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shaitan

shaitan

Meat popsicle
Dec 26, 2014
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Out of Order said:
I grew up in North Jersey, almost in the shadow of Giants Stadium. I was there when they poured the concrete over the still warm body of Mr. Hoffa.

How is The Island these days anyway? That guy ever get his wish and get that extra Z put in the Verrazano-Narrows?
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Nah, just one "z." Mr. Giovanni da Verrazzano is still turning in his grave. The island is building up, especially since the dump closed down 15 or so years ago. There's a lot of new construction everywhere and house prices shot up like there's no tomorrow. Sandy did a number here ( the water stopped 1/2 a block from our house and we're 1.5 miles from the beach), so now they're buying out old houses that were flooded and building new ones on stilts. New Goethals bridge is under construction and looks to be about half-way done. Beyonne bridge is closed for renovations half of the time. Staten Island Expressway (aka Staten Island Parking Lot) was rebuilt, exits rearranged and new lanes were added - didn't help much though. Staten Island Yankees suck as much as the real Yankees (only I'm allowed to say that).
Otherwise, same old island.
 
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AnnaMarie

AnnaMarie

Well-Known Member
Feb 16, 2012
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Out of Order said:
Unfortunately that wouldn't stop the fans from showing up for first pitch already hammered. Never ceases to amaze me the ones that spend so much for beer at the games, buy two on each trip to the beer garden and then spill most of it (on other fans) on the return trip to their seats. Almost as much fun as watching The Blue Jays play.......:p
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Here they deliver it to you. Even in the cheap seats. Someone walks around selling candy, someone soft drinks, someone else beer. The beer is in cans. I think only two per person at a time, and the guy selling them opens them right away.

Of course the guy sitting behind me (who thought he was going to get lucky if he bought his friend enough beer) wasn't willing to wait that long and kept going to get more.
 
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swiftdog2.0

swiftdog2.0

I tell you one and one makes three...
Mar 16, 2010
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shaitan said:
No, it's the people. It's the choices they make. Flies don't cause garbage nor do spoons make people fat.
Nobody is forcing them to drink and get sh!tfaced. Don't drink if you can't keep yourself in check.
Some, on the other hand, are naturally obnoxious and alcohol only enhances that characteristic.
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Well, yeah it's the people behaving badly. The booze accelerates, enhances, drives, etc. the behavior. Agreed that some people are naturally obnoxious. Additionally, the anonymity of being in a crowd can also bring out stupidity in people.
 
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swiftdog2.0

swiftdog2.0

I tell you one and one makes three...
Mar 16, 2010
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Sox beat Yankees tonight despite Kimbrel's best efforts to walk the entire Yankee lineup in the ninth!

Benintendi had a nice night. Hitting like .500 since his call up. Kid has a great looking swing and seems to have great plate discipline. Lot of pressure for a 22 year-old though!
 
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chief4db

chief4db

When it doubt, run!
Feb 11, 2015
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This is why I wish baseball did it like nfl. U have parity and fairness. At the same time it's the great American pastime and is run and a perfect example of capitalism. The more money u have and make the more money u have to spend.

Sometimes I wonder why yanks even have a farm system. If they need a third baseman or pitcher or whatever they just look at young players who have become stars and when their contract is up the indians,pirates,marlins, A's ect, any small market club can't afford him and the yanks snatch em up. That's why small market teams have a small window where they have to win it all right now bc once their young stars pan out their gonna leave for the big contracts. It is what it is. That's why the yanks have 28 world series ring I believe. Can y imagine the steelers having won 28 superb owls or championships before the superb owls came into existence. Crazy
 
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fljoe0

fljoe0

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Apr 5, 2008
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chief4db said:
This is why I wish baseball did it like nfl. U have parity and fairness. At the same time it's the great American pastime and is run and a perfect example of capitalism. The more money u have and make the more money u have to spend.

Sometimes I wonder why yanks even have a farm system. If they need a third baseman or pitcher or whatever they just look at young players who have become stars and when their contract is up the indians,pirates,marlins, A's ect, any small market club can't afford him and the yanks snatch em up. That's why small market teams have a small window where they have to win it all right now bc once their young stars pan out their gonna leave for the big contracts. It is what it is. That's why the yanks have 28 world series ring I believe. Can y imagine the steelers having won 28 superb owls or championships before the superb owls came into existence. Crazy
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I think one improvement that could be made would be to eliminate in season trades. Let the teams make their deals in the off season and stop this late season rent a player stuff. I think that really hurts the league that the teams with the money can pluck good players off small market teams for the playoff runs. The practice also kills the support from fans for the small market teams. Why plunk down money for season tickets when you know the good players you are paying to see are going to be dealt during the season?
 
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swiftdog2.0

swiftdog2.0

I tell you one and one makes three...
Mar 16, 2010
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Don't let the small market teams crying poor fool you. They get plenty of money from the TV revenue sharing as well as from the luxury tax the big market teams have to pay when they exceed the payroll threshold. Ownership has to focus on the infield product, not just sit back and collect money. If the don't invest in the team no-one will want to play there.

