Comment of the Day

This one comes in response to the Vote Manny post. You may be surprised to hear that it comes from David, who is one of ShysterBall’s least popular commenters. I know, but (a) it’s a good comment; and (b) I try to give everyone a chance. Not that I didn’t have to delete a somewhat offensive non-sequitur from it first . . .

Wait a sec.

Just yesterday there was a link here at ShysterBall to an article that says that MLB is worried about their Fox ratings (the World Series and this year’s games have, apparently, all been clunkers).

So, what better way for MLB Inc. to drum up publicity then to once again rush off to the “steroids” well? It never runs dry, and fans genuinely love it.

In 1999, MLB Inc. did something similar by exploiting Pete Rose for free publicity for the “All-Century Team” at both the All-Star game and the World Series. So they’ve done it before and, mark my words, they’ll do it again.

Manny Ramirez will be an All-Star. I 100% guarantee it. Even if the fans don’t vote him in, the suits will make sure that he’s there somehow. This will create the predictable media maelstrom, complete with ESPN polls and Lupica and Plaschke ranting and raving in faux outrage, which will, in turn, generate more eyeballs to the TV.

Tell the fellas running that blog that they needn’t bother: Bud Selig is already working overtime to make sure that Manny’s in St. Louis this July.

David may be slightly nuts, but I don’t know that I disagree with him here.


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Sara K
14 years ago

Some conspiracy theories are more believable than others. wink

David
14 years ago

Appreciate the recognition!  I’ll feel really vindicated come July when Manny is roundly booed at the game by the phony fans and, yet again, my peerless powers of prognostication are proven precise. 

(For the record, I’m not a nut at all.  It’s obvious that I’m a crank (so were Edison and Ford) but I never lie and everything I say is abundantly substantiated.  That might not make some of my comments appropriate for a baseball site, but is worshiping the military appropriate for a baseball game?)

Pete Toms
14 years ago

Guess I’m not up to speed on what the Shyster flock are discussing, I didn’t know David is unpopular.

Anyway…I’m not cynical enough to believe MLB would rig the voting but I do agree that Manny at the All Star Game would be great for ratings.  This is the entertainment biz, no publicity is bad publicity.  And again to side with David, people enjoy their contrived outrage.  Anybody notice the size of the Memorial Day crowd in Texas?  Wasn’t that all about coming to express your disdain for A Rod?  Never underestimate the pleasure of hating.

MooseinOhio
14 years ago

Anything that rattles the cages of Lupica and Plaschke is fine by me.  I’d love to see Jason Whitlock, Stephen A Smith, Lupica and Plaschke on the Sportreporters discusing the issue – I think Whitlock could poke at Lupica enough to made his head spin and Smith would eat Plaschke alive.  That would be ‘must see’ tv.

Ryan
14 years ago

As a fan of a National League team, I will be voting for the players that give the NL the best chance at winning home field advantage.  This means I will be voting for Manny.

Wooden U. Lykteneau
14 years ago

“everything I say is abundantly substantiated”

Craig – why did you cut “by my own opinions and handpicked sources” from that sentence? That’s not a non-sequitur!

David
14 years ago

Pete Toms:  Thanks for the support.  “Never underestimate the power of hate” is a good turn of phrase, but the sentence needs to be qualified.  All the hatred is fake, in my opinion.

Ryan: Manny doesn’t give the NL a better chance to win.  All of his achievements are obviously the result of steroids.  Clearly.  Just look at A-Rod.  He sucks now! 

(Sara K:  If I’m a wacko conspiracy theorist, then I’ve got some great company: Obi-Wan Kenobi!  I’m a huge Star Wars fans, and last winter I made this 10-minute video explaining how the whole Star Wars saga is, by George Lucas’s own explicit statements and writings, a tale of false flag terror and Obi-Wan Kenobi is, therefore, a wacko conspiracy theorist for discovering the truth:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_h41PEyU1w&feature=channel_page )

Tedge
14 years ago

Someone needs to start a rumor that the Twins are close to acquiring Miguel Tejada.They’re offering Glen Perkins and Wilson Ramos. The deal is contingent on Perkins passing his physical. The Astros should jump at that. Plus, I think Tejada would be good for one year (free agent after 09). I just want his name to get into Twins dialogue. Maybe we can have them throw in The Hawk.

