As we wait for real sports to begin again, one might note that the Most Glorious el Beisbol Cardinals are tied for first in the NL Central. With the Bastard Man Small Bears, who come into #BFIB-land for a three game series, starting tonight. Not that it matters so much in the larger picture, with Los Doyers, Noo Yawk, and the Dirt 500s being so far and away superior to all chllengers.
But fuck a duck, it matters to me. KMOX made this Charlotte native, listening in on his childhood bedroom clock radio, a fan FOR LIEF. My experience is fairly common for Southern folk of a certain age.
And I am not alone, as I would hazard a guess that a strong plurality of Commentist Party members favour the evil side in baseball loyalty. As a contrast, us #BFIB have almost a true majority within the catacombs of DFO Politburo (including Internet Dad, obvs).
Autumn 2016 was a dark fucking time. This stupid country elected an “out and proud” fascist to the Presidency, while baseball events shattered the Billy Goat Curse. I watched not a single pitch of that off-season. As a result, I am at least not ded by mah own hand. But the well of despair…was deep indeed.
However, silver linings have appeared in the clouds. Demmycrats took back the House in 2018. I see two candidates in the 2020 field that I think (i) would likely win the general; and (ii) would make effective Presidents. And the Cubs have not enjoyed a “Golden Era” of performance, as was universlly predicted. The 2018 side choked away a yuuuuuuuge Division lead, then lost the one-game playoff to the Dirt Packers and then the wild card to the Dirt Donks. I enjoyed Joe Maddon’s face. You could tell he was smelling something other than his own beloved farts.
St. Louis went into 2019 hoping to get back to the 90-95 win plateau, and duke it out for Central supremacy. Paul Goldschmidt joined the club. Paul DeJong (aka Paulie Two Bases) blossomed into a legitimate superstar. But…everything else fell to shit.
Thankfully, all other party invitees decided to join #BFIB in mediocrity. Ain’t nobody no good. Thus, you get to this series with sommet on the line, and a chance to bury the Small Bears good. With a farm system ranked in MLB’s Bottom Five – the future has to be now for Chi*****.
I can put aside my own misgivings about Cardinals management, and a rash of discouraging decisions made with both roster and lineup. I can focus on MAH HATE, which is always my happy zone. The matchups:
30 July (8:15 EST, MLBN) – Yu Darvish v. Adam Wainwright
Waino hasn’t been as bad as feared, in his Swan Song season. That’s not to say he’s been GOOD, mind. Thankfully, neither has Darvish, and Chi**** will pay him lots of moneys to be not good for awhile. Toss-up game, likely the rubber match.
31 July (8:00 EST, ESPN) – Kyle Hendricks v. Miles Mikolas
I absolutely LOVE Mikolas, a fast-working, soft contact-inducing reclamation project (failed MLB reliever who went to Japan and re-invented himself). He is nicknamed The Lizard King for his famed Spring Training feat of eating a live lizard. Baseballists are weird, yo. But #BFIB just can’t hit Hendricks, and it always pisses me the fuck off. Slight edge to Bastard Men.
1 August (7:15 EST, MLBN) – Jon Lester v. Jack Flaherty
Hopefully, trade winds bring a new starting pitcher (please please, Robbie Ray) into town, but not to start this’un. Flaherty is a true gem, despite having horrible HR/FB luck (i.e., seemingly every fly ball he gives up leaves the yard – NAWT sustainable). He’s been really effective in July, and to my eye test, has fully turned the corner. Jon Lester is an asshole, and he kind of sucks now. Strong edge to #BFIB, as long as a Redbird win is not needed to avoid a sweep (then asses will get tight).
Enjoy the games, and savage my kind in the comments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL_U5GSUBpw
My dearest Mr. Hippo,
Allow me to retort.
You certainly know the deep esteem and absolute- dare I say even love!
That I hold for your most esteemed being.
You speak in a clear and cogent voice.
Despite your very Southern upbringings – better yet because of them – your voice for a clear conscience and a better fucking political system than this vile dung heap of hatred that we have now is not only wanted but it’s needed.
