Friday Night Open Thread

January 11, 2013 by Mike Axisa 79 Comments

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TGIF, amirite? The Knicks are playing tonight, but use this thread to talk about whatever you want. Have at it.

art vandelay

Hey Mike –

Can I make a request for an open thread video? Mattingly’s HR in the ’95 ALDS. I was born in the mid 80’s but I’m told that was one of the craziest moments in the old yankee stadium. Was anyone at that game?
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa
  
  This one?
  
  http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com.....8;c_id=mlb
  - art vandelay
    
    yup thats the one.
    
    “ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh hang on to the roof !” love it.
    
    I noticed even in ’95 Jeter was the first one out of the dugout, awesome.
    
    was that back to back hr’s ? If I remember correctly ?
    - BigBlueAL
      
      Yeah Sierra hit a HR the previous at-bat. Yankees went from down 2-1 to up 3-2. I believe Paul O’neill hits a HR the next inning to tie the game after Seattle re-took the lead in the top half.
      - Reuben Sierra’s Chains
        
        Yes Sir
  - Vern Sneaker
    
    God I loved watching him hit.
- cheddar
  
  I was at the game. On the beer line when he hit it.
  
  Don’t drink, kids.
  - art vandelay
    
    oh man you were ?! classic.
    
    I can imagine with all the pent up anger of the crappy yankee teams over the years and everyone knowing donny baseball was retiring, that place must have gone bonkers.
Neil Hollander

Boo Yah ! Donnie Baseball !
Preston

Don’t the Dbacks have to trade Upton now? They’ve been playing this game for a long time, they finally pull the trigger and he says no. I know we aren’t a good match for him. But since they haven’t found a buyer yet, neither is anybody else. What the hell did we pay Kevin Tower’s for if he isn’t going to give us at least one sweet heart deal after he leaves?
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa
  
  I get a very A-Rod circa 2003-2004 vibe from this. Texas had the deal worked out with Boston until it fell through, then poof, he was a Yankee. Hoping something similar happens with Upton.
  - art vandelay
    
    Ninja Cashman works in mysterious ways …
  - jjyank
    
    I hope you’re right, Mike.
    
    As a side note, can you imagine if the Sox had gotten A-Rod. I shudder to think of facing A-Rod, Manny, and Ortiz in a row, all in their prime.
    - MannyGeee
      
      Would have been ulcer inducing.
    - Brian S.
      
      They were trading away Manny Ramirez in the A-Rod trade though.
      - Steve (different one)
        
        Correct. Manny was going to Texas and Nomar was going to the White Sox for Magglio Ordonez.
        
        ARod would have played SS for another few years, and Yankee fans would only hate him a tiny bit less than they do now.
        
        Brian S.
        
        They were getting Magglio Ordonez too!?!?
        
        Brian S.
        
        Well that might not have been too bad. He was all hurt and stuff in 04 and 05. Which totally would have still happened if he was playing in Boston.
        
        jjyank
        
        And if so, the hypothetical is still there.
      - MannyGeee
        
        Forgot about that. Yeah, Ortiz/A Rod/Ordoñez still woulda sucked. For a little while
    - Sweet Dick Willie
      
      Manny was going to Texas for Alex, so facing those 3 wouldn’t have happened (except maybe in an All-Star game).
      - jjyank
        
        My bad. But if they got Magglio in his prime too, it’s still generally the same hypothetical.
        
        Brian S.
        
        I looked up Ordonez’ fangraphs page and he really only had that one monster year in 2007. From 2004 on he wasn’t that great except for that season.
        
        jjyank
        
        Eh whatevs. Thanks for ruining my fun hypothetical.
        
        Brian S.
        
        No I had the same reaction you did at first.
  - Andy Pettitte’s Fibula
    
    Upton is a good young player with upside but I think people have gotten carried away how good he really is. 2 of the last 4 years he’s been worth 3.0 or less
    
    I know you didn’t mean to imply he’s as good as A rod was but as a point of comparison, Arod was a 10 WAR player the 2 years prior to becoming a Yankee.
    - Andy Pettitte’s Fibula
      
      3.0 fWAR that is.
    - Blake
      
      I actually think people are undervaluing how good he is and can be…..he’s legitamitely one of the 5 or 6 most talented players in baseball…..I think if he gets out of Arizona and gets in a stable lineup with some leadership then he could have a Kemp like break out
      - Robinson Tilapia
        
        That’s a lot of “if” and “and” and “could.”
        
