- 01:29 PM
- 07/05/09
| Name: | Wayne Frazer |
|---|---|
| Homepage URL: | http://fromhoosiertohoser.blogspot.com/ |
| Location: | Barrie, ONT Canada baby! |
| Gender: | male |
| Member since: | December 28, 2002 |
| Last visit: | July 05, 2009 |
wfrazerjr has posted 269 links and 3163 comments to SportsFilter and 13 links and 583 comments to the Locker Room and 78 columns.
A stone-cold lock: The New York Islanders didn't shock anyone by picking OHL star John Tavares first overall on Friday night. In fact, most of the draft went pretty much according to the script. Second-round continues today with the rights to deal with Florida free agent Jay Boumeester swapped to Calgary.
posted by wfrazerjr to hockey at 10:33 AM on June 27 - 2 comments
Baseball's LeBron: He hit the longest home run ever at Tropicana Field. He throws 96 miles per hour, has bat speed over 100 mph and has been known to every major-league club for at least a couple seasons. His name is Bryce Harper ... and he's 16 years old.
posted by wfrazerjr to baseball at 12:06 PM on June 04 - 16 comments
Can Dr. Marshall Make Your Staff Injury-Free?: Former National League Cy Young Award Winner Mike Marshall says he can through physics and special exercise. A straight-line delivery is the key, and former Mets prospect Joe Williams wants a chance to prove Marshall's theories. Williams is currently pitching for the Springfield Cardinals, St. Louis' AA farm team.
posted by wfrazerjr to baseball at 02:12 PM on May 20 - 2 comments
Someone's Getting a RAW Deal: The Denver Nuggets should be hosting the Los Angeles Lakers for Game Four of the Western Conference finals next Monday night. Unfortunately, Kroenke Sports -- which owns the Nuggets and the Pepsi Center -- booked in and confirmed Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Entertainment for the same night. More than 10,000 tickets and a contract signed and returned on April 15 - the final night of the regular season - later, it's time for the schedulers to get it on!
posted by wfrazerjr to basketball at 09:17 PM on May 18 - 18 comments
Toronto Maple Leafs Facebook page hacked!: A terrific tongue-and-cheek look at how social networking might work for the storied NHL franchise.
posted by wfrazerjr to hockey at 09:08 AM on May 18 - 5 comments
Great play by Scutaro. John McDonald would've gotten to third.
I always kinda thought "time" was sorta called after a walk. Guess the Phillies did too. Chin music must have been in order on his next ab, no?
Time is never officially called until an umpire signals so (except in dead-ball situations). Players will often ask for time and think they've automatically gotten it, but the ball's in play until the umpire actually calls it out. I think you will find umpires, though, who will call time immediately after the batter leaves the box so as to brush the plate or whatever.
There's another version of this play. Runner on third with less than two out and a weak hitter up next. The batter either draws the walk or is hit by a pitch and jogs to first, then immediately takes off for second. At the same time, the runner at third (who has wandered off the base) cautiously breaks for home.
If the pitcher goes toward second, the runner continues and you trade the out in the rundown between first and second for the run. If the pitcher makes no move or looks toward home, the runner at third retreats. If the pitcher throws to third (what you're really hoping for), the runner makes it home easily.
Even if the runner at third gets caught in a pickle, the trailing runner will get to at least second and sometimes third.
This play works surprisingly well up through the elite levels of high-school baseball. It's not uncommon for the pitcher to fire the ball over the second or third baseman's head, or simply hold the ball and let the guy take second. I've even seen a catcher take one in the chops when the pitcher threw home, but the catcher had removed his mask and wasn't paying attention.
posted by wfrazerjr at 07:59 PM on June 21
And, because you didn't, it's not?
Yes, because I'm taking the side of decency and restraint. I'd find it hard to believe someone at The Onion didn't see this happening to some extent and thought, "Fuck 17-year-old Shawn Johnson. It's more important for us to get a cheap laugh by trading on a minor's name."
