Jan
22
Sunday Open Thread
By
Hooray for charity baseball in Panama City. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)
Ready for some foobaw? I’m posting this a few hours earlier than usual because of the NFL playoffs, which start with the Ravens and Patriots at 3pm ET (on CBS). The Giants and 49ers follow at 6:30pm ET (on FOX). The two winners meet in the Super Bowl two weeks from today. The Nets are also playing a little later. Talk about whatever you like here, go nuts.
151 Comments»
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The Mason Williams Watch
Two blowouts, Pats play the Giants in Indy for the revenge bowl.
You heard it here first.
…and then lose again.
Wooo-hooo!
“Two blowouts, Pats play the Giants in Indy for the revenge bowl.You heard it here first.”
I never saw this.
Well you got the teams right. Blowouts? Not so much.
Go Giants!
The Yankees should have signed Roy Oswalt because Kuroda is going to be a bust. Now the Red Sox are going to get Oswalt
Maybe. We’ll just have to wait and see.
No chance that works in reverse. None.
Why exactly?
Because Smoltz won the Cy Young award in Boston and Penny snagged a Smoak-type bat in a trade.
Smoltz and Penny totally outperformed CC and AJ too.
Or even Bart and Freddy.
I was thinking Moose and Pettitte
Idiot spoken here.
RIP Joe Pa, the NCAA world has lost it’s favorite scumbag.
I hope he and the Pope can hang out together in hell someday.
I don’t know about that, I’m not really a believer. But if there is one he has a first class ticket.
I don’t believe either. Just making a point that they’re both child-r@per enablers.
Shouldn’t you say that judgment is not yours to call if you believe?
It isn’t. But haven’t they sinned? I don’t understand this logic.
God creates the commandments for humans to follow. If you break them, you go to hell. That is, unless you confess. Then you’re okay. So if everyone confesses, wouldn’t that put Satan out of business?
Not bashing religion, I’m just curious.
I’m a non-believer, but I know a little religion from my upbringing and college. In the Roman Catholic religion you are right. However, there are different interpretations to the bible in judeo-christian religions. The bible is contradictory in this respect. Some say you must accept in your heart, and some say you must accept in your actions.
I’ve never understood a logical belief in a God. But then again, it’s not supposed to have logic.
I was a more militant atheist/agnostic when I was younger. I’m more of a live and let live guy now.
It doesn’t really bother me as long as people keep it out of my face.
That doesn’t bother anymore. With Paterno, people are forgetting the real point. You may only get one chance… don’t blow it.
Really? Damn, RAB really allows unabashed ignorance & hate on their site. And on Sunday, as well. Hope Mike, Joe & Ben can serve a little bit of regulation over such vicious vitrol.
Seriously, wishing the Pope to Hell. May God have mercy on both you & Thomas Cassidy for wishing any individual to eternal damnation over personal
As a Catholic, I pray for all my brothers & sisters.
R.I.P. Mr. Paterno. May God have mercy on his soul and I hope he can find pennance and peace before meeting our Father in Heaven.
The man did an incredible amount of good that is an undisputed fact. At the moment, none of us know for a fact how responsible he truly is for the crimes at Penn State and throw slime on his passing is utterly disgraceful.
Yeah, covering up child rape isn’t bad or anything. It’s quite the norm nowadays, right? I never even wished the Pope to hell. I never even mentioned him by name, nor did I bring him up.
I don’t think he did that much good. Unless you’re Jerry Sandusky. The butt devastation is strong in this one.
He reported the case to his bosses, who subsequently buried it. He should have called the police and not doing so was wrong.
Also if you admit to not believing or not understanding religion don’t bring up religion because you do sound like an insulting douche.
I do understand religion. I don’t understand religious people’s logic. But they don’t have any anyway.
Just like you said, “It doesn’t really bother me as long as people keep it out of my face.” regarding religion people who do believe feel the same way about atheists who constantly harp on and insult religion along with those who believe. So I suggest squashing this talk now and just focusing on sports, this is neither the time nor place for talk like this.
Why not? It’s an Open Thread and it’s on Sunday. If anywhere on RAB is the place to talk about it, it’s right now.
