Traditional All Star Open Thread

Go, Derek et al.

Comments

[NK]

Derek who?.. Oh... you mean the worst fielding shortstop in the AL; the no power .260 hitter (over the next 77 games). Hey... at least he's not the worst contract in baseball.. he's not even the worst contract on the Skankees... that belongs to A-Roid. Cheers, and go NL.

[MarkO]

I'm old enough to remember when the players cared about winning. This game should not decide home field advantage for the Series.

But, if you want physical proof that the game is going to hell, watch tonight while a man no longer even in the game, Tony LaRussa, manages one of the teams.

It's not competition, so why reward one of the entertainment groups with a meaningful advantage? Well, this is the natural consequence of having a used car dealer as the Commissioner.

[NK]

MarkO-- I don't think the game is going to blazes... it's still baseball. But yes, it is a joke that the Commissioner is a former used car salesman and former team owner. But... like Hyman Roth in the Godfather.. Bud always made money for his partners-- the owners.

[Melinda Romanoff]

If this was CH's stash, I think we'd be hearing about it.

There's an amazing baseball card story about an Ohio family that I can't link to on this stupid kindle. Mint condition Bonus Wagner was in the stash.

[peter]

NK, I sense some antipathy.

[NK]

Peter-- you have Jedi-like senses. Midi-chlorians, strong in you, they are!

[NK]

Antipathy? for Skankees? or Bud? or both?

[Jane - talk is cheap!]

We sure have a lot of traditions around here - and I love all of them!

[Jim Eagle]

Thanks for reminding me of the game. We are sitting on the upper terrace, feeling the south easterly breeze, drinking our wine and discussing Belize or Costa Rica.:)

[centralcal]

MelR - oh, here you are? Are you hearing anything about JJJr supposedly attempting suicide? Drudge has picked up the story I posted earlier today from Twitter.

[Extraneus]

City workforce files class action suit against Scranton for cutting salaries to minimum wage

Strangely, we can't figure out the mayor's party from the article. But there's this:

Doherty cut everyone's pay -- including his own -- on Friday down to the state minimum of $7.25 per hour, saying the state's sixth-largest city is broke because the City Council blocked his proposed tax increase in a 2012 budget proposal.

[Danube of Thought]

"why reward one of the entertainment groups with a meaningful advantage?"

Actually, a mere handful of members of one of the groups.

I still love this beautiful game. I am slowly coming to detest the sport.

[Danube of Thought]

Yesterday--homerun derby day--is the annual rock-bottom nadie of the sports calendar. Late next month they'll start teeing it up on the collegiate gridiron, followed by the NFL, and the world will be reborn.

[Extraneus]

Greeks beating up on illegal immigrants

Why would they do that?

[Ralph L]

I'll try again.
I believe Morgan Fairchild dated Janet's ex, Rep Moran, briefly in the 80's.

Since I started the FLWright stuff, I'll finish it. When I was 8, we stopped at Taliesin West in Arizona on the way back from California to No. Virginia. Still not sure why we stopped, though I learned later my mother had dated a student architect from NCSU (one of their first) in the 40's (and toured Rome with him a year before my parents married when she was stationed in Vienna).

I'd like to see how they embedded natural stone in concrete without making a mess. It looked like fruitcake slices to me.

FLW was an (if not the) early architect of modern informal house floorplans.

[GMax]

The rock bottom of the sports world is definitely the slam dunk competition of the NBA.

The homerun derby is cheesy, except when Josh Hamilton is launching them into the cheap seats way in the back.

[narciso]

Very funny, Ralph, Morgan did date John 'Do you know who I am' Kerry, between marriages, his not hers.

[matt]

well, we have Weaver, Wilson, Trout & Trumbo in the game and Pujols and Hunter beginning to come alive, so I'm excited. I used to get excited about the Dodgers as well, but it's pretty mean at their games these days.

I liked the way he pointed at a slab and said "build your quarters" to his acolytes, Ralph. That would be much harder to do at Taliesin East.

I think he was the architect of "break your ankle" floor plans as well. Pushing the limits led to some odd choices.

[Danube of Thought]

The slam dunk competition was of interst for the first two or three years. Now it's embarrassing.

[Dave (in MA)]

The rock bottom of the sports world is definitely the slam dunk competition of the NBA.

I don't follow basketball much, but I liked the slam dunk competition in the mid 80's when it was won by a 5'7" guy.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

I hear Tommy Flanagan says he is still dating Morgan Fairchild and he's going to bed with her. Yeah, that's the ticket.

