added that such trainings “have no direct relationship to the contractors’ ability to perform their contracts” and that state law already prevents discrimination by state contractors.
But Yost stated that the Ohio Department of Education can require its employees to take implicit bias training, so long as such training doesn’t violate federal or state constitutions or laws.
So the resolution was more than a symbolic gesture -- part of it may be unlawful. And there's also this:
Some board members said the resolution opened the door to the teaching of critical race theory and the 1619 Project in classrooms, though neither term was used in the resolution.
Critical race theory, which is based on the idea that racism is inherently part of systems instead of just being pushed by bigoted individuals, is not taught in K-12 schools, educators say. But many parents and conservatives worry it’s seeping into classrooms via documents with wording similar to the board’s resolution.
Also, Craig, yesterday you claimed Trump had Lafayette Park cleared of protesters for a photo op -- that's been debunked by the Interior Department IG. Here's an article from the conservative news outlet NPR:
I did not claim that. I noted that the Washington Post reported that that notion is what animated the thinking of people in the Pentagon, who cited the events in Lafayette Park as a reason they were hesitant to deploy troops. So take your complaints up with the generals.
All that being said: "Trump walked to St. John's Church . . . As he did, law enforcement violently cleared what had been mostly peaceful protesters in Lafayette Park."
If you watched it as I and millions of others did, it was a horrible and ugly scene of an authoritarian taking advantage of police brutality in order to complete his photo op. All of which reeked of fascism. If you want to say that some Interior Department report changes that, well, go ahead.
I mean, protesters by nature try to disrupt and be confrontational. Trump is like the devil to liberal activists. It's never going to pretty when these entities are in the same vicinity.
1. Dave Yost is a complete and total hack, the sort of which who takes videos of him burning masks and posting them on social media. He is a total buffoon.
2. Even if he was not a buffoon, his views are legal matters, not political ones. They would, arguably, justify invalidation of parts of the resolution, not lead to a political vendetta from the governor and the Senate, which suggests the matter is a very different thing; and
3. You fail to acknowledge that the critical race theory discourse is a classic moral panic which thinly disguises some serious racist bullshit from its adherents. There is no effort whatsoever to teach CRT in Ohio schools. As for Kohler, it is absolutely plausible that she has no idea what Critical Race Theory actually is, as almost no one who does not study it or hasn't been led to study it because of this moral panic, actually knows what it is as opposed to it being a big scary idea used to demonize lefties (which Kohler definitely is not).
They call it "Critical Race Theory and the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum"
Kohler said she hadn't heard the term critical race theory until after the resolution passed -- what a complete lie. It's been in mainstream conservative political discourse for a while.
You live in Hayward. Hayward is not Ohio. CRT is (or at least was) a complete non-issue here until the Trumpists in our Legislature figured it'd be a good way to stir up racial resentment among white conservatives.
I actually know Kohler. She lives in my town. She is not a friend and I don't agree with her politics in much if any ways at all -- she's a Republican, appointed by Mike DeWine -- but there is absolutely zero reason to accuse her of trying to introduce CRT to Ohio education. The resolution is and was an effort at introducing modest, aspirational reforms regarding race when racism was all over the headlines. That a lot of cynical and opportunistic conservatives have decided that the idea of teaching the basic facts of our country's history is fifth column shit does not change that.
The only explanation for not voting is perhaps "the Democrats are against Trumpism, but that isn't the same thing as being for something, so people don't get energized." I don't entirely buy it, either, but it's the only thing I saw that makes even a little sense.
But of course, neither you nor I understand how anyone who is opposed to racism and bigotry can ever vote for a Republican now.
As one conflicted but happy Braves fan to another, Craig, this was a great post today. I have been a fan since the 70s and it was special to watch the game while texting with family and friends who have suffered through all the bad and oh-so-close years. I used to drive downtown for games so I hate the move to Cobb, too. The chop has become tired and ugly. But as you said, it’s wonderful to celebrate the good guys who are on the field and the good people who just want to see their team win for the first time in seemingly forever. Really looking forward to your book.
Totally agree. While we enjoy the battery as fans who have to fly in and stay at a hotel, the move is pure white flight and ugly. I am taking this WS as a chance to retire as an active, every day fan and just pop in from time to time. Maybe we'll go to a game when they play the Nats, but I won't search the games out when the calendars are announced.
