Retire 51

Message boards full of children

mlblogsnotjuiced — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 20:38:19 +0000

When i first started going onto the message boards on MLB.com i had a lot of fun. There seemed to be so many genuinely intelligent people on them that knew about things that i enjoy, the main subject being baseball. More specifically St. Louis Cardinals baseball. It gave me an opportunity to discuss the thing i love the most with people. I don’t have many friends that enjoy baseball like i do in real terms. So it was fun…for a while.

But then i began to notice that more and more people were merely on them to hurl insults to other people who did the unthinkable act of NOT liking the same team as they do. A crime punishable by nothing less than derogatory remarks about them, their family and even their family pets. Even though nothing more than knowing that that particular individual didn’t share the same unbridled love of the aggressors team. SACRILEGE!

How could ANYONE not love their team every bit as much as they do?

So of course there were names to designate the opposing teams worthlessness such as Scrubs/Cubs & Tardinals/Cardinals among many others for every team competing. These people that tour the message board threads are called “trolls” and EVERY team has their share. They are brave and bold with their epitaths spewed at others on the threads. No one is safe. Women are berated as eagerly as men and women eagerly join in in the beration of others. Children try and act older and tough to make them seem important. Men ACTUALLY wanting to arrange a meeting place to fight over a discussion no sane person would even have. Curse words are the steady foddr thrown at one another even though they are banned from being posted in type. It is very easy to say **** on a thread when all you have to do is space out the letters like this: s h i t.

There is very little control kept on them by MLB.com because they are simply uncontrollable…at least in the way that it is tried to be patrolled. Unless people start getting banned by IP address, it never will be. It’s easy to have multiple profiles because it costs no money to have them. I have spent many nights patrolling and reporting certain threads that have vulgarity, instigation and just plain meaness on them. It is very draining to do so.

Now i’m not saying everyone on the threads are like that. There are many that love nothing more than having calm, civilized conversation in them whether it be about baeball or some other subject. But it seems to me that the patients have overtaken the nurses and doctors and are now in control of the insane asylum.

This is why i have decided to quit posting on them. I will still read at times some of my favorite posters who are soldiering on in them. But for me, i can’t do it.

So goodbye MLB.com message board threads. You’ve allowed the to be nothing more than feeding pool for the deviant & anti-social.

Dust Cleared

mlblogsnotjuiced — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 12:26:08 +0000

It’s been quite some time since i’ve posted a blog, mainly because i’ve been uber busy just following baseball. I am the true definition of fan…i’m fanatical about it. The one thing that makes the season even more fun is the non-waiver trade season that just concluded a few days ago. Now i could go team by team and trade by trade giving you my opinion of each, but no one really cares about my opinion on such things. So there are just a few things i want to mention…

1. I can understand to some extent why Pittsburgh once again has abandoned the diminishing fan base. They seem to be the most inept ownership/front office in the sport. It is their trademark to develope players and then trade them off for more raw talented players to start the cycle over with. It’s just the natural order of things there. What i can’t understand is Cleveland following in suit! V. Martinez & C. Lee were not free agents at seasons end and should have been kept as cornerstones of the future. For the second straight season the Indians FO has traded away the reigning Cy Young award winner in the AL. If that’s not a first, then it’s clearly ignorance following ignorance. Cleveland, i’m afraid, is going to go the way of Pittsburgh and mire themselves in a semingly never ending cycle. What a shame.

2. I’m on the message boards a lot. It’s amazing how many childish people devoid of respect there are on them. Some days/nights i grow weary from reporting the same ones for less than tolerable behaviour. I’m hoping a few things can be done to improve the boards soon. It would be very helpful to have an ignore action so those of us that enjoy talking baseball without wading through the profanity and name calling can do just that. Something else that would be productive is if the MLB Thread Police would start banning by IP address instead of banning by account ID. There are countless people on them that have multiple accounts that spew filth, degradation and hate on the sites. No team is exempt from attacks from these lowlifes. Their one agenda is to disrupt others enjoyment and i have to say, they are very good at it. Look into my suggestions MLB.com…make the threads what they are intended to be. Fun.

