Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

with the Kraken taking a plea, the Cheese stands alone.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

The willow is too close to the house.

This really is a full service blog.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Fuck that bum, let’s go Joe!

I did not have this on my fuck 2024 bingo card.

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Fight them, without becoming them!

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Celebrate the fucking wins.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Pirates v. Reds Open Thread

Reader Interactions

134Comments

  4. 4.

    Villago Delenda Est

    The IMPORTANT thing is that the Texas “team of the deserting coward” Rangers got tossed out of October by Tampa Bay yesterday.

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    As it is tagged Open Thread, 2 generals ordered to fade away.

    In a rare move, the top Marine on Monday forced two generals into retirement after concluding they should be held to account for failing to secure a base in Afghanistan against a Taliban attack that killed two Marines.
    [snip]
    “While I am mindful of the degree of difficulty the Marines in Afghanistan faced in accomplishing a demanding combat mission with a rapidly declining force, my duty requires me to remain true to the timeless axioms relating to command responsibility and accountability,” [Marine commandant] Amos said Source

  10. 10.

    RareSanity

    Good for you Cole…

    Here’s to hoping that the Pirates don’t lead you to year after year, after year, after year of October disappointment like my Braves do to their fans.

  11. 11.

    raven

    @NotMax: Sorry Not Max

    The Boys of October.

    “The 1975 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds may have been the best ever played. Native New Englander Hornig, best known for his suspense novels, shares that view. In the magical fall of ’75, Hornig was driving a cab in Boston; the Sox, despite their ultimate loss to the Reds, helped him move on with his life. More than two decades later he decided to write a book about members of the team. He interviews Luis Tiant, the colorful Cuban hurler who seemed to glance at the moon before every pitch; Carl Yaztremski, the Hall of Fame outfielder who defined clutch; and Don Zimmer, the Sox coach and soon-to-be manager. Hornig also chats with Bernie Carbo, who succumbed to drugs and alcohol after his playing days. As the memoir of a young man reconnecting with the heroes of his youth, this book may mean more to the author than to anyone else, but it will also be treasured by older fans who share those same heroes. Wes Lukowsky”

  12. 12.

    Eric S.

    As a Cardinals fan I’m torn here. If my Birds were not in waiting I would be 100% pulling for the Bucks. They’ve had our number all year though while the Reds have struggled against St. Louis.

    Eh, screw it. GO BUCKS!

  13. 13.

    Jim C.

    Throwing this out there..

    Speaking of sports, some interesting questions in ESPN’s ombudsman’s chat about the “World Leader’s” political inclinations and the presence of Keith Olbermann. (Admittedly, Keith can be a bit of a tool, but he’s OUR tool.)

    http://espn.go.com/sportsnation/chat/_/id/49043/ombudsman-robert-lipsyte

    It isn’t uncommon to talk about how the media skews right (or towards “he said/she said” type reporting) out of fear of being called biased. Wasn’t far back when the NFL caved on talking about the new healthcare options available.

    Just thinking we liberals might be missing the next key battleground.

  18. 18.

    themann1086

    This Philly boy will be gladly cheering for the Pirates this off-season; I know all about decades of futility, and I support my fellow PA baseball team :)

    Let’s Go Bucs!

  19. 19.

    RareSanity

    @JPL:

    Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me 13 out of 14 years…in the immortal words of GWB…you can’t get fooled again.

    But hell, I grew up in Atlanta. I’m a fan of all of our disappointing teams…I’m gonna root for them regardless.

    @raven:

    The good thing about having grown up here in the late 70s/80s is that Hershel Walker allowed everybody to be a UGA fan. I root for them every week except Thanksgiving.

  20. 20.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    I’m on for the Bucs, because fuck it, they deserve at least a full series.

  22. 22.

    PsiFighter37

    Picked up the new Game of Thrones beer this evening. Bought 6 bottles – a few for myself, maybe sell a couple if I want to see how desperate people are once it sells out, and one to pair with my unopened GoT Iron Throne Blonde Ale.

    Thinking long-term that some diehard fan will pony up hard for a set down the road. Is it bad of me to think of beer in investing terms now?

  23. 23.

    Cacti

    @Eric S.:

    As a Cardinals fan I’m torn here. If my Birds were not in waiting I would be 100% pulling for the Bucks. They’ve had our number all year though while the Reds have struggled against St. Louis.

