ManOnThird

Devon Travis?

Strictly by division lead, the Yankees had the bigger lead. Statistically though, being 5 games ahead with a month to go is the bigger favorite against being 8 games ahead with two months to go.

https://www.reddit.com/r/mlbstreams

I'm no fan of bandwagon fans, but at some point along the road when the team shows an unwillingness to actually compete and win, the proper thing really is to stop watching and either force the team to get better or force them to quit and move on. Instead, we have an endless allowance for middle-of-the-road, get-them-next-year platitudes. The Leafs situation might be infinitely worse though. Why would a company ever need to make an effort when it knows it can make billions of dollars merely by existing? Not to mention, all the worthless executives associated with the team become millionaires because the team is terrible. So why would they want the team to be good? To become good it means they have to be fired, so its actually in their interests to remain garbage. At least it's not quite on the level of the Cubs though.

Yep, just like in basketball. Sterling does his bit and makes his billions and the whole league then profits. Not a hard day's work if you don't mind looking like a bad guy for a few weeks until everyone moves on. Not to mention all of mass media profits from the faux outrage. It's a gloriously demonic world.

You ever think the whole All Star game voting 'scandal' is just viral marketing to get more people to vote and to generate interest in an otherwise boring, out-dated event? MLB could release whatever numbers they want, after all. But now everyone huddles around the scuttlebutt, gossiping and full of outrage, emotionally invested in the results and the player's reactions. Viral marketing. Easy as a pot of piss.

I find even worse than sticking with these guys, is the cloying way the media fawns so much over these scrub players, trying so hard to make us feel guilty for not worshipping them as much we do the superstars, and reminding us in the most maudlin way possible that all players deserve equal respect and admiration. They often focus more on these scrubs and their 'journeys' than on legitimate players, doing everything they can to turn these players into fan favourites. See also: Kawasaki, Arancebia, Nix, Eveland, McDonald, etc.

I disagree, there must be tens of thousands of athletes who are pushed into it when they're kids and it becomes what they know so they stick with it even though they're meh about it. Same scenario that your parents force you to be an accountant, dentist or cook because it's the family job, and you do it even though you loathe it and you know there are other things you can do with your life. And you might hate being an accountant, but you're still going to do the best job possible saving me a few bucks on my taxes because you're a professional and a good person.

Tldr: it’s post-modernism because all this discussion of culture and the emotional journey is designed to move away from wins and losses, since these are absolute definitions, and in post-modernism you cannot have absolutes. (I’m putting this at the top to change it up) What you’re defining as post-modernism is closer to what modernism actually is which was a complete termination of classical culture following WW1, where society looked upon the great traditions that came before and realized they ultimately failed and were meaningless, because how could such a culture exist and yet still lead to such a war. That’s why after WW1 there’s such an immediate and absolute break with ‘classical’ tradition, and everything after that is modern. The phrase The Great Depression is ironic in this sense, since it was both physical and cultural. For example, look at 100 year-old novels like The Sun Also Rises or The Great Gatsby which are so modern and relevant to our exact moment in time. Or look at the music of Igor Stravinsky and how he broke with the conventions of classical music right at the outset of WW1. Post-modernism is a continued development of modernism where that now since there is no culture in place, we have to each struggle alone to somehow mash together a new culture out of this madness. Unfortunately what we’ve developed most out of this is the egotistical concept that “you have no right to tell me I’m wrong since this is my experience and it’s true for me.” For better or worse, that’s become the most derided concept of what post-modernism is. But that’s why whatever you believe becomes the truth and therefore there can actually be numerous truths to reality. That’s why a single paint-stroke across a canvas can be so fakely meaningful, because it has such compelling meaning to the painter even though it holds no true value to society as a whole. Other examples in society are the childish idea that everyone is a winner and everyone gets a medal just for participating. We readily implant our children with these worthless ideals, or even the ability to down-vote on Reddit where you can just hide away the replies that aren’t true enough for you, or Yahoo Answers where you can select the worst possible reply as being Correct. Or some people still say Pluto is a planet, and thus depending on who you talk to there are either 8 or 9 planets (and even more if you believe Ceres should be a planet, or Planet X or Niburu, etc.) And thus, therefore, in conclusion that’s why in my post I stated it’s post-modernism because this discussion about culture and the emotional journey is all about abandoning concepts of wins and losses, since these are absolute definitions, and in post-modernism you cannot have absolutes. Rather it becomes about caring for the emotions and personal journeys of the players, and that (said in the most obnoxiously trite voice ever) “they can be winners in life even if they lose. Since we’re all winners. Who are to judge them?” That's why all this stuff is for non-fans, since it's a way to get everyone emotionally engaged in the players, though obviously all MLB cares about is that emotionally engaged = money. Which is another reason post-modernism is often so fake, because nobody actually cares about any of the above or lives those ideals, but I digress. Hell, I’d say when you look at the NHL standings and how messed up they are (i.e. teams aren’t ranked anymore by an absolute ordering of most points to fewest), that’s another example of post-modernism in sports.

I'm getting sick of all this post-modern "culture of the clubhouse" garbage Toronto has going on. It's just mindless sports talk for all those people who don't even like sports but want sport-themed soap operas. All it suggests to me is that all these phony athletes can't even be responsible for themselves. Instead, they wallow in incompetence, waiting for the special day when their fairy godmother will come along and tap them on their shoulders with a magic wand and suddenly make them winners, instead of going out there, stuffing their balls into their cups like men and winning for themselves. The sheer incompetence of Rogers/Maple Leaf Sports just pollutes the players and turns them into faceless hacks, i.e. so that they become just like the pathetic executives who sit on the boards and in the offices raking in the money while offering nothing to humanity but corruption and futility. God I hope the Raptors break through the mold of nothingness that has been thrust upon them. P.S. not to be a gossiping goose, but to me Lind implies that Bautista and Buerhle are part of the trouble, since they "are still there" yet the Jays "haven't changed the culture of the clubhouse."