Diasappointment

mlblogsnotjuiced — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:50:54 +0000

I’ve been watching, to some degree, baseball on television for about 38 years to my best recollection. From the weekly Saturday games early on in my life to the blossoming early home satellite dishes in the backyard to the small dish and now on my computer. I’ve watched a lot, and i’m not exaggerating when i say that, of baseball in my lifetime.
I have some fond memories of listening to the commentators through the years. The distinguished sounding voices right alongside the less than royal sounding color men. Somehow, most of the duets seemed to not be bothersome to each other no matter coming from less than adjacent backgrounds for the most part. It was very entertaining listening to the two voices working in unison with each other and seeing mostly the comfortable relationships they had with each other.
One of the things i noticed the most were the professionalism they had doing the games. It seemed they prepared greatly for their jobs. Each had knowledge of the rosters for both their team and the visiting team, no matter who it was.
Through the years however, i’ve watched as that has slowly seemed to fade as a duty of the announcers. Not all of them mind you. Most of the older, more veteran announcers still have that desire to know where a player came from. What his travels were to the present point of the telecast. Now it seems most newer announcers rely more and more on production staffs to provide them with that information. And in my opinion, that is a shame.
Yes, i’m getting on in age and i, as most, pine for the “good old days”.

Namesake

mlblogsnotjuiced — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 12:32:05 +0000

Most Cardinals fans older than thirty probably know what the name of my blog site means. There is also probably a good percentage under thirty that do as well. I don’t think there has been near enough clamoring on this issue. That’s quite sad to me.
Willie McGee deserves to have his number retired by the Cardinals organization and it should have been done years ago. He was every bit as important to the Cards success as Ozzie Smith and even more so than most that were on the teams during his two stints wearing the birds on the bat.
No one, including Ozzie, was more of a fan favorite than Willie was. It was a sad day when he was traded away to the A’s and it never really felt like the Cardinals were a whole team until he came back to finish out his career. I’m not the only one that considers him my favorite Redbird of all time, i can assure you.
While he’ll never be a member of the Baseball hall of fame, he more than deserves to be a member of the St. Louis Cardinals hall of fame. His number MUST be flying with players like Gibson, Slaughter, Musial and Smith.
It’s an honor that is well past due. Until i see the number 51 among the 1, 9, 45 and others…the Cardinal family will not be whole.

Excited

mlblogsnotjuiced — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:23:49 +0000

It’s 10:24 on Wednesday the 24th of March. In approximately three and a half hours i’ll be watching spring training baseball. Neither of the teams register highly on my interest radar, but that matters not. IT’S BASEBALL TIME!!!
I will get at least a small look at possible waiver pick ups for my fantasy team and of course, IT’S BASEBALL!!! Yes, i know..there is baseball played year round somewhere, but nothing compares to MLB. All of you that want to tout the classic can go right ahead. Be politically correct and say how much you think supporting your countries team is important. Admittedly, i’ll watch some of the Classic, but it still doesn’t excite me as much as seeing the logos of MLB teams on jerseys. Even if that jersey is name free and the number 83 is prominent on the back.

I’m EXCITED!!!

My First Fantasy League Team

mlblogsnotjuiced — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 12:44:22 +0000

Well i’ve decided to play in a fantasy league for the first time. In years past i have always found a reason not to play. Not enough time, too lazy, too much going on, i go out of town too often or what happens if there is nuclear war…
Not this year though. I’ve put forth a commitment to play and i intend on winning. My draft is today and i’m a bit nervous to tell the truth. I can see the pitfalls in playing, like not getting the players i covet the most. I’m sure i’m no different than most others that play in which i’m a bit higher on players of my favorite team(s). But let’s face it, i’m not the only one hoping to start my team off by choosing Albert Pujols with my first pick. That will take a miracle for me since i pick eigth the first round.
So i’ll have to replace that enormous loss with someone i deem close to being able to provide me enough points. There are lots of very capable players out there to give me what i need. The problem is, my human emotions will come through and skewer my choices. There are lots of players that i will never pick for one of two reasons. One is that they play on teams that i absolutely despise. The other is that i despise them on a personal level. One such player that gets a double whammy in this category is Milton Bradley. And of course there is no way i’m picking anyone from the Cubs.
Another problem i will have is over rating players on my own teams. I know there are better hitting with more refined defensive skills than Rick Ankiel, but i’m not having any luck being subjective in my managerial duties.
It should be interesting, at least for me, today.

I Need Some Salve

mlblogsnotjuiced — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 15:02:25 +0000

I don’t have a rash or anything, just a huge itch to see some baseball. Even if it’s only Spring Training. The next few days will be torture. The kind that you know it’s very near but you are chomping at the bit.
Sure, there are lots of stories still out there that could occupy my time. Like how many of the big to fairly big name free agents still in limbo going. How are teams pitching staffs shaping up since catchers and pitchers reported. How are the big and/or worrisome injuries healing thus far for those that have them. And of course the ever present steroids issues, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and et al.
While some of that is fun and of course other of it is both heart breaking and tiresome, the game is what i crave. I wanna see those players with no names stitched on their jersey with the number 83 on it. They may not be stars, but they are far better than i ever was and some of them may just surprise a manager or two.
I need baseball!!!

