And the strategy has been successful, at least as far as white men are concerned.  The Romney campaign is absolutely destroying Obama among white men.  However, among white women it’s not going quite so well.

Maybe that means that in the last day of the campaign Obama should make a new pitch to white voters.  Here’s one possible strategy:

Let’s call it a political sacrifice fly.  You never know what it might bring home.

-A

What fool GM do you think is going to overpay for Josh Hamilton?

Jonestein
Fort Worth, TX
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“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex. It takes a touch of genius, and a lot of courage, to move in the opposite direction.”

Albert Einstein said that. Jon Daniels DID that.

He and the Rangers made their qualifying offer to Sir Parties-a-Lot and now they can sit back and let madness ensue knowing they’ll at least get a nice draft pick if and when some insane club with house money decides to give Josh Hamilton what he wants. (From what I have been reading on Twitter and some other baseball-centric forums, dude is asking for 7 years, $175 million.)

Right? WTF Josh Hamilton? SEVEN YEARS? ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY FIVE MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS?!?

If this doesn’t prove Nietzsche’s god is dead lesson, I don’t know what does. Look, I’m impressed with the healthy Josh Hamilton just as much as any one else, but the problems with handing Hamilton a multi-year $100 million+ contract are as well known and documented as Hamilton is out of touch with reality.

1) Dude is a china doll. Can’t stay healthy.

2) Dude is (and always will be) an addict.

3) Dude is also a well documented RELAPSE just waiting to happen.

One minute Josh is manning left field, hitting bombs, the next minute he’s doing t***y shots off your college aged daughter, making it rain with whipped cream and pay-puh. Don’t believe me? Do some Google image searching.

Too risky. Way. Too. Risky. I wouldn’t give him anything over three years. Period. I’d pay him what he’s worth — close to the $20 million a year threshold if healthy (and sober). But no way I’d trust him for anything more than three years. His record speaks for itself.

And while I’m all for giving folks second, third, fourth chances, I’m also smart enough to know when to say when. Hamilton (and his enablers) seem to have a problem with that.

The good news, for sanity’s sake, is that most of the big pocketed clubs don’t have any room for Hamilton. I hear the Braves are interested but don’t want to be too left handed. And the breakout Orioles are in the mix too. But don’t expect L.A. or New York or Boston to go there. I’m not sure the night life in those cities could handle a potential Hamilton disaster either, and that’s really saying something.

So go ahead. Hate me ‘cuz I’m hatin’ on Hamilton’s free agency, just don’t hate me ‘cuz I’m right.

Peace,

Jeff

While some are worried about Zack Greinke and Joshy Hamilton’s free agencies, I’m stuck on the suspense of which Republicrat will crush the liberty-lovin’ man into nothing. In fact, the suspense is literally killing me.

Okay, maybe not literally killing me, but it is literally making me cry. Bronco Bamma girl, I feel your pain.

Happy Friday!

Jeff

But it wasn’t just the putridness of the World Series.  It was also the simple fact that it’s not every day that you get to watch a hurricane.  More than that, how often do you get to see Anderson Cooper look like a bedraggled Chihuahua wearing a Karl Lagerfeld wig?

Maybe it would have been different if the Tigers had been at least somewhat competitive.  Although it also begs the question, what would MLB have done if the Series would have overlapped with Sandy?  Obviously the two cities competing weren’t directly affected by the storm but with the country’s largest media market, NYC, shut down by the storm, would it have even been worthwhile to play the games and lose the advertising dollars?

Ultimately it doesn’t really make a difference because the Series ended quickly and in a whimper.  Sandy ended pretty quickly, too, but at least she let out a roar before fading away.

-A

However, now that we have that out of the way, the focus automatically shifts to the postseason awards.  Of course the big ones that Tigers’ fans are waiting on are the Cy Young and MVP awards but there’s an even bigger award up for grabs this year.

Now, I don’t think it would come as any surprise to readers of this blog that I’m hoping for an Obama win next week.  It’s unfortunate that the American electorate refuses to understand how much worse things would have been without an Obama presidency, and it’s a very real possibility that Willard and Captain Muppet could win this election.