I didn’t start the religious bashing. The crazy guy a few posts up did. I haven’t even bashed religion once.
” I don’t understand religious people’s logic. But they don’t have any anyway.”
Yeah, that’s not bashing religious people or slightly offensive….
I’m not going to waste any more time with you. Enjoy the game
How can I bash something that doesn’t exist?
He didn’t report the rape because he didn’t know what “man rape” was. As a man who had lived more than 70 years, he didn’t know that it was possible for a man to rape another man or child? GTFO. Screw him. I’m only saddened by his death because he should have to live each day with the guilt of enabling a child rapist. he should have to hear the testimony and see his buddy Sandusky go to trial, knowing the whole time that he could have, and should have, limited the number of rape victims. I spit on his grave.
It’s nice to see some people with some common sense.
Hurr durr, what else would you want Paterno to do? He already told his boss!
It’s like getting arrested for driving after drinking a thousand beers, then claiming “I thought you could only get a DWI if you were drinking hard liquor?”
I just think it’s funny that it shows that the only reason people cared about Paterno is because of football.
What a scumbag. How can people even defend that? He should have been turned over to the families of the kids. They should have let them do whatever they wanted to him.
All of my rage.
+1
It is refreshing to hear “sports fans” that care more about the well being of children more than some figurehead of a football team. I have friends, business partners, and various acquaintances who think Joe Pa is some great man that just got mixed up. STFU please. It is the same bs excuse that the MLB guys do when they fail a drug test. The only difference is this matters way more than any guy doing drugs to cheat at baseball (and I actually think that is of importance too just not anywhere near because even though I love it, its just a game)
They aren’t at all related. One is affecting only the user, one is sending hundreds of children to a lifetime of torment.
Shut up. He’s your father not “Our Father”
lol
Ma Ma Mia, Lazerri is right here
Looks like you’re going to hell, too.
No. He can just confess and all is forgiven.
Yup, that’s exactly how it works.
Ignorance is fun.
Recent reports about prince fielder include
1. Dodgers should sign him to increase value of team before sale
2. Texas interested despite operating at a deficit till 2015 “Jon Daniels is looking at creative ways”
3. Cubs and Brewers may be interested in a 1
year deal
which of these circumstances keep the Yankees out of mix? A one year deal? Increasing the value of team? A worthy investment for a team not turning a profit?
I think the Jets should sign him.
The Winnigpeg Jets that is.
He can’t be worse than Mark Sanchez.
how does it feel to be exposed as co-jackass of the day?
Someone is butthurt.
Hope he enjoyed it.
This guy gets humor and sarcasm.
Did you know that I’m not an actual donkey? Two can play this game, dummy.
Jimmy- your the 1st person I heard that hates getting Kuroda. Oswalt back injury is serious stuff. If he was going to ask Hal for $$ for a SP he wasn’t gonna go on injury route. It’s a 1 yr deal with Kuroda it’s worth the risk. Would mind Damon either for DH. But can’t see Damon taking such little $$. Until that trade is completed physicals taken etc he will address DH opening if he sees a fit.
A.C. I’m sure that Jimmy has seen Kuroda pitch many times and he is providing us with a thoughtful and objective insider analysis on how he will fare in the AL East in 2012. He is also aware of Oswalts’s back problems, but he know he will be good to go this year. not miss a start and be in the running for a CY Young award. How dare you question him.
“Jimmy’s gonna put the moves on Elaine…”
Oswalt is not a good match for the Red Sox, so I hope they do sign him. What’s been their problem the last few seasons, one that totally bit them last September? Their starters can’t stay healthy, causing their pen to crash and burn.
Oswalt has a bad back and started all of 23 games last year. Add in “ace” Beckett, now 32, who has reached 200+ innings only three times in his career, and every year misses from four to a dozen starts for various aches and pains; then add in the the laptop stealer, who pitched all of 80 innings last year with his bad back. They’ve lost Dice-K and Lackey (probably a blessing on that front) for the year. Their fill-in guy, Wakefield, is most likely gone. They have one pitcher, Lester, they can count on to go out and remain healthy, and a whole bunch of health question marks after that.
