K-Town

I have 1000 posts here because, for the most part, it's good baseball talk here. These folks don't always agree with me (in fact, almost never), but more often than not they get me thinking. For a change, it's nice to be on the same page as these folks.....

Do you have to give up your seat for viewing the current Cubs meltdown? I guess it does not matter...since it happens EVERY YEAR. When "things turn sour" (I guess that means them not winning.....status quo in Cubland) it wont matter. They won it all. It would be wise for Cub fans to ignore the South side for the forseeable future. They actually have a shot of becoming the baseball team in this town (if they arent already). I would have thought that an impossibility a few years ago. Its now a probability. Complaining about anything down there is going to be rightfully viewed as jealousy and sour grapes. Save your venom for the Cubs front office. They deserve it. I'm not a Cubs fan. That said, I doubt very much if Cubs fans are "jealous" that your manager is an illiterate goon. It's much easier to be a good winner than a good loser. Unfortunately, White Sox fans have failed at both.

Inappropriate would be torching Mariotti's car, verbally berating his children and kicking his dog. Inappropriate also was Ozzie's behavior during the Texas game when Sean Tracy wouldn't bean Blalock. If Mariotti had positioned his argument in such a way that didn't inflame emotion, Ozzie's response would have been completely out of line. However, I stand behind the fact that it is reasonable to get angry if someone attacks you personally and mouth off. You just need to use appropriate words that go beyond being extremely irritated. I think that your scale is a little skewed. A little calibration may be in order. Berating his children, torching his car, and kicking his dog would be appalling and disgusting. Homophobic tirades littered with expletives by a "professional" baseball manager is, indeed, inappropriate.

You're all absolutely right about the derogatory sexual slurs. I'm not debating that at all. They have no place anywhere. But you know what? Someone decides to badmouth me in the newspaper, I'm going to use every swear word I can find. It may not be professional in the sports sense, but attacks upon a person don't have to be professional. Both of them just need to keep their traps shut if nothing productive is going to come out of them. It wouldn't be appropriate if you said what Ozzie said, either. Just because it's the same way that you would handle the situation doesn't mean it's the right way. He's an idiot for saying what he said....... and it's am embarrassment to himself and his team. It's pretty much a black & white issue.

Yes it is, considering Dusty's name is Johnnie B. Baker Jr. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Whatever. Mariotti is given free reign to spill his bile not only through the Sun Times but also on Around the Horn. Is swearing about Mariotti any more childish than constantly referring to Dusty as the Rev. Johnnie B. Baker or the litany of childish pet names he's come up with with any variety of sports personalities through the years? Lest we forget, before last year's World Series, Jerry Reinsdorf was one of his favorite targets for ridicule and childish taunts. I mean seriously. There's a saying about people in glass houses. Yes, it is more childish. If Guillen wants to give Mariotti a pet name........ more power to him. But that pet name can't be littered with expletives, and end with "[expletive]".

The guy is an absolute tool. I respect what he's done with the team, but that doesn't give him a free pass.....

...and he called Marriotti a "f*g" to the media last night. Are you serious?

That's an enormously bold thing to say. I'm sure there is alot more that you and I don't know about as opposed to what we DO know about. I played organized baseball for 16 years and in that time, I saw fights occur over every possible thing imaginable. I've even seen a fight between a 1B and a 2B because the 1B thought that the 2b had thrown the ball too hard to him on a ground out. I have no problem with suspending Barrett, but 10 games is a ton. That's funny! (The 1st & 2nd basemen fighting).

Collisions happen at home plate all the time. Never (that I'm aware of) has there been a punch thrown because of it. Therefore, AJ surely couldn't have expected a punch to be thrown. Therefore, I call it a sucker-punch. I'm surprised that some of you are actually proud enough of this incident to include the video in every post you make......

How do you know? He may have had a very valid reason. Not that I disagree with Barrett's suspension, because it does seem appropriate to me. I do disagree with you purporting to know what was said between these guys, and knowing that he had no reason. Please, share your knowledge with us. Did you speak personally with Barrett or Pierzynski? Agreed. If someone of your sex makes you really mad, sometimes you snap and punch them in the face. If everybody who ever did that went to jail, there would be far less free people. And if everybody who didn't like what someone else said chose to punch them, it would be one heck of a society that we live in. Even Barrett said that he was wrong. I'm not sure why you're all still defending him. AJ did nothing and said nothing. It's all on video. 10 games doesn't seem like much. He sucker-punched the guy, for crying out loud. You can't do that on a baseball field. Nobody "defended Barrett". Read the post. I even noted that the suspension is appropriate. I want to know how YOU KNOW he didn't have a reason, which is what you wrote - Yes, I saw the film, and I could detect nothing, however, unless I was there the whole time, I cannot definitively state something like I knew it. There could be all sorts of history between these two that you are not privy to, right? You don't know what Pierzynski may have said earlier in the game, do you? Yeah.......... sure. Even Barrett said it was uncalled for. Unless he's lying, I'm right.

