SwinginSoriano

Oh wow he got FIRED??? Geez that seems a bit harsh for a somewhat off-the-cuff remark.

Keith was in the booth during the game on Saturday, I remember my friends and I ripping on him. Anyway, they turned such a non-issue to an issue in this case. That was more appalling than the comment in my opinion.

Got fired last week.

That sucks, I hope you get some work soon man.

What movies? Yankee movies or mob movies?

edit: okay, you were clearly referring to mob movies. I'm dumbass.

You live in Irondequoit? Thought you lived more out of the way than that. I guess that's why you are closer to Toronto than NYC.

*Now hordes of people are hunting down Y4L.

'm 100% Sicilian. What do you think of that?

I wouldn't know, I don't know you.

Anyway, everytime I have to go to Rochester for some reason I always to go some god forsaken shitty part. Though the waterfalls are pretty nice, but overall I'm not a fan. I guess I'm used to bigger cities.

You can never trust anybody, and if you do, you cannot trust them at a level in which you can trust yourself, meaning if you trust yourself 100%, keep your friends at a 25% trust.

I sorta live life like that, but I pretty much have to give my full trust to my family. Who else can I trust? Sounds like you have been burned many times in the past, but what the hell do I know.

Why the fsck is it that they do this? Why is it that most black males turn out to be drug-dealers and thieves? What makes them do this? Are they the only race that embraces everything other races consider a no-no? Is it because they think it's ok to be hood, broke, violent, uneducated, etc.?

It's because of whitey. I'll let you in on a secret. Us white guys plot and plan to keep the black man down. We have constructed an entire system that ensures the self-destruction of the black race, all because we are all racist capitalist pigs. We are constantly making sure we put blacks in a disadvantageous situation, just so generations of blacks can never advance themselves. The only way to solve this is giving up to the welfare state, you can trust the government. /end liberal professor talk

Seriously, there is no answer to that question, only tons of opinions on that. In my opinion, Americans breed a culture of laziness and self entitlement. When you start out ahead with some money, you are less likely to fall into the bullshit. When you don't, it seems like that you will. America's foundation is the fact that people immigrate here, bust their ***, and keep the system working. Of course, I must add that the fact that people in urban areas having less respect for education and authority happens to be a huge problem. If you are going to get ahead, you are going to have to work with the system and not against it. It is not like teachers and police officers are born just to **** you off.

Lastly, it's just sickening that an entire culture can admire crime and the 'thug life'. The only thing that I had experienced that comes close to that is the whole Italian boner for the mafia. Every Italian loves mob movies, and thinks they know a made man. (Despite the fact you have to be 100% Sicilian to be a made man.) There's even people are try to pretend, a "Johnny Bag of Doughnuts". Well, at least around where I live. But of course, instead of being unemployed on the streets the whole life of crime is a fantasy rather than something that is replicated. It's a huge problem and it really is not going to get better unless the excuses stop and the self-betterment starts. Bill Cosby lashed out for a good reason if we all remember.

Now, don't call me a racist or anything like that, because I am a minority also. I'm just sick of seeing blacks complain about how the white man does this etc, how cops harass them, how they can't sell weed, how even with affirmitive action, negro funds, etc., they still can't work for a better future...it annoys me. I'm sick of seeing blacks complain about things like it's expected to be handed to them.

Exactly, ******* exactly. Self-entitlement + no money = you go nowhere.

Seriously, asians, indians, mexicans and every other non-white race came here to this country to be somebody, they lived in the same ghetto and not only did they have to endure the racism of the white man but also black people who didn't want them "in their neighborhoods".

The Irish, Italians, and other Eastern Europeans were not considered 'white' at first, it is as if they had to 'earn' it. As weird as it sounds. If you bust your *** you'll be respected despite what the hell you are.

Now, I don't respect black people who believe that stealing and doing things the illegal way is what's right just because it's hard growing up or whatever. If an asian or mexican man who came to America with 20 bucks with a wife and 2 kids manages to work himself up to live in a good neighborhood, can have a nice house makes a decent amount of money and send his kids to go study at the best universities, any minority can do the same.

