Cup of Coffee

March 16, 2012: Yes, they Play MLB: The Show too

86 Comments

Corey Hart came in again last night, this time with his kids, and they played a home run derby on MLB: The Show on one of our displays. Without hesitation he picked Michael Young to hit with. I really, really wanted to ask why.

86 thoughts on “March 16, 2012: Yes, they Play MLB: The Show too”

  1. Sorry to disappoint people, but rugby practice is from 4-6:30 on Sunday, when we were scheduled to record a pod. Last week, practice was 2-4, so I thought we'd be OK. We have two options - reschedule or have someone else lead it in my absense. Votes?

    1. The comments about sum it up:

      Guys, guys, let's not be absurd here. What good is team chemistry, ball movement, energized players and win streaks when it comes at the expense of Superstar Carmelo Anthony™ getting his 20 shots per game? We all want the Knicks to have a winning record and make the playoffs, but NOT at the expense of Carmelo's stat line. That's just selfish!

      It is amazing that a team in a city that favors winning above all else would buckle to the whims of the league's most overrated star, probably at the expense of the playoffs. If Lin gets traded sooner or later as a result of all this, New York might be about ready to give up on that team.

        1. This organization desperately needs to bring back Isaiah to make them the most entertaining in the league.

    2. Woodson said he plans to use Stoudemire more in the post and allow Anthony to do his work on the wing, where he is the most dangerous.

      I liked this part, although I would have changed 'dangerous' to 'volumetric'. How is Stoudamire gonna do jack in the post when the ball gets stuck on the wing over and over?

      1. Stoudemire is averaging 17.7 points per game. The only times he averaged less than 20 points were his rookie season (13.5) and when he injured his knee in the 2005-06 season as a Sun.

        Dude is averaging 19.0 pts/36 minutes, which is his lowest in years. But he's shooting a career-low percentage from the field and getting to the line at a career-low rate. In January, he shot 43 pct from the floor. Since then, he has shot 51 pct from the floor. When did Jeremy Lin start his first game? Oh, that would have been February 4.

    3. why didnt the Knicks trade Jeremy Lin if they planned to reduce him to the 15th man on the roster?

      Are the Knicks more dysfunctional than the Wolves?

    1. found that mortality rates were ... lowest for moderate drinkers who enjoyed one to three drinks per day.

      Time to go to the store and load up.

      1. I haven't read any studies, but I wonder if that's because people who can drink beer in moderation tend to do other things in their life in moderation as well.

        1. yeah, and people who abstain from beer and alcohol probably abstain from other harmful things in their lives too.

            1. All I'm saying is I've met a lot of priests and monks who abstain from sex and not a one of them abstains from alcohol. Except for the ones who are alcoholics, and obviously that's a different case.

              1. *must.control.urge.to.make.[redacted, contextually-appropriate but yet inappropriate joke]*

    2. I can take Sunday recaps. Refresh my memory, do I recap the game played on Sunday or does my recap get posted on Sunday?

  5. I see on the Twitters that Andy Pettitte is rejoining the Yankees. That came out of left field.

    2. Great. I thought the Twins would never have to see this guy again. I'm pretty sure that in 100 years if you dug up his corpse he would still shut out the Twins for seven innings.

    3. You would think his return from a one year performance enhancing drug suspension would get more press.

  6. In which an academic complains about comments on teh Interwebs and reminds us how good we have it here.

    Time was when ‘disabling comments’ on a blogpost was at best an indication of arrogance and at worst an indication that the author was an anti-democratic elitist who did not value the opinions of his or her readers. It is time, I think, for us to accept that disabling or deleting idiot comments is no more anti-democratic or elitist than refusing to engage with a person harrassing you on the street. Just because everyone is allowed to have their say, it does not follow that the bilge they say is worth listening to.