MJ
14 years ago

As a fan of a National League team, I will be voting for the players that give the NL the best chance at winning home field advantage.  This means I will be voting for Manny.

Don’t you mean Lastings Milledge?  Don’t let his demotion to AAA keep you from voting him to the ASG!

Sara K
14 years ago

@David: I’m glad you were nowhere nearby when Goldman was writing The Princess Bride. You’d have blown the whole plot out of the water!!

FWIW, I cast 25 votes for MR today.  What are the odds he dives for a ball into the MLB VIP box?

Jason @ IIATMS
14 years ago

Yes, Manny would drive ratings, but I can’t believe that Bud & Co. would trade any tenths of a share point if it meant that Manny would be there. 

It’d be a mockery of everything that Bud stands for.

Which is why I created the “Vote for Manny” site in the first place.

A confluence of all things comical about MLB: the wacky ASG rules, PED perceptions, Manny, fan voting.

David
14 years ago

Sara K:

That’s a very impressive connection you made!  Most people can’t (or won’t) grasp the idea at all, let alone conceptualize it well enough to quickly make associations like that. 

I actually think that the ubiquity of “conspiracies” (in quotes because the very innocuous word has been idiotically given some crazy, incendiary connotation) in movies like Star Wars and The Princess Bride and tons and tons of other media have the effect of making people incapable of thinking that similar patterns could exist in reality.  Maybe.  I don’t know.

Wooden U. Lykteneau
14 years ago

14:57.. 14:58… 14:59… time’s up!

J.W.
14 years ago

Lyketeneau, Wooden U.—

ICWUDT. Clever.

Richard in Dallas
14 years ago

@David

1-
“(For the record, I’m not a nut at all.  It’s obvious that I’m a crank (so were Edison and Ford) but I never lie and everything I say is abundantly substantiated.”

Comparing yourself to Edison and Ford?  Really?  More evidence that you ARE nuts!

2-
“So, what better way for MLB Inc. to drum up publicity then to once again rush off to the “steroids” well? It never runs dry, and fans genuinely love it.”

Some fans may love it, but not genuinel, and not genuine fans….  And now, hpefully, the well WILL eventually run dry…

3-
“Manny Ramirez will be an All-Star. I 100% guarantee it.”

I’ll make you a wager.  If he plays in the game, I will never post here again.  If he doesn’t PLAY, for any reason at all, YOU never post here again.  Do we have a deal, David?  Or are you chicken?

4-
“Tell the fellas running that blog that they needn’t bother: Bud Selig is already working overtime to make sure that Manny’s in St. Louis this July.”

Selig has proven that his reaction time to crises is inadequate for him to have any effect whatsoever on this situation.  He’ll wait until it’s too late to make a difference, and then plead ignorance.  See “All-Star Game 2002”.

5-
“That might not make some of my comments appropriate for a baseball site, but is worshiping the military appropriate for a baseball game?”

Paying homage to and showing respect for the PEOPLE that have made the decision (unwise though it may be) to serve their country in the military is NOT “worshipping the military”.  This is one of the more ignorant statements you have made.

6-
“Obi-Wan Kenobi is, therefore, a wacko conspiracy theorist for discovering the truth:”

Obi-Wan Kenobi is a character in a friggin MOVIE, you moron!

7-
“Manny doesn’t give the NL a better chance to win.  All of his achievements are obviously the result of steroids.  Clearly.  Just look at A-Rod.  He sucks now!”

He went 5 for 5 on Monday.  I still hate him for soiling the Game, but he’s stll a great player that didn’t need to endanger his health.  And BTW, I took my son to get him a new pair of cleats the other day.  After trying on three or four pair of Nikes, he picked a pair and told the salesperson which ones.  She said “Good, I’ll wrap up the A-Rods”.  My son said, unprovoked, “Nah, I’ll take those instead”.  A VERY proud moment for me!

I hope you accept my wager and honor your end when you lose.

Sara K
14 years ago

David: Both my husband and one of my best friends are conspiracy theorists, so I am familiar with the territory.  FTR, I think all three of you are fruit loops, though I concede that MLB (or any other big business) is not above false moralization as a ploy to increase/maintain exposure/profits.

