Dan Gould

Ah, perhaps I should try "Barry Bonds is a damn nigger" and see if that comes up with any hits. I'll say it flat out: I don't know of any racist comments about Barry Bonds anywhere, though I will admit that I have not gone and done any searches on the Klan's BBS. What I do know is that certain people, lining up these facts: Bonds isn't much liked by a lot of people Bonds "set" the season and career home run records Bonds is black and have come to the conclusion that criticism of Bonds is, in some undetermined proportion, driven by racial animus. I say bull shit. Whether the race card is played with a broad stroke or the phrase "shades of", its simple an effort to deflect the legitimate criticism and factual basis for a belief that he cheated. I have neither the time nor energy to get pulled into your extreme anti-Bonds obsession, so sermonize and rant all you want. I really doubt that you are omniscient and know all the facts. If he is guilty, then the judicial system and nature will have their day with him. So friggin' what if he did use steroids? How does that affect your well-being and why the supreme level of anger? And don't you dare insinuate that I am playing the race card. You don't know me at all to start launching personal attacks. You have your view and I'll have mine, capiche? Let's leave it at that. So, because I believe that Bonds cheated to achieve the record, I have a "supreme level of anger"? And somehow my belief affects "my wellbeing"? Try to understand something: Any hatred that has come out in this thread is directed at the nonsensical delusions spouted by Goodspeak. I don't suffer fools gladly, so when fools post things that have no basis in reality, things that are disputed by every other member who has posted in this thread, yeah, a little anger rises to the surface. Oh bullshit, Dan. Believe it? Hell, you've already convicted him and without a shred of court admissible evidence. Your anger comes from the fact I called you on it and you don't like that. Admit it. And the only thing you got in return is spit and vinegar....then you blame me? Wow. Tell me, Dan....do I control you somehow? Are you my puppet on a string? Take responsibility for your own spew, Dan....nobody forced you to run off at the mouth with obscenity laced tirade after over-the-top vulgarism. YOU made that choice. I didn't force you to do anything that wasn't already a part of your belligerence toward any poster here with the guts to blow your arguments clean out of the water....then stand up to your vitriol. Don't fob that "well, he made me do it" shit off onto me, Danny. You said it and you own it. Amazing arrogance. You remain a laughable, contemptible fool. If you believe that there isn't "a shred of court admissible evidence" then it is apparent that you are truly ignorant of, as they say, the facts and the law.

This poor guy was doomed from the beginning. No one could have survived that interview. I totally can't blame him for losing it when the guy said "sweet talk". I agree that no one could have survived that interview.

I'm feeling better already. Go 'Noles! (I'm going to the NC State game here next Saturday). :rsmile: Have a great time, Paul, and enjoy your first visit to Doak Campbell. Its not what it was like when I was a student, when neither end was closed off and the outside of the stadium looked like a big tinker toy (no brick building constructed around it), but its a great stadium now and nothing compares to the band performance at the start and Osceola and Renegade at midfield, planting the flaming spear. Let me know though if the band plays Lionel Richie's "All Night Long" at halftime. They started playing that way back when it was a top 40 hit and even when I went back in the late 90s they were still playing it. God I hated that song. I guess they got such a great price on the arrangement that they can't stop using it.

I guess I should thank Al since his unfathomable opinion of this date led me to pull it out for the first time in quite a while. I remember when I got this in the early 90s, Doubletime had a batch of TOCJs at a great price, so I never replaced my copy when it came out domestically. Definitely count me with Chuck and Lon, among others, in voting "NOT boring!" The Cal Massey tunes alone make this a very worthwhile effort. And I cannot understand the complaints about Blakey. He is fitting himself to the music! Do you expect a lot of big press rolls on medium and down tempo tunes? The one thing I'll say that is somewhat critical is that it does not really "feel" like a Lee Morgan album. To me, Jackie is the more prominent part of the front line, with more compelling solos. I could also say that this meeting isn't as great as the late 60s encounters between Jackie and Lee. So, while I enjoy this album a lot and would never call it boring, I would say that it is not an album I'd pull out if I really wanted to hear some topnotch Mogie. But its still a damn good album.

