Is anyone else sick of the Reds signing folks from the nursing home? Edgar Renteria? That would have been awesome five years ago. Judging from the aches in my recently advanced age 34 year old body, I know a ballplayer at 35 isn't a spring chicken, or whatever they say. And of course, we have to worry about him playing everyday, as we always do, despite what Walt and Dusty say.
Poor Paul Janish.
So the government of Lebanon collapsed this week and Hezbollah asshole Hassan Nasrallah is speaking live right now, spewing conspiracy theories and blaming Israel and the US for his assholiness. Wanker. Meanwhile, life in Lebanon goes on, though the bars are noticeably emptier in the evenings. The first night of the collapse, the streets of Beirut were eerily quiet. Funny, I've gotten so used to the incessant noise that I couldn't sleep with all that silence.
Anyway, Fred Lewis? Could be worse, right? And Walt says he's done now? I suppose he is. I mean, we did win the division last year, so we didn't have that much to get in the first place. 2011 should be interesting, that's for sure.
I will have internet at home this week (finally), so I may be posting more frequently from now on. As long as war doesn't break out. (It won't.)
Commentary on baseball and society, baseball and philosophy, baseball and history, and baseball and baseball.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Sunday, January 09, 2011
Barry, Barry, Quite Contrary
Yeah, that's a stupid title. I am certainly disappointed by Larkin's second omission from the Hall, but what can you expect from a bunch of dinosaurs who think they're important because they paid some money to get a piece of paper so they could call themselves "journalist." Pbbbbbbt...
I am still reeling from the shootings in Arizona yesterday. This is a result of today's media. Spew vitriol, criticize, condemn, and damn the consequences. Ok, so the omission of a player of a stupid game from some museum in the middle of nowhere is trivial. I know this. But the holier-than-thou attitude that many journalists and broadcasters have these days - whether it be in sports or politics or whatever - is the same.
What am I getting at? Well, I've just seen some of the columns from BBWAA folks about why they chose who they chose as if Abraham were writing their words on stone tablets. (Stone tablets eventually break.) It's the same mentality as those folks on the cable news channels who think they're so holy that they can say whatever they want and the seas will part for them. They're so enamored with the sound of their own words that they can't see how they have degraded society, and in the case of the political journalists, the consequences of their arrogance has resulted in a grand tragedy.
And how many times have we said this would happen, that this will happen, that people will die because of the vitriolic political environment that corporate media have created? But no one listens - they say it's liberal hysteria. Well, we told you so, and it will happen again if things don't change. Journalist used to be a noble profession. I live in a city where it still matters, where Tom Friedman was actually a good journalist, where people who wrote for newspapers risked their lives so they could tell the truth about what was going on, where many died for that truth. But in America, we have cable news and columnists and bloggers who just want an audience.
Ah, truth. What a word. "What is truth?" Pontius Pilate asked Jesus Christ at his trial. The truth is, the American media have collected their 30 pieces of silver.
Oh, wait, I was talking about Larkin. Well, sometimes baseball just doesn't matter. This is one of those times. It feels like someone has reached into my chest and squeezed my heart to a pulp.
Until next week...
I am still reeling from the shootings in Arizona yesterday. This is a result of today's media. Spew vitriol, criticize, condemn, and damn the consequences. Ok, so the omission of a player of a stupid game from some museum in the middle of nowhere is trivial. I know this. But the holier-than-thou attitude that many journalists and broadcasters have these days - whether it be in sports or politics or whatever - is the same.
What am I getting at? Well, I've just seen some of the columns from BBWAA folks about why they chose who they chose as if Abraham were writing their words on stone tablets. (Stone tablets eventually break.) It's the same mentality as those folks on the cable news channels who think they're so holy that they can say whatever they want and the seas will part for them. They're so enamored with the sound of their own words that they can't see how they have degraded society, and in the case of the political journalists, the consequences of their arrogance has resulted in a grand tragedy.
And how many times have we said this would happen, that this will happen, that people will die because of the vitriolic political environment that corporate media have created? But no one listens - they say it's liberal hysteria. Well, we told you so, and it will happen again if things don't change. Journalist used to be a noble profession. I live in a city where it still matters, where Tom Friedman was actually a good journalist, where people who wrote for newspapers risked their lives so they could tell the truth about what was going on, where many died for that truth. But in America, we have cable news and columnists and bloggers who just want an audience.
Ah, truth. What a word. "What is truth?" Pontius Pilate asked Jesus Christ at his trial. The truth is, the American media have collected their 30 pieces of silver.
Oh, wait, I was talking about Larkin. Well, sometimes baseball just doesn't matter. This is one of those times. It feels like someone has reached into my chest and squeezed my heart to a pulp.
Until next week...
Sunday, January 02, 2011
Happy New Year
Welcome to 2011, the year when the Cincinnati Reds earn their sixth World Series trophy.
In a little over a month, pitchers and catchers will report to Spring Training. I'll be on the beach a half a world away (unless a war breaks out). I'm supposed to be flying home the day before Opening Day, but I hope I can stay a bit longer. Another six month visa would take me to October, just in time for the Reds' playoff run.
Anyway, winter. Yawn. Off season. Yawn.
In a little over a month, pitchers and catchers will report to Spring Training. I'll be on the beach a half a world away (unless a war breaks out). I'm supposed to be flying home the day before Opening Day, but I hope I can stay a bit longer. Another six month visa would take me to October, just in time for the Reds' playoff run.
Anyway, winter. Yawn. Off season. Yawn.
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