live janqui e-log
4:20pm
Since this may be the last game of the Yankee season, I think I might e-log it.
0-0 going into the top of the 2nd.
4:51 pm
I went out to the kitchen to eat a chocolate chip cookie and when I came back it was 1-0 Detroit. Somebody musta clubbed one. This sucks. It's funny how you can spend like $300 million on a baseball team and when you absolutely need a win you somehow end up with Jaret Wright on the mound.
I just noticed a nice new DVR feature -- when you record a live sporting event it gives you the option to extend the recording time in anticipation of the game running long. I love you, Magic Box.
4:57 pm
3-0, bottom 2nd. The season seems to be ending. There are many ways for a sports fan to come to terms with a big loss. Like Joe Monkeyweb, I cope through anger. I say things like, THIS YANKEE TEAM CHOKED or WE DIDN'T DESERVE TO WIN and WE HAD NO PITCHING and somehow that allows me to separate myself emotionally from the team.
THIS YANKEE TEAM CHOKED.
5:09 pm
The Yankees have seen 23 pitches through 3 innings. Where are our fucking bats? I am already predicting that Torre will catch hell for tinkering with the lineup, but I don't really blame him. You have to gamble sometimes, if it pays off everyone calls you a genius.
I could have gone to play basketball instead of watching this abomination. I need some exercise. Over the past couple of months I think I have officially become middle-aged. Like did you ever go to a barbecue when you were like 10 and they started a softball game and your dad played and he hit a groundball and he tried to run to first base and he was panting and shuffling and basically lugging his fat ass down the line like a pathetic old geezer? That's how I look when I run now.
5:19 pm
4-0. Wright is done. The Yankees are embarrassing themselves. They gave Detroit two extra outs this inning and then of course Pudge came through. I said out loud as he came up, "Of course he's gonna get a hit."
5:30 pm
Jeter is gonna get a hit here and start something or I am moving to the suburbs.
5:31 pm
Jeter struck out and Abreu popped out. Hello Montclair!
5:40pm
The Yankees actually retired the Tigers in order!
Also, government conspiracy alert: they just said they "beamed" some pictures back from Mars. Any time the word "beamed" appears in an article, you know someone is making some shit up.
5:46 pm
The Yankees have not reached base through five.
5:55 pm
6-0, no outs, 2 on, bottom 5th. Yuck.
I will say this, losing big in an elimination game is easier to swallow than losing a close one.
I am going to continue watching and e-logging until the lead reaches 10 runs.
5:59 pm
You know what was great? 1996.
6:16pm
I see pbdotc just commented. I agree that you can't send out Jaret Wright for a game this critical. Not sure how good Wang would be on short rest but you need to try.
But I don't really buy the whole Frankenteam thing. I think this team has good chemistry, just not quite enough pitching and they ran into some good arms in Detroit. I think the biggest factor in postseason baseball is luck. Pitching and luck. And choking. Pitching and luck and choking. And Kevin Brown.
9:20 pm
Sorry, my internet went down, or I'd have responded sooner. We got some nasty-ass Yankee-hatin' commenters out there.
First, I say the obligatory Go O's and Phillies!
Do you guys just wait around all year for this one moment to open your mouths?
First, PB:
1) "I don't really buy the whole Frankenteam thing."
dude
c'mon
All I meant was that the team seems to enjoy playing together, they seem to have fun. They seem to fit together pretty well. Sure they are all highly paid stars, but it doesn't seem like a square peg in a round hole situation. I grew to like this bunch as the season went on.
2) that was a nice moment - jeter's at bat in the 8th - there's a ballplayer who needs a team around him not a bunch of highly paid journeymen.
I don't understand this. What happened?
And Kissel, you are certainly welcome to your opinion but it's poorly stated and backed up here.
1) this is the most detestable team of all time. in any sport. period.
???
I might have gone with the early 90's Detoit Pistons, or any Duke basketball team in any year, or maybe the 1919 Chicago White Sox, or even the 2006 Knicks. Oh wait, you have evidence! Here it comes!
