Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

No Kings: Americans standing in the way of bad history saying “Oh, Fuck No!”

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

Dear legacy media: you are not here to influence outcomes and policies you find desirable.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

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

Trump should be leading, not lying.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Decision time: keep arguing about the last election, or try to win the next one?

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

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Fight them, without becoming them!

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Let’s Go Bucs!

Reader Interactions

144Comments

  1. 1.

    PsiFighter37

    Cole, just a request from me, and not to sound like an asshole…but could you post about politics more? The rest of the crew is great, but I started reading this blog several years ago because of YOUR political take. We hardly hear from you about anything in the political sphere anymore.

  3. 3.

    John O

    Rooting hard for the Pirates tonight.

    I miss your take on politics, too, John, but my policy has been and will always be, “It’s your blog, and you’ll blog if you want to.”

  7. 7.

    Ash Can

    I’ll be switching between this game and the Hawks-Blues. Nothing personal to St. Louis, because it’s a cool town, but I’m hoping to see their teams do a double crap-out tonight.

  8. 8.

    Cassidy

    Free fight card on Fox Sports 1. It’s followed by The Ultimate Fighter, which is an annoying reality show, but the end always has a fight. The fight tonight is between two women and supposed to be the fight of the season.

  9. 9.

    raven

    @Certified Mutant Enemy: Mike Fink (also spelled Miche Phinck)[1][2][3] (c. 1770/1780 – c. 1823) called “king of the keelboaters”, was a semi-legendary brawler and river boatman who exemplified the tough and hard-drinking men who ran keelboats up and down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
    Contents
    Mike Fink: Well, I don’t have any trouble livin’ up to mine. I am the original ringtail roarer from the thunder ‘n lightnin’ country! I’m a real snorter and a head buster! I can out-run, out-jump, out-sing, out-swim, out-dance, out-shoot, out-eat, out-drink…

    Davy Crockett: Out-talk?

    Mike Fink: Yeah, out-talk, out-cuss and out-fight anybody in the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers put together!

  10. 10.

    MikeJ

    @the Conster:

    I like my Sox’s chances to go all.the.way

    I remain convinced that at some point they will let me down. They’re just building up our optimism before they stick it to us.

  12. 12.

    joes527

    Yay head injuries! At least there won’t be any replacement referees spoiling the entertainment.

  13. 13.

    the Conster

    @MikeJ:

    I heard that in Eeyore’s voice. I’m a third generation Sox fan, and you just have to Believe! It’s Boston Strong time.

  16. 16.

    schrodinger's cat

    @PsiFighter37:

    Cole, just a request from me, and not to sound like an asshole…but could you post about politics more? The rest of the crew is great, but I started reading this blog several years ago because of YOUR political take.

    I second that motion.

  17. 17.

    Suffern ACE

    @NotMax: hmm. A dinner of ice cream and Mac n cheese. The only thing that could make that any more American would be eating while watching the Biggest Loser.

  18. 18.

    Judge Crater

    There is somebody named Cole on the mound for the Bucs. Is this synchronicity or something?

  22. 22.

    cathyx

    Slathering Heinz ketchup on the mac & cheese and Hershey’s chocolate syrup on the ice cream?

    See? A thread everyone will love.

  25. 25.

    Jacel

    With the SF Giants absent from the playoffs, I’d be happiest to see the Pirates and A’s in the WS.

  26. 26.

    Thlayli

    @NotMax:

    “Buccos” = short for “Buccaneers”, a slang term for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

    “NLCS” = National League Championship Series, the next round of the baseball playoffs. The winner of tonight’s Pirates-Cardinals game will play the Dodgers.

  27. 27.

    Botsplainer

    Saturday, we had dinner at a high end steak house – 50 day dry aged bone-in New York Strip weighing in at 18 ounces. App was filet mignon potstickers, sides were roasted Brussels sprouts and Parmesan crusted truffle fries. Wife had really great salmon. Dessert was awesome carrot cake, and I got the ripe cheese and port.

  28. 28.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @raven: I’m still in mourning that the Mike Fink riverboat restaurant is gone. It was a great reasonably priced place to eat on the river. We used to have criminal defense lawyers assn monthly meetings there back in the day.

    More recently for me, Christmas buffet, watching the sun set, was always fun. Now we have a much more elegant buffet at the Palm Court, where I once had to explain to Mr. Q why Greg Cook expected his name to be recognizable to Mr. Q. I saved the day by complimenting him on his lovely Bengal tiger paintings, and telling him I’d often admired the original white tiger canvas in the office of a friend of my father’s.

