I actually took Terrys advice and caught up on some shows: The Bridge - Watch it, good show and Diane Kruger HOT.

Agenda:

Bud Bashing
Chris Sale almost threw his arm off!
D Rose needs to explain himself and Eric Murphy got a BOO BOO last night
8 days to Bears nonsense and.....
Hopefully, more Les Drops as he continues to turn into Mike Murphy.


Listen or Don't, You will comment anyway.

Kind of amazing the All-Star box score looks like a normal game. Can't be said for any other sport. Makes me kind of proud of baseball.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

i saw the game was on tv so i got immediately bored and went to the bar and the game was on there too and we were all just making fun of it

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

I didn't watch, but it's nice that finally New York City and it's athletes got some recognition. You don't get to see much of the Yankees in the flyover states.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I actually always loved the game as a kid and I still do now. Its lost its luster since the WS thing.

I dont know why.

Last night was just boring

I agree it was boring and has lost something since the WS thing. I appreciate they want to make it "count" but connecting it to homefield in the WS is just bad IMO.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

The World Series thing shouldn't make it mean less. It actually makes it mean more. The problem is the managers aren't really playing to win. They're getting the guys in and everyone is having fun. It's like a hybrid of an exhibition and a real game. That's why a set-up man who didn't do anything in the game a bunch of other guys didn't do just as well could win the MVP.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I dont know if its coincidence or not, but the fucking around (Bonds picking up Hunter after robbing him; Kruk and Johnson; etc) seems to be gone from the game. That sucks.

Another words, I want to see Big Black Studs pick up other Big Black studs and One tall skinny redneck intimidate a fat redneck

You should have spent 3 hours reading up on the WAR of the players instead.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

They should make it a reality show with a secret prize given to the winners. Like before the first pitch we find out the prize is a tricked out Harley for every guy on the winning team. You know they would bust ass to win just for the fun of it.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

Why do you feel it's bad? If you look at it as two distinct and separate leagues sending their respective champions to the World Series, then having a game with the best players in each league decide that advantage makes sense. I just think we've gotten to the point where most fans don't see the leagues as separate entities, it's just MLB or "baseball".

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Those are the things that ruined the game for me. A major league hitter afraid to face a pitcher? That's embarrassing. I want to see the best guys in the game and I want to see them bat at least three times.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

The regular season records determining home field makes the most sense since its all just one league

I think it is bad because of the fact you could have a team like say the White Sox bust their ass all year and have the best record in baseball. They make it to the WS and let's say they play the Cardinals who barely got into the playoffs as a wild card team. Yet the Cardinals get homefield that year because the NL won the All Star Game. That just seems really bad to me. The work a team puts in during the regular season should give them the homefield during the WS.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I thought the Kruk thing was funny.

How did Hunter robbing Bonds homerun ruin it? That's exactly what you describe.

I liked the jovial nature of the game in the 80s and 90's and I think the effort was the same back then as it is now

It's not all on the fans: kicking Houston to the American League after 50 years in the National League, throwing away all their rivalries and necessitating expanded year-round interleague has kind of made things feel a lot less separate to me. It was okay when Milwaukee flipped because that was only about half as long, plus Milwaukee had history as an NL town with the Braves. The Astros thing just makes no sense.

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It is and it isn't one league. Yeah, there's inter-league play and the umpires work both leagues, but they can't even decide to play by the same rules. I certainly don't think it's fair for regular season records to determine homefield advantage when some teams play the Mariners and the Astros 36 times and others play the Cardinals and the Pirates that many. Maybe the league that wins the overall inter-league series should get the advantage.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

I don't like the grabass. It's like when Sammy made out with Mark after his homerun while Trachsel cooled his heels on the mound. That gets back to the topic of what sports are about. Are we just admiring feats or is their a context of winning and losing and competition between teams?

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Ratings were up.

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Yeah, they've definitely moved toward the concept of a single league, but MLB is one of those staid old line organizations that change very slowly. It's like turning the Titanic. They should decide what they want to be and be that thing. Are they a single league or are the two leagues separate and distinct? Is the All-Star game an exhibition or does it count?

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Totally with JORR on this. We are OLD SCHOOL.

The Kruk thing also turned me off. Show some fucking pride you fatass.

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Reality is your friend, not your enemy. -- Seacrest

I agree. I'd like more separation between the two leagues (separate umpires, six-game interleague with one team and that's it) and a pleasant exhibition game, rather than half-assing that it counts. I see proposals that want to realign baseball into Western and Eastern Conferences and puke.

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I like it ONLY in the All Star game.

The Sosa thing was dumb

Hey now, Grace shook his hand first.

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The Mariano Rivera thing was cool.

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It was all dumb. The most I could condone is a nod.

I don't really have a problem with the All-Star game being a showcase for the individual abilities of the stars like the NBA or NHL games, but I do agree with what Hatchetman touched on earlier in that the thing that has always made baseball's game special is that it looked and played like an actual real game, not just a bunch of guys showboating. I think the golden age of the All_star game is back in the 50s and 60s when the NL was dominating with pretty much a set line-up. You knew Willie was leading off and playing center. The players cared so the game mattered. It didn't require manufactured competition. I hated when Frank left in the middle of the game. If that fat fuck doesn't care, why should I?

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Problem then is the unbalanced scheduling.

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

It'd be nice if we could find two cities to bump the AL up to 16, balancing the schedules, but what are they? and where do we find cities for their AAA, AA, Advanced A, A, Short Season A, Rookie teams?

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Put two more in New York but the Mets and Yankees aren't going for that.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don