I so respect you!
But the fucking Cardinals?
Love the origin story don’t get me wrong I watched WGN every day at 1:10 when the Cubs were at home, that’s how I became a fan.
With obvious exception, your fan base is horrible.
Sully and TAWMMY are in Bar in Southie sayin, “Jesus Christ Sul. These Bastards are wicked haahsh!”
Fuck the Cardinals!
With all due respect.
The entire toasted ravioli choking city can go fuck themselves
Now we’re talking.
This is good, proper HATE!!
I’m not sure why, but I immediately thought of Balls when I saw this.
Balls has that T-shirt.
Balls has that UFO
Balls is buying that t-shirt
Really? You don’t know why?
Anyway, I have four months to achieve two goals I’ve settled on before I turn 40: Get down to 200 and learn to ride a bike. Ideally, those will happen in tandem. There’s a third that gets an extra month, to be able to visit L.A. for a good chunk of the holidays, but those are the big two.
At least that’s something I have control over.
a big part of life is just that, control what you can control. And don’t go insane from all the rest.
Hey did any of you guys watch that debate? Ha ha yeah me neither.
I didn’t watch the debate or The Bachelorette.
Me neither. #BFIB won 2-1, so there is still some good in the world. 😀
I didn’t either but I like the write-ups
I don’t even own a TV.
I don’t even own a computer.
I don’t even own a shoe.
Every post I make I dictate to my aides who then post them. I just sit here naked in my Barcolounger, admiring my extremely long and curly toenails and saving my urine in jars.
I was once like you. Then I got an Eames chair, consumed the urine, slaughtered the aides for food, and now things are going well.
But I agree, fuck pants.
I’d like to do that but I’m busy running my empire into the ground and ingesting lethal amounts of codeine every day. It keeps a fella busy.
I write shit on big rocks, throw them to Earth and these crazy zealots read them and do what they say!
I watched the debate and my blood pressure rose significantly
My blood pressure is fine. Why? Because I don’t watch debates and I’m sitting here buck naked.
It’s just going to take a Herculean, 20-30 year effort to get this country fixed at all. It’s got to start from the ground up (like how the destructive elements did it).
And it’s not just Murrika, look at how Britian is fucking blowing its collective brains out right now.
I don’t feel good about the future of humanity.
Humanity will be fine, but our relative comfort is coming to a very rapid end. It’s funny, it’s only been the last hundred years or so since we’ve gotten a system here in the U.S. of laws and basic public order and communication, etc. And we’ve gone from post-subsistence to a very stratified but fairly decent social structure, but in the process we’ve basically mirrored our discovery and use of fossil fuels – we went from finding oil and LNG to burning through most of it in the blink of an eye relative to human history, let alone the history of the planet or universe, and now it’s all gone. Humans are very good at pissing away resources, and this is just the latest iteration. Unfortunately, the shock of where we were to are to will be is tremendous and will be within the lifespan of a few generations, so it’s going to be noticeably painful.
Someone joked a few weeks back about how in the future people will look back at today wistfully that any one of us is able to run the kitchen faucet all day and not have the cops kick down the door and drag us away. Coming from a desert, seeing how much fresh water is consumed and wasted in a water-rich environment like Oregon/PNW still stuns me sometimes. Knowing what I do from water engineers and hydrologists I know, I’ve mentioned it on Facebook and no one else seems to get that I’m serious, but – God willing I make it another forty years, maybe fifty – towards the end of my life there are going to be people using physical force and violence or at least the threat of it to keep refugees from southwestern states (including Southern California) from coming to Oregon and Washington and Idaho (which is fine with those rednecks in Idaho and eastern WA and OR).
But, also, yeah, millions of people are going to die.
I also have zero faith in Americans being up to the task of making the sacrifices and work necessary to survive. The last President who asked the public to not even sacrifice but to just lower expectations was Jimmy Carter, and look what happened to him.
yeah, Carter was RIGHT in a lot of ways, but that gets you nothing if you don’t know how to implement your right ideas. And there are sooooooo many structural impediments that it’s hard to make any progress at all.