2) who do you root for on this team? sheffield? giambi? arod? johnson? wright? mussina? even jeter strikes me as a big turd. there are very few guys you can like on this team.
Actually I like Derek Jeter just fine, even now after learning from your HaloScan comment that he may in fact be a big turd. I like Mussina OK. I like Rivera. I like Bernie. I like Posada OK. I like Wang. I like Proctor. I like Damon. I like Matsui. I like Melky. They're probably all turds, but I need more proof than you saying so. Giambi certainly has his faults but he's been pretty well-liked by his teammates everywhere he's gone. I don't like him, but I don't actively hate him the way one might hate say, a creepy anti-semite like Steve Carlton or a selfish loner like Kobe Bryant. As for the steroid factor, it looks like the whole Baltimore team was on steroids -- like 60% of the successful major league players were probably on steroids. I am not going to criticize Giambi and Giambi alone because he got busted.
There are definitely some dickus mcnuggets on the team -- Sheffield, Unit, and A-Rod in particular. But none of those three was a huge factor this year.
2)Compounding the fact is that most of these guys are hired guns. sure, that is true of a lot of players in a lot of sports but the yankees are in a class of their own.
Breaking news alert! Players are signing big contracts to play ball! And the YANKEES, of all teams, are signing some of the most expensive dudes around! When did this start happening?
Who in sports is NOT a hired gun? There are like 8 guys in all the professional leagues who take less money to stay with the same team. I don't really even know what that means. Is that loyalty? Putting money in the pocket of an already rich owner instead of in your own pocket? Blame baseball for the Yankees' spending habits. Blame capitalism. Blame Steinbrenner (I know, you are about to). But if your team was raking in billions at the gate and didn't spend it on players -- good, expensive players -- you'd be pissed off about it.
Plus, call me up on a Tuesday night in June after the Yankees beat Tampa Bay 19-4 to rail on me about their "hired gun" roster. Don't wait until I'm already feeling the misery of a season-ending loss to cut loose. Same thing you did in 2004.
3)steinbrenner. has there ever been an owner you can hate more?
Agreed. I hate Steinbreenner, too. Since he took over the team this March, I have really had trouble rooting for them. They've become somehow more...detestable.
Oh wait, he's been there for like 35 years. And this season, probably due to illness, he's been much less noticeable and obnoxious than ever before. But I do hate him. Half a point to you for that. Although I may hate James Dolan more. There are actually quite a few hatable owners.
4)aside from guys like you hans-guys that know something about baseball, that die for their team, etc- most yankee fans are the worst, most spoiled fans in the world. they are touchy, classless, ill-behaved, fair weather fools. you make fun of red sox fans, but they seem to me to care more about their team and to know more about the sport. sure, they can act like drunken fools, but so can yankee fans.
Completely unscientific and annoying. Have you really spoken to enough of either set of fans to form an opinion? I doubts it. But if we are going to cast huge groups of people under one single stupid spotlight, let's start with Phillie fans. They are far more revolting than Yankees fans.
On a side note, I don't really know that much about baseball. I had only heard of like 7 of Detroit's 25 dudes. So maybe I am a typical Yankee fan, I dunno. But it does hurt to lose, I care that much at least.
5) and your joking about good chemistry too. that was funny. i suppose it is good chemistry when a loser like giambi who never won anything rags on a player in public for being choker...
All I meant was that the team seems to generally get along and have fun, at least compared to Yankee teams of the past few years. I had high hopes for this bunch.
6) you're
Yeah I got the point.
7) oh, and i forgot to mention michael kay...
I'd give you a point for this except that Michael Kay is not on the Yankees.
Finally, this:
8) i also can understand rooting for the yankees of 1995-1999. not because they won, but because they seemed like a team...it would be so much easier to just ignore the yankees until the team returns to being a team.