As idealistic as it sounds, it's true. Know of too many people who came here from another country, with jack-****, and now are living perfectly comfortable upper-middle class lives. And this is in the same generation. You know, parents could also work hard to help provide their children a better life. That's a working mindset.

I don't hate a race, I just hate stupid people

Me too.

Great post KC, great post.

I had random thoughts before this, and now all I'm thinking about is Rochester... Man that place is a dump.

Wow... You are an embarrasement to Royals fan everywhere.

Yeah, Jeter doesn't get his due, right?

Baseball has spitballs and corked bats throughout the history of the game. You can't treat those things like you would steroids.

Agreed, it's one thing to cheat and get caught, it's another to transform your body and flat out morph into a more efficient human. Steroids are sick.

Wouldn't a salary cap in baseball be fun? It would be nice to see some competitive balance. I think if there were a sal. cap, the Royals would only lose 90, instead of over 100.

I wouldn't be totally against a salary cap as long as revenue sharing and luxury tax were eliminated. It's one thing to make rules that you can't buy the major leagues, it's another to reward teams for constantly sucking and being unable to draw fans. Anyway, if I'd implement a salary cap, it'd be upwards towards 150 million (and not effective immediately of course). You could still buy tons of good players, you just can't be borderline insane like the Yankees. But hey, just letting crap happen is working out great. The Yankees have had a World Series drought since their shopping spree. So, it isn't even like high payrolls are just a problem in baseball. I just personally don't like 200 million dollar payrolls.

Here's how you get rid of roids in baseball: get caught once, you are gone for the season. Get caught twice, you're out forever.

The problem with steroid testing to begin with is that no one gets caught, purposely. Look at the NFL, look at last season, bunch of crap got caught other than Raffy. Of course, I have plenty of unsubstantiated theories that explain that, I'm sure you all don't want to hear them. I'd love for bloodtests to be used, and the blood to be kept on file like the Olympics. But hey, all the players (besides one from the South Korean team) passed the Olympic style drug testing for the WBC, so hey people are cheating and getting away with it anyway.

Quantum Leap was one of my all time favorite TV shows.

I actually know someone who watches that show and bought the DVDs.

- My 96 mb videocard (Radeon 8500) can't run Shattered Union. The customer support (located all the way in Britain) actually told me that I needed a 128 mb videocard despite the fact that the one I currently have already can support the game somewhat. Awesome to get a birthday present I can barely use. I can play the game, but it'll freeze randomly. Oh well, I'll have to install it on someone else's computer, or wait a couple years when I get a computer that comes with a 128 graphics card.

- When you listen to the games on the radio, you can't see how many times the Yankees get screwed by the umps.

- I'll be doing pretty much nothing until the end of the semester, I finished my unit plan, lessons, research papers, I guess I'll be spending quality time with my roster. My friends have way different schedules than I. (Most people in College wake up at noon, I wake up at 6:30. That means I go to sleep way earlier and it's hard to 'do things'.)

- I'll be doing way more work during the summer.

- That Bonds on Bonds commercial is pissing me off. The one that says, "They have drugtests, I passed all of them". Yippee Barry, they sure had drug tests before 2004. And as if there isn't a way to cheat them. (Especially an urine tests.) If you are already cheating in baseball, what incentive is there to NOT to cheat a drug test? (Especially when the drugs are the source of the cheating.)

- When will the Yankees have Paul O'Neill's number retired?

- Basketball and Hockey playoffs happen at the same time, and I don't care.

My only random thought today:

Happy Easter!

2. Slider-I like to think that but it is more of a fastball that tails in to righties.

That's like Al Leiter's cutter. Technically his cutter was a slider, but since it acted like a cutter that's what people called it. Now if you could only walk 80 people a year you could reach the bigs! :lol:

ABACABB...you took it way back, this was the code to draw blood in Mortal Kombat!

"Now Entering Kombat"

That or the death metal band from Virginia.

If they named themselves after the blood-code that'd be bad ***.

