As part of my occasional series urging readers to keep Thor in Thursday, here’s an image not of the hammer-wielding god of Norse mythology himself but rather an “everyday Thor,” in this case, Taylor Motter, a utility player called up from the Durham Bulls to play for the Tampa Bay Rays last month:
Open thread!
Oh, and here’s one for the chutzpah file: Valued commenter Corner Stone’s favorite MSNBC analyst Hugh Hewitt is spinning Lil’ Marco’s slo-mo renege on his promise not to run for reelection as a dutiful embrace of service:
.@marcorubio, deeply impacted by shooting, tells me he has to rethink all his plans, talk with his family, consider his service…
— Hugh Hewitt (@hughhewitt) June 13, 2016
When someone mildly points out that maybe the people of Florida aren’t clamoring for Rubio’s return, Hewitt polishes the Rubioid turd to an even higher gloss, invoking wartime service:
It isn't about that Jimmy. It is about service in wartime, and he recognizes it is a war https://t.co/1fmbCKfka0
— Hugh Hewitt (@hughhewitt) June 13, 2016
Jeebus Chicken-Fried Christ, the balls on these people! Isn’t Hewitt the asshole who claimed that babbling wingnut talking points into a radio mic from the Empire State Building after 9/11 constituted working in a war zone, or was that another conservative valor thief?
Susan K of the tech support
Great video of an 8th grader giving a speech at graduation and imitating Trump, Cruz, Obama, Clinton and Sanders.
With so much that’s bad about the election, this brings joy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0khR11eRvfQ
piratedan
so the Thor mane is the rehabilitated mullet?
schrodinger's cat
Viking Kitteh approves!
Downpuppy
There can be only one! Noah Seth Syndergaard IS Thor.
Mike J
Keep the Devil in Devil Rays!
LAO
For those that may be interested, the SPLC issued a report on Monday about the far-right constitutional Sheriffs. (Which of course discusses the Bundy bunch and the Malheur takeover). https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2016/line-sand
Miss Bianca
@schrodinger’s cat: I would just like to note, for the record, that I have a kitten asleep on my lap as I type. Life is good.
LAO
Why are my comments in moderation?
piratedan
@Miss Bianca: I’ve always found that action almost always makes me nap as well, as if its a symbiotic reaction
Yutsano
@Mike J: They should have done what Arizona State did when the Christianists wanted Sparky changed; politely told them to go to Hades and enjoy the weather while they’re at it.
Actually, now that I think about it, the Sun Devils weren’t that polite…
MrSnrub
We saw the Bulls on Sunday, beating the Iron Pigs pretty handily. Bulls even had a grand slam in the first inning. It all went downhill from there.
Joel
Thor is Syndergaard, I thought?
I wonder, does Dickey for Syndergaard and Arnaud count as the Bagwell for Anderson of this generation?
raven
@Yutsano: Like when they chanted “PLO- PLO” at Steve Kerr?
Keith P.
Looks more like a Jax than a Thor.
p.a.
@Mike J: Do the Rays have a Steve Irwin patch on the shoulder? It’s never too soon for bad, very bad, bad taste.
Cacti
Speaking of baseball.
While I’ve never cared for Pete Rose, I can understand why he’s feeling a bit salty over MLB trying to ghost his all-time hits record in favor Ichiro (MLB + Nippon League).
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Manchin proposes a five year probationary period for persons ‘under suspicion’ to prove their ‘good behavior’.
LAO
@srv: I reject! I’m nothing but civil. Usually, most of the time…sometimes.
Susan K of the tech support
@LAO: I have a comment in moderation, too. Is a link to hilarious YouTube movie. Did your comment have links?
redshirt
That ain’t Thor.
I’m cautiously optimistic about the Red Sox. Their pitching is not great, both starting and relief, but the offense can be overpowering. They play great defense and run the bases well too.
I just don’t know if they can outlast Baltimore or Toronto. Regardless and most importantly, they’re a young, fun team and a joy to root for. Bogaerts and Betts and maybe Bradley are shaping up to be long time all stars.
Calouste
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think the fact that every idiot can buy a gun is what is killing people, not due process to exclude a tiny percentage of those idiots.
redshirt
@Cacti: Yeah, MLB can spin it like they want but Ichiro will never beat Rose’s record. No way are Japanese stats counting in the MLB.
LAO
@Susan K of the tech support: It did! to a SPLC report on constitutional sheriffs and the Bundy bunch. I’m sensing a pattern.
SRW1
Oh, so Rubio is gonna enlist?
Tractarian
Yeah, no. There’s room for only one Thor in baseball. And it’s this one.
Cacti
@redshirt:
If the new metric is all professional hits count, shouldn’t everyone add their A through AAA stats to their tallies too?
Susan K of the tech support
@LAO: and mine was freed.
That feeling when you are the first to post a comment in a popular open thread, and it gets caught in moderation. LOL
Trying to bring the funny, peeps. But the tech just gets in the way!
Betty Cracker
@SRW1: Can you imagine if a Democrat had said such a thing?
J.
AHEM, Rays fan. There is only ONE THOR, and he pitches for the New York Mets .