I need to get there (and New Miami and New Texas) to (re)complete my 30-stadium collection but I'm with you otherwise. Maybe I'll meet you at a Nats game ;)
I mean I have to go to Nats park and rub it in a little.
My wife and I do the passport - we need to go back to Texas (the old stadium had shockingly bad sight lines).
I collect logo baseballs - doesn't fit in my pocket but looks good on the wall.
Agree with this 100% and, as is often the case, with everything in Craig's post. There is an entitled arrogance to the Braves executives that, unfortunately, will only be made worse by this win. Also looking forward to Craig's book.
the morning after winning the W.S. for a true fan is just the greatest greatest feeling!!
CONGRATS!!
(a sarcasm-free comment from me, please note)
Thanks. I went into this morning knowing I just wanted the World Series patch hat. Several MLB shop purchases later, I'm starting to worry.
"I root for good games and seeing great athletic feats no matter whose laundry the athlete is wearing. I root for good people, at least as far as that can be determined. I root for the players, not their employers. I root in ways that are motivated by the emotions I genuinely feel in a moment as opposed to a sense of loyalty that was handed to me by parents or the geography of my life 48 years ago or how the circumstances of my life and geography changed 36 years ago."
This is why I love minor league ball. It's great fun watching players I watched as babies develop into major leaguers. For example, I saw Baby Vlady play in person in Dunedin in Advanced A ball. I'm not a Jays fan. I root for the player, not his employer. It's one of the few things I'll miss about Florida--the minor league opportunities.
I wish Ohio was alone. Much of our country has lost its damned mind. It's like we're all collectively in the worst marriage ever. We won't discuss our issues (yes, racism is bad and our country has a problem with racism that we need to deal with and confront) so we can't fix them. Instead we yell at each other and nobody listens to one another. I'm getting to the point where I want a divorce.
When is Spring Training? Oh wait. There's a work stoppage. It's going to be a long winter. Pass the SAD lamp.
I really hope you leave “campions” as-is, since it perfectly punctuates that section discussing your struggles to fully appreciate your favorite team winning it all
I remember when I first got satellite radio, it was 40s on 4, 50s on 5, etc., all the way up through 90s on 9. Can't remember if that was an XM thing or a Sirius thing or both, and the only one of those I'd ever listen to was 70s on 7, out of some perverse desire to relive the schlock and cheese of my childhood, but I see now that channels 4, 5, and 6 aren't dedicated to decades like they used to be. A pity for fans of those eras.
As for the Mets being the pinnacle of the sport, in addition to the "pinochle" variant you cite, the best line I saw about that on twitter yesterday was "Pinnacle isn't even the pinnacle of golf balls", and in that light, maybe the guy who said pinnacle wasn't lying.
If you liked 70s on 7, I highly recommend Classic Vinyl (on channel 26)
That's where Earl Bailey puts the music in your ear.
Classic Vinyl (and Classic Rewind) are among the presets in my car and on my home streaming device.
70s on 7 is the station that plays all the stuff that doesn't show up on those two channels; it's like they've got twenty K-tel albums and just play them on repeat.
I'm old enough that "70s at 7" meant your favorite FM station gave you an hour of uninterrupted 70s rock at 7 pm every weeknight. Of course they also "got the Led out" with four in a row from Zeppelin every Friday at 5, so it's not like they were ignoring the 70s the other 23 hours.
Too bad Classic Rocktober just ended.
Yes, but we're just getting started on Adult Contemporaryvember.
Is 60's on 6 not a thing anymore? I let my XM subscription end since I used it in the car, and just don't do much driving these days.
It's gone.
There are a couple channels that have 60s in the title still, although they may be app-only.
They did a big channel shuffle today it looks like. There is now a 50s gold and 60s gold up in the 70s and there is now a station just for the music of the 2010's (?!?).
It is a reminder of how "radio" has changed. I found this out driving my youngest to school today. If we had woke up when I was a kid and all the channel presets were now playing a different format everyone would have lost their mind. Meanwhile my kids barely recognize the concept of "stations". What music they listen to they just get from youtube or a streaming service exclusively.
There are still some people alive in their 90s who are no doubt swing/big band fans. What I do doubt is that those people listen to SiriusXM.
(Well, maybe they do without realizing it if that's the background music their retirement/nursing home uses)
There are also hipsters that are swing/big band fans. But they wouldn't be listening to SiriusXM either unless it's on in their favorite kombucha place, and even then it's going to be playing classical jazz.