By the way, I don't think you can't find this distasteful and funny at the same time. I'm not saying it's completely without humour -- it isn't. It just shouldn't have been done.
posted by wfrazerjr at 10:44 PM on June 20
D, I'm guessing about 5% of people will feel the way I do.
Which either means I'm overly sensitive or all y'all are heathens.
posted by wfrazerjr at 01:57 AM on June 20
THX, I generally don't find The Onion tasteless. I think it's pretty smart and well done, but using a minor in a situation like this? In my mind, a bad call on their part.
All celebrities deal with this, dviking, so that makes it okay? She's 17, man, and has done absolutely nothing to bring this on herself, even if it's not directly impuning her character. You want to use Mike Tyson or Tonya Harding? Knock yourself out. Using Johnson is cheap and tasteless, at least in my book.
To me it's more of the "Hey, they're famous, so fuck them right in the ear" mentality. The girl's a world-class athlete and she's been on "Dancing With The Stars," so she deserves whatever someone else wants to throw at her? Would it
Fraze, some times I try to figure out what is ok with you and what is not but then I stop because I think it will rip the multiverse apart.
I'm a complex man, yerfatma. I don't envy your pondering.
In general?
1) Don't fuck with people who don't bring it on themselves. 2) Punish people who break the law and punish them severely. 3) Get extra cheese on everything you humanly can.
posted by wfrazerjr at 08:45 PM on June 19
Sigh.
So, because you got a chuckle out of it, it's okay?
Look, we're not talking about fucking Newt Gingrich here. We're talking about a 17-year-old gymnast. She didn't do anything to bring this on herself -- The Onion just decided, "Hey, here's a great way to get some publicity for ourselves, and if some people think she's dead, well, who cares?"
It doesn't appear her family thought it was very funny, and I wouldn't be surprised if a couple people who are related or know Johnson heard she was dead. Hey, that's hilarious!
So, yes, the joke is funnier using Johnson, in fact, it's only funny if you use Johnson. As to the Onion being attention whores, well yes, their mission is to get viewers. They're not running a news site, they make their money selling advertising, so the more attention they get, the more money the make. Kind of the point.
You're absolutely right. It's only funny if you trade on Johnson's name. Hence the attention whore label, which means they went beyond what was acceptable and traded in some of The Onion's good name seeking publicity. They stepped across a line here.
Americans don't understand satire. That why modern TV is the way it is. If you don't explain the joke, it isn't funny to them.
I guess the same thing goes for people not seeing what's really tasteless.
If you're making the point that because it was obviously satirical, it's okay to use Johnson in such a fashion (and portray her parents with actors talking about killing her), I understand. I'd just rather be on the "I find that offensive" side as opposed to in the "Hey, that's really funny!" camp.
posted by wfrazerjr at 11:24 AM on June 19
Politically correct? How about not being attention whores?
The only reason those used Johnson here is because she's a readily recognizable name, not because it made the bit any funnier. Couple that with her being 17 and that The Onion knows there are plenty of people who can't differentiate between satire and news.
The Onion knew using Johnson would get them all sorts of free publicity. Did it work? Yes, but it was also in poor taste. I'll be sending them their free t-shirts shortly:
posted by wfrazerjr at 08:58 AM on June 18
Drood, I don't think the same people are talking "about bringing democracy to the Middle East" right now. I'm pretty sure they're all dead.
Pretty bold move by those athletes. I wonder if they'll actually step on a pitch again, or if they'll conveniently go missing in the near future.
posted by wfrazerjr at 07:39 PM on June 17
Or that's how kids learn to spread incorrect information, then never correct the bullshit they spread. In other words, I don't expect a lot of kids to be sending out, "Oh, she's NOT dead -- it wuz just the Onyon! LOL11!!ROFL!" Tweets.
To me, it's a moderately funny premise which would have been just as well done with a generic name. It seems a little harsh to tie a 17-year-old to something like this.
I like The Onion, but everybody fucks up sometime. This is The Onion's time.
posted by wfrazerjr at 07:35 PM on June 17
wfrazejr, was it a close game? Or were you up by 12? One, you're a hero. The other, you get a close shave your next AB, and possibly get turned into a Newt.
