Saj, these three commissioners are seeing some sort of scandal in their league.
MLB, Bud Selig, has to deal with an unlikeable lawbreaker breaking the greatest record in the sport.
NBA, David Stern, has to deal with a NBA ref who bet on games he reffed.
NFL, Roger Goodell, has one of his marquee players torturing dogs.
Saj, which commissioner would you want to be least and why?
Bud Selig. At least David Stern and Roger Goodell have tangible problems to deal with. Sure, Stern will have to answer questions about his league's credibility. And sure, Goodell will have to continue to pretend that the psychology of football does not lead to unruly behavior off the field. But Bud Selig? He'll have to sit there and watch a man he despises break one of baseball's most cherished records. All of this while Bonds' ex-mistress poses for Playboy because he reneged on paying her the hush money he promised her. And Selig can do nothing about it.
I don't envy any of these men. Well, except for Goodell who is relatively young and rules the most valuable sports league in the world with the iron fist of Zeus. And maybe Stern, a little. The wall of his office must be plastered with pictures of him shaking hands with ridiculously tall black men wearing ill-fitting NBA caps. But not Selig. Nobody likes him. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have his job. But I'd also have to look like this AND pretend I don't still own the Brewers.
Showing posts with label Barry Bonds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Barry Bonds. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
Two week vacation over
Saj, should Bud Selig attend Giants games until Barry Bonds breaks the record? Should Hank Aaron?
No. And here's why: I don't care. The closest thing I can approximate to Aaron and/or Maris breaking Ruth's records (in my twenty or so years of baseball viewing) would be Ripken breaking Gehrig's streak and McGwire hitting number 62. And this does not feel like that. Remember the pomp that surrounded McGwire as he circled the bases after hitting the most anemic homerun in his career? I cared. I cared, a lot. But I, like many fans, really don't give a s*** what Bonds does. The argument for Aaron to not attend is clear. Why should he put himself out to celebrate a man he cares nothing for? And if no one cares, and Bonds has the Feds breathing down his fat neck, why should Bud Selig support someone who could, in the next year or two, be charged with a crime in which cheating in baseball is implicit.
That being said, I'll be watching when Bonds goes for 756. Swearing at the television and all.
I agree with your personal feelings on the matter. I'll be cursing his breaking of the record. But Bud Selig is the commissioner of baseball. He always goes to these types of things. A non-attendence from Selig, however, is a critique of his own league. Steroids was happening under his nose. Either he was ignorant, incompetant, or dismissive during the steroid era. To then not show up for one of the roid-heads when they break a record is close to hypocritical.
What's your thoughts on Bonds being one short or tied when the Giants go on the road for six games next week? Do the Giants sit Bonds for all those games?
I don't think sitting Bonds for those games is the right thing to do. Obviously almost everyone in America would prefer it (including me) and the Giants will probably do it, but to sit him for four or five games dimishes the achievement. To sit at 754 and say to everyone in baseball that "I want to break this record on my own terms" is disrespectful. Hitting a homerun in a major league baseball game is not an easy thing to do, especially not 755+ times. The Giants and Bonds should not put themselves in a position where they have a choice on the matter.
That being said, I hope they play Bonds just so I can see him try his hardest to surreptitiously sabotage himself during every at-bat until he returns to San Francisco.
No. And here's why: I don't care. The closest thing I can approximate to Aaron and/or Maris breaking Ruth's records (in my twenty or so years of baseball viewing) would be Ripken breaking Gehrig's streak and McGwire hitting number 62. And this does not feel like that. Remember the pomp that surrounded McGwire as he circled the bases after hitting the most anemic homerun in his career? I cared. I cared, a lot. But I, like many fans, really don't give a s*** what Bonds does. The argument for Aaron to not attend is clear. Why should he put himself out to celebrate a man he cares nothing for? And if no one cares, and Bonds has the Feds breathing down his fat neck, why should Bud Selig support someone who could, in the next year or two, be charged with a crime in which cheating in baseball is implicit.
That being said, I'll be watching when Bonds goes for 756. Swearing at the television and all.
I agree with your personal feelings on the matter. I'll be cursing his breaking of the record. But Bud Selig is the commissioner of baseball. He always goes to these types of things. A non-attendence from Selig, however, is a critique of his own league. Steroids was happening under his nose. Either he was ignorant, incompetant, or dismissive during the steroid era. To then not show up for one of the roid-heads when they break a record is close to hypocritical.
What's your thoughts on Bonds being one short or tied when the Giants go on the road for six games next week? Do the Giants sit Bonds for all those games?