And most probably wouldn’t notice the transition to classic Xmas songs, which probably contain a lot of big band versions.
I do find it odd though that the 40s station is moving to a different number when it comes back. Wonder what the reasoning was for such a minor shift like that.
I listen to a stream from WNYC called New Standards. Lots of swing and big band stuff, but also a lot of folk rock, Broadway, the occasional rock song. No need for a Sirius subscription.
Thanks for the tip, been listening to it this afternoon (with my new headphones!). Really enjoying it.
"To remember that the oxygen that fuels that anger is love. And to never lose sight of that which you love even if its loss or its threatened loss hurls you into anger.
That which you love always — always — has to be the star that guides you lest the anger consume you."
Ouch, that hits HARD as someone who studied biology and ecology because of her interest in conservation. ☹
I thought you were among those who never spoke the Atlanta baseball team's nickname. Did I imagine that or did something change?
I spent all year avoiding it -- didn't do it once after early April I don't think -- but from a purely writing perspective it is damn near IMPOSSIBLE to write a lot of narrative prose about the team during a long playoff run without having some second reference beyond just saying "Atlanta." Like, it makes the reading downright painful and distracts from the point.
If "Braves" was an actual slur like the Washington Football Team's old nickname as opposed to an unfortunate misuse of a people as a mascot, I wouldn't use it at all. Probably would've come up with some alternate name as a fill-in. But as it was, I just decided, for these purposes, I'd use the name for the sake of things being readable.
Thanks for the explanation!
To repeat myself, "Braves" is the equivalent of "Knights" or "Samurai". In and of itself, it's really hard to find it offensive. It's all the crap about "the Chop" that's not only offensive but annoying.
I think Braves would be a perfectly anodyne nickname if our culture as a whole treated Native Americans with any dignity or folded Native American history into the popular conception of "American history."
Right now, especially with the chop, it comes across as cartoonish and patronizing.
“The[ Braves] went 11-5 in this postseason. In so doing they beat a 95-win Brewers team, a 106-win Dodgers team, a 95-win Astros team and they never once faced elimination in any of those series. It was a hell of a postseason run.”
Indeed it was; I remember somebody on here mentioning that they had a “puncher’s chance“ to win at all if everything broke right…
Oh wait - THAT WAS ME.
Too bad I’m not a betting man… I guess being a gloating man will have to suffice :-)
PS Happy Braves Hangover to those who celebrated(d).
I've made it clear that no work is getting done today. I at least showed up as I took a sick day when the Nats won it.
So, I know this is a general baseball (and other stuff) newsletter, and that's all good with me. But I sense there are more digital column inches in this here newsletter focused on the goings on of the Mets than any other individual team. I wonder if it's because the Mets can't get out of their own way, or if there's nothing worth writing about a well run team like the Diamondbacks or Rangers or Pirates. (I joke, somewhat.)
The Mets certainly keep their news non-boring, so that helps. It's also a reflection of the fact that the Mets have more primary coverage than most teams. Blogging -- and even if this is a newsletter, it is basically a blog -- has always been a reactive medium, so when people are talking about the Mets, so too will the blogs.
I understand the schadenfreude perspective, which the blogs and even local news outlets dole out. Maybe that's the only perspective. Sigh.
Well, have any other teams had their name verbed, as in "Mets gonna Mets", or "Mets are Metsing again"?
(Dodgers are dodging again? Discuss. ..)
If you follow college football, "Clemsoning" used to be a thing. Then it stopped being a thing when they were winning a lot. It looks like it might be back to being a thing again.
Maybe that's the modern meaning of "pinnacle?"
I thought I would root against the Astros — that cheating scandal was pretty brutal. But in the end, I really wanted Dusty to get his ring.
I feel about Dusty the same way I feel about the movie “Magnolia” — I will undoubtedly agree with anyone who blasts it, but I will end with “…but I like it anyway.” As a lifelong Cubs fan (and one who was present for THAT game in 2003), I’m well-aware of his flaws. But dude is a good guy and deserves a ring as much as anyone.
Even worse than ‘03 was what happened to the Giants in ‘02 — you’re up 5 in the 7th inning, the game seems pretty safe. He has his flaws, but I hope he ends up in the HOF.
Magnolia is amazing.