Ella in New Mexico
A little off track, but did anyone else hear the speech in which Trump told the Republican leadership to “”Be quiet. Just please be quiet. Don’t talk, please be quiet,”
Did it give you the creeps like it did me? As in “rapey things a man says to a woman he has no respect for and just wants to fuck” creepy?
Uggghhh.
J.
Glad to know I am not the only Mets fan here. (Didn’t read all the comments before I posted mine.)
Mary G
I used to love baseball – I wanted to grow up to play for the Dodgers and/or marry Sandy Koufax and was very upset with my father when he told me girls weren’t allowed to play baseball or be an acolyte in church. (I had no interest in serving, but they got to go to a Dodger game.)
But since the godawful McCourts bought the team and let thugs beat up a Giants fan in the parking lot, and now I can’t watch games without paying, I just don’t care anymore. Sad!
I did end up getting to go to the game when one of the boys got sick. Sandy was pitching and it was a pitcher’s duel with the score 1-0. The boys were bored to death, but I was thrilled.
LAO
@J.: You are not alone. We are legion.
Jim Kakalios
It was indeed Hugh Hewitt who defended his wartime bravery by pointing out that he was broadcasting from the Empire State Building. He was arguing with a Time Baghdad reporter at the time.
http://blogoland.blogspot.com/2006/03/hugh-hewitt-terror-warrior.html
redshirt
@Cacti: Indeed. And what about summer ball, the olympics, batting cage practice, etc….
I love Ichiro – one of my faves ever – but no way.
dr. bloor
@Mary G: I assume your father didn’t even bother addressing the fact that you wanted to marry a Jewish guy.
Miss Bianca
@piratedan: THere’s just no way to avoid the double entendres, evidently….that’s it, I’m sending photos to Anne Laurie. ACTUAL KITTEN photos.
Dolly Llama
@raven: yo, Dawg. I don’t know about you, but Vince Dooley is dead to me now.
The Other Chuck
@Ella in New Mexico: Perhaps Trump was merely relaying what the RNC tells him at least half a dozen times a day?
I’m still thinking they’re going to make Kasich the sacrificial lamb at the convention. Betcha security is going to be thick as flies there.
Corner Stone
@Ella in New Mexico:
The man simply can not pass up any opportunity to say something damaging. It’s awesome.
I loved the way Paul Ryan just shrugged his shoulders and tried to laugh it off when asked about it this AM.
redshirt
@shomi: It seems clear Republicans believe in magic words and if you don’t say them the spell won’t work. If you do, you’re golden.
Mary G
Forgot to add:
is my new phrase, replacing Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ from Outlander.
Betty Cracker
@Mary G: Any minor league teams in your area? It’s a great alternative. Cheaper, closer to the action, they don’t charge $8 for a domestic beer, etc.
Miss Bianca
@Mary G: Yup. Me too. In fact, “chicken-fried” is likely to become my new modifier for just about everything.
Mary G
@dr. bloor: Naw, he was a Jesuit priest priest before he met my mom, so he understood passion.
redshirt
@Betty Cracker: I may get booed for this, but I love all the cheesy stunts minor league teams do to entertain the fans. My local AA team – the Portland Sea Dogs – have a giant pig who runs the bases in the 7th inning in a Sea Dogs jersey. Not sure what the point is exactly, but everyone cheers for the pig.
I also LOVE the wave. And beach balls in the bleachers.
Villago Delenda Est
@SRW1: Fuuuuuck no. He’s way too important sitting in his Miami apartment twittering to support the war effort.
And you’re correct, Betty. Hewitt is the jackass who claimed posting on the ‘tubes from his office in the Empire State Building was the same as patrolling Falluja.
MomSense
@Susan K of the tech support:
Joy!!! Wonderful.
dr. bloor
@Mary G: Jewish pitchers, Jewish carpenters, I suppose it’s all the same.
Villago Delenda Est
@redshirt: MLB wants to stick it to Rose, who is basically unrepentant about his offenses.
germy
@Ella in New Mexico:
Trump told them to talk less, smile more.
germy
Not sure whether to order chicken-fried steak or steak-fried chicken. The waiter is approaching. I’ll just get a slice of apple pie and some coffee.
Betty Cracker
@Susan K of the tech support: Man, that kid is GOOD.
Mike J
@Cacti: The Ichi-roll is the best food available at a major league park.
Patricia Kayden
@schrodinger’s cat: That “Immigrant Song” cat video was adorbs!
On a sad note, a Progressive UK Lawmaker was assassinated by a “Britain First” supporter. Thankfully, the UK doesn’t have our lax pro-gun laws so only one person is dead.
http://crooksandliars.com/2016/06/progressive-uk-lawmaker-assassinated-man
Patricia Kayden
My comment is waiting moderation. Thanks Betty.
Cacti
@Mike J:
I’ll have to try it at my next M’s game. Who sells it?
Gin & Tonic
@germy: You mean cherry pie.
starscream
How safe is Paul Ryan’s seat?
germy
@Gin & Tonic: “… as American as cherry pie.”
