Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Not all heroes wear capes.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

The revolution will be supervised.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

He really is that stupid.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / Now They Know How the Rays Feel… (Open Thread)

Now They Know How the Rays Feel… (Open Thread)

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Here’s a photo of the Baltimore Orioles playing the Chicago White Sox this afternoon in a game that is closed to the public because of the recent unrest:

empty_camden

The most salient fact is that a young man — about the same age as the baseball players — had his spine snapped for no apparent reason while in police custody. Certainly the most minor repercussion of all is that a bunch of millionaires will play a game without spectators.

But despite the flippancy of my headline above, seeing Camden Yards empty like that makes me really sad. Not about the stupid game. About everything.

Open thread.

[Photo via Buzzfeed]

Reader Interactions

49Comments

  4. 4.

    Poopyman

    It’s a beautiful spring day in Maryland. Hope it’s a peaceful evening, because it’s going to be beautiful, too.

    Betty, it’s easy to let events get you down (especially seeing Zandar below and the pic above). Step away from the computer and go for a walk in the neighborhood. I’m gonna feed the cats and go finish some stuff I need for the weekend.

  5. 5.

    Tree With Water

    “How the Rays feel”. Bravo.

    I hope someone has the brains to mic the game for posterity. You must be able to hear a pin drop..

  8. 8.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Your paragraph starting ‘The most salient fact’ is absolutely 100% important. Perspective. Priorities. Riots less destructive than the ones around game championships are a tiny thing compared to the brutal truth that black men can be and are murdered by the police on a regular basis, for blatantly racist reasons and with zero repercussions. That in some areas, this is not merely condoned, but encouraged. Whatever you think is bad about what’s going on in Baltimore, that one is by far the most important.

  10. 10.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    This is going on in Texas:

    Two months after news surfaced that U.S. Special Operations troops will launch a broad training operation in several southwestern states this summer, the Texas state government is registering new concerns: Gov. Greg Abbott called Tuesday for the Texas State Guard to monitor the mission.

  12. 12.

    ET

    From what I have seen the Orioles “won” the game. But I want to to know how do we really know they won the game if there was no one there to watch?

  13. 13.

    sharl

    Yeah Betty, I’m gonna go with what Poopyman said upthread, and take a walk along the nearby river.

    Don’t know if the insertion of a little levity is thematically doable with your OP, but for your consideration: one of several tweets from beloved and adorable red panda Twitter presence Darth, who apparently got into Camden Yards!

  18. 18.

    opiejeanne

    Some friend of a friend posted a list of Freddy’s arrests (but not convictions) with the comment that it gave perspective on the rioting or something. We think this guy is saying that Freddy wasn’t worth the rioting, but he has denied that that’s what he meant as well as denying that his death is justified by his arrest record. Despite the denials we are pretty sure those two things are exactly what is meant..

    Oh, the other charming story is that Freddy had recently had back surgery, so he was supposed to be lying in bed or something, therefore having his neck snapped was on him. .

  20. 20.

    Roger Moore

    @ET:

    But I want to to know how do we really know they won the game if there was no one there to watch?

    There were cameras and news people. There are some pictures where you see the empty stands behind home plate, but the press box is as full as ever. Very strange.

  21. 21.

    Hal

    @The Ancient Randonneur: Stay paranoid Texas.

    Abbott, a Republican, said in a letter to Maj. Gen. Gerald “Jake” Betty that he wants monitoring of Operation Jade Helm 15 “to address concerns of Texas citizens and to ensure that Texas communities remain safe, secure and informed occurring in their vicinity.” It marks the first time that a state governor has responded to outrage from those who fear the training exercise isn’t what the military promises.

    Oh, and this gem:

    FreeGuwop @doritobandito55
    I think the Baltimore Riots are a government orchestrated outbreak to take our minds off a potential military invasion #jadehelm15

  22. 22.

    scav

    Honestly, there’s likely a lot of symbolism to wrung out that photo Something about the Gated Ghettos and their Gated Games. Something about the Bubbled Classes. Something about Virtual Circuses. So long as the games go on the real audience, screw the on-the-ground locals, run a canned sound track of cheering, invest in a little CGI and save on hassle, wear and tear of physical extras. The Greenscreens of Summer.

    Also, If the Sox lost, isn’t that just one more sign of how the Whites are being Oppressed by Still More P.C. pandering?! (somehow that comes out in Elon’s voice in my head.)