        Preston
        
        Honestly though his salary is that of a 3 win player so if we got more than that, it would be gravy.
  - trr
    
    You can always hope, Mike…
  - Blake
    
    Cashman has to be in on him right?
http://twitter.com/_swarlesbarkley Drew

I think the Mets can get back into contention pretty quickly, if they can trade for Upton maybe sign Bourne for cheap, they definitely have the pitching to get a WC.
- MannyGeee
  
  But they can’t, I don’t think they have the pieces for Upton.
- trr
  
  I don’t know…there’s a LOT of holes on that team….
Vic

Get UPTON in the Bronx !!!!!!!!
MannyGeee

So my wife’s cousin has a Beautiful French Mastiff, all of 5 years old. They just found out the dog may have Lymphoma. I guess he’s eating but losing weight and strength. Beautiful dog, dumb as a bag of rocks but a total sweetheart. My wife’s cousin is a wreck. I tell you that to tell you this…

I have this heavy on my mind all day, thinking about the situation and being thankful that my dog (my wife’s dog actually, Tyson , a Blue Daschund… He’s Kind of a dick, but still, he’s my dog…) has been real healthy for almost 10 years. I get home, give him some table food to go with dinner, all is right in the world.

He repays me by finishing dinner, walking right over to the living room rug and looking at me while he pisses all over it. What a jerk.
- Andy Pettitte’s Fibula
  
  It’s brutal when pets get sick. The Vets screw you over with the price of medical care because most people would pay anything to save their pet. i have a friend who paid $8000 for his 12 year old Daschund to have spine surgery because his back legs were becoming paralyzed after the vets convinced him those dogs can live to be 20.
  - MannyGeee
    
    Vets are the absolute WORST.
- jjyank
  
  I’m sorry to hear about your wife’s cousin’s dog. Shit sucks. I lost my childhood dog (a Golden Retriever named Lucy) about a year and a half ago to cancer. We put her down before the pain and suffering got worse. It was awful, she was my dog, ya know? I mean, technically she wasn’t my first dog. My parents had a another Golden named Alex before I was born, and he died when I was 8. I loved him, and apparently he used to sleep in in my door frame every night when I was a baby, but I don’t remember much of him. Lucy though, was my dog from 10 years old until I was 22. Those are some crucial childhood dog years. She was actually a Christmas present for my brother and I.
  
  So I get it, that’s never easy to get over. I’ve always considered dogs very much part of the family. Now to make a connection for the peeing bit…
  
  Thanksgiving of 2010, my parents got another dog. Another Golden Retriever (just fucking love that breed), who we named Madison. We all figured that I since I would be moving out after finishing my grad program a year and a half later, and my brother would be going to college ~8 months later, it was time to get another dog so we had as much time to bond as possible. Since I was grown up for this one, I went with my dad to all the training classes. She was the first dog that viewed me as the “alpha”. At the time, I was busy, between work, school, and my social life. So when I came home at the end of the day, she would get so excited that she’d piss everywhere. And this was well after she was house-broken. It’s even worse now that I’ve moved out, since I only get to see her a few days at a time every few months.
  - Andy Pettitte’s Fibula
    
    If I remember correctly, you’re from NJ. Which breeder did you get your golden from?
    
    I have a 2 year old male from Ann Johnson of Gold Rush Goldens from Princeton, NJ and he’s just the most amazing lovable 90 lb teddy bear of a dog I’ve ever seen.
    - jjyank
      
      Ahhh awesome. Lucy was from Gold Rush. No idea about Alex, and Madison we got somewhere in PA. I love Goldens man. Nobody can convince me that there’s a better breed.
      - Andy Pettitte’s Fibula (formerly Manny’s BanWagon)
        
        The shedding can be a pain but their temperment is 2nd to none especially if you have kids. They live to please their owners and they can be trained to do pretty much anything. My dog has never growled or acted angrily towards a human ever. He could be eating a bone and you walk right up to him, take it out of his mouth and he’ll look up at you and wag his tail. I also would never get another bred of dog
  - Jimmy
    
    Ha. My wife and I had a Golden Retriever when we were first married and she had that horrible habit of pissing all over herself whenever someone came over. We also lost her to cancer when she was only 7. Great dog, good with babies, could play catch for hours, and smart as a whip/very easy to train. Highly recommended breed for anyone not familiar with how to train dogs.
- cheddar
  
  We took in a relative’s 6-year-old cat in 2002. A couple of months later the cat was diagnosed with the equivalent of breast cancer and had to undergo surgery to remove one entire chain of glands and two on the other side. It cost $1100 back then.
  