Machine Gun. If your future wife can get through that, you're in like Flint. "In like Flynn" (as in Errol) is the phrase. Considering its original sexual connotation, its especially appropriate for future marital bliss: http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-inl1.htm

Why not? It worked for Rocky Balboa.

And the streak of American League East titles is OVER!!! Now c'mon San Diego and get it done for Cub fans everywhere!!

How's that Kool Aid tasting? Gonna be tasting mighty sweet after the ALCS!! :g edit: Oops I thought that was Patrick havin' fun with me. Guess I should say it will be tasting mighty sweet after the WS.

And the Met collapse is complete! Phils in first place with a magic number of 2!!!!

Your logic escapes me. Can you explain how Seminole fans supporting their team (and most likely having alot of pride in their team's name and who it's in tribute to) equates to "Indian hating bastards"? A long time ago, the Seminole Tribe of Florida officially gave its blessing to everything that the Florida State Seminoles do in support of their team. From the War Chant to Chief Osceola and Renegade. So blow it out your ass, Goodie.

Wait til the Cubs come through one time, and you'll start acting like you're entitled to win it all.

Well, silly me, Dice-K ended up being the bridge to Papelbon. Fortunately he worked around a one out walk by getting a double play grounder. Paps closes it out. Dice finally gets off that 14 in the win column and the magic number is down to 1 I'd say this decision by Tito shows: A] that Tito doesn't yet trust Gagne with a critical game on the line B] I think that they are hoping to win tomorrow and skip Schilling on Sunday, and then give Schilling the start in the second game and a little bit of rest for Dice before he starts game 3 on the road. I didn't even think that Dice would pitch the seventh with a 4-1 lead if they were going to minimize his pitch count and have him ready for his post-season debut. BTW, if there is anything to be excited about, its the way Papi is hitting, he's now set the mark for doubles by a DH, breaking Edgar Martinez' mark and is setting a career high in BA, and best of all, he has been pounding the ball off (and over) the Monster for the last few days. Great signs. Also excellent is that Manny is getting hits, and believe it or not, JD Drew has an OPS at or above 1.000 in September. If he keeps that up in October all will be forgotten.

Well, tonight's games are shaping up pretty well so far: Cubs winning, Padres just took the lead over the Brewers, so the Cubs could be doing the champagne thing soon; The Amazins are continuing their collapse and the Phils are winning (honestly, I'm not really glad that the Mets are losing but at this point you kinda have to root for the underdog to complete the comeback and for the historic collapse to actually happen; Dice-K had his best start in about two months for the first six innings before weakening and giving up two in the seventh - this leaves me with a real worry: who pitches the eighth? Oki had a great return last night but my guess is that Gagne gets another chance to show what he can do. I can only cover my eyes and hope and pray that he's got Papelbon ready to come in if necessary. Yanks keep scoring on the O's, so the Sox are going to have to get it done themselves. (Can Yankee fans be too encouraged about Mussina after tonight's start? I didn't think so.)

I'll second the Live at Ethell's recommendation, and add any of those early to mid-70s recordings with Cedar Walton.

Ah, perhaps I should try "Barry Bonds is a damn nigger" and see if that comes up with any hits. I'll say it flat out: I don't know of any racist comments about Barry Bonds anywhere, though I will admit that I have not gone and done any searches on the Klan's BBS. What I do know is that certain people, lining up these facts: Bonds isn't much liked by a lot of people Bonds "set" the season and career home run records Bonds is black and have come to the conclusion that criticism of Bonds is, in some undetermined proportion, driven by racial animus. I say bull shit. Whether the race card is played with a broad stroke or the phrase "shades of", its simple an effort to deflect the legitimate criticism and factual basis for a belief that he cheated. I have neither the time nor energy to get pulled into your extreme anti-Bonds obsession, so sermonize and rant all you want. I really doubt that you are omniscient and know all the facts. If he is guilty, then the judicial system and nature will have their day with him. So friggin' what if he did use steroids? How does that affect your well-being and why the supreme level of anger? And don't you dare insinuate that I am playing the race card. You don't know me at all to start launching personal attacks. You have your view and I'll have mine, capiche? Let's leave it at that. So, because I believe that Bonds cheated to achieve the record, I have a "supreme level of anger"? And somehow my belief affects "my wellbeing"? Try to understand something: Any hatred that has come out in this thread is directed at the nonsensical delusions spouted by Goodspeak. I don't suffer fools gladly, so when fools post things that have no basis in reality, things that are disputed by every other member who has posted in this thread, yeah, a little anger rises to the surface.

