Opening Day for Major League Baseball. Here’s one of my favorite Rays to watch — Kevin Kiermaier:
The handsome center fielder is known for his acrobatic catches. Anyone else watching baseball?
Open thread!
Reader Interactions
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Bitter Scribe
The Cubs have this weird setup where they play an exhibition game today against the Angels at Anaheim, and then they open the regular season tomorrow against the same team in the same place. I can’t remember that ever happening before.
SFAW
I’m kinda hoping that the Devil Rays’ GM puts together a deal where they pick up Geno Smith from the Jets.
Betty Cracker
@Bitter Scribe: That is odd. I’ll have my eye on the Cubs to see how far Maddon can take them. He’s a terrific skipper, IMO.
BGinCHI
That is a handsome man.
And yes, it takes one to know one.
PaulW
Go Rays, let’s win the East!
Also hope they get a new stadium deal up towards Oldsmar
PaulW
@SFAW:
You’re not helping, Sfaw
PaulW
@Bitter Scribe: could be a weather game, a just in case it snows game
SFAW
@PaulW:
How would that not help the Jets?
Or are you referring to me calling them the “Devil Rays”?
dedc79
Let’s go Mets! This season will hopefully demonstrate how meaningless spring training is in determining how a team will perform in the regular season.
Mustang Bobby
The Tigers open against the Marlins in Miami, and I will be out of town. *sigh*
Okay, I don’t care if Kevin Kiermaier plays for the Rays: he’s hot.
SFAW
@dedc79:
Preach it, brother.
To mollify PaulW: maybe the Debbil Rays can make a trade to pick up Terry Collins, instead of Geno Smith. I could live with that. (Of course, if Silverman wanted BOTH Collins and G. Smith, I’d be OK with that, too.)
D58826
I’d root for the Phillies but they will be out of contention by Tax day (sigh).
Totally off topic but havnb’t seen anything here on BJ about the big story over on Huffington
Bernie is going to need a bigger boat (I mean revolution)
Davebo
For the first time in 10 years a lot of people in Houston are looking forward to the Astros season. Turns out gutting a team and rebuilding from the minors can work.
Funny story, I tried (and failed) to sell a software package to the relatively new owner Jim Crane. Never met the guy but he is a very sharp business guy and it seems he’s successfully turned the team around.
He’s got Carlos Correa, one of the biggest up and comers in MLB for $330,000 a year which is either incredibly lucky or cunning.
schrodinger's cat
He sure is easy on the eyes!
After the absolutely awesome score of Omkara which Vishal Bhardwaj’s adaptation of Othello set in modern the dusty plains of north India. I was listening to the score of Haider, set in the present day strife torn Kashmir.
This is the first song I heard. The choreography is inspired, Shahid Kapoor, who is an accomplished dancer has done it justice. In the background are some temple ruins, I think it is shot on location in Kashmir, in winter. Sung by Sukhwinder Singh.
Dastan-e- Bismil : Bismil’s story.
geg6
My BIL is freezing his ass of at PNC Park (probably already over) for the Buccos’ home opener. Looking forward to baseball this year. Bucs should look good, barring any injuries and no stupidity from the front office. Though I have to say that the Nuttings have pleasantly surprised me as owners, especially after such a long string of disastrous ownership.
D58826
On the other hand you could roots for the 76’s to lose the rest of their games. If your going to be as bad as they are you might as well set a record doing it.
tulip
Go A’s… and wowsa on Mr. Kiermaier, if Henry Cavill decides to become Bond and gives up being Supes, I think we have a replacement!
As for America’s Pastime, the A’s are going to suck again. :(
p.a.
@Betty Cracker: And he’ll be the first one to tell you that.
Hal
oh glob no! Sports season. I’ll have a fake smile all summer long as patients and co-workers ask some variation of; “did you see the game last night?”
bystander
I like HuffPo’s editorial note to every article about Trump:
Guess they’re trying to make up for covering him as “entertainment”.
Gindy51
As George Takei would say.. Oh My.
divF
I watched Chris Archer pitch a frame before going out for coffee. He is a great young arm, but a little amped up today.
Darkrose
Giants opener is tomorrow at 11 in the fucking morning. Why in the fuck are they opening in fucking Milwaukee?
Also, if you’re a lefty (political) baseball fan on Twitter, please help get #StopGBAinMLB and #FireCurtSchilling trending.
Kathleen
My daughter (super Rays fan) is visiting from Tampa so I’ll have to get her opinion on Kevin (he is a fine looking man!). In the past she’s had a crush on Longoria.
Reds play Phillies tomorrow which is the real opening day (ahem). Don’t like their manager and don’t hold much hope, but was impressed with Astros comeback last season so maybe I should be more open to a better season.
Roger Moore
@Davebo:
It’s fairly standard. Players who haven’t reached 3 years of major league service time* can be paid the major league minimum unless they were able to negotiate a better deal when they originally signed and make it to the majors while that deal is still in effect. After their first 3 years, they become arbitration eligible and can demand higher pay based on binding, final offer arbitration, though most teams manage to come to an agreement with their players without going through arbitration. It’s only after 6 years in the majors that players become free agents.
That artificial depression of player salaries during their first 6 years, and especially the first 3, is one of the main reasons why it’s a good idea to build from the farm system rather than trying to go entirely with free agents. Young players are far cheaper than even cheap free agents, and they tend to get better over their first few seasons rather than worse, the way older players do.