[matt]

The NBA All Star weekend is basically African American Christmas/Homecoming. Everyone comes to town and it's a huge party, but the games/events are a joke.

The AS Game itself sells out, but the rest uses tight focus to hide the empty seats, which are filled by a lot of schoolkids otherwise.

Everyone goes for the parties not the sport, and there are a lot of hangovers in the game itself.

[Jim Rhoads a/k/a vjnjagvet]

Time for Tito's finest and a toast to Chipper. My oldest daughter was his boy's nanny for about six months, and she adored them. Alas, his recently ex-wife (a former Hooters gal) was very difficult, and my daughter resigned. When she notified the agency, the owner told her that she had lasted longer than any nanny up until then.

[Jane - talk is cheap!]

I have no idea who Chipper is, but it sure sounds cool.

I have a friend whose kid's best friend was the tutor to the Edwards kids during the last campaign. The poor kid is now so disillusioned.

[Dave (in MA)]

5-0 NL in the middle of the first. Sounds like the recent NY/Bos series at Fenway.

[sbwaters]

Fielder is no Tex. Tex catches Jeter's bounce passes.

[Porchlight]

We used to make fun of Chipper back in the late 80's-early 90's when the Twinkies and the Braves were big rivals. But I've gained a lot of respect for him since then.

[carmachu]

It's not competition, so why reward one of the entertainment groups with a meaningful advantage?

@MarkO:

Its the consequence from letting the Fing game end in a tie that one year. That was disgraceful, this isnt soccer.

[Jim Eagle]

Jane,

Chipper Jones is one of the best, Hall of Famer by far.

Oldest guy in the all star game.

Also a local boy. Daytonta Beach

[Melinda Romanoff]

c-cal-

I'm just coming up for air and won't know until tomorrow, when I can ask the proper "grapevine", if they'll answer at all.

In the meantime, I'm going to dangle some very tempting Patrick Fitzgerald meat over the site and see who wants to run with it.

This is blood sport here, BTW. So have at it.

[narciso]

Well it would seem he was going after small fry, why were Daley and/or Obama off limits,
Rezko is a medium fry, compared to he answers to, a player with a much more Continental outlook, but he knew where the 'bread is buttered'

[Ignatz]

I find it impossible to generate any interest in baseball until October.

Since all these sports are exempt from anti trust law why doesn't congress just appropriate a few billion to make up for lost revenue so they can all have a two week regular season and go straight to the playoffs. That way no hockey in June, no football in August and they could eliminate all the all-star, pro-bowl idiocies at the same time.

[Ignatz]

I find it impossible to generate any interest in baseball until October.

Since all these sports are exempt from anti trust law why doesn't congress just appropriate a few billion to make up for lost revenue so they can all have a two week regular season and go straight to the playoffs. That way no hockey in June, no football in August and they could eliminate all the all-star, pro-bowl idiocies at the same time.

[glasater]

JIB-

Belize

Costa Rica is more interesting but the import taxes are killers.

Have been to both countries and both are lovely :-)

[Jane - talk is cheap!]

Some days I am so overwhelmed by the corruption in this country that I feel like a complete fool for living my life the way I have.

[Clarice]

Why didn't Patrick go after the person who leaked the news the USAO was tapping Blag's phone just as the conversations were heading into Wh territory?

[rse]

We took the kids to the B-ball AllStar game when it was in ATL around 99. It was like a circus and some of the least interesting baseball we've seen.

It ended up being who else's parents had managed to get tickets the next day at school.

Good grief.

[Clarice]

Jane, somehow I don't see the two of us doing well in criminal enterprises. I could be wrong, but.........

[narciso]

I guess this is considered a promotion of sorts for him, he lets loose a whole zoo full of squirrels,

https://www.propublica.org/article/fact-check-how-the-nypd-overstated-its-counterterrorism-record

[Jane - talk is cheap!]

Jane, somehow I don't see the two of us doing well in criminal enterprises. I could be wrong, but.........

In the current climate that means we are both fools.

[matt]

I will never forget meeting some of the old timers when they still had the old timers game. That was more special for me and the kids.

They were very young and we only stayed through the 2nd inning of the regular game, as it was 2 days before the AS game.

The old guys were walking out to the bus, and we just happened to be in the right place at the right time. We met and got autographs that day from Spahn, Feller, Eddie Matthews, Ed Runge, Koufax, Drysdale and a dozen others on a poster they handed out at the game.