Schlemazel Khan
@Mary G:
Look for some minor league teams near you. As part of our anniversary celebration we are going to Davenport to watch the Cedar Rapids Kernels play the Davenport River Bandits. We make a pilgrimage to a minor league park every summer now. The games are a lot more fun than MLB with no ear-splitting BS between innings and a crowd that is more interested in baseball than all that other stuff.
@Betty Cracker: was in first and with 2 great points, cheap tickets and cheap concessions. Add to that great views, much better than at MLB parks
Mnemosyne
@starscream:
In a normal year, I would say “pretty safe.” This year? I say we go for it.
Mike J
EBT
@LAO: membership in that org is sure a good starting point for investigation.
catclub
@Mike J: Wake Forest U Demon Deacons ( elders of the Baptist church) for a Baptist College
is never commented on as being even stranger – except by me!
MattF
OT. A second gravitational wave has been detected! Relatively puny, compared to the first one, the energy released in the event was ‘only’ one solar mass. But it’s a big deal– with two events you can do statistics! (Joke).
gogol's wife
@Susan K of the tech support:
Awesome!
SFAW
@Downpuppy:
Damn straight.
Elizabelle
@schrodinger’s cat: Love it. Great way to learn the lyrics. (And they were not what I thought they were, in several lines ..)
Elizabelle
@starscream: Not very, I am hoping.
As goes Eric Cantor …. although I have yet to see a “Paul Ryan’s Bitch Face” website. Cantor was just made for that …
LAO
@EBT: Agreed. But one interesting point in the report is that Mack’s claims as to membership can’t be relied upon. And there is no official list. So how knows how many Sheriffs are actually members and who those Sheriffs actually are.
Roger Moore
@Cacti:
To be completely fair, it isn’t MLB that’s talking about that. They’re actually pretty protective of major league records being MLB records. It’s media people who want something to talk about who are treating the combined MLB and Japanese total as being a record. Even Ichiro hasn’t treated it as a big deal.
redshirt
@MattF: It’s a Big F’n deal. A whole new window on the Universe has been opened, and who knows what we’ll learn. There’s a fleet of new gravitational wave detectors under construction/planned. Ten years from now we’ll be able to detect far more subtle signatures, and that detection will only get better as the years go by. 30 years from now we’ll be able to see the Universe via gravity fluctuations.
NotMax
Woden don’t get no respect.
;)
redshirt
@Elizabelle: Speaking of lyrics, the song “Blinded by the light” really bugs me, because the chorus clearly says “Wrapped up like a douche in the middle of the night” even if the band says its “Deuce”.
There’s also a “Swirlie whirlie” line that’s annoying.
MattF
@NotMax: But Wednesday’s child is full of woe.
Corner Stone
@Elizabelle: Dammit! I had somehow convinced myself to forget about Cantor. Now I have to review my list of the 5 most punchable faces:
Cruz, McConnell, Trump, Cantor, Shkreli, Cruz, and Cruz
NotMax
@redshirt
Or Michael Jackson singing “The chair is not my son.”
LAO
@SFAW: If I were Syndergaard, my ring tone would be Vin Scully’s call on his second homeroom — “He is Thor!”
MattF
@Corner Stone: And Cruz and Cruz and Cruz. He’s in a class by himself. When he looks in a mirror, the mirror wants to punch him.
Poopyman
@Mike J: Awesome. Trump will of course feel compelled to use this as cover and simultaneously try to top it. My bet is we hear something within the next 12 hours.
redshirt
@shomi: You’re good now though, since you said the magic words.
Poopyman
@NotMax: A day late and a krone short.
daves09
From now on the Rube is Pundit Guy. With their X-ray vision they can see things invisible to literally everyone else in the world. Like the Rube’s viability as a candidate.
Patricia Kayden
@Mike J: Rightwingers are the same wherever they are, I see. They certainly love to threaten their political opponents. So much for freedom.
gogol's wife
@germy:
For all the great lines from that musical that are entering the language, I think my favorite Miranda line of his oeuvre so far is from In the Heights: “Mister Softee’s truck has broken down.” It comes at the absolute perfect moment, and always makes me laugh out loud when I hear it.
Ryan
Maybe you’re thinking of Bill O’Reilly?
Randy Khan
@LAO:
Yes, we are.
There was a great article in the NY Times last year about the real Thor and a visit to his ancestral family home, where nobody had heard of him.
SFAW
@redshirt:
I can’t tell if that’s African-American (racist!), Affirmative Action (racist again!). or Alcoholics Anonymous (drunkist!), but I am disappoint to see this side of you.
Paul LePage’s aura must be infusing you with something-something-mumble-something.
daves09
@Elizabelle: Must be hard for Cantor-he’s not even on the wingnut welfare circuit and absolutely no one wants him to run for anything.
NotMax
@gogol’s wife
Ancient humor.
Q: Why doesn’t the Dairy Queen have any children?
A: She married Mr. Softee.
C. Isaac
A British MP was assassinated today in their own district.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-36550304
Reportedly the assassin was screaming ‘Britain First!’ as he killed her. MP Cox was part of the ‘Remain’ campaign to keep the UK inside of the EU.