*It’s actually a bit more complicated than that, but 3 years is an OK approximation.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Mustang Bobby: I was just going to comment on that. Shall we fight for him? I’m pretty sure I can take you.
@Kathleen: Thank you for pointing that out. I’m imagining a couple of people have pied me (temporarily I hope) solely because I keep mentioning (and bitching about it) that the real opening day is no longer the 1st game played in the MLB season.
Technocrat
@Hal:
You and me both, brother. I’ve learned that it’s OK to say “no”if you have a good excuse. ‘Aw man I missed it, had to get some kittens out of a burning building”.
ETA: My wife claims Kiermaier isn’t that handsome. I married a liar.
Mr Stagger Lee
Is it possible for the Cleveland Baseball Club to win this year? The Browns stink, the Cavs will not beat the Warriors in the NBA playoffs. Oh Well maybe the Big Red Machine will come back. Oh if the Mariners get to at least .500 this year that will be a blessing. Give King Felix a ring please.
Pogonip
@Hal: Around here it’s football they get excited about. The baseball fans talk about it amongst themselves but don’t act like Mormons, trying to push it on you whether you’re interested or not.
Pogonip
@Technocrat: That wouldn’t work around here. “You turned off the game to rescue KITTENS? [babies, little old ladies, The Troops, whomever]. What’s wrong with you?”
Mike J
@Pogonip: The Mariners are nothing to be evangelistic about.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Technocrat: Does she have vision problems?
Djchefron
This is the year. No more black cats. No more Billy Goats. This is the year the Cubs wins the pennant
Adam L Silverman
@PaulW: Why would you do that to me? Its hard enough getting into and out of Oldsmar/East Lake with the traffic we have now.
Adam L Silverman
@SFAW: Its Betty C who is the major Ray’s fan. I’ve been to a couple of games at the Trop. I’m not a big American League fan. I also don’t get super wrapped around the axle in regards to baseball. Hockey I’m a big fan.
Phylllis
@Davebo: For the first time in 10 years a lot of people in Houston are looking forward to the Astros season. Turns out gutting a team and rebuilding from the minors can work.
Here’s hoping that works out as well for the Braves. Who have the damnedest opening schedule I’ve ever seen. Play tomorrow at four, off Tuesday, play again Wednesday, evening, off Thursday, next game Friday. At least they get to open at home this year.
Adam L Silverman
@D58826: I have the article open in a browser window on my iPad and its next up to read once I finish the article I’m on now.
Roger Moore
@Phylllis:
It’s very common to have a lot of open dates early in the season, even ones in the middle of the homestand. The goal is twofold: to take it a bit easier on pitchers, who get extra rest, and to give teams a chance to make up games if they have bad weather.
Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)
I love baseball, it has the right pace for summer and every game we go to always has something interesting/different/unexpected in it. But I have grown to hate MLB. It started with ear-bleed levels of “entertainment” between innings, which of course got certain fans to be more interested in that than the game so they have to wait until play starts to get up & get more refreshments. The Gawd Bless “Murica/Ah’m proud to be a A’murican 7th inning is the worst of it all. Then there is the billion dollars the billionaire Polahd family swindled out of the taxpayers, more than half of that from the county that is the economic engine for the damn state. That it now takes a small home loan to take the family is not endearing. The drugs and ego cases do not warm my heart either. We go to college games, we go to kid games and we take a road trip to see some near by minor league games but MLB can go to hell.
I know, I am old and cranky, you kids get off my infield!
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Kathleen: I hadn’t gotten to forgiving them for ditching Dusty (ahem, how many postseasons games have featured the Reds during v. after his tenure?) and then they laugh at Arroyo’s offer to play as a Red for half of what the Nationals were offering. But they are still kinda sorta “my” team.
Technocrat
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
You’d have to have Mr. Magoo level issues not to see that dude is good lookin’. I think she’s pulling my chain.
Baud
@D58826:
Random Reddit commenters said that that leak will implicate Putin big time but no Americans are involved. We’ll see.
Mike J
@Baud: Interesting look at how the rich rip off their families too/
Cacti
I have a feeling this is the season where my Cardinals drop to third place in the NL Central.
Not enough bats in the lineup.
SFAW
@Adam L Silverman:
Yes, I know. My “mollify PaulW” was in reference to his comment @ 6. (Although, I guess to be waggish about it, I perhaps could have written “to mollitor PaulM,” but that would probably have been too weird, even for me.)
PaulW loves his Devil Rays, too, I guess, but I’m just trying to look out for my Mets’ best interests, etc., etc.
PS: And, yes, I know that’s not the correct way to spell Molitor.
Roger Moore
@Schlemazel (parmesan rancor):
This is a crazy exaggeration. Taking the family to a MLB game is not a lot more expensive than taking them to the movies, provided you’re willing to plan ahead. For example, Target Field has plenty of seats available for under $20, even for weekend games, and some that are $10 and less for weekday games. They also allow you to bring food and some kinds of drinks into the game with you so you aren’t forced to pay outrageous prices for concessions. There are also various promotions throughout the season that make it a bit cheaper to get in.
Baud
@Mike J: Site is down. I think everyone is accessing it right now.
debbie
@D58826:
Similarly, this.
Betty Cracker
@divF: He’s done well after a shaky start. The feet on that kid! His shoes should come with oar-locks!
The Lodger
@schrodinger’s cat: Sung by Sukhwinder Singh. Try saying that six times quickly.
Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)
@Cacti:
Wife’s grandfather was a huge Cards fan. I remember back in the mid-80s 7 of the top 10 batting averages in the NL were Cardinals, all were hitting better than .300 . . . They did not win their division let alone the NL, I don’t know how you can do that even if you had an average pitching staff but they did it.
