Dick_Pole

It feels like something Vince McMahon would do if WWE ratings were going down and his writers had no other good ideas. Ratings down? Hmm let's vacate the title and run a random tournament. That oughta fix things! I hope this thing crashes and burns and it's the last we hear of it. Fans should boycott then immediately come back to watch the non-tournament games to send a clear message.

So something called the NBA in-season tournament is starting today. It's obviously a marketing and hype success since the first I heard of it was by me looking at The Score app and seeing in-season tournament listed under every game. The NBA must be led by a bunch of insecure f***s. Can't just accept that the CFB, NFL and World Series will take spotlight right now. Like a middle child throwing a temper tantrum for attention.

San Diego is probably the worst sports city. In terms of on-field performance and general fan suffering. Chargers mostly stunk, then the city lost them. Clippers stunk, then the city lost them. Padres mostly stunk, arguably the worst MLB franchise of all time. And the few times they are good, they really aren't that good, then land into insolvency territory. I guess Seattle and Vancouver could relate to a lot of that too. Except they only lost one team each. The whole Pacific coast is a sea of tears for sports fans except LA and SF, sometimes. f***, Boston alone this century probably has more trophies across the big four sport leagues than the entire west coast.

Been saying this for a couple of years already. Trash can teams like the Rays gamed the system instead of drafting, developing AND paying pitchers with actual talent who can go out there and dominate for well over 200 innings a season. Everyone else followed suit. Now we have teams rostering 30+ pitchers a year, most of them no-name flame throwers at max effort for 20 pitches. Simple solution. Cut out all the other stupid ******** like 3 batter minimum. You're only allowed to roster 15 pitchers at some point in time all year. You've hit your maximum and someone goes down with an injury? Too bad, your shortstop is pitching now. I know neither the PA nor owners would agree to such an idea. This would be my fantasy as dictator enforcing the rule. No time to prepare either. Rule is in effect at the start of next year. 30 years ago the 1993 Jays rostered 16 pitchers. 12 if you exclude the September call-ups and one dude who was lost for the year after pitching an inning. That's the type of baseball I want to see again. https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/TOR/1993.shtml This "avoid having your starting pitcher face the batting order a third time around cuz stats" logic isn't smart, data-driven baseball. It's just a dumbass trope now that everyone blindly follows. You know what would be smart baseball? Having to make a choice as to whether you leave your starter in or not for the third time around the order, knowing that you have limited pitching resources to back him up instead of 18 flame throwing clones rotated through your AAA squad.

If we are talking a practice what you preach approach, JS isn't out of place pigging out at the buffet with those three guys.

Does Schneider? I mean, you could put a MAGA hat and a pair of camo pants on him and he would definitely fit in with a January 6th crowd, style wise. See, Gibbons is special because he is clearly a tough and short-fused redneck but at the same time gives off zero MAGA vibes. Perfect fit for Toronto over Texas.

Even by NBA standards, there's parity. Last year there were a good 7-8 contenders with a decent shot and one of the teams in the finals wasn't one of them. Gone are the days of the dynasty, for now. Raptors killed that trend. Partially because the stars are aging out and all the hyped up players over the last several years have either been busts or injury prone. Remember when Zion Williamson was supposed to be the next big thing?

At this point mods are just running up their thanks stats by threatening Dean with a ban but never actually doing it. s***, or get off the pot.

I instantly have more respect for Joe West. That was gold. Dude might have been a s***** umpire who should have retired long ago but maybe not such a bad person to interact with.

And there is the end to one of the most unsatisfying baseball seasons both from a perspective Jays fan and baseball in general that I have lived through. Imagine 2023 without the pitch clock lol.

Guess the reverse board sentiment works as well with the Raptors as it does with the Jays. Luckily I was busy today and didn't do any sports betting and forgot a Raptors game was on. Because 130-111 wouldn't be a score I'd be betting towards. I don't know what to be confused on more. How this team scored 130 or how it held Giannis and Lillard to a combined 31 points. This was a parlay killer game for sure. It shows the Raptors do have it in them. My guess their chances of winning the title just doubled after today's game. I think Jaysblue tends to bet the unders like me. So it's not really betting against or for the Raptors. You're hoping/assuming the offense will suck but the defense will come through and the Raptors could still win the game and you win your bet. Can't be too upset about today's outcome. It'll keep the totals honest longer. Unders are 4-1 so far this season and it hasn't even been close, even the OT game. Half way through the first quarter the totals number tanked about 10 points from pre-game lines and never came close the rest of the way.

Gotta make sure the policy on rainbow tape is solid before proper protective gear is enforced. NHL just attracts a different breed of human. The ultimate in "it won't happen to me" attitude so why do I have to wear such uncomfortable and sweat-inducing gear?

I disagree. I didn't see the video but you guys prompted me to look it up. What I see is a missed hip check and the momentum carries him into Johnson, in a half defensive move half bad momentum which resulted in an accidental Shawn Michaels sweet chin music. I guess what he was trying to do is cover himself from being exposed to a hit from Johnson and his leg just went up way too high.