David
14 years ago

Richard in Dallas:  Aren’t you supposed to be hanging out with Alex Rodriguez?  If he’s busy, maybe you can chill with Ian Kinsler and Josh Hamilton.  (I’d be busy hanging with my boys Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander, but they’re out in KC now.)

Sara K:  You’re right, the government’s great.  They never do anything malicious.  (And if they ever do, we know that nobody will ever point it out ‘cause then that person would be a WACKO!)

MooseinOhio
14 years ago

I liked Fruit Loops but mom always bought Cheerios.

Sara K
14 years ago

Now, now, David. Of course governments everywhere have done and will continue to do cold-hearted things, and people who don’t realize that are fooling themselves.  All the same, that doesn’t make true everything you say about the government. You are probably right about a lot of things, and you are probably wrong about a lot of things. The thing I find fruit-loopy about the conspiracy theorist side of my peers is the tendency toward absolutism.  Their conspiracy theories are infallible, and anyone who disagrees with them –  or even questions them – is blind. When I ask them what course of action they think we should take, they rarely have an answer. I’ve learned to keep my mouth shut and wait for the conversation to turn to other things. 

And mind you, I don’t think that their fruit-loopiness reduces their value as human beings; this is my husband and a best friend I am talking about, after all. Maybe I should hook you guys up…

Sara K
14 years ago

Moose – I’ve tried calling people “Cheerios,” but it doesn’t seem to have the same impact.  wink

Richard in Dallas
14 years ago

@David

Can’t you come up with anything better than a ridiculous statement like that?  A reference to your idiotic rebuttal to a factual statement I made here several weeks ago?  Really?  GO AWAY, PSYCHO!!!!!

David
14 years ago

Sara K:

I’ve tested the patience of Craig (and any other mods) by straying off topic and saying some incendiary things.  So, I’d rather end the conversation about government murdering people (like putting three bullets in Pat Tillman’s forehead at point-blank range?) and other really depressing and troubling events.

However, I want to say that, in my experience, it’s the mainstream media and the government lackeys who behave as absolutists and it’s the french fry-stomping, Dixie Chick CD-bulldozing, neo-cons who tend to be the real obnoxious absolutists.

Moreover, somebody’s personality makes no difference when it comes to facts (or, for that matter, theories).  If a totally obnoxious person says that Albert Pujols had a 1.095 OPS in 2008, does that make it false?  If a handsome slick-talking salesman says that 2+2=5, does that make it true?  Data and facts exist independent of whether somebody is fat, thin, ugly, attractive, charming, cranky, liberal, conservative, rich, poor or anything else. 

What’s a “theory” about the New England Journal of Endocrinology reporting that American men’s testosterone levels have been systematically reduced at a steady rate of 1% each year?  No matter who Fruit Loopy I might seem (not to be confused with how certain other people are fruity), that’s just hard data. 

But whatever.  Some people love the status quo and revere authority, and they eagerly give away their honesty and morality for the benefit of them.

David
14 years ago

Richard:

I asked you to leave me alone several weeks ago.  You sought me out and have been insulting and rude. 

Let me be clear: I have zero desire to communicate with you.  You’re as free as I am to write here, but if you’d like to not contact with each other, yes, I’m game.  Please leave me alone.

Sara K
14 years ago

Am I misinterpreting you, or are you implying that people who disagree with or question your stances are automatically people who “love the status quo and revere authority” and who “eagerly give away their honesty and morality for the benefit of them”? If so, that strikes me as absolutist.  People either agree with you or they are sheep, people are either radicals or conformists, and there is no middle ground. It could be that you are exaggerating to make a point. I hope that is the case.

There is no “theory” about the results of medical research.  The theory comes in the explanation for those results. And as I said earlier, some conspiracy theories are more believable than others. I’m with you on the MLB pseudo-drama.  grin

Wooden U. Lykteneau
14 years ago

Funny how there’s no such publication as the New England Journal of Endocrinology? But, what do I know? I only worked for the Massachusetts Medical Society for nearly two years. Maybe it’s printed up by the same folks that put that sign on Jimmie Dimmick’s lawn?

David
14 years ago

Sara K:

I’m saying that there are facts and there is evidence, and that, whoever and whatever they might paint in a good or bad light, they are immutable. 