Adam L Silverman
@D58826: @Baud: @Mike J: I’ve just read the summary articles and will get to the actual German reporting a bit later. It appears that Putin is the most important, for lack of a better adjective to use here, political figure/elected official/governmental official involved here. His accounts, or rather as he has them in someone else’s name the accounts linked to him, total about $2 billion. That’s a lot. This is going to be a giant deal as its going to allow the Secret Service, other Department of Treasury investigative officers, investigative officers from the IRS, the FBI and DOJ, as well as their equivalents in numerous countries to begin to both expand their Intel analysis of these dark networks and who is who in those zoos, as well as to build actual investigations.
drdavechemist
@Schlemazel (parmesan rancor):
I often go with my family to the PawSox (AAA affiliate of the Red Sox in Pawtucket, RI) and I say the same thing about the AAA experience. Among the most recent rarities I’ve seen were two dropped third strikes in one inning (both thrown out at first) and a runner scoring on an inning-ending double play (which didn’t register until I looked at the scoreboard well into the next inning and tried to figure out where the extra run came from).
rikyrah
David Cay Johnston
Why Hasn’t Bernie Sanders Released His Tax Returns? (Or Cruz Or Kasich, Either…)
April 1, 2016
……………………
Bernie Sanders holds himself out to huge and adoring crowds as a model of personal, political and financial integrity. But when it comes to revealing his income tax returns, Sanders is as tricky a politician as Republicans Ted Cruz and John Kasich.
…………………..
What may surprise some is that of the five remaining Presidential candidates, only Hillary Clinton has been completely candid and forthright about her and her husband’s income tax returns, a policy of theirs that dates at least to 1992. Despite her singular transparency, news organizations routinely write, without citing any verifiable supporting facts, about Clinton’s perceived mendacity.
So what’s the issue? The Sanders, Cruz and Kasich campaigns have all distributed what they claim are tax returns; Kasich for seven years, Cruz for four, and Sanders for just one year, 2014.
But those proclaimed disclosures were neither accurate nor honest. None of those candidates has released even a single tax return.
What they made public instead was merely a summary known as IRS Form 1040. That form is no more a tax return than the Preamble is the Constitution.
Baud
So they can leak tax haven data from Panama, but the DC madam client list is still secret. Hmmm.
Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)
@Roger Moore:
Good to hear, when I looked during their first season I didn’t see anything like that & never felt the desire to look again.
LAO
So I was super excited for opening day but because I despise virtually ever ESPN announcer, I had the volume set pretty low. So …. Just woke up from an unintended 2 hour nap. I was definitely tired, but I forgot how slow baseball can be. And now, I have curt shilling on my tv. Sheesh.
Let’s go Mets.
SFAW
And since this is an OT: apparently Drumpf is calling on the RNC to forbid Kasich from entering any more primaries, or some such.
Freude, schoener Drumpfenschaden!
Pogonip
@D58826: Holy Trilateral Commission, Batman!
Adam L Silverman
@SFAW: If he wants to mess up the traffic up by where I live for his beloved Rays, I think monitor is the more correct term!
It took me as long to get from my house in Oldsmar to the Palm Harbor line on Tampa Road today as it did to go the rest of the way to where I was going in Tarpon Springs. So 4 miles at the start of my drive took as long as the 12 miles at the end of my drive to complete. I will see PaulW on the green in front of Oldsmar City Hall to have satisfaction!!!!!
Baud
@Adam L Silverman:
That’s a lot of Wall Street speeches.
Adam L Silverman
@LAO: Fortunately its almost impossible to get a gun where you live. So low risk of shooting the TV out of frustration that Shilling’s on it.
J R in WV
When we first moved out of town to the farm where we have lived since 1979 or so, there were two elderly brothers on the farm next door. I used to go up and help them with various farm chores in the cool summer mornings.
Then we would eat some lunch, and piddle around for an hour or so. Then we would sit in their living room and watch the Reds play baseball. Really, we would kind of drift into a nap, which would end when you heard the bat hit the ball, at which point we would all start awake and watch the play, and the replay.
Then, unless it was a really good game with lots of hitting, we would drift off again. Hot summer afternoons, a quiet farm house getting warmer as the time passed, pretty sweet.
I learned a lot from those old boys! It’s all over now (thank dog) but I learned every step there is to growing tobacco in little mountain hollow fields. It smells so good curing in the barn in the fall, that smell is great, as opposed to the smoke. And a good way to watch baseball on an old TV set, drowsing on a hot summer afternoon.
Pogonip
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks for the summary, I couldn’t get the article to come up.
Does Putin’s $2B include the ring he’s supposed to have stolen from some other zillionaire?
Adam L Silverman
@Baud: I think as the unravel this, it is likely to provide as much definitive answer as we’re ever going to get of the thesis that Putin is at the top of the Bratva (Russian organized crime). Either as the actual highest level karush (ceiling/boss over all the other bosses), or as being the political operative that is owned, for lack of a better term, by the actual highest level boss.
Cacti
From Americablog:
Help Bernie hire an account.
(snark)
SFAW
@Pogonip:
Careful — some of the local Pats fans will be all over you for that one.
NotMax
Not on your tintype.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
according to a documentary I watched called “Justified”, those hollows are going to be the Saudi Arabia of legalized pot.