I liked those 96-99 teams and the 2000 champions, too -- as well as the 2001 team that fell short against Arizona. But I am sick of everybody canonizing those dudes. This whole "team" thing is so overstated...let's have a look back in time...
Paul O'Neill -- any different than Abreu? A brooding NL star traded to the Yanks in the middle of his career. Continued to brood and act like a twelve year-old throughout his time in NY. Jogged to first on ground balls. Yet he is remembered as Mr. Hustle because his teams won.
Tino Martinez -- expensive free agent signing after home-grown fan favorite Don Mattingly was forced out. Had a big butt.
John Wetteland -- proselytizing religious zealot. Also had a big butt.
Cecil Fielder -- dickhead.
Jim Leyritz -- dickhead.
David Wells -- dickhead.
Ruben Sierra -- dickhead.
Chuck Knoblauch -- nut case.
Jimmy Key -- cracker.
Andy Pettitte -- 'roid abusing bible thumper. Also has a big butt.
Joe Girardi -- old school baseball hardass. Christer. Again, big, albeit shapely, butt.
Roger Clemens -- scum of the earth on every level. And a big butt as well.
David Justice -- wife-beating dickhead.
Wade Boggs -- philandering alcoholic, selfish, stat-obsessed dickhead.
Dwight Gooden -- cokehead.
Tim Raines -- cokehead.
Darryl Strawberry -- cokehead, maniac.
David Cone - sexual deviant.
Ruben Rivera -- petty thief.
Jeff Nelson -- dickhead, head case.
Kenny Rogers -- dickhead, current Tiger.
Hideki Irabu -- fat drunk.
Were any of them outstanding bunters, or hit-and-run artists, or extra-crafty baserunners, or any of that other bullshit that people associate with "team" ball or "playing the right way"? Did they slap hands harder than the current team? Did they party together or save each other in a war or go to each other's houses for Thanksgiving? Did they hit the cutoff man more often? Did they have dirtier uniforms?
Not that I recall. They just won the World Series.
Dude, I suspect you have been drinking. I'll give you eight dollars if you can honestly tell me otherwise.
12:37pm
More from Kissel:
whatever. i never said that anything i said was "scientific." that's the whole point-my OPINION is that this "team" is a joke. i simply cannot understand why you try to stand up for them. you totally miss the point:
This is actually kinda fun.
I don't "totally miss the point" -- it's just that "the point" is old, tired, and poorly-timed. And I am used to smarter stuff from you.
1)people hate teams that have an unfair advantage. the gap between the red sox payroll and the yankees payroll is the entire payroll of the tigers team.
Blame baseball. And again, I don't fault you for rooting for Detroit; were I an impartial observer I'm sure I would too. I take exception with you acting like you are going to make me see the light and stop rooting for my team because you strolled by my blog after they got eliminated and posted a bunch of nonsense.
2)that money is being expendend on dirtbags. sheffield and giambi should not even be allowed to play. they are among the few confirmed steroid users in MLB. arod, mussina, johnson, wright, brown...i can go on and on. most of the guys you have named that you like are holdovers from the team that is understandably likeable (bernie, rivera, jeter, posada). my statement concerning jeter refers to the numerous reports that he is a cold, calculating grudge holder. he clearly has spent the last 3 post seasons blaiming his teammates for losing. i know-not scientific. oh, and its interesting based on your comments of the past how you like damon now. hmmm...
Is the punishment for being a confirmed steroid abuser a lifetime ban? And I love how you conveniently use the word "confirmed" when you yourself know well that tons of guys besides them were juicing. They never failed a test. They never got busted by the league they are employed by. Should we just kick 'em out of the game anyway?
Is Mussina a dirtbag? Give me the Jeter quotes where he blames his teammates and I still doubt I'll think he's a turd. Have I really hated on Damon before? I guess maybe I have a little, but if so he definitely won me over this season. Kevin Brown is not on this team so saying that he is a factor in their detestableness is a bit off. Wright is kinda douchey but sorta harmless. I give you arod, johnson and sheffield. But like you said, if you look at the '94 Knicks I think you'd find more than one and a half assholes on that team.