    Same here. I like the Reds a lot better as a division series opponent, but I just can’t bring myself to cheer for a Dirty Baker managed team.

    I’m neutral on the outcome of this one.

  26. 26.

    RareSanity

    @raven:

    Why did the USFL ever try to go up against the NFL? That league probably could have been around awhile if it would have stayed in the spring/summer. Wait…almost forgot, because Trump. What an arrogant ass.

    For a few short years, it was magic…we literally had year-round pro football. They weren’t as good as the NFL, but it was good enough.

  27. 27.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    the latest Boner gambit failed

    House Republicans on Tuesday evening failed to muster the two-thirds majority needed to pass a series of three partial government finding bills.

    anybody know why they need two-thirds for these?

  29. 29.

    Wally Ballou

    @NotMax: They’ve been playing postseason baseball games in October for a century.

    Literally; Game one of the very first World Series was played on October 1, 1903. The opponents were the Boston Americans (as the Red Sox were then dubbed) and – wait for it – the Pittsburgh Pirates.

  30. 30.

    Suffern ACE

    @TAPX486: how are you long suffering? Last year you were moderately mediocre and this year kind of bad. On average you’ve been blah for two years?

  32. 32.

    MikeJ

    @RareSanity: We have year round football. EPL in the seasons God intended[1], MLS in the off time.

    [1] You can’t have jumpers for goalposts in the summer.

  33. 33.

    dmsilev

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Normal parliamentary rules were suspended for those bills, so a 2/3s majority was needed. All three went splat. I guess the GOP has some campaign soundbites to use, but that’s about all they got out of it.

  34. 34.

    MikeJ

    @Suffern ACE:

    discharge votes.

    No., Discharge is to get a bill out of committee. This was under suspension of the rules, which means debate is limited to 40 minutes, no amendments, and 2/3rds vote. Usually used for renaming post offices and such.

    Discharge petitions are used to get a bill that is going to die in committee to the floor without a committee vote.

  35. 35.

    RareSanity

    @raven:

    I haven’t seen that one…do they have the old episodes on the website? I’ll go look…

    The clearest memory I have of the USFL was watching the game when Marcus Dupree got hurt. Man that sucked…that dude was so awesome.

    That and that Doug Flutie/Herschel Walker backfield of the Generals…good times.

  41. 41.

    raven

    @RareSanity: I did not remember that Marcus actually had a comeback with the Rams a couple of years after he blew his knee with the Breakers.

  47. 47.

    PaulW

    As a Tampa Bay fan, I did not respond well to the “Lets Go Bucs” rally cry you offered at the beginning.

    #FireSchiano

  48. 48.

    Violet

    Awesome:

    The conservative activist who gained fame during the 2012 election for “unskewing” polls favorable to Barack Obama explained this weekend his newest revelation: the president is “actually” gay.

    Dean Chambers, founder of UnSkewedPolls.com wrote in the Examiner that Newsweek got it wrong when it ran a cover praising Obama for his evolution on gay marriage last year. Obama was not “basically” the nation’s first gay president for his progressive stance on the issue, but actually so.

    “I do believe that Barack Obama is in fact our first gay president,” he wrote. “But I believe this for entirely different reasons. I believe the man actually is gay. Don’t tell me his marriage to Michelle and having two children disproves that he’s gay.”

  49. 49.

    RareSanity

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    If Jay-Hey and the Uptons can get hot they have a chance.

    The problem is that those two things have never happened at the same time the whole season.

    @raven:

    All added to my Watch Later queue…you da man!

  52. 52.

    PsiFighter37

    @Violet: Wasn’t there some old rumor floating around in Wingnut Conspiracy Rainbowland that basically already made this accusation?

    Also, too, how the hell is this shithead actually making a living doing this stuff? Is it really as simple as making up numbers that I could do in Excel to get on wingnut welfare?

    Also, three, maybe he’s just jealous he can’t impress a lady the caliber of Michelle Obama.

  56. 56.

    dmsilev

    @Violet: Of course, bear in mind that this is the guy who argued that “Nate Silver is gay, therefore his numbers are wrong” and expected people to take him seriously.

  59. 59.

