Thunder

Colleges paying/bribing athletes to come play for them? Baseball players taking steroids? Professional cyclists doping? Russian Olympic athletes doping? Are all of those "right" to you? I get that peer pressure makes it hard to resist, and even threatens your livelihood since it raises the level of competition unfairly, but you're just as much in the wrong as anybody else if you do it. It takes a certain kind of individual to sacrifice the money, performance, and fame now to take the high road, and let the truth come out later on.

I can agree with that. I just don't want him back and frankly, I don't understand why most people assume that he will automatically be back. Who says we want him back? Who says he wants to come back? Who says other teams don't want him? Too many moving parts

Just because everybody else is doing it doesn't mean it's right

That's interesting, because that's one of the reasons I DON'T want him back. I've said before that it's no guarantee either side will want to reunite, and I see hiring back as a horrible PR move for the Red Sox FO, and I personally will lose respect for them if they rehire him. Cheaters shouldn't be rewarded, even if they apologize. At least not yet. I want a longer probationary period. 1 year to me, a season that is washed out, is just a slap on the wrist.

Widely regarded as one of the nicest, if not the nicest, guy on tour. I have gotten the chance to walk 18 holes with him at the Travelers as a scorer. I root for all of the guys I've walked with.

Golf is back! So nice to see the sights and feel all the same emotions again, especially as I patiently wait for my opportunity to work the Travelers Championship in two weeks as an "essential volunteer". And just because sports has the power to heal, it is no surprise that Harold Varner III, the only black player on tour other than Tiger Woods, is tied for the lead after day 1. I thought that was worth mentioning, coming a week and a half after sitting down with the commissioner to talk about current events.

The problem is, the ones that choose not to play could potentially cost the others a season, and a future. I don't think the league can survive with no baseball in 2020. They might not die out right away, but long term, I think the MLB will eventually fold.

That's the last thing we need. I was particularly perturbed by that statement as well

One of my best friends at school played little league with Torkelson

Based on what I've heard and seen from people from Syracuse, that doesn't surprise me

It also seems like redlining and institutionalized discrimination/segregation is more clearly prevalent in Boston than anywhere else. Some of the best basketball players I've gotten to watch at UConn in recent years have been from Roxbury, which paints a picture of Boston that is vastly different than the one that most people know.

I've been away for awhile so let me say this about the MLB negotiations: I don't think there will be a season, and I don't think the league can recover from this. They might not die this year, but the inability to put together a plan that both sides can agree on to play baseball in 2020 will eventually lead to the demise and destruction of the league. Unlike the strike in 1993, MLB no longer has the fan base to survive with, not with NBA popularity at an all time high, and NFL now America's favorite sport. And, both the players and owners are equally to blame in all of this. I don't know even know if I'm going to be a baseball fan after this. The last few weeks have been an utter disgrace, and anybody even remotely associated with the negotiations at all should be ashamed

I can't take it anymore. I'm leaving. Don't know when I'll be back, but it probably won't be until baseball returns at the bare minimum. I hate the person I am becoming in the Anything Goes thread. For much of the winter, I was going through a mild depression, and I struggled to find the source, or a way to feel better. Once the pandemic hit, I suddenly felt better, which I was even more surprised by. But as time in quarantine has gone on, I have found myself slipping back into who I was in the winter. I'm losing control of my emotions, and losing sight of the things that are important to me in my life. This has nothing to do with anybody else here, just an internal thing that has been building up inside me. My mental health has been something I've been cognizant of for a long time, and this certainly is NOT the place to be when you are not 100% into it, especially right now. The fun has been sucked out of this place for me with all the political talk and how everybody (myself included) has a tendency to start insulting people at the slightest disagreement. I never talk politics with people in the real world, largely because I don't care that much about politics, and I know how inflammatory and divisive it is. There are still areas of this place that I enjoy, like taking a trip down memory lane with MVP last night, or talking music with SoxHop Northern Star, moon, and notin. I like most if not all of you, and enjoy listening to your perspectives on the world. But, sadly, the hate and negativity are too overwhelming for me. I'm a pretty positive guy, and I can only be around negative thinking and rhetoric for so long. We all have so much to look forward to once this mess is over, but many of us have lost sight of that due to our political biases. So, I'm taking a break for an indefinite amount of time. I have a lot of really important things going on in my life, and I want to make sure I don't screw up any of these opportunities by letting the bad side of me take over. I've had social anxiety for most of my life, crippling at times. My New Year's resolution was to slowly get over it, and I was doing great, until quarantine, when I had no other choice but to stay inside, turn on my laptop, and come here. I feel all the relationships I've built up since the start of January slowly slipping away, and I want to ensure they stay tight, so that they can continue to grow and prosper as soon as we can venture out into the world again. But, I do care about the relationships I've made here. So, if you want to stay in touch, please PM me and we can exchange contact information. I'll check my inbox regularly for the next couple days, and occasionally after that. If you see me logged in, that's probably what I'm doing. Until then, peace out

I think it was at one point, maybe earlier in his career

Wait, David Price used to be good?

This was only a few days before Wil Myers got serenaded at Fenway, which still remains one of my favorite moments

Forgot about that one

Really? Other than Game 162 in 2011, it's one of the few worth showing

I'm still traumatized from the 08 ALCS

I think the Cubs can pull this one out

That was a joke, bud

I didn't know the Marlins had classic games

All good. I've been called worse things, and at the end of the day we're all strangers on the Internet who have high levels of accumulated stress. It happens. My reaction was more shock than anything else, hearing that come from you

Still waiting on that retraction. Just a little hypocritical coming from you, especially if you're going to constantly police us on the other thread. I was also a little offended by it.

Thanks. I'll look into it and let you know what I think