3)as for fans, i lived in boston for 10 years, and new york for 18. why would you think i dont know a lot of sox and yankee fans? that is retarded. i have been to many more sox games than you have. and i certainly have heard your unflattering characterization of them numerous times, including as written on this site. how many game have you gone to at fenway? give me a break.
Still not enough evidence. How many fans of each team do you actually know? I sat in the bleachers at Fenway for one game and heard racist taunts from scary looking date rapist types. I want to condemn all their fans but ultimately I can't. OK, fuck it, I will.
4)your look back at all of the past yankees is unconvincing-i doubt that you really buy what you have written (for example-do you really think abreu is is the same league with o'neill when it comes to wanting to win? come on).
How is it unconvincing? It's like an honor roll of assholes. And if O'Neill wanted to win so bad, why didn't he run out ground balls? I loved the guy, but he was as motivated by personal success as anything else. Or rather the fear of personal failure. Give Abreu a few years of fine Yankee living and see if he's still considered a malcontent. To me, that's one of the best things about the Torre era -- he's been able to take guys who were considered dickheads and make them act like decent fellas for at least a little while. And the larger point is that when you win, you tend to forgive guys for being dickheads.
5)sure, duke, detroit, etc all bad. but the point is that detroit was a team mostly built from the draft (thomas, rodman, dumars, etc). these are not teams that every year sign 3 old all-star dudes. that is what is so lame about them. don't give me that "every team is signing hired guns" crap-look at the team that just beat your mercinaries. you just admitted that you can only name 7 of them. that is because they are not famed hired guns.
So the foremost criterion in determining detestableness is whether or not the players were acquired through the draft? WTF? Dennis Rodman, Executive Vice President of the Asshole Club -- but they got him in the draft! And he was a steal in the 2nd round! What's not to like! Isiah Thomas, same thing. Bill Laimbeer, not homegrown, but he made less money than Bobby Abreu, so he is forgiven. Aguirre, Mahorn, etc. Whatever dude. Show me a championship team in any sport that was built entirely through the draft and I will give you another eight dollars. (Closest thing I can think of is the early-90s Bulls, and they were plenty hatable -- plus they had Michael Jordan.) Let's abolish free agency while we're at it.
And I have no problem with this Tiger team. I like 'em just fine.
Remember, your statement was "this is the most detestable team of all time. in any sport. period." Pretty strong words. Pretty weak argument -- they sign a bunch of expensive dudes, some of whom are dirtbags.
6)"johnson, arod and sheffield" did not figure into this team? silly-thye make more than several teams.
I meant that they were not the huge contributors that they usually are. Johnson stunk all year despite his win total, Sheffield was hurt for most of the year, and A-Rod had an off year (by his standards). So it was easy to ignore the contributions of these three dickheads.
7)don't give me that crap that i only bust on the yankees when their season ends. it is just that that is when it hurts the most.
True. I'll give you both of these points. But why then would you choose to hurt your friend? Or were you just trying to enlighten me?
i have been drinking?very "scientific." i suspect i hurt your feelings because i insulted your team. grow up.
8) Well, yeah, maybe, sure, it stung a little bit. But what compelled me to respond was not pain but disbelief that you would show so little class by jumping all over me when my team was down. Grow up? Yeah, I guess getting emotionally invested in sporting teams is pretty immature. Maybe you've grown up enough that you've moved past that point (although I doubt it as far as the Jets are concerned). I can't disagree with the notion that rooting for a team is, as they say, essentially rooting for laundry. It's insane.
I also know that I've lost my connection to the Knicks; it's easy to lose when your team goes through a long, frustrating period of mediocrity. It's human. But I still have my Yankees, hanging on by a thread. I hope I don't grow up too much more.
And have you been drinking? If not you're up at least $8 on me.