- I want MLB to contract a couple teams, at most. Expansion (Marlins, Rockies, Devil Rays, and Diamondbacks)

Major League baseball in Florida is like a lost cause, the only reason the Devil Rays profit is from revenue sharing (welfare for millionaires) and pretty much no one really gives a damn about the teams. (Other than hardcore fans of course) Losing them wouldn't be a tragedy. Now, Arizona and Colorado are a different story. They have built new ballparks and have shown that they could sustain a fanbase when the team is semi-competitive. (Especially the Rockies, who have drawn like mad until 2002 or 2003.) Sadly, both teams look like they'll be in one of those 10-20 year rebuilding modes right now. Potentially killing any possible interest in those teams possible.

Updated to 4-9

...Today will be the first time I will see the Yankees on TV past the first inning. And from what I have not seen, I am missing nothing. I hate these west coast games.

Same here, 'luckily' I haven't missed much.

...A lot of people around here are kind of concerned that the Buffalo Bills might leave the area. Not me. I'm not from Buffalo, I don't live there and I'm not a Bills fan. My team's 3,000 miles away in Oakland. But I still feel for them. It wasn't that long ago when that lying snake Art Modell screwed the loyal Browns fans and left Cleveland.

Everyone upstate (I guess excluding you ) loves the Bills, could they really move them?

...Another guy who isn't funny that a lot of people seem to think he is: Will Ferrell. He's another one when I see on TV I change the channel.

He sucks, just to think he made like 10 crappy movies within 2 years, made tons of money, and disappeared. Good riddance.

...Barry Bonds cried on his TV show on ESPN. I didn't see it because I had no plans of watching it. I just heard someone talking about it so if anyone can fill me on why he did this stunt, let me know.

Bonds on Bonds is an entertaining but slanted sympathy show for Bonds. Sure I dislike the fact that he gets hate mail that drops the N-Bomb on him but most people hate him because he's a cheating sack of crap, not because he's Black. Aaron faced true racism, Bonds is a different story. He is facing a prejudice of sorts, but a prejudice against people who cheat their way against baseball's sacred records. Too bad Bonds can't be happy with his millions.

Random thoughs:

- Gotta find out what new faces Schmooz threw in

- Today I'll get to listen to all 3 1/2 hours of the Yankees losing in embarrassing fashion. At least I won't see a typical insane Francisco Rodriguez celebration. I wonder how his 10+ kids are doing...

- The Tigers and Brewers are playing real well, they have true talent on their rosters. The Tigers though will probably tank due to their propensity for injury and their propensity for mediocrity from their pitching staff. That and when Todd Jones comes off the DL that won't help at all.

- The White Sox choked up another one yesterday, Vazquez had an unnoticed good start.

- Everytime it's warm out it's "Global Warming", every time it's cold everyone bitches and moans. At least when it's warm out people comment how nice it is. If you think Global Warming is real, odds are you'll like it. I am personally an oddity that loves cold weather, snow, not ice, ice sucks.

- My brother is actually coming up to visit me for a week, that and finalize his upcoming graduation.

- Life is different when you find out that Michael Jackson helped make the Sonic 3 Soundtrack, wait, it is not. He only made the crappy songs.

- Is Jacko dead yet anyway?

- The new season of Southpark really sucks so far. We need more assinine political events so Trey Parker has better ideas than making episodes as crappy as the Family Guy. (Actually, the current episode is about canceling the Family Guy...)

- The last time the Family Guy was good David Justice was a productive ballplayer.

- Did I mention I hate gluten?

- ABACABB

...Woohoo, the Jays home opener is Tuesday night, I can't wait! Finally have a reason to be excited...

Tuesday openers suck, you have to wait an extra day.

...Well the Commisioner of baseball has ordered an "independent" study of steriods in baseball. It's headed by George Mitchell, who just so happens to be part of the Red Sox organization...yeah....that's "independent" alright...

I bet this investigation finds nothing so Selig could say, "Bonds is legitimate".

Well atleast Kris has his millions! LOL!

