Open Thread: Supporting A-Rod
ByLet’s run the Open Thread with A-Rod news tonight. That way, if you, dear reader, don’t want to talk A-Rod, you can talk whatever else you want. Just play nice.
In The Times today, Marjorie Connelly breaks down a poll about Alex Rodriguez and his current popularity. The Times and CBS News surveyed 1112 people, 429 of whom are baseball fans, and they aren’t big A-Rod supporters.
Sixty percent of baseball fans are bothered by steroid use by players, and 44 percent say Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez should not be allowed in the Hall of Fame, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll…
The 60 percent of fans who said the use of performance-enhancing drugs mattered a lot to them was up from 53 percent last year…
Nearly half of those surveyed, 47 percent, said any major league record set by a steroid user should carry a note indicating the drug use, and 32 percent said the record should be eliminated altogether. Fewer than 20 percent favored keeping a steroids-tainted record on the books…
Thirty-seven percent of fans surveyed said they believed that at least half of major league players use steroids, and another 38 percent said a quarter use them. Nineteen percent said few players use drugs.
For A-Rod, those results are largely meaningless. All the poll shows is what we already knew: Alex Rodriguez will get a chilly reception as the Yanks hit the road this year. Hopefully, it won’t impact his play. A-Rod, after all, is used to a bad reception.
But on a larger level, baseball looks bad in the eyes of the public. When 74 percent of poll respondents think that at least a quarter of all baseball players are still juicing, the game has an image problem. In other A-Rod news, Yuri Sucart has been banned from the team this year.
Around NY Sports: Stephon Marbury is en route to Boston. I hope he kills the Celtics … The Knicks and Nets are off while the Devils, Rangers and Islanders all play home games at 7 p.m. … Johan Santana has tenderness in his throwing elbow.
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“Yankees lose major sponsorship deal with Bank of America
The Yankees and troubled Bank of America have ended talks for a major sponsorship deal for the new Yankee Stadium, a bank spokesman confirmed to Newsday on Thursday.
The Yankees and Bank of America were reportedly close to a deal in September that would have approached the $20 million per year the Mets are getting from Citigroup for naming rights to Citi Field. According to the Sports Business Journal, the deal being negotiated in September included “prime signage” in and around the park, but not naming rights.”
http://www.newsday.com/sports/.....4007.story
Yeah, yeah. Let’s not jump the gun. We have a 9:30 post coming up on that very topic!
Whoops!
Jumping the gun.
At least when I did it, it was something they didn’t post yet!
Marbury will not kill the Celtics. He’s not going to be a on a 3 strikes policy. 1st screw up and he’s gone, without doing any harm.
So, what is the deal with those caps with the new Yankee Stadium logo on them? They can’t possibly be serious.
Guess they need to sell as much merchandise as possible to pay for the Rays and Marlins payroll.
Or maybe to pay for the HDTVs that they’re putting on the side of the restaurant.
I think the $16 chicken wings sold in the restaurant will more than pay for those.
They should open a store in Boston and sell anti-Yankee merch. I would enjoy it if we could get them to pay for our next FA.
But you know that Boston will respond with an anti-Sox store in New York, and it will surely have more Heart and Passion For The Game®©™.
Phil Hughes has late movement on his FB again. Life is good.
Yeah, I’m watching the replay right now too. He looks good, looks healthy and confident out there. I’m looking forward to seeing him get his 6 starts in June when AJ Burnett makes his inevitable trip to the DL.
So I know we tend to frown on self-promotion but New York magazine linked to my blog.
1) I cannot get over this. I am lame.
2) My friend, who has lived in North Jersey most of his life, with the exception of the past couple years, has never heard of this magazine. I don’t get it.
*****
MARTY’S BACK!
http://tinyurl.com/behtlx
Are you trying to tell me I look like a bearded monkey?
http://tinyurl.com/byzcek
Ah. I get it. I’m a drunk child. =P
Aren’t we all?
I actually watched a movie in class today where children got drunk.
Dude! What movie?
“Machuca.” It’s a Chilean film from 2004.
Any good?
We didn’t finish it, but it was pretty good despite taking a very odd turn.
uh-oh.
