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Sammy Sofa

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Everything posted by Sammy Sofa

  1. Sammy Sofa
    People aren't stacking up Brenly, Rozner and Kaplan as if they're the Three Stooges of baseball racism and on equal footing. Like I said, this is something deeply ingrained and it's present across both society and the media to various degrees, hence why cliches like "lazy" non-white players are something you see or hear everywhere and not just in Chicago. It's pretty damn far from "a few bad apples;" it's basically a deeply rooted part of our society.
  2. Sammy Sofa
    Is this guy the Chinese sulley or is sulley the American that guy? http://www.opposingviews.com/i/health/2012-olympics-chinese-doctor-accuses-michael-phelps-steroid-abuse
  3. Sammy Sofa
    Lee was criticized for being too quiet and not enough a leader, and then got raked over the coals when he dared suggest that he's encountered racist fans.
  4. Sammy Sofa
    If they even mention it at all; most either focus on calling him and his deal untradeable or talk about his offensive production with the caveat of being on a terrible team, as if to say, "he's only putting up decent numbers when compared to garbage!"
  5. Sammy Sofa
    My kid is a huge Soriano fan, so maybe I am biased and try to block out the bad stuff, but could you please cite some examples of people pouncing over "anything and everything he does wrong since he got here"? I admit I do not have the best memory, but it seemed that most of the media members went to great lengths to talk about how hard he works and how great of a guy he is. For example, when Felix Pie was brought up, there were stories all over the place that Soriano (being the great guy that he was) let him live at his house and took him under his wing etc. I have heard several TV analyst fawn over Soriano and his work ethic. There may be a few members of the media that have been tough on him but by and far, Soriano was very well liked and a very popular player until his production slipped in relation to his salary. Once his legs started to slow down and his production dipped the criticism came from some circles and fans started being more critical of him. What I remember of the Pie stuff was people reacting with horror, much as they did when it was reported that he and Castro are buddies, like Soriano was somehow going to give them baseball AIDS.
  6. Sammy Sofa
    It's almost comical how the drinking and whoring of guys like Grace and Farnsworth were just chalked up as "boys will be boys" shenanigans and a chuckle, nevermind one of them was spearing guys on the field and dishing out beatdowns.
  7. Sammy Sofa
    The "territory" is filled with really, really stupid people; that's the problem.
  8. Sammy Sofa
    Zambrano compounded things by being nuts. Zambrano and guys like Milton Bradley don't excuse the [expletive] treatment that guys like Jacque Jones, Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Soriano, Castro, Alou et al have received.
  9. Sammy Sofa
    Actually, the Prior stuff just played to these type of base prejudices, since the underlying current to pretty much all of the criticism/jokes was that he was weak and unmanly, so just substitute one prejudice for another. Toss on the anti-illectualism because of his degree and the perception of him being "arrogant" because of it and you've got a nice, roiling meatball stew going. The Wells stuff I honestly don't remember at all. And you're right about the expectations with someone like Soriano, but again, I'd argue a lot of that is fueled by inherent frustration and resentment over "one of them" getting that kind of money. He's obviously a flawed player, but the unwritten goal with him has seemingly been to pounce on anything and everything he does "wrong" since he got here. I mean, really, should be surprised that what fans often want, and what sports journalists often cater do, are just our dumber, more base instincts? And there's little more base than playing on our fears/resentment of "the other."
  10. Sammy Sofa
    And hey, you know what trying to avoid taxing Strasburg is? AN ATTEMPT TO BE ABLE TO WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS.
  11. Sammy Sofa
    That's not how starting pitching works.
  12. Sammy Sofa
    That was Reed Johnson. Exactly. To really oversimplify something I think is pretty complex, I think there is this undercurrent of anger and frustration and resentment towards Latino or black players who seem to be effortlessly talented, to the point that the almost automatic reaction is to prop up or root extra hard for white players who have to work that much harder just to stick around. Those talented non-white players often can't win for trying; if they're outgoing and gregarious or even just have strong opinions they're seen as being arrogant and cocky. If they're quiet and keep to themselves then they're selfish and bad leaders and clubhouse cancers.