    RareSanity

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    How dare you give me hope? If my heart gets broken, I will hold you completely responsible…you and your bright-eyed optimism, and half-full glasses! :-)

    @raven:

    Uggla isn’t on the roster for at least the Dodger series…Freddie Gonzales hath spoken.

  61. 61.

    scav

    @dmsilev: With all the “He’s gay!” rebuttals to people he objects to, I’m sure someone has already noted that his personal stats are likely highly unscrewed. (As are, no doubt, his paltry few remaining metallic screws — his rockers and hinges having abandoned him long since.)

  63. 63.

    Suffern ACE

    @Violet: there is a little wisdom in the Little Prince about recognizing and uprooting the baobab trees when they are small so that they won’t crush your asteroid. At what point can we just admit that this guy is your below average weed and ignore him.

  67. 67.

    RareSanity

    @efgoldman:

    This isn’t going to end well for me, is it?

    @raven:

    Mr. Uggla I would like you to meet Mr. Mendoza…you’ve been right at his line for futility all season.

  69. 69.

    different-church-lady

    I’ll have you know, Cole, that I am rooting for the ballclub from your fair nearby city, and will be up until they become involved with a reenactment of the first modern World Series.

  74. 74.

    piratedan

    Democrats are the kids that took those building blocks and built these sturdy buildings and high towers and sat back and smiled and pointed out their creations to their parents…… Republicans are the laughing little toddlers who come into the room giggling while kicking it down and scattering the pieces all over the room.

  75. 75.

    themann1086

    @Suffern ACE: The Phillies are, quite literally, the losingest team in sports history. While our suffering pales in comparison to the city of Cleveland, we also went 25 years without a championship in the Big Four pro sports.

  77. 77.

    Bobby D

    “this is the first time anyone other than on usenet or gopher in the old pre-Netscape days has ever said “Let’s go Bucs!” online for a playoff game.”

    Avast! Hold yaarrrrr horses there matey! Didn’t a fella named Gruden take the 2002 Warren Sap-led Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a SuperBowl championship? Why yes, yes he did.

    Yaarrrrrr not the only piratical bunch on the block, Pittsburgers.

  80. 80.

    Suffern ACE

    @themann1086: yes. But two years ago you won 102 games. You went to back to back World Series four years ago. At some point the suffering clock resets.

  83. 83.

    RareSanity

    @Darkrose:

    There’s something I don’t hear/see everyday…a hater of an Atlanta team.

    I don’t know whether to be flattered or offended*.

    *sports fan offended, not “real life” offended

  86. 86.

    Mandalay

    @Violet:

    the president is “actually” gay.

    But wait! There’s more….

    Ted Cruz’s dad manages to outshine his son, calling Obama a Muslim and warning of ‘suicide counseling’ in Obamacare

    All along, the raghead faggot was running death panels, and we had no idea.

  87. 87.

    zombie rotten mcdonald

    Huh, I thought they stopped playing baseball YEARS ago. Like stickball. Or fiddley sticks.

  96. 96.

    MikeJ

    @Culture of Truth:

    I worked at not-AOL. But I had job interview with AOL back in 1994.

    I had a friend that worked there and just kept showing up at Friday afternoon keggers until they decided that if I was going to drink their beer they should hire me.

  98. 98.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Violet:

    Don’t tell me his marriage to Michelle and having two children disproves that he’s gay.

    The stupid. IT BURNS!

  99. 99.

    PsiFighter37

    @Villago Delenda Est: As I said, I think Mr. “I suck worse than 3rd graders at the maths” is just jealous he’s got no game, while Barack has the complete package in Michelle. Definitely has to be some kind of psychological underpinning.

  102. 102.

    SFAW

    @PsiFighter37:

    You gots it all wrong. Dean “Awesome Specimen of Manly Manhooditude, Kinda Sorta – Relative to The Pillsbury Doughboy” Chambers is an acolyte of WIlliam “Don’t Call Me ‘Billy'” Kristol. Chambers has made it his raison d’etre to be correct almost as often as Kristol.

  106. 106.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @SFAW:

    You’re talking about William “Sarah Palin will sweep John McCain into the White House” Kristol, aren’t you?

  110. 110.