6 games. So a part-time player (pitcher) gets 6 games for running around 50 already fighting individuals to piledrive someone for no apparent reason and gets only 6 games. An everyday player punches a guy who just ran him over and gets 10 games. That was a fight, though. If the "dude" was out there in the middle of a fight, he at least had the opportunity to defend himself......... or should have. Barrett sucker-punched a guy who had no reason to expect it, and was completely defenseless. To me, there's a difference. Besides, at least Farnsworth's assault was effective. :lol: I don't even know what most of that means. The "dude" Farnsworth piledrived was not in the middle of a fight, and even if he was, it does not make the actions any more right than what Barrett did. Pierwhatshisface had more opportunity to defend himself as the "dude" did. Maybe you didn't see the Farns in action, I don't know. I'm not going to argue semantics on whether or not it was a sucker punch, but when words are exchanged face-to-face and one ends up getting punched, I do not consider that a sucker punch. I do not condone Barrett's behavior, and I think he should be suspended, but 10 games is a bit harsh in my opinion when conjuring up memories of suspensions past. I don't recall seeing the Farnsworth incident (I do remember the classic incident when he ran to home plate to level a guy.......... I don't condone that either, but it was pretty cool). I'm just going by what you've told me. I assume there was a fight going on, and this "dude" was caught up in it. Maybe that's not the case. There's no way that AJ could have expected a punch to be thrown at him. There have been HUNDREDS of home-plate collisions, and no punches thrown. This was definitely out of the ordinary. I don't like AJ either. But you can't just make a decision to punch a guy on a baseball field when things don't go your way. I think that's a precedent that had to be set......

6 games. So a part-time player (pitcher) gets 6 games for running around 50 already fighting individuals to piledrive someone for no apparent reason and gets only 6 games. An everyday player punches a guy who just ran him over and gets 10 games. That was a fight, though. If the "dude" was out there in the middle of a fight, he at least had the opportunity to defend himself......... or should have. Barrett sucker-punched a guy who had no reason to expect it, and was completely defenseless. To me, there's a difference. Besides, at least Farnsworth's assault was effective. :lol:

That was TEN years ago. I think it's safe to say that things are different these days.

How do you know? He may have had a very valid reason. Not that I disagree with Barrett's suspension, because it does seem appropriate to me. I do disagree with you purporting to know what was said between these guys, and knowing that he had no reason. Please, share your knowledge with us. Did you speak personally with Barrett or Pierzynski? Agreed. If someone of your sex makes you really mad, sometimes you snap and punch them in the face. If everybody who ever did that went to jail, there would be far less free people. And if everybody who didn't like what someone else said chose to punch them, it would be one heck of a society that we live in. Even Barrett said that he was wrong. I'm not sure why you're all still defending him. AJ did nothing and said nothing. It's all on video. 10 games doesn't seem like much. He sucker-punched the guy, for crying out loud. You can't do that on a baseball field. However, ten games is much more than what baseball has handed out for similar offenses. I'd like to see some consistency in the punishments. As it is right now, there is none. I'm not sure what's similar, though. Are there other recent incidents of this sort of thing.

How do you know? He may have had a very valid reason. Not that I disagree with Barrett's suspension, because it does seem appropriate to me. I do disagree with you purporting to know what was said between these guys, and knowing that he had no reason. Please, share your knowledge with us. Did you speak personally with Barrett or Pierzynski? Agreed. If someone of your sex makes you really mad, sometimes you snap and punch them in the face. If everybody who ever did that went to jail, there would be far less free people. And if everybody who didn't like what someone else said chose to punch them, it would be one heck of a society that we live in. Even Barrett said that he was wrong. I'm not sure why you're all still defending him. AJ did nothing and said nothing. It's all on video. 10 games doesn't seem like much. He sucker-punched the guy, for crying out loud. You can't do that on a baseball field.

Wasn't the Alomar incident 10 years ago? Perhaps they've attempted to raise their standard since then. Have anything more recent? Frankly, if you punch a guy in the face for no reason, you're lucky if you don't go to jail. Missing 10 baseball games seems pretty trivial.

Trust me, many Cardinal fans feel the heat on this already. It's been too long. We're DYING for a world championship. In the meantime, it seems a little selfish to complain about 100-win seasons for consecutive years. I LOVE the make-up of the recent teams, but there's definitely an empty spot............ and 1982 was a LONG time ago. So yeah........ there's some substance to what you're saying.

An anecdote I once heard about Gibson (he's a bit before my time... by about 30 years). I have no idea if it's true or not, but I like it: At Spring Training, a rookie was stepping into the box to face Gibson. The rookie starts digging into the box, and McCarver stops him. "Um, kid, you probably don't wanna do that," he says to the rookie. The rookie steps out of the box, KICKS THE DIRT BACK IN to replace the dirt he dug out. Gibson still drilled him. You NEVER dug in against Gibson, because it shows that you were comfortable and would NEVER allow that. If there is a category for intimidating batters, Gibson would be in the Top 10. Bob Gibson was a great, great pitcher. Assuming that he was able to get hitters out because he intimidated them isn't doing justice to how well he actually pitched. Bob Gibson being a headhunter is a myth that has been embelished quite a bit over the years.

D-Lee is 30 years old, and has stolen 20 bases ONCE in his career (21 back in 2003).

Gibson rarely hit batters.

I think it's "trailer", not "trailor". Good grief. Did you double-check the paperwork from your lease just to be sure? You must have completely missed the irony of this, and instead choose to continue taking shots. Carry on.......

I think it's "trailer", not "trailor". Good grief.

Bernie's horrible. He's his own hero.

I agree with you, and I've read other, similar complaints. Hopefully word will spread that this is an issue, and it'll be changed. They've already made minor changes (like smaller foul poles), due to "public outcry".