It’s hard not to look at stuff like this and get seriously worried about the way the western world is going.
pseudonymous in nc
@Poopyman: no, the killer was a middle-aged white man, history of mental illness, murky stuff but fair to say that the climate is enough to push unstable people over the edge.
British politics right now is toxic, Trumpian, “the brown people are coming”, awful, despairingly so. Scum on Facebook threatening Remain campaigners, saying “you’re next.”
The MP who was killed previously worked for NGOs, with a focus on refugees, and represented a diverse constituency. She was elected last year, liked and respected by colleagues from all parties, expected to go far. She leaves behind a husband and two young children. My heart is broken.
EBT
@LAO: well yeah a couple phone calls could clear out 75% and the ones conspiring against the government can be documented and moved upon.
MattF
Back when I was an undergraduate, I had a professor named Thor. Funny thing was, he was a Quaker and a pacifist.
Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporate Shill
So I note that Bernie is still up to tricks.
You can tell his great appeal to the youth vote by the fact that they didn’t turn out in anything close to the numbers sufficient to give him a win.
Mnemosyne
@redshirt:
According to Google, you’re *really* wrong about that lyric. It’s:
Revved up like a deuce
Another runner in the night
I’m assuming it’s a car reference of some kind.
Miss Bianca
@LAO: This is the next movement that needs to be stamped into the ground, as far as I’m concerned.
rikyrah
Uh huh
Uh huh
…………………
Chris Matthews Thinks Trump Would Be Fine If He’d Just Hide His Racism, Attack Hillary, and ‘Build!’
by Tommy Christopher | 9:21 am, June 16th, 2016 VIDEO 32
The media’s idiotic anticipation of a Donald Trump “pivot” away from racism and insanity and toward something more “presidential” has found its perfect exemplar in MSNBC host Chris Matthews. At the close of Wednesday night’s Hardball, Matthews used his “Let Me Finish” segment to fervently wish that Trump would turn things around from his “slump” this week, stop talking about all this “ethnic stuff” (that’s WhitePeople-ese for “racism”), start attacking Hillary Clinton, and just “build!”:
……………
Matthews’ weird fetish for building aside (he seems to have taken the term “Erector Set” entirely too much to heart), Matthews’ rant is everything that’s wrong with the mainstream media’s coverage of the Trump campaign times ten. Trump is not in a “slump,” he’s been doing the exact same thing for exactly one year, and the only thing worse than expecting him to reverse it now is thinking that reversing it could undo the damage he has done to himself. The political media in general, and Matthews in particular, treat Trump’s racism, xenophobia, and misogyny like messaging problems instead of the fatal moral failings that they are, and his loony, frightening policy pronouncements like knocks in an engine that just needs some fine-tuning.
It’s no coincidence, though, that the media is dominated by the type of person who can more easily forgive and forget racism and bigotry and misogyny if Trump would just keep them to himself. It’s easy for them to fill out a blank pardon for Trump’s bigotry, because they were never going to be directly affected by it anyway. They should take a page from Trump and “ask the blacks, the women, the Hispanics, the Muslims” if they think Trump can “pivot” anywhere but straight to Hell.
redshirt
@Mnemosyne: Yeah, but that’s their fault. It’s clearly “Douche”.
Gin & Tonic
@Mnemosyne: 1932 Ford. As in the Beach Boys’ “Little Deuce Coupe.”
redshirt
@SFAW: It’s a cheaper AAA.
Mnemosyne
@gogol’s wife:
They are apparently doing a production of “In The Heights” in Germany right now, and LMM is amused that it’s German dialogue and Spanglish songs, with German actors waving Carribbean flags.
gogol's wife
I just called Senators Murphy and Blumenthal to express my support for their work on gun control. At both places, the person answering the phone said they were getting many more supportive calls than calls from gun nuts.
redshirt
@NotMax:
Clearly, it was not.
Susan K of the tech support
@MomSense + @Betty Cracker + @gogol’s wife:
So glad you liked it!
Nice to know we’re raising up a new crop of mimics and comedians! And boy howdy, do we ever need it.
SFAW
@Joel:
Keep it within the Mets “family,” if you please.
ETA: And it’s not clear that D’Arnaud will end up being successful. He has the potential to be a good hitter, but his defensive skills are not quite on a par with Mike Piazza. And when you’re injured more than healthy, it might also be a problem.
NotMax
@Mnemosyne
See: Boys, Beach, The – “Little Deuce Coupe.”
;)
gogol's wife
@Mnemosyne:
That must be strange.
gogol's wife
@Susan K of the tech support:
It was very nicely done. He had the mannerisms, intonations, and accents down perfectly, and he managed to make it about the school, so that it wouldn’t have offended supporters of any of the people he was imitating (except maybe Cruz).
gratuitous
@SRW1: Rubio isn’t going to enlist until the military gets a little more stylish with their boots.
LAO
@SFAW: I’m too young to remember that trade. But, If I really want to rile my mother, I ask her about the Seaver trade.
germy
?
SFAW
@redshirt:
AAA? What does racism/drunkism have to do with roadside towing?
You Mainiacs are either so sophisticated that a rube such as I just can’t follow your highbrow commentary, or you’re just weird.