We may be through with the past, but the past is not through with(D)us(ty).
Nicely done
Dusty has a ring as a player tho.
Just my take, but he had A LOT to do with "what happened" to his teams in "the years of the heartbreaking losses."
(prequel to "Year of Living Dangerously")
In some cases, sure — I acknowledge his issues with, say, pitching. But I can't blame him for '02. Also: he should get credit for helping those Giants teams that were basically Barry Bonds and the Toledo Mud Hens be consistently competitive.
he's def a solid manager overall. my biggest issue with him was a "baseball gods" thing (and I'm a devout non-believer) -- he handed the ball to Ortiz (?) when he pulled him in the 7th, like the W.S. was over. they don't let stuff like that go.
That makes a good narrative — I looked that up this morning, actually. The Angels didn't even know he did that and didn't derive any motivation from it. I found this in an article:
Eight years later, Tim Salmon, a key figure on that 2002 Angels team, dispelled the myth in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. Salmon, visiting during a rare Giants trip back to Anaheim, told Henry Schulman that he never saw Baker hand the ball to Ortiz and didn't hear anyone else in the dugout mention it.
"It's not like it was a rallying cry. 'Let's go get them.' I don't recall that," Salmon said. "I was so in the zone I never heard it."
All of that said, on a more intangible level, it's possible the baseball gods — who can be incredibly cruel — noticed and decided to smite him.
I can't tell you my kids' birth weight but I remember baseball things and numbers.
I don't think it was much noted on the field (maybe by either team) but when he handed him the ball *I* noticed it. College buddies and I not only used to watch big postseason games but we used to get together to do so.
When he handed Ortiz the ball (as a souvenir or reward doesn't matter so much to me) I said, "uh-oh. that's not good." and was then dragged by one of my friends who forgot that the Yankees won in 1977 b/c I did not change my socks from ALCS to W.S.
anyhoo, I think we pretty much agree.
This is Jeff Kent erasure! :-)
(Kent put up 32 bWAR in the 6 seasons Dusty managed him with the Giants)
Fair point. Kent was excellent, no doubt. But two studs doesn't make you a strong team — look at the Angels this year.
Kents and Bonds NOT friends, do I recall correctly??
yup.
I live in Virginia. Ask me anything.
Sigh.....
Cold comfort, I know, but the fact that turnout was way up yesterday means that all of the voting reforms put into place over the last several years are working. Also, I would much rather have the current configuration of US President and Virginia governor than the alternative.
The State Senate is safely blue until Nov 2023 so that should minimize the damage. Only in America can a white guy worth $200 million throw $20 million of his own cash in to buy an election and overwhelming win among white, uneducated, lower income white folks.
So is my sense that the GOP won in part by playing the race card accurate? I really wasn't following this and read too many articles that such it was a key factor.
The race card is always in play in Virginia. A large percentage of the population here is still fighting the Civil War.
I also think that Youngkin benefited from a lot of anger and fatigue from parents about public schools generally… There is definitely a racial element (because it’s still the South), but at least here in Northern Virginia schools did not handle the pandemic or remote learning well. Lots of parents who were angry about that seemed to sympathize with Youngkin’s promise to give parents a larger voice in school decisions. Others just want to keep banning books and terrorizing school boards.
Also, in 11 of the last 12 state wide elections, the party that does not hold the presidency won the governorship. McAuliffe 2003 was the only exception.
I also think he benefited from being a blank slate with no political baggage. If you read his website it literally says nothing. He mentions CRT, of course, and a bunch of meaningless platitudes about getting the state on track, etc. Also campaigned without mentioning guns or abortion. And McCauliffe is such a milquetoast candidate - really the worst possible choice when emotions are so inflamed about everything.
I love milquetoast politicians because they are not emotional. It's why I don't get why Biden is doing so badly. He's doing exactly what I would do.
Milquetoast once in office? Sure. Doesn't work on the campaign trail to fire up support though. I think Biden's issue is simply execution. No infrastructure bill, no voting rights act, Afghanistan optics were bad even if ultimately the pullout was pretty damn successful. Biden is a decent human being getting chewed up by a Republican operation that has lost all sense of decency.
MrsCj and I had fun with his promise to restore a "rip-roaring economy." Looking forward to those tense debates in Richmond where they debate the math on rip-roaringness indicators ;)
I use "rip-roaring" to describe those days when I have a sore throat so bad I can't eat without pain. (Don't ask me why.) I hope you don't have that sort of economy.