Adam L Silverman
@Pogonip: This is the summary article I read:
gawker.com/biggest-leak-in-history-reveals-corruption-in-world-lea-1768788422
(I was at IO9 reading about the upcoming DC animated universe movie adaptation of The Killing Joke when I saw the link to it.
The summary doesn’t provide that level of detail. It’ll be interesting to dive into the actual ZD article.
Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)
@drdavechemist:
Yeah, that sort of thing makes it worthwhile to pay attention. I saw a 7-5-1-2 double play with the Kernels last year! I remember a play at home sort of like the one in Major League with one runner going outside and the other going inside & the catcher blowing both tags a few years back. I have never seen a triple play but have come close a couple of times & hope to one day.
But the pace of the game seems right for a nice summer day, bursts of activity between rests and strategy. I think the NL vs DH thing is overblown but both styles make for different choices, Love the over-shift and a runner in scoring position in the 9th of a tie game.
Bruuuuce
Opening Day is a holiday around here (and should be, nationally, along with Election Day).
Just picked up Kiermaier in my fantasy auction yesterday, and now I wonder about the wisdom of that after his antics at first base (his first AB) and getting caught stealing for out #3 at third base, later.
Still more fun than reading about Louie Gohmert and his now-explicit wish to eliminate the humanity of women.
Hungry Joe
Here in San Diego the Padres threw together a free-agent menagerie last year, crossed their fingers … and it all fell apart. This year doesn’t look any better; I suspect that by June I’ll go to my default team, the Giants, because 1) my sister lives in the Bay Area, came to appreciate baseball only recently, and is now a true fan, and 2) the Giants are just SO MUCH FUN. Almost as much fun as the Royals were last year. I’m a National League guy but I found the Royals irresistible, so I defected for the playoffs and World Series.
gene108
@The Lodger:
The only thing Man cannot say fast is: Toy Boat
divF
@Betty Cracker:
I just checked his line. 12 strikeouts in 5 innings – wow ! He’s going to be fun to watch this year.
Mnemosyne
@PaulW:
My Chicago correspondents tell me that it snowed there yesterday, so the Cubs having their first game out of town was probably a smart idea.
Pogonip
@Bruuuuce: Fantasy auction for guys who look like that? I’m in!
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Women’s Final Four starting on ESPN — UCONN vs Beavers.
rooting for upset cuz I love the kaos it would trigger.
LAO
@Adam L Silverman: lol. I love that you feel the need to defend reading a post at Gawker
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman:
Just hop in a car and drive down to Virginia, like everybody else does.
burnspbesq
@D58826:
Phils farm system is in good shape, but most of the top prospects are a year or two away.
Darkrose
You can have Kiermaier. I’ll keep my Giants, and especially Brandon Belt: youtu.be/msBrLtq1UWs
I love our goofy-assed team.
divF
@Hungry Joe:
Sigh. It’s also hard work being an A’s fan, after they gave away Josh Donaldson, who was making the major league minimum. Lew Wolff (the owner) is just not trying.
Pogonip
@Adam L Silverman: Thanks!
Funny that”Vladimir Putin is corrupt” turned out to be Big News.
Eric S.
@Davebo:
The salary has everything to do with baseball’s collective bargaining agreement and his few years of pro playingtime. Actually having Correa on the team is where the talent lies. I don’t if he was drafted and nurtured in their farm system or acquired in a trade. Either way that’s where a team’s front office comes in to play to make good teams.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@SFAW:
is it too geeky that I’d have gotten that right away?
scav
Have the Guardian links to the Panama Papers been posted yet? That’s where I found the Putin connections. There’s also some Fifa fun tucked in, (one of the guys on the Ethics committee has some interesting complications), Lionel Messi shows up and for fans of diacritics, Iceland’s PM Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson.
Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)
@Baud:
Someone stock extra antipsychotics for BIP!!
Adam L Silverman
@LAO: I tend to read the comic book and comic book movie news at IO9. Occasionally Gawker has something interesting and I click over.
Also, the boxing coverage on Deadspin is usually pretty good.
Betty Cracker
@Bruuuuce: I understand your misgivings about the failed steal at 3rd, but why do you hold the 1st base run against him? He nearly turned a sure out into a base! He also showed a lot of hustle to get to 2nd in the later play.
scav
@Mnemosyne: And it was brilliant snow. One minute coming down as fast as anything I’ve seen in Rochester NY in prime lake effect, can’t see across the alley, and in two minutes there are sharp shadows and I can see four or five blocks to the lake. Repeat two or three times an hour.
Adam L Silverman
@Pogonip: It’ll be interesting to see who, from the US, is on the list.
I also highly doubt that the people that have accounts in Panama had all their money in those accounts. I’m sure they have money squirreled away all over in various havens and safe spots.
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: No, that’s one Olympic Winter Games. Imagine how much he’ll skim off the FIFA World Cup.
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Flash from the past which might provide a moderate chuckle for you is a radio PSA made and aired in the late 1960s and early 1970s (passed around on reel to reel tape among college radio stations) gently parodying the type of government/military industrial complex recruitment ads ubiquitous around the same time. Listen here.
ThresherK
Time for my annual plaint: Screw you both, Jeff Loria and Bud Selig.
The Womens’ Final Four first game (Lady Beavers of Oregon State–a nickname I love–and UConn) just started.