  13. Sammy Sofa
    Like how they savaged Rod Beck? It sounds like you're perceiving this as some kind of racially-motivated quest to attack minority players; it's not. The basis is that racism and racial prejudices are so deeply ingrained with so many in this country that they jump to certain criticisms based out of those prejudices without even thinking twice about it. It's not an active idea like "oh man, I hate that dirty brown Starlin Castro, I'm gonna go get him!" It's something buried deep inside so that when they see him forget how many outs there then the "natural" response is to think, "oh, he's lazy, he can't focus!" and make a big deal out of it and then not give it a second thought when someone like Rizzo does it.
  14. Sammy Sofa
    Hill and (especially) Borowski had their fans because of stupid [expletive] like sawing off fingers and inexplicably being perceived as an excellent defensive catcher (again, this comes into play when it was just automatically assumed time and time again that Hill was better defensively and called a better game than Soto) or being really, really sweaty. The crux of this is stereotypes when it comes to criticisms. Hispanic and black players are typically "lazy, can't focus, don't have their head in the game, don't try, aren't leaders, whiners, crybabies," etc..
  15. Sammy Sofa
    Ryan Theriot is kind of the gold standard of the double standard. That guy managed to screw up pretty much every possible way you can on the field, acted like a raging douche, didn't have half the talent of Starlin Castro, yet you STILL have Cubs fans who bemoan that he's gone and would rather have him over Castro.
  16. Sammy Sofa
    We're not saying they're automatically racist against all non-white players; the idea is that many are too quick to jump to cliche, racial tropes as soon as they decide they don't like a non-white player, often for things said or mistakes that white players can seemingly get away with.
  17. Sammy Sofa
    [expletive], even that is revisionist history; you had guys slamming him as "selfish" before 2002.
  18. Sammy Sofa
    When did Sammy Sosa ever get demonized? He pretty much just faded into obscurity once he stopped being good. Sammy Sosa was loved by most of the fanbase until he started declining,a and then he did a few things that made it seem like he didn't care about the team. If Sammy Sosa became a hitting coach right now, he'd probably be treated the same as McGwire. Yeah, no. Until that recent TV spot with a bunch of Cubs HR he was basically persona non grata for nearly a decade with the organization. Hell, talk to the average group of fans and you'll find a bunch of them can't stand Sosa and will claim they never did. Plus, like I said, the guy got a ton of criticism at home even when he was at his best. Giants fans showed more group love for Bonds at the height of his steroid scandal than Cubs fans did of Sosa.
  19. Sammy Sofa
    Relative to him being Jeromy Burnitz, yes, ridiculously so. Especially when contrasted with Sosa. I mean, really, people talked about him running out pop-ups and ground-outs like he was healing sick kids with his grit and belly-fire.
  20. Sammy Sofa
    That's really, really glossing over things. Yes, Sammy was beloved, but I struggle to think of another major sports star who was simultaneously that insanely popular and also despised/criticized by his local fanbase and media for every little slip up he had (or perceived slip up, like how he only hits home runs when it doesn't matter or there's nobody on base or he only cares about himself and his stats and blah-blah-blah).
  21. Sammy Sofa
    Relative to him being Jeromy Burnitz, yes, ridiculously so. Especially when contrasted with Sosa.
  22. Sammy Sofa
    Hundley got hated on because he sucked, he was expensive and he complained and acted like an [expletive]. He basically went out of his way to make himself as hateable as possible, like a junior-league Milton Bradley. He's definitely an extreme exception in how despised he was.
  23. Sammy Sofa
    Wait, why talk about him getting the last 5 outs? Part of what was so stupid about what happened was that he was, yet again, still pitching in a game he didn't need to still be pitching in.
  24. Sammy Sofa
    Tim mentioned there are a "lot" of studies out there that apparently would argue in favor of being cautious with Strasburg; maybe he can point some of them out.
  25. Sammy Sofa
    By next April he'll have wasted away to nothing!
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