  It was only after the surgery that I asked the doctor what the normal life expectancy was after such a procedure. She said it was two years. I replied, “So for every cat that lives four years, another drops dead on the way to the car?” She chuckled. The cat lived another eight years.
  
  She died on the one-year anniversary of my best friend’s death. A year later to the day, I put my mother on hospice care. That miserable cursed day is January 12. I am tempted to lock myself in the basement tomorrow with three bottles of Jager and an iPod loaded with Black Sabbath.
  - MannyGeee
    
    Dude. That suuuuuuuucks. Good luck tomorrow bro.
    - cheddar
      
      Thanks. As Howlin Wolf sang, I ain’t superstitious. But I am creeped out.
dennyneagleshooker

i’m drinking a steel reserve 40oz, pretty much saddened by the lack of anything baseball related happening this week; also having my health insurance more than double in price (which i found out right before leaving work today, to put a great start on the weekend). awesome friday!
- Brian S.
  
  It’s clear who we can all blame for this.
  - Steve (different one)
    
    ARod obviously
  - MannyGeee
    
    King George would be spinning in his grave if he knew about your health insurance situation…
    
    Jus sayin
Blake

I think a couple of years from now a lot of teams are gonna be thinking….man why didnt we try harder for J Upton
- The Big City of Dreams
  
  They might especially if the package of players he goes for isn’t crazy
RetroRob

Despite a bajillion tweets (only a slight exaggeration), CC did not win the face of MLB 13 cover.

https://twitter.com/TheCUTCH22
- MannyGeee
  
  You know what? I’m alright with McCutchen getting the cover. I’m a fan, and he seems like a good dude.
  - CashmanNinja
    
    I’m thrilled that ‘Cutch got it. He is, by far, my favorite non-Yankee player. I love everything about his game. He’s talented, level headed, and “gritty”. I know it’s cliche, but he plays the game the way it should be played. 100% effort all the time and he’s damn good, too.
    - Brian S.
      
      There is now way McCutchen is ‘gritty’. I believe the word you are looking for is ‘athletic’ or ‘toolsy’.
      - Robinson Tilapia
        
        “frosty”
  - RetroRob
    
    I’m fine, too. Like to see new guys get more recognition. CC is already a big star. Cutch is also coming off his career year. He makes total sense. In fact, to such a degree, I wonder if it was fixed!
    - CashmanNinja
      
      I’m just glad someone like Braun didn’t get it. I understand that he was “innocent”, but ‘Cutch just seems to be one of those few players who doesn’t seem like fame went to his head and actually seems grateful. I remember how grateful he was to be able to participate in the HR Derby last year. He’s a great ambassador of the game. Oh how I wish the Yankees could somehow steal him from the Pirates.
- Nuke Guy (Knoxvillain)
  
  I know it’s biased, but I think Rivera should have gotten the cover. That would have been nice since this is probably a guarantee that this year will be his last.
MannyGeee

The retooled Houston ~~Jeremy Lins~~ Rockets are kind of a shitty team… And Tommy Heinsorn makes Hawk Harrelson look non biased in the best way possible.
- RetroRob
  
  BTW I’ve paid no attention to basketball this year. What’s Lin doing? Anything? Injured? Traded? : -) Yeah, I’m that out of it in that sport.
  - MannyGeee
    
    Running in circles like a Ritalin kid… Throwing up ill advised 3s and hoping James Harden will save his ass. You know, the usual.
- Jacob The OG (formerly Jacob)
  
  I don’t see why people expected them to be good, Lin sucks ass he played 26 good games for the Knicks but I doubted he would ever be good. Harden has no back up
  - MannyGeee
    