Something tells me the person who gave the kiddie-poos the booze did it to take advantage of them.
Nah, more along the lines of an incestuous turn.
The children in the class or the children in the movie?
whats wrong with a drunk monkey child?
http://www.theloungelounge.com.....r-web2.gif
My Mom used to give my dog ‘doggie valium’ on the 4th of July, because the fireworks scared him. One year we ran out of the d-val, so we gave him about a half a beer. He was utterly shitfaced.
That’s kind of hysterical.
It was. He just laid their next to his dish, completely trashed. So I picked him up to put him in his bed. He was like a sack of potatos.
There, their and they’re. Pick one.
“we tend to frown on self-promotion”??
Have you SEEN some of TSJC’s posts?
Well, I guess I haven’t been around much lately…
I don’t know how to put this, but… I’m kind of a big deal. People know me.
Ha. Totally taken to task.
The one with Kate Moss on the cover?
The website, not the print. Can’t link to a blog in a print edition.
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2.....ist_bottom Under ‘fanatic blogs’.
Congrats, Rebecca.
However, I have to take issue with that New Yorker article. They continue to portray the ticket issue as one of the “loyal” fans vs. the “moneyed” fans.
This implies that the majority of the individuals (or businesses) that buy full-season tickets or more expensive tickets are somehow less “loyal” to the Yankees than less affluent fans who buy smaller and less expensive packages. That’s not a truthful narrative. The fact that I may have bought a 15-game plan in the bleachers does not per se make me more “loyal” than some guy who buys a full-season 81 game plan in the field championship boxes, or more “loyal” than a business who buys a luxury suite. It just means we have different levels of affordability. Some of those CEO’s and high rollers who pay 5000k a year for their season tickets are guys like Billy Crystal and such: lifelong Yankee fans whose only difference from you and me is that they were fortunate enough to be more financially successful.
As the New Yorker article said itself,
The most loyal fans – loyalty measured on how long the ticketholder has been purchasing tickets to see the Yankees in person – were given first dibs. And, virtually every fan was offered better seats – more expensive, sure, but better.
The New Yorker, and other similar press stories, have created a false dichotomy between wealthy fans and “loyal” fans. It’s disingenuous, IMO.
Wait. Are you telling me Will Leitch wrote yet another hack job piece on the Yankees and their fans? Shocking. I don’t believe it.
Yeah. He certainly has a blind-spot where the Yankees, and really NY sports in general, are concerned. It’s a little irritating.
Sorry: New York magazine. Not The New Yorker. My bad.
Brian Griffin: Where are the toilets?
New Yorker guy: Oh, noone at The New Yorker has an anus.
I watched the end of the Hou/Atl game today. It was good…but like Mike said in the Podcast…it wasn’t the Yankees. It wasn’t the same.
While were on the subject of dogs, anyone like Bulldogs/Mastiffs?
Check this out
http://gamesinthecity.com/NY_Y.....ulldog.jpg
another
http://www.hotschottfrenchbull.....60h747.jpg
Last one, I promise. Not as cute as the others.
http://www.lohud.com/blogs/profiles/pabraham.jpg
Thanks cold. Pete’s been nothing but nice to us.
lol
Yeah, I thought it was funny. For some reason that came up when I Googled “Yankees” and “bulldog”
Cashman thinks Rays aren’t going anywhere:
“I see a [Tampa Bay Rays] team deep in pitching, a team with great defense, a team with young, emerging position players, a team that knows how to win,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman says.
“On paper, they’re better than they were last year. And last year, obviously, they were the best in the league.”
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/s.....n-the-East
True, but they also were a magic team last year. Its very tough to repeat some of the things they did last year.
-They got a TON out of their bullpen, and bullpens tend to be volatile
-They had ridiculous health out of their starting 5, where everyone except Kazmir made 30 starts, and he made 27.
-9th in runs scored
-Won a ton of low scoring games.
If any one of those things don’t happen, they finish behind the Red Sox. Two or more don’t happen, and they could easily finish behind the 89 win Yanks.
yeh
http://baseball.realgm.com/src.....ds_cousin/
Are you seriously linking to a story that’s already linked to in this very post? Come on. Read the post first, considering the headline and your topic.
