Baseball’s Savior tapped for Supreme Court

No, not Cal Ripken:

President Barack Obama tapped federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court on Tuesday, officials said, making her the first Hispanic in history picked to wear the robes of a justice.

If confirmed by the Senate, Sotomayor, 54, would succeed retiring Justice David Souter. Two officials described Obama’s decision on condition of anonymity because no formal announcement had been made.

For those who missed my previous post on the subject, Sotomayor is the judge who in 1995 issued the preliminary injunction against Major League Baseball preventing the owners from unilaterally implementing a new Collective Bargaining Agreement and using replacement players, effectively ending the 1994 baseball strike.

Guns? Gays? Abortion? Torture? Who cares! The next Supreme Court justice is pro-baseball, and that’s good enough for me!

(OK, I may have overstated that last part; please hold your political attacks).


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Wooden U. Lykteneau
14 years ago

It’s what keeps most people from slapping George Will, if that helps.

Richard in Dallas
14 years ago

“She is not intimidated or overwhelmed by the eminence or power or prestige of any party, or indeed of the media.”

Based on this and this alone, she would get a yes vote from me, but, unfortunately, I’m not a member of Congress…

David
14 years ago

Guns?

The government’s going to take ‘em no matter what, so you’re right….it doesn’t matter.

Gays?

Don’t quite know what the connection between some bureaucrat in Washington and the U.S. gay population (Buster Ol—-) is, so hopefully that doesn’t matter, either.

Abortion?

Not going anywhere.  A wedge issue where one side pretends they’re defending something, and another side pretends to attack it, when actually the only real battle being fought is amongst the American people who are taught to hate each other over the matter.

Torture?

Not going anywhere, either.  The only thing the government loves more than throwing black men in cages is raping Arab boys: http://www.infowars.com/media-ignores-real-controversy-behind-torture-photos-they-show-prison-guards-raping-children/

Come to think of it….sticking their faces into MLB’s business (which MLB privately desires, of course) is probably the most relevant thing that a U.S. Supreme Court Justice can do these days.

MooseinOhio
14 years ago

Viva la Boricua – (Despite being a Yankee fan)

El alce en Ohio

Andrew
14 years ago

Hey…

Wrote about this over at my blog this morning too:

http://www.noyoureatowel.net/2009/05/obamas-supreme-court-pick-has-baseball.html

Obama made sure to mention that baseball past when he introduced her today. Interested to see what a person like Curt Schilling (huge Republican but huge on player’s rights) has to say about her…

-Andrew

Bob Timmermann
14 years ago

I for one and am sick and tired of the Calcaterraing of every Supreme Court nominee.

(So have I replaced “Borking” yet in the lexicon?)

Rod
14 years ago

I was hoping for a Bart Giamatti appointment

Richard in Dallas
14 years ago

Uh, Rod.  You’re just a little late.  Too bad, too.  If Bart had lived, he actually MIGHT be a contender.  One thing for sure, though.  Bud is NOT.

Chipmaker
14 years ago

Anyone who gave Seligula the smackdown he so richly deserved will have no problem sorting through the various Amendments and whatnot.

GBS
14 years ago

David, I wish you were a hockey fan.

Wooden U. Lykteneau
14 years ago

Field Hockey, you mean, right?

Drew
14 years ago

Funny, I remember reading that Mark McGwire was the savior of baseball.  Did that change?

Michael
14 years ago

David,

You have the right to say what you like. In turn, I have the right to think you’re icky and off topic.

Ain’t that America.

Have a nice day.

GBS
14 years ago

@Wooden – field hockey, rodeo, surfing, shuffleboard – I don’t care, really.  Just something besides baseball.

David
14 years ago

So you guys see overwhelming evidence of troops molesting little boys….and your response is to blame me

Incidentally, I am a casual hockey fan, but I was kicked off a Red Wings message board (“Craig, follow their lead!” Everybody yells) because I used to always spell their name like this:

The Detroit RED Wings. 

‘Cause, ya know, all their good players are from socialist countries (they might have one or two crappy Americans, but if they do, they’re so bad I don’t even know who they are).  So, the people at the board were angry at me (“That a shock”) and so, to further egg them on, I posted this picture of all these Swedes and Canadians cleaning off their false teeth while ‘God Bless America’ was being sung.  The socialist players were just too innocent to know they were supposed to be pretending to cry like pathetic Americans do.  So that picture got me banned.

Guess I’ve just been an angry man since I saw this 9-second video four years ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD06SAf0p9A&feature=related

But whatever, aye?

Wooden U. Lykteneau
14 years ago

@David – If you think you can get away with declaring second- and third-hand accounts as “overwhelming evidence” on a blog that’s written by a lawyer, you’re even dumber than we already think you are.

GBS
14 years ago

@David – I have no doubt that a certain (small) percentage of American troops are doing horrendous things to innocent civilians and not-so-innocent soldiers, just as a certain (small) percentage of any group of human beings does horrendous things to other human beings.  I can’t comprehend it, and I certainly don’t condone it.  Find the guilty and punish them, but don’t suggest that the actions of a few represent the many.

My biggest issue with your comments is that they have nothing to do with baseball, and, well, this is a BASEBALL site.  Yes, Craig goes off-topic sometimes, but it’s always based on a baseball tie-in, and he very succintly brought his brief, tongue-in-cheek reference to other issues back to baseball.