Anna will also have his millions. I would go off on a tangent but I'll spare you guys that! :)

...Finally, April is here! It's always been one of my favorite months because of baseball and that will never change.

The end of the baseball withdrawal, that and I can say 'It's only April' when the team sucks rather than actually worry.

...Not a good way to start the season if you are a Yankee fan. The Yanks start their game at 10 pm tomorrow out in Oakland. No way I can watch that.

Same here.

...So Anna Benson is divorcing her wimpy husband Kris? Not a good move on her part because now she's going to go back to being a nobody like she was before.

Don't want to sound sick here, but the only way people will ever give a crap about her again is if she gets into porn, or actually develops into a good Poker player.

...David Ortiz, Alfonso Soriano and Javier the Choker Vazquez are 1-2-3 on my personal hate list.

If two of those guys were still Yankees... Anyway, I don't get why everyone is forgiving Damon so much. His 4/52 contract will probably bone the Yankees as much as that grandslam. Anyway, I dislike Ortiz (obviously) but that is mostly because he hits so damned well against the Yankees, his homerun poses, and his lack of humility during the MVP 'race'. (Should have been one-sided)

Anyway, here are the other random thoughts:

- 2.0 is almost out

- PolishJoe was kind enough to send me an useful file

- This is probably the third time I said this in this thread, but I still don't get the hate on Vazquez. It isn't like he tried to give up a grandslam, unlike the guy who tried to hit the grandslam. Vazquez had a lot of bad luck, though his excuses on his way out didn't help.

- BTW, one of my friends is really banking on Vazquez in his fantasy team...

- The White Sox rotation is stacked, but their bullpen is **** poor. Kenny better make some moves.

- Contreras (who is actually 36) just got another three years for almost 30 million. Bad move, simply bad move. They should have made him earn the contract.

- McCarthy (the pitcher) must be pissed off

- I just found out today that Luis Ordaz is still playing baseball

- Plenty of other crap happening, but I don't like sharing my personal life that much

- Is the Poker fad over yet?

- I can think of three guys off the top of my head that are breaking the sig/avatar rules. If you are one of those three, please, fix your sigs.

Ladies and gentlemen your 2006 AL Cy Young awar winner....Roy Halladay...

Ditto, I actually predicted that in my predictions thread. I think Santana will deserve it, but they'll still give it to Halladay.

Well, I'm happy Delgado left he totally destroyed Yankee pitching. Sadly, he didn't sign for a lot in Florida. They should have just gave him his money and not try to trade him. 4/52 for a guy like him looks really good right now. And we all know, Carlos would have stood in Toronto for that amount. Could have been a franchise player.

Owners screw the fans.

I feel the pull of the darkside calling...me...must ...resist...

Think about Gary Sheffield... See, you're all better now.

Too bad the Jays didn't get Delgado back, especially with the way he killed the Yankees.

I guess they would have egg on their face. But hey, they can always give Troy Glaus that money. :?

The difference between the Yankees and Blue Jays is that Steinbrenner doesn't care if he spends catastrophic amounts of money. The Blue Jays have a budget, the Yankees really don't.

That's why the Yankees never spend their money wisely, I'd be pissed if I was a fan of a small market and my team just threw money away on injury prone players. (Like Detroit and Magglio Ordonez). I get pissed enough being a Yankee fan when Cashman gives injury prone players big contracts, but as the Yankees are the Yankees, they try to buy their way through their mistakes.

- Soriano will probably be playing second base again by July, yes, it's a given that it will be with another uniform on.

- Soriano couldn't win in this situation, either he was a selfish asshole (yeah, he was) or if he plays left he's only doing it for the ten million.

- Who will have more homeruns? Soriano, or Brad Wilkerson? Really.

- According to this, at least his teammates like him:

Alfonso Soriano has impeccable credentials as a teammate, drawing raves from nearly everyone who has played with him. But because the flap over this position switch played out so publicly, and because Soriano admits that he would be happier at second base, some members of the Nationals organization wonder whether he will be questioned about his effort -- regardless of how hard he is actually playing -- when he misplays a ball in left. -- Washington Post

- I have a feeling that Soriano won't totally suck this year, really. Doesn't mean he'll walk 40 times, but if he returns to being a linedrive hitter he'll be fine. (Back with the Yanks, he had great road stats.)