    Ash Can

    @Darkrose: I love it when whichever team the Braves are playing just unloads on them and scores a shit-ton of runs, because it shuts that fucking dog-ass chant up.

  111. 111.

    Violet

    OMG! Just heard this. A friend has a friend who works at a Koch Industries company. They got a letter today telling them they would not have health insurance through the company beginning in 2014 “because of Obamacare.” Aren’t they big enough that they’re going to have to pay a penalty?

    The friend has a health condition, so this is going to hit her harder than some.

  112. 112.

    PsiFighter37

    @Violet: Yeah, that’s total bullshit. The Koch brothers have more than enough money to cover their employees. That’s real dick of them, to say the least…although (dare I say) Obamacare will get them lower premiums than Koch was forcing them to pay?

  113. 113.

    Ash Can

    @Violet: They probably figure the penalty is worth it, the schmucks. I hope the friend-of-a-friend is able to find a good deal on the exchanges.

  115. 115.

    PsiFighter37

    @Jay S: Fuck him and the rest of the toolbags that think a government shutdown is a way to get in a funny line on Twitter. Asshole.

  116. 116.

    geg6

    @Jay S:

    Howard is from Pittsburgh. The Squirrel Hill neighborhood, to be exact. The stomping ground of legendary mayor, Sophie Masloff. Who he knows well, by the way.

  117. 117.

    Ash Can

    And PS, I have the Blackhawks on TV and the Pirates on MLB Gameday, and I just saw a still-card ad on Gameday for the healthcare.gov Insurance Marketplace. :)

  118. 118.

    Violet

    @PsiFighter37: I know! It’s a total dick move. My friend was concerned that her company was going to drop their health insurance after she heard from her friend, but her company is not doing that. It’s just the Koch brothers being total dicks.

    @Ash Can: I hope she can too because she has a health issue and has to have coverage. The real dick move is that they didn’t tell them until today–the day Obamacare goes into effect. It’s for maximum effect to make “Obamacare” look like the culprit.

    What total dicks.

  120. 120.

    catclub

    @PsiFighter37: “The Koch brothers have more than enough money to cover their employees.” people do not become and stay billionaires by being generous with others.

    Poor people are generous givers.

  123. 123.

    Radio One

    Chris Matthews is such a stooge. The whole “Gipper and Tip” book concept is so awful, and I can’t stand that MSNBC will be promoting this shit for the next few months.

  124. 124.

    Anne Laurie

    @efgoldman:

    Fucking Xmas layaway commercials on my Teevee.

    Look at the even more depressing side: It’ll take some parents three full months to pay for the cheap crap their kids will find under the Xmas tree…

  125. 125.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    Why is it that after so many years of baseball history, there are still idiots who reach out onto the field to interfere with a live ball?

  129. 129.

    PsiFighter37

    @Craigo: Given that Cole decided to sober up a couple months back, I would highly doubt he’s drunk on anything other than euphoria.

  130. 130.

    Redleg

    The Pirates fans are kind of obnoxious with their continuous loud chanting of the Reds pitchers’ names. I don’t mind hearty cheering for your team but what they’re doing isn’t very sporting. I hope they get their asses handed to them in the playoffs.

  131. 131.

    Honus

    @Redleg: Dear redleg,
    Please go fuck yourself. Arnoldis Chapman is a punk who who threw at McCutchen on the first pitch last season. Your Reds suck. Dock Ellis was right.
    BTW, we just handed your Red their ass in the playoffs.

  133. 133.

    fidelio

    Congratulations, Cole. We’ll see your boys tomorrow night.

    Fannish duty requires me to say I hope the Cards crush the Pirates’ vainglorious hopes promptly, but I do have to admit that a Rust Belt Series between either Pittsburgh and Cleveland or Pittsburgh and Detroit would be pretty cool.

  134. 134.

    Redleg

    Honus,
    I noticed your use of “we” when referring to the Pirates. Are you a member of the team or just a classy fan who likes to tell other to go “fuck yourself.”

    The Reds won their division twice in the last 3 years and the Pirates won a one-game playoff game. How nice for you.

    Having said that, the Pirates were the better team this season. The Reds finished poorly after winning their 90th game.

    But that don’t make it right for you to disparage Chapman or get personal with me. There has been plenty of players hit on both teams- ask Shin Soo Choo about that.

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