You take a single word and go off on some bizarre tangent relating to torture, socialists, Viagra (I’ve read some of your other comments), and a host of other issues.  Aren’t there other web sites that would be more appropriate for this discourse?

Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

David—the act is getting tired. I don’t care if you’re provocative. I don’t care if you use blue language. But really, you’re way far afield here.  I have already made it clear to you that I’m going to delete offensive stuff without warning.  I am now telling you that, going forward, I’m also going to delete your seriously off-topic stuff, because it’s becoming a distraction.

Time and place. Please.

David
14 years ago

Wooden:

I agree wholeheartedly with what you wrote.  And while, in deference to GBS’s point, I’ll try to stay on-topic a bit (I admit and apologize for veering so far off in this instance), I’ll say that your point was kind of my own point.  The military now has something like 2.5 million active enlisted soldiers (hundreds of thousands of them are actually Filipino and Mexicans, especially amongst the infantry, incidentally).  Some are undoubtedly great folks with good intentions, while some are undoubtedly murderous animals.  You take that many people and that’s what you’re going to get.  This is a main reason I refuse to participate in the raging idolatry of the military.  (Hilariously, all day yesterday during MLB games, they were worshiping living military people….on Memorial Day.  “This game is dedicated to the memory of….this dude standing right here.”  Aren’t we supposed to worship living troops on Veteran’s Day?  But whatever.)

GBS: Sorry that I’m kind of a crank.  In this case, Craig dropped a few hot-button bombs, and I decided to ignite them.  But you guys could’ve just ignored me, as the first few posters did.  And some of the past stuff I’ve gotten cranky about stemmed from the idiotic, anti-freedom steroids hysteria and Selena Roberts now-wholly-discredited-slanderous-book, and so I don’t think that are enough bad things that could be said about that.

David
14 years ago

(Correction: What I addressed to Wooden above was actually a reply to GBS’s first paragraph.)

Wooden U. Lykteneau
14 years ago

@David – You agree that you’re a bigger idiot than we already think you are or that the only thing that keeps us from slapping George Will is his passion for baseball?

Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

To be clear, David: I’m not referring to your first post. I throw out bombs like that, I have to expect responses (and frankly, I’d be sad if I didn’t get some).  It’s the non-sequitors and links that have nothing to do with anything.

I appreciate you saying you’re going to dial it back. We are defined, however, by our actions, so let’s hope they conform to what you’ve said.

David
14 years ago

Wooden:

No, that was a typo.  We don’t agree on anything.  I don’t worship the military.  I think that dudes who use Viagra are pathetic.  I think that the steroids controversy is all phony crap.

So sleep soundly: that was written in error and we are indeed ideological opposites.

David
14 years ago

Craig:

This is your board and I’m sure you work hard on it and you want to maintain civility and relevance.  And I’m not entitled to post a single letter here.  I recognize all of that and, to be truthful, I actually appreciate your tempered indulgence of my crankiness (I’ve been kicked off of many message boards for much less, even some that I contributed substantially to).

But I think that this is just a minor counterbalance to baseball’s own non-sequitur worship of the military (did you see any games on TV yesterday?), their assault on our common sense with the steroid hysteria (from which they knowingly profited immensely on both ends – the offensive outburst a decade ago, and the free publicity and talk radio industry right now), and the constant barrage of references to 9/11 (‘Baseball Tonight’ references George Bush throwing out the first pitch at the World Series at least once every two weeks). 

MLB and the sports media poke and prod everybody with all that bulls—- every day and act as though they’re holy for saying this crap.  When they aggravate goodwill and common sense so often, I just feel like poking back once in a while.  (Sadly, it ends up on your board.)

RichardInDallas
14 years ago

David,

DAMN!!! I thought you were gone!  I haven’t seen any of your psychotic rantings here in a while.  I was kind of hoping that the guys in the white coats with the butterfly nets had found you, medicated you, and put you where you belong (in a padded cell in the basement of a SuperMax).  I for one have had the enjoyment of Craig’s blog sucked out of me by your supreme idiocy, and would like very much for you to move to a land without computers.  You’re tiresome, annoying and, at times, offensive.  GO AWAY!!!!!

Craig – Can I send a donation to a fund for you to upgrade your software to silence this idiot?  Let me know what it will cost, and I’ll take up a collection among your frequent posters that can’t stand sifting through and trying to ignore this moron’s garbage……

Rod
14 years ago

Richard from Dallas
I was being facetious…Sotomayor is an okay choice

Richard in Dallas
14 years ago

@ Rod

As was I.  I like to talk about these issues in the fun manner in which they should be talked about.  The baseball tie in with this nominee is an interesting talking point, but in reality has very little to do with her total body of work, her experience, or her ability to take her game to the next level.  It only allows us a small glimpse into her mind, her likes (baseball), and her dislikes (big business).  This is a BASEBALL blog for cying out loud, and if   …  oh, sorry, David has me all on edge, worried about conspiracies and such.  She seems fine to me!  And Bart would be fine, too.  For that matter, Craig would be fine.  Hope you have a great day, and that yout team wins today (unless they’re the hated Evil Empire from the North playing in Arlington today).