Hank Aaron was a consistent, steady home run hitter throughout his career: http://www.baseball-reference.com/a/aaronha01.shtml You may note that he never hit more than 47 in his career, but also never hit fewer than 24 per year until his final three seasons. Ruth was the home run king and until the steroid age, was alone in the number of 55+ home run seasons in history. He was a uniquely talented baseball player, not only very strong but also playing in a ballpark designed for his lefthanded swing. To say that it "couldn't be done" is simply foolish. Ruth was the first slugger and fittingly wore the home run crown until Hank caught him. As has been noted many times, until the end of the 1998 season, Barry Bonds was a solid but far from spectacular home run hitter (iirc, I think he hit a home run every 18 at bats or so). After that season, when his steroid use began, his home run hitting skyrocketed, to the rate of hitting a home run more than every ninth at bat. The fact that this home run splurge coincided with his steroid use and also coincided with what is supposed to be the athletic decline of virtually every power hitter in baseball history, is surely indicative that he isn't exactly "The Natural". Last point is this: No one claims that Bonds hit all of his home runs because of steroids. Without them, he was headed toward a highly respectable lifetime total of probably 500 or maybe 550. But that wasn't going to be enough for a man with his gargantuan ego. No, he hated the fact that McGuire and Sosa were getting all the attention when all things considered, he was the better all-around player. This was the reason Barry started using, the steroids are why Bonds hit about 200 more homers than he otherwise would have. Its really very simple. Sounds like you got it all "figured out." Ruth is clean, Aaron is clean, Bonds is dirty. At any rate, I threw that out for all you guys to analyse not to disect what I said as gospel. Lets make that clear. Thanks. BUT, having said that, why are there always very clean "good guy" explanations for Ruth and Aaron. I am not saying they took anything, but training was different between Ruth and Aaron and Aaron and Bonds. Look how many years between Ruth and Aaron; and Aaron and Bonds, and training regimens. If I recall, as of yet Bonds has not been convicted of anything yet. So why was it so impossible for someone 40 + years later to break Aaron's record?? Even Bonds record is going to be broken and are you going to accuse the person who breaks his?? All this is food for thought, nothing else. I personally don't declare whether he was on steriods or not. Many say Yankee stadium was made for Ruth, short porch in left; well so is the stadium in San Francisco very very accomodating for lefty Bonds. One thing I do stand by is this; you got to hit the ball first; and because there are so many on steriods why aren't they all hitting record breaking homeruns? Have more fun guys If he stays healthy and chooses to play long enough, A-Rod will put our long national nightmare behind us. And no one will accuse him of using steroids because there is no evidence of it. A-Rod will not have displayed a remarkable increase in home run hitting skill at an age when athletic performance declines for every other power hitter in history. He is close as you can get to the anti-Bonds in that regard. And that "you got to hit the ball first" BS. Everyone understands that when you reach the majors and stay, you have the ability to hit the ball when it is thrown by the best pitchers. This has always been about muscle mass attained by illegal means and its effect on the distance a batted ball flies. Goodie can bloviate all he wants. Everyone else understands why stronger players swing faster and transfer more power to the ball, resulting in more home runs.