    At one point the Mike Fink was going to be renovated and reopened this year, but the partnership fell though.
    Oh, and Cole, I’m not as amused by the Pirates 2013 success as some others who comment here. Just saying.

  30. 30.

    Drunken hausfrau

    The crazies are wrecking the country… Besides drinking, what should we be doing???

    Also, OT, but I got a call from some outfit called corporations for character calling to sell something/ raise money for family feature films or some such nonsense., I chewed the woman out .. “do you have children? Do you think you should make their viewing decisions?”. “hell, no! I respect my children(teens) enough to let them choose their own books, their own movies, their own games! You sound like a right wing nut job outfit! Quit calling!

  31. 31.

    SiubhanDuinne

    see if the Buccos can go to the NLCS for the first time in decades.

    October 14, 1992, may be a date that will live in infamy for you, but it is one of my all-time favourite moments in sports history. Never thought I would say this, especially since I’ve always kinda liked the Cardinals (after the Braves and the Cubs, of course), but now that Atlanta is out of contention I would actually like to see P’burgh prevail. So…Go Bucs!!

  33. 33.

    PsiFighter37

    @Botsplainer: Damn that sounds good, particularly the filet potstickers. Last time I went to a steakhouse in NYC, I was severely underwhelmed (Wolfgang’s)…I’ve been told I need to go to Peter Lugar’s, but I haven’t made it there, and making a reservation is always a pain in the ass.

  34. 34.

    Drunken hausfrau

    @raven: I love me some firefighters… And soldiers. Why does a country that produces wonderful first responders and military grunts allow itself to be ruled by pantie waisted limp dick idiots?

    +3 ish, let’s calling 3 large…

  35. 35.

    trollhattan

    Among the short list of recent things that make me happy:

    Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings were set to release their newest album Give the People What They Want back in August. Jones announced in the spring that she had been diagnosed with cancer and the group was forced to put the album on hold. After ongoing treatment and a successful operation, the singer has announced that she is now well enough to return to music.

    Give the People What They Want is set to be released Jan. 14, 2014 and will lead up to the band’s first performance in almost a year. The show is scheduled to take place at the Beacon Theater in New York City Feb. 6, just a month after the album release.

    pastemagazine.com/articles/2013/10/sharon-jones-the-dap-kings-announce-new-album-rele.html?utm_sourc…

  36. 36.

    raven

    @Drunken hausfrau: Funny, I was shooting the shit with another “liberal” vet as we watched and I said “let’s see some teabaggers do this”. Then we realized that some Georgia firefighters probably WERE teabaggers!

  37. 37.

    Gin & Tonic

    @PsiFighter37: It’s Peter Luger, not Peter Lugar’s (or Luger’s). And yes, if you are in NYC and want a steak, that is the place to go. Bring cash, and plenty of it.

  40. 40.

    Gin & Tonic

    @PsiFighter37: Trying to figure out what got moderated, but yes, you need to go there. But note that it is Peter Luger, not Peter Luger’s.

    Bring plenty of pictures of dead presidents when you go, as you will need them.

  43. 43.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    Our alibi witness changed her testimony on the stand this afternoon. A complete 180 from where she was interviews ago. I need to go and get my suit ready for court in the morning. I am not having a good day. And I don’t know what shoes I am going to wear because the dogs have eaten them all. Shit.

  44. 44.

    NotMax

    @Thlayli

    Thanks for the explanation.

    Seeing “Dodgers” without “Brooklyn” immediately preceding is still just wrong.

    /geezer

    Do certain baseball aficionados in Somalia (granted, likely less than a handful) root for the Pirates?

  45. 45.

    Roger Moore

    @Certified Mutant Enemy:

    Was piracy ever prevalent on the the Three Rivers?

    The Pirates got that name in the 1890-91 offseason. 1890 was a bizarre year in MLB, with many of the players leaving their teams to form a new Players League. The PL folded after the one season, and the Pittsburgh Alleghenies took advantage by signing as many good players as they could without regard to where they played before their one year in the PL. For raiding what other teams saw as their players, they were nicknamed the Pirates, and the name stuck.

  49. 49.

    NotMax

    @PsiFighter37

    When in the NYC area last month, was taken to a Burton & Doyle steakhouse.