I guess I’ll leave it at this.  Look at what the candidates say and have said.  See who has been consistent and figure out who you can trust.  And then get out and vote.

-A

P.S. One quick question.  Which is worse, getting swept or losing a 3-1 lead in a series?  Either way, I think it’s pretty safe to say that both teams repped by RSBS did a pretty phenomenal job of sh!tting the bed.

That was bad for our health, man. That was one awful, no good, TERRIBLE World Series… unless you’re a Giants fan, of course. No lead changes til boring Game 4. Hitting juggernauts (one wearing three crowns) silenced throughout by the likes of Zito and Vogelsong. Justin Verlander s*%@ing the bed.

We just got a good dose of why football rules ‘Merica.

Don’t hate me ‘cuz I’m right.

Peace,

Jeff

(Image courtesy of B3TA)

Mandy
Niles, MI

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Religion and literature are full of characters who were willing to make a deal with the devil in return for some sort of gift.  Adam and Eve received the knowledge of good and evil while Faust sold his soul for earthly knowledge and pleasure.  The catch, of course, is that there are always consequences.  Adam and Eve lose paradise and the original Faust is carried to hell by the Devil himself.

Baseball isn’t immune from this phenomenon, the most popular example coming from the Broadway hit “Damn Yankees.”  And honestly, it’s no surprise that baseball fans (or fans of any other sport, for that matter) would be willing to sell their souls in exchange for their team winning a championship.  There’s a reason that supporters of sports teams are described via a shortened form of the word “fanatic.”

It’s a little different for me, though, especially when the deal is so clearly Faustian.  The Tigers have always been my team and I follow them from the beginning to the often painful end of the season every year, but my world does not fundamentally change with Tigers’ wins and losses.  Similarly, the argument could be made that the quadrennial presidential elections really don’t change much in a country that is held hostage by a two-party system, but I still believe that the President’s power to nominate judges and justices, decide foreign policy and choose how the laws of the nation will be executed means that his or her role is of supreme importance.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the stakes in this year’s presidential election, and any presidential election, are so much higher than one city winning the right to call themselves champion for a year.  If the Tigers lose, Medicare will continue to function, women will still have the right to choose and we aren’t going to suddenly find ourselves fighting a new war in Syria or Iran.  If Romney wins, these propositions all suddenly become much less certain.

I’d love to see the Tigers win the World Series, even if that looks less and less likely with every pathetic swing of the bat.  But there’s no way that I would risk my country’s future or the lives of my friends and family members on it.  Faust was willing to make a deal with the devil.  Me, I’m not so arrogant.

-A

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Then, he added horses and bayonets:

Remind me again how this is still a race?

Admittedly, the Tigers could really use some horses and bayonets at this point if they want to be a little more competitive.  But please, just keep all of them, and especially the bayonets, really far away from Jeff right now.

-A

The names were different, yes, but the destruction was equally devastating. Maybe even more.

I’m talking about the EPIC FAIL that was the 2012 NLCS, compared to the one that first stopped by heart 16 years ago. Yes, in 1996 it was Todd Stottlemyre in the role of Lance Lynn, with Andy Benes as Chris Carpenter and Donavon Osborne as Kyle “I Ain’t A Big Game Pitcher” Lohse.

It was Ozzie’s last year, Tony’s first and the first time back to the World Series since 1987 and the uncomfortable early 90′s era Redbirds… or so I thought.

Up three games to one in the best of seven series against the Atlanta Braves, the jockstraps came off a team that simply couldn’t score any runs; and instead of spending the last days of October in complete ecstasy, the 17-year old me stayed locked away in a dark closet, reading Nietzsche by a flashlight, ultimately coming back to the same redundant question: WHAT… IS… THE POINT?

I still don’t know. What is the point? Why get so worked up over something so silly? I wish I knew. And, for RSBS‘ sake, I sure hope Mr. Krause doesn’t have to find out. Not this year. So yeah, um… go Tigers.

Also, Marco Scutaro is my Toby Flenderson.

Don’t hate me ‘cuz I’m right.

Peace,

Jeff