Honestly? I agree that parents should not have a say in what's taught to their kids. But then I don't have kids. (I don't think anyone anywhere was happy with remote learning, but why should that be an issue now?)
Honestly. I think parents have a role (I was always pushing - futilely, as it turned out - for more civics education) even if we should give some deference to the folks with the training to make those decisions. Our county absolutely botched the technology transition to remote learning and then kept making reopening announcements and backtracking when teachers and parents didn't agree. You didn't have to be opposed to mask mandates or resisting white erasure to be frustrated by the lack of input on school decisions. I think Youngkin tapped into that.
Possibly because so many students essentially lost a year of learning with no clear idea on how to move forward with that gap. It's troubling, and our system doesn't have a plan to handle it universally.
I guess you can't just hold everyone back a year, can you?
I assume Northern Virginia, because the readership of this blog is almost exclusively Mets and Nats fans. So the big question is, where can I get a good pizza in the DC suburbs?
Pepe's of New Haven fame is opening up in Old Town. https://alexandrialivingmagazine.com/food-and-dining/pepes-pizza-to-open-in-alexandria/
I also really like the pizza at Lost Dog Cafe - there are locations in Arlington (2), Alexandria, McLean and Dunn Loring. https://www.lostdogcafe.com/
https://giovannisnypizza.net/
What, in your opinion, is the best movie set in Virginia?
(Nice change of topic!)
Woke up too early to check two things, the baseball score and the elections. And then, having read the plethora of bad news, did my first deep dive into political news since the NYC primary. Yeesh. (How bad is it? New York State is apparently voting to not make it easier to vote. By a big margin.)
But for one moment, let's just revel in the achievement of the Atlanta baseball players. And in the moonshot. First moonshot Houston's seen like that since 1973. That home run is probably going to be talked about for a long time, the way we still talk about the homer that Mantle might or might not have hit out of the park in Griffith Stadium. Soler earned that MVP beyond any doubt.
And wow, a starting pitcher doing what I long to see starting pitchers do. Go, Max Fried, go!
I should at some level be bummed because at one time the Mets were in first, and I really thought they would have been in the playoffs and ATL wouldn't be. But I can't hate what they did. Or how they did. ATL made moves to win, and built a team to win and keep winning. The Mets haven't. I can't hate that at all. Though I suspect that ATL is going to make life bad for the Mets for years to come. Again.
Oh well. I am still loyal to my local baseball team, warts and all. (More warts than skin these days.) And clearly, if I am rooting for them, they must be the pinnacle.
On to the off-season. Lord knows how long it will be.
If there is one consistency in baseball now that the Red Sox, White Sox, and Cubs won it all, is that the Mets are going to find the most humiliating way to lose.
This was hardly as humiliating as ‘07 and ‘08.
Olney and Heyman make it pretty obvious they are trying to help out a source with their comments. Makes me glad I muted both long ago on Twitter.
Maybe someone should ask them.
I appreciate the almost transparent shilling -- it's better than trying to mask it and pretend they're being unbiased.
The Chief Wahoo sign that was at Municipal Stadium is now at the Western Reserve Historical Society where it's put into context. They're a bit diplomatic and both sides-y in the presentation.
The Indians sign should be given to a local tribe and tribal leaders could smash it into pieces like the printer in "Office Space".
Craig, in your Columbus Alive column you wrote this in regards to the Ohio Board of Education resolution condemning racism:
"Nothing in the resolution was particularly controversial. Indeed, given that anyone who doesn't belong to literal hate group should have no trouble agreeing with the idea that (a) racism is bad; and (b) we should have less of it, the resolution, in a sane world, would've passed without notice and joined all manner of other well-meaning but mostly empty official gestures in the giant pile of things our leaders say they believe but typically fail to live up to. But not this resolution."
But Ohio AG Dave Yost was asked to give his legal opinion on the resolution and he said this:
https://www.cleveland.com/open/2021/09/ohio-ag-dave-yost-suggests-critical-race-theory-standards-would-be-unconstitutional-says-state-cant-require-implicit-bias-training-for-contractors.html
He zeroed in on three parts of the resolution that went beyond symbolic statements and made policy changes: requiring implicit bias training for Ohio Department of Education employees and contractors, and directing the department to reexamine academic content standards and model curricula to recommend ways to “eliminate bias and ensure that racism and the struggle for equality are accurately addressed.”