    Ordered prime rib, which came on the bone and was a portion which several sumo wrestlers would struggle finish off. Asked the waiter for horseradish, and was presented with two separate mini gravy boats – one with creamy sauce, one with a coarse grind topping, these in addition to the containers of au jus and also house steak sauce that came with the meat platter.

    The steak and also the creamed spinach side: A++. The onion rings I’d give a B+ at most, but there sure were a mess o’ them in the serving.

    Had leftovers from the doggy bag for three nights afterwards.

  50. 50.

    raven

    @SiubhanDuinne: Which part? That a historic house caught fire or that Georgia Firefighters might be teabaggers? You know we had that thing last year where the dude killed a white cop and wounded a black officer. It did not help race relations around here. The killer is a stone fucking low-life and he’s raising hell in court.

  52. 52.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Big R:

    I don’t want to be a downer, but I lost two friends (in completely unrelated parts of my life) today, both to cancer. One, the principal bassist of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; the other, the widow of a very good friend who died a couple of years ago. Can’t claim to have known either of them well, but I counted Bo as friends more than acquaintances, and I am saddened to see them go, especially both on the same day.

    That said, the older I get, the less I find I indulge in traditional grieving. Yes, I am sad that my friends are dead, but at some point in the last few years, something shifted so that my natural sadness also carries an acceptance that this is what naturally happens. This only just occurred to me, so I haven’t explored it yet.

  54. 54.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @NotMax:

    Seeing “Dodgers” without “Brooklyn” immediately preceding is still just wrong.

    Yup. I still think of the Mets as an expansion team.

  59. 59.

    trollhattan

    @Big R:
    Absolutely! That they’re a wonderful band and she’s an over-the-top-good singer is icing on the proverbial cupcake.

  65. 65.

    NotMax

    @SiubhanDuinne

    While you’ll have to pry the meat from my cold, dead tongue, do enjoy portobello mushrooms (drizzled with olive oil and garlic and broiled on both sides) on a bun, eaten just like a hamburger.

  69. 69.

    fuckwit

    This is really an interesting mix of content for a blog. It’s got politics, food, sports, and TV as its staples. My guess is that’s because that’s what Cole likes, which would make perfect sense. Occasional culture stuff and science too, just to mix it up.

    I like the politics and food threads, and the science. The sports and TV go over my head since I don’t watch either.

    I really need a fucking life though. If I were healthier I’m sure I’d be doing other things than hanging out here.

  72. 72.

    MomSense

    @NotMax:

    Yes, I need the bacon double cheeseburger patch! And I was never much of a bacon double cheeseburger person until I decided to give them up.

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Two of my favorite things.

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Yes, please! I love dal and would definitely add that recipe to the rotation. I am thinking that I might add some fish to supplement my diet. I am giving up meat because of high cholesterol but for some time now I have been considering it because of the resources required for meat production. For the past two years I have really limited meat consumption and have been buying it from local farms.

  73. 73.

    John O

    @efgoldman:

    My first Sports Illustrated, at 8, a gift from my grandparents, had Ted Williams with a Washington cap on the cover and I believe was dated March 17, 1967.

  74. 74.

    hilts

    @PsiFighter37
    @ Botsplainer

    The best steak I ever ate was at Peter Lugar’s, but you NEED TO KNOW this before you go there:

    “Peter Luger Steakhouse does not accept any credit cards except the Peter Luger Card.”

    h/t peterluger.com/carap.cfm

  78. 78.

    schrodinger's cat

    @MomSense: I usually supplement my fish and shrimp dinners with some lentils or beans, economical and healthy. Also too, nutritious and delicious. I do eat meat, mostly chicken and beef once in a blue moon. Do you like yogurt?

  82. 82.

    Cacti

    And if the ‘rats lose tonight, you all can go back to paying as much attention to them as you did for the past 20 years.

  84. 84.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Cricket: As explained to a foreigner…

    You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that’s in the side that’s in goes out, and when he’s out he comes in and the next man goes in until he’s out. When they are all out, the side that’s out comes in and the side that’s been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out.
    When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out. When both sides have been in and all the men have been out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game.

  85. 85.

    Linnaeus

    Gotta cheer for those Rust Belt cities*

    *With some exceptions, such as AL Central rivals to the Tigers.

  87. 87.

    David Koch

    Red Sox fan here, but I have to root for the Dodgers

    If the Dodgers win it all then Magic Johnson will be hoisting the trophy which will cause the teabaggers to commit mass suicide.