Patricia Kayden
@rikyrah: Another reason I’m glad I no longer watch Matthews. Huge sigh.
I’m glad that Trump will not hide his bigotry. The worse thing that could happen to an increasingly diverse country like the U.S. is for a candidate to hide his true feelings and then act on them after he’s elected. At least we know Trump’s positions on minorities up front. No one can say that they’re surprised by anything he does if this country is dumb enough to elect him.
NotMax
@gogol’s wife
Also strange (as it’s a play revolving around speaking English!).
trollhattan
@SFAW:
Heh. What am I to make of our AAA team? (They have the best maps, though.)
r€nato
wait a minute… if we’re at war… aren’t all Americans supposed to shut their fucking mouths and stand behind their president?
That’s what millions of frothing-at-the-mouth Bush cultists constantly screamed at us dirty fucking hippies in the last decade…
gogol's wife
@NotMax:
But she’s wearing Audrey Hepburn’s outfit from the movie, so it’s okay!
C. Isaac
@rikyrah:
Shorter Tweety —
I tawt I taw a pudgy twat — and I liked it!
trollhattan
Kiddo just promoted from middle school; woke up with an 8th grader in the house, came home with a high-schooler. Woe is us!
redshirt
@SFAW: I may be just a simple country chicken.
trollhattan
@r€nato:
How inconvenient of you to remember. Also, too, they’re pretty sure 9/11 happened under Clinton, similar to Ruby Ridge. Clinton really did have about three terms. Now we’re going for five!
SFAW
@LAO:
Me too. I would not be averse to resurrecting Dick Young, just so he could be killed. And same goes for Donald Grant. Motherfuckers.
The Nolan Ryan thing was just a fuck-up, but the Seaver thing was Don Grant being a fucking dickhead, and Dick Young (sports “writer” for either the Post or the NYDN) played his part by dragging Seaver’s family (specifically, his wife) into things. Fuck both of them with a rusty pitchfork.
Do I sound like your mother at all? If so, she sounds like a woman of distinction and high values. (I’m not, of course, but that’s because I’m an asshole, which your mother is certainly not.)
Oh, and did I remember to say “Fuck Donald Grant and fuck Dick Young”?
Mnemosyne
@NotMax:
Not really — it’s a play that revolves around passing for someone of a higher social class and using language as a clad marker. That seems pretty adaptable to any language, at least in concept.
jeffreyw
Welcome to Homer’s World
NotMax
@Mnemosyne
“Why can’t the English teach their children how to speak?”
’nuff said.
JustRuss
@rikyrah: Apparently Trump’s grandfather was Irish, which puts him squarely in the Matthews/Russert “Good ol’ straight talkin’ Irish boys” club. Matthews will be trying to fluff him no matter what he says, he can’t help himself.
catclub
@jeffreyw: Art reference. I get it! I get it!
LAO
@SFAW: My mother is a woman of a certain age — you’ve pretty much summed it up, but with slightly more profanity. She actually renounced her mets fandom for a couple of years as a result.
Roger Moore
@Mnemosyne:
Yes. A Deuce is a 1932 (i.e. thirty deuce) Ford, which was a tremendously popular car among hot rodders.
SFAW
@JustRuss:
As opposed to the “Pat Buchanan (and his brothers) gang of bullies club.” Hmm, I wonder which of those is actually more in line with Trump’s personality … thinking .. thinking
redshirt
@efgoldman: It doesn’t really suck though. It’s slightly below average at the worst.
redshirt
@catclub: Me too! I’ve actually been to the location of the original painting.
SFAW
@LAO:
She sounds wonderful. She still live down there? (“Down there” being the NYC area, I’m in MA.)
Iowa Old Lady
@Yutsano: As an ex-Detroiter, I looked at your comment for a while trying to figure out what Sparky Anderson had to do with Arizona State.
NotMax
How to Win Friends and Influence People, Bizarro world edition.
daryljfontaine
@redshirt: Obviously not. His son was the blanket.
D
Iowa Old Lady
@Mike J: Let’s see if we can get Trump to talk about how great the murdering a-holes are.
jeffreyw
@catclub:
Why yeth, yeth it was!
LAO
@SFAW: Yup (and my father is a Yankee fan, so mixed marriage). During particular important games (playoff, etc), we can often be found texting each other throughout. I hate going to games with her though, because, like most true orange and blue met fans, she can be a real nervous nelly!
The joke in my family is that my mom got me (daughter) and my dad got my two brothers — the only team we all agree on is the NY Giants.
redshirt
@efgoldman: You can’t race a lobster around the bases.
SFAW
@LAO:
You all hate them? Or love them?
Assuming it’s the latter: one of the BEST THINGS EVER is their record in Super Bowls against the Pats.
raven
@SFAW: Stinkin Jankees!
NotMax
@redshirt
Involves chasing it while wielding a nutcracker and carafe of drawn butter.
Baseball of zero interest to me, however did once get lifetime passes by winning a contest to name a team.
Not just that team, but the entire league went belly up soon after.
SFAW
@redshirt:
You’d be surprised: bring along a bowl of melted butter and a nutcracker, and — WATCH ‘EM GO!