    I love the internet. I love social media. And the only way we will save them from themselves is by accepting that, more often than not, comments are rubbish. That way, when some wacko says Matt Liao is Hitler, it would not be necessary to say ‘no he’s not’, it would simply be enough to sigh and say, ‘oh, I see the comments are broken again.’

    h/t the Dish, where Sullivan opines:

    For the Dish, reader input plays a key role in airing debates and discovering facts from readers with deep knowledge of the subjects at hand. There is a way, in other words, to create a web space where readers add and don't detract from the experience.

    It's called editing.

    1. For a long time, it's been pretty insane for someone to complain that their right to free speech is in any way compromised for not being allowed to say whatever they please on someone else's blog. By that, I mean it was always unreasonable, but ever since anyone and their brother can start a blog (for free!) at blogspot or probably a number of other places, there are plenty of ways for everyone to express their opinion if they feel it is worth expressing.

      I saw an argument elsewhere that, at least in places like Strib comments, having pseudonymous comments is actually worse than having absolutely anonymous commentary, essentially because with pseudonyms, it's easy for people to get in pissing contests with no real consequence. Obviously, as ubelmann, I am not against pseudonyms absolutely, but it could be an interesting experiment to have some Strib comment sections completely stripped of attribution. I don't really know that it would improve anything, but as an experiment, it might have some merit.

      1. Interesting idea.

        Certainly, with pseudonyms, commenters can develop reputations/display a persona. That reputation/persona may have little or nothing to do with a person's "real-life" personality. I think allowing for that separation is a good thing, generally. We've certainly proven that an online community can be self-policing. I credit the Boss for creating a self-sustaining sense of community, and community standards.

        If user handles were not allowed as automatically attached to comments, users could still embed identifying info into the texts of their comments, assuming fame/notoriety was part of their purpose in posting. Trolls acting solely for the purpose of trolling could hide even further behind anonymity. I'm guessing there are plenty of those out there. So I am skeptical about the utility of stripping automatic attributions from comments in the cesspoolosphere.

        1. I don't think it's really fame/notoriety that the trolls look for, they just want to see people enraged at their comment. Anyway, you're probably right that it wouldn't work.

        2. Besides which, a lot of places have begun to start using facebook for their comment logins. I haven't seen anything get particularly better because of it. People still say stupid, stupid inflammatory things. So much for the G.I.F.T.

            1. Not at all, but I don't know how much "fake facebook anonymity courage" it takes to say that Morneau's a pussy and [redacted redacted redacted] his [redacted redacted]. People just don't care <OR!> people know that their friends/compatriots probably have their back no matter what awful things they have to say about politics/[redacted]/local news/sports.

      2. 4chan and 2ch both are anonymous only. I can't comment on the quality, but 4chan is infamous for its /b/ board.

        1. Heh, I was wondering how long it would be before someone brought them up. They're strawmen, examples, and exceptions to the anonymity thing, all at once.

          1. actually, i think they might have changed it recently, but 4chan didn't force anonymity. you could post under a username if you so chose.

  7. if the Bonnies hold on and best Florida St, that will be a body blow to my brackets. Im 16-20 so far and only my Wichita St pick has done some damage (had them going to sweet 16)

        1. I'm sure all of the money CBS is raising through this will go towards a scholarship fund. Yes, that must be it.

    1. up by 6 with 2 minutes to play...yikes

      I have Mizzou as a Sweet 16 team, but I know a lot of people had them going deep

      1. Good for me in one bracket. Bad for me in the other. And both of them look awful already, so it really doesn't matter. I'm rooting for upsets only from here.

          1. You should be okay if Norfolk State wins the whole thing. Obviously, since they are in the tournament and beat a #2 seed, they have a legitimate chance to win it, right?

      2. I always enjoy seeing heavyweights get tripped.

        4 seconds and shooting FTs, up by 2. Should be ovah.

  11. 2nd OT at the X, and at last check, UM Duluth has fired 66 shots and Denver over 40. Score is only 3-3.

