Sarcastic

i disagree. telling people that they shouldn't be offended by something clearly offensive and based upon an offensive stereotype is tantamount to telling black people that they cannot be victims of racism because it doesn't exist. I'm not even saying people can't be offended by this, just that expressions of outrage aren't useful on this, especially when they aren't genuine. Let's face it, when you are threatening violence against large numbers of people for wearing offensive t-shirts, you are putting on an act or you are imbalanced. Every time something offensive (though not always consequential) happens, people feel a need to take their reaction to extremes to demonstrate how much they are offended. When the story about the Yale art student hit, people wished she would be barren. Everytime some perverted criminal commits a horrendous act, people talk about sending him to jail to be repeatedly anally raped. This acting is not helpful. There is still damaging racism in our society. If you want to combat it, do that instead of making a big deal over an idiotic but ultimately unimportant racist t-shirt.

Nope, this is unrelated to that. People who are actual victims of racism have a valid complaint. Neither you nor I nor anyone on this board is being victimized by the idiots selling these t-shirts. we have what is generally referred to as a slippery slope, here, don't we? I think the difference between t-shirts, and for example, voter suppression, isn't too complicated. Not to say that ethics and race are simple, but on a practical level, we can usually make these distinctions, can't we? On the other hand, the slippery slope argument can be used the other way. I'm loathe to do that, because it can be used for just about any issue, so you pretty much have to deal with it regardless, unless you adopt absolutes. an assumption that people are faking their outrage at such an image is born from the same mentality that causes people to accuse outspoken racism victims of playing the race card. that is my point. I disagree. I don't think these ideas are necessarily related at all. The argument that anyone who complains about racism is playing the race card is typically based on satisfying the resentment of some white people and their assumption that race problems have been solved and black people should get over it. This argument is based on no such thing. I'm not saying there isn't some racism going on here, just that this particular instance is kind of a silly thing to be outraged about.

Nope, this is unrelated to that. People who are actual victims of racism have a valid complaint. Neither you nor I nor anyone on this board is being victimized by the idiots selling these t-shirts. we have what is generally referred to as a slippery slope, here, don't we? I think the difference between t-shirts, and for example, voter suppression, isn't too complicated. Not to say that ethics and race are simple, but on a practical level, we can usually make these distinctions, can't we? On the other hand, the slippery slope argument can be used the other way. I'm loathe to do that, because it can be used for just about any issue, so you pretty much have to deal with it regardless, unless you adopt absolutes.

So we can't be offended, disgusted or complain about these people because they aren't being racist to us? That's ridiculous. You can do whatever you like. If you want to post angry messages on an internet forum about these guys, go right ahead. I just think that to some extent, the offense is not completely genuine. Sometimes it really is, and that is fine. But to some extent, the responses are often conditioned by expectations, as people want to seem properly outraged at something socially unacceptable. And then there are the people who feel it necessary to compete to show how much more outraged they are than everybody else. All that outrage makes talking about race calmly more difficult, which is not a good thing.

I find this pretty stupid and unfunny, but I can think of things that are worse. I wish people would have a little more respect for other cultures and just not buy them, though. (Not aimed at snoodmonger) Not quite as unfunny as the shirts themselves are all the pompous or downright violent reactions provoked by them. Faux outrage is not awesome. I'm not crazy about real outrage either when it is a reaction to t-shirts. so, you're accusing people of lying when they say they're offended? yeah, i hate those a-holes who are offended by racism, they make me want to just puke. Not lying, just exaggerating for show. that's just dumb. it's this type of thinking that allows any victim of racism to be accused of playing the race card. medgar evers, harry moore, addie may collins, martin luther king. dead, or just playing the race card? by which i mean "exaggerating for show". Nope, this is unrelated to that. People who are actual victims of racism have a valid complaint. Neither you nor I nor anyone on this board is being victimized by the idiots selling these t-shirts.

I find this pretty stupid and unfunny, but I can think of things that are worse. I wish people would have a little more respect for other cultures and just not buy them, though. (Not aimed at snoodmonger) Not quite as unfunny as the shirts themselves are all the pompous or downright violent reactions provoked by them. Faux outrage is not awesome. I'm not crazy about real outrage either when it is a reaction to t-shirts. Where did I say there was nothing worse? I said it was indefensible. That's not an exaggeration. Want to know what really sucks? (Not aimed at sarcastic) Lame people who think they can ascertain "faux outrage" on a message board. I also don't care for people who are willing to casually brush aside blatantly offensive stuff. I really wasn't addressing you with the second part of my post. As for casually brushing it aside, what would you have me do? If I write out an angry post on an internet message board, am I helping anyone? They aren't hurting anybody, they are just being idiots, so I don't see the point in getting angry. If others want to, they are free to do so.

I find this pretty stupid and unfunny, but I can think of things that are worse. I wish people would have a little more respect for other cultures and just not buy them, though. (Not aimed at snoodmonger) Not quite as unfunny as the shirts themselves are all the pompous or downright violent reactions provoked by them. Faux outrage is not awesome. I'm not crazy about real outrage either when it is a reaction to t-shirts. so, you're accusing people of lying when they say they're offended? yeah, i hate those a-holes who are offended by racism, they make me want to just puke. Not lying, just exaggerating for show.