The floor is special for the weekend, and the space inside the three-point line and outside the free-throw area has a brick pattern. I know the “Brickyard” has been there for over 100 years, but is that the best image for a basketball tournament?
sherparick
Yep, and it is already gone well. The Pirates beat the Cardinals and Adam Wainwright. I am a Cub’s fan, but if we do fall flat on our faces this year as “everyone’s” favorite, I hope it is Pittsburgh, and not the Cardinals rubbing it in. I have 4 favorite teams: the Cubs, who ever is playing the White Sox, who ever is playing the Cardinals, and who ever is playing the Mets (I miss Chipper Jones who should get in the Hall of Fame just for all the times he crushed the Mets). Hence, go Kansas City tonight.
No one is picking Kansas City to repeat and lot of people are once again not picking them to win their division. If I was in Las Vegas, that is on whom I would put my money.
Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)
@J R in WV:
sounds like a nice life! I loved the summers I spent on a farm, particularly when the afternoons required a siesta.
burnspbesq
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Dusty is the Mets secret weapon this year.
But he’s managing the Nats, you say?
Precisely my point.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: Excellent! The sad thing is that he’s actually describing Ft. Huachuca, AZ, as well as Ft. Rucker, AL. And several others as well. In the middle of honking nowhere anyone wants to ever be.
Adam L Silverman
@ThresherK: If they had to merge the teams are they the UConn/Oregon State Husky Lady Beavers or the Oregon State/UConn Lady Beaver Huskies?
NotMax
@gene108
Unique New York.
Ken
@Mr Stagger Lee: Go Tribe! Open the season hosting the Bosox. Oh, my..
rikyrah
After Years Of Attacking Michelle Obama, Hannity Aghast That GOP Candidates’ Wives Are Being Attacked
March 29, 2016 9:20 AM EDT
MEDIA MATTERS STAFF
Fox News host Sean Hannity criticized Republican presidential candidates for bringing “families and wives” into the race and getting distracted from other issues following recent attacks between Republican candidates on their wives, contradicting years of his attacks against first lady Michelle Obama.
Hannity has frequently attempted to smear the first lady over the years by ridiculing her comments encouraging kids to go to college, claiming she had a “deep rooted anger” and “bitterness” about American race relations, and repeatedly attempting to smear her as “unpatriotic.” His show has also frequently featured guests attacking Michelle Obama on a litany of fronts, including her health initiatives and her disposition.
Despite Hannity’s frequent attacks on Michelle Obama, during the March 28 edition of Fox News’ Hannity, the host said that by bringing wives and family members into play the Republican primary was beginning to “coalesce around the wrong things we ought to be talking about” adding “for the life of me, I don’t understand when families and wives are brought into it”:
Mike J
@Adam L Silverman: If this stuff is from the files of the third largest offshore law firm, what do you think the three bigger firms are hiding?
Ken
@divF: I’m confused; which of you went out for coffee; you or Chris Archer?
Baud
@Mike J:
I just hope they have better accountants.
LAO
@ThresherK:
Loria is a member of my synagogue, I always feel like the Rabbi should name check him at Yom Kippur. But he never does.
J R in WV
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Well, the WV legislature seems willing to pass new laws that will keep even industrial hemp growers out of business. So actual potent cannabis seems way off, so far. I hate seeing people sent up for a weed, even if it is kind of potent. The idea of making a weed a felony… just strange to me.
You see those dandelions! You’re under arrest!!
But Colorado is making a ton of tax money from the cannabis industry, and their crime rate is way down. Not the pot crime rate, the petty theft and behind the bar violence crime. Apparently people using pot instead of alcohol are less violent! Who could have known!!
A shame Republicans can still use 80 year old lies about a plant to force prohibition down out throats, and send ordinary people to jail over a weed.
Mike J
@Baud: Mea culpa. I meant fourth largest, but my brain had already moved on to the second clause and insisted three was the number we were after.
redshirt
@NotMax: Turkish sushi
ThresherK
@Adam L Silverman: Heehee. There are a rift of accurate names which I don’t know if women want to be called. Huskies, bulldogs, horned frogs, wolverines and buffaloes among them.
Adam L Silverman
@Mike J: I’m hoping a check to pay off the rest of my student loans!
divF
@Ken: I went out for coffee.
Although Archer should have laid off the coffee today, otherwise he might not have given up two runs in the top of the first inning.
Betty Cracker
@rikyrah: Hannity is such a vile, hypocritical douchebag. For some reason, there are a ton of Fox News ads on the station carrying the baseball game, so I’ve been repeatedly subjected to the sight of his smug, beady-eyed face.
Adam L Silverman
@ThresherK: Wolverine is probably okay:
comicbookresources.com/imgsrv/imglib/250/0/1/ANW-marquez-638b6.jpg
SFAW
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
No, of course not. Now if I had worked Rod Kanehl or Doug Flynn in there somehow, and you got it — THAT would have been a bit geeky.
scav
@J R in WV: Speaking of which, ChiTrib (plus more dedicated sites) are reporting on a study at Lurie that a Marijuana extract reduced seizures in kids with epilepsy. Won’t bother linking, the ChiTrib is changing link policy but I think there are so many freebies.
Darkrose
@divF: I’m going to my first game at the no-longer-O.co this week! Going to see my White Sox against the A’s.
Darkrose
@scav: Is it CBD? I know there are some studies that show it has the beneficial effects of THC without the psychoactive effects.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@scav: I saw some reports of that and I’ve heard from a doc that there is some really robust data about reducing nocturnal pain in MS. Who of course noted that MM is not legal in this state, going on to observe that he suspected I knew how to obtain a non legal variety to use medicinally if I wanted.
schrodinger's cat
@The Lodger: Its quite a tongue twister!