Hank Aaron was a consistent, steady home run hitter throughout his career: http://www.baseball-reference.com/a/aaronha01.shtml You may note that he never hit more than 47 in his career, but also never hit fewer than 24 per year until his final three seasons. Ruth was the home run king and until the steroid age, was alone in the number of 55+ home run seasons in history. He was a uniquely talented baseball player, not only very strong but also playing in a ballpark designed for his lefthanded swing. To say that it "couldn't be done" is simply foolish. Ruth was the first slugger and fittingly wore the home run crown until Hank caught him. As has been noted many times, until the end of the 1998 season, Barry Bonds was a solid but far from spectacular home run hitter (iirc, I think he hit a home run every 18 at bats or so). After that season, when his steroid use began, his home run hitting skyrocketed, to the rate of hitting a home run more than every ninth at bat. The fact that this home run splurge coincided with his steroid use and also coincided with what is supposed to be the athletic decline of virtually every power hitter in baseball history, is surely indicative that he isn't exactly "The Natural". Last point is this: No one claims that Bonds hit all of his home runs because of steroids. Without them, he was headed toward a highly respectable lifetime total of probably 500 or maybe 550. But that wasn't going to be enough for a man with his gargantuan ego. No, he hated the fact that McGuire and Sosa were getting all the attention when all things considered, he was the better all-around player. This was the reason Barry started using, the steroids are why Bonds hit about 200 more homers than he otherwise would have. Its really very simple.

Why would Torre possibly do that? As you say, if the same thing happens Friday, suddenly its an interesting weekend, particularly since the Yankees only need a tie. Torre would be a fool not to play to win tomorrow. If the Sox win, fine. Rest half the lineup Saturday and the other half Sunday. If they win and the Sox lose, you're in business. Of course, if it all falls apart for the Sox, what do the Yanks get? The Angels.

Patrick, there is no doubt what the biggest weakness the Tribe has. Its the closer. Take their setup crew and give it to the Yankees, the Yankees are much better than they are. Put Rivera in place of Borowski (or K-Rod, or Paps) and the Tribe should be the favorite. Now, other team's starting pitchers may get the job done, or the offense may slump in October, but the biggest problem going in is spelled B-O-R-O-W-S-K-I.

MOTHERFUCKING CHRIST. Beckett gets hammered, yet we only trail by one in the ninth inning. Second and third, one out, and we go IBB, strikeout, strikeout. And the motherfucking Yankees don't play Jeter, A-Rod or Posada or use Rivera to close and they beat the fucking Devil Rays anyway. THIS was the fucking night to get it finished and they fucked it away.

Ah, perhaps I should try "Barry Bonds is a damn nigger" and see if that comes up with any hits. I'll say it flat out: I don't know of any racist comments about Barry Bonds anywhere, though I will admit that I have not gone and done any searches on the Klan's BBS. What I do know is that certain people, lining up these facts: Bonds isn't much liked by a lot of people Bonds "set" the season and career home run records Bonds is black and have come to the conclusion that criticism of Bonds is, in some undetermined proportion, driven by racial animus. I say bull shit. Whether the race card is played with a broad stroke or the phrase "shades of", its simple an effort to deflect the legitimate criticism and factual basis for a belief that he cheated.