    Same reason Tebow had a market last summer. Shiny toy syndrome.
    - Delaware – Ralph
      
      Expect Tebow didn’t really have a market last summer. Hence the Jets giving up a 4th round pick and nobody wanting him to start including the Jaguars who could have used the ticket sales from the local star.
Jase

I would try and trade Cano right now. The Dodgers/Nationals can and would likely put together a nice package for him, especially since they are likely 1 player away from a potential WS title. We can address a lot of needs by trading Cano. It should be considered.
- Robinson Tilapia
  
  I find it so interesting that so many folks get up in arms on here and try to tell others what the New York Yankees are and aren’t, yet I read suggestions like this more than once a day.
  
  What the New York Yankees absolutely don’t do is trade their marquee stars nor, in they case, should they.
  - Cris Pengiucci
    
    Hey, no one is untouchable. Some are less touchable, but it all depends on the haul. I love Robbie. It would suck not to have him on the team in 2013, but it might not suck at all in 2014. (Which, while unlikely, is a real possibility, and without getting a haul of top prospects/major leaguer’s in return).
    
    Oh, and it would also suck that’s you’d probably have to change your name.
Pistol Pete

I wouldn’t mortgage the farm for Upton and by mortgage the farm I mean trading Granderson and or Cano for prospects to send to Arizona but I sure would do it for Stanton. Without Grandy or Robbie I don’t know how it gets done. The Yanks just don’t have the prospects.
- Nuke Guy (Knoxvillain)
  
  I don’t know about that. For all of the value that Upton is supposed to have, that package from the Mariners wasn’t all that impressive.
Pat D

Gee, the shine has come off the Knicks’ finish pretty quickly, huh?

When does hockey start again?
- Jacob
  
  You put together a team that old (one player under the age of 27 and he hasn’t played a minute yet) and that dependent on three-point shooting and it was bound to come a bit down to Earth. They’re still a contender in the East to make the Eastern Conference Finals but anyone who thinks they have title aspirations is probably a Knicks fan.
  - Pat D
    
    Yea, I’ve had to remind myself of all of that. I think Felton’s injury is really going to cost them a few games they should win. In fact, I think it already has.
tyrone sharpton

Hey, Brooklyn was also playin tonight. City is under new basketball management apparently
Improbable Island’s Dirty Midget Whores (formerly RRR)

You have no idea how much of a fucking BITCH it is to put on a play (that was rhetorical, so if you do know, you FEEL MY PAIN). And we don’t even have a performance space yet. I’m up at 1:26 about to e-mail yet ANOTHER organization to beg them to help because Music Theatre International makes it mandatory for you to literally be a part of an organization before you can actually form a play.

I don’t WANT to be an organization, MTI. We’re just doing one charity benefit show. We’ll still get you your cash, but we’re NOT AN ORGANIZATION.

Right now we’re waiting and praying that my old HIGH SCHOOL will be willing to sponsor us. We’ve e-mailed churches.

And we haven’t guaranteed a performance space. OR a rehearsal space. OR raised a fucking CENT of money. We have literally NO money. Not “virtually none” or “none for all practical purposes”. None. And it’s 950 dollars just to GET THE FUCKING LICENSE FOR THE SHOW. Forget sets and costumes.

And let’s keep in mind the number of people currently officially involved in trying to pull this all off: 3, including me. THREE. One of whom started helping about two weeks ago. We have no director either, by the way.

And of course this is all well BEFORE rehearsals.

I’d be complaining even more if I didn’t enjoy having something to do so much. But really. FUCK THIS SHIT.
- Cris Pengiucci
  
  Sounds like a lot of fun. But if you do pull it off, you’ll get to bitch and complain about it for many more months. Then, when you look back on it a year or so after it’s over, you’ll complain again about how hard it all was, and go and do it again anyway. It’s a vicious cycle.
- jjyank
  
  I think I’ve said this before, but I absolutely feel you. I did theater in high school for 3 years, and a lot of our shows were independent. The school only liked to give money to the yearly Christmas musical, which was not us. We did ~5 shows a year, but no musicals. We often had to find outside venues and sell tickets ourselves.
  
  So I know where you’re coming from. Best of luck to you.