Baseball

I don't think there's any doubt that it will be Philly over somebody, but what made you pick Chicago? That was kind of out of...er, left field.

 

ccr, I thought at first there was something wrong with your keyboard. I looked closer and found that all the letters appear to be working. Then I thought, "Maybe ccr doesn't know how to spell it correctly. Let me be a friend and help you with some typing....

NEW YORK YANKEES

Now you just have to copy and paste where you put that Boston team. What was their name again? :tongue3: Then correct the ACLS pairings. I help you out some more with the World Series stuff after the Allstar break.

My work here is done.

 

The White Sox aren't that good. I'd probably pick them to win the AL Central, too, but they are an above-average team in a pathetic division.

 

AL
West - Angels (not ready to jump on the Rangers wagon yet)
Central - Tigers (can't pick the Twins in a new park)
East - Boston
WC - Tampa

NL
West - Rockies
Central - Cardinals
East - Phillies
WC - Dodgers

ALDS
Boston over Tigers
Tampa over Angels

NLDS
Cardinals over Rockies
Phillies over Dodgers

NLCS
Phillies over Cardinals
ALCS
Boston over Tampa

WS
Phillies over Boston

 

TomVols, it seems your keyboard has the same flaw as ccr's. Every time you go to type in NEW YORK YANKEES it comes out Boston. Y'all should get that fixed.... :tongue3:

 

:laugh:

I think the Yankees have taken a page from the Reds' front office playbook. They believe that older is better. I just agree with CCR. I think that on paper, the BoSox and Rays can hang with them. Of course, if divisions were won on paper, the Reds would be ten time defending NL Central champs. Okay, not quite. But you get my point.

 

ccr's probably right but you've got to hang with your boys! I'm bi-vocational and drive the shuttle bus for the local college. The college has over 40 NJCAA championships in many sports so it attracts students from all over the northeast including much of New England. As one student was boarding I noticed he was wearing a Red Sox hat and, kidding, told him he wasn't allowed to wear a Boston hat on the bus. He responded like he had been caught committing an unpardonable. I assured him I was just teasing and now the Boston thing has become a running gag on the bus. There's a handful of riders that try to "sneak" their Boston gear on the bus and see if I'll notice. This past Thursday we were waiting at a traffic light when a guy rode in front of me on a bicycle. He was wearing a blue Boston jacket and matching hat. I let off the brake a bit and rolled forward a few inches. One of the guys yelled, "Don't do it!" thinking I wasn't going to let a Boston fan ride in front of my bus either. :wavey:

 

Tommy, bless your pea-pickin' heart!

 

I gave up on professional baseball some years ago after greed totally took over the game. There is no player loyalty to the fans or the team, no owner loyalty to the players or fans. [IMHO]

Also, it just seems a waste of my time to sit in front of the boob-tube watching people throw a little white sphere at a fellow with a piece of wood trying to hit it.

I used to enjoy baseball quite a lot. I hope the O's do well, but I won't be watching them.

 

For which part? :tongue3:

The way I feel about the AL Central is someone HAS to win it. Of course, I forgot the Tigers and Royals are still in the same division!

(Sorry.....had to be said)

 

Actually, as a thirty year season ticket holder, I can tell you first hand that the Phillies, both the organization and the players, are very good to their fans (so are the Flyers, for that matter).

Phillies players are very involved in the community, from putting on clinics for kids to helping charitable causes.

Two years ago, an organization I belong to wrote to the Phillies and asked if they could contribute some little something we could auction off to raise money for a children's charity we support.

My brother in law, who is president of our organization, got a call back from John Brazier. Brazier said that if we would come and pick it up, four boxes of stuff would be waiting for us. He also arranged a two hour visit from the Phillie Phanatic for us.

Autographed jerseys, bases, posters, tickets, even a couple of seats from Veterans Stadium and your home answering machine message recorded by Harry Kalas.

It was amazing. We had so much stuff that we couldn't even put it all out. We had to save some of it for the next auction.

The Phillies routinely have meet and greets, Q&A sessions and tours for their season ticket holders. My family has gotten to go down into the training area at CB Park (you'd be amazed how big it is inside) and watch the players take batting practice. My kids love Jason Werth and got to meet him and have their pictures taken with him. They got to meet Raul and Chase and Ryan and Brad Lidge and Davey Lopes.

My brother in law and I have gotten to eat lunch with Greg Luzinski, Gary Maddox, and Gary Matthews.

So I don't believe the "no respect" thing is necessarily true.

 

The Reds do the same thing all over Reds country. And I still believe that, despite how large the contracts are, baseball players share an unmitigated joy from winning and performing that is still like what you see on sandlots around our country.

The problem? Fans who expect these guys to raise the dead because they're paid large sums. These are still men who do this for a living, paid to play a game. And they entertain us. They get what they want, we get what we want. Where's the problem?

And by the way, when was this utopian era when the owners were beholden to fans, and the players just jumped at the whim and wish of the fans? When? As the old saying goes, the good ole days...weren't :saint:

The problem is is it's now all about us. We want $5 tickets. We want 5,000 a night attendance without the team moving (what business stays without customers?) We want ___________ and we want it now.

 

Same with Shane Victorino. Victorino turned down two huge offers to stay in Philly. Just heard an interview with Phillies hitting instructor, Mike Schmidt, in which he said that Victorino didn't get nearly what he could have, all because he wants to play here.