100% accurate that people will die fighting over water in the next 50-100 years. There’s not going to be any healthcare for anybody at that point, which I guess will be much more equal!
I’m not sacrificing anything. I’ll feel much better if someone else sacrifices on my behalf.
I’m a veteran with a case of PTSD a mile-fucking-wide and I’ve done all the sacrificing for my country I plan on doing. It’s your turn now. Step up to the plate.
#BOLTMAN4Emperor
This is the first time in my life I’ve felt the benefit of being old.
I’ve got three granddaughters man. They’re going into a shit-storm.
I’ll guard the mansion on the beach with my life!
MY LIFE!
the first realistic goal has to be getting enough judges confirmed to undo the 20 years of damage that just 4 years of Trump have done that way. Because even if we could pass the very best of our legislative ideas, it does fuckall if/when it’s all declared unconstitutional.
If you get control of the White House and Congress, you can pass a Judicial Act and reorganize the courts to marginalize the Trump judges. Also, judges can be impeached for “good behavior” so you do have options.
Video of tonight’s main event.
https://twitter.com/MLBONFOX/status/1156395132343599104/video/1
So, what’s the most pragmatic body count that is acceptable to people who don’t see the immediate necessity of M4A or something even more comprehensive (the Philly hospital shut down by a P/E firm is proof that they need to be nationalized, too, or else that will just be where the leeches will concentrate)? How many millions of people is it okay to kill in the name of “realistic” politics and goals? Joe Biden’s plan will kill the population of Salem, Oregon every year so that insurance executives and shareholders maintain their wealth and stranglehold on the U.S. population. Every plan that isn’t M4A just kills slightly smaller cities. I mean, it’s a one-horse town, but that 125,000 human beings murdered for profit. That’s the alternative, which means there is no alternative.
So, yeah, what’s your starting death toll? How many hundreds of thousands, millions, of people are you going to kill? How many are you going to render invalid? How many are you going to make live in agony? How many are you going to bankrupt and financial, mentally, spiritually, and physically destroy? What’s the pragmatic opening bid since, obviously, zero isn’t on the table?
Man I’m old. What was wrong with MP3?
Is this like MC5?
Uh, all of us? And the rest of us to be crushed at the jackboot of the high for eternity?
One of my favorite debate moments is when Delaney talked about how he was the only candidate familiar with the health care business and Bernie interjected “It’s not a business!”
Healthcare is hugely entwined with the economy. In ways it shouldn’t be, but you have to be able to actually pass the plan and navigate the landmines, or you’ll help absolutely nobody.
Look at how difficult it was to even get ObamaCare through a 60-Dem Senate with a massively popular (at that time) President.
I want a President who can actually accomplish ANYTHING, not one that promises the moon.
Though politicians are politicians, and promises are part of the dance.
One of the reasons I like Warren is that she talks about things sensibly in down to earth fashion, and seems like someone who could actually navigate the red tape and get some things passed.
Shooting for the moon just means that when you settle, you settle at a LaGrange point instead of back on the launchpad, which is where you’d be if you started negotiating by saying “We’re not going to launch the rocket. We’re not even going to fuel or man the thing.”
I mean, come on, half of us here are lawyers. Would you negotiate with opposing counsel who’s been acting entirely in bad faith for fifty years like that?
No, but grandstanding just like they do isn’t an effective answer. You are right that neither is capitulating to their framing.
It’s difficult also because we on the left are a coalition, much more so than the right. We have to keep our cats all herded. It takes immense organizational and political ability.
And our coalition tends to get discouraged when we don’t get all of what we want. Have to change that mentality somehow, too. I don’t think over-promising will do that. It’s a real tricky balance to achieve.
Or to clarify – I’ve been negotiating leases for about 20 years now. My outcomes are NOT better when I start with a maximalist position. It gets you laughed out of the room, and the client pissed off for wasting their time and money. I ask for things that are important and rational (though I will give when I need to), and make a point about it and then refuse to be bullied. But no theatrics.