They fussed over them, as there were only a few people there and the kids were adorable if I do say so.

And I was such a fan as well, meeting some of the greats. I still have that poster stored carefully until the time the kids realize what an amazing artifact it is.

[GMax]

Ed Morrissey gets it almost correct here:

If Obama can’t get above water on approval ratings or break out of a tie with Romney in a sample this friendly, what will happen when Obama has to go head-to-head with Romney in a turnout model that’s closer to 2010 than 2008? I don’t think it’s as close as the Post thinks, nor do I think it’s going to “remain extremely close” for the next four months … unless they decide to go to the D+13 split they’ve used on occasion.

What did he miss. Well its much more likely to be R + 2 than it is to be 2010 even. And if the intensity is like Wisconsin it could be much more Republican than that.

[narciso]

In grad school, I remember writing a review of an article of the Bulger case, which of course had a South Florida connection, and how many people were either aware or even part of his operation

[Clarice]

Jane, I fear when under scrutiny I'll remember how awful prison is. (I once did a study of the Wisconsin system.) I can't live on baloney sandwiches and such.

[Melinda Romanoff]

matt-

I happened to walk in to the post-reception party of the inauguration of the Negro League Hall Of Fame in KC.

Spouse needed a tow truck to get me out of there. Buck O'Neill did not push, nor did he guard his cake. Fun night.

[matt]

we met Buck that day as well. A very gentlemanly fellow. That must have been a kick.

These men played when it was a game and they lived in the neighborhood and worked retail in the off season.

[jimmyk]

I was at the '71 All-Star Game at Tiger Stadium, when Reggie Jackson hit that moonshot into the light standard. Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Al Kaline, Roberto Clemente, Johnny Bench, Frank Robinson, Willie Stargell, Willie McCovey, Rod Carew, among others. And it seemed that half of them hit home runs. And the AL won for the only time in something like a 20 year stretch. I don't think those guys needed any incentive to try to win.

[Melinda Romanoff]

They played because they loved to play, but it also paid better than the alternatives, especially the barnstorming.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Clarice-

Here in Illinois, the prisoners can get steak if they want it. No charges.

Especially if they work election day.

[Danube of Thought]

Having watched the first inning, I asked myself "why keep watching?" There being no good response, I stopped.

[Jane]

I dunno Clarice, some days prison sounds pretty good. You don't have to work, or worry about money. Give me wifi in my cell and I'm good to go.

[Clarice]

My husband watched Hank Aaron play his first pro game.

[Clarice]

Maybe you could just become a nun in some contemplative order, Jane. Me, I want wide open spaces and better grub..

[Melinda Romanoff]

Not with the Executive Order of last Friday will you get your Wi-Fi.

Let alone radio.

[gus]

Hank Aaron played in the Negro Leagues. Most people don't know that. I won $780, by knowing.
Indianapolis CLowns.

[Jim Ryan]

Ahem.

It would kill you to spend an hour a day down at your local GOP HQ starting now and going forward into the fall? You can even just sit there and greet people coming in for bumper stickers and yard signs. This frees up the staff to do stuff that needs doing. You can stuff envelopes, update the database, etc.

[Romney should pardon Libby.]

I don't even have to read Melinda's link to know that Patrick Fitzgerald is one of the most corrupt men in America, and I'm not even sure he knows it. Whether he is crazed, autspec, or evil, I've little clue, but how can a man be more wrong?
================

[Ignatz]

--Indianapolis CLowns.--

Must be the Washington Senate's farm team.
Note, I didn't say Senators.

[Jim,MtnView,Ca,USA]

Ext: Strangely, we can't figure out the [Scranton] mayor's party from the article.

Presumably they are ALL Dems. I don't see any evidence of 3-digit IQs. From the LUN--
"[Mayor] Doherty wants to raise taxes by 29 percent immediately and by as much as 78 percent over the next three years"
Whereas
"the council wants the city to borrow money. The Scranton Times-Tribune reported there's no way for the city to take out a loan because it is unable to show it is capable of paying it back."

[Libor labor no more.]

We need 3M to stay low for the next three sets.
=================

[We welcome our interesting class of overlords.]

All the world is divided into two classes, those who don't know which way interest rates are going, and those who don't know they don't know which way interest rates are going.
==================

[Jim Ryan]

You're a tone poet tonight, kimmer.