More about Bismil:
On further research I found out that it was shot in Anantnag in Kashmir. The movie was apparently quite controversial in India among the wingers because its from the POV was that of Kashmiri civilians, who do not have a rosy view of the Indian army for obvious reasons.
Bruuuuce
@Pogonip: Yeah, but we also auctioned off Pablo Sandoval, Clay Buchholz, and Prince Fielder, none of whom (IMO) are being courted for their appearances. :-)
chopper
@gene108:
“Rural juror”.
rikyrah
I am a Cubs fan…..so, you know my state of mind at the beginning of the season
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@chopper: “The sixth shiek’s sixth sheep’s sick.” (I learned from a Guinness BoWR.)
Cheers,
Scott.
(Who loved Jane Krakowski on 30 Rock for things like that.)
Darkrose
@Bruuuuce: Prince Fielder was in the ESPN body issue a couple of years ago. He’s actually pretty hot–there’s fat, but it’s all over solid muscle.
Sandoval is another story.
LAO
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Not to encourage illegal behavior but as an autoimmune disease suffer (not ms), it’s been hugely beneficial.
SFAW
@Bruuuuce:
Is Sandoval on the Red Sox now? If so, sounds like you guys didn’t lose much. [I have no idea where he played last year (or whenever), it’s just that he apparently will not be starting for the Sox anytime soon. If he’s who I think he is, that is.]
Mike J
Abby Wambach: Former US striker arrested for drink-driving
ruemara
Always make sure you know how to use your floor jack properly. And make sure your spare tire is properly inflated.
SiubhanDuinne, Mob Enforcer
Very late to this thread. I would have commented a couple of minutes ago, but I was too busy fanning myself after seeing that photo of Mr. Kiermaier. My oh my.
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: More seriously, I think at this point we lack an adequate vocabulary for crime/corruption at the nation-state level, whether it’s Vladimir Vladimirovich, or Nursultan Nazarbaev, or Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. What does “organized crime” mean, when you are President of a UN member state, with a treasury and and army, for as long as you please? And can extract whatever tribute you feel is appropriate from anyone at any time, and jail or murder your opponents with impunity?
Linkmeister
@Schlemazel (parmesan rancor): I actually was in the stands to see this game end. Line drive with two men on and two men out in the ninth, hits runner at first, game over.
Gin & Tonic
@SiubhanDuinne, Mob Enforcer: Hey, looked for you yesterday. What did you think of Kristine Opolais? This was my first exposure to her, and my wife and I were floored.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: the technical term for a state, or more accurately a government that uses the state to enrich its members at the cost of the society, is a kleptocracy. There is no doubt that Russia is a kleptocracy. As are many, many other states.
The real question is what term/conceptualization do you use for say the US, where the system is currently set up – purposefully done over 40 years – in order to enrich a specific group of elites at the expense of everyone else. Some of those elites are also in government – at various times. Some of them are simply bankrolling candidates and campaigns. Some just benefit. But there’s no doubt that someone like Art Pope in NC is a kleptocrat. And the governor and legislature he purchased there are a kleptocracy.
PaulWartenberg2016
@Adam L Silverman:
’cause Adam I’m sick and tired of people saying we should have the new stadium at the Fairgrounds, which is too far away from Palm Harbor.
PaulWartenberg2016
@Adam L Silverman:
Westlake Village clubhouse. Bring an old-style Asteroids Deluxe game table and a stack of quarters. We’ll settle this like gen’xer arcade gamers.
PaulWartenberg2016
Tarpon Springs High. Class of 1988. SPONGERS REPRESENT
Adam L Silverman
@PaulWartenberg2016: I get that part. I don’t think it should be in Brandon either. But please not Oldsmar!
Djchefron
@rikyrah: Sanders have bigger problems with purity than tax returns. It seems he invested in a TIAA-CREF bond fund that invests, in part, in mortgaged-backed securities like the ones that brought on the 2008 Recession: opensecrets.org/pfds/assets.php?year=2014&cid=N00000528
But it gets better. The one that is pure and against fracking well, you guess it. He has invested in a firm whose business is fracking Valic Mid Cap Index Fund opensecrets.org/pfds/assets.php?cid=N00000528&year=2014 and the Texas fracking company Diamondback Energy: diamondbackenergy.com/
Adam L Silverman
@PaulWartenberg2016: I’m not a Gen Xer.
SiubhanDuinne, Mob Enforcer
@Djchefron:
I refer you to W. P. Kinsella’s “The Last Pennant Before Armageddon,” found in his delicious collection of baseball short stories, The Thrill of the Grass.
I know I recommend this story every year, and will probably continue to do so until … well … Armageddon, I guess.
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: Of course it is, and I’m familiar with the term, but that makes discussion of Vladimir Vladimirovich’s “relationship” with “Russian organized crime” empty of meaning, to me. He *is* Russia, and *is* Russian organized crime.
PaulWartenberg2016
@Adam L Silverman: Fine.
We’ll put the new Rays stadium in Safety Harbor.
Baud
@Adam L Silverman:
And the term for a government whose leader uses the state to enrich its citizens’ lives is a Baudtocracy.
Gin & Tonic
@Adam L Silverman: I see you edited after I replied. Let me know when Art Pope has a political opponent murdered in London.
PaulWartenberg2016
@Adam L Silverman:
Well, you challenge me, you gonna have to game like one.
Cacti
@Djchefron:
Jane’s fault.
Gin & Tonic
@Djchefron: I’m not a Sandernista, but if investing in an index fund or a TIAA-CREF bond fund is indicative of one’s lack of ethics, then every schoolteacher and every pension fund is, I guess, unethical.