Building a rotation around a bunch of guys who are known to miss starts and then hoping they don’t miss starts will lead to another September crash. And unlike the Yankees that have a fleet of starters in AAA, the Red Sox lack depth. My god, they’re talking about Aceves and his bad back in the rotation, or Daniel Bard who hasn’t started in years. Yes, please, please compound the problem with Oswalt.
A rotation can handle one guy like that, but they’re heading toward having four out of five guys with known health problems.
+1 because of sienfeld
But I thought Gammons told me Bucholtz should get Cy Young votes for his stellar 80 IP… so confused..
The Pats defense is really dreadful.
So when are we going to hear something on Chavez?
Trade Burnett for Alfonso Soriano or a comparable bad contract DH/OF/1B type. I can see Burnett going back to 15-18 wins a year 200 K’s.
My crazy trade proposal was for Pronk, but he can’t really play the field. Seth Smith would have been nice.
I like the way you think, cowboy. Not crazy at all.
Okay, I give up.
Why would you trade Burnett if you see him going back to 15-18 wins a year 200 K’s?
I think he means on the Cubs.
Soriano is beyond useless anymore.
useless a lot like most of the comments on this thread so far (excluding you, Sweet Dick Willie and A.C.)
All comments on the internet are useless. Keep in mind this is a website dedicated to clods who throw and hits balls around for millions of dollars. Don’t act high and mighty. You’re dumb just like the rest of us.
It’s your right to believe all comments you read on the internet to be useless. I learn everyday from others on the internet and consider it a privilege to live in a time where such and experience is available . It’s your prerogative to see me as acting high and mighty. Unlike you I find most of the commentators on this site to be intelligent and insightful in matters of baseball. That is the reason why i come here. Maybe I’m wrong but when I read the comments you make I imagine your motives are different. (Maybe thats why I’m so dumb)
Levine would extend him and give him annual opt-outs, thinking it was Rafael.
Levine is working on his Soriano collection.
If Soriano has more than 2 years left on his deal, which he might since it was like a 15 year deal, there is no chance of that happening. Everything has to be off the books by 2014.
So you can see Burnett bouncing back to 15+ wins and 200 K’s, and you want to trade him for a worse contract, one that runs through 2014 and will pay him 18 million that year when the Yankees want to reduce their luxury tax? Oh, and he’s 36 and had a .280 OBP in the NL and Wrigley.
Why?
Dude. Will everyone stop with the Alfonso Soriano garbage?! The guy sucks more Burnett and we are going to be in much better moods watching Burnett suck once out of every five games than we would be watching Soriano loaf and swing through sliders every fucking day.
To be fair, you did also say “a comparable bad contract”. I’m just tired of people thinking that Soriano is a viable option for anything. He’s beyond trash at this point.
OMG Tom Brady is so (……).
Homosex.
He does have the ability to turn straight men gay.
I’m glad you can’t see me right now. I’m totally blushing.
I don’t know how to say this without you getting embarrassed….but, your webcam is on.
I hope the Red Sox get Wandy…that would be fun
Yes it would, even moreso if they trade something of value for him.
Any guesses on where/when and for how much money and years the top hitter and pitcher left on the FA market?
I’ll guess Feb 3rd for Fielder, in WAS for 8/180 and for E-Jax I’ll say Feb 10th in KC for 2/30.
7/152
3/30
Math error:
7/157.5
It’s better to be lucky than good.
fucken shit. fuck. sucks to be a jets fan. ray lewis is gunna kill someone in that locker room
Feel like Flacco did well enough to win. The O-line for the Ravens didn’t look good. Wilfork lived in their backfield.
Wow if your a Ravens fan, you gotta feel like really, really, really angry and heart broken. Not only did the kicker missed the FG but the potential TD catch was barely strip as well…wow….
Cundiff is also the reason they are playing at Gillette.
Well Thank God I am not a Raven’s fan. I don’t know the hell I would react to a lost like that….