Steamers, on the other hand — well, you can’t do a thing with them (on the basepaths, that is).
SFAW
@raven:
Why the hate for The Bronx’s Triple-A team? Or do you mean “people north of the Mason-Dixon”?
Elie
@NotMax:
This is the last stage before they go into complete melt down, deer in the headlights no response,shock mode. Clearly (at least to me), they are completely overwhelmed emotionally, tactically and strategically to even remotely say something like this. I am sure that at some point in the not too distant future, folks will be heading for the exits, leaving Trump ranting at the walls. The thing is such a mess it will be hard to clean up before the convention and may not be fixable after either…
SFAW
@efgoldman:
Fixed
Litlebritdifrnt
@redshirt:
That is “Curlie Wurlie” it is a chocolate covered caramel bar in England.
redshirt
@SFAW: Just trolling now.
burnspbesq
@Joel:
If d’Arnaud is ever healthy enough to play a full season, maybe.
redshirt
@Litlebritdifrnt: It’s all madness!
SFAW
@NotMax:
I gotta learn to type faster.
Yutsano
@Iowa Old Lady: That…amused me more than it should have. Of course MikeJ and I will discuss Pac-12 stuff without losing each other and then I forget ESPN loses the plot somewhere around the Mississippi river.
@efgoldman: They should. Ryan has a Teatard challenger who has made some noise and has the added benefit of being a total moron. But Janesville isn’t exactly progressive paradise either.
Paul in KY
@Cacti: Cheating Pete used a corked bat, so he can STFU.
redshirt
@NotMax: Heh. You and SFAW had the same comment at the same time.
I had the stereotypical “befriend a lobster as a child then watch in horror as it’s boiled alive” moment which turned me off lobster entirely, and I assume led me down the road to vegetarianism.
Roger Moore
@efgoldman:
Actually, it was 66 HR, not 70+, and it was in A ball, not AAA. Specifically, it was for Lincoln, Nebraska in the Western League in 1956. Stuart said it has surprisingly little effect on how the team treated him. It was so far out of the realm of their experience that they just didn’t know how to treat it, so they more or less ignored it, and he started the next season in A ball again.
SFAW
@redshirt:
You say that as if it’s a bad thing.
Trolling Pats fans helps make America great.
ETA: Again.
redshirt
@SFAW: Angry growl….
hovercraft
@rikyrah:
Tweety has the immigration bug up his ass. He makes comments about the lack of enforcement of the Reagan amnesty provisions. They got amnesty but there was no border enforcement. He says democrats want amnesty but they don’t want enforcement, and they don’t really want immigration reform because they want it as an election issue. According to him Obama never really pushed for immigration and hasn’t done enough on the enforcement side. I guess his republican friends and family are his sources on this. For a couple of years after 2012 he kept harping on Obama never having pushed for jobs or infrastructure. When the American Jobs Act was pointed out to him, his response was that there was not much discussion of this in the media. Head desk. He harbors the illusion that America is a center right country and if Donald just sticks to building, he will be able to get minorities to vote for him because jobs. Apparently just as he missed all the coverage about Obama and jobs/immigration, he has missed all the coverage about Trumps business practices and his lack of any plans.
I guess if they are not discussing it in the DC cocktail circuit, it never happened.
Clinton has deep troubles, because I said so.
SFAW
@redshirt:
My sincere condolences
I, on the other hand, have been going to Bayley’s for 50-plus years, and would consider buying a home near there (If Pine Point weren’t so freaking expensive.)
Corner Stone
Did anyone else see the comments from McCain that PBO was “directly responsible” for the Orlando attacks?
SFAW
@redshirt:
My work here is done.
Brachiator
Build what? A wall?
Corner Stone
@hovercraft: I saw that Tweety jag in real time and I was immediately aghast and all like “WTF Tweety?!”
redshirt
@SFAW: Lovely area.
I’ve been out lobstering though. Brutal work. So many guys missing fingers. And the freaking seagulls! Holy heck!
LAO
@SFAW:
ABSOLUTELY! One of my brother is a federal LEO and in 2008, he was located in Boston — he’s co-workers gave him endless shit in the weeks leading up to the superbowl, He was so aggravated with them, he wouldn’t watch the game with any of his friends or co-workers. The next day after the Giants won, he told me, the entire city of Boston was so stunned and butthurt — he couldn’t even make fun of them. (And he can be a real asshole, so they must have been super pathetic).
Do you root for all NY teams — that can’t be easy in MA.
LAO
@Corner Stone: Yes, he remains an angry bitter loser.
MattF
@Corner Stone: Yeah. Just to remind everyone that he’s a Republican.
Brachiator
@Corner Stone:
The pushback on this foolishness was swift and to-the-point.
SciNY
@Corner Stone: Just did. Sigh. The ersatz Maverick and straight shooter has debased himself thoroughly, no less than Christie and all the other spineless wonders in the GOP. Trump says he’s not a hero, but because McCain needs Trump’s mouth breathers to vote for him (to offset the yuuge Hispanic turnout against him), McCain can’t disavow a single crazy thing Hair Fuhrer says. In other words, this is excellent news for John McCain!