This is the way. Copying the Arnold Schwarzenegger routine, a man who never actually played any organized team sports since his teenager days. Wonder why silly team trainers moved away from that?

This is one of the most ridiculous workout routines I have seen in my life. WTF kind of Borat ball-busting s*** was at 0:20? The guy can't even do normal f***ing squats, why are they making him do such elaborate routines? It's mostly for Instagram clout I guess. Basic squats, lunges, calf raises and deadlifts done properly should be good enough for him. I'll give him credit, that jump was good. Better than anything I can do and he outweighs me by at least 75 pounds. Take that squat/calf routine 10 seconds in...okay maybe the trainer is trying to work on his balance? It's a dumb move though. Calf raises you should capable of lifting way more than what you can squat. So all he is doing is resting in between squat reps while making it look like he's working. Basic squatting is actually a more challenging move and extremely good for cardio.

They came to a settlement so I guess it's all done, but if I'm a player caught betting on non-NHL sports and suspended a long while, first thing I'm doing is going to my union rep with my helmet and said they enticed me to do it. Something about this story really rubs me the wrong way. Even had him apologizing for his "mistake". Guess the reporter thought so too therefore they made sure the logo was visible in the article.

https://apnews.com/article/senators-shane-pinto-suspended-gambling-09cbedc1d9257fede6ec59251e76a914 Article about it with a picture of a sportsbook advertised on the kid's helmet. Could the NHL get any more hypocritical?

I feel like an idiot. This is the third time this month I trolled myself reading "Blue Jays acquire Da...." on the main page, jump for a minute then realize it's just this f***ing thread. You all need to shut this s*** down for my own mental health.

If the Yankees are smart, they will see the writing on the wall, fire Cashman and do a mini-rebuild. If they are dumb, they'll continue on the same path, finish last in the league in OBP except maybe for Oakland with a near $300 million payroll and start a long term decline that sees them overtaken by the Dodgers as the most valuable and most marketable franchise.

Yankees are going to suck ass. How much do you expect their payroll to be? Six players locked up to a guaranteed $168 million, and at least four of them are going to do f*** all next year. They can sign Ohtani and they'll be the new Angels.

That was an ugly win from a starting 5 offense that's probably bottom 5 if not bottom 10 in the league. The defense must come as advertised every night for this team to make the playoffs. That being said, I think I'm going to hate bush league depth at point guard a little less than bush league depth at center this year. Anyone who thought to bet the over 221 points tonight should just call it a season before they lose all their money because they clearly don't know the NBA. Under bets on the Raptors all the way until the lines are 205.

While the Varsho traders complainers are not on a very high level, the Varsho trade defenders are not that much better. Listen to yourselves, man. The range of scenarios for this trade is "maybe a slight win over the next few years" to "massive overpay and fail". That's not a very good range of outcomes for the Jays. Just go ahead, take the L, and leave the trolls to whine into this vacuous black hole of a thread until 2027.

There is a lot of (rightful) anger and frustration at this franchise and the front office that is laser focused on this trade at the moment because of the unique situation. The trade is merely symptom of a greater underlying cause. Ross Atkins is simply not very good at his job. Not the worst, but certainly not the best. Probably somewhere in the middle. Middling front office + high payroll = playoff team that doesn't get anywhere. I see a lot of parallels between the Moreno and Stroman trades. Atkins is an awful poker player. He has a laser focus on something that needs to be done and other GMs smelled blood. Resulting in two trades that were overpays by the Jays. How do you take a strength (3 good catchers) that's generally an in demand position and someone else's weakness and turn it into a mediocre trade? Everyone could smell a mile away that the Jays weren't going into 2023 with three good catchers with a black hole in the OF and the Varsho trade was the best that came up. Why trade Hernandez a month before this one? So that everyone in the league sees your OF depth is on Little League level? A more adept FO would come into the spring with Hernandez, Kiermaier and the three catchers, have one or more of the three take reps elsewhere, and THEN make a move with a team desperate for a starting catcher. Then trade Hernandez if he's not part of the plan for 2023. Ross Atkins is a beta male weenie. I said it before and circled right back to my initial opinion. He might be able to read fast, or land on Jeopardy or do math in his head, hire other beta male weenies who pulls the team's $100 million star pitcher in the 4th inning of a do-or-die game based on nerd stats out of a computer. But he lacks the skills of alpha males like winning at poker or building winning teams efficiently.

Are the people who constantly cry about this trade trolls and/or idiots? Yes Do they have a point? Also, yes. Debate all the boring stats until the thread gets called cancer. Fine. Moreno has had multiple positive plays in the playoffs and if Arizona wins and he continues to contribute to that, he will have his legacy that doesn't show up in trade value. You can't take that away from him, even if his career turns into a dud. There are guys in the HOF based on above average careers that were topped off with playoff heroics. Players like Joe Carter and Pat Borders would be seen as "just another average player on good teams" on this board, but to any casual or non-nerd who lived through 1992 and 1993, they are heroes.