      2. I had season tickets for the first half of the last decade. When the Bills signed T.O. I gave them up. I wasn't going to pay for a team that was more concerned about selling tickets than winning games. It was bad enough hiring Marv Levy to be the GM for two years but this was just a cash grab. I would still follow the team but they wouldn't see another dime from me I said.

        Well, all I did was buy my home opener tickets from stub hub each year. I still attended my one game a year and kept tabs on the team but it was all just starting to wear on me. With the Calf in fold and having to be more aware of how I spend money I don't need to spend I thought this past year would be my last year going to a Bills game with my pals.

        Well, I will be darned if I am not going to make it to 1 Bills Drive this September to see the newest addition to the Bills.

        I am sure being in the Twin Cities/upper mid-west, not unlike Buffalo, you have a little bit of a chip on your shoulder. Star players don't come to places like Minneapolis or Buffalo when they are free agents. Having a player like Williams spend three days in your city, knowing the Bills had a $100 million dollar offer on the table feels like putting your city on trial. Even if he likes Buffalo for different reasons that I do it feels pretty cool to have a player like this sign here.

        No matter what happens with him as a player I feel good that a player of his caliber, that can demand the kind of money he got, chose to play in Buffalo. It might not be A-Rod signing with the Twins in 2001 but it sure feels like it to me.

        1. It definitely sends a message to the league when the team will lay out that kind of coin for a blue chip player. The Bills will be a mighty interesting & fun team for the foreseeable future. I hope they kick ass in that division since I hate the Jets and am tired of the Patriots.

  14. I wonder if Kevin Love will actually play against the Lakers tonight.

    /Strib'd/

  15. Ohio up on Michigan, Lehigh up on Duke (gulp), Purdue up on St Marys (eek), St Louis beating Memphis (ugh)

        1. "Busted?" Look at your possible points, man. You're less busted than almost everyone. Not me, though. Against all logic, I'm tied at the top of that particular list.

          1. I guess I was saying brackets busted for everyone except for the 15 people who picked Lehigh.
            I know its by possible points, but I had Duke in the Elite 8.
            But still, that half hour were all the game were closing was pretty cool

            1. Uh. Scoreboard!!! that's right, the Doctor is in the house. Sucking less than everyone else.

  16. Query Request for sean: the LCS (local card shop) owner and I were talking about local boy Dennis Tankersley getting back into pro ball, and we were wondering, has there been any pitcher with more (games started? appearances?) than him that has hit as many or more HR as they have victories?

    1. Let's see. He has 1 HR in 27 G / 23 PAs. I'll try searching for pitchers with home runs and see where I can go. Warren Spahn has the most at 35, so that's a nice cap on the number of wins a pitcher can have. And it won't show batting and pitching stats at the same time. Hmmm. Going to have to do this manually. So far I can cross off three or more home runs. And all of the pitchers with two home runs have at least four wins. That means only the single home run pitchers are left, and there are a lot.

      ...

      Pitchers with a minimum of 27 games or 23 PAs:
      Jose Sosa: 1 win, 1 home run, 34 games, 9 PAs
      Dennis Tankersley: 1 win, 1 home run, 27 games, 23 PAs
      Billy Milligan: 0 wins, 1 home run, 11 games, 28 PAs

  17. Down in Brooklyn tonight for a Duathlon tomorrow morning.

    While driving west on Long Island, the sign reads: Welcome to Brooklyn: Believe the Hype!

        1. aaand they are in opposite brackets. Austin is the 4th seed and faces St. Paul Johnson in the first round, with the winner likely to face 1-seed Washburn (which whipped Austin earlier in the season). Not quite the same as facing defending champs Minneapolis North in the first round, as star Joe Aase's father did 31 years ago.

          East is unseeded and faces 3-seed Grand Rapids in the first round.

          Here's to an all-Big 9 final. Honor bets would have to be made.

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