- I was pretty close to wanting to change my username/avatar. If Soriano actually sat out, that would have been it. I was considering the consequences of the names of my files, and how the hell people would know who they were talking to. (I don't get people who change their names regularly) Luckily, Soriano just went into left and will hopefully keep his mouth shut. Anyway, I'll change my name if he pulls a 'Gary Sheffield' in left. Hey, Sheffield is on the Yankees. I <3 Sheffield!

- There will be no more Soriano thoughts in this post, you can rejoice now.

- Torre announced that Bernie will be the full time DH, of course this comes to the suprise of AAAA player Andy Phillips, who even Bernie at this point can out hit. Too bad the Yankees didn't get another veteran 1B, depending on Giambi to stay healthy (or effective) is a big risk. At least from 2002 - 2005 we had guys like Nick Johnson, Tony Clark, John Olerud, and Tino Martinez playing enough first for Giambi's knees to hold up a bit. What's the Yankees' backup plan now? Hell knows Phillips is out of options and he'll be in some other team's AAA.

- Only Red Sox fans would think that Choi is a gold glove elite hitter. LA sucked and he could barely crack the lineup there. Of course, it was a no risk move for the Red Sox, and yes, even the Yankees could have used him, what's our alternative? (Though, since the Red Sox were the worse team technically, they had dibs on waivers before the Yankees.)

- I finished my Nationals Dynasty, and I really don't feel like doing another one. I'll probably just play some postseason games as the Yankees.

- The Tigers, yes, the Tigers have a great lineup on paper. Hell knows that the team has as little heart as any team in baseball, and they'll find a way to screw it all up. That, and the Tigers are pushing Zumaya and Verlander to the show early. It sure has worked for Bonderman, right?

- Seems like there are no 'upset' teams, no underdog to pick this year. Of course, that'll change during the season as usual.

- Is the Poker fad over yet?

- It sucks that Chef was a scientologist. Gotta love being part of a fake cult for the business connections. Hayes, South Park was your career, no one cares about you anymore. Too bad the episode itself wasn't that funny. At least South Park doesn't totally suck yet.

- The Simpsons totally sucked after their sixth season, the Family Guy sucked since the end of the third season.

- Did I imagine that Futurama sucked too?

- Since everything on TV sucks, one can really find the time to watch/listen (matters where I am) to 162+ games of baseball.

- Those contracts are going to burn the Blue Jays, too bad they didn't spend that money when DELGADO was still on the team. At least we got to enjoy the return of Pat Hentgen.

- The Yankees will be better than Boston this year, but 2007 and beyond I wouldn't count on it. Boston is getting young players, and the Yankees will have declining players and increasing contracts. At least Mussina will be off the books.

...Driving down to Binghamton, NY, I took route 390 which turns into route 17. I passed up Geneseo and I rolled down my window and waved to SwinginSoriano.

I remember that.

Anyway, I drove all the way back from home today. That and Luis Ayala got TJ surgery, making him the most significant WBC injury. (Though you could presume it would have happened anyway.) I have a busy week coming up... Lastly, the Red Sox got Juan Gonzalez for some god forsaken reason.

Still, the 'evil empire' lost in the end. Hell, the Ewoks beat the **** out of them. That's something to be ashamed of. That and all it takes it a clothesline to beat an AT-AT.

I hate that whole 'dark-side' thing with the Yankees. The Darkside LOST in star-wars, the Yankees are winners. Don't embrace that stupid term. They aren't the 'dark-side' to me.

...I just love the Mozilla Firefox web browser. I think it is the best one I've ever used. I remember when we had to pay for these browsers about ten or eleven years ago. Netscape would charge thirty bucks for their new version and an additional ten dollars for the "gold" version. What a joke that was.