In 2004, I was watching CNN during the daytime and they cut in to one of those police chases being filmed from a news helicopter.  The driver (who know what the poor fool had done) eventually realized he was done for and so he pulled the car over and got out.  Now, his wife and child were also in the car, and they immediately got out from their doors and rushed over to the man, clinging on to him and sobbing while he held his hands over his head in surrender to the police. 

Then, the CNN anchorwoman says this (I’m quoting from memory): “Now he has taken his wife and his child hostage!  Thank God for the police!  They’ve pried the wife and child away from him, who knows what he would have done to them!” 

That was a lie.  It does not matter that the woman on CNN said it was true, it was still not true.  Perhaps I’m a wacko conspiracy theorist for saying that the CNN woman was telling a flagrant, bald-faced lie (and none of the other anchorpeople or reporters dared speak the truth, either).  But I will not give away my own honesty for them, or so that I can pretend the cops were heroic, or anything else. 

Tragically, I’d bet money that most of the pathetic Americans tuning in at that second nodded their heads in agreement, pretending that the hilariously outrageous lie being fed to them was true. 

Facts are facts.  That’s all.

David
14 years ago

Wooden:

God, are we going to go through this again?

Jesus, we went over this two three weeks ago.

Dammit, hold on while I go dig all this crap up all over again.

J.W.
14 years ago

Baseball?

R-E-S-P-E-C-T
14 years ago

“No matter who Fruit Loopy I might seem (not to be confused with how certain other people are fruity), that’s just hard data. “

Fruity is a highly offensive and homophobic word choice in this context.

David
14 years ago

‘Kay.  This is getting old.  In fact, this information is almost three years old, which is why I misquoted the name of the publication which printed the study. 

It’s the “Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism” (JCEM.org)  Okay?  The tests were done at the “New England Research Institute”.  Okay?  So I mish-mashed the two names. 

‘Newsweek’ magazine wrote about it:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/44441

‘Men’s Health’ magazine wrote about it:
http://www.menshealth.com/cda/article.do?site=MensHealth&channel=health&category=sexual.health&conitem=a64b455ae9824110VgnVCM10000013281eac____

Here’s a Canadian article about a related phenomenon.  (Unfortunately, the link is now dead.  If you’d like a copy of the article, request it and I’ll send it to you.)

The biostatistician at the New England Research Institute:

“We see about a 1 percent decrease per
calendar year across men of the same age born at different times.  In other words, a typical 50-year-old today would have about 20 percent lower [testosterone] than his father would have had 20 years ago. What was most surprising about the result was that we were able to explain so little of it.”

So, fertility levels are plummeting, men are being effeminized, and over 2 million Arabs have been wiped out in the past 5 years.  Why oh why would they want to do such a thing? 

Oh.  Here’s why:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6350303.ece

But you’re right: they’re wacko conspiracy theorists.  The government is great, the military is god, etc., etc., etc.

RichardInDallas
14 years ago

David,

I beleive it was ME who asked YOU to leave ME alone.  You exhibit many traits of a certifiable psychopath.  You disrupt logical discussions with crap that flies into that damaged brain of yours, and state fanciful thoeries as fact at the same time as you call other people’s actual personal experiences lies.  You are a sick man.  Get the help you need and leave us normal, rational people alone.

David
14 years ago

Michael:

I think that 99.9% of people would disagree with your claim that steroids doesn’t draw people into baseball.  Fans love to hate – and Americans do, too – and we’ve seen this time and again with Bonds and A-Rod (although nobody cares about white guys who use steroids, like Pettitte, Roberts, and Giambi). 

I got screen-caps of MLB.com when Manny was suspended and it looked more garish then a used furniture store’s Thanksgiving Day sale front window.  MLB Inc. was ecstatic at the free press.  They lead off on ‘Sportscenter’, they commandeered all of sports radio, etc. 

You can quantify this, if you’d like.  You can look at the number of hits to MLB.com when they slander their own employees (like Manny and ARod), and I’d bet that the number of hits they have goes way up.  Same goes for MLB TV.  Same goes for ballpark attendance (earlier, somebody made the point that the phonies were out in Texas in full force to boo A-Rod on Memorial Day). 

It’s possible that steroids doesn’t increase MLB Inc.‘s revenue….but that’s only in the sense that “anything’s possible.”  It’s possible the moon will spin off its orbit and crash into your house right now.  It’s just not likely.