The refusal to be bullied is where Dems have had trouble. It isn’t in not being grandiose like the far right. And it was also in failing to notice how bad faith the bad faith actors were.
My politics have changed and shifted and evolved over the years, but as long as I can remember, universal healthcare at any cost has been something I felt you have to support to consider yourself any sort of decent human being. It’s definitely a part of my core values at this point. Anything moving away from that is gladly accepting mass death for someone’s personal gain.
that’s why Obama used ALL of his political capital to get what he was able to get. Massively important. Just don’t want to set our base up to be disappointed yet again.
I pulled that lever believing he was going to make it happen. He did not, and I am still gutted about it. It probably wasn’t a realistic goal given that like 90% of Congress is just terrible, but I really thought he’d find a way. There were provisions of the ACA that were like the absolute bare minimum things we should have been doing that 1000% needed to get enacted immediately, namely the pre-existing conditions provisions, but I was heartbroken at how far it fell short of stated goals. Meanwhile, I’ve had to listen for the last 9 years to every conservative ramble on about how the government took over healthcare (no), socialism failed (nope), and how it was all so much better before (lolno). It’s so fucking aggravating.
What Obama got was a very necessary first step. The alternative was 100% walking away and getting nothing. Obama was a good man who did the very best he could, though he obviously wasn’t perfect.
A plan crafted by the Heritage Foundation for Richard Nixon when Ted Kennedy almost got him to capitulate to a Medicare public option. That’s just an indictment of Obama and his vision and politics. He’s been toadying to right-wingers since he was kissing the asses of Federalist Society law review members at HLS at least. So saying that’s the best he could do is just an acknowledgement of how conservative he always was. He was also the one who went to the mats with Harry Reid not to utterly destroy Joe Lieberman for being the treacherous shit he’s always been because conservatives are going to protect their own. Yeah, he was cool, but so was Reagan in his day. They’re the same mold.
Obama certainly preferred the public option, he just didn’t go to the precipice to say “it’s that or nothing.”
And he would have got exactly nothing.
When people come to realize the problems can only be fixed with expanded public options, that moves the debate left. But you can’t get real policy success by sheer force of will.
He could’ve gone to Georgia after he won and help the Democrat there in the runoff, but he didn’t want to get involved. He had the greatest mass mobilization machine in the world, something unseen since Jimmy Hoffa at the least, and he turned it over to the DNC to kill it. He had a de facto supermajority in both houses, and has a monumental amount of good will and a mandate from the public to get shit done. And he didn’t even try to aim high. It’s the same chickenshit conservatism that got him to bail out the banks with ten to twenty trillion dollars instead of saving homeowners, to let Holder abdicate his duty to prosecute them for destroying the economy, to destroy more middle-class wealth than anyone since Hoover, and to do so in a way that happened to make his biggest donors even richer and more powerful.
He didn’t try because he didn’t care. There’s nothing to indicate that he ever did. He got something done that didn’t piss off his donors, because God forbid he and Congress campaign against the most hated industry in America after ISPs. They got what they got because they didn’t want anything more.
The losers were those of us who bought his bullshit when we should’ve known better.
No, he cared. But he admittedly failed to capitalize his campaign organization effort into a policy movement. He listened to some bad advice, I am sure is part of it. And this shit is just hard.
The time/energy lapse that allowed McConnell to fill the vacuum is a very legitimate criticism.
We have to build on what he was able to do, learn from where he fucked up, and build something. While fending off the right tearing down everything we manage to build up. It won’t be easy, and it won’t be straight lin progress.
The conversation on our side is already rapidly moving left, which never would have happened without Obama. We have to seize this chance and run with it.
I get why people who are paid well to treat politics and elections like sports, but it’s not. We’re not talking about who’s starting for the Raiders or P*ts. Were talking about matters of life and death. I hope he remembers this, but the current NM Speaker of the House said something very true and very profound when were 1Ls – that in the abstract, virtually every decision the President of the United States makes means some people somewhere die. I want the person who strives to make it as close to zero every time, especially on the big things, because the big things are the ones where the numbers become so abstract that 125,000 extra dead per year isn’t that worrisome compared to how many already die for lack of insurance now. And there’s one, maybe two, candidates who are even talking about this election and about elections in general, in this way.