Since this may be the last game of the Yankee season, I think I might e-log it.
0-0 going into the top of the 2nd.
4:51 pm
I went out to the kitchen to eat a chocolate chip cookie and when I came back it was 1-0 Detroit. Somebody musta clubbed one. This sucks. It's funny how you can spend like $300 million on a baseball team and when you absolutely need a win you somehow end up with Jaret Wright on the mound.
I just noticed a nice new DVR feature -- when you record a live sporting event it gives you the option to extend the recording time in anticipation of the game running long. I love you, Magic Box.
4:57 pm
3-0, bottom 2nd. The season seems to be ending. There are many ways for a sports fan to come to terms with a big loss. Like Joe Monkeyweb, I cope through anger. I say things like, THIS YANKEE TEAM CHOKED or WE DIDN'T DESERVE TO WIN and WE HAD NO PITCHING and somehow that allows me to separate myself emotionally from the team.
THIS YANKEE TEAM CHOKED.
5:09 pm
The Yankees have seen 23 pitches through 3 innings. Where are our fucking bats? I am already predicting that Torre will catch hell for tinkering with the lineup, but I don't really blame him. You have to gamble sometimes, if it pays off everyone calls you a genius.
I could have gone to play basketball instead of watching this abomination. I need some exercise. Over the past couple of months I think I have officially become middle-aged. Like did you ever go to a barbecue when you were like 10 and they started a softball game and your dad played and he hit a groundball and he tried to run to first base and he was panting and shuffling and basically lugging his fat ass down the line like a pathetic old geezer? That's how I look when I run now.
5:19 pm
4-0. Wright is done. The Yankees are embarrassing themselves. They gave Detroit two extra outs this inning and then of course Pudge came through. I said out loud as he came up, "Of course he's gonna get a hit."
5:30 pm
Jeter is gonna get a hit here and start something or I am moving to the suburbs.
5:31 pm
Jeter struck out and Abreu popped out. Hello Montclair!
5:40pm
The Yankees actually retired the Tigers in order!
Also, government conspiracy alert: they just said they "beamed" some pictures back from Mars. Any time the word "beamed" appears in an article, you know someone is making some shit up.
5:46 pm
The Yankees have not reached base through five.
5:55 pm
6-0, no outs, 2 on, bottom 5th. Yuck.
I will say this, losing big in an elimination game is easier to swallow than losing a close one.
I am going to continue watching and e-logging until the lead reaches 10 runs.
5:59 pm
You know what was great? 1996.
6:16pm
I see pbdotc just commented. I agree that you can't send out Jaret Wright for a game this critical. Not sure how good Wang would be on short rest but you need to try.
But I don't really buy the whole Frankenteam thing. I think this team has good chemistry, just not quite enough pitching and they ran into some good arms in Detroit. I think the biggest factor in postseason baseball is luck. Pitching and luck. And choking. Pitching and luck and choking. And Kevin Brown.
9:20 pm
Sorry, my internet went down, or I'd have responded sooner. We got some nasty-ass Yankee-hatin' commenters out there.
First, I say the obligatory Go O's and Phillies!
Do you guys just wait around all year for this one moment to open your mouths?
First, PB:
1) "I don't really buy the whole Frankenteam thing."
dude
c'mon
All I meant was that the team seems to enjoy playing together, they seem to have fun. They seem to fit together pretty well. Sure they are all highly paid stars, but it doesn't seem like a square peg in a round hole situation. I grew to like this bunch as the season went on.
2) that was a nice moment - jeter's at bat in the 8th - there's a ballplayer who needs a team around him not a bunch of highly paid journeymen.
I don't understand this. What happened?
---
And Kissel, you are certainly welcome to your opinion but it's poorly stated and backed up here.
1) this is the most detestable team of all time. in any sport. period.
???
I might have gone with the early 90's Detoit Pistons, or any Duke basketball team in any year, or maybe the 1919 Chicago White Sox, or even the 2006 Knicks. Oh wait, you have evidence! Here it comes!