If you don’t think that I was right, please feel free to make your argument.  Go to Alexa.com and find out what MLB.com’s web traffic was during the ARod and Manny slander-fests.  Find out what the ratings were for MLB TV.  (The reason the burden is on you is because I think that your claim – that MLB Inc. doesn’t profit from the steroids controversy – is far more counterintuitive and improbable than the previously presumed belief that it does.)

Craig Calcaterra
14 years ago

Jeez—I disappear for a few hours . . .

Fair warning, David:  We are now, officially DONE DONE DONE with the subject of male testosterone levels. Kaput. Fin.  There’s no conceivable connection to anything we’ve discussed here, are discussing here, or will discuss here in the future. If the subject comes up in anything other than a thread about an actual ballplayer testing with elevated testosterone levels, I’m deleting it.  If you persist after a post is deleted, I’m going to rewrite your post with Kenny Rogers lyrics.  If you like Kenny Rogers, I’m going Manilow.

Don’t think I won’t.

MJ
14 years ago

God, are we going to go through this again?

Jesus, we went over this two three weeks ago.

Yes, because you made inaccurate statements then, and you are making them again.  The biggest problem with your arguments is your specific choice of words.  For instance:

What’s a “theory” about the New England Journal of Endocrinology reporting that American men’s testosterone levels have been systematically reduced at a steady rate of 1% each year

Both articles said nothing of the sort.  Even Sara K mentioned it.  Possible causes are the increased use of pesticides and other aerosole products.  There is nothing systematic about that.

and

Just look at A-Rod.  He sucks now!

Here’s a list of Arod’s OPS+ and EQA since he joined the Yanks. 

OPS+ – 131, 173 (MVP), 134, 177 (MVP), 150, 171
EQA – .310, .351, .313, .353, .331, and .335.

He’s the furthest from “sucking”

Michael
14 years ago

One thing a lot of people miss:

– Including Manny will not draw ONE set of extra casual-viewer eyeballs, outside of the people who had no idea he was suspended and just thought of him as that guy who made the Dodgers good.

The vast majority of people have a “don’t ask, don’t bore the hell out of me” attitude towards steroids.

Michael
14 years ago

Oh, and to get the boot in one more time: the eyeballs Manny would draw are far fewer than those Fox would gain in “retiring” McCarver and Buck. People may not now from steroids, but they DO know annoying.

David
14 years ago

MJ:

First off, I was joking when I said A-Rod sucks for the Yankees.  It was sarcasm meant to deflate some of the pomposity of the steroid hysterics.

Secondly, I was right – and you’re wrong – about the systematic drop in American men’s testosterone.

1. You’re saying that the articles do NOT say that men’s testosterone are dropping at a systematic rate of 1% per year?  You sure about that?  ‘Cus I put a quote up from one of their scientists that said precisely that. 

““We see about a 1 percent decrease per
calendar year across men of the same age born at different times.  In other words, a typical 50-year-old today would have about 20 percent lower [testosterone] than his father would have had 20 years ago.”

2. Causes?  Again, please read the quote from the scientist:

“What was most surprising about the result was that we were able to explain so little of it.”

Look, there’s a lot more to this horrifying phenomenon – you’re being assaulted right now, as am I – than I care to get into here.  I really, really don’t want to get into an in-depth discussion here at the TFT boards.  (If you’d like still more data, let me know and I can e-mail you some.)  I will say, though, that the evidence is utterly overwhelming that (a) this is being done willfully by some entities and (b) it is very systematic….which is precisely why we can say it’s being done by design. 

I mean, if you’re so into this, please do something besides ignore the data that’s sitting right in front of your face.  Actually read it and then do your own further research and formulate your own hypotheses and test them against the data.  Because right now you sound ignorant and wantonly naive. 

Just do your own work.  I’m not going to try to convince you anymore when you can’t read.  Or you can just say “God Bless America, Support The Troops” and all the rest.  Either way, I consider the matter closed.

MooseinOhio
14 years ago

Damn Craig – now I will be singing “I made it through the rain” to myself all day.

Wooden U. Lykteneau
14 years ago

Strangely, I have “Tin Man” going through my head. I have no idea why.