I’m not settling. I was dragged into politics as a kid and watched what compromise and low expectations gets even when you win, even when you win big, if you’re not a real leader with principles guiding you towards actually make life better for people. Fuck those people. And that’s where I am, where Obama was the best Republican president we’ve had since Nixon, maybe Ike, but his politics and stance were where Reagan was in the 1980s. So I’m not going to vote for another Republican with a D next to their name. I held my nose in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016 and I all I got for it was loathing for myself for not standing for something and loathing for the people who told me that the only path to success was not having principles. Maybe I’d be the Speaker of the House now if I hadn’t been so disgusted and angry at what I was seeing every day when I moved back home, or maybe I’d be somewhere worse, but at least I can respect myself for standing by some kind of principles. I will never vote for Biden, O’Rourke, Harris, or Buttigieg. Abstractly, my vote doesn’t matter. Oregon will always vote Democrat and the Electoral College exists. Right now my opinion only matters to the extent I do something about it because I’m not changing anyone’s mind and I don’t want to.
But anyway, “pragmatic” and “realistic” are and have for the last 35 years invariably been weasel words for “right-wing” and I am getting sick of people not acknowledging that. I’d love to have opposing counsel across from me as spineless and pliant as Democrats because their starting position always seems to be “You win, how much should we pay you for your time.”
(sees Trevor Bauer throw baseball over the centerfield wall like a petulant child)
“Look at this idiot.”
(Reds trade Puig and prospect for Bauer)
“Should’ve seen that coming.”
Amir Garrett: “He threw the ball? Everyone knows you charge your opponent’s dugout!”
Yeah, this guy running in the enemy like Dilios at the end of 300 is soon to be our Closer once they trade Raisel Iglasius.
Probably not for the next 10 games.
I missed the debate. Did someone show some moderate tendencies that can allow me to vote for them soberishly?
Bullock said some things about nuking Korea, I think
Nate Bronze thought he had a great debate performance which should remind you Nate’s political instincts are shit.
And his YouTube preferences.
Splended.
Also, is Yankees Facebook/Twitter freaking out that they haven’t traded for a pitcher, to the point of “This team’s going to collapse and miss the playoffs?” I mean, you already know the answer.
They’re aware the deadline is tomorrow, right?
Hey, it’s Last Comic Standing, except not named Last Comic Standing!
Time for a reminder that CNN thought it was wise to hire top MAGA chuds to run its election coverage this cycle and formally announced its intentions to become FOX News Lite.
Fox is for right-wingers, MSNBC for lefties and the sane, CNN is for moe-rons
Don’t judge me for watching CNN. To quote Bruce Willis in “Armageddon”, “Its not a choice; its a lack of options.”
CNN is eager to put on air every clout-chasing former lobbyist or finance shithead, so this isn’t a surprise.
the biggest danger of our playing footsie with “out and proud” Fascism, is how quickly the lapdog media rushes to normalize it.
Good Lord.
America: Nobody but us should have nuclear weapons. If you try to get them, we will bomb and/or invade you.
Rest of the World: Um, why exactly is that?
America: Because only we can be trusted to use them responsibly. We are the moral leader of the world.
ROW: So, you won’t initiate a nuclear exchange?
America: Well, let’s not be hasty.
So…who “won” the debate?
No one because debates are pointless
Me, because I’m drinking scotch
Winner!
100 to 0.
cool fight in PIT/CIN
Gotta give Puig credit. He left town fighting for his team. Literally.
that he did, magical pony. That he did
Amir Garrett, confirmed badass.
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Mistakes were made
LEEROYYYYYY JENNNNNNKINS!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLyOj_QD4a4
LOL. Spot on.
Okay, so its not a Bengals-Steelers thing. Its a Cincinnati-Pittsburgh thing.
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