  90. 90.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Betty Cracker: My home away from home during the years I lived in Tampa. I watched the wine list grow from a mimeographed multi-paged list to a book, bound in leatherette and secured to the table by a chain. Great, great restaurant,and the best banana daiquiris on the entire fuckin planet.

  94. 94.

    NotMax

    @scav

    Love, love, love whatever that hot spicy powder is that they offer to sprinkle onto the food in real Ethiopian restaurants.

    Waiter went totally saucer-eyed when the two of us dining asked for a fourth bowl of the stuff, having polished off three and still not finished the entree.

  95. 95.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    The rain which has been teasing us all day finally got down to business around sunset. Sea air + rain = HBM sleeps tonight.

  96. 96.

    chrome agnomen

    @efgoldman:

    those were some dark days, and they continued on for another dozen years. 8 teams in the league, and grateful to finish 7th. don bud din, pumps green, malzone, piersall, fornieles, ike delock. ok, i’ll shut up now. dr strangeglove.

  98. 98.

    Darkrose

    @David Koch: /incoherent screaming and flailing

    I am on Team Anyone But the Dodgers. I was rooting for the Braves because I’d rather have seen them take the LDS than the Dodgers. Right now I’m torn: I really wanted to Pirates to make it all the way, but I honestly don’t know that they’ll be able to beat the Fighting Puigs.

  99. 99.

    Redshirt

    @efgoldman: We’re doomed!

    No, really, this Sox team is pretty special. It’s strange, unlike any Sox team of the current successful run (late 90’s to now). The only legitimate weakness, I think, is middle relief. And with extra pitchers in the bullpen for the playoffs, that weakness is de-emphasized.

    I like their chances. But any team can get hot/go cold at seemingly a moment’s notice, so you never know!

  100. 100.

    MomSense

    @raven:

    20 years! That is great.

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I do like yogurt and I use it quite a bit for tzatziki and also for a similar sauce I make to go with falafel. I use green chilies, cilantro, garlic, and some spices.

  101. 101.

    PaulW

    @Certified Mutant Enemy:

    Was piracy ever prevalent on the the Three Rivers?

    The nickname came from an incident where the team – then named the Alleghenies after the river – stole a reserve player from another team’s roster, an act deemed “piratical”. When the controversy grew, the team renamed themselves “Pirates” as an act of defiance.

  102. 102.

    PaulW

    @Redshirt:

    I’m a Rays fan.

    I hope the Red Sox get swept by double-digit runs, and that your team falls apart during free agency and you slip down to 5th place behind Toronto and New York next season.

    /not bitter, no not at all bitter

  103. 103.

    furklempt

    @Darkrose:

    I think I’m just irritable, given the score and our current prospects, but I’ve heard so many people scoff at the notion that the Bucs could possibly take a series from the farking red birds when, actually, a Cards win tonight would tie the two teams for the season. The Bucs aren’t really outmatched, though they may be bested, in this specific game.

  104. 104.

    drkrick

    @efgoldman:

    Hell, I remember both of the original DC teams (now MN Twins and TX Rangers) and that Ted Williams managed one of them. And was a horrible failure at it.

    Ted didn’t win any championships, but horrible failure is a bit strong. His ’67 team finished 10 games above .500, the best record in the history of the “expansion Senators” in DC and in the first 16 years of the franchise’s existence. They fell to only 70 wins in his second season when Bob Short (spit) started selling off most of the legitimate major league talent to pay off the debt he incurred buying the team.

    My FiL was an usher at Griffith Stadium and a loyal and knowledgeable fan of the Senators and the local NFL team since the ’40’s, as well as the Nats in more recent years. He’s always believed that Williams (who he joined the paying fans in taunting during his playing days) did a pretty good job given what he had to work with.

  105. 105.

    MomSense

    @Redshirt:

    I like their chances.

    Now you’ve gone and done it. You have to spin three times counter clockwise and spit. The hopes of sox fans everywhere are counting on you.

    I always think of an elderly gentleman I became friends with at church. He was a lifelong sox fan, born in 1919 and died in 2003. A bunch of us brought baseballs to church the next Sunday to remember him. He would be loving this team!

  112. 112.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    Not watching baseball, but I am making chicken posole for dinner in honor of today’s rain. Tomorrow will be hot and dry again, which hopefully will not trigger another weather migraine.

  115. 115.

    Darkrose

    @furklempt: I really wanted to see the Pirates win, and I figured they had a chance against the Cardinals. However, I think Kershaw, Greinke, and Ryu would shut down the Bucs offense, and a Dodgers pennant victory is not an acceptable outcome.

