TruffleShuffle

I went with Florida back at the beginning of the year and I'll stick with them now... my feelings on the Cubs are well-stated. :cry:

I get that, and it's become common vernacular, but unfortunately it also affects people in a negative way. I used to say it in the way that most people say it before I started helping with S.O., but I stopped pretty soon after that. For one thing, I don't want to be at Summer Games or even swim practice surrounded by athletes and use the word in a way that is insulting to people. And also, I have been around athletes when someone nearby said "[expletive]" to mean "stupid", and have seen that they don't like it. I can say something is asinine or ridiculous without using a word that can hurt people, so I dropped it from my vocabulary. People who are mentally [expletive] shouldn't feel bad about being something that's beyond their control. I daresay if white people were a minority and the word "white" came to mean "stupid", myself and other white people would come to feel kind of bad about ourselves.

describing things as [expletive] certainly isn't politically correct on any level. i wish you wouldn't do that. Why are you always so high and mighty? Unbelievable. Retarted according to websters can also mean "To cause to move or proceed slowly; delay or impede." I'll use whatever words I please, I don't need you or any other PC police on my case. If people are allowed to preach hatred in this country and incite violence according to the first amendment then I damn well can use the word "retarted" You can say whatever you want, as long as you understand that people are hurt by it. Let's not pretend that you meant the word "[expletive]" to mean anything but "stupid" or "dumb" above. I coach two Special Olympics sports and have done so for a few years now. Special Olympics has, since its inception, been described as an athletic organization for mentally [expletive] people. I believe last year, the mission statement was changed so that it serves "intellectually disabled" people. Call it excessively PC or whatever you like, but the reason it was done was because of the athletes' perceptions of the word "[expletive]." You used it above in a negative sense - that this discussion is stupid. Almost universally it's used as an insult or a put-down: "Why are you acting so [expletive]?" "Don't be such a [expletive]." "Why do I have to do this homework, it's [expletive]." The fact is, a lot of mentally [expletive] people have emotional problems and low self-esteem relating to their conditions. When a word that has been used to classify them (for school, medical purposes, Special Olympics, etc.) is constantly used as an insult, it's pretty demoralizing. So feel free to keep using "[expletive]" in the way that you did above, but hopefully at least from now on you will understand the way that it hurts some people. (btw the word is retarded, not retarted)

My personal opinion is that it's not a tribute to the group so much as it is something that identifies with the region you're located in. I also think Treebeard's point is somewhat valid... we might not necessarily understand why people are offended, but if a large portion of the particular tribe or culture is offended then you have to accept that they probably have pretty good reason. I also agree that a much better way to pay tribute to the Native Americans would be to give them a cut of the sports team's merchandise, helping out people who are living in the worst of conditions on reservations. Don't name a team after a tribe in "tribute" and then watch your administration get rich off the name while the people you're supposedly honoring are living in abject poverty. Another point that nobody has brought up is that most of these mascots, logos or names depict Native Americans as a warlike people. Look at the logos above. Most have an arrowhead in them. The Atlanta Braves do the tomahawk chop. The Florida State Seminole rides around with a spear in his hand. It doesn't portray the positive aspects of Native American culture; it portrays the warlike imagery, which is what white men recognized back in the old days, when most of the contact they had with Native Americans was through battle. It's like the "24" criticism by Muslim and Arab-American groups. If Muslims were being shown in other dramas and sitcoms as productive members of society, it would be less offensive. But because we only seem to see Arabs on TV when there's terrorism involved, it projects a negative image.

Well that's one way of looking at it... the true Illinois native Americans might prefer getting their land back over having a college attended by very few native Americans name its mascot after a tribe that used to live there.

Yes but not a typical Cub move... they're not big on guys who get on base a lot.

Remlinger versus J-Roll and then three lefties... sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Be realistic... she wouldn't hop into bed with you unless you are a movie star or her brother.

Novoa has 19 BBs in 24 innings... not exactly a strike-throwing machine

You're automatically cool because you're a meteorologist! Hey, I want girls to like me for my looks, not my brains and personality. :lol:

I posted a pic of mysef in the social thread and nobody hit on me by PM... I feel hurt :cry:

Everyone get a room!

Once again, Baker plays it like an idiot and gets lucky... we'll take it!

Nice to see the Cubs draw zero walks against a guy averaging 6 BB per 9 innings... nice patience fellas!

Now Pie for Jeremy Hermida, I'd do that deal so fast it'd make your head spin!

I am now dumber for having read this thread.

Lee is still the MVP right now with Pujols making up ground. I think the other two are longshots at the point. Lee has been looking pretty tired lately; hopefully the day off yesterday will give him some energy back. Also, word is that he and ARam have been struggling with sore backs from carrying the Cubs' offense all year.

So Pete Rose bet on baseball... is betting on baseball worse than cheating to amass a Hall of Fame resume, and lying to Congress? Hmmmm...

Should've traded them before the deadline... now we're stuck with them.

You forgot to add "and play in front of their promising young players." Not if the Yankees don't sign him first!

Standings after the most recent week, including my savage beating of the Man Eating Tarps... Man Eating Tarps 101-62-7 Vance's Cubbies 95-64-11 Larry Needs A Walker 92-67-11 Thrillride 92-67-11 Kerry Needs A Woody 91-74-5 Fire Dusty! 85-77-8 All-American 80-76-14 Cubtownies 79-83-8 Redbird Storm 70-92-8 Longhorns 61-94-15 Ankiel's Dealer 63-96-11 Seth's Water Midgets 51-108-11 Some of the Cub fans are not holding up their end of the deal... namely, Seth's Water Midgets with their 4 players on the DL and one empty pitcher's spot! WTF? And good move having Roy Oswalt on the bench!

Roy Oswalt was a 20th rounder too... I'd say he has a fair amount of raw talent. Sometimes every team just misses on a guy's potential.

I wouldn't be surprised if an NL team takes a stab at him. As someone pointed out above, he survived largely on smoke and mirrors, so he might be able to do OK over a 60 game stretch in the NL against hitters who for the most part have never faced him.

Kerry's ERA+ is 117, Park's is 101... not very close

His ERA in July was just barely over 3 coming into today and he has a bad inning so you bump the thread? And now his July ERA is over 4. You can find all the obscure stats you want, but the painful fact of the matter is that he's no longer a good pitcher. The only painful thing is having to read you chime in with a negative post whenever he struggles. Notice you didn't bumpity bumpity bump after he put up 8 innings of 2 run ball in his previous start. Don't read the thread then... or ignore me. I started this thread over 2 months ago on the premise that Maddux would be only an average pitcher next year, and that paying an average pitcher $9M would be a major waste of money for a team that doesn't have unlimited resources. Even though he has had a few good games, his stats still completely support that idea. But I guess since we're Cub fans we're supposed to accept mediocrity.