As I mentioned last week, I decided to head down to Miami to see this game. Lots to tell, if you don't mind: My day started out great as when I arrived and paid for parking I found out it was Marlins keyring-penlight day! I did good when I decided to take up the first offer I got from a scalper. About 25,000 people there, way too many to allow anyone to sit anywhere other than their assigned seat. I paid $20 under face value for a seat 7 rows back of the Cub dugout, centered on the pitcher's mound. Best seats I've ever had anywhere! Considering how the game turned out, the highlight happened when I was headed for my seats. There's a sign ahead that says: Signing Today Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins Now, I've never been a guy who collects autographs or baseball cards or anything like that, but Fergie Jenkins was a favorite growing up, and most of all, he was the ace on the best Cub teams that my Father ever cheered for. So, for $20, I got a personalized signature on the inner leaf of Jenkins' autobiography. My old man is going to be one happy camper come Christmas day. If there was a tear emoticon, I'd insert it here. Among the other highlights were a couple of good lines I got off to my neighbors. At one point, someone named Wood went up as a pinch hitter against Kerry Wood and when my neighbor said "Its Wood vs Wood" I said in my best announcer voice, "Brought to you by Viagra!" Another highlight would be the Marlins Mermaids. They offend all that is good and righteous in baseball, but they sure are purty. For those who don't know, the Marlins looked at the Laker Girls or the Heat Dancers and decided that this was what was needed to liven up a dull baseball crowd at the home games of perennial losers: Put hot chicks in stripper wear and let them bump and gyrate in front of the fans. And because I had such great seats, I really had the best view ever. So, when the Mermaids got on the dugout and started gyrating, I turned to my neighbor and said "I went to a ballgame and a strip club broke out". Here's a photo. OK, last highlight was really a major disappointment, almost as disappointing as the loss was. Bottom of the sixth. Bases loaded, nobody out, in comes Kerry Wood. He strikes out the first batter, then induces an inning ending double play grounder to Ramirez at third. The Cub side of the stadium was rocking with Cub fans and at this point, I really thought we were going to pull it out. And then it happens. Derrick Lee, who has carefully spread the love around each time he's tossed a ball to the fans at the end of an inning, tosses this double play grounder directly at me. There's no one in the row in front, so no one to knock it down. No one on my right either. And then this fat ugly cow next to me throws a gargantuan hip at me, and all I can do is get a piece of the ball as she deflects it to her friend. I'll try to upload photos of Fergie and the Mermaids after I get my film developed.

Well, Seattle did something productive and managed a split, so the teams are tied heading into the last four games. Advantage goes to Boston since I am sure that the tie-break is season series and the Sox won that. So its up to Cleveland to outplay us; we can stay status quo and have home field throughout. The funny thing is that even with the choice, Boston would hopefully be smart and choose the shorter schedule series, in order not to benefit the other team, so the Indians may get their wish anyway. The only reason I can see for the Sox choosing the other schedule would be for Okajima's benefit. I know you have to be careful what you wish for, but the Angels not only look bad lately but Gary Matthews got hurt yesterday and while he says that there is no structural damage to his knee, I wouldn't be surprised if he is closer to a shell of himself in the playoffs. Plus they never faced Dice-K which can only help him at this point. A Boston columnist wrote that its not even close, Schilling has to pitch Game 2, and not only do I think that is true, but as noted, Dice pitches better on the road, so that makes a Game 3 assignment even better. As for the NL, I just hope the Cubbies can hang on, with some help from the injury-depleted Pads. And while I feel badly for Brad, who doesn't deserve to see his team choke it away, I can't say I feel too badly about at least one New York team blowing it down the stretch in shocking fashion, and in front of the hometown fans to boot.

Funniest. Post. Ever. Also the least self-aware statement ever made.

Well, the magic number is down to two, and the Yanks are winning so it looks like they'll be celebrating tonight. Funny, when the Sox clinched a playoff spot, they had a team meeting and a single champagne toast, but the Yankees are making it sound like they'll give the full champagne bath celebration thing. I just find it amusing because the Sox caught some flak in the past when they celebrated a Wild Card clinching. Anyway ... Indians are playing very well, obviously, and could have a one game lead for best record by tonight. With the Halos not looking very good lately and falling behind, I might not mind playing the Angels as the second seed vs the third seed. We'd have home field, and I strongly suspect that the Indians will choose the longer series with the extra off days. I don't think that helps the Sox the way it helps the Indians or the Angels for that matter, and the thing of it is that it doesn't only help the one seed, it also helps that Wild Card team. The Yanks will be able to use Joba more often than he otherwise might. Anyway, the Indians look very good right now and while the Angels have traditionally handled the Yanks, I think the Tribe has a good shot at them with their two best pitchers potentially going four times, and having home field advantage as well. Does anyone doubt that any of the AL playoff teams ought to win the WS should they get to it? I mean, they've got to play the games and you never know what will happen, but I'd have to say that it would be a major upset for the Senior league to win this year.