Shell
I must have been pretty hard-hearted as a kid…I loved going crabbing on our vacations down at the Jersey Shore. (We had traps, but I prefered the
bait on the end of a piece of a string method Pull it up slowly and scoop him up with a net right when he got to the surface. Seemed more sporting that way.)
And I had no problem dumping them into the boiling water. After our feast, we threw all the left-over shells and other bits into the Bay, to the delight of the gulls and other crabs, who are quite the cannibals.
Miss Bianca
@redshirt: I’m sort of wondering how one befriends a lobster.
But then, I had lobster for the first time after my first Detroit Tigers game when I was a nipperkin (how’s that for tying two threads together?), and have never allowed a twinge of guilt or regret to restrain me since.
Leto
Powerful Hollywood conservative group whose secret members include Clint Eastwood and Jon Voight forced to disband due to constant infighting over Donald Trump
It’s the Daily Mail, so you know… but still, this is pretty damn hilarious. I mean, when they’ve lost such luminaries as Clint “Old man yells at chair” Eastwood…
RaflW
After the giant turd Gramps McCain just dropped, I needed a laugh.
This did it:
ETA: Leto’s tidbit about Empty-Chair Clint provides a nice chaser.
GregB
@Brachiator:
Give ’em hell Harry. The GOP is manfacturing the rope to lash the whole party to SS Trump by the mile.
germy
@Corner Stone: Why do they call him tweety? I never understand the origin of that name.
MattF
@germy: Think yellow hair.
germy
@MattF: Ahhh… makes sense.
Leto
@Brachiator: McCain has taken $7.4M from the NRA. There are not enough rusty instruments with which he can go f#ck himself.
germy
what the heck is this and why?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbM6WbUw7Bs
randy khan
@SFAW:
Speaking as a Mets fan, that’s a lovely little burn.
RaflW
@Leto: Volsky just updated, turns out it’s $7.7 million.
$300K here or there, pretty soon you’re talking about real death and destruction…
Corner Stone
McCain trying to walk back his bullshit.
germy
Onion headline from ’08:
McCain’s Economic Plan For Nation: ‘Everyone Marry A Beer Heiress’
SFAW
@redshirt:
Yeah. Spent a fair amount of time there when I was younger. Except for the expectation that it’ll be an island in 20 years — although at that point, I’d be too old to care anyway (if I live that long) — I’d try to buy something there (as I mentioned up-thread). I also remember when the Clambake was about the size of a small Dairy Queen. (Now I’m starting to sound like erfgoldman.)
I’ve never been, but I know that you’re speaking truth. I imagine it’s part of the reason for the (possibly apocryphal) stories of lobstermen shooting anyone they catch poaching their traps.
germy
i seem to be in moderation again.
mighty pretty country ’round here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbM6WbUw7Bs
SFAW
@efgoldman:
I would have thought “links” would be associated with golf, not baseball.
Leto
@RaflW: What’s $300K amongst merchants of death… errr… friends?
Fair Economist
@efgoldman:
Ryan’s seat is distinctly not safe in the current climate. It’s something like R+4. The Democrats didn’t get any professional politicians to run, though. One of them is a party activist, so that’s something.
Corner Stone
@germy: Because of his oversized yooge melon and the used to be more yellow color of his hair.
SFAW
@randy khan:
Glad someone picked up on it.
I’m REALLY hoping D’Arnaud becomes a top-notch catcher, but he’ll never be a great hitter with Kevin Long instructing him. My brother noted that when D’Arnaud spent some time in Vegas with Wally Backman, his hitting improved measurably. Maybe Alderson can trade Long for Backman? No idea whether Wally is a good hitting coach or what, but even Charley Lau is better than Long.
Corner Stone
The words “directly responsible” do not allow a whole lot of leeway to back off of.
MattF
@Corner Stone: Der Trump has really spoiled the game. You can’t insinuate anything any more.
redshirt
@SFAW: “Lobster wars” are real and happen semi-frequently, probably based on a cycle of cost per pound and how good the year turned out. They usually involve someone “new” to the area (New here could still mean 20 years) trapping on the turf of some old timer, though of course there are no official areas where one lobsterman gets exclusive rights – it’s unwritten rules.
Traps getting cut/stolen is usually the worst of it, but there has been violence too.
redshirt
@efgoldman: Good point, for costumes. But the Sea Dogs have an actual, live pig who runs.
redshirt
@efgoldman: I LOVE the nickname “Dr. Strangeglove”.
gogol's wife
@GregB:
“SS Trump”
I saw what you did there.
SFAW
@redshirt:
Apologies if I’m prying, but where are you? Coastal? Inland Cumberland County? York County? Portland? Doesn’t sound like you’re in Fort Kent or Presque Isle.
gogol's wife
@germy:
You just broke my brain.
germy
@gogol’s wife: My apologies. I admit I had to turn the sound off halfway through, but I watched to the bitter end.