It's all about the farm system regardless of what market your team is in. You have to draft well to build your farm system and build a foundation for your future. That's why the Yankees have been in decline for the last several years. They went the free agent route and let their team get old, older, and ancient. That's why they just had a fire sale at the trade deadline and acquired top draft picks from the teams they traded with. They restocked their farm system and can now rebuild.

The Red Sox have built an excellent farm system over the last half decade and are now beginning to reap the rewards. They have a core of young players under 26 that are already contributing and playing well. Xander Bogarts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Mookie Betts, and Andre Benintendi are all their own draft picks.

Tampa Bay is an example of that. They had killer pitching that they developed through their farm system. The Braves took the same approach in the 90's / early 2000's when they had awesome teams.
 
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fljoe0

fljoe0

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I agree about the farm systems. The Marlins have had a great farm system over the years. They basically won a world series with farm talent & a couple key vets (Miguel Cabrera, Josh Beckett and others). I will never understand teams (like the Yankees) dramatically overpaying for 35+ year olds. What don't the execs understand about 35 year olds are not what they once were? If the Yankees would have asked me a few years ago, I could have told them that 28 million dollars was way too much for a 40 year old Roger Clemens. They just didn't ask me. ;-D
 
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shaitan

shaitan

Meat popsicle
Dec 26, 2014
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NY
swiftdog2.0 said:
Don't let the small market teams crying poor fool you. They get plenty of money from the TV revenue sharing as well as from the luxury tax the big market teams have to pay when they exceed the payroll threshold. Ownership has to focus on the infield product, not just sit back and collect money. If the don't invest in the team no-one will want to play there.

It's all about the farm system regardless of what market your team is in. You have to draft well to build your farm system and build a foundation for your future. That's why the Yankees have been in decline for the last several years. They went the free agent route and let their team get old, older, and ancient. That's why they just had a fire sale at the trade deadline and acquired top draft picks from the teams they traded with. They restocked their farm system and can now rebuild.

The Red Sox have built an excellent farm system over the last half decade and are now beginning to reap the rewards. They have a core of young players under 26 that are already contributing and playing well. Xander Bogarts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Mookie Betts, and Andre Benintendi are all their own draft picks.

Tampa Bay is an example of that. They had killer pitching that they developed through their farm system. The Braves took the same approach in the 90's / early 2000's when they had awesome teams.
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This has been annoying the sh!t out of me for the past 15 or so years. The core Yankees (Jeter, Posada, Williams, Pettitte) of the championship years all came from their farm system. The Sux wouldn't have won those championships without Pedroia and Varitek. The Mets has their most recent upsurge when their top prospects made it to The Show. Then all of a sudden, Yankees' execs had a massive brain fart and started pissing away their farm system and bringing in old farts who could barely stay healthy, forget about playing. No wonder everyone is b!tching about Yankees buying their championships. Develop your farm system, lock the good guys early and save a sh!tload of money, that's will pay off big time.
 
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Out of Order

Out of Order

Sign of the Times
Feb 9, 2011
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shaitan said:
This has been annoying the sh!t out of me for the past 15 or so years. The core Yankees (Jeter, Posada, Williams, Pettitte) of the championship years all came from their farm system. The Sux wouldn't have won those championships without Pedroia and Varitek. The Mets has their most recent upsurge when their top prospects made it to The Show. Then all of a sudden, Yankees' execs had a massive brain fart and started pissing away their farm system and bringing in old farts who could barely stay healthy, forget about playing. No wonder everyone is b!tching about Yankees buying their championships. Develop your farm system, lock the good guys early and save a sh!tload of money, that's will pay off big time.
Click to expand...

Pedroia came up through the Sox's farm system, but Varitek was acquired in a trade with Seattle in '97 I think it was.
 
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shaitan

shaitan

Meat popsicle
Dec 26, 2014
962
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NY
Out of Order said:
Pedroia came up through the Sox's farm system, but Varitek was acquired in a trade with Seattle in '97 I think it was.
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Still, the Sux is the only team he played for, which makes him a home boy and not a journey man. He was The Face of the franchise for a while there. So was Jeter for the Yanks until he retired. Who's the face of the Yankees now?! Not Gardner, I hope. Could've been Cano until they let him go. That locker room presence or lack thereof can make or break the team.
 
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Out of Order

Out of Order

Sign of the Times
Feb 9, 2011
29,007
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New Hampster
Varitek's legacy is firmly planted in Red Sox lore. He was the one to get at Heidi Watney first....

11093085_364195610447885_403003422_n.jpg
 
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swiftdog2.0

swiftdog2.0

I tell you one and one makes three...
Mar 16, 2010
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Out of Order said:
Varitek's legacy is firmly planted in Red Sox lore. He was the one to get at Heidi Watney first....

11093085_364195610447885_403003422_n.jpg
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I miss me some Heidi :love:

I almost walked into the middle of one of her interview segments during the 2008 playoffs! They were shooting it on the ramp that goes up to the right field seats. I was too busy gawking and almost walked right into the camera-guy She is even hotter in person!

'Tek had taste! A dog for cheating on his wife, though.
 
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