I find this pretty stupid and unfunny, but I can think of things that are worse. I wish people would have a little more respect for other cultures and just not buy them, though. (Not aimed at snoodmonger) Not quite as unfunny as the shirts themselves are all the pompous or downright violent reactions provoked by them. Faux outrage is not awesome. I'm not crazy about real outrage either when it is a reaction to t-shirts.

When a particular player's name comes up, people often refer to his home/road splits, either to say that since he's played so well on the road, he's undervalued, or since he's only hit well at home, he's overvalued. Obviously each ballpark can help or hurt players in particular ways when they play there. But not being a mathematically oriented person, I'm unsure of the specifics. For a player with a wide disparity in his splits, how much of that is due to the ballparks themselves, and how much is due to luck or playing against better/worse opposition or whatever other factors? Basically, how valid is it to say that a player is way over or under valued because of a disparity in home/road splits after factoring in park effects?

I think you'd have a problem doing this for very recent departures, due to the fact that there is probably still some split sentiment on some of them. For example, the summary in the OP. Here's the discussion up til now about Theriot, to the best of my recollection: 2006, savior from Neifi Hotstreak combined with rookie replacing favored veteran factor causes people to love him Hotstreak ends in 2007, people realize he isn't good Trashed repeatedly Full blown anger displacement on Theriot after slow start in 2008

I'm sure he's too sensible to despair after four games. Plus, he's probably too busy enjoying the money. Let's see how sensible he is when it's 40 games in and nothing has changed. This offense looks an awful lot like the pathetic one we saw last year. He seems as though he may be a bit of a competitor, which leads me to believe he'll get frustrated very quickly with this bunch. The pathetic offense that was 8th in runs in the NL last year? That's more mediocre than pathetic. But yes, they are having a terrible day offensively. I think Fukudome's probably experienced that before though.

I'm sure he's too sensible to despair after four games. Plus, he's probably too busy enjoying the money.

Fukudome threw it in to try and catch Weeks, the throw was wide, Weeks slammed into Soto when he was on the basepath and knocked him over, with the ball going to the backstop. The throw didn't look wide to me. It just looked like Weeks hit Soto before the ball got to him.

This thread is a great example of why you should NEVER try to talk with Cubs fans after a loss. I don't think the original post has anyting to do with believing Theriot is a good player. He does make a questionable assertion that Theriot is the team's best option, but the heart of his post is more of a fan philosophy (support the team if they are trying) than an argument about who should be playing, how the team should be fixed, or who should take the blame. Seriously, random cursing at posters is not cool. Neither is making posters scapegoats.

Hate those missed opportunities. Should have brought Pie home and been down by 2.

I have a feeling in ten years no one will call it the Soriano era.

I'd say yes to the first, no to the second.

Does the style of play in Japan allow for breakup slides? I know they have that whole cultural politeness thing. I don't care about how they play in China or whatever. Last time I checked, this is Amurrrca. We slide feet and shoulders first here. I know you're kidding, but for the record, Kosuke wasn't even within sliding range when the ball got to second base.

What does Suppan normally throw? Because Lilly is right around there too. Maybe the gun is a little slow?

Also, is Sheets getting a little tired? He is striking guys out still, but he gave up a walk and two very hard hit balls that inning

What are the pitch counts at for both pitchers and how long til Sheets is out?

Double post, sorry.

I think chances are good Marmol is again the best reliever. He's the youngest and most talented of the group. At worst, I think he'll be a close 2nd to Howry, unless Wood completely dominates while staying healthy all year. Think about how many middle relievers, even closers consistantly put up numbers like Marmol did last year. Marmol doesn't have to duplicate those numbers to still be one of the best relievers around. Relievers' performance varies quite a bit. Marmol could easily have a down season (or one of the others could get hot) and get knocked down a notch or two. We don't know. It seems like he'll probably be the best next year, but we don't really know, and each of our best three relievers are likely to give a good performance. In any case, I'd still love to know how much this will actually cost the Cubs in terms of games. I don't think it is going to make that huge of a difference, but we definitely could use some actual evidence, which nobody has presented and I don't have.

I agree with the reasoning behind not putting your best reliever into the closer role, but I have two questions before I jump on the "what a waste" bandwagon. 1. As good as he was last year, what are the chances Marmol is our best reliever this year by anything close to the margin he was in 2007? 2. How big of a difference is there between having Howry and Wood pitch crucial situations in the 7th and 8th with Marmol in the 9th and the other way around? Marmol will still get his innings in. I kind of doubt this has much of an effect, though I'd love to see some stats on it if it does. This doesn't seem like a smart move, but I don't know if it is worth a single game to the Cubs.

Ridiculous. If this was a witty commentary on Meph's tendency to reply to posts with one word dismissals, good job. If not, please make a point.