I don't think sitting Bonds for those games is the right thing to do. Obviously almost everyone in America would prefer it (including me) and the Giants will probably do it, but to sit him for four or five games dimishes the achievement. To sit at 754 and say to everyone in baseball that "I want to break this record on my own terms" is disrespectful. Hitting a homerun in a major league baseball game is not an easy thing to do, especially not 755+ times. The Giants and Bonds should not put themselves in a position where they have a choice on the matter.
That being said, I hope they play Bonds just so I can see him try his hardest to surreptitiously sabotage himself during every at-bat until he returns to San Francisco.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
The Greatest Baseball Preview in America: San Francisco Giants
Sorry for the delay, folks. What with bikini season starting up in the Northern hemisphere, my bosses at Bikini Inspector HQ sent me down to Miami for the weekend and the wireless in the hotel didn't work.
THE SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
Pitching: I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that the Giants won't pay that dearly for the Barry Zito signing this season. He's a durable, above average, pitcher with great hair and a burgeoning career as a tour de force actor/musician/weirdo. But when the Giants want that $17 million a year to spend on keeping guys like Matt Cain, Noah Lowry, and Tim Linecum a few years down the line, Brian Sabean will have to start hawking Barry Zito Jazz Ensemble CD's out of the back his van in front of the ballpark. What I like about the Giants pitching is that Matt Morris, at 32, is their oldest starter. Cain and Lincecum are 22, Lowry is 26, and Zito is 29. I don't think Lincecum begins the season in the rotation and that's not a bad thing unless Russ Ortiz is the one pitching every fifth day. Bullpen: looks solid with rookie closer Brian Wilson and the progressively uglier Armando Benitez supposedly back to form.
Hitting: Even disregarding the albatross in left field, San Francisco has a frighteningly old lineup with no regulars under the age of 31. They're only non-Barry players with an above average career OPS+ are Rich Aurilia, Ray Durham, and Randy Winn (106, 106, 101) and Aurilia and Winn play positions (1B and RF) where you normally see higher production. Vomit-inducing.
Miscellaneous: A tale of two Barries. Reportedly Zito asked for, and received, the locker directly next to Bonds, an honor that lead Mark Sweeney to be implicated in Bonds' positive test for amphetamines this past season. I know Zito is chill and all, but this is just foolish. I'm not sure how many times Bonds can hear Zito's John Mayer CD before he flips his surfer boy head off like a Pez dispenser. Seriously, Zito, Bonds is high strung.
Giants-related Ridiculous Proposition Bet: I kinda like the idea of setting a line for the Zito head = Pez dispenser thing, but I'm going to go with May 12th as the date Barry Bonds destroys Omar Vizquel's salsa-blaring boombox and Vizquel's cousins subsequently knife him in the parking lot.
Previous teams
NL West
Colorado Rockies
Arizona Diamondbacks
THE SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
Pitching: I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that the Giants won't pay that dearly for the Barry Zito signing this season. He's a durable, above average, pitcher with great hair and a burgeoning career as a tour de force actor/musician/weirdo. But when the Giants want that $17 million a year to spend on keeping guys like Matt Cain, Noah Lowry, and Tim Linecum a few years down the line, Brian Sabean will have to start hawking Barry Zito Jazz Ensemble CD's out of the back his van in front of the ballpark. What I like about the Giants pitching is that Matt Morris, at 32, is their oldest starter. Cain and Lincecum are 22, Lowry is 26, and Zito is 29. I don't think Lincecum begins the season in the rotation and that's not a bad thing unless Russ Ortiz is the one pitching every fifth day. Bullpen: looks solid with rookie closer Brian Wilson and the progressively uglier Armando Benitez supposedly back to form.
Hitting: Even disregarding the albatross in left field, San Francisco has a frighteningly old lineup with no regulars under the age of 31. They're only non-Barry players with an above average career OPS+ are Rich Aurilia, Ray Durham, and Randy Winn (106, 106, 101) and Aurilia and Winn play positions (1B and RF) where you normally see higher production. Vomit-inducing.
Miscellaneous: A tale of two Barries. Reportedly Zito asked for, and received, the locker directly next to Bonds, an honor that lead Mark Sweeney to be implicated in Bonds' positive test for amphetamines this past season. I know Zito is chill and all, but this is just foolish. I'm not sure how many times Bonds can hear Zito's John Mayer CD before he flips his surfer boy head off like a Pez dispenser. Seriously, Zito, Bonds is high strung.
Giants-related Ridiculous Proposition Bet: I kinda like the idea of setting a line for the Zito head = Pez dispenser thing, but I'm going to go with May 12th as the date Barry Bonds destroys Omar Vizquel's salsa-blaring boombox and Vizquel's cousins subsequently knife him in the parking lot.
Previous teams
NL West
Colorado Rockies
Arizona Diamondbacks
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