Yost wrote that nothing in Ohio law allows the state board of education to require contractors to take implicit bias training programs, which are designed to uncover people’s unconscious biases and teach ways of overcoming them. The AG added that such trainings “have no direct relationship to the contractors’ ability to perform their contracts” and that state law already prevents discrimination by state contractors.
But Yost stated that the Ohio Department of Education can require its employees to take implicit bias training, so long as such training doesn’t violate federal or state constitutions or laws.
So the resolution was more than a symbolic gesture -- part of it may be unlawful. And there's also this:
Some board members said the resolution opened the door to the teaching of critical race theory and the 1619 Project in classrooms, though neither term was used in the resolution.
Critical race theory, which is based on the idea that racism is inherently part of systems instead of just being pushed by bigoted individuals, is not taught in K-12 schools, educators say. But many parents and conservatives worry it’s seeping into classrooms via documents with wording similar to the board’s resolution.
And the outgoing state board president said this:
https://www.cleveland.com/politics/2021/10/ohio-state-board-of-education-president-laura-kohler-author-of-anti-racism-resolution-to-resign-friday.html
Kohler said that people accused the now-rescinded state school board resolution of encouraging the teaching of critical race theory.
“I’d never heard about critical race theory until several months after the resolution was adopted,” she said.
So obviously she has no credibility with anyone.
Also, Craig, yesterday you claimed Trump had Lafayette Park cleared of protesters for a photo op -- that's been debunked by the Interior Department IG. Here's an article from the conservative news outlet NPR:
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/09/1004832399/watchdog-report-says-police-did-not-clear-protesters-to-make-way-for-trump-last-
I did not claim that. I noted that the Washington Post reported that that notion is what animated the thinking of people in the Pentagon, who cited the events in Lafayette Park as a reason they were hesitant to deploy troops. So take your complaints up with the generals.
All that being said: "Trump walked to St. John's Church . . . As he did, law enforcement violently cleared what had been mostly peaceful protesters in Lafayette Park."
If you watched it as I and millions of others did, it was a horrible and ugly scene of an authoritarian taking advantage of police brutality in order to complete his photo op. All of which reeked of fascism. If you want to say that some Interior Department report changes that, well, go ahead.
I mean, protesters by nature try to disrupt and be confrontational. Trump is like the devil to liberal activists. It's never going to pretty when these entities are in the same vicinity.
1. Dave Yost is a complete and total hack, the sort of which who takes videos of him burning masks and posting them on social media. He is a total buffoon.
2. Even if he was not a buffoon, his views are legal matters, not political ones. They would, arguably, justify invalidation of parts of the resolution, not lead to a political vendetta from the governor and the Senate, which suggests the matter is a very different thing; and
3. You fail to acknowledge that the critical race theory discourse is a classic moral panic which thinly disguises some serious racist bullshit from its adherents. There is no effort whatsoever to teach CRT in Ohio schools. As for Kohler, it is absolutely plausible that she has no idea what Critical Race Theory actually is, as almost no one who does not study it or hasn't been led to study it because of this moral panic, actually knows what it is as opposed to it being a big scary idea used to demonize lefties (which Kohler definitely is not).
Uh -- I literally live in a city whose school district was the first to mandate critical race theory in their schools:
https://nypost.com/2021/07/14/california-school-district-mandates-ethnic-studies-course-based-on-crt/
They call it "Critical Race Theory and the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum"
Kohler said she hadn't heard the term critical race theory until after the resolution passed -- what a complete lie. It's been in mainstream conservative political discourse for a while.
You live in Hayward. Hayward is not Ohio. CRT is (or at least was) a complete non-issue here until the Trumpists in our Legislature figured it'd be a good way to stir up racial resentment among white conservatives.
I actually know Kohler. She lives in my town. She is not a friend and I don't agree with her politics in much if any ways at all -- she's a Republican, appointed by Mike DeWine -- but there is absolutely zero reason to accuse her of trying to introduce CRT to Ohio education. The resolution is and was an effort at introducing modest, aspirational reforms regarding race when racism was all over the headlines. That a lot of cynical and opportunistic conservatives have decided that the idea of teaching the basic facts of our country's history is fifth column shit does not change that.