SiubhanDuinne, Mob Enforcer
@Phylllis:
It’s nuts, isn’t it? When I first saw the schedule I thought for sure the printer or someone had dropped a crucial bit of information.
Sob and gulp. Last home opener ever at Turner Field. I’m still pissed about next year’s move to Cobb — I think it was an ill-conceived, short-sighted, greedy, and stupid decision, for a whole bunch of reasons. Will try to get to a few games at The Ted this year, although I haven’t followed the Braves as closely as I used to and I guess I don’t feel quite as invested in them these days.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Mike J: not a surprise. Sad. this is what we always feared – that she had an alcohol problem. she showed up drunk on the Today Show once and TMZ caught her drunk as a skunk in the middle of the day (clip)
Baud
@Gin & Tonic: I agree with you, but I’m not sure if our politics do.
Mike J
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Hope she gets some help.
Cacti
@Gin & Tonic:
When “look how much more ethical I am than everyone else” is a large part of your campaign, “I’m just doing what everyone else does” is a pretty lousy defense.
redshirt
@Gin & Tonic: That’s what the Berniebros would tell you, wouldn’t they?
smith
@Gin & Tonic: Don’t know that any of this is any different from we used to call an old fashioned dictatorship. Seems that leaders with pretty much absolute power have always surrounded themselves with cronies who lend support and protection, and who profit from the leader’s power. Murdering your political opponents wherever they may be also has a long history. Putin might like us to pretend that Russia is a Western style democracy, but that charade has long since worn very thin.
Peale
@Djchefron: @Djchefron: I had an MBS fund for awhile. Does that slime me, too? There was nothing dodgy about investing in a retail fund with those. It makes him appear to be a sucker…just like a lot of us were.
Looking at Bernies holdings in general, he’s fairly safe. Valic and TIAA index funds. Low fee trading off aggressive growth. Very conservative. But he’s invested in too many funds for me to believe he’s tracking them.
Index funds are about as passive as you can get. I’d drop this line if I were you. variable annuity life invest co and TIAA are not worth attacking.
Gin & Tonic
@redshirt: Whatevs. TIAA-CREF manages over half a trillion dollars for nearly four million people. I’m sure each of them has very little influence over how the funds are managed.
redshirt
@Gin & Tonic: It doesn’t bother me, but I feel confident saying if Hillary had such investments then Sanders supporters would use that as evidence she’s in the pocket of Big Fracking.
That said, it is possible to invest in a manner that accords with your ethics.
Honus
@geg6: the Bucs front office has been incredibly good for the past five years. Every time I think they make a mistake I’m wrong. They’ve built an elite team in Pittsburgh. And they beat the cardinals best pitcher 4-1 today.
Peale
@Gin & Tonic: yeah. TIAA, whose target market is teachers, college professors, and nurses and the like…the lower rungs of the professional class…to whom it sells such outrageous things as life insurance annuities and mutual funds. It’s one of the “good guys” as it is known to not take undue risks or charge high fees. It’s like the investment manager for folks who are afraid to lose money because the nest egg is small.
PaulWartenberg2016
HOLY SH-T JOE MEDICINE CROW DIED.
One of the greatest WWII badasses that ever fought for the USA.
He counted coup against the NAZIS and earned his war chief feathers.
Schlemazel (parmesan rancor)
@Linkmeister:
I love that sort of thing & weird stuff just seems to happen all the time in baseball
Adam L Silverman
@PaulWartenberg2016: I could live with that.
SiubhanDuinne, Mob Enforcer
@NotMax:
Wow, there’s a phrase I haven’t thought of in half a century or more. Reminds me of this nonsense rhyme I learned as a little girl (I was in the hospital recovering from a tonsillectomy-adenoidectomy, and memorized just about everything in that book. Wonder what ever happened to it….)
Once a big molicepan
Saw a bittle lum
Sitting on a sturb cone
Chewing gubber rum.
Said the big molicepan,
“Won’t you simme gum?”
“Tinny on your nintype”
Said the bittle lum.
Weaselone
@Djchefron:
Not a huge Bernie fan, but this is some weak sauce. Maybe you can get a little traction with the bond fund if it explicitly states that it invests MBSs of the nonvanilla variety, but realistically it just places him in the same boat as the rest of us schlubs.
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: I agree that there is definitely a difference between Art Pope and Putin. Of that there is no doubt. The issue is are we talking different types of kleptocracies, with what Putin is doing the ultimate evolution, or are we talking two completely different things even if there are similarities.
Adam L Silverman
@PaulWartenberg2016: I was thinking dueling pistols on the town green – as is tradition. I’m willing to settle for dueling sabers. Notify your second.
SiubhanDuinne, Mob Enforcer
@gene108:
I can.*
*(Yes, I am Woman by birth, choice, and inertia, but before I got married my surname was Mann, so I think it counts. I can run through that particular tongue twister a dozen times without tangling. “She sells sea shells by the seashore,” OTOH, pulls my tongue right out by the root.)
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: I have complete control over my $3.38!!!!
That was, apparently, what was left over after I consolidated all of my previous ones – three different TIAA-CREF’s from three different universities, and then two different ones from when I went to work with the military.
But with the power of compound interest, one day that $3.38 will be $30.38!
Darkrose
I’m already sick of people talking about it being an even year, and I want the sports media to go back to forgetting about the Pacific Time Zone teams. The Giants do best when they’re the Spanish Inquisition.