My bad Ben. Jumped the gun as I wrote below.
No worries! I just like to hope that people sometimes read what we write instead of diving right into the comments. It’s all good.
Ya, I kind of just passed it over because it had to do with A-Rod and roids. I will never do this again my good man.
D’oh! I’m an idiot.
you should really be ashamed… i think Ben may ask you to not show up around RAB anymore…
Ben: Ya, ah Mike. I know your a regular here and all but ah ya, I’m going to have to ask you to just ah, not come to our site anymore.
Yeaaaaaah, so if you could just go ahead and move over to LoHud, that’d be greaaaaat, mmmmmkay? Suuuuuuuuuuper….
Today’s game was fun to watch. I saw clips and pieces of yesterday’s, but that felt like I was away for a weekend and getting ESPN highlights in an out of market town.
Today was cool. Expecially seeing Hughes work out of trouble in the first, and then settling in. And then Sloth hits a 3-run bomb to left! It was refreshing to see. I am horny now.
8th pick in a live draft. 14 person league. Who in the world do i pick?
That’s a huge league.
Sizemore/Braun/Cabrera. One of those 3 should be available, that’s who I’d go with.
Agreed. Maybe Cabrera before Braun though.
You guys must REALLY like Melky…
We’re not the only ones. And I quote:
“Naw, he’s going to be awesome and eclipse Abreu’s brief greatness.
Melky’s gonna hit .314/.410/.466 for the rest of his career and become the fourth face on the Yankee Centerfielders Mount Rushmore.
The Yankee Clipper. The Mick. Bern Baby Bern (a/k/a the most “feared” hitter of the 1990s). And the MelkMan. United in greatness.”
Damn, who said that shit? That was so well written and compelling, I have no choice but to believe it. Whomever wrote that is clearly one of the smartest and most physically attractive men ever.
Kudos and huzzah to you, good sir, whomever you are.
Sizemore or Miggy if they’re still available. If you’re feeling frisky, go for Utley.
Do we all think he’ll be ready for Opening Day?
ugh well here goes nothing lets see how this goes. Any suggestions for later rounds?
Get Mo in the first round. How can you lose with God on your side?
Harang. His off year last year was due to his manger’s insane usage of him. He started one game, pitched 3/4 innings on 3 days rest in relief, followed by his regular schedule start 2 days after. He was terrible after that week before ultimately hitting the DL. He should recover well this year and be a nice value pick due to his lowered draft status.
“His off year last year was due to his manger’s insane usage of him.”
He has the same manager this year.
Yes, true, but I doubt after what happened last year and all the negative press he got for it that his manager is going to throw him out there again for 3 different stints of 50+ pitches in a 5 day span.. Look, crazier things have happened, but I’d imagine the guy would learn his lesson.
MELKY! lol
I need a long chat tomorrow Mike!
Yeah, sorry man, not going to happen. My mother is having surgery, and I’m not going to be around at all. Not sure if Ben or Joe can fill in.
Oh shit. Best of luck to her.
When we’re not obsessing over whether A-Rod blows his nose like a True Yankee, I’m sure the RAB readers’ well-wishes will be with the Axisas.
yup, whatever surgery minor or not is risky, we’re all praying for the best
Best wishes to your Mom.
I’m sorry to hear that.
Good luck.
Thanks all.
Oh, and tell Ben’s mom I said she’s hot.
at that point wouldnt it just be best to go for someone like hamilton/howard/longoria/Tex?
Way too early for Longoria, and Hamilton fell off in the 2nd half. Howard’s an option if you expect his avg to bump back up to a respectable number, .270 or so. I think Tex is a half step below Howard/Cabrera fantasy wise. I think Sizemore will be gone at 6 or 7 and the choices will boil down to Utley, Hamilton, Tex, Howard, and Cabrera… pretty solid options.
Is there a link to a recap of the game to see hughes pitch?