Ebbs & Tides

mlblogsnotjuiced — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:37:08 +0000

As a human being i fall into that group of people that sports play an important part of my life. I like seeing an amazing catch over the middle on a football field and the receiver break tackles to run for a touchdown. I like seeing a fast break worked to perfection with 3 or more passes with a stunning dunk. I like seeing a hard run race with the winner determined in the last half of the last lap. And i like many other occasions in many more sports.
But there is nothing more gratifying to watch than a perfect relay throw from an outfielder with a play at the plate. The center fielder from the wall to a strong armed second baseman throwing a bullet to the catcher as he drops a knee to block the plate of a barreling down runner. This is something i live for every year. Along with just about anything else one might think of on the diamond.
Today i learned there was one more thing that i love even more than that. My mom calling me just minutes ago telling me that her doctor visit went well with him telling her she is in the very early stages of Parkinsons. You may be wondering why that would make me so happy. And i ask back, “how couldn’t it?” It could have been much, much worse. Something neurologically more problematic. It could even have been a more progressed stage of Parkinsons. With a small pill every day she should be able to combat it from that very thing. Of all the news i could’ve heard, this is the news i wanted to hear.
We all grow old if we are blessed and we all grow old with the luxury of having our parents around if we are amazingly blessed. I’m one of those that is in the latter group. So knowing that there is a better chance of having her around longer, my time watching that perfect relay will be even more loved by me. My mom never cared about baseball, but every year she and my dad would scrape together enough money for me to play each summer.
One day i won’t have my mom to help me have that extra love, but i’ll always have the extra love that she gave me so that i can appreciate baseball.

The Bench

mlblogsnotjuiced — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 13:12:36 +0000

Front line players are key to a teams success. While you can win with a starting nine that is mixed with stars and role players, some will get hurt while others may have a down year. Some people look at starters as the alpha and the omega, but if you don’t have a strong and versatile bench you are going no where.
Nothing is more evident of that than the Cardinal’s 2006 season. Bench players were vital to the team from April all the way through October.
Gone is Arron Miles. The closest thing to a “secret weapon” the Cards have had since the original, Jose Oquendo. Not to mention that he jumped over to the rival Cubs. I got a little ill when i read that he signed there. Even more so than when Jim Edmonds was traded to them. Clearly things like this happen, but Miles was every bit as important to the Cards as Adam Wainwright and Albert Pujols. Now we are left to try and replace those at bats and the versatility that he gave Tony LaRussa and the staff.
Is there a player on the roster or in the minors that has those skills? Brendan Ryan certainly has the glove(s) to play all over the field, but can he hit enough to be that guy? Or will Tyler Greene become Miles’ replacement. Hard to say. Drafted and used almost exclusively as a shortstop, he will need to learn on the fly to play second, third and probably the outfield in a pinch. I wonder if he has a knuckleball…
It will be both fun and interesting to see the bench take shape out of the deep outfield and infield players. The competition should be torrid with some have more success than others. One thing is for certain. Whoever comprises the bench will need many gloves and be ready at the drop of a hat to play. Whether as a defensive replacement in the late innings or four straight games one each at a different position.

Starting Rotation

mlblogsnotjuiced — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 14:31:15 +0000

The hopes of Cardinals everywhere are somewhat dependent on the starting five. To be more exact, the right arm of one Chris Carpenter.That’s a lot of pressure to put on one appendage of one person that basically has been MIA for two years, but so is the situation.
Of course he won’t go out and pitch every game. No one is making it out to be that, but just look at last years rotation. It was, to say the least, a patchwork in progress. Kyle Lohse came in at the last minute. Todd Wellemeyer was coming into his first year as a full time starter. Joel Pineiro was in and out of the rotation. Braden Looper was up and down with his efforts in only his second season as a starter. And Adam Wainwright was the anchor. Both Wainwright and Wellemeyer missed considerable time with injuries. Then there was the experiment that Mark Mulder became.
This year hopes to be better. A healthy Carpenter will go a long way in making the Cards a force in the Central as well as a more viable playoff contender. A full season from both Wainwright and Wellemeyer makes this rotation a force going into any weekend series in any other city knowing that we have the pitching strength to sweep. A season from Lohse that merely matches last years makes it a deep rotation. And if Pineiro can just be what he needs to be…a .500 pitcher that takes the mound into the sixth each time, then this could be the best rotation in the twenty first century the Cards have had. If Pineiro falters, then Kyle McClellan and or Mitchell Boggs is waiting to step up their pursuit of the rotation. Now of course, Boggs has had a bit of a set back, but from what i’ve read it is not a major one. I can see Boggs in the place of Pineiro…can you?