Youk Of The Nation

I'm in favor of instant replay. Each instance of it adds an average of about three minutes to a game. Used two or three times a game, that means an extra six to nine minutes, possibly even a couple less. Is an extra six minutes that much of a horrible thing to ensure that calls are being made correctly? Why doesn't anyone complain about football instant replays? They take much longer. I honestly think most of the complaining is because it's new. Is there anyone here who remembers football before instant replay who can tell me whether people made a big deal about it when it was new? I don't know when the NFL instituted it.

Maybe it's a two-game regular season series after the final ST game. I don't know what to tell you. Go to MLB.com, right there on the front page are the only three games being played tomorrow.

That's the last ST game, not a regular-season game.

I'm so excited for tomorrow. I don't think I'll sleep very late. Finally, the long offseason is over! Cardinals/Pirates, Blue Jays/Rays, and Mets/Royals. Should be a good set of games.

I would love to get Siamese cats, but how do you separate them?

"Best Fans in Baseball" - The St. Louis Cardinals "Greatest Show on Earth" - The institutionalized animal-cruelty machine of Barnum and Bailey I could probably pull out a thousand other cliches that sports teams all over the world use to describe themselves, their fans, or their venues. Why is Fenway calling itself "America's most beloved ballpark" so offensive? It's just a cliched, catchy motto. It's not like they're demanding it be codified as a law by Congress. It's all in celebration of a passionate fanbase and an historic stadium. I think you're taking it way too seriously. As for concession prices, that's a given no matter what sport or stadium you are talking about. A baseball team needs to pay salaries. Not only the obscene amounts of money that players receive, but the salaries of the coaches, front office staff, groundskeepers, concession stand workers, security, and custodial and maintenance workers. They have to pay for the food they supply for concessions, the alcohol, the cleaning supplies. The team plane and buses probably cost more to maintain than an average suburban house between fuel and repairs. The amount of personnel, supplies, and services that a major league sports franchise pays for rivals that of a small midwestern town. With all that in mind, I'm not inclined to complain that my food costs a little more than it does at a restaurant. You seem to be taking all of this as a personal affront. The Red Sox are not conducting a massive disinformation campaign against their fanbase, hell-bent on tricking us all into loving the Red Sox. We already love the Red Sox. They are simply taking advantage of our love for the Sox and turning it into an opportunity to make more money. Money that they will use to pay players who can win games, and make repairs and upgrades to the stadium and surrounding areas to make the experience of a game more comfortable and entertaining for their fans. That is what a good business does. When the Royals or Rays increase ticket prices after they start playing well, it's not because they are milking cash from people they don't care about, they are doing it because success brings in more fans and they need to upgrade the available fan services. This is the same principle on a larger scale.

Yeah, they remind me of the A's of a few years ago.

I think she meant more in general, referring to the century leading up to their recent resurgence. 2008-2009 is still pretty recent as baseball history goes, and despite that spark of brilliance they were 20 games under .500 in 2010 and 2011. Plus, they didn't exactly put up a fight to remember in 2008.

I agree as well, it's a Shaw thing.

It's spooky, isn't it? Like hearing Osama Bin Laden admonish a kid for kicking a puppy.

I meant it more as a slightly off-color joke about violence, but you have a point. I think what we can all take away from this discussion is that with each day, there comes an entirely new reason to hate the goddamn New York Yankees.

I know this is a terrible thing to say, but this entire discussion is really making me miss Ami more than usual. Does that make me a bad person? (Or is it just all of the other stuff about me that makes me a bad person?) And Kimmi, domestic violence is not limited to intimate partners, it is used as a term for violence against basically any family member living, and in some cases visiting, in the same house and over 18 (under 18 is child abuse). If you beat your 20-year-old kid who lives with you, thats domestic violence in most states. Some places it doesn't even have to be at your home, it just has to be someone who's related to you. I asked my mother, who is a police officer as I've mentioned before, and she said, in essence, "it's a clusterf***". Every state is different. In some places, the charges could vary simply from town to town, based on how that department chooses to enforce or view things. However, none of that is the point. The point is, firing a handgun while yelling at your wife/girlfriend is far beyond domestic violence, it's something that you usually read about happening months or years before a murder-suicide. Or just a murder. People who do things like that do not just stop, they escalate. I hope that doesn't happen , because if Chapmans wife or girlfriend ends up in the hospital in two or three or ten years with a gunshot wound or a caved-in face, It's going to be the most depressing "I told you so" since I warned my friend in high school not to date my ex-girlfriend.

We only know what his translator tells us. He could be up at the podium during the postgame saying "I am the best, the rest of these *******s don't know how lucky they are to have me around. Too bad our fans suck; and I wouldn't care at all if they all drowned in manure. Also, hey you, the reporter with the ugly haircut, I'm going to have sex with your wife's face tonight." And the translator says "Yes, tonight was an excellent win, I'm really glad to be part of this team".

Papelbon accomplished a lot for the Red Sox, and was a huge factor in the 2007 World Series, which I personally have always thought of as more important than the 2004 series. The 2004 series was incredible, and it proved the Sox could win one, but 2007 proved that they could win again, that 2004 wasn't a once-a-century fluke. It proved that Boston was here to stay as a contender, and 2013 solidified that yet again. Anyways, I would argue that Papelbon was an elite closer for several years with Boston, but that he is not anymore. I agree that "at this stage of his career", it is a little odd to still propose that he is top-shelf, but at one point there was no one else I would have rather had closing games. That is not true anymore, and I'm glad the Sox went in a different direction, but I have no problem with being reminded how awesome Papelbon was at one time.

I patrol, but I gave up enforcement years ago. I once was Harry Callahan, but I am now Barney Fife.

I wasn't calling you a liar, I just had never heard that myself. I will (and have) call you many, many horrible things, but never a liar.

Gotta keep the inmates busy with something. It's either arts and crafts or kicking child molesters in the kidneys until there's blood in their urine, and those little glue sticks dry out way too fast.

I've never heard that about domestic abusers. Child molesters, yeah, but not wife-beaters/killers. Half the guys in prison who aren't there for drug-related crimes are there for murder, and the spouse/girlfriend/ex-girlfriend is one of the most frequent murder victims around. I would think it would be a little too common to focus on.

All of the violence that occurred domestically was consensual with me, I don't know about the rest of you.

Whatever happened to the good old days, when players had no representation and the owners could treat and pay them like indentured servants? First they abolish child labor, then come the unions, then everyone demands equal pay for women...man, it never ends.

The Redskins and the Red Sox? Man, you've had a rough couple years, huh?

Yes, just like the conspiracy between the judge, jury, and prosecutor that sends people to prison. Technically, they are all conspiring against you, the problem is that everyone knows they are, it's completely legal, and you are an idiot. It's a distinction that is lost on so many, but then, most of the people in these situations aren't exactly the greatest minds of our times.

I think if it wasn't Aroldis Chapman, and instead was me or Ted or someone not on an MLB roster, they would have found enough evidence.

Never mind the accusation, the facts alone are enough. He fired a gun during an argument. That's terrifying. That's the kind of domestic abuse that gets normal people locked up for years, or at the very least results in a protective order.

Wow, 30 days for domestic violence. Imagine if he had used drugs, then he'd really be in trouble. Luckily, it was just something silly. Seriously though, what kind of message does it send to your female fans when your organization suspends someone for 50 games for using PEDs and a whole season for using them twice, but only 30 days for assaulting their wife/girlfriend? Ray Rice beat a woman into unconsciousness, on video, and he got off with less of a punishment than most guys get for smoking pot or getting a DUI.