The Golux
@SFAW:
And at least the Red Sox were the beneficiaries of a lopsided trade, getting Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek (the battery in the clinching game in 2004) for Heathcliff Slocumb, who only pitched three more seasons. Thanks Mariners!
germy
@Corner Stone:
Thump test indicates hollowness…
Corner Stone
@germy: They seem to get more than a little annoyed when I thump their melons.
redshirt
@SFAW: Western Maine mountains, near Bethel.
rikyrah
@Corner Stone:
Did he really say that?
germy
@Corner Stone:
We’ll need a stronger pike.
Gravenstone
@Mnemosyne: It’s originally a Springsteen song. Yes it’s a car reference. And Springsteen jokes about how Manfred Mann’s version mangles the chorus.
gene108
@Brachiator:
The Senate must be one-helluva a drug.
Already put in 24 years, pushing 80 years old, and married into enough money to never need work a day in his life and yet he still wants to keep his job.
Corner Stone
@rikyrah: See Cole’s follow up post –> for linked context.
SFAW
@redshirt:
Nice area, kind of a haul to Portland, however.
germy
@gene108: Can you imagine him around the house with nothing to do? His wife would move to one of their other houses.
redshirt
@SFAW: It’s a haul to anywhere. You get used to it, I guess. An hour round trip to get groceries.
But then I have complete and total isolation and nothing but woods around me. So….
WaterGirl
@Susan K of the tech support: That was totally awesome!
J R in WV
@Mnemosyne:
I’m thinkin’ the “deuce” is two 4-barrel carbs on a V-8 hot-rod.
Which would have been gnarly back in the hot-rod days!
Gin & Tonic
@redshirt: Season pass at Sunday River?
hovercraft
@Corner Stone:
msnbc election coverage new hires:
Hugh Hewitt– satans spawn, smarmy, liar
Nicole Wallace– Palin handmaiden , who in the end could not vote for her, sane
Ben Ginsberg– typical republican talking points, reality based
Rick Tyler– former Cruz spokesman, need I say more
Sarah Isgur Flores– former Carly Fiorina staffer, a lying liar like her boss
Charlie Sykes– right wing talker anti-Trump
And Tweety has decided to resurrect Anne Coulters career.
They still have their other mainstays, Steele, Schmidt, and the Romney one.
WaterGirl
@Susan K of the tech support: About 2 minutes into the video, I found myself feeling sorry for everyone who had to come after this kid. I decided that if I were the next kid to speak, I would just go up to the mic and say “happy graduation, everybody!, can we have a round of applause for the kid who went before me” and go sit down.
J R in WV
@Corner Stone:
I lost all respect for Crashin’ McCain when I read his autobiography, in which he admits to being a terrible officer in the USN. Both his father and his grandfather were Admirals, which gave him great opportunity, which he never took advantage of.
Near the bottom of his class at Annapolis, not a top student at flight school, crashed more planes than usually allowed, helped make the fire on the Forrestal much worse than it had to be, fled the flight deck rather than attempt to lead a damage-control team, shot down while not following the flight-plan for his mission.
Should have been cashiered long before he became a POW. So not a hero.
No surprise he’s accusing a brave President of treason. McCain is scum.
Betty Cracker
@hovercraft: I can’t explain it, but I don’t mind Schmidt, Wallace and Steele. They’ve done evil things, but they don’t seem like evil people — particularly Steele. The rest should be cast into the Fox pyre.
Gin & Tonic
@Betty Cracker: Like someone else here, every time I see Nicole Wallace I think of the recurring character by the same name on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. She was more interesting, though.
WaterGirl
@Brachiator:
Dear Harry Reid,
I love you. Please don’t retire.
WaterGirl
hovercraft
@Betty Cracker:
Me too, the old ones are your regular shills, the new one sociopaths.
Roger Moore
@SFAW:
For all the shit he got, Piazza was actually a fair defensive catcher. He had a terrible arm, which got most of the attention, but he was good at just about everything else. He was good to excellent at blocking balls in the dirt. Though we don’t have the PitchFX stuff for when he was playing, the evidence suggests he was good at framing pitches; at the very least, his team’s pitchers always threw more strikes when he was catching than when the other catchers were. And he seems to have been generally good at working with pitchers. He certainly had a fine record of working with young pitchers, which is where you expect it to show up the most.
1,000 Flouncing Lurkers (was fidelioscabinet)
@SFAW: Or, as Dodgers fans of an earlier age were known to say “I’d shoot O’Malley twice.”
redshirt
@Gin & Tonic: Heh. I don’t ski.
SFAW
@Roger Moore:
Fair points, but a lot of what you mentioned were (to my feeble mind) not really defensive skills, but game/pitcher management. Managing pitchers — especially young ones — is an extremely important part of the game, of course, but it’s not a defensive skill as such.
I have/had no problem with Piazza, generally, but I view him similar to how I viewed Armando Benitez: excellent 95 to 99 percent of the time, but tended to choke in far too many high-pressure situations. Everybody chokes from time to time, but Piazza seemed to do it more than would be expected for a hitter of his caliber. (At least, when he was a Met, don’t know about his Dodger years).
SFAW
@1,000 Flouncing Lurkers (was fidelioscabinet):
Understandable.
Gin & Tonic
@redshirt: You should.
Paul in KY
@J R in WV: Hear hear!!!