  24. 24.

    dedc79

    Why a team that plays in a city (tampa) that can host outdoor baseball games year round, chooses instead to play in a hideous indoor ballpark, I’ll never understand. But that’s one major reason why nobody goes to Rays games, isn’t it?

    If you dropped Camden Yards in Tampa, i’d have to think attendance would improve considerably.

  27. 27.

    Betty Cracker

    @dedc79: Never been to Florida during the summer, have you? ;-)

    The reasons for the Rays’ failure to consistently attract a decent crowd are many and hotly debated, but lack of an open stadium isn’t one of them. It’s too hot in the summer — an energy-sapping, moist heat that will just kick your ass — plus Tampa Bay is the lightning capital of North America, particularly during summer afternoons. It rains sideways, almost every afternoon in the rainy season.

    The Rays would do better with a retractable dome stadium in Tampa rather than St. Pete. Tropicana Field is a dump (honest to god, it has the ambiance of a Sam’s Club), and it is separated from the area’s major population centers by long bridges that tend to get snarled in traffic.

    I don’t think there’s much support for the citizens’ building a billionaire playground, though. So it wouldn’t surprise me if we lost the team, particularly after the talent fire sale that occurred after last season. Le sigh.

  28. 28.

    muddy

    @scav: Remember the riot at Comiskey Park and they had to forfeit the 2nd game of a double header to the Tigers?

  30. 30.

    gene108

    @The Ancient Randonneur:

    I think Obama should, in response to the Texas National Guard monitoring military training exercises, nationalize the TNG and place it under Federal control and then order them to go home.

  31. 31.

    Mandalay

    While people in Baltimore are being held without bail, or with bail set at half a million dollars, consider this case: a cop with a prior DUI conviction was three times over the limit, caused an accident while driving the wrong way on an expressway, and killed two people. Right now he is in hospital, and will doubtless eventually be charged, and have to face the music. But what I can’t understand is why he has not been suspended, and remains on full pay.

    There are so many double standards when comparing the way cops are treated compared to the rest of us, and President Obama pointed out yesterday that he can’t do much about that personally. But surely to goodness something that police departments can do themselves is to suspend officers, and stop paying them, when they have obviously done something really bad. Incidents like this just reinforce the perception that cops are a law unto themselves.

  33. 33.

    Goblue72

    The last time America was torn by a series of urban riots, it elected Dick Nixon.

    That’s what I fear again.

  36. 36.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    Also, too, since this is an open thread, I will take this semi-anonymous opportunity to say that I really, really don’t want to take this trip to Florida tomorrow (tonight, actually) to help my mom take care of my terminally ill stepbrother. I know it’s the right thing to do, but man do I not want to do it.

  42. 42.

    Germy Shoemangler

    @Goblue72:

    The last time America was torn by a series of urban riots, it elected Dick Nixon.

    That’s what I fear again.

    That is on my mind as well. And the media can’t get enough of showing the civil unrest. I remember how it was wall-to-wall ebola coverage until after the election. Civil unrest makes exciting tv.

    I’m certain GOP strategists are putting their heads together: “How can we benefit from this?”

  43. 43.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    @Betty Cracker:
    @Diana:

    I talked to my mom today and she sounds VERY relieved that I will be there, too, so that takes a little of the edge off. I actually timed my flight so I get in half an hour before she does even though I’m flying from CA and she’s flying from IL. Seriously, most expensive airport pickup EVER.

  45. 45.

    Roger Moore

    @Goblue72:

    The last time America was torn by a series of urban riots, it elected Dick Nixon.

    And after the Rodney King riots, it elected Bill Clinton. There was a hell of a lot more going on in 1968 than just the riots, and there’s a hell of a lot more going on in 2015.

  46. 46.

    PaulW

    The Orioles will play as the home team against Tampa this weekend, instead of playing in Baltimore as scheduled.

    This overlooks the fact that due to poor fan turnout at the Trop, the Orioles usually enjoy home-field advantage at the domed stadium anyway.

    Or did I tell that joke already?

  47. 47.

    balconesfault

    Or … they could have held the game, and donated all the gate proceeds to community redevelopment in Baltimore.

    Gate for the average O’s game is probably close to a million.

    Most of which is usually siphoned off to the pockets of multi-millionaire players and billionaire owners who will rarely spend a dime in the local neighborhoods …

  48. 48.

    mclaren

    Getting rid of the audience is a start. Now if we could get rid of the players, we’d be getting somewhere!

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