[Jim Ryan]

And you didn't even know it.

[OldTimer]

Harry Reid, we're watching you. They got Capone for less...

-LUN

[A mouse volted up a lightening bolt.]

I wanted to go to a poet gathering a couple of months ago to carry a placard which would have read 'Tax poets, Line and rhyme. Not poor clock slaves, For their time', but a weather scare ran all those fierce poets off.
============

[Jim Ryan]

Beavis showed up at that poetry slam.

[Janet]

One more example of the never ending double standard.
Mali Islamists Destroy Another Ancient Relic In Timbuktu, Pickaxes Taken To 14th Century Tombs On UNESCO World Heritage List…

Remember all the angst & hysteria over Iraq's museums? Will there be a PBS documentary about these lousy barbarians?

[Janet]

The Scranton mayor is a Democrat.

[Janet]

He's been working on some really important stuff before this whole 'Scranton is broke' problem.

"Doherty was recognized by the United States Conference of Mayors in 2008 for his efforts to protect the City’s tree canopy.[5]"

[Janet]

Council Members:

Jack Loscombe - D
Pat Rogan - D
Robert E. McGoff, Jr. - D
Frank Joyce - D
Janet Evans - D

So it looks like a sweep...Scanton is run by Democrats.

[Janet]

Did someone pay money for this London Olympics logo?

[Extraneus]

Beavis: "Whoa. It's says twenty-twelve."

Butthead: "They paid some dude $620,000 for it.

Beavis: "Whoa."

[Extraneus]

I'm predicting a low number of Dems voting for repeal today. Maybe zero.

[Janet]

Thanks, Extraneus. I didn't even see the 2012.

Elizabeth Warren: Being A Fake Indian Is “Part Of Who I Am,” Refuses To Say She’s A Minority On CNN…

"BASH: Harvard administrators say they didn’t know Warren claimed Native American heritage before hiring her. It’s still raw. Warren bristles when asked if she considers herself a minority.

BASH: So you don’t want to put a label on it?

WARREN: Nope. This is part of who I am. This is who I am."

What is "this", Elizabeth? Cherokee? Liar? Recipe plagiarizer? Poor Elizabeth...she needs a nice warm bowl of Mexican Oatmeal Soup.

I loved Dave(in MA)'s post about Warren -
"You call that multitasking? Try taking the bar exam while trying to peer over your high cheekbones with a 1/64th papoose clamped to your teat." LOL!

[Jim Ryan]

Ext, linky is what?

[Extraneus]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Summer_Olympics#Logo

[peter]

You read it here at JOM first. It's a desert topping and a floor wax! LUN

[Clarice]

Is DoE about to set quotas on men in science program under Title IX. Hans Bader thinks it is.http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/07/applying-title-ix-to-science-enrollment-what-possibly-could-go-wrong/

[Jim Ryan]

Ah. Oh dear. $620K? That's about $200 of design work from a senior majoring in graphic design.

[Jim Ryan]

Oh dear, oh dear.

Design guru Stephen Bayley condemned the London 2012 Olympic Games logo as "a puerile mess, an artistic flop and a commercial scandal".

[Janet]

Is DoE about to set quotas on men in science program under Title IX.

Being a phony Cherokee or Hispanic or claiming to have been born in Kenya is so yesterday....now with the rise of LGBT awareness the guys that are science brains can just CLAIM to be women.

[RichatUF]

Janet-

Nope. The MSM will find something to excuse them. The MB in Egypt is making noise about tearing down the Pyramids (the only reason to bother to go to Egypt). Glad I dug up my pictures of the Pryamids and Museum of Cairo.

[Janet]

The gay softball league is already struggling with bogus gay claims. Damn interlopers.

"According to court records, one player declined to say whether he was gay or straight but acknowledged being married to a woman. Another answered yes to both gay and heterosexual definitions. A third asked if bisexual was acceptable and was told, "This is the Gay World Series, not the Bisexual World Series.""

Imagine mistaking the Gay World Series for the Bisexual World Series....what an idiot.

[RichatUF]

And the slide of the great state of California continues...San Bernardino to file for bankruptcy.

[Jane - Get off the couch your country needs you!]

I want to see the winner of the gay world series play the winner of the bi-sexual world series. And then I want the victor to face off against the lesbian world series where they would never have a prayer of winning.

Trophies for everyone!!!

[Janet]

I'm holding out for the Celibate World Series. Hah!