Ray Lewis should open the door on the plane ride home and throw Cundiff out at 30,000 feet. If I were a juror on the subsequent trial, I’d accept justifiable homicide.
After all, he got away with it once, right?
No one would care this time.
As long as he does it in Baltimore, I think the jury would grant him lenience. What a bone head kick… Ttly Finkled it.
(FYI you are either way too young or an asshole if you don’t get that. Laces out!)
THEY WERE IN!!!!
Gosh Cundiff really blew it again.
What do people think of the rumor of a King Felix and Jesus Montero deal to Boston, with Ellsbury, Buchholtz and some top prosepcts coming back?
I love trades where one team throws in ‘top prospects’.
What ‘top prospects’? Why would Seattle do that? Where did you read that?
That it’s dumb.
Is this before or after they get Cole Hamels?
…and they’ll be trading their other other top prospects to get Hanley back, filling in the hole left by trading Scutaro.
Pujols for prospects. Who hangs up?
I believe this is just a case of irresponsible rumormongering.
I just wanted people to have a chilling moment of picturing Montero in the evil Red Sox uniform!
Don’t show this to Ted Nelson because his brain might explode. He won’t be able to fit this info into his worldview of Scranton having 5 aces.
http://www.minorleagueball.com.....ual-grades
The Sux have a better farm system than the Yanks? Really?
I have never heard that from an unbiased source.
I think the methodology doesn’t give enough weight to the top prospects. The Red Sox get most of their value from C+/B- Prospects. I would rather have the Yankees system.
It gives no weight to young cost controlled players (Pineda, Nova).
The Yankees would have scored much, much higher with Montero.
The Sox have the higher ranked pitcher and the same value top hitting prospect.
Even with Montero, the Sox would have the better ranked system.
According to this methodology, certainly. I have a hard time with some of the rankings. A lot of the Red Sox players are graded highly but have little or no minor league experience.
Matt Barnes is 21 and hasn’t pitched in the minors yet and is ranked higher than any Yankees pitcher. I don’t agree with that. That’s just one example.
According to this method, the top two systems have no “A” arms or hitters… that just seems a bit counter-intuitive.
Hell, I ain’t even arguing necessarily that the Yankees are better than the Red Sox; I just think this method is bad.
When you talk about Ted when he’s not there I get a strong Travis Bickle feeling.
What can I say? He’s my muse.
I guess everybody needs a muse.
Forget the Yankees, the Red Sox being right behind the Royals system really throws that list into question.
I feel like any list like this should include pre-arb guys on a sliding scale based on ML service time to give a better idea of their young talent. That’s not really what this list is about though.
The Royals graduated a lot of young players recently.
I’m a bit distracted by the Giants game to read through that entire post, but while he based the rankings on Sickels ratings, I don’t think he provided a proper weighting for guys in the upper minors as opposed to lower minors. In other words, Sickels actual ranking will probably be different.
That’s my guess until I actually, well, ummm, read it!
Is there a football game going on?
Yah, I think so, or it’s a really funky version of Winter baseball I’m watching.
Yet I’m remaining true to my first sports love of baseball, checking in on RAB, and even flipping over to MLBN to make sure they didn’t still Mo on the ten-best-relievers ranking.
*stiff*
I won’t reveal the final rankings in case others plan to watch what I’m sure will be multiple repeats.
Can you reveal it? It’s like the Oscars. I just want to know who won, and then if I think about it, I don’t even really care about their rankings. But I’d still like to know.
All participants, including the Shredder, had Mo at #1.
I’m glad I don’t know who the Shredder is.
Ha! It’s some computer program that uses some basic sabermetric input to rank players.
I really want to see who they have in there system that’s worth such a high ranking.
http://www.minorleagueball.com.....s-for-2012
Really? Most of the top 10 guys haven’t even played a single game in the Minors. Wow….
I’m dying over here
The only time Joe Buck gets excited us when Eli gets sacked apparently…
Omg… why run??
under one minute left …
I don’t want to start an argument, but when the Giants won that game, do you know where I was? Reading “Clubhouse Confidential” by Luis Castillo the batboy in bed.