2) who do you root for on this team? sheffield? giambi? arod? johnson? wright? mussina? even jeter strikes me as a big turd. there are very few guys you can like on this team.
Actually I like Derek Jeter just fine, even now after learning from your HaloScan comment that he may in fact be a big turd. I like Mussina OK. I like Rivera. I like Bernie. I like Posada OK. I like Wang. I like Proctor. I like Damon. I like Matsui. I like Melky. They're probably all turds, but I need more proof than you saying so. Giambi certainly has his faults but he's been pretty well-liked by his teammates everywhere he's gone. I don't like him, but I don't actively hate him the way one might hate say, a creepy anti-semite like Steve Carlton or a selfish loner like Kobe Bryant. As for the steroid factor, it looks like the whole Baltimore team was on steroids -- like 60% of the successful major league players were probably on steroids. I am not going to criticize Giambi and Giambi alone because he got busted.
There are definitely some dickus mcnuggets on the team -- Sheffield, Unit, and A-Rod in particular. But none of those three was a huge factor this year.
2)Compounding the fact is that most of these guys are hired guns. sure, that is true of a lot of players in a lot of sports but the yankees are in a class of their own.
Breaking news alert! Players are signing big contracts to play ball! And the YANKEES, of all teams, are signing some of the most expensive dudes around! When did this start happening?
Who in sports is NOT a hired gun? There are like 8 guys in all the professional leagues who take less money to stay with the same team. I don't really even know what that means. Is that loyalty? Putting money in the pocket of an already rich owner instead of in your own pocket? Blame baseball for the Yankees' spending habits. Blame capitalism. Blame Steinbrenner (I know, you are about to). But if your team was raking in billions at the gate and didn't spend it on players -- good, expensive players -- you'd be pissed off about it.
Plus, call me up on a Tuesday night in June after the Yankees beat Tampa Bay 19-4 to rail on me about their "hired gun" roster. Don't wait until I'm already feeling the misery of a season-ending loss to cut loose. Same thing you did in 2004.
3)steinbrenner. has there ever been an owner you can hate more?
Agreed. I hate Steinbreenner, too. Since he took over the team this March, I have really had trouble rooting for them. They've become somehow more...detestable.
Oh wait, he's been there for like 35 years. And this season, probably due to illness, he's been much less noticeable and obnoxious than ever before. But I do hate him. Half a point to you for that. Although I may hate James Dolan more. There are actually quite a few hatable owners.
4)aside from guys like you hans-guys that know something about baseball, that die for their team, etc- most yankee fans are the worst, most spoiled fans in the world. they are touchy, classless, ill-behaved, fair weather fools. you make fun of red sox fans, but they seem to me to care more about their team and to know more about the sport. sure, they can act like drunken fools, but so can yankee fans.
Completely unscientific and annoying. Have you really spoken to enough of either set of fans to form an opinion? I doubts it. But if we are going to cast huge groups of people under one single stupid spotlight, let's start with Phillie fans. They are far more revolting than Yankees fans.
On a side note, I don't really know that much about baseball. I had only heard of like 7 of Detroit's 25 dudes. So maybe I am a typical Yankee fan, I dunno. But it does hurt to lose, I care that much at least.
5) and your joking about good chemistry too. that was funny. i suppose it is good chemistry when a loser like giambi who never won anything rags on a player in public for being choker...
All I meant was that the team seems to generally get along and have fun, at least compared to Yankee teams of the past few years. I had high hopes for this bunch.
6) you're
Yeah I got the point.
7) oh, and i forgot to mention michael kay...
I'd give you a point for this except that Michael Kay is not on the Yankees.
Finally, this:
8) i also can understand rooting for the yankees of 1995-1999. not because they won, but because they seemed like a team...it would be so much easier to just ignore the yankees until the team returns to being a team.