[Jane - Get off the couch your country needs you!]

This is Geithner, right? In 2007, New York Fed was told about problems with Libor

[NK]

Matt/MelR-- you guys met Buck O'Neill? I would heave loved to. I saw him interviewed many times on Kiner's Corner, by Mel Allen in this Week in Baseball, local NYC Black viewpoint TV, and of course Ken Burns' PBS documentary. In fact, once you get into the 'modern era' of baseball (post-1908) Buck O'Neill was the only worthwhile thing in the Burns documentary. I don't care if 90% of O'Neill's stories were complete fiction, he was still a great listen. Would have loved to have met him.

[Captain Hate]

Remember the party of civility? http://weaselzippers.us/2012/07/10/house-democrats-posting-videos-of-where-republicans-live-on-youtube/

[jimmyk]

That London 2012 logo must be some kind of Rohrschach test. I saw a swastika before I saw the 2012.

[Jane - Get off the couch your country needs you!]

They were never ever the party of civility Capn' - as you know.

[Captain Hate]

Bad times at Shakedown Inc http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/13705275-418/rep-luis-gutierrez-on-rep-jesse-jackson-jr-he-has-a-responsibility-to-give-us.html

The comments are hilarious

[Captain Hate]

Troo 'dat, Jane; they'd have given Jared Loughner printed directions that even that idiot and his deadbeat parents could've understood to have shot that Republican judge at his home (the one the MFM never mentions) and keep Saint Gabby out of harm's way.

[jimmyk]

I'm having trouble understanding Jane's 8:42 link. Barclay's told the NY Fed about "problems" in the LIBOR market that they are now being accused of manipulating? Was this supposed to be a cry for help? "Stop me before I kill again?" The article is very short on specifics.

[centralcal]

Yep, the London 2012 logo is pretty danged crappy.

[NK]

Jane-- you are correct. Turbo Tax Timmie was NY Fed President in 2007, and therefore personally responsible for the regulation of the NYC money center banks that participated in the inter-bank interest rate offer process -- yes the LIBOR that was rigged. Timmie, I believe, is a fool who looks good in a Savile Row tailored suit, monochromatic power tie and he has that chic slightly uncombed head of hair. His dad was Ford Foundation president (who hired Obama's mom to do her academic stuff in Indonesia) and he sent Timmie went to all the right schools. Timmie cuts the perfect figure for the bankers to put out there to say all is well-- and best of all Timmie is a complete Muppet who doesn't know what's really going on, and does what he's told. I'm a fair man, I'm open to rebuttal opinions about Timmie.

[Captain Hate]

I'm sure the IOC collected a huge amount of swag to accept that ugly logo; those grifters would gladly use a swastika if the price was right. Maybe even a torched q'u'r'r'r'r'r'a'n if they felt really secure for lots and lots of money.

[Extraneus]

dwayneedwardcooper

5:32 PM on July 10, 2012

Congressman Jackson continues to be in my thoughts & prayers at this time. My thoughts are he's close to being indicted and my prayers are that his whole darn family goes to prison with him - father, spouse and all!

[NK]

CaptH-- at your suggestion I read the Jesse Jr COMMENTS. many were quite harsh. 2 comments were 'subject to review' by the editors. If all the other comments got through, the 2 under review must have been way out there.

[rse]

Well I have been writing this morning. I guess I should tell my youngest she's not likely to be welcome in Palo Alto. Or Cambridge either.

Today's post explains that these profs really do believe they can use education to change the future. http://www.invisibleserfscollar.com/what-if-higher-order-thinkingdeliberate-confusion/

Yes but we really need to conduct a seminar on unintended consequences for these tenured profs at these elite schools.

What I did not say in post but is pertinent to the web I have been weaving is that our GW Communitarian prof from the July 2 post is the listed endorser on the book's cover as "Truly Original and Profound."

The other 2 profs are involved with Project Zero that developed that Global Competence logo for the Smithsonian mentioned in the June 30 post.

If that helps with the "I can't read everything, but this is interesting" impulse.

Rick--You really would not enjoy reading how these profs involved in global ed reform think economies work. They essentially are in a position to trash things they do not understand because of the various monopolies that exist concerning education.

OL-if you are around, this admin is now using so-called "petitioning" by the huge tax-free foundations as the basis for radical changes in American education. Seriously. By all means I can't think of anyone whose perspective is less likely to be pertinent than someone living off the untaxed riches of long-dead businessmen.