We were up by ... lemme see ...
One .. two ... five!
No, we were up a couple of runs. I'm not the hero, it was my third-base coach, who picked up the fact the outfielder 1) didn't throw very well and 2) was pretty lazy. I just followed a good set of orders.
posted by wfrazerjr at 08:38 PM on June 10
I suppose we could build a bridge out of him and find out.
Owl, it's not seen as bad sportsmanship in that instance because there's really no way for the runner at second to know the extent of the injury. Sportsmanship would dictate, however, that if you smoke a line drive off the pitcher's head and he goes down in a heap, you stop at first base and let the medical staff get out on the field.
I've actually scored on one of these plays (back when I could run), but it was more through the laziness of the outfielder than anything else. We were playing a sophomore game at a high school where there was no fence. I was on second and the batter smoked a high and deep one to right-center.
Our man on third was going to score easily, but I also knew if the guy couldn't catch up with it, I could trot home, so I tagged up. The outfielder made a fine running catch, but his momentum was carrying him away from the infield, so I took off for third. Halfway there, our third-base coach started subtly waving his hands in a twirling motion, so I kept chugging.
It turned out the outfielder had just turned and flipped the ball in, assuming he had no play at the plate and I would stop at third. I scored standing up, and the outfielder got an ass chewing from his coach.
Ah, good times, good times.
posted by wfrazerjr at 10:59 AM on June 10
WANTED FOR QUESTIONING:
posted by wfrazerjr at 08:39 PM on June 07
New Life Academy, Schmidt's school, won the title 7-0 the next day.
Not to pee in anyone's Cheerios here, but there are some mitigating factors. Looking at the Minnesota State High School League's web site, Class 1A is the small enrollment class in its system. Most of the schools have around 200 students, which means one really strong pitcher can blow through an entire tournament because of the lesser wear-and-tear to fast-pitch hurlers.
It would be tough to tell from this whether Schmidt is a bonafide stud prospect for a Division I school or is just overmatching poor competition. It could be both, and the talent apparently runs in the family -- someone with the same last name also made the All-Tournament team at state.
I'm going to venture a couple of guesses here:
1) Schmidt throws hard, and probably is that good. No matter how bad the competition is, you would expect a few more outs via attempted bunts. There was only the one.
The fact she gave up a two-run homer also leads me to believe someone got a lucky swing in and Schmidt's own velocity helped the ball over the fence. I used to see it off good pitchers in top-level men's fast pitch -- if you got a decent piece of a first-rate fastball, it went a long way.
2) New Life Acadeny has a smart coach. Despite this being a repeat title and having a stud pitcher, NLA's record this season entering the state tourney was just 19-6. To me, that sounds like someone is bringing along secondary pitchers, or at least giving others a chance to throw.
Yes, I have far too much time on my hands on Sundays.
posted by wfrazerjr at 03:53 PM on June 07
I think an appropriate punishment for guys like this would be to give them the attention they want, just not in the form they'd choose.
So put this jackass on national TV in Spain, but strip him naked and spray him with freezing water. Then have five hot Spanish ladies make fun of his penis size.
Enjoy your 15 minutes, anus!
posted by wfrazerjr at 03:19 PM on June 07
Twitter has an established policy for people to complain about this sort of thing. I have no idea if they did at the time, but it could definitely be resolved without the suit at this point.
You definitely know it could be resolved without the lawsuit, huh? Despite the fact that the filing says they repeatedly asked Twitter to take it down and the company did nothing?
It amazes me that people defend companies in situations such as this. If you're incapable of weeding out fakes posting defamatory and libelous information, get the fuck out of the business.
posted by wfrazerjr at 11:37 AM on June 04
Drunks Heckle Tiger Woods, Fred Funk at US Open
Oh, darn -- someone yelled at Tiger Woods.
While I don't approve of it, it doesn't seem it affected Woods much, and these guys need to get a little thicker skin anyhow. Freaking out when a shutter snaps is a little much.
Lucas Glover FTW!