I liked those 96-99 teams and the 2000 champions, too -- as well as the 2001 team that fell short against Arizona. But I am sick of everybody canonizing those dudes. This whole "team" thing is so overstated...let's have a look back in time...
Paul O'Neill -- any different than Abreu? A brooding NL star traded to the Yanks in the middle of his career. Continued to brood and act like a twelve year-old throughout his time in NY. Jogged to first on ground balls. Yet he is remembered as Mr. Hustle because his teams won.
Tino Martinez -- expensive free agent signing after home-grown fan favorite Don Mattingly was forced out. Had a big butt.
John Wetteland -- proselytizing religious zealot. Also had a big butt.
Cecil Fielder -- dickhead.
Jim Leyritz -- dickhead.
David Wells -- dickhead.
Ruben Sierra -- dickhead.
Chuck Knoblauch -- nut case.
Jimmy Key -- cracker.
Andy Pettitte -- 'roid abusing bible thumper. Also has a big butt.
Joe Girardi -- old school baseball hardass. Christer. Again, big, albeit shapely, butt.
Roger Clemens -- scum of the earth on every level. And a big butt as well.
David Justice -- wife-beating dickhead.
Wade Boggs -- philandering alcoholic, selfish, stat-obsessed dickhead.
Dwight Gooden -- cokehead.
Tim Raines -- cokehead.
Darryl Strawberry -- cokehead, maniac.
David Cone - sexual deviant.
Ruben Rivera -- petty thief.
Jeff Nelson -- dickhead, head case.
Kenny Rogers -- dickhead, current Tiger.
Hideki Irabu -- fat drunk.
Were any of them outstanding bunters, or hit-and-run artists, or extra-crafty baserunners, or any of that other bullshit that people associate with "team" ball or "playing the right way"? Did they slap hands harder than the current team? Did they party together or save each other in a war or go to each other's houses for Thanksgiving? Did they hit the cutoff man more often? Did they have dirtier uniforms?
Not that I recall. They just won the World Series.
Dude, I suspect you have been drinking. I'll give you eight dollars if you can honestly tell me otherwise.
12:37pm
More from Kissel:
whatever. i never said that anything i said was "scientific." that's the whole point-my OPINION is that this "team" is a joke. i simply cannot understand why you try to stand up for them. you totally miss the point:
This is actually kinda fun.
I don't "totally miss the point" -- it's just that "the point" is old, tired, and poorly-timed. And I am used to smarter stuff from you.
1)people hate teams that have an unfair advantage. the gap between the red sox payroll and the yankees payroll is the entire payroll of the tigers team.
Blame baseball. And again, I don't fault you for rooting for Detroit; were I an impartial observer I'm sure I would too. I take exception with you acting like you are going to make me see the light and stop rooting for my team because you strolled by my blog after they got eliminated and posted a bunch of nonsense.
2)that money is being expendend on dirtbags. sheffield and giambi should not even be allowed to play. they are among the few confirmed steroid users in MLB. arod, mussina, johnson, wright, brown...i can go on and on. most of the guys you have named that you like are holdovers from the team that is understandably likeable (bernie, rivera, jeter, posada). my statement concerning jeter refers to the numerous reports that he is a cold, calculating grudge holder. he clearly has spent the last 3 post seasons blaiming his teammates for losing. i know-not scientific. oh, and its interesting based on your comments of the past how you like damon now. hmmm...
Is the punishment for being a confirmed steroid abuser a lifetime ban? And I love how you conveniently use the word "confirmed" when you yourself know well that tons of guys besides them were juicing. They never failed a test. They never got busted by the league they are employed by. Should we just kick 'em out of the game anyway?
Is Mussina a dirtbag? Give me the Jeter quotes where he blames his teammates and I still doubt I'll think he's a turd. Have I really hated on Damon before? I guess maybe I have a little, but if so he definitely won me over this season. Kevin Brown is not on this team so saying that he is a factor in their detestableness is a bit off. Wright is kinda douchey but sorta harmless. I give you arod, johnson and sheffield. But like you said, if you look at the '94 Knicks I think you'd find more than one and a half assholes on that team.