Man, that must have sucked. Anyway, I'm using firefox right now and it is pretty much like IE with tabs. I only downloaded it due to paranoia about viruses. (It's easier to target IE)

I'm no Braves fan but I bet every fan of that team must have held their breath when Jeff Franceour tumbled over first base in the ninth inning of the US-Canada game. That's my only worry about this tournament. An injury to a player on your team. Other than that, I love that baseball is played all over the world.

From what I saw the WBC is like glorified Spring Training. Basically, everyone is getting their work in except they are giving eachother way more high 5s. The injury risk in the WBC is almost equal to that of ST. I'd just be worried if my player was the only star player on a bad team because they'd leave him to play way longer.

...Given the choice of going to two stores to get stuff, I would take Target over Walmart any day of the week. Walmart sucks. Target is cleaner and looks a lot better.

Wal-mart is cheap, but I don't go over there often.

My random thoughts:

- si.com/mlb is way better than ESPN.com, anything worth reading there you have to pay for. SI gives you everything + pictures.

- I came home for Spring Training to chill but I wound up doing a crap load of work. I'm as sore as hell.

- My crappy MVP team just hit a six game losing streak, lucky I won so many games in April.

- Pavano will start the season on the DL but the roster situation will get complex once they let him off.

- If Pavano is actually healthy, he is pretty much only a league average starter at best. I hope the Yanks aren't depending on him.

- I gotta check out that new Big Schmooz models.big

1. Nothing good could have came out of most of those interviews. The one with Trues was good but the rest were about 'the dirt'. You'd fuzz would do interviews relevant to TC5, right?

2. I have no idea. Probably just an inside joke.

3. I could PM the contest to you if you want a sneak peak. I spent two hours thinking the thing up, I think it could be a lot of fun.

- Mets got their asses kicked. Can't blame them though. They had minor leaguers in. I like that Milledge guy. Seems like he can be a solid corner outfielder.

It's spring training. The most notable part about the game was the velocity (or lack of) from Schmoll and Wagner. Schmoll with that disgusting delivery of hits the low 90s, I once saw him hit 96 mph. Of course, they are just pitching BP and doing a half assed job. Which is okay. The whole crappy pitching thing is what is turning me off about the WBC. I'll give the DR vs. PR game and the US vs. Mexico games a chance. They will either be like ST game or something out of a bad baseball videogame. (Way too many runs.) I wouldn't be suprised to see Milledge become a National though... They were really grilling the Mets for trading Jae Weong "so-so" Seo. I like him but he is either on or off, inconsistant. The Mets were able to get Julio, Sanchez, and yes our buddy Schmoll by giving up a late 20s junk-baller and a bad contract. (And loud mouth wife I must add.) Sadly though, the Mets are really putting a lot of pressure on Heilman not to suck. I wouldn't count on that. That and Pedro acting like he's going to miss the season is not good at all for the Mets. I mean, everyone is overally optimistic in Spring Training. If you are not claiming you are in "the best shape in your life" something is wrong.

One more random thought:

Soriano stated (through a "source" of course) that he would play outfield, if that team was the Yankees... Obvious Soriano still misses being a Yankee. After all he supposedly still has his NJ apartment. Soriano better quit day-dreaming because there is simply no room on the team for him anymore. Cano better not have a horrific sophmore slump (I'm predicting his offense to suffer while his fielding and plate patience improve, but that's just a random prediction) or otherwise Cashman/Steinbrenner will hand Soriano his own 4/52 contract. (Those seem like all the rage in the Bronx.) I love Soriano, but there is simply no room on the Yankees anymore. Unless Sheffield is going somewhere, but that's a pipedream.

Anyway, they had Baseball Tonight on as well, of course hinting that David Ortiz deserved the MVP the entire time. That and they claimed the Oriole acquired no-one when they got Ramon Hernandez, Kris Benson, and Leo Mazzone. Leo Mazzone will change the face of the Orioles, look at what he did with the flat out garbage the Braves gave him. Hopefully, Angelos will continue to waste his money on needless contracts. Good job overpaying Hernandez when you still got Javy. Very smart. Odd that the two big FA catchers wound up signing with the teams that needed them the least.