Just watching today’s game, and looking at who will likely be in our bullpen
Bruney-waiver deal
Ramirez-Minor league FA
Veras-Minor league FA
Albaladejo-Trade
Aceves-Mexican league signing
Cashman has done a terrific job on minor league FA/waiver wire guys. Pretty much rebuilt an effective bullpen with them. Especially impressive when you consider the years of failed MLB FA bullpen signings. Turns out the guys off the scrap heap did more for us than most of the volatile big leaguers ever did.
please, just imagine if we had a good GM rebuilding our BP, how much awesomer it would be. JOBA IN THE 8TH!!!!!!!!! Serious question, when are single game tickets gonna be on sale?
(started with one bit of sarcasm and it just kept building, sorry
)
I think Ben’s head exploded with that last one…
Serious question, when are single game tickets gonna be on sale?
http://www.google.com
Almost Theo-like.
Word. There’s no point in paying big bucks for relievers unless you’re sure you’re getting a top notch guy. $9.25M guaranteed for Kyle Farnsworth is just terrible.
And people whine about small market teams not being able to compete, yet they’ll throw that kind of money at Farnsworth, and Guillen before that.
While some of the “we need more parity!” arguments have validity, one of the main reasons certain teams consistently suck and have no chance of competing isn’t because they don’t have enough money to get competitive talent, it’s that they spend the money they do have mind-numbingly horrendously.
Nobody forced Allan Baird to sign all those horrible Royals free agents over the years. Nobody forced Cam Bonifay or Dave Littlefield to toss oodles of dollars to schlubs like Matt Morris or Derrek Bell or crap like that.
While I do agree with you, I’m just going to play devil’s advocate and say the reason they have such terrible contract history luck is because nobody good wants to play there, so they have to throw all their money and overpay just to get the questionable free agents, who ultimately don’t pan out.
That’s some of it I’m sure. Remember when signing Mike Gallego and trading for Charlie Hayes was a big deal and drastically upgraded our infield?
the fact that the Royals are touting him as the go-to guy on the way to soria is sad for them. that team used to be relevant
that team used to be relevant.
Yeah. I remember those days. Punky Brewster and Silver Spoons were on, those shows were the shiznit.
When I was a kid, the Royals were deadly. Yanks couldn’t get Brett out to save their lives and Quisinberry (who probably should be in the HOF) was unhittable.
Yanks biggest rival in the late 70′s early 80s.
Not only is it terrible, but when you pay a guy that much you HAVE to pitch them.
Flexibility. Learn it, live it, love it.
I’m very disappointed that it took Melancon 14 pitches to get through that inning. Very un-Melancon like.
I have been pronouncingg Melancon, Melon Cone, now i hear Kay pronouncing it Melan Sin. Ugh..
Kay’s closer.
When you say closer… are you witholding the correct phonetic pronunciation?? share the wealth man
Muh-LAN-sen
You’ve been wrong. Kay’s right.
Just the spring training rust. By the time he’s dominating in the late innings you’ll have it down pat.
I think the most exciting thing about Melancon’s future is that he may be able to quell the B-jobbers, at least a tiny bit. That is until, of course, God retires and Melancon will slide right into the 9th, Mo forbid leaving the 8th open. But by then, Joba will have clearly established himself as a starter, leaving the B-jobbers to cry in their beers, or probably their wine coolers.
Sign Lincecum to pitch the 8th, duh!
Yeah, the good news is, after at least two good seasons of being a fulltime starter in 2009 and 2010, by the time Mo retires most of the B-Jobbers will have given up on their silly fantasies.
The bad news is, even though Melancon, J.B. Cox, Hungry Hungry Humberto, and the CokeFiend all will likely have good chunks of quality big league experience at good-to-great levels, it will never be enough for B-Jobbers. They’ll be demanding we sign Joakim Soria to a 4 year 80M deal AND wanting us to trade Montero for Jonathan Broxton.
You and me both Drew. I hate to give anything to Kay, that arrogant fuck, but obviously he should know.
Gotta love the hate on the Celtics, Must hate all New England sports…You got hate in your heart, let it out
I think they’re the only New England team I can stand, and that’s only becasue I liked Garnett when he was with the T-Wolves and Ray Allen went to UConn.
Donny Marshall is an occasional broadcaster and otherwise in the studio too, another Husky for you. As a Celtics fan I’ll be pissed when he goes national, he does an awesome job.
He used to date Jen Rizzotti, quite a height difference, eh?