America is so misguided in their love of football. Imagine if baseball got that same love? Women would be staring at their Ryan Lavarnaway posters in their rooms all throughout Beantown. Men would be cheering for every Jesus Montero hit and dying with every Mark Teixeira pop out throughout the world. We’d all talk about the Giants – Padres game that we all went to the local bar for last Sunday night.
“Hey man, did you see Cameron Maybin’s steal to win the game? The place was literally shaking, it was so loud.”
But I guess only the diehard baseball fans get to share in that exictement. It’s sad that football is so popular. It says a lot about our country as a whole.
Imagine if soccer or futbol was your passion.
It will be interesting to see how(if at all) football’s popularity going forward is affected by all the concussion stories that have started to come out. I can’t understand how a parent can allow their child in good conscience to play that game. Of course there are dangers in all aspects of life, but football and the human brain just do not seem to mix.
I don’t think it will.
I’m not much of a football fan but I still don’t see your argument.
I didn’t mean it as an argument. I’m saying that there is no reason that baseball shouldn’t be as popular as football. It’s just that America as a whole doesn’t get baseball, so they resort to the simple sport, where all you need to know is that tackling=good.
I know there’s more it than that, but it’s such a pointless and dnagerous sport, it’s not even worth following.
Um, dangerous? Absolutely. Pointless? Not a chance. I’m definitely a baseball guy, but football is entertaining as fuck. For my money, football playoffs are the best of the pro sports* and the second best postseason after the NCAA tourney. Part of the reason America is so in love with football is because its once a week. It’s like you can have ~20 mini celebrations leading up to the Super Bowl. I wouldn’t overlook the fact that fantasy football is the easiest of all the sports as well. That plays a significant role in the overall popularity.
*Baseball is No. 1 for me as long as the Yankees are in the postseason, but if/when they get eliminated I stop watching and they take the No. 2 ranking.
It’s not worth following? Have you watched any of they playoffs this year? The sport is incredibly complex and compelling. Every individual on the team contributes in a significant way. There’s a very good reason it’s the most popular sport in America, It’s much more compelling then any other sport in America, and likely the world
If you find a bunch of giant men ramming into each other over and over again compelling I guess that’s cool.
It is simply disappointing to see a guy submit a comment like that.
Sounds like a case of jealousy and sour grapes. Yeah you will find most people here agree with you that baseball is the best sport (this is a baseball blog after all) but don’t discount football. There’s plenty of legit reasons why it’s the most popular sport. Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean you should ignorantly claim that others are stupid for liking it.
BTW, go Giants! The run that they’ve had has been so incredible and I’ll be disappointed if they don’t win the Super Bowl.
I think the main advantage football has is the predictability of the schedule.
They play once a week you know when the best games should be and every week can have the feel of big event.
Baseball is a grind (which I love) but for the casual fan it is long, tedious and there are few guarantees.
I think it says more about people’s attention spans than anything.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....ata_player
(Safe)
How do you think hockey fans like myself feel?
lol what exactly does it say about our country? Just because you don’t like something doesn’t make it misguided for other people to like it.
What what a moron you are for defending football. That’s even worse than Satanism. Fuck your beliefs.
Okay, cool.
A. I don’t think it’s more popular. On a per game basis, it’s much more popular but there are more than 10 times more baseball games than football games. Imagine how much hype there would be if there were only 8 Yankees home games a year all played on Sunday afternoons. It would dwarf anything you see around the Jets or Giants.
B. I think people follow football because it’s easier to digest. There is a week of promotion before each game. Baseball is played every day.
C. I don’t particularly care. If baseball becomes less popular, that means cheaper ticket prices and better seats for me. It doesn’t affect my enjoyment.
True and baseball seems to be far away the second most popular sport compared to basketball and hockey. Nothing to be ashamed of there unless all you care about is popularity but this isn’t high school anymore so nobody should. I enjoy both football and baseball for different reasons but baseball will always be my number 1. This Giants run should make most NYers excited as it’s making this long offseason go by seemingly quicker.
Holy crap, what a run for the Giants! Amazing and improbable.
Unprecedented.
Well, except for 2007-2008.