In soccer why do you need the refs to decide the outcome of a game, when it's been shown that the players are happy enough to do the same.

To me, the funniest part of that clip is not the ball hitting him again as it falls, but the cameramen sitting courtside all angling forward to get a better shot of him lying there in defeat.

What a terrible way to piss on such a glorious year. This is so sick if true. He has the most fake celebrity persona I've ever had the displeasure of being forcibly placed in front of my eyes. 'Urban Culture' must be the most pathetically empty group of wannabe rebels if Drake is their voice. Somehow I think the real urban culture laughs at him and laughs at Toronto. I'm sure the We the North is by a joke to most people. I'm ashamed by it and ~shudders~ 'I Am the North'. Enough with him. Nothing about his 'persona' is real. If he didn't have that smile it'd just be some other talentless hack in his stead.

What about the Eric Hinske booing? The guy was a fairly reliable player who did everything asked of him and he got thrown out of Toronto. No different player than Reed Johnson and that guy's loved like Jesus. Them high socks; hard nosed player; plays the game the right way; (enter your own cloying phrase of choice here)

I've been lurking from the old board since posters all had a baseball avatar by default and I believe even had a default name called Baseball instead of guest or whatever. Although I'm not a true lurker because I've wracked up maybe 100 posts or so in the last 10 years. For me, it's not about being unable to handle the trolls/members or being afraid to post an opinion or two (I post on rpgcodex which is one of the most vile and trollish forums still existing), it comes down only to not having the time or desire to post on more forums and thereby allowing the internet to entrap me more and more. I only allow myself a couple hours a day online. It is countless fun though to laugh and live vicariously through the rollercoaster of rage and enjoyment and watch the popamole trolls as they keep showing up every time they're knocked back down again. And I thank everybody for the news and information they've brought to the forums through the years. God speed.

No heart. Same thing as every year, when the pressure is off they'll happily go on a nice winning streak. But the minute you shine the spotlight on them they lie down and die.

Not defending Buck and Tabler at all, but what's written in the article about the Jays doesn't really reflect why they're so terrible. The guy doesn't mention the inability of Buck to pronounce the names of players on the Jays. Instead, the writer uses the introduction of pitch counts to go off on his own well-rehearsed argument about them, and seems to score them lower simply because they didn't say the exact correct thing according to his beliefs. In that instance, it's just becomes post-modern drivel. He should try and show a little less bias since he's ostensibly a neutral reporter.

Verlander's on his own weighted ball program.

In Liz, we are witnessing the rare and elusive female white knight.

I voted JPR. It's true he was arrogant and could be a complete dick to fans, but he did a better job at a time when the Red Sox and Yankees were unbeatable. In those years the Jays were actually more competitive against those better teams, (even to the point of dominating Boston). Now the Jays just lay an egg and roll over when the Yankess roll in with their scrub lineup. What a bunch of pathetic garbage the Jays have turned into. And they're going to be just as bad in the next couple seasons. This is even in the new wildcard era, when the Jays should have extra incentive to know they have a shot of the playoffs. AA has somehow stripped any real fight out of the team it seems, banking on oft-injured players that can never really be cornerstones because they are constantly being benched due to injuries. And what emotion the team does show (i.e. Bautista, Lawrie, JPA) is just self-righteous, egotistic babyism. Nothing wrong with a player or two acting like that, but they can't be the leaders on the team. Meanwhile in most of the JPR years, the Jays would've made the playoffs (or been very close) if they were capable at all of winning interleague games. If I'm not mistaken, they essentially had the worst interleague record of all AL teams, meanwhile the Yankees and Boston continued to dominate against NL teams. Ricciardi was destined to be loathed in Toronto anyways, because he was the guy who had to get rid of Delgado. JPR also brought in tons of crap and scrapheap players. The fifth starter was a complete joke for the entire JPR run. But somehow they came together and did a better job than the 'better options' of what the Jays are capable of getting now. Before this year, I would've put AA ahead of JPR, even though he had achieved worse results, but the plan and system seemed to be working better and seemed to be built for longterm success.

lol, I once saw a burnt cop car at the side of the road in Detroit, covered over in graffiti, a block from the police station. In Gary, Indiana, I saw a KFC with its windows busted out, but the place packed with customers.

That record is just demonstrative of how average and boring the Jays always have been. Their overall record from 1977 to now is nearly .500 as well. They just plod along without a plan. They never even have peaks or drops to average out at .500 in the end, where at least the peaks would justify the drops, and thus maybe creating some excitement along the way. The only abberation were the 1987-1993 years. Instead they're stuck in a perpetual middle of the pack, lacking a leader with the intelligence and fortitude to pull them out of it. They never get the chance to draft the superstars and lack the willingness to spend on quality free agents.

I swear Bautista was clean shaven during the game. Epic beard.

On June 4, the Jays were 11.5 games back of the division lead, and 9 games back of the wildcard. Now they're 5 and 3. With two more really good series, they'll be among the leaders in both.

I was never trying to defend JPR, but somehow amidst firing all the scouts and being an arrogant sob, he still managed to build a team that won more games than anything AA has done. And that was during the years when Boston and New York were dominating, and reaching the playoffs was essentially impossible. Plus in his own words, he brought more prospects to the majors than any other working GM over the same time span (haha).