I’m pretty excited for this season. Cueto and Samardzija look like they’ll be solid, and if Bum can stay Bum and Peavy and Cain can be decent 4th and 5th starters, we should be good. Little worried about the bullpen with Affeldt gone, and I’m very much hoping that Belt can finally have his breakthrough year and get his extension. And please, MLB Jesus and all the baseball gods, please let the Giants stay healthy and have people stop hitting them with baseballs–looking at you, Cubs!
Roger Moore
@divF:
I beg to differ. Crash Davis was correct when he described strikeouts as boring and fascist. I think MLB needs to do something to encourage more balls in play.
raven
ugh
SiubhanDuinne, Mob Enforcer
@Gin & Tonic:
Wasn’t she incredible? Best Cio-cio-san I’ve ever heard or seen. I love that Minghella production anyhow (saw it a few years ago with Patricia Racette), but Opolais is a terrific actor as well as singer, and I thought she was absolutely transporting. I’m not all that big a fan of Roberto Alagna — I don’t hate him or anything, I just don’t warm to him the way a lot of people do — but he did a very solid, workmanlike job as Pinkerton. A wonderful afternoon. So glad you enjoyed it.
Gin & Tonic
@SiubhanDuinne, Mob Enforcer: You are either intentionally ignoring or benignly overlooking my question upthread about yesterday’s Butterfly.
Gin & Tonic
@SiubhanDuinne, Mob Enforcer: We had not seen the Minghella production before, so this was our first. And we’re with you on Alagna. But the Sharpless was very good. I thought.
The end of the first part of Act II just took our breath away, though.
Roger Moore
@Djchefron:
Obviously Bernie should have invested in the CREF Social Choice fund, which is supposed to steer clear of those things.
Kathleen
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Well, I’ve mentioned it twice today so I may also be pied. It’s good to have a Cincinnati ally who gets it!
PaulWartenberg2016
@Adam L Silverman:
As the challenged, I get to choose weapons and setting.
How tall are you, by the way, and your arm span…?
Kathleen
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): I feel you. I loved Dusty. But I really felt he was just exhausted. The fans were very nasty towards him. I thought he had retired for good but is now managing the Nationals. Yeah – they’ve really done well without him, haven’t they? #ByeByeBrianPrice
But as my brother has said about the Bengals – “You gotta support them. They’re the home team!” So, yeah, I am a Reds fan.
Bruuuuce
@Darkrose: I was looking at his face, because of glandular bias. But even Prince’s body is prone to rondure. Hope he never winds up like his dad.
@SFAW: He is on the Sox. Which is good for those of us who are NY baseball fans (I root for both teams, because my family were Mets fans and my friends were Yankees fans, and in the days before the abomination that is in-season interleague play, not to mention CBS’ ownership of the Yanks, there was no reason not to root for both)
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@PaulWartenberg2016: IIRC, he said he was about the same height as Paul Anderson, but not quite as stocky.
I’d go for trebuchets at 5 km, myself.
Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
Darkrose
@Bruuuuce: I hate myself a little for watching the Mets/KC game. On one hand, I like the Mets. On the other hand, interleague play* is an abomination.
*Except for natural regional rivalries. I’m fine with Mets/Yankees, Giants/A’s, Dodgers/Angels, Cubs/White Sox for ONE series a year.
Djchefron
@Gin & Tonic: Well from what I understand is in that fund you can say what companies you are willing to invest in. If true why didn’t he put his money into green industries instead of a fracking firm?
Bruuuuce
@Darkrose: I know people complain that it would be too great a dilution of talent, but I believe that with the infusion coming from Asia and, soon, Cuba, MLB could afford to expand by two teams and set up in two 16-team leagues with divisions of either four or eight teams each. Scheduling would be far more natural, and interleague play could be relegated back to solely in postseason and exhibition play, where it would permit the DH/no DH argument to go on while we who appreciate both styles of play just watch and root.
Darkrose
@Bruuuuce: I like this idea! Do this, and get rid of the blackout rules so more people can watch games without having to buy cable, and you’d do a lot to make the game more appealing without doing stupid shit like adding clocks.
PaulWartenberg2016
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
Do you know how much it costs to BUILD a trebuchet?! Not to mention the certification and licensing fees…
SFAW
@Darkrose:
I agree with almost everything you wrote.
On the other hand: by watching the game, you were able to see Yoenis Cespedes pick up where he left off last year: humongous ego, big contract, y manos de piedra. Pretty sure that Cespedes at DH (another abomination) and Conforto in left would have saved at least one run.
With any luck, the Cubbies will get pissed at Maddon, and trade him even-up for Collins.
SFAW
@PaulWartenberg2016:
Government overreach! Over-regulation! Nanny state!
Darkrose
@SFAW: I saw that Cespedes play. Mets gotta Mets.
SFAW
@Darkrose:
Lagares could have caught it with his eyes closed. Hell, Dick F-ing Stuart would have caught it. It ain’t “Mets gotta Mets,” it’s “Collins gotta Collins.”
Darkrose
WARRIORS! 69-8!
Darkrose
@SFAW: I also think it sucks for the Mets to have to start the season while everyone’s loving on the Royals. That’s just shitty.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@PaulWartenberg2016: I smell a business opportunity!! Lyft for Trebuchets!
Cheers,
Scott.
Darkrose
This..is not going well for the Mets.
SFAW
@Darkrose:
Could be worse. We’ll see if Cespedes’s error is the difference in the end. Conforto on base four times, so that’s good.