  118. 118.

    Higgs Boson's Mate (Crystal Set)

    Not much of a baseball fan, but why all the Dodger hate? Jeebus, they deserve something just for surviving the McCourts.

  121. 121.

    Cacti

    @furklempt:

    I think I’m just irritable, given the score and our current prospects, but I’ve heard so many people scoff at the notion that the Bucs could possibly take a series from the farking red birds when, actually, a Cards win tonight would tie the two teams for the season. The Bucs aren’t really outmatched, though they may be bested, in this specific game.

    I’m a life-long Cardinals fan, and I’ve always thought the ‘rats had a good chance to take this series, especially after splitting the first 2 in STL. I also think unless ownership gets a case of the cheapies, they should be a playoff contender for multiple years.

  124. 124.

    Redshirt

    And that’s all she wrote. Last we’ll hear from Cole for awhile, since Pittsburgh sports threads are the only things he does these days, and you know…. The Steelers. :(

  125. 125.

    patrick II

    Alvarez cannot touch Wainright’s curve. Good night Pirates. I am a St. Louis fan, but I wish the Pirates weren’t playing the Cards in the first round. I wish they had a longer run.

  128. 128.

    James E. Powell

    @Linnaeus:

    Gotta cheer for those Rust Belt cities*

    *With some exceptions, such as AL Central rivals to the Tigers.

    Is that any way to build Great Lakes Solidarity?

  130. 130.

    burnspbesq

    Tough night for the Buccos, but they had a terrific year and are well put together for a string of good seasons. From 57-105 to the playoffs in three years is pretty remarkable. Mad props to Neil Huntington and Clint Hurdle.

  132. 132.

    FlyingToaster

    @NotMax: Berbere.

    Back when Penzeys had a magazine, they included a (reader-submitted) recipe for berbere. It was hotter than our normal vindaloo concoction.

    You can also make an acceptable injera with club soda. Who knew?

  135. 135.

    burnspbesq

    @handy:

    Why all the Dodger hate, you ask? Why NOT.

    Family tradition. My grandfather was a Giants fan, so I learned from a very early age that both the Yankees and the Dodgers were worthless scum.

  136. 136.

    Radio One

    at least I can now enthusiastically root against either team that wins the NL pennant this year in the World Series. Great year, Bucs.

  137. 137.

    Faisal

    This is just like ’04-’05 where the Steelers looked like they’d finally go to the Super Bowl again after so many years, then fell to the ‘Pats and haven’t been back to the Super Bowl since. JUST LIKE. #gobucs

  138. 138.

    Wally Ballou

    This Detroiter is hoping for a Tigers-Cards rematch in the WS. First things first tonight.

  140. 140.

    fidelio

    My condolences, John. They were a helluva team, and if no one breaks up the set I think they’ll continue to be impressive.

  141. 141.

    PaulW

    @efgoldman:

    My, my. What happened to the mild-mannered librarian?
    Don’t want my granddaughter asking you where the Dr. Seuss books are.

    THEY’RE OVER THERE. BEHIND THE BOOKS LABELED BETRAYAL AND FAILURE!

    (curls up into fetal position) (cries)

  142. 142.

    slim shady

    Cole’s still talking politics, he’s just in a George Orwell kind of mode these days. Steve the Cat is actually the symbol for those free loading welfare frauds. The dog would be the ineffective Conservative, trying hard to find his way and get his share of the pie, in a cold, mean world.

    Pittsburgh sports teams are, of course, the spineless left. They talk a good game, but in the end they fold like a cheap suit.

    Cole himself is the stand-in for Barack Obama. Came on too strong, too fast. Kind of distant, comes across as above the fray. Tunch is what happens if we continue on this bloated free spending path.

    So, when you see Cole sitting in his underwear, gnawing on a rib, with some floozy he picked up at a blog convention, you know you’re simply reading it wrong. Art isn’t supposed to be easy.

  143. 143.

    slim shady

    And the many broken links on the blog roll would symbolize Detroit Rock City. Cole would fix them all if you gave him money. We can’t do that though, because he might spend it on another rack of ribs instead.

  144. 144.

    4jkb4ia

    “We definitely opened a lot of people’s eyes this year,” McCutchen said. “We can’t get away from everything we did this year. We can’t let this one game define our year, because we definitely had an amazing year, a year to remember, a year that’s going to go down in the books forever.”

    I am just going to let him say it. And thank you.

Comments are closed.