Sounds like the perfect height, eh?
I don’t really like the NBA but I’m going to try and get back into it next season. Whoever drafts Jeff Adrien will be my favorite team.
No one in the NBA is gonna draft Adrien. Sadly. One of the hardest workers UConn has ever had. But he might have a shot at the NFL, tight end perhaps?
Yeah I heard he was bulking up to do that. That’d be badass.
If he gets drafted.
HoopsHype.com only goes one round, and he’s not on there. NBA Draft.net has him in the middle of the second round (#43) to the Bulls. CollegeHoops.net does a full two rounds and has him undrafted. He’s the seventh guy listed in their honorable mentions.
http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/Draft/mockdraft.htm
Adrien’s a good player, but he may be D-League bound.
Yeah, I hear ya. He’s a great rebounder but his offense just isn’t polished enough. If he could solidify a top of the key jumper, he’d be nice but alas…
How about AJ Price, then? This one’s got him going to the Bobcats in the 2nd.
http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-mock-draft/2009/
I’d love that. If he gets his quickness back, which last night looked like the real deal, then I’d give AJ a chance to be a pro.
I definitely think Price can make it as a pro. He won’t be a dynamite scorer but he could be a good bench guy who can play decent D and get some assists.
If he wants to keep playing basketball, I think Russia or Greece is in his future. D-League may be too much for a 6-6 power forward.
Also, anyone who thinks Hasheem Thabeet is going to be great at the next level is sorely, sorely mistaken.
I’m not sure if you’re old enough to remember him, but at times Thabeet reminds me of Justin Brown. And that is VERY much not a good thing.
That name sounds familiar but I can’t put a face to it.
I look at it this way, though: if Thabeet gets pushed around like he did against DaJuan Blair, what’s he gonna do against Dwight Howard and the like?
Dwight Howard owns everyone he goes up against though. IMHO Thabeet has some skils that will translate well.
Yo did anybody hear what was yelled at shelly right before he hit his homerun? Luckily my friend has dvr and we rewound it and you can hear a guy yell clear as day, “JOHNNY GOMES HAUNTS YOUR DREAMS” Next pitch boom goes the dynamite shelly crushed it. Funny as hell.
I was forced to watch the Oscars the other night, which was terrible. But the moment of the night was Will Smith struggling to get his lines right and he fired off a “boom goes the dynamite”
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/.....id=3938082
Do you think it’s more likely that the NFL expands, or moves a team?
Who are your second favorite teams in MLB? Third? Fourth? Fifth?
Gotta be my boy Joe out in LA, other than that my hatred for the rest are equal. Oh yea, I can stand the Whitesox because I enjoy Ozzies antics on the bench.
Hey stay on course. The article is about A-Rod and it seems everyone is writing off article stuff. That is NO GOOD, and the commentators will back me on that. FYI A-ROD was booed at George M Steinbrenner field! Seems like many fans are not happy with A-Roid. Yankee fans that were on the fringe before this latest drama now do not like him. What to do with this albatross. If he slumps in the beginning I hope you loyal A-Roid supporters will keep clapping for him and inspire him to K again in a big spot.
Give it a rest. There’s no such thing as an off-topic post in the Open Thread. That’s the whole point.
I thought you didn’t like the socialist site we ran anyway.
It’s funny, I love coming on here because for some odd reason, it bothers you guys tremendously.
I was threatened to be banned because I spoke of breaking news on A-Rod when the topic on that open thread was Bernie Williams return to play for PR or something about Melky’s favorite ice cream flavor, or whatever. Than suddenly out of the blue sky came a fist blind siding me with ridicule and scandalous scathing e-mails. The RAB sidekicks all were sent text messages around 3:00 PM stating BillyBall is at it again and they climbed out of bed or ran to a computer at work and attacked the gentlemen conservative known as BillyBall. Well BillyBall truly enjoys upsetting you Libs, so I’m back. Ben, only if that is alright with you of course.
What you spoke on wasn’t an open thread. You see how it says “open thread”? That’s an open thread. Nothing else is an open thread. This isn’t very hard. We don’t have many rules around here, but if you can’t follow them, then you don’t get to comment. That’s all.