3)as for fans, i lived in boston for 10 years, and new york for 18. why would you think i dont know a lot of sox and yankee fans? that is retarded. i have been to many more sox games than you have. and i certainly have heard your unflattering characterization of them numerous times, including as written on this site. how many game have you gone to at fenway? give me a break.
Still not enough evidence. How many fans of each team do you actually know? I sat in the bleachers at Fenway for one game and heard racist taunts from scary looking date rapist types. I want to condemn all their fans but ultimately I can't. OK, fuck it, I will.
4)your look back at all of the past yankees is unconvincing-i doubt that you really buy what you have written (for example-do you really think abreu is is the same league with o'neill when it comes to wanting to win? come on).
How is it unconvincing? It's like an honor roll of assholes. And if O'Neill wanted to win so bad, why didn't he run out ground balls? I loved the guy, but he was as motivated by personal success as anything else. Or rather the fear of personal failure. Give Abreu a few years of fine Yankee living and see if he's still considered a malcontent. To me, that's one of the best things about the Torre era -- he's been able to take guys who were considered dickheads and make them act like decent fellas for at least a little while. And the larger point is that when you win, you tend to forgive guys for being dickheads.
5)sure, duke, detroit, etc all bad. but the point is that detroit was a team mostly built from the draft (thomas, rodman, dumars, etc). these are not teams that every year sign 3 old all-star dudes. that is what is so lame about them. don't give me that "every team is signing hired guns" crap-look at the team that just beat your mercinaries. you just admitted that you can only name 7 of them. that is because they are not famed hired guns.
So the foremost criterion in determining detestableness is whether or not the players were acquired through the draft? WTF? Dennis Rodman, Executive Vice President of the Asshole Club -- but they got him in the draft! And he was a steal in the 2nd round! What's not to like! Isiah Thomas, same thing. Bill Laimbeer, not homegrown, but he made less money than Bobby Abreu, so he is forgiven. Aguirre, Mahorn, etc. Whatever dude. Show me a championship team in any sport that was built entirely through the draft and I will give you another eight dollars. (Closest thing I can think of is the early-90s Bulls, and they were plenty hatable -- plus they had Michael Jordan.) Let's abolish free agency while we're at it.
And I have no problem with this Tiger team. I like 'em just fine.
Remember, your statement was "this is the most detestable team of all time. in any sport. period." Pretty strong words. Pretty weak argument -- they sign a bunch of expensive dudes, some of whom are dirtbags.
6)"johnson, arod and sheffield" did not figure into this team? silly-thye make more than several teams.
I meant that they were not the huge contributors that they usually are. Johnson stunk all year despite his win total, Sheffield was hurt for most of the year, and A-Rod had an off year (by his standards). So it was easy to ignore the contributions of these three dickheads.
7)don't give me that crap that i only bust on the yankees when their season ends. it is just that that is when it hurts the most.
True. I'll give you both of these points. But why then would you choose to hurt your friend? Or were you just trying to enlighten me?
i have been drinking?very "scientific." i suspect i hurt your feelings because i insulted your team. grow up.8) Well, yeah, maybe, sure, it stung a little bit. But what compelled me to respond was not pain but disbelief that you would show so little class by jumping all over me when my team was down. Grow up? Yeah, I guess getting emotionally invested in sporting teams is pretty immature. Maybe you've grown up enough that you've moved past that point (although I doubt it as far as the Jets are concerned). I can't disagree with the notion that rooting for a team is, as they say, essentially rooting for laundry. It's insane.
I also know that I've lost my connection to the Knicks; it's easy to lose when your team goes through a long, frustrating period of mediocrity. It's human. But I still have my Yankees, hanging on by a thread. I hope I don't grow up too much more.
And have you been drinking? If not you're up at least $8 on me.
posted by hans q. bungle at 16:26
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